Island Life Forever Because Of Multifamily

Full Transcript Below

Intro
Hi. My name is Rod Khleif, and I’m the host of “The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing” podcasts. And every week, I interview Multifamily Rock Stars and we talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.

Rod
Welcome to another edition of How to Build Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing. I’m Rod Khleif, and I’m thrilled you’re here. And I know that you’re going to get tremendous value from the ball of fire that I’m interviewing today. And it’s going to be a really cool interview because this woman has moved to Costa Rica and is living off of her passive income from her investments in Costa Rica, which I happen to love. Went there on a Mastermind, oh gosh, about a year ago, but very excited to have her on the show. Her name is Becca Hint. Her website is “hintinvestments.com”, and, you know, she brings a lot of experience, so we’re going to have a lot of fun. Welcome to the show, Becca.

Becca
Oh, thank you, Rod. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m an avid listener of your podcast, and you’re one of the first guys when I started my multifamily journey, I listened to. So I consider you my multifamily, Tony Robbins. When I listen to your “own your power” clips.

Rod
That’s funny. Yeah, you know, some people don’t know. I spent 20 years following Tony Robbins around the planet. And just, you know, and shout out to Tony, if you ever have an opportunity to see him live, just do it. Trust me, you’ll thank me. But, yeah, so you’re in Costa Rica, which I freaking love. Went there for a Mastermind. Some of my warriors host a Mastermind called “Secret X”, and that was one of the locations we went to and just had a blast. And so, you know, why don’t you tell us your story and how you’re able to live in a boutique surf and yoga hub in Nosara, Costa Rica now. Okay. So take us from your beginnings in the business in the real estate business through to today.

Becca
You bet. My pleasure. Yeah. So my husband and I were medical device sales reps. Been in that business for 17 years. Great job, good gig, company car, big expense account, big money, lots of hours put in. But that’s not a passive game, as you know. So therein lies the problem. And as you know, when things just become a bit uncomfortable, it’s time to start looking around for a change. So I ventured into multifamily, kind of simultaneously straddling my sales career in multifamily, and realized that I love this business, and passive income is the way to go. When things became so uncomfortable with the pandemic, with the situations at school, we’re from California, Bay Area, and so they were really strict there. Things are in lockdown. And I’m looking at my kids on Zoom calls, and I said to my husband, you know what? Have you ever calculated how much it costs to live in your home every day? And have you calculated the arbitrage of if you rent your home and look at all your passive income, how you can live in another country, and if you went to another country, a beautiful place, like a surf and yoga hub in Costa Rica, you can live like a King and it’s not a minimized version of what we knew in the Bay Area. Back at home, everything was, you know, the closed down schools, the lesson, sports activities. When you’re in a new place, everything is new. We don’t know a minimized version. So that was just one of the drivers in making this move and a bit of our mental journey. My husband, he did the same thing. He’s quit his job in the Bay Area, and the guy looks ten years younger. It’s a tremendous improvement in his health physically and internally.

Rod
Wow.

Becca
So it’s been such an amazing journey for us.

Rod
No, that’s astounding. Well, let’s talk about your multifamily because that’s what we do here. But I mean, your lifestyle is just off the chain and everybody’s dream, and, you know, a lot of people dream about it, but actually never take action on it, even very often when they have the money and the ability to do so, myself included, frankly. You know, and I’m blessed to live in Florida, which is, you know, isn’t terrible, but, you know, it doesn’t have that feel like Costa Rica does with mountains and things of that nature. So, but, you know, we’ll probably circle back to that. But let’s talk multifamily for a minute. Right now, I know you’re doing a hotel to multifamily conversion, which is kind of become very popular lately, so, you know, and I haven’t really talked about it on the show at all. So why don’t you talk about, you know, how that came to be, how you found it, and how you identified it as a possibility for this and then just give us some detail?

Becca
Sure. You bet. I love this space, the hotel to multifamily conversion space. It’s really a lot of fun. And we started this journey in the pandemic when we saw these small hotel chains really failing. And these are the ones to target the smaller ones, the quality, and the days in the suites because they come with kitchens. So we found this deal in Tertiary Market in Arizona, and we were able to secure the deal for about– we bought it for about thirty cents on the dollar in what you could get a typical multifamily for because these hotels are valued on–well, several different metrics, but one of them, of course, being occupancy. And so there was nobody traveling at that time. The owners of hotels are often, you know, Mom and Pops. So you know, they’re often struggling with these anyways. So, yeah, we found an amazing opportunity. We bought this deal for 1.7. Hotels are tremendous lifts, something to know, and we can get into there. We’re putting about 1.7 in. Sometimes you look at these deals and say, well, should I bulldoze it over? Should I fix it up? But in this case, we fixed it up.

Rod
So again, to repeat, you paid 1.7 and you’re putting 1.7 in. Did I hear that correctly?

Becca
You heard that correctly. That’s not always the case. It’s a bit of a coincidence here.

Rod
Yeah. Okay.

Becca
But plan on these hotel conversions, they’re heavy lifts.

Rod
Right.

Becca
Many things to plan for in these kinds of things are the zoning changes. You can plan on a big bill, often having to hire a zoning consultant to approach the city and say we’re going from, you know, a hotel to a multifamily, which is different zoning. We lucked out with our deal in Arizona in that it’s the same zoning.

Becca
Okay.

Becca
I have another friend doing a conversion in Phoenix, and it’s costing me $500,000.

Rod
Just for the zoning. Okay. Got it.

Becca
Well, when you approach zoning, as I’m sure you know, sometimes they say, okay, I want you to put in a new fire hydrant and [inaudible].

Rod
Right. Yeah. Or, you know, fire suppression. That becomes almost over the top, too much. I was looking at doing this with assisted living, converting hotels to assisted living. And the fire suppression pretty much knocked it out for me because, you know, you need more time to get, you know, grandma out of the building, you know, which makes sense, versus, you know, somebody that doesn’t need help to get out and won’t be slow to get up. But, so, you know, doing the math. I know that you took 100 unit motel and you’re converting it to 65 multifamily units. So basically, you’ll be in it under 50,000 a door once you’re complete. If I did the math right.

Becca
Correct.

Rod
Now, so, tell me this, are they going to be Studios? Is there going to be some ones? What’s the unit mix going to be since you’re reducing the count?

Becca
Right, great question. We originally looked at this and said, Yay, 100 rooms.

Rod
Right.

Becca
You can have 100 Studios, but then, of course, can your market absorb 100 Studios? And then this tertiary market in Arizona, it couldn’t.

Rod
Right.

Becca
So we got our property manager involved very early. What we ended up with is 31 Studios, 31 one-bedrooms, and then just a couple of two bedrooms, because they were suites.

Rod
Wow. Getting that many one-bedrooms, that’s fantastic. And you can get all that done for $1.7 million?

Becca
You can.

Rod
I’m really surprised by that. I have to tell you, that seems really cheap to me, especially with construction. I mean, with building supply costs going up through the roof and everything.

Becca
Yeah.

Rod
Okay. Well.

Becca
No. It’s very doable. And you have a lot of your things there already.

Rod
Did these have kitchens? Were there kitchens there?

Becca
No. No, but what we’re doing and this is really great. In hotels, you’re knocking out that wall from the bathroom that goes into the typical hotel bedroom. So right there is where you plug in your kitchenette to utilize the plumbing on that wall. And then in hotels, you’re closing up one door because you have two entrances. So you’re combining the room, so you end up with all these doors, you end up with 100 doors. And like, where do we put these doors? Well, you put those doors on the one-bedrooms that you’re going to enter. So there’s a lot of reusing supplies. One thing, though, that you mentioned quite astutely is the fire issues.

Rod
Right.

Becca
And especially for assisted living. For us, it cost us about $185,000 to put up fire sprinklers.

Rod
Oh, so that’s all it cost you? Wow. Well, that’s not bad. Okay. That’s actually not bad. I got bigger bids than that when I was looking. So, you know, what’s the age of this motel? Just curious.

Becca
This one is the 70s, I believe. I think it’s 70.

Rod
70s build. Okay.

Becca
Yeah. 70s build. Yeah.

Rod
Okay. Interesting. You were smart. You involved a property management company who’s got their ear to the ground. Guys, that’s a clue. You always involve your property management company early because they know–you know, what that market demographic wants. You know, I remember, you know, buying an asset in Dallas. It was all one-bedroom units. This is 280 doors. And I was very concerned because I like to see a unit mix. But this place has been 100% occupied since day one because that’s what that demographic, their needs. And so you bring your property management company and that was very astute of you to do that.

Becca
Yeah.

Rod
When do you anticipate being completed with this project?

Becca
We should be completed this year.

Rod
Wow.

Becca
So the lift is– and these are heavy lifts that your audience needs to know and that you experience, too.

Rod
Right.

Becca
They’re heavy lifts done with bridge financing because, you know, Fanny and Freddie won’t touch it.

Rod
Right.

Becca
So we’re estimating probably the last quarter of this year. We’ve just had some flooring and paint go in last week. So the units are looking amazing. This is a fun deal since you have so much, you’re getting these at such a good price, you know you’re getting these 30 cents on the dollar. So a 70% discount. You can run different structures in the deal. So our financial structure here is syndication. Everybody puts in their money, and refinance at about the three-year mark. We all get out about 70% of their money. And then there’s still just so much meat on the bone, that about the six-year mark, we’re all getting the other 30% back. And then we keep it as a legacy asset. So it’s mailbox money for ten years. And as you know, Rod, as you get into this business for longer, you find yourself flipping multifamilies.

Rod
Yeah. Not me. Not me. There’s a reason my podcast is called Lifetime Cash Flow. Your model is exactly our model as well. And, you know, get our investors all or most of their money back and then just ride the cash flow. So you’re going to do the same thing with this asset, which is fantastic.

Becca
Yeah, rather than [inaudible] three to five years.

Rod
Now let me ask you this. Yeah. Three to five years. That’s ours as well in a value add play like that. Now, again, there’s a lot of meat on the bone with your deal at that price point. Now let me ask you this. Now, did the hotel have, like, a kitchen area? What sort of amenities are you doing with any common area that you have?

Becca
Yes. There are so many things you can do with a common area. So you have, you know, the entrance area that we’re doing, like a lounge and a place for people to sit down and do their computer work. But I know other developers, like in the Austin area that they cater to millennials, and they convert that whole area into a sort of a digital Nomad hub where people can come in and they rent the services by day as workspaces there.

Rod
Right. I just looked at an asset here in Sarasota where they did that. And surprisingly, it’s not utilized at all, and it’s probably 2,000sqft. And so, you know, if we take a stab at that asset, we’ll probably repurpose that space because it’s not being used. This is downtown Sarasota, actually. But, did the place have a pool or just really not many amenities to speak of?

Becca
No. It had the full amenities of just a small hotel. So it had a pool.

Rod
Okay. Good.

Becca
We needed to redo the pool and redo the decking. We needed to put in a fire hydrant because then you need a fire hydrant to support all the sprinklers that you’re then putting in.

Rod
Wow. Okay. That’s why the fire hydrant. Okay. All right. Okay. Well, fantastic. So you just syndicated it and did it. Now let’s talk you know, now, that’s the first conversion you’ve ever done, right?

Becca
First conversion. Yes.

Rod
Now, do you have a partner that’s a GC or someone with some experience or you just said, let’s just do it and see how it goes?

Becca
No, don’t do that.

Rod
Okay.

Becca
As you know.

Rod
Right.

Becca
I’m so glad you asked. We have partnered with an experienced GP that lives in Arizona and has boots on the ground.

Rod
Okay.

Becca
And these guys are the heavy-lift operators that are in that market.

Rod
All right. And did you hire a GC or as a GC part of the team?

Becca
Excellent question, too. So in this deal, we have a comparable property that we know the owner, five minutes away.

Rod
Okay.

Becca
The property management company we’re using had a general contracting side that did the renovation for our comparable property.

Rod
Perfect.

Becca
So they came in with all their resources. We were able to bring in some efficiencies in doing our own cabinets, bringing in our own electrical people, and bringing in our own pool people.

Rod
Wow.

Becca
But the rest, we left it to them.

Rod
That’s pretty involved, though. I mean, the fact that you’re doing some of those pieces, you know, that’s very process specific because sequencing comes into play. And you know, anything that delays any piece of that sequence screws everything up because you can’t paint, you know, after you put your cabinets in, you can’t put your flooring in before the paint. You know, and things of that nature. So the sequencing is critical. So you know, you added a wrinkle to your– I mean, obviously, you’re saving money doing what you’re doing, but there are some logistical hurdles with what you just described.

Becca
Absolutely. And on these heavy lifts, that’s something to think about.

Rod
Right.

Becca
The logistical hurdles, the cost of money of bridge lending during that time. Then there are so many things that come ahead of it is that you have to one, to see if the zoning is even realistic, and two, negotiate with the franchise because you have to buy out the quality in franchise. And that price can range from 30,000 to 150,000 depending on which franchise you’re talking with.

Rod
Interesting. Okay, so some other pieces there. Interesting. Okay. Let’s see if I have any other questions, I’m fascinated. Part of this is just for my own personal enjoyment because, again, this is something I haven’t really talked about much on the show. What’s the parking like there? What sort of parking do you have? And do you have enough for all the units or is that an issue?

Becca
Here’s another fun thing with hotel rooms or hotel conversions. You have a ton of parking.

Rod
Okay.

Becca
We have a ton of parking.

Rod
Okay.

Becca
We have, I think, almost about two and a half parking spaces per each unit.

Rod
Fantastic.

Becca
Another thing is the signage. You know, you’re limited in multifamily and what size sign you could put up. With hotels, you inherit this huge sign.

Rod
Oh, that’s right.

Becca
I mean, practically a neon light. Come live here.

Rod
Wow, love it. Okay. And you’re on a busy street typically as well.

Becca
We are on a busy street. Yeah.

Rod
Right.

Becca
Everybody sees you.

Rod
Are you looking for another opportunity in this space?

Becca
You know, I love hotels. Really. Aside from, you know, living in the tropics and living off passive income, hotels are probably my second favorite subject. I continue to look the financing as this market is changing a bit kind of frightens me a bit. Since this is all bridge lending and the heavy-lift nature of these deals, you must be partnered with an experienced sponsor. And that experienced sponsor has to have a solid general contractor. There are a lot of things to consider.

Rod
Yeah. Circling back to something you just said, the financing environment right now is super scary. Okay.

Becca
Super scary.

Rod
In fact–you know, and guys, as we record this, I don’t know when this episode will air, the interest rate just went up 50 basis points, half a percent interest yesterday, which is, you know, staggeringly high. And the Fed is anticipating another five increases. So, in fact, in my Warrior mentorship program, literally that was our coaching call yesterday to tell everyone, you know, yes, we want to help you build your portfolio. And right now you need to be very, very careful. And so it was kind of like a shot across everybody’s bow to be very, very conservative right now to make sure that in your proforma, you calculate these likely increases in your interest rate. Because right now bridge debt is pretty much all that’s out there unless you’re really raising a lot of money. And bridge debt, that’s all adjustable. It’s all on a three or five-year term or three-year term with two one-year, you know, extensions. And I got to tell you, and you’ll always end up having to buy a rate cap. And our rate cap on a deal we’re looking at right now, I can’t say where it is, but it’s a $40 million deal. Our rate cap is a million dollars. Okay. Just to cap the freaking interest rate.

Becca
Painful. Buckle up, everyone.

Rod
Right. No, it’s time to be very, very careful and not be as aggressive. And, you know, I see some of these deals that are happening right now. I’m like, there is no freaking way those investors are going to get the returns they were promised. It’s just not going to happen. And I don’t ever want to be in that situation. So, you know, it’s kissing even more frogs right now to try to find a deal. But no, I’m really glad you brought that up because I really wanted to mention that publicly about just this current lending environment. In fact, on our next Warrior coaching call, we’re going to go through, you know, how to really be– how to stress test the lending on a deal right now, which we’ve done before, but it’s time to do it again right now. You know a couple of warriors in my program, I think you said.

Becca
I do. I know a couple of your Warrior students, and they love it.

Rod
Thank you.

Becca
A couple of good friends that they’re having such a great experience.

Rod
That’s kind of you to say that. Yeah. I’m super proud of something. You know, I’ve been teaching, you know, a little over four years, and they own somewhere between 60 to 70,000 doors now. And just like my greatest accomplishment, it’s not even my accomplishment, but it’s something I’m very, very proud of next to my kids, probably most proud of. You know, just their incredible success. And, you know, it’s this living, breathing thing. And it’s just a lot of fun.

Becca
It’s amazing. And as it should be, you know, it’s interesting the journey that people are on is– initially, you know, you get out there in the world and you just need to make enough money to keep the lights on.

Rod
Right.

Becca
Then you find yourself working so much, you’re figuring out a way, how could we put this income on autopilot?

Rod
Right.

Becca
Then once you have the income, then you’re faced with, how do I solve this tax problem I have? And then when you get all of those boxes checked, you reach a point like you are, is how can I help the greatest amount of people with the greatest efficiency?

Rod
Yeah.

Becca
And it’s nice when you reach that point. Congratulations.

Rod
Yeah. I know that’s a beautiful thing. It’s a beautiful thing. Well, you know, it’s not all roses and glory and positive. Let’s talk about some seminars that you may have had in the past. You know which one I’m talking about. Because we talked about it before we started recording. Talk about your Kansas City project, please.

Becca
Oh, Jeez. Okay. Well, it’s the whole podcast in itself. I was just invited to a podcast called “The Real Estate Unsuccess Stories”, and I thought, I don’t think I should be flattered about this conversation.

Rod
That’s funny. I’d be the poster child on that one, let me tell you.

Becca
You and I both. Oh, gosh, you know, you got to really cut your teeth on some of these smaller deals. And this was the second deal I entered into. It was a 12 unit in Kansas City. It was one block away from a great area. One block. The path of progress only needed to move. But something to know on the path of progress. Does that path of progress move within your projected hold time?

Rod
That’s the key to the whole thing. It will move, but it can be a very long process.

Becca
Yes. And in this case, it was ten years.

Rod
Let me interject something real quick. So guys, anytime you can capitalize on a gentrification, it can be enormous. I’ll give you an example. You know, it’s kind of a funny example. And then I want to get back to your 12 unit here. But it was just a house that I bought in Northwest Denver, and I paid $56,000, flipped it for 76, and made a quick hit. But then the market crashed and I bought that same house back for 18,000. True story. Same exact house. Then I ultimately sold it for 160. But then the area gentrified, it’s an area called Highlands. It’s not worth a million. So here’s a house I paid 18,000 for at one time. That is now a million, anyway. So back to you.

Becca
Amazing.

Rod
But it’s a long play. You know, this is talking 40 years ago, 35 years ago, and that doesn’t always take that long. But there are areas in Denver. You can buy whole blocks for 20,000 a house. These are Antebellum hundred-year-old homes that are now a million-plus, every single one of them. But, you know, you have to deal with the crack and the murders and all the other stuff that goes along with it. And be have really thick skin for a good bit of time. So, anyway, back to you.

Becca
That’s right. That’s what I didn’t have. And that’s so well put. Can you hold out with fixed skin long enough?

Rod
Right.

Becca
And same on this deal. Is that the path of progress, the gentrification happened. It happened at the ten-year mark. I sold this property for–I bought it for 250, sold it for, you know, 300 a couple of years later. But I was on a women’s call the other day. A gal was bidding on it for $950,000 with ten bids on this– what was it? Debatably, C-minus property then?

Rod
We don’t want to compare those stories. I got to tell you, I had 500 houses in Denver at one time that I sold to buy here in Florida. And if I still had those, I’d be netting a million a month right now. Net, bottom line. Net. Yeah, but I wouldn’t have met my wife. So again, life is about meaning, guys. Remember, you’ve heard me say it. You place the meaning on stuff, even the stuff that may not outwardly look very pleasant, but you decide what the meaning is.

Becca
You really do. And embrace the journey.

Rod
That’s how you enjoy it. Right.

Becca
You really need to embrace the journey.

Rod
So let’s dig into that seminar that you had with that 12 unit, Becca. So talk about some of the hurdles you had to overcome and maybe some of the lessons learned.

Becca
You bet. Well, this is a C-property, as I mentioned, debatably C-minus. And I ran into some of the typical problems that operators do with this class of tenants who will often move out in the middle of the night or they’re behind on rents, then they catch up, and the whole place is just kind of limping along. When you sketch it out at a typical, you know, 10% occupancy, the numbers look great. If you can have everybody there paying the rent, it looks great.

Rod
Right.

Becca
So, you know, after–

Rod
Do you mean 10% vacancy?

Becca
I’m sorry. 10% vacancy.

Rod
Right. Okay.

Becca
I apologize. So three years down the road, I decided to change the property manager. As things were just limping along, well, I went from the fryer to the frying pan. And this next property manager that I ended up only keeping for 30 days was exchanging keys for services is what I could figure out. He had given the keys to a topless dancer in one of his vacant units. Simultaneously, I’m trying to sell the building and just get out of this deal and stop the bleeding. So the broker walks in one of the units, and he says, Becca, you know that that unit is vacant. The unit we’re showing today, and it’s– I’m sorry.

Rod
It’s occupied.

Becca
It’s occupied. It’s not vacant. And I said, what do you mean? The rent rule shows it’s vacant. I don’t know. He says, there are some clothes in there and things. I said, well, just throw them out. Let’s move on. Next thing you know, I’m getting a call from an attorney saying there was a squatter in this unit, and these are– there are squatter’s rights in Kansas City. We’re suing you for $10,000, for squatter’s rights. Do you know what I said? I said $10,000? I mean, we’re just talking close replacement from the waist down.

Rod
So did you have to settle?

Becca
I’m a big proponent of wrongful eviction insurance, and this saved me.

Rod
Oh, wow.

Becca
Kansas City Farm Bureau gave her $500 to hit the road and move on.

Rod
Wow. Yeah. You know, property management in that size asset is very touched and go. A lot of turnovers. A lot of times you’ll get somebody who’s got a clue what they’re doing, and I’m going to be a property manager or they’re a broker, and they decide they want to be a property manager. And some are good, but most aren’t. And they also–you know, they’ll kill you on the maintenance costs. The maintenance becomes a profit center for them. You know, they’ll hire a kid at $15 an hour and bill them out at $75. And you know, so, it’s just–there are a lot of pitfalls. And in that size asset, the property management solution for that size asset. So, you know, the big issue was the tenant demographic. The turnover, the slow payments, the no payments, the evictions, the trashing units when they moved out, all that stuff. Yes?

Becca
The typical things. Yeah, typical things you have in these C-units.

Rod
Right.

Becca
And also, you know, as we just mentioned, is the business plan. Did the exit timeline match your business plan? And this was a speculative play on a path of progress. Well, they don’t change in three to five years.

Rod
Right.

Becca
To that extreme. They change in, you know, ten and much longer. But one thing, Rod, I’m a big fan of buying in emerging markets, and this is what saved me on this deal. And it’s what saved me on many, many deals that I own in San Francisco, too. And while that’s not a cash flow game, it’s a solid appreciation play because these markets just keep ticking up. And the time in Kansas City, you know, I was able to sell, bought at 250, sold for 300 and two and a half years, which is not a bad return.

Rod
Right.

Becca
But it’s the bleeding that takes place. Meanwhile, that’s the hard part.

Rod
It’s the brain damage, honestly. It’s the amount of effort that you’re putting in and the stress and years off your life. And that’s probably what drove you to go to Costa Rica. No, I’m kidding. All right. Well, that’s awesome. Well, listen. And that’s how you learn. That’s how you learn.

Becca
That’s how you learn.

Rod
That’s how it works.

Becca
It was such a training ground. It was such a seminar.

Rod
Yeah.

Becca
And I really embraced that experience to know exactly what I don’t want to do next time.

Rod
Yeah.

Becca
Unfortunately, it’s just my own money. So just my IRA money.

Rod
Right.

Becca
Retirement is even that farther out.

Rod
You know, it’s all a learning experience. And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Right?

Becca
Yeah. I embrace that.

Rod
So you’re in Costa Rica, I mean, what does your day look like? Let’s increase the pain for the rest of us here, domestically. So what does a normal day look like, Rebecca Hint?

Becca
Oh, gosh. When we wake up, my husband and I go surfing. We’re on one of the best surf beaches in Costa Rica.

Rod
Of course, you do.

Becca
There’s a large sand bar that’s right out at this very wide beach. So it has perfect rolling barrel waves. We got here, we didn’t surf. So, you know, my husband and I said we got to keep up with our kids that are 11 and 12 years old. So we’re learning to surf. The joke is we’re really learning to wipe out and they’re learning to surf, but we’re getting out there. Then we go to this little yoga place that’s three doors away and get a smoothie. And it’s heavenly. It’s heavenly. The climate is perfect. We’re in a blue zone area, Rod. I think you may have–you may be familiar with these, but these are places where people– there’s the highest concentration–

Rod
Retirees?

Becca
No. People that live to 100 years old and above.

Rod
Oh, wow.

Becca
That live the healthiest lifestyle. There are plenty of books on this. Blue zones.

Rod
Wow.

Becca
Nosara, Costa Rica is one of those. Okinawa, Japan is another one. Sardinia, Sicily is another one. Sardinia, Italy. And then, it’s essentially the lifestyle of these people. And what they eat, allows them to live well beyond 100 years in good health.

Rod
Okay. We can’t let that go by. So just give me a quick high level. What do they eat?

Becca
They eat very basic food.

Rod
Really.

Becca
Very basic food from the farm. It’s nothing fancy. In fact, it lacks quite a bit of variety. Lots of rice and beans, chickens that roam around on the farm. Not very much animal products, not very much dairy. Corn tortillas are made from the corn that they grow.

Rod
Wow. Okay. We had a meal of all that when I was in Costa Rica. Exactly what you just described. And, you know, it was okay. It was like, you know, it was food, but it wasn’t very dynamic.

Becca
No, it’s not the foodie food, you know. It’s not a flavor explosion.

Rod
Right. Interesting.

Becca
But it’s good, whole-grain food that–

Rod
How are the kids acclimating? Is there decent schooling and stuff?

Becca
There is an excellent school.

Rod
Or you’re homeschooling?

Becca
No. No. That’s exactly what I was running away from in the Bay Area, homeschooling. The kids attend an International Baccalaureate school in between the jungle and the sea.

Rod
Very cool.

Becca
It’s a bilingual school. We’ve been working on Spanish for about six years with them as I feel it’s imperative for kids to have a second language, especially with the demographics changing in the US, such that in 14 States in the US, the majority language is actually Spanish. By the time my kids are 30 years old, the entire country will have switched that more than 50% of the population in every state will speak Spanish. It’s not to say they don’t speak English, but for this reason, as a parent, it’s imperative to at least have that base for your kids.

Rod
I agree.

Becca
And they’re getting it here. Full immersion. They’ve met tons of friends. It was a tough move, though, Rod. I mean, I drug everybody by their hair here. The kids are crying. Their grandparents are crying.

Rod
No friends. Are they happy now? How long have you been there now?

Becca
They’re delighted now. They don’t want to leave. We’ve been here since August.

Rod
Wow. Just since August. And they’re already delighted. How’s the healthcare there? How’s the healthcare?

Becca
Costa Rica has socialized healthcare. So if you’re Costa Rican and a resident here, you would get their health care. But most ex-pats, like myself, we just sign up for private health care, which is quite good.

Rod
Okay. Interesting. Okay. Well, listen. Guys, this has been a real treat, Becca. Again, her website is “hintinvestments.com” and what a life you’re living. And the next time Tiffany and I come down, we will definitely need to connect with you down in Nosara. Now, I don’t remember where we stayed, but I try to remember the name and I couldn’t remember it, but it’ll come back to me.

Becca
Oh, we would love that, Rod. I would welcome it. And anybody who’s seeking this kind of life, please reach out to me. You know this is very doable for your listeners. We are here supported 80% by passive income from our multifamily investments. You guys can do this, too.

Rod
You just have to make a decision and take massive action. That’s it.

Rod
Yeah. And here’s the guide that will lead you there.

Rod
That’s right. That’s right. All right. I love it. Well, listen. It’s great to meet you. Thank you for coming on the show and adding value. And like I said, we’ll definitely need to connect next time I go down there. Tiffany loved it as well, which is not always the case.

Becca
All the pleasure is all mine, Rod. I’m glad my tropical background rivals yours.

Rod
That’s right. All right, well, listen. Take care. Thank you.

Becca
It’s been a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Outro
Rod, I know a lot of our listeners are wanting to take their multifamily investing business to the next level. Now, I know you’ve been hard at work helping our warrior students do just that using our “ACT” methodology, which is Awareness, Close, and Transform. Can you explain to the listeners how they can get our help?

Rod
You bet. Guys, we’ve been going nonstop for three years building an amazing community of like-minded people, and our coaching students which we call our warriors, have had extraordinary results. They’ve purchased thousands and thousands of units and last year we did over 1000 units with our students. And we’re looking to grow this group and take it to the next level. We’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework that’s really step by step and then leverage our systems and network to raise equity, to find and close deals, and to build partnerships nationwide. Now, our warrior community is finding success in any market cycle. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more of our incredible network and take advantage of the incredible opportunities that are coming very soon, apply to work with us at “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345” and we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out. That’s “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345”.