Jeremiah Boucher, founder and CEO of Patriot Holdings, leads a Las Vegas-based real estate firm specializing in mobile home parks, industrial assets, and self-storage facilities. With a career starting in 2001, he has transitioned from a successful sales career to commercial real estate investing, notably contributing to MHP Funds before founding Patriot Holdings in 2016. The firm now manages over $350 million in assets across 101+ properties, while his All-Purpose Storage brand operates over 70 self-storage facilities. A New Hampshire native, Jeremiah plans to build a second home in Litchfield to stay connected with his roots and extensive local investments.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Leaving Sports To Become an Investor
- One of The Most Powerful Motivators
- The Game-Changer Who Inspires Millions
- The First Big Sale & How It Motivated Jeremiah
- Dominating the Mobile Home Market
- The Hidden Key to Mobile Home Park Success
- Mastering the Entrepreneur Operating System
- Why Jeremiah Bet Big on Industrial Real Estate
To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com
Full Transcript Below
00;00;00;13 – 00;00;21;02
Rod
Welcome back to life time cash flow through real estate investing. I’m Rod Khleif and I am thrilled that you’re here. And I’m super excited about today’s interview. I’m interviewing an old friend. We’ve known each other a long time. His name is Jeremiah Bouchet, and, Jeremiah has pretty much done it all. So we’re gonna have a really cool interview today because he’s been in all sorts of different asset classes and is in all sorts of them.
00;00;21;10 – 00;00;35;23
Rod
And we’re going to talk about the differences between them self-storage, mobile, home parks, multifamily, small bay, industrial. What am I forgetting? Office, retail, you name it. All of it. Yeah. Welcome, brother. Thanks, man. Yeah, it’s so great to see you. It’s been way too freaking long.
00;00;35;23 – 00;00;37;04
Jeremiah
Yeah. Love the spot.
00;00;37;06 – 00;00;59;03
Rod
So, so, anyway, why don’t you start by telling us, you know, your story? By the way, Jeremiah’s with Patriot holdings. Patriot holdings, dot com. And, I know you live in Vegas, right? I do, yeah. And, Yeah. So give us give us a background where you came from. Why real estate? I mean, I remember when we met, you were doing some really cool shit, and I know you’re still doing so.
00;00;59;07 – 00;01;01;20
Rod
Want to talk about that, too, but just take it away, brother.
00;01;01;20 – 00;01;16;20
Jeremiah
Yeah, and we haven’t talked in years, but I love when, I was in a rough position. You were in a rough position, and we met at a seminar. It was right after the crash. Right. And we were both trying to rebuild our empires. And, you know, you’re a little bit older than me, so I was, No, a.
00;01;16;20 – 00;01;17;18
Rod
Lot older, but. Yeah.
00;01;17;23 – 00;01;23;16
Jeremiah
Yeah, but, but it’s cool to be back here and share that. What a journey from that timeline. But.
00;01;23;21 – 00;01;27;15
Rod
Oh that’s right. Yeah. That’s that’s about how I mean, it’s been years and.
00;01;27;18 – 00;01;29;27
Jeremiah
It has over ten almost 15 years.
00;01;29;27 – 00;01;30;17
Rod
No shit.
00;01;30;17 – 00;01;31;07
Jeremiah
Yeah. Wow.
00;01;31;07 – 00;01;32;20
Rod
Wow. Okay. Wow.
00;01;32;20 – 00;01;52;27
Jeremiah
So, started out as a little kid. I was I was always into sports. I thought I was going to actually do something in sports, and I was a slow little white guy. You know, where that that didn’t go anywhere. So I, I had to find something that I channeled my energy into because I, I have a lot of energy, as you know, and I want to compete.
00;01;52;29 – 00;02;16;02
Jeremiah
And it’s it was rough. So I didn’t like college. Couldn’t I played rugby for a little while. Didn’t go anywhere with that. I tried bodybuilding, and I, busted up my back, and I just I just felt lost in this entire process. And in the process, I got into a lot of trouble, you know, because as as you don’t have a vision, like, no, as a man doesn’t have a vision, man, you perish.
00;02;16;05 – 00;02;16;24
Jeremiah
So I was.
00;02;16;24 – 00;02;18;08
Rod
Perish. Good book somewhere says that.
00;02;18;12 – 00;02;33;27
Jeremiah
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I was living it, man. And and living in the belly of the beast in Vegas. I mean, it was, it was really a time where, I got it all out, and, but I did realize reading an old course, it was no money down Carlton Sheets.
00;02;33;28 – 00;02;34;14
Rod
Oh, no kidding.
00;02;34;16 – 00;02;55;23
Jeremiah
Founded in my dad’s attic. He threw it aside. Yeah, and then I was working construction for him. So I grew up doing paving, you know, Holland wheelbarrows, shovels, raking work. Oh, yeah. Yeah, up in the northeast every summer since I was 12. And he still does it today. He’s I we track our calories. He burns 5000 calories a day behind a paver at 63.
00;02;55;28 – 00;03;12;23
Jeremiah
Wow. So so that’s my model. You know, that’s my like I don’t feel good if I’m not working hard. I mean, and I always knew seeing him that, even though we, you know, my parents got divorced and I split and lived in Vegas like, that was I had to be a business owner. That was my identity. Day one.
00;03;12;23 – 00;03;29;00
Jeremiah
I just didn’t know what business I wanted to get into. And when I tried to get into business with him, when I was getting done with high school and quit college, we butted heads. You know, he. Because it’s a small business, and he. Yeah, is a typical New Englander. I’m going to do it on my own.
00;03;29;00 – 00;03;34;01
Jeremiah
I need to control everything I don’t want. I don’t trust anybody. And, you know, we work seven days a week.
00;03;34;01 – 00;03;35;19
Rod
What nationality?
00;03;35;21 – 00;03;37;13
Jeremiah
We’re French. Canadian. French. Boucher.
00;03;37;13 – 00;03;38;12
Rod
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Boucher.
00;03;38;12 – 00;03;49;20
Jeremiah
Hello? Yeah, yeah. And then my grandfather, he his grandparents or his parents were from Canada. They came down from Montreal, but he was a hustler. I mean, he was, vacuum sales.
00;03;49;26 – 00;03;50;18
Rod
This is your dad.
00;03;50;22 – 00;03;51;20
Jeremiah
This is my dad’s dad.
00;03;51;21 – 00;03;52;19
Rod
Oh, you dealt your grandfather?
00;03;52;19 – 00;04;09;15
Jeremiah
Yeah, my grandfather. So he sold vacuums. He. He started the first farm stand in New Hampshire, and they would ship, produce down to Boston. He was an, innovative guy. But the same problem is he wouldn’t bring on any partners. And they looked at apartment buildings in Nashua, right on the border of, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
00;04;09;17 – 00;04;22;16
Jeremiah
And they could have bought apartments for 30, 40 years. They went up five, ten times since then. Yeah. And he never wanted to let go of control. And he. And he just didn’t buy assets, so, fast, you just.
00;04;22;18 – 00;04;32;24
Rod
I’m sorry. I just had. I’m sorry I did, like a squirrel thing here for a second, but I remember this produce market in Boston where they have the on the streets are filled with produce. You know what I’m talking. Oh, yeah. Is that is that where he was?
00;04;32;25 – 00;04;33;16
Jeremiah
Yeah. Yeah.
00;04;33;18 – 00;04;40;29
Rod
50 years ago. North. The north northeast. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I it just had a flashback because my dad lived in Boston for a while. Sorry. Keep going. I’m saying.
00;04;40;29 – 00;04;50;29
Jeremiah
No, he was he was a natural salesman. He would go to all the farms. Yeah, buy the produce and then make a markup and ship it down to Boston. Drive down there every night. Cool. So, I mean, it was in my blood, like, that was I was.
00;04;51;00 – 00;04;53;04
Rod
Entrepreneurship is in your blood 100%.
00;04;53;04 – 00;05;09;03
Jeremiah
Yeah. Like I couldn’t have a job. I mean, I, I worked as a meat cutter in Costco for like a week with convicts. And I was like, I gotta get out of this. Like, I couldn’t stand it. So, so then I had to find a path, and then that course really opened up my eyes when I saw that creative financing.
00;05;09;03 – 00;05;34;02
Jeremiah
And I know it’s what you really reinforce with your students like that. Open up my mind. I was like, man, I can actually own something and not have to put any money down. Yeah. So yeah, that that was the start of it all. But then I didn’t know anything. I look like I was like 12 years old and I was really lost with the whole process and losing my girlfriend and, knucklehead, you know, having grew up with a bunch of buddies and we drank all the time and, you know, this is like.
00;05;34;02 – 00;05;34;17
Rod
Vegas or.
00;05;34;17 – 00;05;50;12
Jeremiah
Where. Yeah, yeah, in Vegas played hard, you know, I’m sure. And I moved back to, to New Hampshire and, and that was like a real lonely time. And, you know, those, like, back in Boston, if, you know, being back there, it’s just those falls and winters are just so fucking cold.
00;05;50;12 – 00;05;54;11
Rod
Yeah. You’re not outside, so you’re in your house because it’s too freaking cold to be outside and depressing.
00;05;54;12 – 00;05;55;23
Jeremiah
You know, they never depressing.
00;05;55;23 – 00;05;57;01
Rod
Yeah. I don’t see any sun. There’s no.
00;05;57;01 – 00;06;13;10
Jeremiah
Sun. Right. Yeah. And that that kind of summer changed my life. And it’s it’s kind of basic, but I saw the Tony Robbins, infomercial 911 just happened. He was doing something on QVC, and, man, I was like, I gotta find a different way. Like, I don’t like college.
00;06;13;12 – 00;06;20;06
Rod
You want to hear something crazy? Yeah. When 911 happened, I was with Tony. I was in Hawaii at his like, oh, you were at that? Yeah, I was at that event. Yeah.
00;06;20;07 – 00;06;20;26
Jeremiah
Oh, wow.
00;06;20;26 – 00;06;34;05
Rod
Yeah, yeah. It’s just a digress again, guys. Forgive me, but I want to tell a story about that. Yeah. So when we woke up, both towers had already fallen. And, I mean there were like 3500 people there. There were people that lost people there. It was intense. You were there?
00;06;34;05 – 00;06;36;17
Jeremiah
Yeah, I saw that video. They kept replaying the video.
00;06;36;17 – 00;06;39;12
Rod
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It was. It was incredible. Anyway, sorry.
00;06;39;14 – 00;06;59;14
Jeremiah
No, that’s a whole moment. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, wow, this guy can help shift people’s right meanings and and feelings and associations. Right? And I want to do that with myself. But I was so young. I didn’t know what even that meant. I just knew I felt bad about myself. Right. And, so it was so cool to to take that shift.
00;06;59;14 – 00;07;04;02
Jeremiah
And boy, it wasn’t an overnight turnaround. I mean, I had,
00;07;04;04 – 00;07;05;16
Rod
Just started working on yourself.
00;07;05;16 – 00;07;10;03
Jeremiah
A ton, right? A ton and I want to make a change. I had I had to do something I felt proud of.
00;07;10;06 – 00;07;11;29
Rod
You hit a tipping point I did.
00;07;12;00 – 00;07;13;13
Jeremiah
Yeah, I did, and I couldn’t work for my.
00;07;13;13 – 00;07;23;10
Rod
Very common, by the way. You know that people, they they build up, they build up and disgust is a pretty powerful motivator. It is. And I imagine that was a piece of this. And they’re like, hey, man, I got to do something.
00;07;23;11 – 00;07;36;23
Jeremiah
It was a huge piece. Yeah. Especially, you know, when you’re not living up to your own standard in your own mind. Yeah. You know where I knew I could be something great, but, I’m drinking, I’m party, and, I’m lost with with people I don’t even want to be around.
00;07;36;23 – 00;07;37;11
Rod
Sure.
00;07;37;14 – 00;07;47;20
Jeremiah
But. But I had an outlet to, like, actually turn it on. And when I lost sports, I’m like, what’s the point of sitting in an office the rest of my life? Right? And then real estate was, man, a game changer.
00;07;47;20 – 00;07;59;26
Rod
So how did you start? What did you do first? So by the way, I don’t want to bump ahead. If there’s something else you want to throw in there. Okay. Did you go see Tony or just read his books? Right, I did, I owe you one song I did. Okay? Yeah. Testing. Okay.
00;07;59;27 – 00;08;00;15
Jeremiah
Yeah.
00;08;00;18 – 00;08;01;24
Rod
Life changing in it.
00;08;01;26 – 00;08;11;28
Jeremiah
Man. Life changing. But this is how much of a knucklehead I was. So I bought I worked all summer for my dad’s paving company. Paid the the ticket. Yeah. Flew to new Jersey. I was in.
00;08;12;00 – 00;08;13;22
Rod
I was in new Jersey, I, I’ve been to that one.
00;08;13;22 – 00;08;32;26
Jeremiah
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, I got the crappy cheap flight, had a layover, got there late. But before I went the night before, I went out in Vegas with a buddy and went so hard, man. And I could barely get out of bed. And my mom had to pull me out of bed to drive me to the airport like six in the morning.
00;08;32;28 – 00;08;48;01
Jeremiah
I forgot a shoe on the way down to like, she’s like, where’s your shoe? When we had to go back and pick it up. Oh, jeez. And then I show up. And right when I get into the event and we go into the big arena and that’s Secaucus, the big giant stadium. You know, they doing the Dickens pattern, and I.
00;08;48;01 – 00;08;50;03
Jeremiah
And I’m like, jittery and I’m hung over.
00;08;50;03 – 00;09;17;06
Rod
You got there right for that I did. So let me explain what that is guys. So so Tony does this exercise called the Dickens process where you basically look at your life if you don’t change it and you stack pain on not changing it. So he says, okay, stack on the pain. If you don’t change and he takes you out a year, then three years, then five years, then 20 years, and I remember going through it and, and they turn the lights off because everybody’s crying.
00;09;17;06 – 00;09;38;23
Rod
It’s a super powerful process that he pulls you out of. By the way, probably. I hope I’m not going to screw things up for people that want to do this. By the way, shout out to him if you ever can see him just freaking go do it while he’s still speaking live. I spent 20 years following him around the planet, but you know, and I remember when I did it, I was so focused on success that I visualize.
00;09;38;26 – 00;09;57;00
Rod
I’m going to choke up saying this. I visualize standing over my son’s grave because he’d killed himself, because I wasn’t in his life. Talk about pain. Okay, so that’s just an extreme example. But when you stack that pain, you get the leverage on yourself to frickin change. Did you go through the process? Yeah. Did it impact you?
00;09;57;00 – 00;10;03;10
Jeremiah
Oh a ton. Yeah. Yeah yeah, yeah, it freaked me out. Yeah. I mean, that was my first time wow ever doing it.
00;10;03;10 – 00;10;07;02
Rod
So you got there late. You didn’t do the fire walk or anything? No, I oh, you got there right.
00;10;07;02 – 00;10;08;05
Jeremiah
Into the heart of it. Yeah.
00;10;08;06 – 00;10;08;20
Rod
Okay.
00;10;08;20 – 00;10;10;02
Jeremiah
Yeah. So.
00;10;10;08 – 00;10;19;23
Rod
Okay. Well anyway, so so so again shout out to Tony if you can see him, just do it. So so first real estate. Let’s get let’s get to real estate. Yeah, yeah.
00;10;19;23 – 00;10;20;26
Jeremiah
So,
00;10;20;28 – 00;10;23;05
Rod
This good stuff, man. I didn’t know you did all that. Yeah.
00;10;23;05 – 00;10;29;02
Jeremiah
Maxim, I think the foundation is so important, right? Because for sure, you gotta have that for sure, man.
00;10;29;02 – 00;10;44;16
Rod
For sure. Yeah. I mean, like, if you come to one of my boot camps, the first thing we do is goal setting on steroids, because how the hell you get anything if you don’t know what it is? You know, you’ve got to create that burning desire. You’ve got to have, you know, create leverage on yourself to push through fear, to push through limiting beliefs, or to get uncomfortable.
00;10;44;16 – 00;10;53;18
Rod
A lot of people are just comfortable. And, you know, I you’ve heard me say it, guys, if you’re, you know, a comfort zone is a nice warm place and nothing freaking grows there. Right? So that’s it. Yeah.
00;10;53;22 – 00;11;03;28
Jeremiah
Yeah. But, well, I was uncomfortable. So when I came back, yeah, I, I, I went to community college, got my, little real estate license designation.
00;11;03;28 – 00;11;06;09
Rod
Oh, you got a license? I did okay. What state I.
00;11;06;09 – 00;11;06;18
Jeremiah
Did in.
00;11;06;18 – 00;11;07;17
Rod
Nevada. In Nevada?
00;11;07;17 – 00;11;25;01
Jeremiah
In Vegas? Yeah. I was living in the back of my buddy’s house, and, like, a little casita thing, and it was a mess. 22 just wanting to learn. I thought to myself, you know, okay, I can learn some contracts. I can learn due diligence, like all these things. I don’t know, I can get started here. Yeah. And this was 2000.
00;11;25;01 – 00;11;40;17
Jeremiah
Yeah. 2002, 2003. And I was struggling because, I had no network. I didn’t know anything. I had no advertising money. And I took to two things that really impacted me. Number one was I did, Mike fairy Tom fairy. Matt. Well, that’s.
00;11;40;17 – 00;11;44;24
Rod
The that’s the listing guy that helps realtors, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s he’s very popular.
00;11;44;24 – 00;12;04;11
Jeremiah
He is. Yeah. I mean, the thing that it taught me, and this is the thing that I think helps every investor is, you know, when, when we met and I did a presentation on cold calling and that’s kind of been my thing, you know, my, my right competitive edge. Right. And, he was he was like an old school Earl Nightingale descendant where it’s sales if you don’t go sell.
00;12;04;11 – 00;12;18;04
Jeremiah
And he was harsh to I mean, my first event is he would yell at you if you went up to the bathroom or he would say, hey, the reason you’re not successful is because you’re fat, you know? So. Wow. Yeah. It was an intense. And this was my first seminar about sales and anything to do with real estate.
00;12;18;10 – 00;12;26;08
Jeremiah
But it did solidify to me that you have to take the action to make the contacts build the relationships, and that’s going to be the foundation.
00;12;26;08 – 00;12;31;27
Rod
In any business. And that’s it. Any business is is sales, marketing and Kendall innovation as well.
00;12;31;27 – 00;12;35;28
Jeremiah
Yeah, yeah. That’s right. And at the time, you know that was a competitive edge. Yeah. Thank you.
00;12;35;29 – 00;12;42;20
Rod
Yeah. You’re cold calling what we’re going to talk about that a little bit here because that’s that’s the I was always so impressed with that. But yeah. Keep going.
00;12;42;21 – 00;12;56;15
Jeremiah
Oh well the second thing I did, which was was a different and creative was I had to find an edge which was getting some type of exposure to buyers or sellers. So I advertise in the gay magazine and I, I’m not gay, but a.
00;12;56;15 – 00;12;57;15
Rod
Gay magazine I did.
00;12;57;15 – 00;13;03;12
Jeremiah
Interesting. There was one publication in Vegas and it was a very tight community, and I thought to myself, they got good incomes.
00;13;03;12 – 00;13;06;18
Rod
Well, you’re good looking guy that you did. You put a picture in there too?
00;13;06;22 – 00;13;08;16
Jeremiah
I did.
00;13;08;18 – 00;13;11;04
Rod
Hey, whatever works man. That’s it.
00;13;11;06 – 00;13;11;21
Jeremiah
Man.
00;13;11;23 – 00;13;16;24
Rod
And anyway, guys, he’s here with his gorgeous girlfriend today. He’s just so you know, and, so. Yeah.
00;13;16;24 – 00;13;17;21
Jeremiah
Anyway, yeah.
00;13;17;21 – 00;13;18;05
Rod
Just to clear.
00;13;18;05 – 00;13;37;02
Jeremiah
That up. Yeah, I got some crazy calls. I got a Hawaiian guy still tries to date me today. Yeah, he he loves me. So, but but through that process, I, I did. I got my first big sale. I mean, and that was a really, really pivotal moment because after 12 months of no income, I was down to nothing.
00;13;37;05 – 00;13;58;24
Jeremiah
Well, and, and last thing on, like, the motivation and the building, the foundation, but you know, that whole chapter and thinking really rich about the burning obsession, you know. And did you do that? You write it out, you know, and I and I made it very clear. I mean, I had a very low goal. I’m kind of different than a lot of people where my girlfriend, she’s about, you know, I want a billion, and that billion is what she chases.
00;13;58;27 – 00;14;18;14
Jeremiah
And for me and it was like, I want three grand a month of passive income so I could get out of the rat race. And and I have my incremental goals, you know, that 50 million. And so make sure the, the at the time, I mean, that was everything to me. So I, I was screaming that in the shower, you know, I’m right on track to get my 3000 a month, and I’m willing to incantation.
00;14;18;14 – 00;14;23;04
Jeremiah
That’s right. Yeah. Call sellers, you know, six days a week until I find the people that need my services the most.
00;14;23;04 – 00;14;26;13
Rod
You still remember it? You’ve said it so many times, I do. Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome.
00;14;26;13 – 00;14;43;07
Jeremiah
Yeah. It’s awesome. And in return for this money, I’ll provide people like financial certainty and I’ll, I’ll do what I say I’m going to do. And I’m committed is goal one because it gives me the time, the time to spend with my friends, my family, the people I love, the woman I love to, the opportunity, opportunity to contribute, to change my life in other people’s lives.
00;14;43;07 – 00;14;53;00
Jeremiah
And then three, it gives me the the resources and the ability to actually go out there and change my life and make decisions that are impact others. And I just kept saying that like over and over.
00;14;53;01 – 00;15;14;07
Rod
Guys, when you do that and incantation like that, it gets into the fiber of your being. And I his memorized it. You know, that’s one of the things we do in my bootcamp is we do an identity statement and, and, it’s similar to that, you know, where you forward think where you want to be, you know, and, you’re like, my identity statement is ironically, from a magnificent, amazing, passionate gift from God.
00;15;14;07 – 00;15;32;18
Rod
I’m an incredible, father, inspiring, leader, loving, billionaire, an amazing husband that puts smiles on the faces of children, inspires others to excellence and rocks the world. Like you, I’ve said that thousands of times and everybody at my events does. That’s very, very powerful, emotional this thing. But love it man. Freaking love it. So God, by the way, he mentioned thinking grow rich guys.
00;15;32;18 – 00;15;46;15
Rod
I have given out and I’m not exaggerating. Probably over three now. Pray over 4000 copies of that book. Yeah. Physical copies of that book. Two story. Yeah, yeah. So real estate.
00;15;46;18 – 00;16;18;25
Jeremiah
So, so where the real estate comes in is, I never wanted to be a realtor. I knew I didn’t, it just wasn’t in my DNA. I didn’t like that business. And I always wanted to buy a commercial. Well, I wanted to buy income producing real estate, and I didn’t know where that was. That’s right. Yeah. So, the big thing for me was number one, just figuring out what I wanted to do, but I was doing what everyone else was doing, and I got caught up in the whole madness of the 2003 to 2007 run up, you know, big Short.
00;16;18;29 – 00;16;23;21
Rod
If you could fog a mirror, you could buy a house. That’s it then. Didn’t matter how much money you made because it was stated income loans.
00;16;23;22 – 00;16;24;25
Jeremiah
That’s it. Yeah. Ninja.
00;16;25;02 – 00;16;29;25
Rod
What’s wrong with that situation? All right. Oh, what’s wrong is what happened in 089.
00;16;29;26 – 00;16;45;21
Jeremiah
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I of course I read Rich dad Poor Dad and I learned the cash flow principles, but, you know, I honestly, it is greed that gets inside my DNA and I’m buying assets that didn’t really fundamentally work. And then in Vegas, it all toppled down.
00;16;45;26 – 00;16;57;25
Rod
Same as here, man. I mean, my portfolio dropped 70% in oh nine. Oh my God. Yeah. And I mean, Vegas was really bad. California was really bad. Arizona was really bad. You know, these hot markets.
00;16;57;25 – 00;17;17;29
Jeremiah
Oh yeah. Yeah, I got crushed. And it was just a domino effect where one tenant would leave and you can’t cover the mortgage. Then I’m taking on more debt to pay for that mortgage. And then another tenant leaves because there’s so much inventory out there. And we were I mean, there was no niche. It was buying houses from a builder, waiting, you know, six months and selling it for 50 grand profit.
00;17;17;29 – 00;17;19;11
Jeremiah
Right. Like that was just right.
00;17;19;13 – 00;17;22;20
Rod
And this will never stop. It’s going to go on forever. That’s what I thought too. Yeah.
00;17;22;20 – 00;17;37;23
Jeremiah
Right. And yeah, it was so that was a hard lesson. And I, it was the best lesson I’ve ever learned in business because. And I see young people getting in the game now over the last five years. And believe it or not, they think they can’t lose money in real estate.
00;17;38;00 – 00;17;46;05
Rod
I know I’m seeing it to to it. Does it matter if it cash flows, if I can turn around and sell it? Yeah, it does frickin matter. Yeah, yeah, a lot.
00;17;46;05 – 00;17;47;16
Jeremiah
Right? Yeah.
00;17;47;19 – 00;18;02;18
Rod
Yeah. In fact, I wrote a book. I know you wrote a book as well. We’ll talk about that in a minute. I wrote a book, the subtitle of which is The New Rules of Real Estate Investing, i.e. it’s all about cash flow. I don’t care, you know, I don’t care if you can buy a property for a million that somebody else sold for 3,000,005 years ago.
00;18;02;18 – 00;18;05;03
Rod
It doesn’t matter, does it? Cash flow is all that freaking matters.
00;18;05;04 – 00;18;13;24
Jeremiah
I’ve said, man. Yeah, and when we’re clear on that, why, no matter what, if the market goes up, down, sideways, it’s just going to get through it with cash flow, right.
00;18;13;27 – 00;18;18;01
Rod
So what was the first asset class you really got going on.
00;18;18;08 – 00;18;18;18
Jeremiah
Yeah.
00;18;18;18 – 00;18;33;06
Rod
So you did Frank and Dave’s thing right I did yeah. So so there’s a couple of guys that I don’t know if they’re still doing the their workshops winding down. They’re winding down. Yeah. Their mobile home park guys and I went to two of their their events as well. I was going to do mobile home parks. As you know, my brother did it.
00;18;33;06 – 00;18;42;28
Rod
My good friend Kevin Bob done it for years. But, I never pulled the trigger on it, but, it’s Frank and it’s Frank. I forgot their last.
00;18;42;29 – 00;18;44;20
Jeremiah
Yeah. Dave Reynolds, Frank Roth.
00;18;44;20 – 00;18;50;12
Rod
That’s right. Right. And they had a really nice presentation on how to do mobile home parks. They did. And that that set you off?
00;18;50;12 – 00;19;00;22
Jeremiah
It did. It really impacted me. Yeah, I bought their course, and I, but before I did that, I was reading and learning about commercial real estate, and I tried to do retail.
00;19;00;23 – 00;19;01;01
Rod
Oh, you.
00;19;01;01 – 00;19;12;09
Jeremiah
Did, I did, and, I don’t know, I could send you a picture sometime. So I did a letter campaign, you know, so I said, I’m going to find a way to find a retail owner in Vegas. Did it in my own market.
00;19;12;09 – 00;19;13;05
Rod
By strip center.
00;19;13;05 – 00;19;29;24
Jeremiah
That’s it by a strip center. So I sent out this campaign and maybe 500 or 1000 letters, and, I got a bunch of calls, but then I got one back from an old cowboy guy in Vegas, and he said, hey, check out my, my building on West Sahara. Right? And, they call it the statue of Liberty Plaza.
00;19;29;27 – 00;19;47;01
Jeremiah
So I drive over there not far from my house, and it’s a strip center with an out parcel, and it has the Statue of Liberty, maybe like 40, 50, 40ft high in Vegas. Yeah. Exactly. Right. And I thought, oh, this is not bad. This is, you know, this is an actual nice little center. It’s not nice, but it’s a it’s a retail strip.
00;19;47;03 – 00;19;51;17
Jeremiah
And then but all it was was the out parcel. It was just the Statue of Liberty. That’s it.
00;19;51;19 – 00;19;53;05
Rod
They thought it was the building behind it, too.
00;19;53;05 – 00;19;55;23
Jeremiah
I thought it was everything. Yeah, yeah, it was 140ft².
00;19;55;29 – 00;19;59;03
Rod
Oh my God.
00;19;59;05 – 00;20;00;09
Jeremiah
Yeah, right, I bought it.
00;20;00;09 – 00;20;05;29
Rod
You bought it, I bought it, no. Oh my God, I bought it. Wow. Yeah, yeah. What’d you paid?
00;20;06;01 – 00;20;06;23
Jeremiah
60 grand.
00;20;06;24 – 00;20;09;00
Rod
Oh, my. For 140ft². Yeah.
00;20;09;02 – 00;20;10;04
Jeremiah
Yeah.
00;20;10;06 – 00;20;12;14
Rod
Yeah, yeah. Okay. We call those seminars.
00;20;12;14 – 00;20;32;05
Jeremiah
I know, I know, but this is. This is how bad that market was. This was before the crash. This was in that 607 era. And, I bought it, and I’m such a knucklehead. I thought we were like, kind of have a little, like, pizza business in there. And, just crazy ideas, right? But I was starting to run out of time where we got.
00;20;32;12 – 00;20;48;09
Jeremiah
I had a relationship, got a little hard money on it, and we were making payments, and it was not cash flowing, obviously, and it was beat to hell. But I ended up finding, oh, I drove by a strip center, and I saw one of those big Statue of Liberty, floating in the wind. And then I’m like, That’s Liberty tax.
00;20;48;09 – 00;21;04;12
Jeremiah
So then I went home. I called Liberty Tax Corporate, and then I got Ahold of the guy that started the company. That’s a public company. I don’t know how I got Ahold of them. Wow. And like oh seven or oh six and, he’s like, you know what? I’m from Vegas. I name the company from that statue. That’s what inspired me.
00;21;04;16 – 00;21;07;16
Jeremiah
So I’ll do income taxes out of there and I’ll rent it from you.
00;21;07;17 – 00;21;12;12
Rod
Look at you. Yeah, that’s pretty awesome. So we got lemons, lemon in the lemonade.
00;21;12;14 – 00;21;16;28
Jeremiah
Okay. And I sold it. I sold it for 120. Doubled the profits to a California. 1031.
00;21;17;04 – 00;21;17;22
Rod
Oh, beautiful.
00;21;17;22 – 00;21;31;18
Jeremiah
And, but, you know, just like when I started learning how to gamble in Vegas when I was young. And I don’t gamble, but, you know, being in the city, you got to learn how to do it, right? You know, when the worst thing that happens is when you can win the first time. Yeah. Right. And. But you think you’re better than you are.
00;21;31;18 – 00;21;34;22
Rod
Yes. Yes, I know that drill too. Yes. Yeah.
00;21;34;24 – 00;21;35;22
Jeremiah
So, so.
00;21;35;29 – 00;21;36;27
Rod
What was next?
00;21;36;29 – 00;21;53;15
Jeremiah
That was, that wasn’t duplicate and, no, a lot of a lot of follies around commercial real estate and brokerage and some things there. But the mobile home parks were the tipping point. So that was it. That was it. That was where I needed to find an edge. And I figured out if I’m going to ever get in the commercial game.
00;21;53;15 – 00;21;56;15
Jeremiah
It has to be grimy. It has to be the rough.
00;21;56;15 – 00;22;14;18
Rod
Brian’s mobile home parks, baby, that is so, so talk about what you did. Because I was I was very intrigued when I met you and you told me what you were doing because, you know, with mobile home parks, first of all, they’re misclassified all over the country. They’re there. For the longest time, it was almost all mom and pops.
00;22;14;20 – 00;22;29;25
Rod
And, you know, the financing can be challenging depending upon the caliber. And, you know, it’s like the the redheaded stepchild. So talk, tell, tell my peeps what you did to absolutely kick ass in that business.
00;22;29;25 – 00;22;48;21
Jeremiah
Yeah, well, the biggest thing I did was build relationships, okay? And the way I did that at the time, because lack of resources actually ended up being like, my resourcefulness was the best quality I could have. So it was literally doing what I did as a broker in real estate and just picking up a phone, buying a list from Frank and Dave.
00;22;48;28 – 00;22;50;01
Jeremiah
And in this whole call.
00;22;50;01 – 00;22;51;13
Rod
And every single entry.
00;22;51;13 – 00;22;56;22
Jeremiah
That was it, man. Yeah. And I didn’t know what I was doing and I had to brainwash myself in the morning.
00;22;56;25 – 00;23;02;27
Rod
I remember you told me you had a little a little, script I want to say that you were saying you were calling for your dad or something.
00;23;02;27 – 00;23;03;24
Jeremiah
Yeah, I like this.
00;23;03;24 – 00;23;06;01
Rod
That what you said? Yeah. Oh, that’s funny, I remember that.
00;23;06;03 – 00;23;12;06
Jeremiah
You did? Yeah. Yeah, I had to brainwash myself. I would some days it was, you know, me and my dad or partners. My dad doesn’t know anything about it, right?
00;23;12;06 – 00;23;14;18
Rod
Right, right. But you do what you know, you do what you gotta do.
00;23;14;21 – 00;23;23;14
Jeremiah
Yeah, because, I mean, when you’re losing, when you’re living in your buddy’s, you know, couch, right? And you don’t have any money, you gotta just gotta fake it, man. And just every.
00;23;23;14 – 00;23;36;21
Rod
Day I act as if, you know, fake it til you make it. So. So you start a call calling these owners. You build relationships saying, hey, my, you know, my dad and I want to get into this and you know, and then and these old people, of course, want to take you under their wing at that point. Right.
00;23;36;21 – 00;23;43;04
Rod
So you, you’re, you’re creating that type of relationship. Yeah. Almost a fatherly motherly kind of relationship. Would you agree.
00;23;43;04 – 00;23;53;14
Jeremiah
With that 100%? Yeah. There’s some real good, especially people from the Midwest. Yeah. You know, it was it was tough to break in to the northeast and out in the West Coast. Right? Right. Yeah. A lot of the West.
00;23;53;14 – 00;24;11;08
Rod
Coast know they’re real people. And, and and you know, I tell I coach when I, when my boot camp I talk about seller bonding. You know, especially with, you know, retirees, for example, they’re more interested in the relationship than they are the asset. You know, you start with the relationship, you bond with them not to take advantage of them, but to create win win situations.
00;24;11;08 – 00;24;11;26
Rod
Would you agree with.
00;24;11;26 – 00;24;17;28
Jeremiah
That 100%? Yeah, yeah. And especially when you need to figure out the motivation, what are they trying to achieve.
00;24;18;00 – 00;24;30;28
Rod
And once you once you connected with them, built rapport, bonded with them, they’re going to tell you what they what they want, what they need. And they always price know. Sometimes it’s cash flow. Sometimes they need to sell quick. It just depends. So many different things that pop up.
00;24;31;04 – 00;24;51;11
Jeremiah
It is. Oh yeah. Yeah I mean I always preach to my staff it’s price terms or timeline. Right. Like those are the three levers that we can push on here. Right. But the big mistake was I learned it the hard way. And I’m sure you have to where if I don’t know their motivation, you know, I show up to Dallas, I drive two hours to some little town in West Texas.
00;24;51;11 – 00;25;03;01
Jeremiah
Right. And then the guy doesn’t even have the number of pads that I thought. He lies about the occupancy. He doesn’t even really want to sell it. Right. You know, I’m sitting there in the middle of the desert and rent a car like that was fucking stupid, right?
00;25;03;01 – 00;25;03;11
Rod
Right.
00;25;03;11 – 00;25;21;20
Jeremiah
So those were the ones where, you know, I always harp on when, especially for investors, is at any asset class. It’s like, man, this is such a nice asset. You’ve had it for such a long time, why would you ever want to sell it and just shut my mouth and and just keep listening? And then we just got me and my girlfriend got done with a Chris Voss negotiating course.
00;25;21;24 – 00;25;28;18
Rod
I had him on my podcast. He’s. He’s awesome. Yeah. Never split the difference. Yeah. She came and spoke to my mastermind as well. But anyway, yeah.
00;25;28;20 – 00;25;44;02
Jeremiah
So we learned tactical empathy. You know, his whole premise of his teachings and even taking it a step further is just reiterating back what they just said to me and shutting up again and letting them really, because they might not tell you the first time that why they want to sell a deeper and deeper.
00;25;44;02 – 00;25;58;21
Rod
Yeah. That’s beautiful. So, so let’s talk I want to talk about the differences between these different asset classes, but so just to give people some idea how many mobile home spaces have you purchased in your life. Oh.
00;25;58;23 – 00;26;05;07
Jeremiah
Oh, man. Because with those guys, I did 90 to 100 referrals.
00;26;05;09 – 00;26;06;12
Rod
Oh, no. Oh, parks.
00;26;06;12 – 00;26;06;28
Jeremiah
Parks on.
00;26;06;28 – 00;26;07;22
Rod
A 90 to 100.
00;26;07;22 – 00;26;11;05
Jeremiah
Parks. Yeah. Over. Almost a 8 to 9 year period of time.
00;26;11;05 – 00;26;12;16
Rod
You were working with Frank and David?
00;26;12;16 – 00;26;13;14
Jeremiah
That I was. And then.
00;26;13;14 – 00;26;14;14
Rod
You went off on your own, if.
00;26;14;14 – 00;26;19;08
Jeremiah
I recall, I did, yeah. Okay. In 2016, I was just right when. Yeah. Splitting it up around that time.
00;26;19;08 – 00;26;33;28
Rod
Okay. Okay. And and so we’re come back to mobile home parks in a second. What are the other asset classes again that you are in and are familiar with. Yeah retail of course. We just talked about it. Yeah. Did you do anything besides that first one or was that the only retail you did?
00;26;34;04 – 00;26;39;29
Jeremiah
I did one out in Minnesota. I did a little three unit automotive okay. A glass company and car wash.
00;26;39;29 – 00;26;50;07
Rod
Okay. Yeah. And and of course when we met, we were in a mastermind that it was a lot of retail in that I probably learned a lot there as well. So, you, have done multifamily as well?
00;26;50;07 – 00;26;54;15
Jeremiah
I did, yeah, at a 48 unit complex in northern Nevada, in Winnemucca.
00;26;54;17 – 00;27;04;05
Rod
Okay. And then you’ve also, done have you done any, well you did small Bay industrial.
00;27;04;05 – 00;27;05;00
Jeremiah
Yeah, yeah.
00;27;05;02 – 00;27;09;14
Rod
Just like, just like an office in a in a warehouse, kind of a thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00;27;09;17 – 00;27;10;10
Jeremiah
Roll up door.
00;27;10;10 – 00;27;14;04
Rod
Roll up door in the back. Like, great for jobbers, contractors, things like that.
00;27;14;05 – 00;27;15;23
Jeremiah
Got those today. I love that asset class.
00;27;15;23 – 00;27;19;08
Rod
Yeah, I do too. Yeah. What else is.
00;27;19;10 – 00;27;20;18
Jeremiah
You know, I, self.
00;27;20;18 – 00;27;21;03
Rod
Storage.
00;27;21;03 – 00;27;21;12
Jeremiah
Yeah.
00;27;21;12 – 00;27;27;17
Rod
Oh, yeah. Self storage. I mean, you have like, a few thousand self storage don’t you.
00;27;27;17 – 00;27;28;11
Jeremiah
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00;27;28;11 – 00;27;36;04
Rod
Looking at your bio here, we got 70, 70 self-storage facilities totaling 3,000,000ft². That’s some for can self storage. Yeah. Yeah.
00;27;36;04 – 00;27;41;00
Jeremiah
Okay. Close to 20,000 units. Yeah. We got five projects still getting built and. Wow.
00;27;41;00 – 00;27;45;29
Rod
So you’re building as well. Yeah. Yeah. Are you are you geographically specific or are you spread out all over.
00;27;45;29 – 00;27;50;09
Jeremiah
A little spread out, but mostly northeast, you know, back where I went back to my roots. Yeah.
00;27;50;09 – 00;28;07;20
Rod
No kidding. Good for you. So talk about, you know, at a higher level, not we’re not going to go to micro. But talk about the differences between these different asset classes. I mean, mobile home parks. We’ll talk. I’ll let you. I don’t want to steal your thunder. Please talk about these differences.
00;28;07;20 – 00;28;13;18
Jeremiah
Yeah. And the one other one I did in this project still going is high Bay industrial. I did 150,000 square foot tilt to.
00;28;13;18 – 00;28;14;23
Rod
No kidding. So a big.
00;28;14;26 – 00;28;16;25
Jeremiah
Development. Yeah, right outside of Boston.
00;28;16;28 – 00;28;21;15
Rod
Wow. Wow. That’s that’s gotten real big with the whole Amazon dynamic from what I understand it has.
00;28;21;15 – 00;28;24;09
Jeremiah
Yeah. It’s right under Amazon’s threshold where I’m.
00;28;24;09 – 00;28;25;18
Rod
Starting too small. Yeah.
00;28;25;18 – 00;28;30;12
Jeremiah
Yeah. Which is okay. Yeah okay. We wanted to target a smaller type industrial tenant.
00;28;30;13 – 00;28;30;28
Rod
Is that gone.
00;28;30;28 – 00;28;32;12
Jeremiah
Well that’s going oh.
00;28;32;12 – 00;28;33;19
Rod
It’s going right. Oh you’re building.
00;28;33;21 – 00;28;43;06
Jeremiah
It’s built. See of oh done. It’s in leasing mode about you know you know development I mean it’s we’re we’re riding the wave where it’s not as what it was two years ago.
00;28;43;06 – 00;29;03;19
Rod
Right. Right, right. Yeah. It’s it’s survived to 25 is the is the catch phrase right now. Yeah. You know we’ve got some assets that that we’ve got to do mods on because my partner got me into some adjustable rate debt. But but anyway well let’s see it’s, let’s talk about the differences. Yeah. So I mean mobile home parks are kind of in the world of their own, but but if you would explain to my listeners.
00;29;03;24 – 00;29;12;26
Jeremiah
Yeah, I think to, to preface that and, and I know when we first talked about this, we got real clear that land lease community is really what you’re buying.
00;29;12;29 – 00;29;13;18
Rod
In mobile home.
00;29;13;18 – 00;29;14;03
Jeremiah
Park and mobile.
00;29;14;03 – 00;29;25;23
Rod
Home. You don’t want to own the homes. Zero, right? Yeah. So you’re going you’ll buy a park that might have that park owned homes. They’re called or they’re owned by the park. And you want the residents to buy them even if you finance them. Correct?
00;29;25;23 – 00;29;27;12
Jeremiah
That’s right. Yeah, that is right.
00;29;27;12 – 00;29;29;03
Rod
And you want to be just renting the lot.
00;29;29;04 – 00;29;42;03
Jeremiah
That’s all the leverage, right? Yeah. Okay. And there is a wide variety like I’ve heard you say we’re D-class to a class and in mobile home parks, I think you’ll see huge, swings in the spectrum of quality of asset.
00;29;42;05 – 00;29;45;16
Rod
You know, I, you mess with me, you mess with the whole trailer park.
00;29;45;20 – 00;29;47;04
Jeremiah
Yeah, exactly.
00;29;47;10 – 00;29;59;22
Rod
So, yeah. No, I mean, you know, I know a big thing is the infrastructure. I mean, when I’m talking infrastructure impacting the, the, the the water and sewer, the electrical, that’s like a big factor in mobile home parks. Correct.
00;29;59;22 – 00;30;00;18
Jeremiah
That’s huge. Yeah.
00;30;00;19 – 00;30;04;20
Rod
I mean, you’ll get some mobile home parks that’ll have a a sewage pond. I forgot what they’re called.
00;30;04;20 – 00;30;05;13
Jeremiah
Little. The lagoon.
00;30;05;13 – 00;30;10;08
Rod
They called a lagoon. Yeah. That’s like a lake of sewage. Guys, just to give you an idea.
00;30;10;08 – 00;30;11;06
Jeremiah
A lot of those. Yeah.
00;30;11;09 – 00;30;27;00
Rod
You did? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then. And then you’ve got some that have an actual sewage plant, and some of those things are big and they’re like hundreds of thousands of dollars, right. Oh at least. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then, and then you’ve got to be careful with the wells, like if you’ve only got one. Well for example, that well gets bad.
00;30;27;00 – 00;30;44;18
Rod
You’re, you’re done. You’re, you know. So I know my friend, you know Kevin don’t you. Yeah. Yeah. So Kevin’s one of my best friends and he has a bunch of parks and and he his, his thing was he’d always try to have some solution in case the infrastructure went bad on the, on the water, like, like a city component or something.
00;30;44;24 – 00;30;46;18
Rod
Yeah. But is that your.
00;30;46;20 – 00;31;04;19
Jeremiah
Oh, yeah. Yeah. You introduced me to him actually. Oh did I. Yeah. Oh wow. That’s crazy. So but you’re spot on. I mean you’re, you’re essentially buying infrastructure right. Yeah. And then you have the leverage because you own the land and it is not easy to move a mobile home these days. Right. It’s a it’s in terms of a maintenance and moving.
00;31;04;23 – 00;31;08;10
Jeremiah
That’s a dying business. Right. People set it and they are pretty much done.
00;31;08;10 – 00;31;20;08
Rod
Yeah. And so you’ve got some leverage on the residents as well as you do. You know, you don’t go crazy with the rent bumps, but you can bump the rent. They’re likely not going to leave. And if they don’t pay, you know, you you resell it to somebody else. You do.
00;31;20;08 – 00;31;35;01
Jeremiah
Yeah. Yeah, yeah I think it. So just to give you, the listener a perspective about, you know, if they want to invest in parks, I think it’s similar to a lot of other commercial assets where you have to hit at least a minimum threshold of income or units to really justify all.
00;31;35;06 – 00;31;40;25
Rod
What is it? I, I’ve heard it’s like 40 or 50 to have a at least have a manager on site, but you tell me other if it’s otherwise than that.
00;31;40;25 – 00;31;53;05
Jeremiah
I mean we target 30 grand a month. 30 if you can grow your top line. Okay. Yeah. But if you after you raise your rents, if you can bring in 30 grand a month, you can drop 5 to 10,000 in cash flow at some point after you stable tastic.
00;31;53;06 – 00;31;54;24
Rod
Fantastic. It’s a lot of work.
00;31;54;24 – 00;31;55;09
Jeremiah
It is.
00;31;55;09 – 00;32;12;02
Rod
Yeah. And there aren’t a lot of management companies for these smaller mobile. No. Right. There is another thing. You’re going to do it yourself or you know, I mean for the big, you know, institutional grade mobile home parks, of course there probably some management companies out there, but yeah okay. So that’s mobile home park. So pay attention to the frickin infrastructure.
00;32;12;02 – 00;32;17;25
Rod
That’s the caveat there. Correct. I’d like make sure that you’ve got like, plan B if plan A screws.
00;32;17;25 – 00;32;23;27
Jeremiah
Up that’s it. Okay. And then to that point is have that plan B have the capital to do.
00;32;24;04 – 00;32;36;17
Rod
If you have to do it. That’s right. Raise that capital. That’s right. Kevin said that too. All right. So now let’s talk about let’s go to self storage. You’re huge in that. Yeah I could talk about why you love that. And any specific nuances there.
00;32;36;18 – 00;32;52;27
Jeremiah
Yeah. I mean, I love it because it’s there’s still somewhat of a blue ocean of mom and pop owners that are managing assets. Yeah. I mean, in the whole scheme of things, there’s 50 or 60,000 storages in. Same with mobile home parks in the country. I would say at least a third of them are so small, and in such rural markets you would never want to touch them.
00;32;52;27 – 00;33;01;08
Jeremiah
Right. But the remainder, you know, the other third are probably public rates or big private equity firms. Right. And then there’s a third in there that are there’s some opportunity.
00;33;01;08 – 00;33;02;08
Rod
There’s still some opportunity.
00;33;02;09 – 00;33;03;07
Jeremiah
There is. Yeah.
00;33;03;07 – 00;33;05;06
Rod
So you’re still calling mobile home parks too.
00;33;05;10 – 00;33;05;23
Jeremiah
Oh yeah.
00;33;05;25 – 00;33;12;10
Rod
Oh no. So you got, you got a whole team cold call and mobile home parks mom and pop, self storage mom and pops. Anything else.
00;33;12;12 – 00;33;13;21
Jeremiah
Every day? Yeah. And small bay.
00;33;13;21 – 00;33;15;02
Rod
And small bay. Yeah. No kidding.
00;33;15;02 – 00;33;23;02
Jeremiah
But I had to consolidate. I mean, I got 3 or 4 sales staff. So we, we look at different regions and target very, very particular assets.
00;33;23;02 – 00;33;32;25
Rod
Gotcha. Gotcha. So, so, have you ever just backed a mobile home parks for one second before you get to self storage? Have you ever taken one and converted it to a different use?
00;33;32;27 – 00;33;34;28
Jeremiah
We worked on one in Cincinnati. Yeah, near.
00;33;35;03 – 00;33;37;26
Rod
We are going there today. Yeah. You have to go there today.
00;33;37;26 – 00;33;46;01
Jeremiah
Actually, yeah. We close down an old park that had defunct sized lots. They were so small. Right. And it was more of an RV.
00;33;46;08 – 00;33;48;01
Rod
You can step from one roof to the next.
00;33;48;04 – 00;33;48;18
Jeremiah
Exactly.
00;33;48;20 – 00;33;50;13
Rod
I’ve seen some of those ten, ten wides.
00;33;50;13 – 00;34;00;29
Jeremiah
You know, people don’t live in a ten wide home anymore. Yeah. So, we did start converting it and got approvals for an RV park. Okay. And then, just sold it before we did the conversion.
00;34;00;29 – 00;34;03;14
Rod
Okay? Okay. So so self storage.
00;34;03;21 – 00;34;18;12
Jeremiah
Yeah. So I think the thing to really, highlight for the average investor that wants to own storage and run it themselves or run a mobile home park, is that the management is so important and you’re running a business. It’s like a retail business.
00;34;18;12 – 00;34;20;29
Rod
So we’re on mobile home parks again. Okay. So so sorry.
00;34;21;06 – 00;34;23;25
Jeremiah
Both I just this is a common thread on okay.
00;34;23;26 – 00;34;25;07
Rod
Gotcha gotcha gotcha okay.
00;34;25;07 – 00;34;35;21
Jeremiah
Yeah I mean because there’s lack of management institutional or quality third party management. Right. It’s it’s the opportunity and it is the it’s the most challenging.
00;34;35;21 – 00;34;36;16
Rod
Double edged sword.
00;34;36;17 – 00;34;43;17
Jeremiah
It’s a double edged sword. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because you know, I mean how many people on triple net assets have a motivation to sell if you know.
00;34;43;23 – 00;35;00;13
Rod
By the way, triple net is where the tenant pays for everything. Guys. Do you see that with the Walgreens or, you know, corner drug stores, dollar stores, anytime you see one tenant in a building, more often than not, it can be a triple net lease where the tenants paying the taxes, the insurance, the common maintenance, everything.
00;35;00;20 – 00;35;01;07
Rod
So anyway.
00;35;01;07 – 00;35;15;04
Jeremiah
Please. Yeah, yeah. So that, somewhat difficult process is the advantage, right. So that’s where, you know, being prepared in the beginning when you don’t have scale, you know, you’re going to trade your time and money to manage.
00;35;15;06 – 00;35;20;09
Rod
I tell people, if you’re willing to do what other people won’t, you’ll always be a success. And you’re a frickin testament to that comment.
00;35;20;10 – 00;35;43;15
Jeremiah
Oh thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that’s was it. And just having one on site manager and managing that manager. And you know, they quit and you got to fly out in the middle of the night. It’s a pain. Yeah. And then I’ve had managers you know really when I’m I was so busy in 20 1617 as the market was cranking back up, I was running around meeting owners and I, I wasn’t a great business owner, I was hiring staff and I wasn’t overseeing them.
00;35;43;18 – 00;36;09;04
Jeremiah
And a lot of two particular asset managers they used to leverage against me where they looked at, oh, while the company top line is bringing in a lot of money now, I had 10 million in equity that was only generating personally to me, about 150 grand in net income. Right? A 1.5% return on my equity because I was feeding all of these costs in mobile homes and in the storages and all the management cost because I was inefficient.
00;36;09;07 – 00;36;19;11
Jeremiah
But my point around this is that that when people know they have leverage on you, I mean, it’s I don’t know if it’s human nature, but but they they tried to extort not everybody.
00;36;19;11 – 00;36;26;18
Rod
But yes, it happens happened to me dozens of times. You know, there are people with integrity out there, but, but, you know, it is an issue.
00;36;26;18 – 00;36;44;02
Jeremiah
Well, that was the thing that I learned. It’s just like, you know, building up an organization where I’m not dependent on that one person. Right. With that asset manager that day said, I’m going to California. I need 50 grand or I’m not going to stay in the company. And and my property was in escrow. You know, these were the five mobile home parks I built up and earned a lot.
00;36;44;02 – 00;36;57;15
Jeremiah
And it took ten years to earn that equity. And I was going through the sale process, and she just leaves and I didn’t pay her. So I’m over there trying to speak Spanish. I found another Hispanic woman to help me, and we we collected the rent.
00;36;57;18 – 00;36;57;25
Rod
Done.
00;36;57;28 – 00;36;59;17
Jeremiah
I got it done, I got it, I got it done.
00;36;59;17 – 00;37;05;14
Rod
Yeah, that I hate that. You know, I won’t say that. That’s super common, but it’s it’s happened to me numerous times as well.
00;37;05;16 – 00;37;13;25
Jeremiah
Yeah. Yeah. And not jump too far ahead. But I mean the whole, you know, iOS and traction and building up a midsize organization where you have processes and systems.
00;37;13;25 – 00;37;39;11
Rod
Let me talk about that for a second, if you will. So, so the book traction has a business operating system that is extraordinary. It’s by a guy named Gino Wickman and it’s called Entrepreneur’s Operating System, where we use it in all my businesses as well. And, and it’s, it’s it’s groundbreaking. So when you get to a point where you have enough staff, and, you know, you’ve got more than just you and a couple of other people.
00;37;39;14 – 00;37;48;14
Rod
I highly recommend you read that book and implement it because it is groundbreaking. And, it’s really helped us. I assume it’s helped you as well a ton.
00;37;48;14 – 00;37;52;15
Jeremiah
Yeah. And that was really eliminating that problem, right? Where you aligned values with your staff.
00;37;52;15 – 00;38;08;27
Rod
Correct. And you instead of an organizational chart, you have an accountability chart where you, you know, you outline what people are accountable for. You set 90 day goals. We just had our quarterly meeting, last week actually. And, you said 90 day goals. And I want to tell you, I’m not doing it to the level that I’d like to be doing it.
00;38;08;29 – 00;38;15;17
Rod
You know, because I’ve got so many plates spinning right now. But, yeah, iOS is the way to go. This book, traction. Anyway. Please continue.
00;38;15;20 – 00;38;29;12
Jeremiah
We’re bought in. Yeah. So that’s what you’re signing up for when you’re buying, commercial asset like an alternative asset, right? Storage and mobile home parks. You know, I, I really suggest get your hands dirty, learn the process, and you’re going to manage an employee.
00;38;29;12 – 00;38;43;09
Rod
That’s right. And then you can also manage, you know, ultimately, maybe a management company as well if you buy large enough assets that way. But you know what’s going on. You understand the business. So, talk about small Bay industrial. Yeah.
00;38;43;12 – 00;38;56;00
Jeremiah
Yeah, yeah. So the way I came to the conclusion that that would be a good asset class was number one, we would get guys trying to take the power and wire up their storage unit and try to work out.
00;38;56;03 – 00;38;56;23
Rod
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;38;56;25 – 00;39;15;24
Jeremiah
They put in a generator, put it in a refrigerator. Right. You know, we’re wondering why the power bills going up and in some of the units don’t have power, but the ones that they can get access to the light, they’ll got it in there. Gotcha. So we realize, you know, in the cameras that we had a lot of commercial guys, especially in the northeast where, there’s a lot of contractors out there, like everywhere.
00;39;15;25 – 00;39;20;29
Jeremiah
Sure. For the most part. Right. But, family, generational contractors, you know, a lot of people up there, they do want.
00;39;21;02 – 00;39;23;15
Rod
Plumbers, plumber and plumber, plumbers. That’s it. Right down the line.
00;39;23;15 – 00;39;40;21
Jeremiah
Yeah. And I was going to be a paver. So I was like, yeah, like, I know the business and you need space. You need an office, you need a bathroom. And you and these guys are some storage too. That’s it. You warehouse. Yeah. You need parts and parking trucks and work on them. So, we we decided, you know, we had to tell these tenants you can’t work out of the unit.
00;39;40;25 – 00;39;45;09
Jeremiah
Hello? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the in there trying to. And people try to live at them and everything.
00;39;45;10 – 00;39;46;21
Rod
But yeah. You’ve seen all that too. Wow.
00;39;46;21 – 00;39;47;04
Jeremiah
Oh yeah.
00;39;47;08 – 00;39;52;21
Rod
Yeah I’ve seen some TikTok videos about that. Yeah. I’m cooking my meal in here. It’s all dark. And they to be.
00;39;52;26 – 00;40;16;03
Jeremiah
Yeah. Oh, yeah. People try it all the time. Yeah yeah yeah. But but the business guys are good guys. They just want out. Oh yeah. They want to find a way to to keep their rent cheap. They don’t need a big warehouse. A huge one. And, we decided okay, well, we were going to do 1600 square foot base, and it’s free span, so we can give some one, two, three, four, four different units because there’s no columns in the middle.
00;40;16;04 – 00;40;16;27
Rod
Gotcha.
00;40;16;29 – 00;40;36;03
Jeremiah
Gotcha. So it’s a big red iron steel, big open free span building. So they’re 40 by 40 and, so, so they get two, two doors, two larger doors that can fit a semi truck 14 by 14 and then a main door. Gotcha. And then if they want, you know, we’ll give them the outlets there for, for a bathroom and for we can build it out for them or they can do it.
00;40;36;03 – 00;40;36;20
Rod
So you built.
00;40;36;20 – 00;40;41;02
Jeremiah
These I built these, okay. And I and I bought a handful of these, existing.
00;40;41;02 – 00;40;42;24
Rod
You started with an existing, I assume.
00;40;42;24 – 00;40;43;09
Jeremiah
I did, yeah.
00;40;43;10 – 00;40;59;08
Rod
And then you started building them. And so when you build them, typically, how many of these, are. I mean, I suppose it’s relevant to the land size, but tell me, give me some examples of how many at each location. You might have a range that you might be building just of. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah.
00;40;59;08 – 00;41;06;18
Jeremiah
Like like storage about 30,000ft. The threshold. Okay. And so the average unit size maybe 2 to 3000ft. 2000.
00;41;06;18 – 00;41;07;12
Rod
Feet okay.
00;41;07;12 – 00;41;09;18
Jeremiah
So 10 to 20 units okay.
00;41;09;18 – 00;41;15;16
Rod
Yeah. And obviously you’ve got to check the zoning. You’ve got to do what do you do to check demand? I’m just curious.
00;41;15;22 – 00;41;31;17
Jeremiah
It’s tricky. Okay. What we know this is obviously. Go on CoStar, pull up. What I do is I just look at anything for lease under 10,000ft². Gotcha. So I look on loop net, and I just. And I’ll call and I’ll have my team call all the brokers, and then we’ll get an idea. Do you, do you have any space available.
00;41;31;23 – 00;41;39;02
Jeremiah
And we’ll do it within a 30 minute radius. And I noticed and I’ve watched some of your stuff in the past and we look for diverse job markets.
00;41;39;02 – 00;41;40;04
Rod
Yeah, that’s super important.
00;41;40;04 – 00;41;54;09
Jeremiah
It is. And in the northeast we have a lot of colleges. We have a lot of specialized manufacturing right where they can. It’s like military contractors and and there’s a lot of and then there’s high cost of housing. And then that provides a lot of service providers for that housing.
00;41;54;12 – 00;41;55;04
Rod
00;41;55;06 – 00;42;03;15
Jeremiah
So gotcha. It’s it’s a nice diverse economy where when things swing that area is not that sexy, but when it’s bad it’s great. It’s very stable.
00;42;03;15 – 00;42;15;09
Rod
Gotcha, gotcha. So on that note, are you seeing a pullback in occupancy and in your different asset classes? You’ve seen you’ve seen some economic hit at this point? Yeah.
00;42;15;10 – 00;42;23;15
Jeremiah
I’m not seeing occupancy. I’m not seeing like so people have demand right. That that hasn’t shifted post-Covid. But it’s sensitivity to price.
00;42;23;18 – 00;42;26;18
Rod
Oh sensitive to price big time. You’ve had to drop your price big time.
00;42;26;18 – 00;42;30;18
Jeremiah
Yeah. We we offer a lot of concessions. We give almost two months of free rent. Wow.
00;42;30;22 – 00;42;33;03
Rod
This is on the small base stuff or everything.
00;42;33;03 – 00;42;44;23
Jeremiah
On the storage and and then the small bay is, you know, to get leases signed. Yeah, we’re. It depends. But yeah, if we have vacant space as we’re leasing up an entire development, you’re giving away free whatever.
00;42;44;23 – 00;43;01;21
Rod
It takes to get them in there. So same here. I mean, I’ve taken over some assets recently at 50% occupancy that a former partner had ran into the ground. And, and, boy, we’re doing whatever we have to do to get them in there, I don’t care. Lower rent, whatever. Get the occupancy up. Then we’ll worry about bumping the rents, you know, and I assume you feel the same way.
00;43;01;21 – 00;43;29;24
Jeremiah
On a percent. And if it’s to boil down the public REIT storage market, that is their underlying business plan. It is. Yeah. You get there, you get the leverage, you spend whatever it takes. And they have. And I’ve literally been to Utah and met all. Everyone had extra space on the executive team. They got 17 guys from MIT that are dynamically pricing a unit, so they know exactly the lifetime value, the customer, how much they can give up, and then what the average stay of that customer is so that they maximize value on their marketing dollars.
00;43;29;25 – 00;43;34;19
Rod
Wow. Yeah. I don’t I’m not that sophisticated, but just like fill the damn place up and then we’ll raise the rent.
00;43;34;20 – 00;43;37;04
Jeremiah
That’s it, that’s it. You got leverage, right? Right.
00;43;37;04 – 00;43;41;04
Rod
That’s funny. So, what’s next for you, brother?
00;43;41;06 – 00;43;45;16
Jeremiah
Yeah. And just speaking conversions like that’s too heavy of a lift right now. Oh, yeah. Right, I mean, big.
00;43;45;16 – 00;44;06;05
Rod
It’s big money. I mean, you you got to move walls, plumbing, electrical. Now, now hotel to multifamily can work. I’ve got one student that killed it with one of those, but there are a lot of factors there as well. Sizing and fire constraints and things of that nature. But, now I got one guy that killed it, so I will say that.
00;44;06;05 – 00;44;07;19
Rod
But even there, you got to be careful.
00;44;07;25 – 00;44;13;07
Jeremiah
100%. Yeah. I mean, one quick story on an industrial building converted into storage, and then.
00;44;13;10 – 00;44;13;21
Rod
Okay.
00;44;13;21 – 00;44;14;25
Jeremiah
And I have a high bay.
00;44;14;25 – 00;44;18;11
Rod
Now, that’s that’s not uncommon. I got a student that just did that. That killed it.
00;44;18;13 – 00;44;19;00
Jeremiah
Yeah.
00;44;19;02 – 00;44;19;22
Rod
00;44;19;25 – 00;44;32;27
Jeremiah
Yeah. So I, I, I really was aggressive on this one. I bought a 350,000 square foot warehouse. It was hallmark greeting cards manufacturing center in Connecticut. Wow. And, it’s it’s been a rough one, man, but that’s big. It was.
00;44;32;27 – 00;44;37;21
Rod
Huge. That’s you. I mean, are you pulling them in from five states to fill 350,000?
00;44;37;21 – 00;44;56;04
Jeremiah
I know, I know, I’ll tell you this, I, I it really was touch and go for a while and, and, you know, you’ve been through it all. And that’s the thing with real estate is one asset, especially when you sign recourse. Yeah. You know, that can pull down everything because the second that you default. Yeah. The lender has the right to file the notice a default.
00;44;56;04 – 00;45;00;08
Jeremiah
And then all your commercial loans can then in turn call the notes do if they want to.
00;45;00;09 – 00;45;19;22
Rod
Yeah. By the way what he’s talking about here is there’s recourse a non recourse. Recourse is if they foreclose they can come after you personally ask me how I know. And non recourse. They only take the property. But you don’t want either to happen. Because even if they take a non recourse loan you’re effectively out of business at that point.
00;45;19;24 – 00;45;31;27
Rod
For that type of loan at least if it’s a Fannie Mayor Freddie Mac loan, that’s it. But do you have conforming debt on some of these Fannie Freddie stuff? Most really, not really nicely bank a lot of local bank.
00;45;32;01 – 00;45;35;28
Jeremiah
Yeah. Regional banks. And they, like, stabilized once you get stabilized.
00;45;36;00 – 00;45;53;00
Rod
Well, I tell you, let’s, you know what? Let’s shift for a minute before we cut loose here. Let’s talk about your views on the economic environment, because, you know, I’m a I’m a bear. I think the shit’s about to hit the fan, I really do. And I talk about, you know, the fact that our national debt is going up $1 trillion every hundred days right now.
00;45;53;00 – 00;46;15;25
Rod
Yeah, we’re paying a trillion in interest a year. I mean, to give you an idea, just go look at what a trillion looks like compared to 1 billion or 1 million on a graph. It’ll blow your mind and, you know, and big players like Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the largest, arguably largest bank in the world, is saying we’re headed for a, what do you call it, a,
00;46;15;27 – 00;46;33;01
Rod
Oh, God. Like a basically a shit storm. Okay. And, you know, Elon Musk said they’re lying to you. It’s going to be a bigger crash. And then they said, yeah, you know, I mean, I’m getting excited, frankly, because I got crushed in 089. And, you know, I got crushed by that wave. I’m surfing this wave. So, you know, I think there’s going to be incredible opportunity.
00;46;33;03 – 00;46;49;08
Rod
But, I’d love to, you know, you may disagree. I’d love to hear your take on where you think we’re headed. I think obviously we’ve got a lot, hinging on the election. A lot. Yeah. And we know who we want yet. But, you want to elaborate? Yeah. Any thoughts on that?
00;46;49;08 – 00;47;12;08
Jeremiah
Yeah, I, I the way I look at it is you know, I’m trying to see the macro trends, and then I’m just trying to position myself to, like, where I’m going to catch fish no matter what. Right. Just stick that net out there and then they’re going to they’re going to just swim right into me. Yeah. So the way I see the asset classes, in the economic trends are inflation’s going to hurt the little guy always.
00;47;12;08 – 00;47;14;20
Jeremiah
Right. The guy that’s just working the 9 to 5.
00;47;14;22 – 00;47;16;18
Rod
Class assets that he see and.
00;47;16;25 – 00;47;29;21
Jeremiah
That’s it. Yeah. And that’s affordable housing is not going away. Right. You can’t buy a bigger house. You can’t. You’re constrained you know. And and we live in a culture where consumption is your identity. And it’s easy.
00;47;29;23 – 00;47;30;23
Rod
We’re a renter nation.
00;47;30;23 – 00;47;40;08
Jeremiah
That’s it. Yeah. Yeah yeah. And with Amazon effect impulsive buying I mean it’s out of control right. So storage and mobile home parks I love I think small bay industrial the same.
00;47;40;08 – 00;47;41;29
Rod
So the multifamily as well.
00;47;42;02 – 00;47;59;17
Jeremiah
That’s right. Yeah. Multifamily. Yeah. It’s not changing. The social trends are great because people continue to live outside core cities. They want a cheaper place to live. They work from home. They school from home. Sometimes they work out at home. They they and then they have a bunch of stuff everywhere. Yeah. So I think that trend is not going anywhere.
00;47;59;17 – 00;48;04;12
Jeremiah
And then technological trends is we’re getting a little more efficient with the way that we can manage, because.
00;48;04;12 – 00;48;05;25
Rod
Self storage and your mobile home park.
00;48;05;26 – 00;48;13;04
Jeremiah
That’s right. And small bay I mean it’s me because now everybody knows how to use a QR code. Oh no. But in the work order. And we don’t have to have that manager all the time.
00;48;13;05 – 00;48;32;08
Rod
Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah. You know, I don’t know if you know this. I had an interview with a gentleman, an economist here, and, he said that in the last four years, 80% of the US currency has been created. Up till 2020, only 20% of the currency has been created. That we’ve created 80% since then under the Biden administration.
00;48;32;08 – 00;48;48;09
Rod
It’s not a political statement, but yeah, it is. But anyway, so, you know, I mean, inflation ain’t going away. They say it’s going down. I’m not sure I’m buying it, honestly, but they have to say it is because they have to drop rates or we’re going to really have a problem. That’s right. And so.
00;48;48;11 – 00;48;50;15
Jeremiah
You know, owning hard assets right. That’s the.
00;48;50;15 – 00;49;06;17
Rod
Thing. Because even with inflation, rents are going up too. That’s it. The rents aren’t going to go down. They’ve stabilized a little bit right now, you know. But I think they’re going to continue to shoot up. So if you lock in a property, even if you slightly overpay a little bit at this point the debt’s locked. That’s it.
00;49;06;17 – 00;49;25;05
Rod
So the debt’s not going up but your rents going up. And guys you know if you haven’t heard this you know your, your value the property’s based on a multiple of the net income okay. You know, you divide the cap rate into the net income. And that’s how you get the value. And it’s exponential. Typically like for every dollar in income at 17 to $20 an increased value.
00;49;25;09 – 00;49;31;13
Rod
So you know, real estate is the way to go right now with inflation for sure. Yeah.
00;49;31;13 – 00;49;52;13
Jeremiah
And like now in my 40s, I’m in this next quarter or phase of my career where I had to get those wins to continue to graduate into a bigger asset class or a bigger property. Yeah. And then that helped me leverage more. And as a value add investor. Right. You know, I was able to just accelerate the value add by building up an organization around that.
00;49;52;13 – 00;50;14;08
Jeremiah
So I think the two things that are really important that I was talking to Hannah about the other night is I think sometimes people, they forget that you’re either a real estate investor or you own a real estate business that invests. And there’s a big difference there because the investor, doesn’t really want to deal with, you’re allocating capital to the highest yield, right?
00;50;14;08 – 00;50;15;21
Jeremiah
And you’re making investor decisions.
00;50;15;21 – 00;50;27;10
Rod
Well, that’s like a passive investor. That’s right. That’s, that’s that’s you know, you raise money, I raise money. That’s, that’s that’s the passive investing route. And then there’s the operators like you and I that will raise the money and actually do the heavy lifting and.
00;50;27;10 – 00;50;33;11
Jeremiah
Yeah, exactly. And I just think sometimes even even myself, I have to put both hats on. Yeah. You know. Right. Sure. It’s like where am.
00;50;33;11 – 00;50;35;21
Rod
I going in our deals and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;50;35;21 – 00;50;44;00
Jeremiah
And I think people forget that it’s it’s such a hands on business with value add that it’s just like like you’re running a business. That’s that is what this is.
00;50;44;00 – 00;50;57;28
Rod
It is it’s a business. And that’s why you need that. That is where systems you, you know, when you, when you, when you present a property, you’ve got a business plan you have it’s like any business and a property has to have a business plan as well. And now you wrote a book called Finding Your Edge. Yes.
00;50;57;28 – 00;51;05;03
Rod
Okay. It’s a it’s on Amazon. Yeah. And I love the title. I mean, so it’s got motivational component to it too. Yeah yeah.
00;51;05;04 – 00;51;08;05
Jeremiah
Yeah yeah. Love it. Like the principles I learned along that journey.
00;51;08;05 – 00;51;12;02
Rod
Love it I you didn’t bring me a copy though, you cheap bastard.
00;51;12;05 – 00;51;13;24
Jeremiah
You get money, all right.
00;51;13;26 – 00;51;28;20
Rod
Yeah. Well, listen, brother, it’s been a real treat to to see you here. And, and, it’s been way too long. Yeah. And, but, now you added a ton of value today, so, guys, check him out as Patriot holdings.com, and, thanks for coming in, but. Yeah, man.
00;51;28;20 – 00;51;30;03
Jeremiah
Thanks. It’s great. Thank you for having me.
