Episode 155 | Adit Shah | Military Millionaire

00:00 - 05:00

What's up military millionaires! I'm your host David Pere. And today I am co hosted again by the beautiful Alex Felice and we have my friend Adit on the show.

Now Adit, he's gonna get a special intro because, well, he's my favorite seaman. I mean, sailor, veteran, but no, Adit. It would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that he basically saved my life from homeless people once. So we're gonna bring him on to say Adit he’s a house flipper. Also a house hacker and a multifamily guy who's kind of figured out I say, multifamily like the smaller multifamily found a really unique niche in San Diego that he's doing very well in. And it's been really cool to watch him grow over the last few years. But I always have to mention the fact that the last day I was living in San Diego, my car blew up and died. When I say blew up I mean, like, six or $7,000 worth of parts that I had warrantied out for a fuel pump that literally exploded and tore my entire fuel system apart. And I spent like 15 hours waiting on a tow truck sleeping downtown with all my belongings in the car trying to fend off homeless people because I couldn't leave the car because I was like, damn it. I've got all my crap in here. And yeah, Adit was the only person around who was willing to give me a 45 minute drive impromptu up to Oceanside and get me to a hotel room so I could figure out what to do with my car and my life. So I appreciate that. And I'm gonna forever, you know, put that out there that overall decent human being so that's your intro. Nothing about real estate, just about how you saved me from homeless people.

Intro:

Welcome to the Military Millionaire podcast where we teach service members, veterans and their families how to build wealth through personal finance, entrepreneurship and real estate investing. I'm your host, David Pere, and together with my co host, Alex Felice we're here to be your no BS Guides along the most important mission, you'll ever embark on your finances.

David:

Hey, guys, if you're looking to take your investing, business, life or just yourself to the next level, then I have something for you. The War Room Real Estate Military Mastermind group is a mastermind group that meets weekly in small groups of five to six people to help you hold yourself accountable and really experience that growth. But we also have a monthly guest speaker that we bring in and we've had guest speakers talk about mindfulness, taxes, or bringing in somebody to talk about marketing, we bring in very specific topics that will adhere to very broad any kind of real estate investing, or investing or entrepreneurship that you want to do, and will really help you out. And we let you ask these speakers questions and get very personal with them. And then back to the small groups, weekly accountability for what you're trying to achieve. And just being surrounded by like minded people, and they say your network is your net worth. I know that's an overused phrase, but I recommend you check it out. So just shoot an email to [email protected]. Once again, W[email protected]. And we'll send you some more information.

Adit:

Hey, thanks for having me, man. Excited to be here.

David:

Ofcourse!

I like all the decorations you put on the wall for us back there. It looks good.

Adit:

Yeah, I actually am living on a job site. So I'm bouncing from project to project right now. And that's kind of why I have a very plain setup.

David:

Living on a job site.

So Adit has now become the homeless that he used to save me from.

Adit:

Precisely!

David:

Oh, man.

All right. Well, why don't you give a quick synopsis for how you got into real estate?

Adit:

Yeah, totally man.

So two years ago, I got out of the Navy and did what every person does when they get out of the Navy. I used my GI Bill, smoked a lot of pot and did a whole lot of nothing. And then I discovered bigger pockets. And I started listening to the podcast, I got into the military to millionaire community and started learning a little bit about real estate.

And what I did was I blasted out my cover letter and resume to every single real estate developer in San Diego, because I didn't want to be a house flipper. I didn't want to be a real estate agent. I had the audacity to want to be a real estate developer. So I blasted that out to every developer no one replied. So I went back and followed up and pestered people and hunted them down. And eventually one guy took me up on his offer. I told him, Hey, you know, this is what I can do. I can fix things. I'm pretty decent at talking to people. I'd love to help you out add value to your business in any way.

05:00 - 10:00

Adit:

So I started out doing small repairs for him on his rental properties, you know, changing ceiling fans, unclogging toilets, dealing with this tenant troubles that turned into helping manage his whole rental portfolio. About 43 doors now in San Diego, California, managing all his construction projects, then partnering on his deal, partnering on deals with him blending back and forth and then doing stuff on my own from there.

So as a manager, partner, lender or principal I've done everything from single family flips, repositioning small multifamily, small lot subdivisions, house hacked, you know, the whole nine. So that has been a good, good little ride thus far.

Alex:

Very ambitious of you.

Yeah, like it.

What do you do now? What's your day to day now?

Adit:

Right now, my day to day is managing some construction projects for the same developer and also looking for urban infill projects. So I've recently exited all of my stuff that I was working on, which was like a live in flip and a small multifamily I repositioned, and I'm looking to redeploy that capital now into urban infill, which is basically like, single family homes or small multifamily that are zoned in in high density multifamily areas. So you can get a four unit and build 40 units, that kind of stuff.

Alex:

That's interesting.

I don't know anything about that.

Adit:

It's a lot of fun. And it's very, it's like, it's kind of like this, it's kind of like the answer to the problem in San Diego, right?

A lot of people say, a lot of people who are in San Diego and up out of state in the Midwest or southeast. But instead someone told me to chase what's hard. I think it actually might have been you, Alex on one of your podcasts or something, or it was on bigger pockets. And I think you might have said it wants to like Chase what's hard. Don't go for the small, low hanging proof fruit.

Alex:

That sounds harder than anything I would bother to do. But that is really good advice. And I say it all the time. Do what's hardest. I don't take it all the time. But glad you know, I know that it's good advice for other people.

David:

I love that you're like, that sounds too hard. But it's great advice!

Alex:

The advice is sound. I'm just lazy.

Adit:

Yeah, it's just kind of what fell into my lap. But I mean, aside from that, I'm also doing a couple flips out of state now in South Carolina. And I'm also looking at, always looking at flipping houses around here.

David:

Can we just pause that's what just fell into my lap part and revert to where you like, hounded every developer in the county for like months, and then take that part out and say, it didn't quite just fall in your lap. But all right, continue.

Adit:

Okay. Yeah.

David:

Take some credit words do man.
Adit:

Got lucky man a lot. A lot of it had to do with luck. But it's strange, because like, the harder. the more you put yourself out there, the more lucky shit happens to you. So luck is real, but it only happens to people who are participating.

David:

What's that phrase, there's like a quote about like luck is when opportunity meets hard work or, or preparation or something like that. Like, if you're looking for it, you're gonna get lucky a whole lot more often than if you're just, you know, and that can be applied to anything, right? I mean, if you're scratching the scratch off at the gas station, you're gonna win more than the guy who doesn't gamble. But I don't know that that's the best analogy.

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

Alex:

Luck for me it's like gardening. Like you need the weather to be nice. It's pretty reliable, but like, you can't predict it. So every time you get something that grows, it's like, I'm kind of lucky.

David:

Okay, so explain the give the quick overview on like, what you're doing with the, you know, I mean, your interesting little niche that you found in San Diego, which is cool, because I've been able to see you grow and turn a profit in this. But you're right, you're definitely in one of those markets where a lot of people say either don't invest because it doesn't cash flow, or the prices are too high. Or, you know, taxes or tenants or evictions. Like I mean, I didn't buy when I lived in California, it wasn't necessarily because I think California is the worst, it was a combination of things. But you know, I mean, there's a lot of people, you know, hindsight is 2020 I should have bought, but you know, who would have known if I bought in 2019? What would have happened with my values in 2020-2021. So.

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

I mean, it is a lot harder, right? So the way we make it work here in San Diego is we find assets that have the opportunity to add huge value, whether it's by adding units or significantly improving the asset to increase the income and obviously picking them up at a steep discount.

So some of the things that we've we do is like we get four units, for example, and we'll add two and then we'll refinance with a commercial loan and get all of our capital back. Because now we have a six unit and that model is not new to anyone, especially anyone who does stuff like commercial multifamily, an income based valuation, we just increase the income by adding units instead of just to make improvements and raise rents.

10:00 - 15:00

Adit:

So it's a common, it's a combination of both those things, and it creates this powerful synergy. And then a coastal market, the equity figures are a lot more significant than maybe somewhere like the Midwest or southeast.

Alex:

Yeah, so you got to take on a bigger, you know, a kind of a bigger burden, because, you know, it's much harder to add two units and just bump the rents a little bit, obviously, and so you take that bigger risk, but you get a much bigger nut. And that's interesting, because, you know, you think about it, people say, Well, don't buy California, it's like, kinda like what we just talked about, it's like, I'm not gonna go buy in California, because I don't know the market. It's such an uphill battle, I'm going to go look for something easier, right?

But you're like, look, I'm here, and there's problems in this market that need to be solved. And those problems are gonna be more difficult, obviously, because it's gonna take a lot more capital intensive. And oftentimes, I imagine the returns are kind of harder to get, right, because it's a lot more people. So, but I love that you stuck with it and found that very creative, very, like, big lift, fix. You're like, look, this problem. I have a good solution. This problem, it's just harder than most people are willing to tackle. It's kind of like rehabs. Like some people only do lipstick rehabs. Some people like me, I'm like, let me go find the house, I got half burned down. Because I know that I can take care of that. And I know this is gonna scare most people off.

So it's kind of like that, where you said, Okay, I'm just, I can't go off that low hanging fruit. I gotta go after this big stuff. But if you take it down, it's got big margins.

Adit:

Totally.

And what's crazy is that you said it exactly. Every time I introduce myself to a wholesaler or a realtor, I tell them, hey, you know, we kind of play in the gray area between stuff that's too big for the average flipper. And it's too small for the big development companies. So that's kind of where we play ball. And it's been a really good, really good lane to be in.

Alex:

Yeah, that makes sense, too. Because big developers are not screwing around four units, six units, and flippers not really, you know, like you said, it's perfect.

David:

I don't know if it's gonna take us off topic, but because I haven't done enough research to know but SB 9 and SB 10, right. So California has got these a couple bills out there trying to fix the low income housing and like the, from my understanding on super minimal research, I headlines, just to be like, What is this crap I see floating around? California is looking to relax, like some of the zoning rules as far as building units and building at us and they're actually kind of opening the door in a way that would help you out. Is that the case? Like how are some of those things changing that may help you guys out down the road?

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

I think it's a step in the right direction. But it's not where we need to be. It's no secret that California I mean, the whole United States, right. But specifically California is in a very severe housing shortage.

So the state is trying to take a step in the right direction by pushing these kinds of legislations. And we don't know right now, right? Same thing happened in eight with AD use four or five years ago and AD use came out some jurisdictions are just catching up with the ADU laws. So we don't really know how it's gonna play out. But basically, the underlying message with SB nine and 10 is that you can subdivide any single family parcel at a ministerial level, so it doesn't require discretionary review.

Basically, what that means is there's two types of real estate developments: there's by right and there's discretionary.

By right is something that's supported by the base zoning and law that doesn't require the county or housing authorities discretion in approval. So you're allowed by right. For example, if you have zoning for three units, and you have a single family home, you're by right allowed to have two more, but you're not by right allowed to subdivide that parcel. Even if you have the minimum lot size, like let's say minimum lot, size is three is 1000. And your parcels 3000. That doesn't mean by right, you get three parcels, that means you have to go through a discretionary review process, you have to actually appeal to city council, it goes up to the state, right? Because in California, the subdivisions right now are done in the state. And then it comes back down to the city. And it takes a long ass time, it takes about you know, $60,000 per line, usually that you want to draw on that parcel, takes a lot of engineering surveying. So they're trying to bring that all down and give cities the authority to subdivide single family parcels. But there's a lot of stipulations and, and some, you know, like, it's got to be owner occupied. And it's got to be, say the same size for each parcel, and it can't be a parcel that was previously subdivided.

So let's see, once the smoke settles, let's see how it plays out. But I do think that this type of legislation is exactly what California needs. We just need more of it right? You gave us a little bite and you give us the whole bone.

David:

As crazy that you have to go to the state level to like subdivider rezone like that's yeah, no wonder it takes so long.

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

15:00 - 20:00

David:

Some guy in Sacramento was like, Nope, you can't, you can't do that down on the Mexican border. Sorry.

Adit:

Yeah, yeah, it takes a long time. And it's very, it's an arduous process.

Alex:

Yeah, that's a lot of red tape. I don't obviously know anything about California state law. So it's, it seems like a lot to me.

David:

California kind of rulebook like, can we make this more complicated? Yes. Perfect! It's like, if you think about it, like, you know how, like people in the military, they get old and they're about to retire. And then they like create a GPS position. And they just kind of like to move over. They like to create this job for themselves after retirement. It's kind of what I feel like California does. They're like, I wish that I could do zoning even longer in this, you know what, let's make me at the state level the requirement for this just so that I have a job, and it'll make everyone else's life miserable. But I don't know.

Adit:

You're not a Rog, man. But that being said, like, for example, San Diego is taking a step further, right. So San Diego has created this new set of legislation called the complete Communities Initiative. And they've basically like, created a crazy high density bonuses, they're allowing us to bring a lot of affordable units in housing supply, and parcels where you could previously only build like 20 or 25 units, you can now build like 40. So that's the San Diego local thing, which was another step in the right direction.

California does have a lot of strict laws, right, and a lot of taxes and a lot of fees and a lot of things going against it. But we are in San Diego County now and we're going into a direction of a more easier to build jurisdiction, which is great. So that's, that's that's, that's one good thing that we have going on for us.

David:

Yeah.

Alex:

That's good. You sound very optimistic.

How does this play into, like where do you see this going? Your future because it sounds to me like you know the technical ins and outs of the area in the market. Do you look to scale towards bigger developments?

Adit:

I do, so I want to take on these multifamily infill projects, but I'm not just restricting myself there. I'm also looking at doing smaller stuff out of state like we're taking on flips in South Carolina. I'm looking at multifamily out of state as well. I originally grew up in North Carolina in New Jersey, so looking in the Northwest or northeast and southeast as well. First multifamily deals but that's kind of the direction I'm looking for is some bigger stuff but also stuff that's got huge equity spreads a lot of room to add massive value and projects that are that are fulfilling to take on right they they require some sort of creative problem solving that other people aren't willing to take on that's kind of what I'm looking for.

Alex:

It's so easy. I'll do some multifamily in the southeast with you. I'm looking every day.

Adit:

Let's do it man.

I got folks in Winston Salem like I talked to you at flip hacking live.

Alex:

I was just in Winston Salem at a project that a friend of mine, buying. I know some multifamily projects in the winter sale. That's a good market.

Adit:

Oh really?

Alex:

Yeah!

I've been on, I went to, I got a buddy who syndicates, he bought 336 units out there last year and then he bought two buildings out he's close on two buildings out there now like another 400 some units.

Adit:

I'll put my feelers out there man if I see anything I'm gonna tell you.

Alex:

That place is growing.

Yeah, let's talk.

Adit:

Yeah, for sure, man.

Alex:

That's like two hours for me, like I can definitely work that.

Adit:

I'll be there over the holiday so I'll give you a shout man.
Alex:

Okay, yeah, do it.

David:

Just show up at his house.

Adit:

Yeah.

Alex:

Don't do that.

But if you're in Winston Salem, let's meet up.

Adit:

Yeah, definitely we will man.

David:

The ADU side right.

People in California are always talking about ADU. Which, other way for people listening who've never heard of ADU it's additional dwelling unit. So it's like a mother-in-law suite or guest house that you rent out.

They've loosened up the laws a lot in California. What are some of the new like? I've heard they've made it a little bit easier for that. Can you give a little bit of feedback on like, kind of what you're seeing with ADU as far as like, price and timeline and complication and whatever?

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

So if I'm going to directly build an ADU, it's gonna cost me personally between 20215 feet. Now if you go get an ADU consultant, they're going to charge you like 285-300 a foot but I mean, I manage my own guys. I'm basically the general contractor in that scenario. But San Diego has now taken a step above the state laws of just one ADU and or one at you and one J ADU they're kind of taking it on a case by case basis I've seen like we had a four unit and bay park San Diego that they allowed us to have two ADU’s on to actual ADU not J ADU so, but by right the basic state law says if you have a single family home and you have the space and the setbacks to do it, then you can have one ADU and you can have one J ADU which is attached. So you can build like a three bed two bath in the backyard and then you can build and you could convert the garage into a studio.

20:00 - 25:00

Adit:

The only stipulation is that the J adu has to if you have a J adu that property has to be owner occupied, which is the only stipulation so what I kind of and I don't I don't mean to go off track here but well I have been preaching for people in San Diego using the VA loan and buy something that has room to add value like adding an ADU never used to your VA loan just to buy the pretty single family residence. That's my personal opinion right and something that I push heavily. Why would you go in 100% leveraged into something that has no room to add value or create equity. Buy a kind of semi distressed cosmetically distressed single family home that has a margin too thin for the average flipper. Use your VA loan to buy it and add an Adu. And the thing I hear a lot is I don't have the cash to build an adu, we'll figure it out, like someone's gonna land on that right. If you have a spread big enough, you're gonna be able to get hard money and get most of the cash or even all of the cash in a lot of cases back out of the deal after you build the adu.

So don't be scared of things just because you don't have money and don't use your VA loan to buy pretty houses ever.

Alex:

You're messing up my American dream Adit I just want to buy. I just want to buy all the fancy stuff on debt 100% financed and look cool.

Adit:

You see like, that's something that's kind of been going on, right for decades in this country is the American Dream white picket fence house car. And it really started, let's go to college. Let's go to college by any means, right? Even if it means getting ourselves into a ton of debt, let's get any job. And let's leverage as much as we can to buy the nice boathouse and car, right, which it's now catching up to us, right our parents, they made it through, they made it through. But this generation, our generation, we can't do it, right. We have way too much leverage. And people forgot how leverage works, right? It's not imaginary money, you still owe that money back. The only time that you should be using leverage is for assets, right? That's the fundamental assets versus liabilities thing. So.

That's the real American Dream is using leverage, right? Because we're even privileged to have high leverage in this country, places like Mexico, some places in South America, you can't go get 80% leverage, you can't get a 20% down loan, we have 0% down loans that don't exist in those markets. So we need to be using those to create wealth, not put ourselves in debt.

Alex:

You're messing with my American dream Adit.

On that point though, I love that we have such wealth in this country, that we have an such low debt that we have instilled in our culture that everybody needs to go live on their own, at 18. And if you're 30, and you live in your house, and you're with your parents, then you're somehow a loser. Whereas everywhere ever else on the planet. Well, for 12,000 years of human civilization, people have lived, basically with their family because they couldn't afford to move out, and also turned into a system praising house benefits like, you have a support system. You have a family support system. And then you can develop family wealth, which is what a lot of people still do, and a lot of other countries today.

But in America, we shame people for living it with their family. And then we come up with creative new terms for having people live with you to create wealth, which is called house hacking as if it's some new thing. And I'm like, No, it's the old thing living on your own at 18 or living on your own at 20. Just because that's the new thing. And it loads people up with debt that they don't need and they buy resale homes that they stretch to afford. It doesn't make them any money for 10 or 15 years. And yeah, I mean, we're privileged to have low interest debt. We have a very sophisticated banking system in this country, very, very sophisticated, although they crashes every 10 years because it's not that sophisticated. It's not that good. But it's pretty good. So I love that, you know, and I kind of mostly agree with you, you know, debt isn't a wonderful tool, especially in this country where you can get it 2,3,4 percent right now. I mean, even if you can get a six or 8%, at 80% you have a product that most of the world is unavailable for most of the world. So it's a really good mindset to have about debt. It's a privilege.

Adit:

Yeah, you hit it on the head, man.

25:00 - 30:00

David:

Yeah, I agree.

So what's the what's the, what's the plan now? Or actually how about this? Can you give us some examples? Some numbers have been one or two of the ones you've done.

Adit:

So the most recent one that I exited, was with another pot, a war room mastermind member and podcast guest, Donald appleberry.

This was a three unit property in Imperial Beach, California. We picked it up in January 2021. It was a mis- marketed three unit. The realtor who listed it just didn't sell the potential. She didn't sell that it had a massive front yard where you could build an adu that the rents were severely below market. And it was like, for all intents and purposes, it was a turnkey deal. It was ugly, but it was rentable, right.

So we picked this thing up, found out that we could combine VA entitlement at a barbecue at Dave price house. So shout out Dave for that. And we did just that. So we decided we're going to combine an entitlement picked up this three units. Right around the time that we picked it up. San Diego went into one of the most restrictive eviction moratoriums in the country. So we were unable to owner occupy it.

We started a conversation with the lender, explaining to them our situation, they said, Hey, don't worry about it. As long as you have a documented reason that you didn't owner occupied it, you know, you'll be alright. Right, because we can't, we can't ask tenants to leave at this point. Because the law literally doesn't allow us to.

So you know, that that ended up being kind of a stressful situation because I had put up my condo for rent, wanting to move to my new property in Imperial Beach and surf every day and live that beach life, but couldn't do that, right. So instead, we poured everything we could into the property, we ended up completely doing an exterior rescaling, we raised the rents as much as the law would allow, which just ended up being just enough. And we were going to start the permitting process for an adu, which we were going to then owner occupy, and the market just went nuts.

So we picked that thing up for a million bucks and ended up exiting it at 1.35 7 months later. And the only reason we were able to do that, and I want to be very, very clear about this is because of the San Diego eviction moratorium, which by the way, I believe is still in effect, it will not it will not go away until California ends the COVID state of emergency. So that's the only reason we didn't owner occupy this, I don't want me telling you about how I made 350 grand with the partner gross profit off of a VA loan deal. Be your excuse to not owner occupied because what happens is when people don't owner occupied VA loans, the VA and lenders are going to catch on to it and it's going to ruin the benefit for everyone.

So we need to make sure that just buy a house hackable property that has room to add value and move into it. Because guess what, now your personal overhead gets combined with your investment. So your personal overhead and I still live by this right? By the way, I'm living on a job site right now this is a completed home that I'm sitting in, that's going to be up for sale next month, I've combined my personal overhead with my investment, you know, eliminate my personal overhead overhead by living in my investment, which is what house hacking is.

So go ahead and owner occupy those, create massive value, and then refinance or exit Him or do it again. So that was a really good deal though. The market, it was the right timing, it was the right execution. But yeah, we'd love to do five more of those.

David:

So to clarify two things. One, the entitlement piece for those of you who didn't catch that, the reason there's there's different reasons, you can combine benefits, but in this case, what happened was two different guys. One is an agent, who's making a good amount of money but doesn't have documented tax returns to back it up. So he doesn't have the income to qualify for a mortgage. But he has not touched his VA loan.

Another gentleman has the income and not the full entitlement. So you combine his entitlement, his income, you're able to purchase the property, they qualify for a million dollar loan. And then yeah, they intended to move into the vacant unit and house hack and the city of California or the state of California was like nobody's allowed to move out of your house and they're like, oh, we have nowhere to live now. What do you want like and so, so yeah, definitely not. Don't go out there and try to, you know, cause mortgage fraud and stuff but sometimes stuff happens.

And it worked out! I would say at least fairly well $350,000 Gain on a zero down seven months. I'll take that return.

30:00 - 35:00

Adit:

Yeah the results are not typical for sure. But if you look for mis-market opportunities like that was on MLS, right And not all of that gain was from the market, right a lot of that was earned equity. And it was calculated earn equity.

So the market was just a big bonus, it would have still been a juicy fat beautiful deal. And it was on MLS, it was sitting there for 60 days, and no one picked it up. So before you guys like, catch yourselves, griping about not being able to find deals the markets too competitive. Look at what's already in your face. Like if you're not looking, you're not gonna find them.

Right now in San Diego, there's a four unit mixed use property being advertised as a single family home on MLS.

Alex:

I have a friend in DC who goes on Instagram, and he just posts all the miss listed properties on the MLS. And he's like, he's like, this is a duplex listed as a single family. This is a duplex listed as a single family. Here's another duplex listed as a single family. And he's like these are 100 $150,000 under price all day long. And it's just because the realtor didn't pay attention when they listed it. And then there it says.

David:

Did you see the one he posted the other day? That's why I died laughing when you brought him up. It's a picture of a kitchen. And it's got like lines of coke on a mirror.

Alex:

Oh, yeah.

David:

I'm sure that one's probably like, oh, you know, like kind of a made up one. But he had me roll. And he's like, yeah, not what you want listing photos to look like.

Oh, man.

Alex:

Yeah, it's just funny you say that because I know. You're the second person I know that says there are deals on the MLS that people miss. Because they assume the realtor listed right. And it doesn't happen. So not I mean, obviously, it happens most of the time. But if you go through those deals, if you take the time and go through deals that are on the market, 60 days at this point in the market cycle and just be like why? Then I bet you there's a lot of opportunity.

David:

Yeah, we locked it up for 45,000 asking price last month, we ended up walking because they said they had gotten permits when they rebuilt the entire duplex after it burned halfway to the ground. And then we went to the city and the city was like, there was no fire. And I was like, I didn't say anything. Like I'm not throwing anyone under the bus. And I went back to the seller and was like, Yo, I want 30,000 off. And they were like we're gonna give you 45. It was like, well, you give me 45,000 off when telling me that that was permitted. Like, I'm not trying to play this game if I'm not getting a big big discount. But yeah, it has been on the market for 110 days. I called the guy and said, Hey, you're listed at 230, I'll give you, we went like 150 and came back like 185.

Adit:

That's another thing, right? Like, and that you want to be careful with this because you don't want to get the reputation of being the low baller. But get on some of these odd market deals that have been sitting there like Alex and Dave said, you know, 60 days, or even 45 days and see what would it make sense to you like, alright, this deal is listed for $405,000. But it only makes sense to me 365. Shoot him off or for 365! It doesn't cost any money to make an offer. You know, and if you back it up, right? Especially if you're direct a seller's agent, which I think you should be in these scenarios, just call the seller's agents and say, hey, you know, would your client accept an offer for this much? And this is why I think this is why I would offer it because it's gonna cost me this much to rehab it, this much to finance it, etc. So here's my biggest buy best offer. Would they entertain something like that? No. All right, cool. On to the next one. This one's 500. It makes sense to me for 445, send it to them.

You know, even a wholesaler sent me a deal for $485,000. I went back and I told him Hey, they really appreciate you keeping me in mind. This only makes sense to me at $435,000. And lo and behold, it. He went for he said all right, yeah, we can make it happen for 35. You know, shoot your shot, man, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Alex:

Yeah, there's so many times to like this business is just, it's like the third time that somebody offers you that you're the fourth person often that that amount. 365 is like no FTEs 365. No way. And the second guy is like again, no, a few third one. He's like Jesus. No, no 365. And then you know what, you don't know what having these people's lives or what mood they're in or whatever. And then you come along, you're like 365 He's like, Well, Jesus, I might as well I don't want to get a fifth one. You know, I might as well just take it out. And so sometimes it's just timing. It's just, you just never know. But you have to ask.

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

Alex:

Especially if it's been in the market for a while. That alone says at this point of the cycle, if something's on the market, 45-60 days they've been offered. They've had a lot of offers, and they said no. So it's like, they're not getting their number. They know they're not getting their money. So like, you know, you kind of catch him at that point. You're just trying to play the magic timing to see when they're sick of waiting. And they're just like, Okay, I'll take it.

35:00 - 40:00

Adit:

Yeah, and you got to follow up, right? You know, keep following up with those people, because chances are, you're not going to get it on the first shot. Same thing with me scoring this position with that developer, I hit him up like four or five times before he finally invited me to the job site. You know, you have to follow up consistently.

Alex:

Well, yeah, especially for networking like that. People say networking is a trait of value. But really, I don't look at it at all, like a trait of value. I look at networking, like people investing in people. And so everybody wants to be around, somebody wants somebody around who's going to work hard. And try hard and be committed. And so I'm like, yo, you have to be at least as committed as me.

So if I show up every day, I need to know you're gonna show up every day. So if you show up every day without me even, like before I even knew you, like you're begging me to show up to work, it's like, of course, you're hired. I paid to show up, you're gonna show him like, anyway, let's go, let's be friends for a long time.

Adit:

That was a really good, good way to put it. And it really hit home for me, because recently, I've been reading all Nassim Taleb for the first time. And I started with a skin in the game. And it just like, it all just made sense. You know, like, it just made a lot of sense. And that's what it is, you know, like he said, it's not a value exchange, but you're still presenting some kind of value, right? You have to make yourself valuable.

Alex:

And I don't think that it's not about value. But I mean, I look at it, I don't look at it as a transaction to trade, I look at it as an investment. So again, I'm an investor, I look at everything, every relationship I look at all as, as an investment in some aspect of my brain.

So I say, Okay, how much time and energy and resources am I investing in this person? Is that person going to get better over time, is that a relationship that's going to bring fruits of, of the labor that I put into it of some sort doesn't always have to be monetary. But it's like, sometimes you just want to help somebody. So like, Okay, I'll help this guy, but I have to know, he's at least gonna want it, that he at least wants to help himself more than I can help, then I can help him. So if I see him doing that, it's like, you're good value, you're gonna, it's more like this, I'll give you a cynical answer. It's like, if I look at someone who I know is gonna make it. I'm like, Let me tie myself to them so that I can ride their coattails on the way up.

It's the same exact thing.

Say it again?

Adit:

I said big time, man. That's exactly what it is.

Alex:

It's the same thing.

So it's like, you look at somebody as a as it's not to say there's no value exchange. But if I look at somebody and say, there's value in that person that I want to invest in them.

Adit:

Hell yeah.

David:

Yeah, like that.

Yeah! Well, and the other thing is, like, you just gotta, you just gotta go into a relationship thinking about, like, what's in it for the other person, right, like, you gotta at least come off that way. Because I'll tell you right now, like, you know, the more that things grow, the more people reach out to me asking for, you know, pick your brain mentorship. Like, you know, and a lot of times, it's like, I'll tell you this, if your first message to me is an ask, you probably not gonna get a response. Like, I don't I don't, I don't know who you are. I don't , like, you know, at least like, Hey, I'm so and so I, like this is your whatever. But like, it's, you know, like Adit was like, Hey, I'd like to work with you and help you. He wasn't like, Hey, can you just like, let me or you know, buy me coffee and, and tell me what to do. And then you'll get nothing from me. Thanks!

Alex:

What was your reach out? Like, Adit, when you say, hey, every time these people, What did you say? And how did you contact them?

Adit:

I contacted them over biggerpockets.com. All right, all messages over bigger pockets.

And then I took it to LinkedIn for those of them who had their LinkedIn. And then some of them even had their phone numbers on social media. So I texted them, the whole nine, right, but basically, it went something like this.

Hello, blank. This is Adit Shah. I'm a recently discharged Navy Veteran. I'm super interested in real estate. And I have dreams of being a real estate developer and making a big impact in my community.

I think I can be extremely valuable to your business because I know basic handyman skills. I'm really good at talking to people. And I can work for hours on end without any reward or satisfaction because I was in the military, right? I'm all about the delayed gratification game. And I would love to help you on your job sites or with your day to day tasks that you're having trouble balancing so you can go on and do bigger and better things in your business. And here's my contact information and let me know a good time for us to meet, something along those lines, right.

40:00 - 45:00

Adit:

And I'm actually going to take that letter and I'm going to post it on my blog soon so people can see and then include my resume, right like including an actual resume like I tried hard on this thing, right? I was a textbook tryhard resume the whole nine letters, and then just relentless follow up. Because I remember when I, when I, when I started, I said I had the audacity to what to be a real estate developer, like, we have the audacity to want financial freedom want to be multifamily investors or house flippers or wholesalers or house hackers, whatever, that's not normal, right? The normal thing to do in the world is to go to college and sell your time for 40 years.

If you expect for your life to go differently, you need to do extraordinary things to achieve those results. It's not granted, it's not given, it's not normal, right? You have to have a certain level of tenacity. And like I say, audaciousness to want those things. And you have to back it up with your actions. And you have to back it up with your desire as well.

David:

I love it.

Alex:

Dude! I love your intensity right now.

David:

I love that you mentioned the piece about, you know, I was in the military. So I can work for a long time with no reward. And I love that both because it's hilarious and ironically true. But I have said something similar before where it's like. I mean, I essentially like while building the whole Military Millionaire thing, like I was paying to build it for the first almost two years. And people are like, Well, why Oh, my God. At first, I had no idea. But you know, and it's like, I have attributed a few times, though that a lot of it, I think is that makes servicemembers successful in real estate or entrepreneurship or whatever is that almost any of those endeavors, the first while I mean, you know, anywhere from a couple months to a couple of years, you're putting out a ton of effort, and getting almost no reward. And service members do have a very ornate like patience for that. Because you work long hours you deal with, like, Hey, you're gonna be here at two in the morning, even though we can't tell you why you're gonna be here at two in the morning. And really, you don't need to be here till five. And so like, you get good at entertaining yourself and putting up with like, not getting paid extra for doing things that, you know, most people would think are insane. And so then you're like, well shoot, if I'm going to work for six hours doing nothing on a Saturday or sending a 24 hour post, like, I mean, at least now I'm doing it for myself, it's almost more rewarding. I don't know, I've felt that way before. I'm like, the Marine Corps trained me for this standing duty is way, way harder than filming 20 videos.

Adit:

And you know, the biggest thing the military taught me is that, like, each person's journey is his or her own like, and this is something that I struggled with, because like, for the longest time, I was like the hardest working sailor like sailor the quarter, you know, try hard. Textbook try hard guy, right. And I ended up doing six years and getting out. So that's a different story of how that ended.

But, you know, I was that guy, and I would see my peers getting passing me up getting promoted. I'm like, I know, I'm working harder than this guy. But I'm not getting promoted. A lot of people fall into the trap of crying about it like, oh, you know this is fair? I didn't deserve this. But I learned that you know, what, if I put my blinders on and only focus on me, and make myself better, what's coming to me is coming, right? And I just have to consistently put in these compounding actions to achieve the result that I want.

So instead of worrying about XY and Z getting promoted before I do, I just need to make sure I'm doing these consistent sets of actions every single day. And eventually it's going to come to me, I don't care about anyone else. And strangely enough, this is the reason why, like, I got super into jujitsu as of last year. It's the same thing. Like, I could be training three, four times a week. And guys like John Milan, who's another podcast guest, and we remember, are going to crank it out and pass me up every time even though he trains hard to, but he's just better than me, right? There's going to be people who are better than you. Or it seems like they're better than you, I should say, and they're going to pass you up. And they're going to do better than you in the short term. But as long as you keep putting those consistent actions in, and you decide what you want, you know what I decided that I want to be a blue belt in a year and a half.

It doesn't matter if someone else gets promoted before I do. It doesn't matter if someone else gets better than I do. As long as I keep that consistency. And I start this effect of compounding actions to achieve that desired result. It's gonna come, you know and same thing with real estate.

David:

Yeah, consistency is powerful.

Alex:

On the lawn is a sissy for starters.

David:

I love that I didn't even have to talk shit.

Alex:

He knows it's not even in the news.

All right, everybody listener already knows that.

Adit:

I'm gonna crop out that clip and just put it on Instagram.

Alex:

I'm gonna put it on my Instagram. It's gonna be my opener to my tagged post, pinned post.

45:00 - 50:00

David:

He'll love it.

Alex:

Dude! Did we talk about Nassim Taleb in Orlando?

Adit:

I don't think we did, man. I don't think we did.

Alex:

He's my hero. I don't go a day without quoting some of his wisdom. He's the smartest guy walk in planet earth

Adit:

I've got the same pill, man.

I started with Skin in the Game and I'm reading Anti Fragile now.

Alex:

I started Skin in the Game and Anti fragile is my favorite book of all time.

Adit:

I'm gonna be talking about it with you when I come see you in North Carolina, because hopefully I'll be done with it by then hopefully. And, dude, Nassim Taleb for anyone who has not read any of Nassim Taleb stuff. Stop what you're doing right now. If you're driving, pull over, get on Audible. Use that one credit for any of his books.

I read skin in the game and loved it. And it makes a lot of sense, not just to life or not just to real estate but to life. And that's another thing that I kind of, like harp about is like, don't let real estate just consume you, like focus on being an overall better person. Learn about economics, learn about the fundamentals of business. And beyond that learn about history and you know, anything.

Alex:

I've actually shared a big reading list. We shouldn't talk about that.

Adit:

Yeah!

Well, dude, I just joined your book club. So.

Alex:

Okay, yeah.

I post just about everything I read on there. So I try to be active. People interact a little more.

Adit:

Yeah, yeah, totally.

That one, you know, I saw that you're gonna read Infinite Jest, which I'm kind of scared of.

Alex:

You shouldn't be scared of it. It is deadly difficult. Anybody who's listened to this, David's this before January. Let's talk about it real quick.

And January one I'm gonna read Infinite Jest. I've already read it as probably the most influential fiction book of my life at this point. I'm not a big fiction reader, but I do like heavy literature, like human-informed literature, not just not like sci fi or fiction for the sake of fiction.

This is a tough book. It's a long book. That's why I wouldn't do it in a group, there's about 15 of us, and I highly recommend it. It is a book about a critique of American culture. I'm very excited. You should do it with me. Don't be a sissy.

Adit:

Me and David will do it.

Alex:

David is not up for the challenge.

David:

David was one of the first people to say he would do this stupid. Read all of Alex's books in the 2022 challenge thing.

Alex:

I was gonna do like 11 rereads in 2022 and five of them were gonna be all in the same books, but.

David:

Honestly, none of this conversation matters because Alex and I have a strict belief in not self promoting on the show. So I'm gonna have to pull all the book club stuff out because we can't.

Alex:

Self promoting what?

David:

Your free crap.

Alex:

To bring it back to the beginning of this conversation, the thing that makes Infinite Jest so valuable is that it's hard. And it kind of walks you through is meta about...

David:

Metaverse?

Alex:

It's kind of a touchy feely this meta about exactly. So then we're gonna conversations like what's hard is valuable, even though you don't want to do it because it's fucking hard. And doing what's easy is pleasurable, and fun and entertaining. And, but it's self defeating. And so the whole point of the book is to be long for the purpose of like, like I said, that meta of like, hey, it's, it's valuable because it's hard.

David:

Okay, so you say hard fiction. Is this like 1984 style fiction where it's like predictive, or is this like Ayn Rand where it's like a story that tells, like, you know, about, like, a certain topic or like, what kind of what kind of fiction we talk about here?

Alex:

It's absurdist. It's a prediction of American culture 25 years in the future, written 25 years ago.

Adit:

Wow.

David:

Interesting.

Alex:

Yeah.

David:

I should have known like, if it's obscure, and then old Alex is probably..

Alex:

Yeah, it's obscure. It's weird. And it's written very, very bizarre. Like it's written in really weird prose. So it's kind of wordy in a weird way. He makes up words and stuff, so it's a little bit difficult.

David:

Are you reading a hardcopy this time through or are you doing an audio book again?

Alex:

I'm gonna read the physical version this time.

David:

Was it still fine on audio though?

Alex:

Yeah.

50:00 - 55:00

David:

Alright, cool.

Sometimes some of these books there's only a few books that I haven't been able to do on audiobook and they're all Alex books. But it's, you know, it's things like well, I ended up making it through Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but I had to slow it down. And then like oh, what's the other two or three they're all they're all psycho psychology books, or philosophy books like those are the ones where I'm like, God I can't read this at like my normal speed I got to slow back down to 1x so, because there's like hard books to read fast, but then there's hard books that you're like, oh my god, I can't keep up with what the heck this guy's saying.

Adit:

Yeah, so like Thinking Fast and Slow that one I had to one exit man. That was a hard read for me. But that was a really good book. Yeah, a really good book.

David:

Meditations was another one just because it's not like a storyline it's like different, just totally disconnected thoughts. And so it was like trying to listen to it fast. I was like, by the time I comprehend a thought I've missed two so..

Alex:

Meditation is good.

David:

Yeah!

I love when a book holds up for 1800 years.

Adit:

Yeah, right!

David:

Or there were just no other competing books but you know, No, I'm just kidding.

Alex:

Yeah, that's part of it.

I mean, you can see it now in books like if you look at the books that are released each year 99.9% of them are garbage nonsense that never needed to be written, trash.

David:

Barely more blogs.

Alex:

Yeah, a perfect example.

And you know, that gets worse as books become easier to read, produce, consume, you can do ebooks now. Audio only, but that doesn't mean that people there still still have some books that are written today that that Alas, and it's just harder to get that's why I try not to read books that are less than like..

David:

Goodnight Moon.

Alex:

50 years is usually like my, like my first I will read books newer than that. But that's usually where I try to get to..

David:

Here's an odd one Alex that I'm just curious about before we bring this back around on the subject just because I don't know if you've read it. It seems like it might fit. Have you read Napoleon Hill? Was it dancing with the devil or..

Adit:

Outwitting the Devil.

David:

Outwitting the Devil?

Dude you should read that out when you would, I think you would enjoy it. So here's the premise.

Napoleon Hill wrote it. And then it was like, people are gonna think I'm out of my freaking mind. I'm never going to publish this. And then like, he died. And then like, his family was like, Holy shit, we're never going to publish that. And then like when his family died, like the last person was like to press and passed away. And so like it made it. It made it but like, the whole book is like, it's kind of trippy like he wrote it like this. I don't even know how to describe it. It's like him talking about selling his soul to the devil. And like, I don't know, I think you find some interest in it just because it's like, the story behind it being like one of these books that was never really intended to see the light of day.

Alex:

Yeah, that does interest me.

Adit:

You know, I will say about Napoleon Hill. He's the reason why I did that thing where I blasted like all the developers, because in Thinking Grow Rich, there's a story about this guy named Barnes. His last name is Barnes. And he Chuck's his last penny to buy a train ticket to go to Edison's factory in New Jersey and go into business with him and ends up like getting a job sweeping the factory floor, and then ends up in a sales position and ends up being the sale, the best salesman for one of Edison's inventions that everyone thought was going to flop and then ends up becoming a partner with Edison for that invention and selling it.

So that's kind of what's like, planted the seed in me about trying to add value to someone who's doing exactly what you want to do. And not just like, hey, I'll help you. I don't know like shred papers in your office like no, I will go to your tenants house and unclog the toilet, right? I will go to you. I will get this unit ready for turnover on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor. That type of shit.

David:

I mean, again, the military is pretty good about training people to like stir poo. So what's the difference between stir and poo and unclog a toilet? And if you start burning poo for the military, like, hey, tenants toilets are pretty nice.

Alex:

Yeah, it does have a good way of humbling you by giving you just jobs that are beneath everybody. And then yeah, it's like, Hey, you deal with it.

David:

You wax the floor in the wrong direction. Do it again.

Alex:

I do wonder about your earlier point about like, you know, we're the college debt nation right now. I don't have any college debt. Thankfully, I didn't even have that mindset. When I was a kid, when I was younger. I wasn't like, I wasn't going to go into debt for college. That seems crazy.

Adit:

Yeah.

55:00 - 1:00:00

Alex:

It's the norm now and I understand that.

I wonder if it entitles people to think that they're like, I got this good job. I got this college degree. Now I deserve some kind of pay. I deserve some kind of job above what I normally would get and just the world doesn't always work out that way, by any means.

Adit:

No, I mean, it's got to be merit based, right.

So if you spent $200,000, getting a communication degree at a private school, and you didn't do the smart thing, go to community college first and go to a public school, then and you end up making three grand a month, like, you know that, that goes back to skin in the game and balance and getting in, getting out what you put in, right. And it's really, really like mind blowing to me, because, you know, when I'm reviewing tenants applications, for the rentals, and seeing like, two quarter million in debt, $100,000 in debt, $4,500 salary, you know, $3,500 salary a month. Like why, you know, don't do that, don't think that you have to go do that you don't have to do anything.

Alex:

And worse, you then people complain, they say the system is broken, when they're like, I got a job making this $50,000 a year all this debt, I'm like, you don't look at but people don't look at themselves and say, the society told me to do, I was very lucky, and you're very young in life, I realized I'm like my, through no fault of their own no malice that my parents are going to give me bad advice, right?

Society is gonna give you bad advice, go to school, get a job, you know, save money, buy a house, like those are the four core American dream, like you said, right. And again, it's like that's that right there that plans that my generation and sound of your generation were taught as the success rules for success. That is bad information. And just because everybody tells you to do it, it's like you're gonna get in a position where you're gonna have all this debt, you're gonna have a low paying job, you're gonna have no real skills, the only thing you have is this credential that you essentially paid for. Instead, you know, it's not, it doesn't say, it's not a statement of talent or experience, just credentials. And then so you're like, how come these two two things don't add up? And it's like, yeah, you messed up. Because you believe the system, the system's not I mean, it shouldn't tell you that. But that's life, right? So and

David:

I was just saying, Now you throw in the, you've got people going and doing the exact same thing with the assumption that their school is going to get forgiven, therefore, who cares, and they're just setting themselves up for even more hardship, if that doesn't happen?

Alex:

Well, and they have the same problem, because, you know, even if that guy got absolved, $50,000 in student debt, which may, if it's all of it, it's like, okay, sure. But anybody, once you get a little older, you realize the $50,000, the hits the swings, they're gonna come and go in life. I mean, 50,000 is a big chunk, a big chunk for almost everybody. But it's going to come and go, no matter what.

So whether your student loan is absolved, it's like, that's not going to change. It's not going to change the trajectory of your life in any dramatic fashion. Now, it might feel important now, but it's not that $50,000 is going to come and go multiple, multiple, multiple times in your life. And if you do well, in life, it's going to come 50 down. It's going to come and go a lot of times.

So yeah, the people who are not you know, they're getting that freebie. It's like, you're not untouchable, you just, you got one lucky, that's one lucky swing. But life is long, and having that learn that hard work and learning that humility and taking those jobs you don't want and learning that you aren't entitled to anything. That's a much, much more valuable thing than that $50,000 I'm gonna $100,000 absolve Vation of student loan debt is not gonna change their lives as much as they think it's just good political posturing.

Adit:

Yeah, totally.

And it all goes back to that. It's a mindset that's translated across everything in America, even people who are looking to get into real estate, they're looking to pay someone $50,000 To teach them about real estate, right? One of those like mastermind guru things.

Now, granted, there's a couple of them out there who may or may not be legit, right? Like I've never paid someone that amount of money to teach me anything. But the people that do want that instant gratification, right? Like, they want to pay someone $20,000 to teach me what I need to know about real estate so I can go make 100. Same thing with college, I'm going to pay $50,000 to get through college and I deserve a job, no, like, let's take it back a notch.

You know, before people were doing all this crazy shit. There's something called apprenticeships, if you wanted to go learn something, you had to go on your hands and knees and scrub that guy's floor to watch him do it or just be in his presence, right? And that's kind of how I took a stab at development. When I took the apprenticeship model, we need to bring that back and bring back that mentality. If I want to go do something, why don't I go work for someone who's doing it for free, by the way, right? If you get a paid internship or you know pay the apprenticeship, good on you, but don't expect anything.

The knowledge and the experience alone is going to be worth a lot, right? Like, when I went into my first solo flip, I already knew exactly what I was doing. I already had the resources I needed, already had the financing I needed just because I had that apprenticeship with the developer. So that gets translated across everything, get rid of that instant gratification mindset, and take the hard route, because the hard route is going to be the one that sticks and pays you for life.

1:00:00 - 1:05:00

Alex:

Yeah, and what people don't realize is that they, the people who don't want to do that, they think, well, this isn't unfair. And I'm like, yeah, it's unfair, but the thing you don't realize is you're competing against Adit. And you can sit there and tell me what kind of salary you deserve. Because what your, what your school is all these things, but Adit is going to go do it for free. He's gonna kick your ass, and he'll get paid later. And you'll get paid a lot more and then he'll have the skills while you're sitting there waiting to find somebody who you think deserves or that, you know, deserves you to come work for them kind of thing. And so it's not so much that people go on to change the system, like just all you want, but there's always gonna be people like Adit who's gonna go out there, and just, I'm just gonna He's gonna kick your ass. He's just gonna do it.

While you're sitting there arguing about salaries, he's somebody come along that I'll do for free. Because I see it as valuable and I can make the sacrifice. Because you probably don't, like you said you live in a business house, right? An asset. You're not buying fancy stuff. Drive a piece of shit.

Adit:

I drive an 07 seven Toyota Tacoma.

Alex:

That's an expensive vehicle, actually.

Adit:

I got it well below retail.

Alex:

Yeah, the Tacomas never go down in value. Apparently.

David:

Toyota is actually the top brand for retaining value.

The one exception, theoretically being Tesla, but not enough data to support it. And I think it's just because there's still limited supply. Yeah, Toyota they sell value better than anything else.

Alex:

Yeah, I love that mindset. Just go do it. You're competing against people who, there's a lot of people who are just unwilling to compete with you in that way. And they're gonna lose it on you.

Adit:

Yeah, totally, man.

David:

All right!

If an E one, E two walked up to you looking for advice, life advice, right, getting out the military, in the military, whatever. What's the one thing you would tell them? What do you wish you knew?

Adit:

Decided right now.

Do you want to be ordinary? Or do you want to be extraordinary? You know, do you want to just go through the motions? And do your foreign get out? Or do you want to try to excel in life and leverage your military experience into something that's going to pay you forever, right?

I think that the military is the most golden opportunity in America right now. You go for four years, if you end up hating it, you get a free degree at the end of it, and more than three degrees. So you get $3,000 A month in San Diego for 36 months to go to college. And then on the side, go work for a developer for free, because you're already getting money from the military, right?

So what I would say to that person is one, save every single penny, two, the guys who you think are cool right now are not going to amount to shit five years from now. And three, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So just because you have just because you hate the military, but you have your passion about real estate. If you forgo your military responsibilities that's going to carry over to the rest of the rest of your life. Be excellent in everything that you do. Even if you hate the military, you sign that dotted line, do what you have to do. And when you get out, you know the world is yours. But make sure that you always hold yourself to that standard of excellence. Like I hated the military with you know, I'll say it. I didn't like it. I did not enjoy the military. But I still did what I had to do. And I still tried to be number one there.

David:

Yeah, that's huge advice.

Alex:

Adit is dropping serious wisdom.

Yeah, dude, this guy who's listening. You got to follow this kid.

Adit:

Thanks, man.

That means a lot from Alex Felice.

Alex:

Yeah, well, I know wisdom. That's good.

David:

Humility too.

Alex:

That's good wisdom, how you do one thing, and it's how you do everything. I say that a lot. And people, they don't recognize it in themselves.

David:

Resource.

What's a resource? Do you recommend anybody looking to get ready to get into real estate, investing, business, book, course, website.

Adit:

So I mean, everyone here knows about from military to millionaire, but in the past year in 2021, and I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying this to impress upon you what's possible for you from the connections that I've made in the from military to millionaire Facebook group in 2021. I've made a quarter million bucks, right?

Just from that, and I've also now setting up flips out of state in South Carolina, setting up a couple of other businesses all from military to millionaire, okay, so any network that you can get plugged into, especially familiar to military to millionaire, get plugged into there. And don't just be on the sidelines, participate, ask questions like all those people who go in there and say, Hey, this is what I'm thinking about, like, one Google at first, but two bring questions that actually require some creative thinking, right? Because when I go on there, and I see a question, that's like, I don't know, like, the city is requiring me to report footings on something that was already permitted. And I don't know what to do. Is it gonna work? You know, I'm gonna hop in there, and I'm gonna, because that's not easy Google. Easily googoable question. I'm gonna go there. And I'm gonna be like, Oh, this is good. Let me think about how I can solve this problem, right? Because I get off on solving problems.

So ask thoughtful questions, and participate and get plugged into from military to millionaire and bigger pockets of course, those are two great resources.

1:05:00 - 1:09:49

David:

And yeah, you're right about the questions thing, because sometimes people go in and they ask a question and just kind of want to be like, did you like, type that into Google? Because, like, I don't do it in that group. But like, when I was in the military, I would have people ask questions that were like, really simple questions. And they'd like, email them over. And I would go, and I would type their like, copy paste their question into Google, and then snip the answer being the top piece on Google and email it back. So that they could see that I literally pasted it in Google, that I would type back like, this wasn't that hard.

Alex:

There's a service that does that for you, David, do you know this? There’s a website called Let me Google that for you?

David:

Oh, that's funny.

Alex:

And then it gives you a link. And that link takes them to Google and puts their question in Google and then clicks it for them. Ask me a silly question. I do the same thing. I'm like, I literally gonna let me Google that for you.

David:

That's amazing.

Alex:

I got you fam. I got you.

David:

Oh, man.

Yeah, we'd be like, like in the recruiting office, my birds would hate it. They'd ask some silly question. I'd be like, Google knows, I'd be like, damn, and I was hoping you'd know, like, maybe I do. But you need to know where to find answers.

Alex:

I think that's really good advice. Because a lot of my internet community and value that I've been able to exchange has come from not necessarily content, but going into active forums where people actually are and having real interactions with them and trying to give them like you said, not simple answers. Not hey, I posted to say I posted but like, hey, look, that's a difficult question that somebody is not able to find like somebody, you have to take the time to answer that. And think about it. Think about it through. And I like that, too. Like having nuanced conversations on the internet. It's not good on Facebook and Twitter, but in forums and in groups, sometimes very much can be I think, I think I think it's very valuable. I've had a lot of value come from, from doing just that. So I highly recommend that as well.

David:

Agreed.

Adit thanks for joining us, man. I know we tried to record this last week, but both Alex and I got stuck in cars at times we didn't necessarily expect to we're like, ah, hey, but, but it's always a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for joining us today and lots of good advice.

Adit:

Thank you so much, man.

I'm super excited to be here and grateful for the opportunity.

Alex:

Adit, you're the man!

Also I can't wait to read Infinite Jest with you. Also, I double can't wait to talk to you about Nassim Taleb.

Dude, I just realized this. Check this out. My background on my phone for the last year now is a picture of Nassim Taleb doing deadlifts.

Adit:

That's incredible! I didn't know he lifted.

Alex:

He talks about deadlifts and Anti Fragile all the time.

Adit:

I just started it.

Alex:

Dude, let’s talk about it for a long time.

Adit:

I'm going to have it by the time I come to North Carolina so we can talk about it.

Alex:

Yeah, I'm so pumped!

And then also for anybody listening to Infinite Jest January one. Oh my god, you're gonna hate it. It's gonna be amazing. We'll do it together.

Adit:

Yes, I just got signed up for it with David.

Alex:

It'll be a group thing. So we'll do it together.

David:

Yeah. It's like, you know, it's like hazing. It's if you do it in a group. It's totally acceptable.

Camaraderie.

Adit, thanks again, brother.

Adit:

Thank you guys.

End:

Thank you for listening to another episode about my journey from military to millionaire. If you liked it, be sure to visit frommilitarytomillionaire.com/podcast to subscribe to future podcasts. While you're there. We'd love for you to rate the show. Give us a review on iTunes. Now get out there and take action.

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