INVESTOR TURNED $12,000 STUDENT LOAN INTO $40 MILLION IN REAL ESTATE

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• 1:06Speaker 04

  My graduate from my school being Forbes, bad drop.

• 1:11Speaker 05

  Bad drop.

• 1:12Speaker 04

  My drop, bad drop.

• 1:14Speaker 05

  Bad drop.

• 1:25Speaker 05

  All right, guys, welcome back. EYL, we got another exciting episode. Brooklyn.

• 1:35Speaker 05

  That's a fact, that's a fact. So anytime we get to talk about real estate, it's exciting. And it seems like any, every time we talk about real estate, there's always a different avenue. There's so many different ways to make money within real estate. So this is the first time that we really had somebody from the city, from New York City, that was really big in real estate as an investor. So Jewel Bernard is a huge, huge, huge successful investor out of New York City. He owns 13 brownstones between Brooklyn and Harlem. And he also owns a physical location, Brooklyn Bank, which we'll talk about, which is a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn as well. He has a real estate company, just a very accomplished.

• 2:16Speaker 06

  Wait, wait, you hear that sound? It's called mogul talk.

• 2:20Speaker 05

  So, yeah, the properties.

• 2:21Speaker 06

  I thought it was an echo.

• 2:23Speaker 05

  The properties together are valued over $40 million. I mean, if you're familiar with parts of New York City, if you know, you know, brownstones in Brooklyn, Bestiary area and Harlem, you know that, you know, on the low end, $1 million, 1.5 million. On the high end, 2.5, 3 million, $4 million. Like, it's not uncommon for brownstones to go for that. He has a very unique story cuz he's one of the guys that, like, when Jay-Z said, "I could have bought a Dumbo." I could have bought a, when he said, "I could have bought a crib in Dumbo." I could have bought a building in Dumbo.

• 2:54Speaker 06

  For like $2 million.

• 2:55Speaker 05

  That same building is worth. 20 million. 20 million, how filling, Dumbo. So he's one of these guys that actually had an opportunity to invest early and, and, you know, before the areas really started to get gentrified and changed. And he just, you know, sat on it. And it worked out for his favor. So he has a story to tell. He got a lot of gems to give.

• 3:19Speaker 05

  And it's a great, great conversation to have because a lot of times we speak about being on the wrong side of gentrification and not taking advantage of certain things and like getting in when it's too late. But he actually got in before it actually started to change. And he saw the whole process. And he learnt a lot along the way, created systems for himself, and just a wealth of information. He also taught a class for us.

• 3:44Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 3:45Speaker 05

  For EYL University.

• 3:46Speaker 06

  Officially a professor.

• 3:47Speaker 05

  Yes, that's a fact. So he taught the class at EYL University. And we thought it would be a good idea to bring him on the podcast as well. So first and foremost, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

• 3:56Speaker 07

  Glad to be here, brother. Appreciate you.

• 3:58Speaker 05

  Nah, for sure, for sure. So let's get into it. Let's, let's get into it cuz I, you know, if I was listening to your class, shout out to Jamal, did a good job of hosting it. And I know you said that your original goal in real estate was to make $500 a month. Like, he was like, "If I could just make $500 a month." It's crazy, $500 a month to almost 40, 50 million dollars in real estate. Like, it's crazy how life works out. So how, what was, what was your original process into getting into real estate? And how did you make the transition from just working to actually being a real estate investor?

• 4:33Speaker 07

  What made me get into the game?

• 4:37Speaker 07

  I was just short, you know? Like, I just didn't have, like, my nine to five just wasn't cutting it. You know, this was like back in the, in the mid to late 90s when, when there were the bottles and, and, and at any minute, Diddy could run into the, into the spot and, you know what I'm saying? Buy the bar out.

• 4:55Speaker 05

  Buy the bar out.

• 4:56Speaker 07

  And, and you just sitting there holding your Heineken all night.

• 4:59Speaker 05

  Right.

• 4:59Speaker 07

  And, you know, I just didn't want to be that dude, you know? I did not want to be that dude. So I was just like, yo, how am I gonna do this? You know, I had gotten into a little trouble earlier. Ended up spending, you know, like, over some dumb shit. Like, spent a week in Albany, Albany County. And I was just like, yo, I'm not about that life. So I learned, I learned.

• 5:20Speaker 06

  Right, the lesson.

• 5:21Speaker 07

  I, I learned very, very early in the game, I'm not about that life, you know? Being a New York dude in, in Albany County jail, it was just like, nah, this ain't, this ain't for me. So I was just like, all right, I can't be in the streets cuz that, that don't work for me. I don't, I ain't got no hot 16s, no hot rhymes. And my jump shot is, I wouldn't even say decent. It's, it's high on a good day.

• 5:44Speaker 05

  Mediocre at best.

• 5:45Speaker 07

  Mediocre at best. So the only thing left for me to do was try to find my way in business, you know? So I was, I was working at Verizon at the time. And I was working on my MBA, you know? And I was, I was planning on going the whole corporate route. But I was still, you know, I was still young. I was like in my early 20s, still, still hanging out and stuff like that. So I wanted to be in the mix. So what, I met this dude, this dude in my class. One day, we were just chopping it up. And he was a real estate broker. And he was telling me, yo, if you got, if you got good credit, if you got good credit, you could buy a crib. And I was just like, how am I gonna do that?

• 6:29Speaker 07

  Then he, you know, walked me through the whole FHA process and this, that, the other. And that's when I was just like, but I don't, I don't have no front money to do it. So that's when I pulled, I pulled money out of a student loan. Cuz although Verizon was paying me, paying me to go to school, but I could still take student loans out. So I, you know, I took, I took like a.

• 6:51Speaker 06

  I know that hustle.

• 6:53Speaker 07

  Yeah, I took like, I took like a $12,000, $12,000 loan. And I bought a $100,000 crib for like 3% down.

• 7:02Speaker 06

  They'll send you the refund check.

• 7:03Speaker 07

  Send me the refund check.

• 7:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, I know that's good.

• 7:05Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 7:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was, it was FHA?

• 7:08Speaker 07

  It was FHA, the very first joint.

• 7:11Speaker 05

  So you took 12, so how much was it? You said $12,000 loan?

• 7:14Speaker 07

  It was a $12,000 loan. At, when everything's, when everything was all said and done, I probably came out my pocket like, like 10 grand.

• 7:24Speaker 05

  And what year, what year was this?

• 7:25Speaker 07

  This was 97.

• 7:26Speaker 05

  So it was 3% down?

• 7:27Speaker 07

  Yeah, crib, crib was $100,000.

• 7:30Speaker 05

  So 3,000 and then closing costs, all of that stuff?

• 7:32Speaker 07

  Closing costs and all the other little things.

• 7:34Speaker 05

  Cost 10,000?

• 7:35Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 7:36Speaker 05

  And then, okay.

• 7:37Speaker 07

  And then, then my, you know, then the next crib came available, like, a few months later, that was right next door. So I did it again.

• 7:46Speaker 05

  Where's this at?

• 7:47Speaker 07

  This was South Side, Queens.

• 7:49Speaker 06

  So Queens is, Queens is the, the origin of your real estate journey?

• 7:54Speaker 07

  Those was the, the first two cribs I, I ever bought. I bought them in Queens. I didn't, I didn't know anything about anything cuz I was actually living in Queens at the time. I was living in Rosedale.

• 8:05Speaker 07

  So I copped those, those two cribs. And then, and then my man put me on to the, the refinance hustle.

• 8:11Speaker 06

  So on the, so first crib, you did the student loan refund, right? Second crib, same thing? Or we just took the profits from the first?

• 8:17Speaker 07

  Second crib, same thing. More student loans, next semester, did it again.

• 8:21Speaker 06

  Yo, that's crazy. I remember getting that refund check. It was like, if you take out a loan, right? And then if somebody's paying for it, they reimburse you. And I think I bought like, I bought like a pair of Timbs and some Jordans.

• 8:32Speaker 07

  Nah.

• 8:33Speaker 06

  I wasn't thinking right.

• 8:34Speaker 07

  And then, like, I rocked, I rocked that same hustle for like two years where I was, where now I found out that if I paid, if I paid it up front, if I paid the money out of my pocket,

• 8:49Speaker 07

  then I could apply for financial aid, right? I, I, I applied for financial aid and then I got that money. And then I took those student loans. And then I took the receipt of when I paid my money and then I gave it to the job.

• 9:03Speaker 06

  And they got to reimburse you.

• 9:04Speaker 07

  And they, they reimbursed me. So it was, um.

• 9:08Speaker 06

  Student loans, bought your homes.

• 9:10Speaker 07

  Yeah, that's how I got started.

• 9:11Speaker 06

  Beautiful story.

• 9:12Speaker 07

  That's how I got started. I probably, statute of limitations is probably, it's 1997, you know? Good luck. Anybody want to prosecute? But that's how I got started.

• 9:25Speaker 05

  Okay, so, all right, so two homes. Then you say you got turned to the, to the refi game.

• 9:29Speaker 07

  I turned on to the refi game. So cribs that I bought for 100 grand,

• 9:35Speaker 07

  now, now I could refi them cuz the values were like at 150, like, a year later cuz I bought them below market and stuff like that. And so now I got all my cash back, plus another, I mean, plus more cash.

• 9:50Speaker 07

  So, so it's like two years into the game, I was like already 100 grand strong.

• 9:56Speaker 05

  Came into this 100 grand strong.

• 9:58Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 9:58Speaker 05

  Not to be exact.

• 10:00Speaker 07

  But I always use that because that 100 grand is, like, I had a home equity line of credit. I ended up buying a crib. I ended up buying another crib that, where me and my boys used to live at. You know, I bought a two-family crib. And then I had, the mortgage was like $2,000 a month.

• 10:20Speaker 07

  The mortgage was like $2,000 a month. I had, I was renting upstairs for 1,500. And each one of my boys was giving me 500, plus I was renting the basement for $600. So I was put like, I was pretty much living in a party house and getting like $1,500.

• 10:36Speaker 06

  He's the dude, he's the dude that Nipsey, Nipsey was talking about, right? He was like, yo, he's the guy who's in school making more than his teachers? He's the guy.

• 10:44Speaker 07

  Yeah, but the, the thing about that is, so it's like a year and a half into the, into the game. I'm making money on real estate, trying, you know, working, partying, and also trying to get my MBA at the same time. And I, I'm not taking that, I'm not taking that as seriously as, as I should because I'm, I'm making money. So I roll up, I roll up to class one day late again. And the teacher was like, hey, Mr. Bernard, if there's someplace you'd rather be, why don't you be there? And I thought about that the whole time. So you know how the teachers give you like that break at 45 minutes into the class?

• 11:22Speaker 06

  Uh-oh.

• 11:23Speaker 07

  I left. You know, I left my bag, my books, all of that. I just left, you know, got in the car and bounced. And I didn't officially withdraw or nothing like that. I just, I was like, you know what? You're right. There's someplace I'd rather be. I'd rather, I'm gonna do that.

• 11:38Speaker 06

  Words of advice.

• 11:39Speaker 07

  So, so that's, that's when I made the official decision that this was my life.

• 11:44Speaker 05

  What, what, what school did you go to?

• 11:45Speaker 07

  St. John's University.

• 11:46Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 11:47Speaker 07

  You know, like literally, um, my, my bag, all that other stuff. It was just-

• 11:52Speaker 05

  Still there.

• 11:53Speaker 07

  Still there.

• 11:56Speaker 05

  Nice, nice. So, all right, so you, so you said, I'm, and this was using your master's program?

• 12:02Speaker 07

  I was trying to get my master's at that time.

• 12:03Speaker 05

  MBA?

• 12:04Speaker 07

  Yeah, trying to get, and, um, masters in business administration, was trying to get, um, a, a management degree. Because I was working at Verizon, I was a manager there. So I was trying to go up the corporate ladder.

• 12:16Speaker 05

  So, all right, so at that point, you quit the job, I mean, you quit school, and, um, you have two properties, you say?

• 12:22Speaker 07

  I got, by that time, I had like four properties.

• 12:24Speaker 05

  Four properties?

• 12:25Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 12:26Speaker 05

  And then, all right, so now you're just doing real estate full-time at this point?

• 12:29Speaker 07

  No, I'm, I'm still, I'm still at Verizon.

• 12:31Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 12:31Speaker 07

  Still doing my thing at Verizon, um, but, you know, tell the truth, I had to take a step back. Because I was gambling at the time, too.

• 12:40Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 12:41Speaker 07

  You know, like, um, I got this, this thing right here, says never again, twelve thirteen oh four. You know, because I was gambling heavy. So I ended up, those first two cribs, those first two cribs that I had, I had to sell them to, to, to pay gambling debts.

• 12:57Speaker 05

  What, what, what was your, what was your sports or blackjack?

• 13:00Speaker 07

  Uh, I was doing blackjack, I was doing, and, and dice games.

• 13:04Speaker 05

  People don't realize that gambling is an addiction. I know few people that have lost their families, lost home, lost their freedom because of gambling. It's not something that's talked about enough.

• 13:13Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 13:13Speaker 05

  Uh, we talk about drug addiction a lot, alcoholism, um, but millions of Americans, people all over the world, suffer from gambling, um, can you talk about that a little bit?

• 13:26Speaker 07

  And, and first of all, you're right, it is an addiction, and I, I didn't even respect it as an addiction. I was just like looking at, it's just something that, something I did, and I, I was good, I was making money. When I was making money, but when I was losing, I was losing money, big money.

• 13:41Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 13:42Speaker 07

  You know, and, um, I had tried, I had tried like Gamblers Anonymous and all that other stuff. And I remember going to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting and looking at these dudes telling these stories. I was like, damn, yeah, that's a bunch of losers. You know, I'm not y'all.

• 13:56Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:57Speaker 07

  You know, but meanwhile, meanwhile, I'm like, going, going to Vegas and losing like sixty grand a pop.

• 14:04Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 14:04Speaker 07

  Going to dice game, go, going to dice games, losing like fifteen, fifteen, twenty grand. You know, funniest story ever, not really a funny story, but I was, um, the Lennox Lounge, back in the days.

• 14:19Speaker 05

  Harlem?

• 14:19Speaker 07

  In Harlem.

• 14:20Speaker 05

  Harlem?

• 14:20Speaker 07

  One day I found myself, um, in a back room at the Lennox Lounge, my man took me in there. And I had, there was a dice game going on, and I went down there.

• 14:28Speaker 05

  CeeLo?

• 14:29Speaker 07

  CeeLo.

• 14:30Speaker 05

  Four, five, six.

• 14:31Speaker 07

  Exactly. So I went down there, and, um, you know, I was with my man, just went out there, I humbled. We, we didn't go there for that, but we found ourselves back there, and, um, next, I was hot. You know, and I didn't know anybody in that room.

• 14:47Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 14:48Speaker 07

  Right? And, um, next thing you know, I'm like rolling, rolling, rolling, and I'm, I'm like, I'm up three grand, I'm up five grand, I'm up ten grand. My man leaves, because he's like, yo, I gotta go. I was just like, nah, I'm, I'm hot, I'm good, I'm staying.

• 15:00Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 15:00Speaker 07

  Right? Next thing you know, I'm, I'm up like fifteen grand, and I'm looking around the room, I don't know nobody in there. And ain't nobody smiling.

• 15:09Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 15:09Speaker 06

  Welcome to New York.

• 15:10Speaker 07

  Right? So, so then I was just like, all right, cool, um, so dude start making bets, I got three grand on this. I was like, yo, put your money on the floor. It's like, nah, I'm good for it.

• 15:22Speaker 07

  And-

• 15:22Speaker 05

  Thought they deuce was live, then I hit them with trips.

• 15:25Speaker 06

  Then they reached out for their money, Paul. Forget about this.

• 15:27Speaker 07

  Nah, nah, that, that's not how it went. That's not how it all, so dudes was just in their ass betting.

• 15:33Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 15:34Speaker 07

  Like, because they knew I was by myself.

• 15:36Speaker 05

  Yeah. What are you gonna do?

• 15:37Speaker 07

  What am I gonna do? So, so I basically had to give every dollar back to walk out of there.

• 15:44Speaker 05

  So you knew that they was ass betting. Anybody's not familiar, that's when somebody's betting with no intentions of actually paying, with their betting. Um, so psychologically, you knew you had a decision to make.

• 15:56Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 05

  Either you call their bluff and like, okay, I'm leaving, you know that they're not gonna pay you, you're in Harlem, you're from Queens?

• 16:05Speaker 07

  Um, from Brooklyn, but living in Queens.

• 16:07Speaker 05

  Long way from home.

• 16:08Speaker 07

  And this is, um, this is nineteen ninety something Harlem.

• 16:11Speaker 05

  Dangerous.

• 16:12Speaker 07

  Not, not, not gentrified.

• 16:13Speaker 06

  No, no, different Harlem. That's a, that's a different.

• 16:16Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 16:17Speaker 06

  No hopefuls, no Magic Johnson theory.

• 16:18Speaker 05

  Psychologically, you was like, to just keep it respectful, I'll lose the money, I'll play until I just lose enough.

• 16:24Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 16:24Speaker 05

  So I don't just have to make this awkward situation, I could just-

• 16:27Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 16:27Speaker 05

  At least I could just not get killed out here.

• 16:29Speaker 07

  Exactly. I could, I could front, like I had, like I made a decision.

• 16:33Speaker 05

  No, that's, that's, that's a-

• 16:34Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's very wise. That's a small move.

• 16:36Speaker 05

  That's a calculated decision. That's a calculated, you calculated it very well.

• 16:39Speaker 07

  You know, but it's the same calculated decisions that you make every day in real estate, you know what I'm saying? Um, like, all the time, it's like, do I, do I take this L right here, um, and live to fight another day, or do I keep going?

• 16:53Speaker 06

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• 18:38Speaker 06

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• 19:16Speaker 05

  So, at what point do you, do you really hit your, your stride in real estate and, and kind of like hit it out the park?

• 19:24Speaker 07

  So, um, again, I always say I came into this game a hundred grand strong. Um, I had a crib in Rosedale, the crib where I live with my boys.

• 19:34Speaker 05

  Queens.

• 19:34Speaker 07

  Exactly. So I pulled a hundred grand out of that, and, um, you know, like, whenever cats get some, some real dough, what they want to do? They want to, um, open a bar.

• 19:45Speaker 05

  A record label, I thought you were gonna say a record label.

• 19:47Speaker 06

  That was my first, I thought barber shop?

• 19:48Speaker 07

  Barber shop, record label, laundromat.

• 19:51Speaker 05

  Sneaker store.

• 19:52Speaker 07

  So I, I was trying to open, I was trying to open up a, um, a bar, um, in downtown Brooklyn.

• 19:57Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 19:58Speaker 07

  Right? So I met this real estate broker, and he, um, he basically was like showing me around, and then I told him, you know, I let him know how much money I was holding, and he, he basically was like, yo, um, I have an opportunity for you. So he brought me to this crib in Clinton Hills. Right?

• 20:16Speaker 06

  Jersey.

• 20:16Speaker 07

  No, Clinton Hills, Brooklyn.

• 20:18Speaker 06

  Brooklyn.

• 20:19Speaker 07

  Um, and, um, I ended up buying a brownstone for like four hundred thousand dollars, you know, um, you know, ten percent down, ten percent down, forty grand, um, so I copped that joint. And I ended up copping the joint next to it, um, like, three or four months later, um, with, with the rest of that money.

• 20:41Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 20:41Speaker 07

  Right? So, those two cribs, I bought one for four hundred, then I bought the other one for four forty. Um, and this was like two thousand three, so this was right before things started to pop.

• 20:53Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:54Speaker 07

  So within a couple, within a couple of, I would say, um, every, every month, like, the, the values were going up like a hundred grand, a hundred fifty grand, two hundred grand, up until like two, two thousand six, two thousand seven. So by two thousand six, those same cribs that I bought for four hundred grand, four hundred grand, turned, um, were worth almost eight, eight hundred, nine hundred thousand dollars.

• 21:16Speaker 06

  Yeah, and you just get, are you getting rental income from them, or some of you flipping?

• 21:19Speaker 07

  No, no, I, I didn't get into, I didn't get into the flipping game.

• 21:22Speaker 06

  Okay, so we just rental income right now?

• 21:23Speaker 07

  Yeah, this is straight rental, so, and I still owe them cribs, cribs now.

• 21:27Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 21:27Speaker 07

  You know, so, um, I was taking, you know, taking home equity lines or credits out and just buying more and, and, you know, balling out, you know, so, so now this is like two thousand six, two thousand, two thousand six, two thousand seven. You know, that's when I bought the big crib in Jersey, you know?

• 21:46Speaker 05

  Of course, gotta do that. You know, you know, interesting thing about Clinton Hills? You know, interesting historical hip hop fact. So the late, great Christopher Wallace. Um, you know, a lot of people think he's from Bed-Stuy.

• 21:58Speaker 07

  St. James.

• 21:59Speaker 05

  He said, um, the loudest one from Bedford-Stavison. But his actual house, um, is on a borderline. And technically, it's in Clinton Hills.

• 22:10Speaker 07

  Yes, it's not even, it's not even on the borderline.

• 22:13Speaker 05

  I tried to give him the benefit of doubt. Rest in peace, Big.

• 22:16Speaker 06

  Cause you got six. Get down, Stan.

• 22:18Speaker 07

  You got, he's like six blocks from Bed-Stuy.

• 22:20Speaker 05

  Yeah, little known fact.

• 22:22Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  So, and, um, the New York Post did a, did a story. Cause you know, he said his, um, his mom had the one room. It's not, it's not, it was never a one room shack. Not sure why he said that, but it's, um, that same apartment right now is.

• 22:35Speaker 07

  The condo.

• 22:35Speaker 05

  Is renting for $4,000 a month.

• 22:37Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 22:37Speaker 05

  And the New York Post did a, did a story about it. Cause it's like, you know, he, that became so synonymous because when he came out with that song, Juicy, Juicy, right?

• 22:45Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 22:45Speaker 05

  When he was talking about it, he, he literally chronicled that apartment. And that apartment today is literally, I think it was like 42, it might be like $4,200 a month. For that same apartment that he used to live in back in the nineties. So it's crazy.

• 22:59Speaker 07

  So I'm, I'm gonna take you back to a, a true story back on Biggie's block, right? So this is like 2000, 2002, 2003. Um, again, um, I'm on the corner of St. James and, and Fulton. You know, that little triangle over there, the same, I don't know if, if anybody ever saw that, um, like that, that freestyle Biggie was doing.

• 23:23Speaker 06

  Yeah, in front of the corner store?

• 23:25Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 23:25Speaker 06

  Yeah. When they had the crates out.

• 23:26Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 23:27Speaker 05

  With, with the, with the Timbs on, with the, with the shorts.

• 23:29Speaker 06

  They put it in Juicy too, they was doing the plucks on it.

• 23:30Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 23:31Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 23:31Speaker 07

  So I'm, I'm on that corner. This is before I bought the cribs in Brooklyn. I'm on that corner, um, rolling dice. Cause that's what I do.

• 23:42Speaker 06

  Dice shooter.

• 23:43Speaker 07

  So we, we out there, we rolling dice heavy. Like there's like, at, at least 20 dudes out there, all thugs, you know, like, and I was comfortable out there. Cause I, this is Brooklyn.

• 23:53Speaker 05

  Oh, oh, Brooklyn.

• 23:54Speaker 07

  Exactly. I'm, I'm comfortable out there. You know what I'm saying?

• 23:57Speaker 05

  Not hollow.

• 23:57Speaker 07

  Exactly. So, so I'm out there rolling dice heavy. And there's a cipher, you know what I'm saying? There's like 20, 20 dudes all in circle and, and dudes are smoking blunts and, and, and 40 ounces, old, old E and Saint Iden.

• 24:12Speaker 06

  One, one sec, one sec. Uh, for the people that are under 25, a 40 ounces of alcoholic beverage.

• 24:20Speaker 07

  That will give you cancer. Right? So we're, we're in this cipher like, and, um, what happens was, what happened was, um, the dice are on the floor, right? And right in the middle, here comes this, this, um, white girl who's jogging with her headphones on, who runs right through the cipher, kicks the dice and, and keeps it moving.

• 24:48Speaker 06

  No remorse.

• 24:50Speaker 07

  And, and what, what happened was, what I looked around was that nobody said anything, but everybody, nobody believed what just happened.

• 24:58Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 24:59Speaker 07

  And that's when I knew that this was her neighborhood now and these were the outliers.

• 25:04Speaker 05

  That's crazy.

• 25:05Speaker 07

  Right?

• 25:05Speaker 06

  The dice game changed your life.

• 25:07Speaker 07

  Yo.

• 25:07Speaker 05

  Crazy.

• 25:07Speaker 07

  On a positive.

• 25:08Speaker 06

  On a positive side now.

• 25:09Speaker 07

  Exactly. Cause I, I, I looked at it, I looked at it and it's just like, yo, she just kept it moving. Like no fear in her heart, no nothing and the dude, and nobody say nothing to her.

• 25:19Speaker 06

  Whose role is it? Yours?

• 25:22Speaker 07

  But, um, that's when I knew, that's when I, that's when I started looking at that area a little differently. You know, um, that's when, that's when things changed for me over there. That's when, um, you know, I got, um, I got this, this philosophy, right? That the, the only way you make money is when you're able to see things that other people can't see. So when you see opportunities that other people can't see, right? Um, and the other thing I always say is like, when you do things that other people are not willing to do. Right? So, um, at that little dice game, it opened my eyes and I was able to see something. You know what I'm saying? I was able to see, um, change coming. You know, it's just like, like very early in those days, like, um,

• 26:07Speaker 07

  I never, I never did a, um, marketing analysis, you know, to, to check the, to check the, the, the, the demographics, to see what people were making and, and, and what, what, you know, the money was like in the neighborhood and what was coming. Right? So what I used to do, um, a poor man's marketing analysis, which is I would just look to see what, what businesses were coming in the neighborhood. Right? So like, if I saw, if I saw a Starbucks opening up, I was just like, yo, I need to be around here. Because like, it's, it was like copying somebody else's homework.

• 26:44Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 26:44Speaker 07

  Cause you know, they did their marketing analysis.

• 26:46Speaker 06

  Yeah. So if they, if they felt comfortable enough coming into this neighborhood, then I should feel comfortable enough to start investing in this neighborhood.

• 26:52Speaker 07

  Exactly. So when I saw, um, like I, I initially, I initially, um, like, you, you're familiar with Brooklyn.

• 27:02Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:02Speaker 07

  So it, it basically like the big money was Fort Greene. Then, um, then the next big money was Clinton Hills. And then the next big money was Bed-Stuy. Right? So, um, I got in, I got in on, on the Clinton Hill side. Like when it, you know, when it was still a little, there's still a little bit of money to be made. Right? So when I saw, when I saw like, um, like these coffee shops and, and the, the tea store that's on Biggie's block now. You know what I'm saying? On the corner of his block, there's a tea store.

• 27:38Speaker 06

  No more bodega.

• 27:39Speaker 05

  The cra- the crazy thing is like people, like the, the New York Post, this is a great article for anybody if they want to read it. And they was interviewing, um, like the neighbors. It's like, it's like all hipsters and tech people. And they're like, yo, it's hard to even imagine those lyrics that he rapped about now, like on his block. Like it was, it would be hard to, to imagine that. Like this is so far. And I remember even like Fort Greene, like when I was young. Cause like when I was young, I used to play basketball and you know, going to like Gaucho's and Riverside. And I've got a guys from Brooklyn and meet guys from Fort Greene. And, um, that's the first time I ever heard about Fort Greene. And it was different.

• 28:15Speaker 07

  But you know, you know who don't get no love for being on that block?

• 28:18Speaker 05

  Who's that?

• 28:18Speaker 07

  Um, who, you know who else was on that block?

• 28:21Speaker 05

  I don't.

• 28:22Speaker 07

  Um, St. James between gates and green. Chub Rock.

• 28:28Speaker 05

  Chub Rock.

• 28:28Speaker 06

  Shout out to Chub Rock.

• 28:29Speaker 05

  Legendary, legend.

• 28:30Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 28:30Speaker 05

  Most people. That's where he's from?

• 28:32Speaker 07

  That's his block, right across the street from Big.

• 28:34Speaker 05

  Got overshadowed.

• 28:35Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 28:36Speaker 05

  It's a big shadow, it's a big shadow.

• 28:37Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 28:38Speaker 06

  Chub Rock.

• 28:39Speaker 07

  Another big man that could rap.

• 28:40Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's, that's a fact. That's a fact.

• 28:42Speaker 05

  Chub Rock, legend.

• 28:43Speaker 06

  I think that's the first time I heard Nas. When he was on like Back in the Grille Game, I think Chub Rock was on the record. I was like, who's this guy? Talking about you waiting on automatic guns and nuns.

• 28:53Speaker 06

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• 28:58Speaker 05

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• 29:40Speaker 06

  That's right. Don't wait, don't hesitate. Head over. We'll see you on the other side.

• 29:43Speaker 05

  Let's do it.

• 29:47Speaker 05

  You see the gentrification taking place. You have the, um, the moment in the dice game where it's like, and that's a good point that you bring up too. Because it's like, it's unfortunate, but I, nobody should have crime brought upon them, nobody. But like, you see in neighborhoods, like we'll commit crime against each other all day. You never commit crime against anybody that doesn't look like us. Even Nipsey Hussle said that, like, we programmed to actually go and train to hunt and, and do violence and disrespect people that look similar to you. But when you see somebody that looks opposite to you, you're not even going to play around with that because you scared really like of repercussions that come with that.

• 30:25Speaker 07

  Yeah, the consequences.

• 30:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, serious consequences. So you saw that happening in your brain. So you're like, all right, did you want to just double down? Like now I gotta actually really double down on my investment strategy and buy these properties before it's too late?

• 30:41Speaker 07

  You know, I it it'd be very easy for me to tell you right now that, yo, I had this master plan. And I saw that this is how I was gonna execute, and this is the plan, and this was the roadmap that got nah, son, you know?

• 30:54Speaker 05

  Just happened.

• 30:54Speaker 07

  It it's happening, you you you know, like, that's the beauty of like, um, when people come on these podcasts, right? Uh, everybody chronic, you know, wants to chronolog- chronolog- chronolog- I can't say the word.

• 31:07Speaker 06

  Chronologically.

• 31:07Speaker 07

  Chronologically define everything that they did right, but nobody highlights all the mistakes and the dumb shit that they did and, you know what I'm saying? Like, a lot of mistakes were made, um, like, it worked out. At at some point, I saw it. You know, like, in the last ten years, I I've, you know, it's been crystal clear. But I was still trying to figure it out, still trying to.

• 31:29Speaker 05

  What's some of the mistakes that you made? Cause you're right, people can learn, just like they learn from information, they can also learn from mistakes. What's some of the biggest mistakes that you made?

• 31:37Speaker 07

  Um, a lot of the cribs that I sold.

• 31:40Speaker 05

  Too early?

• 31:41Speaker 07

  Sold them too early, um, like, one eighty-four.

• 31:47Speaker 06

  Oh, you still got the address in your head?

• 31:48Speaker 07

  One eighty-four, one eighty-four Madison, right? Um, so, one eighty-four, no, one eighty-four B Madison, um, I bought that crib for like four hundred thousand dollars, when it was worth seven hundred thousand dollars, and I sold it, I sold it for, um, nine hundred thousand dollars in a in a few months, and I at that time, I thought I was like the smartest dude in the world. You know, cause I copped that joint, and there's a story behind that joint, too.

• 32:20Speaker 05

  Is that the one with the Nate, with the, you brought it because somebody else wanted it?

• 32:24Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 32:25Speaker 05

  Can you tell that story? I think that's good, that's a good strategy. I would listen to that. Can you tell that story?

• 32:29Speaker 07

  All right, um, so, I had gotten a phone call about a about that one particular property, right? That one particular property, um, but, you know, in, just like any other game, just like, you know, what other, you know what I'm saying? What other podcasts are doing and who who the players are and and what their targets are. So, I knew for a fact that, um, there was a Hasidic dude who owned the two buildings opposite of that building. Right? So, um, I got the phone call on that one, just just random, somebody who knew, you know, somebody, somebody who knew who knew, um, somebody's auntie or this, that, the other, blah, blah, blah, I got the phone call.

• 33:13Speaker 07

  So, I got, I was able to to buy that crib that was worth seven hundred thousand dollars for for four hundred thousand dollars. So, I bought that crib with no intention of doing anything to, um, with it, except to extort the the guy who owned.

• 33:31Speaker 05

  The other two.

• 33:31Speaker 07

  The other two.

• 33:32Speaker 05

  Cause he wanted the whole block.

• 33:33Speaker 07

  Cause he wanted, plus, it just gives him power, you know, like to have, it's monopoly, you get three in a row, you know? Like, I'm I'm still chasing three in a row, like, I've got, you know, I got a couple of joints where I got, you know, two in a row.

• 33:44Speaker 06

  After four, you get the hotel.

• 33:45Speaker 07

  Exactly. So, um, I basically used, you know, I had no, I had no desire for that building, it it was not, um, within the confine. You know, it's not, it wasn't where I was working at the time, but I got it, didn't do any work to it, and, um, held it, and him and I just went back and forth for a few months until he gave me, you know, he gave me the the nine hundred grand. And the thing is, it's not, it might seem as if I turned, um, four hundred into nine hundred thousand dollars. That's not really the case, um, I I really turned, um, a hundred thousand dollars

• 34:24Speaker 07

  into, um, into five hundred thousand dollars in a in a few months, because although the crib was was was four hundred thousand, I came out my pocket twenty percent down, which was eighty thousand plus closing costs, which were, you know.

• 34:37Speaker 05

  Hundred thousand?

• 34:37Speaker 07

  Hundred, hundred thousand, which I put that, put that down, but then I sold it for nine. So, you know, that five hundred thousand dollar profit was made with the hundred thousand dollars. So, that is like one of, you know, like, the best G moves I've, you know, like, percentage-wise. Percentage-wise, that's like one of the best, percentage in time was probably one of the best G moves I've I've made, you know, better than Tesla.

• 35:03Speaker 05

  Better than Tesla.

• 35:05Speaker 06

  I like, so, I I when I heard you speaking about that, it was like this, do you have some reasons to buy, obviously, cash flow was what you were doing, equity? So, that was your chess move?

• 35:12Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 35:12Speaker 06

  That was your chess move, then you said there's some portfolio fits. One thing I I found very interesting was like, obviously, two thousand and seven affected the the real estate game like no other in our our generation. But you kept all your properties?

• 35:26Speaker 07

  Uh, by hook and by crook.

• 35:28Speaker 06

  How like, how did that happen?

• 35:30Speaker 07

  So, um, first of all, like, I literally, I literally lost everything, right? Um, so, like, two thousand and six, I was like a hood billionaire, you know? I I had, I was, I had a net worth of three million dollars, you know, three million dollars is like a billion dollars.

• 35:48Speaker 06

  Now, you're a billionaire. It's a fact.

• 35:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, very close to a billion.

• 35:53Speaker 07

  Right? So, um, but, like, when every, you know, I was over-leveraged, I was spending, you know, I was in, I I was in, um, I was in in the clubs, you know, four thousand dollar nights, like, maybe two, three times a month, you know, fifteen hundred dollar nights, more than that.

• 36:11Speaker 05

  What clubs were you frequenting at this time?

• 36:15Speaker 07

  So many, man.

• 36:16Speaker 06

  From Club Cheetah to Club Amnesia.

• 36:18Speaker 07

  All all of that, yo, all of that, um, um, all, all, I don't know, I ain't gonna ask you how old, but you, I guess, all the Black Diamond parties back in the day, and and, um, China Club.

• 36:31Speaker 05

  China Club.

• 36:31Speaker 06

  We've been there a few times.

• 36:33Speaker 07

  Um.

• 36:33Speaker 05

  I was going to clubs when I was a little kid, like, twelve years old, my brother was a promoter, and I had a fake ID, and I always looked older than I was, so, I remember these clubs, like, all of the, all of the clubs when I was like twelve years old, but that might have, I like Speed, I've done all these, all these.

• 36:48Speaker 06

  Mars twenty-one twelve.

• 36:51Speaker 07

  Yeah, I was there spending money, you know, like, I just just getting caught up, you know what I'm saying?

• 36:58Speaker 06

  You were the guy we were watching with our cups.

• 37:01Speaker 07

  And and just like, just like when I, you know, a few years later, I was watching Puff with with my cup.

• 37:07Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, right, right.

• 37:08Speaker 07

  So, it was just like the same way that promo, you know, made me wanna go out and do more, hopefully, you know, other people did that as well. But, anyway, I lost everything by like two thousand, two thousand and eight, right? Um, and I had a whole bunch of cribs, um, and every last one of them was just like underwater, cause I had pulled too much cash out, you know, I had, I had this big house in Jersey that I was paying like seven grand a month for, um,

• 37:40Speaker 07

  I think I had like, uh, paying a thousand dollars for, I had a a drop six lease, you know, just everything, you know?

• 37:49Speaker 06

  Started good, yep.

• 37:51Speaker 07

  And, um, yeah, the dough, dough was, you know, before, before we had Instagram models, we had, um, the K-Slay models, um, in those magazines.

• 38:03Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:03Speaker 07

  Yeah, so I had a couple.

• 38:04Speaker 05

  Straight starting magazine.

• 38:05Speaker 07

  Exactly, so I had, um, I had a couple of those on the payroll. So, li- literally lost, you know what I'm saying?

• 38:13Speaker 05

  Literally pay one.

• 38:16Speaker 05

  Don't let that go over your head.

• 38:19Speaker 07

  So.

• 38:21Speaker 06

  A couple.

• 38:21Speaker 07

  Exactly, so.

• 38:23Speaker 05

  Two or three.

• 38:24Speaker 07

  So, after that, um, I woke up one day and I was just like, yo, um, I I went from positive three million to like negative a million when I did the math, you know, and I I remember just being in my crib, waiting, waiting to have them come, you know, like, I got all the foreclosure notices and stuff like that, um, and that's when I I basically got on grunt, you know, like, grunt, I had like, um, probably like forty or fifty thousand dollars in cash left, and that's when I I got on my grind. And I I really think that I worked for like, for like the next two, three years without a day off.

• 39:05Speaker 07

  You know, like, I was doing everything, um, I I had stopped gambling by then. Um, I had opened this thing called Law Six Seventy-Six, it was a, it was a a studio, like, um, and I used to rent that out. And actually, there wouldn't be, there wouldn't be no Brooklyn Bank without Law Six Seventy-Six, because I was, you know, having parties in there and stuff like that, and.

• 39:29Speaker 06

  So, like an event space?

• 39:30Speaker 07

  It was an event space.

• 39:30Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 39:31Speaker 07

  So, um, I did that, um, for a while, um, I ended up going to going to India, getting the hair connect, and and I started a, uh, a hair company.

• 39:43Speaker 05

  Like Weaves?

• 39:43Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 39:44Speaker 05

  Work?

• 39:44Speaker 07

  Yeah, like, um, I had the number three, I had the number three, um. Hair, Indian Hair Company in New York City for like a year or two.

• 39:54Speaker 06

  Little known fact.

• 39:55Speaker 07

  Yeah, Select Strands.

• 39:57Speaker 05

  Select Strands.

• 39:58Speaker 07

  Exactly. So I was doing that. Um, I was, uh, I had a, I had a card game going.

• 40:07Speaker 06

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• 40:50Speaker 02

  Hi, it's Nora McInerney, host of the Head Start: Embracing the Journey podcast. We're back with more honest conversations from people living with chronic migraine. People figuring out how to adapt, advocate, and stay connected to the things that bring them joy while managing their condition. People like romance novelist Britt Middleton.

• 41:09Speaker 00

  It's not often that people can look at you and see that you were living with this. And it felt very important for me to show how people can have these incredibly successful, high-pressure, highly-visible jobs. But I also wanted to show, because it is a romance, that having the right partner and her love interests actually takes care of her during a migraine attack that happens in the book. And that is also based on my life. As somebody who's had an incredible partner to me for the last 14 years.

• 41:41Speaker 02

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• 41:51Speaker 06

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• 42:28Speaker 07

  You know, I had a card, even though I wasn't gambling, but I knew, I knew degenerate gamblers.

• 42:35Speaker 07

  I was just like, yo, I had this card game going. Um, you know.

• 42:41Speaker 06

  Call the old folks. Yo, my, yo, what's up? Yeah, yeah, I'm about to run this game, y'all. Now I ain't playing, just bring your money.

• 42:46Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 42:46Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 42:47Speaker 05

  So you just, so you just had to do what you had to do to just get back.

• 42:49Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 42:50Speaker 06

  And you kept them all. You kept all the.

• 42:51Speaker 05

  But you were able to keep your properties by doing all these side hustles.

• 42:54Speaker 07

  All these sides, 24 hours a day. I, I was, um, I was Airbnb in my crib.

• 43:01Speaker 06

  This is early stages.

• 43:02Speaker 07

  Yeah, that's when it was called Home Away and, and VRBO, you know, all that other stuff. Um, so I was doing that, you know, like letting people stay in my crib for like $500 a night while I was sleeping on a friend's couch. You know.

• 43:18Speaker 05

  You gotta do what you gotta do.

• 43:19Speaker 07

  Did what I had to do.

• 43:20Speaker 05

  And then you survive. Let me ask you this. As far as the HELOC, let's bring it back. You spoke about the HELOC. We talked about HELOCs before a little bit, but you want to talk about HELOCs a little bit? Like the benefits of it and maybe like some things that people may be aware of. There's a home equity line of credit, right? Different from a refi.

• 43:38Speaker 07

  Yeah, nah. So, so basically you take a HELOC when you have some equity in the property and it's, it's either a secondary lien or it could be a primary lien, depending on how much, um, on how much equity you have. And it's like, it's basically like a, a credit card or, or, um, a checking account on your crib. So you're not paying interest when, you're not paying interest when you don't owe them any money. But, um, when you take the money out, you're paying interest on it. So it's like, um, so let's say you have a crib and it's worth a million and, um, and you have half, half a million on your mortgage, right?

• 44:17Speaker 07

  And so now you could take up to 80% on the HELOC. So that's $300,000 of home equity line of credit. So, so you, you, you have a lien on your property for $300,000 on, on that HELOC. But, um, unless you're using it, unless you're using the whole thing.

• 44:35Speaker 05

  You don't have to pay. And that's the good thing as far from my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong. Um, as far as like with the refi, it's essentially like a second mortgage on your home.

• 44:43Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 44:44Speaker 05

  And you, you have to pay the interest no matter what.

• 44:46Speaker 07

  Interest and principal.

• 44:47Speaker 05

  Interest and principal no matter what, but you get the money where the home equity line of credit, you take the money out.

• 44:54Speaker 07

  As you need it.

• 44:54Speaker 05

  As you need it.

• 44:55Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 44:56Speaker 05

  It's just available to you.

• 44:57Speaker 07

  Exactly. So.

• 44:58Speaker 06

  Are the interest rates higher?

• 45:02Speaker 07

  The interest rates are typically around what, what, what, um, the regular, regular thing is. What, what you normally save on is the closing cost because there's typically no.

• 45:13Speaker 06

  Right, right, when you refi.

• 45:14Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 45:15Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 45:15Speaker 07

  So, uh, with, with the home equity line of credit, you always got to just do the math on, all right, I'm going to be paying this much interest on it. I'm going to be paying this much interest on it. Um, and, and if I, if I, if I make a decision, it has to cover this interest plus make me more, you know? Like, um, earlier this year, I took out, I banged out all my, um, I banged out all my, um, HELOCs because I didn't want them to, um.

• 45:45Speaker 05

  Cancel it when you couldn't get it. That's something that, yeah, I'm about, MG, Matt had said that before. He said that before COVID. He was like, yo, he's like, um, you know.

• 45:54Speaker 07

  Yeah, take it out.

• 45:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, because it's like Monopoly money. Like if the value of your home goes down and that's going to affect your refi and your, um, your HELOC. So it's like, he said that, like, COVID, you never know. They can just, it's not like it's guaranteed. They can cancel it. So it's like, you don't need to use it. You don't have to use it, but at least you have it locked in. And then if you need to use it, it's available to you.

• 46:13Speaker 06

  That literally happened. I went to the bank in January because I was going to refi and I hit Matt. I'm like, yo, run me some numbers on the refi and I'll run me some numbers for the HELOC. And I went back to the bank in March. HELOC wasn't available anymore.

• 46:23Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 46:23Speaker 06

  I was like, oh damn.

• 46:24Speaker 07

  So, so back in March, I had like a million and change of HELOCs and I pulled it all out because I was just scared. Like I didn't, I didn't want to wake up one day because that happened to me back in 2007 where I woke up one day and my HELOC, all my HELOCs were gone. So I, I took this cash out, but I just, I didn't want to just sit with it in the bank. So I ended up putting it in the market at that time. When the market was at its lowest.

• 46:47Speaker 05

  In March.

• 46:48Speaker 07

  In March.

• 46:48Speaker 05

  You put a million dollars in the market?

• 46:50Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 46:51Speaker 05

  And what, what stock did you put it in?

• 46:53Speaker 07

  Amazon, Tesla.

• 46:56Speaker 05

  Apple?

• 46:57Speaker 07

  Nah, Amazon, Tesla, this, um, VGT.

• 47:01Speaker 05

  VGT.

• 47:02Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's a solid.

• 47:03Speaker 05

  Talk about that a lot.

• 47:04Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 47:06Speaker 07

  VFIAX, which is a Vanguard, which is a Vanguard.

• 47:10Speaker 05

  ETF, I think.

• 47:11Speaker 07

  ETS, um, YIN, which is a Chinese, which is a Chinese one, Y I double N. That one ain't making no real money.

• 47:21Speaker 07

  And I put in Baba.

• 47:24Speaker 05

  Alibaba?

• 47:25Speaker 07

  Yeah, I didn't make no real money on that. Like, um, because I, I got that in about 200 and it's like at 250 now, right?

• 47:33Speaker 06

  But that Tesla's a little different.

• 47:34Speaker 07

  Yeah, that Tesla hit a little different.

• 47:36Speaker 05

  So you, so you, so all right, this is, this is important for people to understand because like you always got a plan for a worst case scenario. So when you saw them, you was like, all right, COVID's hitting, it's about to get crazy. Don't panic. Let me, let me gather this much money as I, money as I possibly can out of my house before they shut this HELOC thing down. You get a million dollars, you say, okay, stock market crashed, literally crashed. Probably a good time to put money in the market. Might be a bottom. You put it in at a low point. It skyrockets over the next couple of months. What did that million turn into?

• 48:18Speaker 06

  He said my CPA might advise me not to. I, I mean, we, well, how about this? How about this? How about this? Not what it turned into. How, did you allocate the million equally throughout those, uh, assets?

• 48:32Speaker 07

  No.

• 48:33Speaker 06

  Oh, you just done like, yeah, I'm putting a hundred thousand in Tesla.

• 48:36Speaker 07

  Nah, Tesla, Tesla, I'm mad at Tesla, cuz I only put, I only put like, I think like fifty grand in Tesla.

• 48:43Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 48:43Speaker 07

  You know, like, and I had put, I put like, um, half a mil, I had put like, half a mil in, um.

• 48:49Speaker 05

  Amazon?

• 48:50Speaker 07

  Amazon, right? And

• 48:52Speaker 05

  Woo!

• 48:53Speaker 07

  That, that one did well.

• 48:54Speaker 06

  That did great, but I'm just, I'm running the numbers for, if that half a million would have been in Tesla.

• 48:59Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 48:59Speaker 06

  After it ran up to like fourteen hundred and split.

• 49:02Speaker 07

  I know, I know, I know.

• 49:06Speaker 07

  But, but, you know, but, you know.

• 49:09Speaker 05

  What can you do?

• 49:10Speaker 06

  I mean, you made money.

• 49:11Speaker 07

  Part of the game, part of the game that I've, that I've learned is, you know, you gotta keep looking forward to the next thing and, and, you know, like, there's always opportunities and you'll never, you'll never ever get all of them.

• 49:23Speaker 05

  Can't, it's impossible.

• 49:24Speaker 07

  Exactly, like, you, you know, there's a, you got a handful, you know what I'm saying? And, and you, you know, to pick something up, you always have to, you know, let something go to pick something up. So you're hoping that what you're picking up is greater than what you're letting go.

• 49:37Speaker 05

  And you, you leverage, a lot of time people say like, which one is it better, real estate, stocks? But you leverage both, you could do both, you could, you leveraged your real estate to put money in stocks.

• 49:45Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 49:46Speaker 05

  And then you could take the money out of stocks and buy more real estate. And it's like, it's a combination, it's a one-two punch, it's not like only do real estate.

• 49:53Speaker 06

  It's not one of the other.

• 49:53Speaker 05

  Only do stocks, and that's a perfect example, you leverage money in real estate, put it in the stock market, made a bunch of money in the stock market, and then, you know?

• 50:00Speaker 07

  Yeah, so, um, like, things kinda cooled off, like, Amazon has cooled off, like, um, I've been, I've been waiting, I'm just like, yo, come on, come on, four thousand, come on, four thousand!

• 50:11Speaker 06

  The dice rolling.

• 50:12Speaker 05

  Back to the dice game.

• 50:13Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 50:15Speaker 05

  All habits die hard.

• 50:16Speaker 07

  Exactly, but we stuck at that thirty-two, yo, like, we've been stuck at thirty-two like three months.

• 50:20Speaker 06

  This is the season though, this is the season for, for Amazon, so, you know, sit tight on that one.

• 50:25Speaker 05

  So let's, let's talk about, um, S R O?

• 50:28Speaker 06

  S R O's, yeah, I was actually going there, yeah.

• 50:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, S R O's, cuz you got an interesting story about that, what is an S R O, first and foremost?

• 50:34Speaker 07

  Single room occupancy, um, in New York City, um, where it's a Class B apartment. So it's not, it's not like a Class A apartment, like, um, there's a lot of rules and regulations, um, that the city, the city pretty much comes down and tells you what you can do, what you can't do. Um, the HPD, how's the, the, um, Housing Preservation Department tells you all the things you can and can't do with your S R O. Um, it initially, the, the S R O program was initially a program for, for like, the, the, um, the dudes who came back from war.

• 51:10Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 51:10Speaker 07

  So they could, so they could have a, a safe place to stay and stuff like that. And, and, um, over the years, you know, like, you know, the city is mad late to always change these old things. So all these old rules still apply.

• 51:25Speaker 06

  So the, the Class A in what S R O, the difference, what, what are some of the differences? Is it like, it has to have a full bathroom or a half bathroom, what are some of the differences?

• 51:33Speaker 07

  Well, an apartment, an apartment, you need a bedroom and, and bathroom and a kitchen.

• 51:39Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 51:39Speaker 07

  In a Class A apartment.

• 51:40Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 51:41Speaker 07

  In a, in, in a S R O, uh, you need, uh, you, you need a bedroom and you need access to a bathroom and access to a kitchen.

• 51:51Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 51:52Speaker 07

  You know what I'm saying?

• 51:52Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 51:53Speaker 07

  So you don't, you don't necessarily have to have, uh, have your, your bathroom and your kitchen in your unit.

• 52:01Speaker 06

  So, uh, this, this feels like, almost like college dormish.

• 52:04Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 52:04Speaker 06

  Okay, so it was like, we could have the, we could have a quad with bedrooms?

• 52:08Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 52:09Speaker 06

  And a, a shared, uh, bathroom, shared kitchen?

• 52:12Speaker 07

  Single room occupancy.

• 52:13Speaker 06

  Okay, gotcha.

• 52:14Speaker 07

  So, um, and the thing about it, so now, over the last few, uh, over the last decade, you know, like, when, when the market has gone crazy and, and, and, um, you know, the values of these brownstones and buildings and stuff like that, um, has skyrocketed. The, the city has put things in a place to protect, to protect the people, protect the tenants, cuz we living in a blue state, you know? Um, out, out in Texas, California, I mean, Texas, Arizona, and stuff like that, Florida.

• 52:45Speaker 06

  Arizona's blue now.

• 52:47Speaker 07

  Oh. All right, but typically, all, the red states.

• 52:52Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 52:52Speaker 07

  Um, you don't pay your rent, gotta go.

• 52:55Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 52:55Speaker 07

  Right, but, you know, New York is not, is not that type of place, not that type of party. So there's a lot of laws that protect them. So, um, one of the things that protects S R O's right now is, um, something that they call a certificate of non-harassment. Whereas if, if you, before, before you can convert an S R O into a Class A apartment or into a house or anything like that, um, you have to get a certificate of non-harassment where, you know, HPD does an investigation to find out if the tenants were harassed on their way out or, or anything like that. And if that, if that's the case, if that's the case, you're pretty much stuck.

• 53:39Speaker 07

  Um, you're pretty much stuck, cuz, um, they'll, they'll put like a three-year, a three-year penalty on you before you could apply again. So, so, so I purchased, I purchased an S R O and.

• 53:55Speaker 06

  A building, right?

• 53:56Speaker 07

  Yeah, I purchased an S R O and the, um, the tenants, you know, thought that they were doing the, this, the, um, seller dirty by telling HPD that they were harassed. And seller don't care, seller got their money.

• 54:15Speaker 06

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• 54:58Speaker 02

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• 55:17Speaker 00

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• 56:36Speaker 07

  So they put that three-year, you know, that three-year, um, ban on me.

• 56:41Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 56:41Speaker 07

  So I basically paid this, you know, I, I paid a million plus for a brownstone and I can't do anything with it. I couldn't do anything with it for three years, so I'm just sitting on this thing, uh, paying hard money on it. Um, paying hard money on it, um, until September of twenty twenty-one.

• 56:59Speaker 06

  That's when you could maybe do renovations to it?

• 57:01Speaker 07

  Renovate it, flip it, what, do whatever.

• 57:03Speaker 06

  Is it, is it gonna be more lucrative? Uh, cuz I'm thinking, uh, less, I mean, I'm sure there's like a square footage requirement that needs, that they need to have for the S R O. And so I'm thinking like, maybe an apartment that you could get twelve hundred for, right?

• 57:15Speaker 07

  I can't do, and, like, I can't bring more people in because if I, if I bring people in to rent it now, I, I'm risking.

• 57:22Speaker 06

  I'm saying, in twenty-two?

• 57:24Speaker 07

  Yeah, but, but, um, I don't like, where the money's at in New York City right now is getting these brownstones and converting them into, um, luxury, you know, luxury, um, townhomes where, where, you know, people could, people could spend big money on them. So, so I could turn around and sell it for three and a half, four million dollars.

• 57:44Speaker 06

  Yes, you're not even looking for the rental income of more units, you're looking for the like, yo, somebody's coming in to buy this for one point one.

• 57:50Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 57:51Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 57:51Speaker 07

  Well, no, somebody's coming to buy, somebody's coming to buy this for four million.

• 57:54Speaker 06

  Four million, I'm sorry.

• 57:55Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 57:55Speaker 06

  What was I talking about, one point one?

• 57:56Speaker 07

  No, one, no, one point one is what I paid for it. So now, I'm sitting here and, and I'm paying, you know, um, like, ten, ten grand a month, ten grand a month on, on a property that I can't do nothing with.

• 58:11Speaker 07

  You know, but it's a, it's a, you know, it's a, it's a decision that I'm, that I'm making. I'm saying, all right, I'm pay, I'm losing ten grand a month.

• 58:19Speaker 07

  But I'm losing ten grand a month, but I know um when, when the time comes, I'll be able to sell this for four mil.

• 58:27Speaker 06

  So it's just another version of your chess move.

• 58:29Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 58:29Speaker 05

  But also, you said taxes, tax loss, well.

• 58:32Speaker 07

  Yeah, so, so now I'm paying interest. So um that's a hundred and twenty grand in interest that I'm paying every, every year. So if I sell a property, if I, if I sold a property, or, or if, if I, if I sold, if I sold my um Amazon stock. So but, but instead paying capital gains on X, it'll be X minus one twenty thousand. So.

• 58:54Speaker 05

  But you're taking loss and you're depreciating the asset.

• 58:56Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 58:57Speaker 05

  Because you're losing money on it.

• 58:58Speaker 07

  I'm losing money on, I'm, I'm losing money on this end. Well, not even losing money, uh, it's a business expense. So you, you know, you're, you're taking your deduction from your business expense. And um so that brings, that brings your taxable income down, which it's what keeps, what keeps money in your pocket. So and that, you know, I always say like, there's, there's four different ways to, to get paid in real estate.

• 59:22Speaker 06

  The game, you, you wear many hats.

• 59:23Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 59:24Speaker 06

  Um, and that obviously has happened over time, right? So your initial one was you're the landlord.

• 59:29Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 59:30Speaker 06

  So at some point, you decide to become the developer, then you become the broker, and then you also become the contractor.

• 59:36Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 59:37Speaker 06

  What was that process? What led you?

• 59:39Speaker 07

  Um, and at one part, I was a mortgage broker like your man Matt.

• 59:42Speaker 06

  Shout out to him, gee. So what, what was the, the thought process that inspired you to say, you know what, I can do this, I can do this, let me do this too?

• 59:50Speaker 07

  Um, just, just trying to keep as much money in-house as possible, you know, like, once you get the team together. Um, you get the team and everybody's working, you know, for the common goal. Uh, it, it doesn't makes, it doesn't make sense to um to pay somebody to do something that you could do yourself. It's, it's cheaper.

• 1:00:10Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:00:10Speaker 07

  You know, and, and the more people you, the more people you interact with and you connect with on different levels, the more opportunities that come, come about. So, and it also gives me um a better way to look at every opportunity. Cause now, when I, when I come to you, like, when, when an opportunity presents itself, am I, am I gonna try to, am I gonna try to sell this for you? Or am I gonna try to buy it for myself? Uh, am I gonna sell it for you as a broker?

• 1:00:42Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:00:43Speaker 07

  Am I going to um try to, to buy it, buy for myself as a developer? Am I going to say, hey, um, I, I, I tell you what, you could buy it, but I'll be the contractor for you. You know, I could bring it to you and say, yo, I got this great, this great opportunity for you. Um, you should buy this building and let me fix it. You know, so it's just different, you know, like different ways to make money.

• 1:01:08Speaker 06

  Every time you saw another position, it was like, cut the middleman, cut the middleman, cut the middleman.

• 1:01:13Speaker 07

  And there's more opportunities.

• 1:01:14Speaker 06

  And more opportunities.

• 1:01:14Speaker 07

  More opportunities a- and like each, each hat that I wear, I have a whole network in. So I'm talking to people and I'm, I'm, you know, um, that's where the opportunities come from. You know, like in, in the last twenty something years, I could probably, you know, I've done a hundred million dollars in transactions. I could probably tell you that only two times that I've ever purchased something that didn't co- come from a direct connect. You know, like somebody called me and said, hey Jude, I got a deal for you, you know, um, wait for my pitch. That, that's my, that's my line. You know, I always wait for my pitch, like if, if it's on Street Easy, if it's on, if it's on the MLS and stuff like that. And everybody else could see it, it ain't my deal.

• 1:01:58Speaker 05

  So at this point, are most of your deals, what kind of financing are you, cash or you doing traditional financing, hard money? How, how are you financing your deals?

• 1:02:08Speaker 07

  Whatever makes sense, you know, like if, if it's a, like, I always do the math, all right? So um if it makes, if it makes sense for me to use cash, I'll use cash. If there's enough, if there's enough meat on it where um I can, can um use hard money, I'll, I'll use hard money. You know, if I, if, if time is not a big deal and I could go get traditional financing. And it'll, you know, like this is a house that's gonna appraise and, and there's a kitchen and a bath and all that other stuff. And, and I could go to a, you know, go to Chase or somebody like that, I'll, I'll do that. Uh, those are, those are my favorites.

• 1:02:49Speaker 07

  You know, but most of the time when there's deals and opportunities, um, there, there's usually a reason why you're getting a deal and opportunity. And, and nine out of ten times is that, that it's, it's a deal because um traditional financing won't do it.

• 1:03:05Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 1:03:05Speaker 07

  So um you're either stuck, you have a decision to make, you're either gonna use hard money guy or you're gonna use your cash. Or um, or a mixture. What I like to do is I like to take investors. Um, where, where um, let's say the hard money, the hard money guy is giving me eighty percent. Uh, eighty percent, and I'll take a couple of investors that, that give me, that give me the, give me the twenty percent. So I'm literally just coming out of my pocket, nothing, just, you know, everything is all sweat equity.

• 1:03:40Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:03:41Speaker 07

  So.

• 1:03:42Speaker 05

  So.

• 1:03:42Speaker 06

  Yeah, uh, Rick Ross is, is famous for having three Cs, right? Color, cut, clarity, that's, that's his thing. But you have an interesting uh analogy for your four Cs in real estate and why they're important. Um, can you go over it? So you had uh credit, collateral, connects, and character. Why they all important?

• 1:04:00Speaker 07

  Credit, you know, like um, like if the banks, if the, if banks ain't messing with you, you're dead in the water.

• 1:04:08Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:04:09Speaker 07

  You know, like you need that money, you know, you need your credit. Um, it's like one of your most valuable assets, you know, um. You're able to leverage, right?

• 1:04:20Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:04:21Speaker 07

  Collateral, you need either cash or something, you need, you need to be able to prove that you have a track record, you have, you have skin in the game. You know, like um I had lost, I've, I've lost money um in business dealings where I, I was messing with people who didn't have any skin in the game, so they just walk away. So it's very important that, that you have skin in the game. Um, what's that? Credit, cash, uh, connects.

• 1:04:50Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:04:51Speaker 07

  Um, like, it's not, it's not, um, it's not BS when they say your network is your network. You know, it's just like um, the more people you know, the more people, the more, the more deals, the more opportunities, the more things that come your way. Right? That's like, to me, that's the most important thing. The, your connects, you know, your ability, your ability to get it done, your ability to know who, who you could call. Uh, the, the resources that come to you and so forth.

• 1:05:22Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:05:22Speaker 07

  And the last one is your character. Um, if, if your name is mud, you're dead. You know, like streets talk, like in, in business, everybody talking. So you do one person dirty, everybody's gonna know, ain't nobody gonna mess with you. Um, like one of the things I'm, I'm really proud of is that I've been in this game twenty plus years. Like um, I've never, I've never jerked anybody on a deal, I've never lied to anybody, I've never, I've never taken anything that um that didn't belong to me. Um, and I, and I could even say I've never lost anybody money. Um, well, I lost one person money, but I made it back for him.

• 1:06:03Speaker 07

  Um, but like, there's been times, there's been times, like I've had investors invest in something. And I, I promised them a return and it didn't happen. And, you know, I paid out, I paid out like, like it did, like everything went, went cool because I didn't wanna burn that bridge.

• 1:06:19Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:06:20Speaker 07

  You know, like, oh, yo, um, we invested in this, you gonna make X out, you gonna make X out of this. You know, and I, I'd rather pay him that, knowing that I could go back to him one day, than come back, yo, it didn't work out, yo, you, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:06:34Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's not gonna be working.

• 1:06:35Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:06:36Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:06:36Speaker 05

  Yeah. Rick, well, I think that's Carroll City cartel, if I'm not.

• 1:06:40Speaker 06

  I know, but then he says, I mean, when he's talking about diamonds.

• 1:06:43Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:06:44Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:06:44Speaker 05

  Um, let me ask you this. As far as the um, because you're a developer, landlord, you're a broker, contractor. So how important is it for people to learn all aspects of real estate? Um, or do you think it is important for people to learn all aspects of real estate?

• 1:07:06Speaker 07

  You know, um, back when I, when I was doing here, right? Uh, I went to India. I went to India and I learned um.

• 1:07:16Speaker 05

  How'd you get to India?

• 1:07:17Speaker 06

  Yo, in my mind, I want, uh, in my mind, all I can think about is American Gangster.

• 1:07:21Speaker 05

  How did, how did you?

• 1:07:22Speaker 06

  When Frank Lucas went to Vietnam.

• 1:07:23Speaker 05

  How'd you go to India to get, to get here? How did that happen?

• 1:07:26Speaker 07

  All right, so I told you things were really bad. So things were really bad, so what do you do when things are really bad?

• 1:07:33Speaker 06

  Crying.

• 1:07:33Speaker 07

  No, you have a big ass party at your house.

• 1:07:37Speaker 05

  So that's an option.

• 1:07:38Speaker 07

  So.

• 1:07:39Speaker 05

  That's an option.

• 1:07:39Speaker 07

  Remember, I still had.

• 1:07:40Speaker 06

  That was my next guess.

• 1:07:41Speaker 07

  Remember, I still had this big ass house in, you know, out in Jersey.

• 1:07:44Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:07:44Speaker 07

  So.

• 1:07:45Speaker 05

  Might as well, why not? If you lose it, at least you have some good memories.

• 1:07:47Speaker 07

  Exactly. So I, I have this pool party, like two hundred people in, at, at my crib, just that, the other people in the pool, just that, and the next day.

• 1:07:55Speaker 06

  Straight stunt edition.

• 1:07:56Speaker 07

  Straight stunt. The next day, I'm cleaning the filters out and I'm pulling out.

• 1:08:02Speaker 05

  Hair.

• 1:08:02Speaker 07

  Hair.

• 1:08:03Speaker 05

  All over.

• 1:08:03Speaker 07

  All over.

• 1:08:04Speaker 06

  Ooh.

• 1:08:05Speaker 07

  Right? And I'm just like, yo, who did this? Right? So, so I'm, I'm like looking at the pictures to figure out what, what girl.

• 1:08:13Speaker 06

  Left without her hair.

• 1:08:14Speaker 07

  What girl, um, you know, shed, shed in my pool. And then I realized it wasn't one girl.

• 1:08:22Speaker 05

  It was a whole.

• 1:08:23Speaker 07

  It was every girl in there. I was just like, yo, how does eh, that's what they doing?

• 1:08:28Speaker 05

  Apparently.

• 1:08:29Speaker 07

  That's where the money is at?

• 1:08:29Speaker 06

  Shout out to all our women who uh, where we is, no disrespect.

• 1:08:32Speaker 07

  Thank you.

• 1:08:33Speaker 06

  We love you.

• 1:08:33Speaker 07

  Thank you.

• 1:08:35Speaker 05

  Saved your life.

• 1:08:36Speaker 07

  Saved my life, but um, so I ended up like doing a little bit of research about this. And this was around the time um, Chris Rock had that good hair thing.

• 1:08:46Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:47Speaker 07

  Yeah, and then um, so I'm trying, like the internet wasn't popping, popping like it is right now, like you could get anything like like that, no matter. So I literally had to go to India to get me a connect, to get me a good connector, I I basically have to buy retail and and pretty much ma- make a small margin.

• 1:09:07Speaker 05

  So sight unseen, you just went to India and just like figured it out when you get there?

• 1:09:11Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:09:12Speaker 05

  Where'd you go?

• 1:09:13Speaker 07

  Chennai, hair capital of the world.

• 1:09:15Speaker 05

  The hair capital of the world. You gotta meet somebody there.

• 1:09:18Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:09:19Speaker 05

  And they speak English?

• 1:09:21Speaker 07

  Um, yeah, pretty much.

• 1:09:22Speaker 05

  They speak English, yeah, they do, okay.

• 1:09:24Speaker 07

  So I I got the, so I basically got the connect, got got a couple of connect.

• 1:09:30Speaker 05

  So you're like Frank Lucas.

• 1:09:31Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's what I said, I'm thinking he going to Vietnam right now.

• 1:09:34Speaker 07

  So I I go out there and you know, um, I start buying, I start buying from somebody and and that didn't work out and bought from somebody else, you know, until you know, um, like, you know, my first shipment was always great. And then I sent, you know what I'm saying, I I sent, I've had a first shipment for like, you know, ten keys or something like that. Right, and and and and that, and that's great, alright, and then um, so I'm just like, alright, send me over fifty keys, alright?

• 1:10:03Speaker 06

  That's right, fifty keys of bundles.

• 1:10:05Speaker 07

  Fifty keys of bundles, they they come in four ounce packets.

• 1:10:09Speaker 06

  Oh, sorry, will we will we title this, please, fifty keys of bundles?

• 1:10:13Speaker 07

  So.

• 1:10:14Speaker 05

  Let that go over your head.

• 1:10:15Speaker 07

  Yeah, so so what ended up happening is like when I bought the fifty keys, it was just like, um, it was like five keys was good and it was like forty five keys of garbage.

• 1:10:26Speaker 05

  But your tongue, it wasn't getting numb.

• 1:10:28Speaker 07

  Yeah, so.

• 1:10:28Speaker 05

  They sold you, they sold you a bad product.

• 1:10:30Speaker 07

  Exactly, so.

• 1:10:31Speaker 05

  We got screwed over in India a few times.

• 1:10:34Speaker 06

  Yeah?

• 1:10:34Speaker 05

  Yeah, personally.

• 1:10:35Speaker 06

  Habitually, yeah, habitually.

• 1:10:37Speaker 07

  On the merch?

• 1:10:38Speaker 05

  Uh, uh, um, app.

• 1:10:39Speaker 06

  Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:40Speaker 05

  We started, we did, we did an app and um, this guy completely screwed us over, ran us for like twenty thousand.

• 1:10:47Speaker 06

  Thirty.

• 1:10:48Speaker 05

  Was it thirty?

• 1:10:49Speaker 06

  Thirty bands.

• 1:10:49Speaker 05

  Then we hired another Indian to go fly from his part of India to the other part of India.

• 1:10:55Speaker 06

  Yeah, it was crazy.

• 1:10:56Speaker 05

  He screwed us over.

• 1:10:57Speaker 06

  And then they went on holiday for three weeks.

• 1:10:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, we lost a lot of money in India.

• 1:11:01Speaker 07

  You was on, you was on um, you was on Zoom calls with him, the FaceTime?

• 1:11:05Speaker 06

  Nah, Zoom wasn't popping then.

• 1:11:06Speaker 05

  Um, WhatsApp, like WhatsApp calls at like one o'clock in the morning, cause it's like, you know, one o'clock in the afternoon over there. And um, they acting like they don't really speak English good, it was a whole ordeal.

• 1:11:18Speaker 07

  When they want to.

• 1:11:19Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:11:19Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's tough, man.

• 1:11:20Speaker 06

  We should have called you, man.

• 1:11:21Speaker 07

  It's it's tough.

• 1:11:22Speaker 06

  Jude, Jude the plug.

• 1:11:23Speaker 05

  Nah, it's real and it's like, all of these stories bring back so many memories, cause it's like, I always say, hustling isn't a hobby, if you're an entrepreneur, you gotta get the job done by any means necessary, and it's like, even with us, like dealing with merchant Pakistan, um, and like, we interviewed Derek Grayson, his thing was in China, and you gotta wire these people money and you like hoping they don't screw you over. And it's like, people don't understand, like this is, these are real stories, like this really happened in my life.

• 1:11:49Speaker 06

  They really can run off with it.

• 1:11:50Speaker 07

  Yo, um.

• 1:11:51Speaker 05

  What can you do? Nothing.

• 1:11:53Speaker 06

  Hop on the plane.

• 1:11:53Speaker 07

  You know, one of the, one of my my best flips ever was, um, I had gotten a call, it was like maybe two thousand, two thousand ten, like my man, my man in in um, my man somewhere, I ain't gonna say where, um, called me up, he was working in a dock someplace, and he had a container, container full of um, toilet paper. Right, he's like, yo, I get I get you this container full of, like, literally a container full of, for like, for like twenty five hundred. It's like something in the system where they, like, he, like, he's like, yo, I've been watch, I've been watching this container, it's it's nowhere, like, yo,

• 1:12:34Speaker 07

  you could have all the toilet paper in here for twenty five hundred, right, so.

• 1:12:40Speaker 05

  That would have been perfect during COVID, at the beginning of COVID.

• 1:12:43Speaker 07

  Exactly, so I'm I'm just like, yo, I did the math, I was just like, yo, that's like, that's like a hundred thousand dollars worth of um,

• 1:12:51Speaker 05

  Toilet paper.

• 1:12:51Speaker 07

  Toilet paper in there.

• 1:12:52Speaker 05

  So full it.

• 1:12:53Speaker 07

  Right, so I'm just like, alright, so now, um, I'm calling people, you know, I'm I'm I'm calling like people, um, so my my man tell me he has a connector, like where he supplies all the bodegas and and like, you know, I could I could do this and that, I I ended up, um, I ended up like sending, sending the thing to Panama for like, and made like seventy five hundred dollars on on the deal, right, but um, I, like, my whole thing was just like, so I'm sending you twenty five hundred dollars and I've never seen this toilet paper, and you're telling me you're sending it to Panama and somebody's gonna send me ten thousand dollars back?

• 1:13:38Speaker 07

  And he was like, yeah, and I was just like, fuck it.

• 1:13:48Speaker 05

  Rolling the dice.

• 1:13:51Speaker 07

  But it worked, right, but um.

• 1:13:58Speaker 06

  Love it, love it.

• 1:14:00Speaker 07

  You know, um, but, but that's the way you lose money too.

• 1:14:05Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's a fact.

• 1:14:05Speaker 07

  It worked out.

• 1:14:06Speaker 05

  Don't try this at home, please.

• 1:14:07Speaker 07

  It worked, it worked out, but the truth, the the truth of the battle is, um, what, like, the best, like, the best cons, right, the best con games is when they they put the upside in front of you and all you're looking at is the upside potential without the downside risk, right? So um, what, you know what I'm saying, Madoff, you know what I'm saying, all all them great scams is is like, oh, I'm just looking at the upside. You know what I'm saying, like, if, but bottom line is, if it's too good to be true, most likely it is. You know, that one incident, you know, that one instance, it was um, it it it worked in my favor.

• 1:14:49Speaker 07

  But um, in hindsight, like being the man that I am today, um, I wouldn't have risked it.

• 1:14:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, they had a lot of that, a lot of stuff going on, like P P E, like mask, like you could buy these masks and just, it's like, it's always, history always repeats itself, and um, there's always an opportunity for somebody to make money, but you gotta be careful, because like you said, I mean, those kind of things you hit, but you're gonna strike out more times than not.

• 1:15:16Speaker 07

  Wait for your pitch and and like, right now, I'm I'm big on taking risks, but it has to be a calculated risk and um, it has to be a calculated risk and it has to, like, I I have to have a a definite plan to to control my downside risk, you know? Gotta gotta have those stop losses in place.

• 1:15:39Speaker 05

  Stop loss, that's important.

• 1:15:41Speaker 07

  You know?

• 1:15:42Speaker 05

  That's important.

• 1:15:42Speaker 06

  In all aspects, life, life, stop loss.

• 1:15:46Speaker 07

  Have it in place, you know, and like, as as you progress, you know, the the more you go, like you gotta constantly adjust your stop losses, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:15:58Speaker 07

  The other day, the other day, I um, I'm involved in this business and I I I rolled up on the scene and it was like a lot of high risk behavior going on. And.

• 1:16:17Speaker 06

  You were analyzing the location.

• 1:16:18Speaker 07

  Yeah, and and then I was just like, yo, um, I'm making money, but I have to shut, I gotta remove myself because, you know, one, my reputation, two, insurance, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:16:32Speaker 05

  Where you could just get killed.

• 1:16:33Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:16:34Speaker 05

  That's an option too, yeah.

• 1:16:35Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's just like, yo, this is, this is crazy.

• 1:16:37Speaker 05

  Dangerous, very dangerous.

• 1:16:38Speaker 07

  It's just.

• 1:16:39Speaker 06

  High risk behavior.

• 1:16:40Speaker 07

  It was, you know, there was nothing nefarious going on, but it's just like, like you get every.

• 1:16:45Speaker 05

  Uncomfortable.

• 1:16:46Speaker 07

  Yeah, every step, every step you're taking in life, you gotta, you know, like, um, like, you ain't got, I think Jay has a say, has a line where he's like, yo, I ain't gotta be in the projects all day or something like that.

• 1:16:58Speaker 05

  Yeah, I don't be in the projects all day, talking about I be in the projects all day.

• 1:17:01Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:17:01Speaker 05

  That sounds stupid to me.

• 1:17:02Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:17:03Speaker 06

  If you were gangster.

• 1:17:04Speaker 07

  So um, at some point, like, as as you elevate, you can't be doing the same things you were doing and you can't take the same risks. You know what I'm saying?

• 1:17:14Speaker 05

  No, it's very true, and rest in peace to one of our biggest inspirations, Nifty Hustle.

• 1:17:17Speaker 06

  The great.

• 1:17:18Speaker 05

  And it's an unfortunate situation, but sometimes when you you stay around too long, jealousy, envy, just and just random things happen in certain neighborhoods where some, you have to elevate. And like, and you can't stay in the same environment that you might have grew up in, that you once felt comfortable. At some point, some one things that make you used to feel comfortable make you feel incom- uncomfortable at some point. You should, you should feel uncomfortable, and if you feel comfortable, you have to ask yourself why you feel comfortable.

• 1:17:49Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's just like, um, like, keeping it real or or keep, you know, um, like you, one of the, one of the things that I always try to, try to, try to um, say to myself is, I'm not gonna be loyal and I'm not gonna be faithful to my old self. You know what I'm saying?

• 1:18:12Speaker 06

  It's constant evolution.

• 1:18:13Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's just like, yo, just because I said it, just because I said it, you know, five years ago, two years ago, you know, doesn't mean that it has to stand true.

• 1:18:23Speaker 06

  Right.

• 1:18:24Speaker 07

  You know, um, and um, you know, not for nothing, never give my heart to one, something like, whatever.

• 1:18:32Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:18:33Speaker 07

  And it's just like, you grow.

• 1:18:34Speaker 05

  And now he's married.

• 1:18:35Speaker 06

  Now he's married.

• 1:18:35Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:18:36Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:18:36Speaker 07

  You grow.

• 1:18:37Speaker 06

  Yeah, the evolution.

• 1:18:38Speaker 07

  Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:18:39Speaker 06

  But it's the same, it's in that same lineage of of the growth of him and and just us listening to the music was like, we watched him at that point, and we watched him become a mature husband and father, and the same line is like, yo, I ain't worked that hard to be the same.

• 1:18:51Speaker 07

  Yeah, you can't, you you can't be scared to contradict yourself, um, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:18:56Speaker 06

  For the betterment of yourself, right, right, right.

• 1:18:58Speaker 07

  Like, um, that that's hustling backwards.

• 1:19:02Speaker 06

  That's also true.

• 1:19:03Speaker 05

  And you could do that the next day, if I don't feel, if I don't feel the same way I felt yesterday, I change my mind.

• 1:19:08Speaker 06

  He does it all the time.

• 1:19:09Speaker 05

  At any point in time, you can reserve the right to change your mind and completely become a different person.

• 1:19:13Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:19:14Speaker 05

  That's why I don't, I don't really get into politics too much, because the whole thing that you said twenty years ago, like you said this, yeah, it was, it was nineteen eighty four. I'm a different person now.

• 1:19:23Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:19:24Speaker 05

  You know, it's like, you you can't be held accountable for things that you said thirty years ago. I mean, it's like Dame said, like I was pouring champagne on girls, like, yeah, I I was out of my mind. Fifty years old now, I don't, I wouldn't do that now, can't help, you can't hold me accountable for what I did when I was twenty eight.

• 1:19:42Speaker 07

  It's it's it's wild, man. Like, if if you ain't growing, you staying the same.

• 1:19:48Speaker 06

  Sorry.

• 1:19:49Speaker 05

  So let me ask you this, speaking about growing, let's end it out on this. You you have a nonprofit, The Brooklyn Bank. What is The Brooklyn Bank?

• 1:19:56Speaker 07

  Brooklyn Bank. The Brooklyn Bank is like my give back, right? So here I am, and keeping it real, a hundred percent, right?

• 1:20:07Speaker 06

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• 1:20:50Speaker 02

  Hi, it's Nora McInerney, host of the Head Start: Embracing the Journey podcast. We're back with more honest conversations from people living with chronic migraine. People figuring out how to adapt, advocate, and stay connected to the things that bring them joy while managing their condition. People like romance novelist Britt Middleton.

• 1:21:09Speaker 00

  It's not often that people can look at you and see that you are living with this. And it felt very important for me to show how people can have these incredibly successful, high-pressure, highly-visible jobs. But I also wanted to show, because it is a romance, that having the right partner and her love interests actually takes care of her during a migraine attack that happens in the book. And that is also based on my life. As somebody who's had an incredible partner to me for the last fourteen years.

• 1:21:41Speaker 02

  Listen to the Head Start: Embracing the Journey on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is brought to you in partnership with AbbVie.

• 1:21:51Speaker 06

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• 1:22:29Speaker 07

  I make my money buying properties cheap and selling it to people high. And unfortunately, most of the people that I sell to, they don't look like me. So I love my people. I care about my people. So what I what I did was, I went and I actually bought the building, The Brooklyn Bank.

• 1:22:53Speaker 05

  Where's it at?

• 1:22:55Speaker 07

  Eight, nine, six, D, Cal, Bed-Stuy. Real Bed-Stuy, not, you know, not what Ben was talking about.

• 1:23:01Speaker 05

  Real Bed-Stuy.

• 1:23:03Speaker 07

  So, so basically, so basically, I started this nonprofit where I have a building where I I do financial literacy programs. Like tomorrow, we we giving out toys to the kids. Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, we literally gave out a thousand turkeys and a thousand things of bags of groceries and stuff like that. So that's that's my personal give back, you know, my my opportunity to kind of even it out.

• 1:23:38Speaker 07

  Like, The Brooklyn Bank, what it what it's really about is about financial literacy, financial empowerment, economic empowerment. So I'm really big on teaching, you know, whether whether it's budgeting, whether it's saving, whether it's credit, whether it's real estate, whether it's it's stocks, just trying to share the information. Because, you know, like, you guys do a really great, great job on this platform of making the information available to those to those who probably could not get it elsewhere. You know, and and you make, you know, you bring you bring you bring the right people on where it's it's not foreign.

• 1:24:19Speaker 07

  And that's the problem. A lot of the times, people think think that these things are out of their out of their out of their reach. So I basically wanted to to provide a a space, a community, a mindset, an organization where it's where we're focused on letting people know that, yo, you could do this, you know?

• 1:24:43Speaker 07

  This whole, like, my whole real estate thing, right? My real estate, my business, and all that other stuff. I didn't invent anything. Like, like, I've I've made tens of millions of dollars. Like, I didn't create anything. I didn't make anything better. I didn't revolutionize anything. I'm just following the blueprint that, you know, that Andrew Jackson was doing back back in the back in the seventeen hundreds. You know, like, you buy you buy land and and you take take that value and you reinvest and this, that, the other. And and and, you know, you you practice discipline, you practice delayed gratification, you know, all these little little things.

• 1:25:27Speaker 07

  Like, these are all the little things that people have to learn so that they could elevate themselves.

• 1:25:34Speaker 06

  So is it is it an event space? Or is it like, almost like a community center where any?

• 1:25:37Speaker 07

  It's more of a community center.

• 1:25:39Speaker 06

  People can come in?

• 1:25:39Speaker 07

  Yeah, we we were doing events. We kind of put that on pause.

• 1:25:45Speaker 07

  Like, like, right now, I'm focused a hundred percent on doing doing community things. And we're going into schools and, you know, bringing in financial literacy stuff, like.

• 1:25:56Speaker 06

  So you just partnered with a school?

• 1:25:58Speaker 07

  Yeah. We partnered with a school the other day. I did some researching with you guys. I saw you guys, we've been in the school for years.

• 1:26:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, I'm a teacher.

• 1:26:05Speaker 07

  Okay. So that's dope, but that's really what I'm trying to do, you know, like, like, there's a, in regards to money, right? Like, whether whether you have ten million, twenty million, a hundred million, or a billion dollars, right? The price, the price of a steak is the price of the steak. So everything else is excess, right? It's like, so that's kind of, I'm, you know, I'm blessed that I'm at a at a point in my life where, like,

• 1:26:42Speaker 07

  another check does not change my life, you know, not not change the life that I that I enjoy leading, you know?

• 1:26:50Speaker 07

  You had a dude up here, I was watching an episode, and he said, yeah, well, I got a bigger plane now.

• 1:26:56Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, Darryl Freeman, yeah, yeah.

• 1:26:58Speaker 06

  Sought to him.

• 1:26:58Speaker 07

  Right? And shout shout out to him.

• 1:27:02Speaker 06

  Oh, gee, free, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:27:03Speaker 07

  Shout out to him if he wants a bigger plane, but it's just like, I'm at a point in my life where I'm comfortable, you know? Like, like, I don't want to, I don't want to be the dude in a Ferrari if everybody can't have a Ferrari. You know, because then then you looking crazy. You looking like, you understand, you looking like lunch.

• 1:27:22Speaker 06

  They gonna put you on the menu.

• 1:27:23Speaker 07

  Yeah. So, you know.

• 1:27:26Speaker 05

  Not if you're in Atlanta. Everybody got Lamborghinis in Atlanta.

• 1:27:30Speaker 07

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:27:32Speaker 06

  Bed-Stuy, that's that's gonna be tough.

• 1:27:34Speaker 07

  There's no COVID in Atlanta.

• 1:27:37Speaker 06

  That also might be true.

• 1:27:38Speaker 05

  That's fact. That is a fact.

• 1:27:39Speaker 07

  So that's that's The Brooklyn Bank to me, you know, like, it's it's a community, it's it's it's. And it's funny, because like, when I talk to Brooklyn Bank, a lot of times, people just think about the physical location, which is cool, you know, because I I'm I'm sometimes still in awe of it. It's just like, yo, dude, you own a bank, yo.

• 1:27:58Speaker 06

  It was, was it a church first, or was it a bank, church, then bank?

• 1:28:01Speaker 07

  It was a bank.

• 1:28:02Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:28:03Speaker 07

  Like, it was built, it was built as a bank. Like, the whole thing is is like sixteen-inch cement and concrete and bricks, right, with a vault, with a vault and everything. And then in the eighties, they started using it as a church when when the bank went under. Shout out to economics. When the bank went under,

• 1:28:26Speaker 07

  they started using it as a church. And then I took, you know, I I got that deal. And originally, like, my line brother had hooked me up on that deal. Because I I got, you know, like, there was mad people trying to get that building, you know? And one of the one of the caveats of of how I got it, because how I got it and how I

• 1:28:52Speaker 07

  how they accepted my bid instead of some of other bids that was higher, is that I promised that I would keep doing good work in there. You know, like, I wouldn't turn it into a strip club. Or I wouldn't knock it down and build condos and nothing like that, so.

• 1:29:06Speaker 06

  More employees.

• 1:29:08Speaker 05

  Atlanta might argue that that might be good work. Shout out to.

• 1:29:12Speaker 06

  Support black businesses.

• 1:29:13Speaker 05

  Shout out to Blue Flame. Shout out to Magic City. Shout out to.

• 1:29:18Speaker 07

  One twelve.

• 1:29:20Speaker 05

  Support black business.

• 1:29:21Speaker 06

  Support black business.

• 1:29:23Speaker 05

  I digress.

• 1:29:24Speaker 07

  Club Rolex. I see you.

• 1:29:27Speaker 05

  Onyx.

• 1:29:28Speaker 06

  I told her to look up because it's snowing in Tooties.

• 1:29:32Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 1:29:37Speaker 05

  Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Nah, Jude, it's been a pleasure, man. And once again, thank you for teaching that class on EYL University. That was dope. And tell them about that, your experience. I know you, you answered questions for like an hour and a half. Like, how was that teaching it?

• 1:29:51Speaker 07

  It, it was dope because, um, like, prior to, like, I kind of have it in my, in my head, how I go about analyzing the deal. So prior to that, I've never really written it down, written the formula down and, and, and wrote it down. So I'm like looking at it like, hey, this is, this is real, you know? This is what I do. And, um, it was, it was very, um, it was pleasing because like the, um, sometimes, sometimes I, I, I talk to people and it's just like, they don't get it. But it wa, it was good to be in, in a, a, a platform where, you know, where your earners,

• 1:30:34Speaker 07

  like, this is what they do and this is what they're trying to, this is what they're trying to do and, and they're not, they, the questions were intelligent questions and, um, they, you know, you know, you as a teacher, you know how it feels like when-

• 1:30:48Speaker 06

  Every, every question's a good question.

• 1:30:50Speaker 07

  Exactly, exactly.

• 1:30:52Speaker 06

  Nah, yeah, I understand. Cause like, when, when, sometimes when a question is phrased, you can tell somebody's been critically thinking. Um, and that's important, right? Cause it's like, all right, I know that that's coming from a place of, of wanting to know, not just, I just wanted to say something. And so shout out to all the earners that asked all those, we wa, we watched the presentation. It was pretty dope.

• 1:31:11Speaker 05

  I didn't get a chance to watch the whole question and answer, but they told me it lasted two hours, which is longer than usually. So I know that there was a bunch of question and answers. So that's dope. He said, Jamal said, everybody got their question answered. So that's dope.

• 1:31:23Speaker 07

  Yeah, like, um, you know, my goal, my goal, my personal goal is like, like I said, I've made a lot of, I, I've made a lot of mistakes, you know? Like, there's, there's no reason why, um, I'm not sitting, you know, sitting on nine figures right now. I accept that I made a lot of mistakes. And my, you know, my, my goal is to make sure that people don't necessarily make the same mistakes that I made. You're gonna make your own mistakes, but there are a lot of, there are a lot of mistakes that I made that could have been avoided if somebody had just pulled me to the side or if there was a platform like yours where, where, um, I could get the knowledge.

• 1:32:03Speaker 05

  That's a fact. So how can, how can people contact you? Social media handles? What's their information? Brooklyn Bank or any other initiative that you want to make the public aware of?

• 1:32:11Speaker 07

  Um, two, two places you could get in touch with me. You could get in touch with me at the Brooklyn Bank. That's, um, the Brooklyn Bank as it's spelled. And you could hit me on IG, um, at Mr. Jude Bernard, M R dot J U D E B E R N E R D.

• 1:32:28Speaker 05

  Thank you. Troy, housekeeping items?

• 1:32:29Speaker 06

  Yeah, shout out to everybody on Patreon.com. Y'all know that's our Proud to Pay program. Uh, we reference NIP and, uh, that's where we got the idea from. So again, rest in peace to NIP. Shout out to everybody in Crenshaw. Shout, shout out to everybody that showed us love out there when, when we visited the West. Um, and obviously, you know, tier five members, you get access to EYL University where you can get some good knowledge from some solid professors, man. And, uh-

• 1:32:50Speaker 05

  Exceptional professors.

• 1:32:51Speaker 06

  Exceptionals, top of the line. Um, so we appreciate all the support. Um, and shout out to everybody that has been copping the new merch. I know y'all, I know y'all saw that, that varsity jacket that my boy had on, looking, looking crisp out there, man. Um, so shout out to everybody that's supporting that, man. We are very excited to have it and seeing everybody wearing it is a, is a testament to, to hard work, man. So salute to all y'all.

• 1:33:13Speaker 05

  Yeah, and shout, once again, shout out to EYL University. And that's, people ask like, what's the difference between this and the podcast? And it's like, our question and answers with somebody that, you know, has $40 million in real estate is not something that you get to do every day. And, um, to have a PowerPoint presentation and stuff like that. So these are different things that we bring to EYL University. Um, and we're very, very proud of that platform. So shout out to all the earners out there. Uh, thank you guys for rocking with us. We'll see you next week. Peace.

• 1:33:38Speaker 06

  Peace.

• 1:33:39Speaker 07

  Peace.

• 1:33:41Speaker 04

  My graduates from my school being Forbes, bag drop.

• 1:33:46Speaker 05

  Bag drop.

• 1:33:47Speaker 04

  [bleep] a mic drop, bag drop.

• 1:33:49Speaker 05

  Bag drop.

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