Episode 103 | Dave Seymour | Military Millionaire Podcast

00:00 - 05:00

Intro:

You're listening to the Military to Millionaire podcast, a show about real estate investing for the working class. Stay tuned as we explore ways to help you improve your finances, build wealth through real estate, and become a person that is worth knowing.

David:

What's up military millionaires, I wanted to briefly talk about a service I offer that a whole lot of people don't seem to know about. And I guess that's a failure on my part for not having discussed it enough.

So look, finding a realtor that understands investing and or the VA loan or both. It's not always the easiest thing in the world and finding a lender, same thing. So what I have started doing is I've built a well I have a large network, but I've started to compile it all together finally, as a legitimate excel document driven, location driven, list for you guys essentially.

So what it is is basically just my way of helping connect you with a realtor or a lender that I know personally and vetted and talked to and understand that they're not going to screw you. And what I do is, like, for example, I had a market where I had two or three agents that I all sent the same person as a connection said, Hey, man, you know, I trust, I know all of these, let me know what you think. And they are also the same agent, and same thing.

So what I've done is if there's multiple agents in the same market, I choose the best one and that's what I'm going to hook you up with. But the whole point of this is just to help ensure that you get connected to the best agents. So if that is something that you would like, just go to the website, go to Frommilitarytomillionaire.com/VA-realtor/, or just reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook, whatever, I'll send you the link or you can find it on the resources page of the website.

But look, all it is is a way to help connect you with an agent who's gonna hook you up. No, I don't charge a fee for you know, I don't charge a fee for the agent. It's just a way to hook you guys up at the end of the day as a buyer, you're not going to pay for a realtor, anyway so tadaaa, it's magic, you might as well use one as far as a VA lender. I've got a really good one that I work with and know very well there's several others that are pretty good. And I'll probably try to steer you away from some companies that I just don't think are very reputable or have been very helpful.

So you know if this is the service that sounds good to you for free 99 then reach out and if not, then enjoy the show right now.

David:

What's up?

Alex is.

Alex:

What's up David?

David:

Alex is hulk smashing his computer before we hit record, but.

Alex:

I hulk smashed my computer this morning. But I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm doing okay. I think I'm going to over the next few weeks, I'm going to turn my photography hobby into a real actual business and I think it's going to do. I actually have a lot of demand already. So.

David:

Yeah, It'll do good. You've built it up the right way. Be good.

Today's guest is Dave Seymour. So this should be a little interesting. So he was not in the military. He's a firefighter EMT, but you may know him from flipping Boston. So he's, he's been around a little bit. They reached out and I was like, yep, Okay, sounds good. So.

Alex:

Flipping and video let's you're up my alley.

David:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it should be a good time but let's bring him in because he just hopped in the waiting room and let's just get this thing rolling.

Alex:

Let's do it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Seymour:

Let's go to work. Come on.
David:

Oh my gosh.

All right. So that's how the show is gonna go, I'm gonna leave that as the intro. That's awesome.

So every episode I ended up going too long, and Alex has to tell me to hurry up but today the guests joined in, which is awesome.

So hey, what's up military millionaires. I'm your host, David Pere. And of course, this is your co host Alex Felice, who still thinks he's attempting but can't get away.

And we've got today we've got on the show Dave Seymour, which is for those of you who've ever watched the show flipping Boston is probably a familiar face or you know, CNN, CBS he's been around the block a little bit.

Dave Seymour:

I’m a big deal, dude. Let me tell you how I'm all that in a bag of chips brother.

David:

So we've been chatting before the recording and I think I think you guys are gonna like this guy for sure.

So Dave started out as a firefighter EMT. He did that for like 16 years and then he got into real estate investing and he has just exploded like I said, You've probably seen him on TV now he's doing very large private equity deals and multifamily syndication deals. And we're going to kind of dig through all of that today, so it's gonna be fun.

Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Seymour:

Thanks, brother. Appreciate you man. It's nice it's like the SM with you guys a little bit before the show. It's nice too, I don't know man. Well, I always look at it this way. I said before the show I'm kind of like a blue collar guy in a white collar world.

You know in finance and big money this it's loaded with I can swear on the show Hi. pretension. You know what I mean? And I've made it like a mission. The TV show gives you a big set of balls when you walk into a room right? So I've made it kind of like a mission for me to be able to take some of that Harvard pretension and tuck it in a corner somewhere. Just have real conversations.

So I love I love just be so were you guys the first time we met, but my kind of peep show, you know I'm saying.

05:00 - 10:00

Alex:

Yeah, I have a bank background and it's like I'm the only one who's not stiff. It's very, it's very ah.

Dave Seymour:

Isn’t that interesting I tell you his take on it right so I'm a working class guy from London originally, I was born in London I grew up in England and emigrated back in 86.

So my dad was, you know, he was always a heating and air conditioning guy, you know what I'm saying? My mom was a secretary in a bank. So there was no, there was no financial education. There was no, you know, I wonder what the stock market is doing today David, you know what, I mean, that didn't happen in my household. It was like, you know, do we have enough green stamps to buy some some, you know, shopping for groceries this week.

So, you know, as you come into this world, like you say, Alex, you know, the staff, I think I honestly believe that a lot of the job and financial job and real estate job and you know, investing in jogging is an intentional separation between us and them. You know what I mean? Like, if you don't understand the vocabulary, right, you can't play the game and I think it's intentional. I really do.

Alex:

Yeah, I have a finance degree and a bank background, and I've been an underwriting and then but I was in the army and I'm, I'm as rough as it gets, you know, I tell people, I'm like, I have a rough exterior, right.

But I also have a rough interior. And it is interesting because I speak both languages. And so to me, it's I I have that I've never thought about the way you said it. But I'm like, why are all these people so uptight? Um, you can be a little raw and work if you can wear pink shirts and work in a bank, but nobody does. And I never thought though, it was intentional, like you said, but maybe it does seem like a little separation of.

Dave Seymour:

I, you know, in England that the class structure in England is very defined, right? And it's and it's difficult to move through those class structures. If you're, you know, if you're a worker bee, you're a worker bee for life. Your goal is to bang out 40 years of, you know, 40 hours plus a week, and hopefully have enough of a pension to retire on. And in England, you know, I grew up on the English equivalent of projects where, you know, it was council housing.

And you know, we never aspire to have homeownership or financial 42 decks. It just wasn't on there. Just wasn't on the radar. But there were plenty of people around me growing up who had money. And then when you come to America, and here's what I love about this country, and I'm proud to carry an American passport, proud of my heritage, don't get me wrong. I'm London. I'm an Englishman waving the flag, God bless the Queen cup of tea and all of that shit. But at the end of the day, I am proud to be an American because this country gave me the ability to move through financial classes, right? As long as you've got the fucking balls to get up, stand up, participate, right? Be in the game rather than sitting on the sidelines crying. This country's amazing.

So it's allowed so allowed a guy like me to work his way into, you know, closed rooms that the average dude can get can't get into right because of those barriers to entry whether it's intelligence and Financial Intelligence, not intelligence in the sense of, you know, you're dumb you're smart but intelligence in the subject intelligence in the deployment of capital intelligence in the in the process and then having the balls to do it, you know, just having the balls to actually get up and go rather than sit there with a handout. So I'm a grateful immigrant to the US. And, you know, I, I take that seriously. I really do. And your audience probably understands that more than most you know what I'm saying?

David:

Well, the audience definitely speaks language number one have beat chest say fuck but but I think I think you're spot on with a lot of that really. And I also think that I like that you just keep reiterating the having Kahuna is because I think that's one of the things I like being a real estate investor In the military, that fundamentally, there is no difference from being a real estate investor anywhere.

And I always just tell people aside from like the VA loan, but that which isn't meant for investing, so whatever. But, you know, I tell people all the time, like the biggest thing that helps servicemembers out with investing is that the Marine Corps, the military, in general makes you decisive. And it gives you a set of balls. And like those two things, like being able to pull the trigger on something and roll I, I've had success and things I never should have tried. So.

Dave Seymour:

No, no, I concur youngman. I mean, I concur. Look, I'm thinking about some of the I've been blessed to be in the educational space before the TV show, and then heavily after the TV show.

So I've had the honor and the pleasure of interacting with a lot of military folks and to be very direct with you that their chances of success have been higher than than a lot of others for the exact reasons that you described. Right?

10:00 - 15:00

Dave Seymour:

You take the look if I'm successful at what I do, and you see that you respect it, and I tell you turn left and not turn right, you're gonna fuckin turn left. Don't question me, turn left it works, asshole, right?

You got a CEO who understands what they do and that you respect that you follow. They say jump and I don't mean to be corny and disrespectful in any way. They say jump, you say how high right? Because you know, it's the right thing to do because you're going to get the result that you want.

So there's, there's so many parallels between, you know, the process of capital, the process of investing in the process of business, look, some of the very, very best come out of the military and become some of the very, very best you know, business coaches. I'm thinking of the big bulk guy was, he was si Yes, he does a lot of business coaching now.

David:

Oh, Jaco.

Dave Seymour:

Jaco, you know, if you follow some some of the stuff that Jaco teaches and the way that he describes it, you know, leadership in a real estate investing business requires fucking accountability. Right? I own it. I own all of it. I own the good, the bad, the ugly, I own the right decisions. I made the wrong decision. We celebrate our victories, right? And we learn from that from it for my challenges and losses. And if you bring that kind of mentality into it, brother, it's fucking on like Donkey Kong. It's It's showtime, you know what I'm saying?

So I took a lot of that. That's, that's funny. That was one of the ways I actually got the TV show because I was still fighting fires when I applied for that show. And my catchphrase was, is when everybody else is running out, we're running in, because that's what we that's what we do. Right? Everyone else runs away from a firefight in the military, you're trying to engage. And it's the same thing in real estate, right? 2008 I started real estate.

People say to me, what do you do? I say I'm a real estate investor. And they go I'm sorry. You had some kind of turmoil. illness, you know what I mean? But, you know, discipline with, you know, truth, knowing what you can and what you can't do, and then executing on what you can delegate and learn and what you can't do. You know, it's, it becomes repeatable, which is really what we want, right? We want a repeatable process, I want to know that if I do 123 and four and number five is a payday and once I once I really simplified it like that, I just kept on going and going and going, and, you know, learning along the way, so I believe that the military mentality as a as a leg up as a, you know, as a power process behind it, but not a lot of other folks can carry into the game. So it makes sense. I'm sure it does to you guys. Right.

Alex:

I'm thinking of all our listeners right now, which are overwhelmingly primarily military people. And, you know, when I was in, I was getting these skills, but I didn't really appreciate it until till I was older and I could reflect on what I what I learned and so many of the things you're saying right now like if a young listening this like, dude, there's so many advantages and military experience that don't really you know, haven't Dave explained them really let them manifest like first your brash approach, right? I mean, people in America love that right? You can command your like, go fuck what you think about me. We're here to get shit done. You're like, Oh, this guy, this guy's got radical responsibility hyper accountability like day one in the army, they taught me they're like, no more mistakes. You just say you fucked up. You take it.

Systemization, right, like, hey, look, we're gonna, we know how to do this. We're gonna make an SLP, we're gonna make it standard. We're gonna make it repeatable. Like those things really translate into real estate. Like what are you gonna do at once, the game's over, right? And so many of these things are skills that you learn in the military, but they don't really, they're not so apparent. So the fact that you're listening about like this, I think really helps you know a guy who's listening to this like the skills that you're getting don't seem so apparent but if you list them out like that they're pretty obvious and they work.

Dave Seymour:

I heard every word of that, I resonate with it and I'm thinking back and I didn't mention this pre call because it still kind of gets me going a little bit you know, you said you had rough exterior rough interior Alex right.

So they used to call me the fucking iron marshmallow. You know what I mean? Like I'm, I'm a badass on the outside, but I'm soft as a sneaker full of shit when you really dial it in, right? But I remember, see real estate investing is it's not a it's not an individual sport. Real Estate Investing wealth creation, you know, self made millionaire is a fucking misnomer it doesn't exist.

You know, there is nobody whether you take a Mark Cuban or anyone who ever created that, that wealth and those processes on their own. And I'm thinking about and y'all identify with this I'd never I was never in the military, I actually came to I actually process for the Air Force.

15:00 - 20:00

Dave Seymour:

Don't Don't Hate Me, but I processed for the US Air Force when I first came to the States, the Marines were hounding me in the recruiting room next door to the Air Force.

But, you know, I was an alien status back then but I remember I remember the sense of, of, of camaraderie, the sense of trust and faith in the guy or girl standing next year. And I experienced a very small piece of that just in processing and the ball breaking and the fun that came with it knowing that it was intended to separate the weak from the strong, simple. That's what it's for, right? Who is my man when it gets you know, when the city inspector is calling and saying if you don't fix this within the next 12 hours, I'm shutting down your job right? Who is who you're going to reach out to who's going to be that lifeline? And I was, I was thinking about my own experience in the fire service.

You know, we parallel that militarized structure right from a chief of the fire department deputy chief, captain's lieutenants, firefighters. And you know, the very best guys for us were ex-military. So they came through, you know, I'm a little older than you guys so that, you know, a lot of my peers in the firehouse came through Desert Storm. Then they came through the second, the second theater that we had out in the Middle East. And I remember this story, man, I'll tell it because you'll appreciate it.

My partner on the medic truck, so I'd rotate between the engine and the ladder and then on the medic truck and I do 20 fours on the medic truck. My partner was an ex, ex jarhead his name was Paulie he's ex marine. And we had a younger marine circle into our job to do some ride time on the medic truck, so he was getting out of the Corps. And these two guys are standing in the kitchen and you go out marine talking to a young Marine, right? So there was obviously that commonality right there.

And they were talking about the flak jacket issues that they had and Desert Storm. And Paulie, my guy was asking this younger kid, you know, that they resolve that issue and the guy and the guy says, Yeah, you know, the issue was resolved. And Paul's like, Well, how do you know and the guy said he took a couple of rounds and sent a mass while he was out there doing what he did and the jacket held up. And I thought to myself, when I'm sitting in the chair, I was the cook in the firehouse. The first thing I said was, dude, your money's no fucking good here. I'm buying lunch for me, and I looked at the rest of the guys on my crew, I said, you're all ponying up you fuckers.

But the big picture on it was this is like a line of communication. A given trust and then an execution right? So this guy had earned his right to be a part of this team. And if you take that essence and you bring it into, into real estate, it goes like this. It's the same process. I am the CEO. I'm the CFO on the AI fucking AI or whatever I am, right like, I'm the guy at the top. I own it. But to sit now surrounded myself with the very, very best underneath me, is what makes me successful. My partner Walter in Florida who buys multifamily assets. My young partner Eric, 24 years old fucking genius with the computers, delegate and build that team and I went kind of long winded, but I think I think it's important to understand that for me, that's the structure of real estate investing. I do it the same way I fought fires. I never did it on my own. I locked arms. I always had somebody right there behind me or in front of me. And in the fire service. It was two in two out you never go alone ever. You never go alone. There's no there's no fucking rope shift going on here. We do it together as a team you know, so it works. It worked.

Alex:

First. I love that this is such a military way to check if body armor works.

Oh how do you know it works? I got shot.

You couldn't find a better way to figure it out boys.

Dave Seymour:

He said he took two I don't understand you know caliber of weapons and stuff but it sounded like a big ass fucking bullet to me and he took two of them. It was still standing there. So.

Alex:

I'm not taking it away. I don't care what size the bullet is. I'm not taking anything away.

Dave Seymour:

You know what's crazy when I worked in a city as a medic, and you know, the gangbangers and the morons would run around the streets and all they ever had was 22’s, right? And I get this one cable outside, he's in the back of a truck. And he's talking to his cronies. It was the blue team and the red team and he's talking to his cronies outside the truck because we loaded him in the back. He took a couple of 22 so that to the side I think it was now we got one of these asked, why did he decide? And he shot the boy.

20:00 - 25:00

Don't worry boys. I'll be home bro. It's only a 22 it's all good. So I closed the door, the truck is paid on top I close the door the ambulance I go to, buddy, will people die from a 22 rattling around inside than any other caliber. And he's like, oh oh save me, save me.

Everyone's a tough guy witness standing up in front of a crowd, right? And then you get a reality check. And this ain't so tough anymore. But hey, man, that’s not real estate.

Alex:

I love your message about teamwork. Because, you know, there's that old saying of entrepreneurship, if you want to go fast, go alone if you want to go far, go with people.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah.

Alex:

And, you know, one of my skills is people really, I mean, everybody who really knows me like that's, that's what I focus on. Less than real estate is investing in people. And the more that I do that I find that I go really far and it's a tendency to, for new real estate investors to go alone. And I understand that when you're new, right, hey, let me get one or 234 done before I start, you know, trying to lose money for other people.

But can you expand on the trend on that transition? Maybe like, you know, you probably started maybe your idea was, let me start alone, and then bring people in.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, it's I don't want to use any other like a seminar corny catchphrase, but a lot of there's a lot of truth behind those one liners for one of a better term.

I heard a guy one time said your net worth is a direct correlation of your network, right? I started in real estate because I was a financial donkey. I worked the firehouse for 40-44 to 48 hours a week on average. Then I work another 20 hours in construction with my own guys digging ditches because I still didn't know how to manage money. And then I worked part time retail security as a special cop.

You know, just trying to fucking make another buck every hour. So came into real estate alone. And I mean that literally alone like I know how to dig a ditch. I knew how to build a deck. I know how to put in a kitchen. But I knew nothing else. I didn't understand the other side of real estate.

And you know, my financial illiteracy and my spending habits cost me almost a house. It cost me a marriage that almost cost me a relationship with my eight year old son who's now 24 but I was in my truck. I've always been a Ford guy. I'm driving an F 150. And I'm screaming and shouting at my god and I'm like, What the fuck, dude? I did everything I can to the land of milk and honey, the United States of America. I worked my fucking ass off 120 hours a week. I don't lie. I don't cheat. I don't steal. I'm sober for 30 years. I can't even blame it on booze. I got nothing. I got nothing to blame it on other than myself, right.

And at that moment in time that the commercial came on, you know Teach me full closure, or free one and a half hours. Neck of the woods. Okay, Alex rice, that's how it started, I showed up at a seminar with my wife who's now my wife today. And I started hearing and seeing things that I found to be attractive and true and that was, you know, I learned that debt is a tool. It's not something that you go, you know, that is good. That is, that is good. I like leverage. I, you know, I understand. Somebody told me one time you could have what's called a self directed IRA, you didn't have to let somebody else manage your money and I went, Oh, I like that. And I, I just began, you know, and I sought out mentors, I sought out people who were doing what I wanted to do, and because I've always kept my feet on the ground. I've attracted good, good people along the way.

You know what I mean? I always want to leave a relationship, any relationship in a better place and I found it for both of us, not just for them, but for both of us with the right reciprocity. And I took that to heart and I stayed. I stayed the course with that and it allowed me to learn what a wholesale transaction was. And I'm $70,000 in credit card debt when I stopped and then one day I got a check in my hand for five grand on a wholesale transaction. And I'm like, I said, this got to be illegal. I stepped out of the attorney's office and I'm looking for five older staff pulling up on me right now because think about what we've done in our lives to over five grand and I got a I didn't even own the house. I got a check for five G's. I'm like this is fucking crazy.

So it was as it was always, you know, locking arms with the right people, did I always make the right choices? No. Have I been burned yet? Right. Fuck me once. Shame on me. Fool me once. Shame on you fool me twice. Shame on me, right so I never I usually Learn those lessons financially, you know, relationship wise, but it's always been it's always been a team.

25:00 - 30:00

Dave Seymour:

And they got to qualify you got to qualify to come play in my sandbox because I got the coolest sandbox in the fucking world. And if you don't bring the right attitude if you don't bring the right work ethic if you don't bring the right personality, I can't stand whiners and complainers and my captain and my firehouse used to say to me the drains and radiators. There's people who radiate or want to get up and go who want to train hard and be the best they said in this fucking radiators. And they're the better guys who are sitting in a recliner just complain all the time. You said you choose who you're gonna hang around with. And this is all real estate, you know.

Alex:

I called it propellers and anchors.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, propellers and anchors.

We had a guy one time in the firehouse, check this out, right? I'm in my first year on the job. I'm still you know, bright eyed, bushy tailed. I'm all excited. firefighter, my cool shit right. And I got thanks and sailed out to what we call the retirement hall, which was engine 11, which was a company that did very, very little work. And it's kind of where the older guys went. And I was there on a Saturday night on the weekend and I'm like, sitting up straight in my chair. I'm waiting for the bell to go and we're going to go to work. And they saw a prick sitting next to me in the recliner, and he's flicking through the remote control. And he looks at me and he goes, this job sucks. I go, why what's up because there's nothing on TV said I'm going to bed. What this job sucks. It's nothing on TV. I'm going to bed.

And I never forgot that because I said to myself, I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be that complacent asshole who's just showing up in life to get a paycheck. I'm not interested in that. I'm not signing up for that program.

So I'm in my early 50s and yet, I still feel like a 24 year old is getting up on that. I want to go at it every day. You know what I mean? And that's because of the people that surround me. So, this job sucks. I'm going to pay you all right.

Alex:

That's so good. Because so many people don't, you know, I, if you work next to somebody who's 10,15,20 years, your senior, and you don't want their life, you need to make some drastic changes my friend, where do you think you're gonna end up?

And that's, that's simple people, you know, people are sitting in a job they hate and then they're looking at someone next to them and they're complaining, I'm like, they're 25 years older than you.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah.

Alex:

Well, what do you think about the change if you're just sitting here, you know, making the same complaint, so I love that right there like that. That right there is a really good insight.

David:

I wanted to interrupt this show very briefly to talk about beyondpricing.com. And this is the way that I've been doing dynamic pricing. And I just wanted to share with you because in the last two weeks, I've gotten three bookings that have already made up for any costs that this would have been to me in fact, It especially does because it just pulls a small piece off of I think it's 1% off of what you make in income. And I've already seen multiple, like 10-20 $30 per day price. So yes, sure, they might get 1% fee, but they're making me at least 5%-10% more. So it's a win win win and doesn't cost you anything out of pocket.

So definitely check out beyondpricing.com, it is very good about fluctuating. What it does is it adjusts up and down your daily flow your daily rent, so that if you have a guest on thanksgiving, you won't make the mistake I did where they're paying the same as they would have been two weeks prior on a Wednesday, which sucks I'd missed out on probably $200 without having this earlier.

So definitely check it out. I'll put a link down below dynamic pricing and specifically beyondpricing.com is an absolute must for anybody in the short term rental game.

Don't get caught without it.

Dave Seymour:

You know, you know what happens to is like attracts like, right? That's the simple stuff. You know? I mean, like attracts like. I think about some of the some of the recruits that try to come into our engine company. I worked on engine one. We were like the second busiest engine company north of Boston, south of Portland, Maine.

We did as many as 5000 runs out of our firehouse as an engine company in a year, right. So a lot of it was bullshit. It was on the right. We got the shootings, the stabbings, the fires, the wackadoodles, the crack nots, I mean, all the flippers and fluff hoes and wiveliscombe was I mean, I loved it. I loved it. I loved the chaos. I love the adrenaline I love, you know, being on right on the line with it all.

But there were guys that wanted to work for the fire department who didn't really want to be firefighters. And they couldn't make it. They couldn't make it. They couldn't get through the ball breaking. They couldn't get through the, you know the physicality of what we did. You know what I mean? And you know it, it finds its own level. And again, there's so many parallels Between Fire Service military business that it's pretty amazing when you think about it because again there is no successful one person it's always a team process.

And when you start to get the right people around you you get energized like it's you know, for me it's nine o'clock eastern standard time and I'm pumped up you guys have you guys have killed it for me today. It's perfect. I'm ready to go fuck some shit up today. You know what I mean?

30:00 - 35:00

Alex:

You are welcome.

Dave Seymour:

I got some calls today and I'm ready to rock and roll. I could go raise me a million bucks today, you know? Most of the people that are around you, you know?

Alex:

Do you, where do you where you based out of?

Dave Seymour:

I'm just north of Boston. I mean, a city called I worked in a city called lean mass, but I'm in Danvers, Massachusetts, now just north of Boston.

Alex:

Do you have a full time Media Production videographer on staff by chance?

Dave Seymour:

Sounds like I'm about to get fucking pitched.

David:

Yeah, it does.

Dave Seymour:

We do so we do some stuff. I shot a couple of videos as a local company but I'm always open to discussion, my brother.

David:

I like you're asking a guy that has a TV show if he has access to videos.

Alex:

I'm not a I'm not discussing. I'm not, I'm not pitching you. I'm not discussing anything. I'm gonna show up at your door with my camera.

Dave Seymour:

Do it baby. You're welcome. I'll show you around town a little bit. We're going to the north head to Mike's pastry. We'll go they'll come over you know what I'm saying? Oh.

Alex:

Yeah. Hey, I'm from Rhode Island. I'm from South Providence.

Dave Seymour:

No shit. My wife's from Rhode.

Alex:

Yeah. What apart?

Dave Seymour:

She is a Woonsocket, Lacaille okay. Yeah.

Alex:

Oh Woonsocket Lacaille? Yeah yeah.

Seymour:

Woonsocket! Yeah, a couple of times dynamites get some of them French Canadian loving going on. Yeah.

Alex:

Yeah, I gotta. I got to come visit. I'm gonna come visit you and maybe I'll see my parents while I'm up there.

Dave Seymour:

Get your priorities straight kit.

My my brother in law is a lieutenant on the Woonsocket Fire Department okay and he was it was just up yesterday with the in laws which is always a fun trip they got to hang out, this COVID shifts It's kind of crazy you know you don't even know if you want to kiss him hug your own peeps but you know if I worried about that every day I'd never get out of bed so much attention, yeah.

What do you guys see in the military they bring it in crazy SOP for this stuff or no?

David:

Yeah, we've had some intense times there. We weren't allowed to travel more than 30 miles from our home.

They just shut everything down and said you're not going anywhere I'll leave is denied. Training basically ground to a halt unless it was really like critical training. And we still do it like a 14 day quarantine if someone travels out of state or out of country.

Kind of going back to normal but then kind of not we're doing some telework stuff too, which is nice. So like, for the last few weeks, I've worked one week in the office one week at home with my laptop, which has allowed me to get stuff done for both the Marine Corps in life so it's been good but nothing nothing super, super, super crazy. I think we're just probably just adhering to what the CDC is recommending more than most people are.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, we just went through. We went through a serious lockdown in mass right so we did the full lockdown thing which was chaos. I think I ate my way through COVID I came out 20 pounds heavier than when I went in.

But we came out of that and that we've gradually opened up and statistically we're doing Okay, you know what I mean? Like the new cases and all that stuff. But the states that just really didn't pay any attention to it, you know, then now and now number one knows your Floridians and your Texans and everything else. And look man, I don't know about anybody else and I'm not an advocate. It's just one guy, one opinion, but if I let that be as big of an influence in my life and my business as it is for some other people, I'm not. I'm not gonna move forward, you know what I'm saying? I still have I mean, the zoom calls that we do on business are obviously pretty good. I still want to squeeze the flesh when I'm taking a check for 100 grand, you know what I mean? I still want to be able to meet somebody. Yeah, right, Alex, you know, that person to person is still powerful, but we can do it with some intelligence, I think business can, can still move forward. But we're gonna, we're gonna see, we're gonna see some substantial changes, you know, into q4, beginning of q1 in the real estate marketplace. And I don't know about anybody else, but I'll be locked and loaded and ready to go when that opportunity presents itself because of the work that we do now, we prepare for the future.

You know what I mean? So, as COVID was a pisser, who ever would have thought COVID was coming? Hmm.

David:

Yeah. 2020 has been a ride for a good time.

So, alright, so I'm gonna ask, so we. Oh, I'm gonna let Alex talk up.

35:00 - 40:00

Alex:

No, I’m just gonna say I'm ready for whatever's next.

David:

Yeah, I mean, you know, I've been joking about this on the, around the house I'm gonna say it on on a podcast so that is public so that uh, on September 9, something crazy is gonna go down in the media. Apparently Hillary has a court date. So there's my prediction just so it's out in public that on September 9, something crazy is gonna be on the news. It's not gonna be the end.

Dave Seymour:

Let's go down this rabbit hole.

Epstein's hot heat, right? Oh, yeah, follow the snake oil. So Epstein's, you know, young lady friend. She just got snapped up in New Hampshire. Now, Epstein goes into that lockup in New York. And as we know, we didn't come out right now; they grabbed her in New Hampshire. Where do they send her the exact same lockup that Epstein went to? Now if you like a little bit of like, ooh, something's happening, what's going on, do a little research. Epstein and Clintons and the rest of those guys, and who knows, there might be some thoughts that get connected. We'll have to wait and see.

But Andrew is not without fault either. So, you know, it's I don't know if you watched that documentary on Netflix, but it was pretty, it was pretty insightful. Pretty informational out but.

David:

Interesting times for sure.

Alright, so we've talked a little bit about how you became a firefighter, you jumped in you got in 2008 through seminar You did all I mean, you've done a lot of crazy stuff. But yeah, what is going down now like, I think from what we were talking before, you're in the more of the syndication multifamily realm now.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, we get January this year, I was approached by a hot money lending company out of San Diego. And they said that, you know, nobody's really branded hot money before. As I said earlier, contractually, I'm able to kind of like making my own decisions now.

And I said, You know, I like that idea. And we opened up a hot money lending branch, we had about 15 million in the pipe. And we were working off of a $50 million line of credit to to originate these loans to invest in these hard money loans. A couple of points 8%.

We were doing at 20 on the loan size. So 80% of the capital we will put up there will put up 20. And then we do the construction draw is pretty standard. But it was exciting because we could do it nationwide and we could scale it up. So we had like I said 15 million in the pipe and COVID hits and as soon as COVID hit it shut down the hard money lending business put me out of business in three days. Three days I was done and over finished. And the reason was I couldn't I couldn't sell mortgages to Wall Street because Wall Street wasn't buying them secondary. You understand that for finance, our secondary tertiary markets weren't buying up the notes. You're done, you know you've got no capital flow.

So you know I took a pretty substantial kick in the ass with that one. You learn your lessons and God is good. You know, you say a few prayers. You're, you're open to the next opportunity and gentlemen, I mentioned earlier, Walton, Vicki Walter was. He was a special forces soldier in the army military. He's a couple years older than me. And I know him. I trust him. I love him as a brother. And he's done about 125 million in syndicated multifamily acquisitions in the Gulf Coast region of Florida. So from Fort Myers, pretty much following route 41. And I think it's I 75, almost all the way up to up to Orlando. And in that belt, he would focus on the secondary markets outside the Metropolitan markets, and they'd look at maybe the 20 to 120 unit apartment complexes. So he had raised in his career about 100 and 20 million syndicated deals one at a time, Dave. Okay. But maybe 1015 investors on one particular asset and then pay him a rate of return after they go through the stabilization of the asset, raise the roi, then you raise the value of the asset, then you can sell it for more money than you purchased it. So almost I was talking to a lawyer yesterday and he said to me, he said, it sounds like you're flipping Boston on steroids. I said, Yeah, it's kind of kind of a way of looking at it.

So Walter, and I, and that team know that COVID is going to create a tsunami of opportunity in the multifamily arena for a couple of different reasons. The younger generation doesn't want to own a home. They're not interested in 30 year mortgages and following the same plan as their parents. So they become sophisticated renters. And for that they want a quality home, they want services, they want amenities. So we focus on what's called a B class property.

40:00 - 45:00

Dave Seymour:

B class property is just a little less nice than that of a class property. All right. We might not have the best gym equipment, but we got gym equipment.

So we focus on those in the Gulf Coast region. And then we buy those on their actual numbers at the date of acquisition. So instead of buying them on what they could be, we buy them on what they are.

So to really capitalize on it, you need a big checkbook. So for us, the big checkbook to buy as much of this stuff as we possibly can, under our Buying Criteria, is to raise what's called a private equity fund. So our private equity fund is in its raised stage now we went live Monday of this week, so a couple of days ago.

And we raise 100 million dollars, the first $5 million. Once that's in the account, we now pay an interest on that money. And the way we structure our fun is we have a preferred rate of return back to the investors, accredited investors only. The accredited investor comes in, they get a 6% preferred return. And as soon as they hit that first 6%, which is all there is, there's no there's no fun management share, then there's an equity share in any profit over that.

So the cash on cash targeted returns, historically, based on what Walt has done in the past come in eight to 10%. So an 8 to 10% cash on cash targeted returns is pretty substantial. It's better than you know, if you trial 20 years in the stock market, for example. And then because we buy assets and consistently raise the rent, raise the valuation and then liquidate inside the fund. They also participate on the upside of the liquidation of the assets inside the fund. The fund will then run for six years, one year ramp up five year performance, and the it's called an IRR, or an internal rate of return the IRR on these historically has come in north of 20% return.

So it's it's a very, very nice play. It gives diversification because they own shares in the fun, rather than having that capital pinned down on one asset. I know some guys who have invested heavily in the past two, three years in retail. And COVID taught us a lesson that people don't have to go to the fucking mall. You know what I mean? So if you're not going to the mall, what's going on? And I know these guys that some, you know, sponsors of these assets have had to make phone calls, that no sponsor wants to make any quarterly distributions this quarter. And we don't anticipate any next quarter while we try and, you know, hold on to our asses and get through whatever this COVID is going to do to us. But people always need somewhere to live.

So you know that that's the big picture Dave, obviously, there's details inside of that. But you know, single family houses 50, 60-70 80,000 hits that great, but there's still a well paying job. You know what I mean? They don't get my heart rate up. I've always been in commercials, which is something that I realized that people didn't know about me, because of the questions that they asked me. I always thought he's just that guy from flipping Boston. But, you know, as a professional real estate investor, you elevate your game every day, not just one day, but consistently going at it. And this is absolutely the next move, and then bringing people along with us so that we can benefit as well.

David:

Yeah, like it.

Alex:

David and I, David and I have both made the transition to multifamily over the last year. So yeah, yeah. I mean, I paid out distributions for July Just so you know, just everybody knows I paid up my distributions for July.

Dave Seymour:

You know why I, since I got educated? I haven't lost a dime in real estate and natural purchasing and selling, not a dime. I don't have one investor who has never received that distribution in my business. And I say that with pride. But here's why. Because I'm the most conservative, the most conservative so I think it comes from my poor upbringing. Like, you know, the concepts of losing money. You know, it breaks me out and like, I like a rash, like it gives me gastrointestinal issues, you know what I'm saying?

So I just, I never put myself or my investors in a position where failure is an option, you know, and again, it goes like a military or a firefighter background. If I go in I know I'm coming out with the people I went with, it's just it's just not up for debate. And I think I think those financial relationships the same way.

David:

Yeah, unfortunately, I can't say the same, I've lost a little bit here but never never investors money, always just mine, which is you know, if you're gonna lose money, I suppose that's the way to do it. Right. Make sure they get paid. Take the hit yourself and keep rolling. Yeah.

All right. So I got a few questions. I always ask towards the end, because I know we all got a day to start here soon. so.

Dave Seymour:

Sure.

David:

If an 18 to 19 year old walked up to you asking you for advice on how to get started in real estate or just in life in general. And you only had a minute or two, what would you get? Tell them?

Dave Seymour:

Get educated, get a mentor. Next question.

David:

All right.

45:00 - 52:00

Alex:

I like this guy. So much.
Dave Seymour:

We could pontificate. There's no need but those those are the answers, know what the fuck you're doing and then follow somebody who's already doing it. But make sure you bring them some value. You don't get nothing for nothing in life, right?

David:

I like it. I like it. All right, what is one resource, a book, course, website or whatever that you would recommend to anybody looking to get started in real estate?

Dave Seymour:

Um you know, I would usually go to like, mindset reading because that was important to me. But you know, with your audience, getting your mind right is priority every single day, you know what I mean? Making that conscious decision to do something.

So I would necessarily say that would be my first recommendation. I would think about business you know, the mechanics of real estate is pretty easy. It's mathematical equations that we can all do. But if that was the case, and why isn't everybody you know, a real estate billionaire so I would start looking at some business literature. Tim Ferriss is a fantastic resource. Jacko, like we said, is it Wallah Nick. You know, I know your audience would identify with that. I'm a I'm a big believer in the process and the business structure of Jack Canfield. Jack Canfield was the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul. And, you know, it's, he's academic, you know, he's not rough around the edges, but the messages are pretty tight. I spent a lot of time learning from him.

I like Daymond John, he's got some good stuff, you know, kid from the, from the, you know, the rougher part of town, you know, working out the back of his trunk of his car and where he is today there's there's a good message in there and some lessons to learn as well. So there's enough to get you going. And then on the real estate side, keep listening to David and Alex on the podcast and do what they tell you to do when they tell you to do it and everything will be okay.

David:

I like that. I think we'll make sure we get you that royalty fee for that.

Dave Seymour:

Well, on tv they call that product placement.

David:

All right.

Dave Seymour:

There's a free book on our website as well.

David:

Right now is where can people get your book and where can people get a hold of you?

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, go to the website is freedomventure.com, freedomventure.com if you scroll down on that front page, there's a free ebook on there download, unlocking the code to multifamily investing. That was a book I wrote with one of our board members, a gentleman by the name of John Bassala, our John is a prolific investor in the Chicago market and also in the Florida Keys. He's also a property manager. He manages somewhere around 100 million dollars worth of real estate as an asset manager.

So there's some good information in that book and it's a free download. You can grab that on the website. And if you want to connect with me on a business level grab me on LinkedIn. Just Google my name Dave Seymour, SEYMOUR and then you'll find me on Facebook and Twitter. I'm not on tik tok they won't let me go on Tiktok, they say I'm too old for Tiktok I don't lie on what it is.

Alex:

Hey what?

Dave Seymour:

You guys probably on that huh.

David:

Not successfully but I definitely..

Dave Seymour:

You're pointing the wrong way you know the camera points in the other direction. That guy..

Alex:

Every day my phone goes off Tiktok, David Pere, David Pere, David Pere.

David:

I appreciate that you have your notifications turned on and let me bug you. Thank you.

Alex:

I don't watch them.

David:

I don't care, I'm bugging you apparently every day without even meaning to.

Dave Seymour:

You're in, he’s in your subconscious man. Used to say you're not renting space in my head free of charge of...

Alex:

Yeah, I charge it. I charge him in other ways.

David:

Yeah, come on my show as a voluntary co-host and Listen all my guests for videos.

Dave Seymour:

I love it.

Alex:

Speaking of which I speak in which I really am gonna come to Boston. I'm gonna see you.

Dave Seymour:

Do it.

Alex:

I'm gonna bring my camera and I'm gonna do my magic and I'm gonna add some real value. And then it's gonna be undeniable then we're going to do a repeat episode like this house guy is the real deal.

Dave Seymour:

These guys are biscuit Yeah, I'll take it.

David:

He won't leave you.

Dave Seymour:

I'm not gonna pay him.

Alex:

You're not gonna pay me $1 you can afford me anyway.

Dave Seymour:

How are you doing, how are you doing?

Seriously don't just talk shit. Come on up. Dude. Come on up for real.

Alex:

I don't do talk shit, but I am a man of my word. I gotta schedule it in but I'm gonna do that for sure.

Dave Seymour:

All right, man.

David:

Dave I have. I have really appreciated this. You know, you never know what you're gonna get when somebody who's been in the public eye is on a show. Right and unfortunately too many of them aren't raw. And so I really appreciate the fact that you're still a firefighter.

Dave Seymour:

Yeah, man. Yeah, back at your boys and I appreciate your past service.

Alex, I appreciate your current service. You know, this is you know what we all do here is for a bigger Cause you know what I mean? So, I know you've got God God country core, but you know, it's, it's it is this is this is a great fucking country to be a part of, as long as you participate, right? Don't ask what it can do for us, what you can do for it.

He made a we made a statement so seriously, fellas, I appreciate your soccer TV world and all of that stuff. There's something real going on here. You know what I mean? So if we can service our military and service and right, participate in helping the vets when they're coming out, participate in, you know, financial education. We have a duty to do that. All of us in whatever capacity we walk around in this community. So that's me to you guys. I appreciate you.

Alex:

Okay, one last one last shameless plug David Pere is writing a book and I'm sure he's gonna need some testimonials from a guy like Dave Seymour. I'm just saying.

Dave Seymour:

All over. All over it, Dave.

David:

The title of this episode is gonna be did we talk about anything other than plugging ourselves?

Dave Seymour:

Shameless plugs are good, bro.

David:

I love it. No, I appreciate that, Alex.

Dave Seymour:

Yes, yes to a testimonial. Yes to a trip to Boston. Why don't you guys need it's all good. All right.

David:

Sounds great. Thank you so much for joining us today, Dave.

Dave Seymour:

Thank you, God bless.

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