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RETRO: Building Wealth and Family with Jim Sheils
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Jim Sheils is an accomplished real estate investor with over 25 years of experience. He is the visionary behind Southern Impression Homes, a company dedicated to building investment properties in several Florida markets. Jim is renowned for his transition from handling bulk foreclosure rehabs to spearheading successful new construction ventures. He is also the author of the best-selling book, "The Family Board Meeting," which has gained acclaim for its impactful family relationship strategies. Additionally, Jim's personal values are reflected in his business practices, promoting a healthy work-life balance and strong family connections.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker
We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
Meet Jim Shields and His Unique Journey
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. where I'm your host, Philip Ramsey. Today we have a guest, a guest that is very uncommon. I'm going to ask him why he's so uncommon, but it's Jim jim Shields with Southern Impression Homes.
00:00:40
Speaker
He's down in Florida. He has dodged the hurricane. So, Jim, welcome to the show, man. Hey, thanks for having me, Philip. Yeah, it's nice to be sitting here today, you know, just post... Helene, Post Milton, you know, it's been a big hurricane year and they've been calling this one for a long time.
00:00:57
Speaker
ah But we're building, you know, we do our our our venture in 12 different markets and we came out of it basically with with no damage. Wow.
00:01:07
Speaker
Praise the Lord. Because there's a lot of people that haven't been... And I feel like it's getting worse. Like i had a friend that had a a father that's had, are actually parents that have a house in Florida. And he said for 25 years, they haven't had a problem, but the last two hurricanes last couple of years have got them. So, yeah I mean, you're getting lucky.
00:01:26
Speaker
It does. it yeah And it comes in waves. And look, there's one thing I can tell you. Some of the most dangerous, attractive, valuable property in the world is where it's waterfront.
00:01:38
Speaker
It sure is. so front And you, you take a risk with that type of property. I live, I live one on four seconds to the beach, right? ah in And, and, and, and, and my, head the little barrier island I'm on, you go 10 houses down near the intercoastal. It's, it's a risk you take and you stay well insured.
00:01:58
Speaker
And there are ways that even when you're in hurricane zone, it's not foolproof, but there are ways to down your risks. And one of them is, you know, most investment properties that you work in, you're probably not buying oceanfront or waterfront anyway, because you can't make the numbers work. So that's one thing alone that that does help.
00:02:18
Speaker
Sure, sure. Okay, well, let's just quick introduce
Balancing Family and Business Values
00:02:21
Speaker
yourself. What makes you uncommon? What? Yeah, what is your business? How did you get to where you're at? Just give us a high level flyover. Probably won't be able to go into too much detail. No, that's okay. Jim Shields. I've been a real estate investor 25 years. What makes me uncommon is my wife and I are happily married. We have five children, a combination of adopted and biological. we We have done a lot of road schooling where we've traveled to different areas in the world with our kids to teach them ah and and kind of had a more unconventional adventure with family life most people don't have while running you know a real estate investment company that used to do bulk
00:03:02
Speaker
foreclosure rehabs, but then went into new construction about 10 years ago, partnered up with my now partner, and he's you know a powerhouse in our industry. And it's been great. And so that's been kind of an uncommon adventure. We also have a bestselling family book, number one Wall Street Journal seller called The Family Board Meeting. So I'd say, you know, not all real estate investors care about family. A lot of the ones that we work with do, ah but that's been trying to be a core value of mine to live by. And it's nice to be able to work with investors that share that same thing.
00:03:33
Speaker
Yeah, no I love it because at the end of the day, there's always this work-life balance. And at the end of the day, it's just like life balance. And you just got you got to be able to manage and juggle all of that. And so I do like having that principles kind of bleed over into your family of a family boardroom and, and writing a book about that. So let's start with the real estate side of it. And then we'll go to kind of the family boardroom side of things because it's just so powerful. So let's start. So what got you into real estate at the beginning? Was that your first thing? Did you ever have a desk job?
00:04:06
Speaker
Tell me all about it. Yeah, I was I ah graduated college, which was not for me. I'm glad I went. But you graduated. I did graduate, which was, which was something. And so that was an accomplishment. But if I, I would be lying to you, Philip, if I said the things I learned in school helped me with my entrepreneur career. it just didn't. So I, I'm very 50, 50 on college, whether it's for me, my friends, my kids, I'm 50, 50. But for me, it was more of a proving ground. i went into corporate America into pharmaceutical advertising for two years, and it was more boring than it sounds. And I remember almost biting my own hands off doing a, I'm doing a sales pamphlet for a drug on irregular bowel syndrome. And I'm like, I can't do this.
00:04:49
Speaker
And and I left. I left the Northeast and moved out to California for a sales job. It fell through. And and that's when I really started studying. What do I want to do? And I had been, you know, i remember challenged to say, always do something for yourself.
00:05:03
Speaker
Have the courage while you're young and can starve yourself. Go after something for you. Meet your own boss.
From Corporate America to Real Estate Investing
00:05:10
Speaker
And so I did. And I was i was looking at everything from franchises to, yeah you know, different biz ops and coming back to this real estate investing.
00:05:19
Speaker
And it just made sense to me. I like the tangibility, the levers. And and I also read a quote that eight out of 10 millionaires In the U.S. at that time, you know, talking 27 years ago, made their money in real estate.
00:05:32
Speaker
And I like those odds. I'm like, man, bre I enjoy this. I like the tangibility. I like kind of the the things I'm learning. And so that was my start. That's huge.
00:05:43
Speaker
That's huge. So what college did you graduate from? University of Scranton. So if you watch the office, yes, that's where I went to school. That's pretty sweet. Okay. And so you started getting into this real estate game, but I was also pharmaceutical background. So I get it, man. I get it. um And it's like the golden handcuffs, but like those golden handcuffs aren't for me. So we're going get out in the real world and you start diving into real estate. One, you start seeing the history A lot of people are successful with it.
00:06:12
Speaker
ah What year was that that you started to get into it? That was 1999.
00:06:20
Speaker
and Okay. ninety eight and ninety million So interest rates back then were what? my first property too My first property that I bought as a new investor. So that hit me up a little bit and had good credit though.
00:06:35
Speaker
But my first property that I bought, my interest rate was 9.125. Right. 30 year? and is that thirty year 30 year. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So different, different than today, right? Much higher. But, but I do think that's interesting because a lot of people, I like to just at least talk about the interest rate and it is post or pre 2008 before the collapse. Oh yeah. um So,
00:07:02
Speaker
it is it is higher, but it's also something that you made be worthwhile. So I think a lot of people and a of a lot of our think clients are looking into real estate and kind of thinking like, well, I'll get into it when interest rates are down. You would have jumped up for joy if you saw what the interest rates were down back then. So you made it work.
00:07:23
Speaker
I just wanted to make that quick point um and then we can kind of move on. But so the first property that you bought Where were you at in your marriage? I'm going to try to interweave all of this. Jamie and I didn't meet until I moved to Florida. So I was single and starving. I was single and starving at the time. Okay. Who was mentoring you at that point?
00:07:42
Speaker
I had a couple of different mentors. I had someone of my parents' friend back in New Jersey who had done some real estate deals. And then i I
Influences and Mentorship in Real Estate
00:07:51
Speaker
had a really unique beginning because I got in...
00:07:54
Speaker
to robert kiraakki's original like real estate investing classes Oh, that's cool. and i had some success you know fixing a few houses and and selling them and and they i made friends with someone on the staff they invited me back to staff i met a guy named keith cunningham there who was speaking. And Keith Cunningham was a major inspiration behind Rich Dad, Poor dad He's worked with Tony Robbins for years, ran his wealth mastery. And so Keith mentored me for about five years. Every 90 days, I'd fly to Austin, Texas for wow and just sit in a room and just, you know, when you have a good mentor, they challenge you and they hold you accountable. And sometimes it feels great and sometimes it feels horrible.
00:08:37
Speaker
You hate it. Yeah. But that's that was my start. Okay. What do you think the biggest thing he taught you in years of mentoring you?
00:08:48
Speaker
I'm going to say this one because it keeps coming up. um if If you, if you making in money is supposed to be boring, right? He's like, if if you if if you need excitement, go go get chased by the bulls in Spain, jump out of an airplane. i get it. He's like, but the problem with entrepreneurs is they they get something going and they get good at it They get on the inside track, they get a rhythm.
00:09:16
Speaker
And then they feel like they got to run in seven different directions, complicate things and become a freshman again. They've just reached the senior class. He says that's supposed to you're supposed to get it where it's just cranking and moving and you're able to pivot easy. And we forget that is sometimes high flying, high energy, you know, problem solving, challenging entrepreneurs.
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah. And that was great advice because. Simple real estate, and the more I've gone back to it and kept a ah simple focus on just what niche am I focused on, what am I going deep into, has gotten me better results. But also, I didn't want to be an entrepreneur that has to work 95 hours a week at this age. I mean, I just turned 50. want to be with my family. you know We've been lucky enough to take some long adventures.
00:10:01
Speaker
you know The last two years, we lived a few months out of the year in Costa Rica you know to work and play from there. ah if If you overcomplicate things, you can't do things like that. And so that was a lesson he taught me. and And that was, you know, I was I was a youngster at that time. I was in my early 20s. And and i'm I'm glad it it finally ah it took hope trying to follow it.
00:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's a lot of truth because the uncommon wealth partners and uncommon wealth is really a lot of people are starting to dive into their own core values, their own beliefs, their own skills, the way they're gifted.
00:10:36
Speaker
And it's exciting at first. And then all of a sudden this, all this, this drudge of we're not going as fast as lot. Right. And it shouldn't be that fast. So I think that's really a good lesson yeah for another key point. So great point. Okay. So got your first investment property. What do you do next? You get in you re revamp it, remodel it. yeah I hit a home run on my first one. We, I bought a three family house in Lompoc, California. Don't want her good.
00:11:06
Speaker
Gentleman had passed, you know, his family sold it ah at a really good price, went in, fixed it up, um moved around the tenants. Two two of the units were vacant. I just fixed them up and raised the rents from where they were. And boom, I had a home run. I had I think I had a reappraised.
00:11:25
Speaker
Five months later, and it was the equity was two times what my salary had been the year before. Wow. Dang, this has some some some legs to it.
00:11:35
Speaker
So I don't know if it was a lucky or a curse, but I got you know, I had a home run on my first real estate deal. And so that was like, OK, I can do more. Now I had plenty of strikeouts after that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one.
00:11:48
Speaker
It's like the first good golf shop. Yeah, that property I sold to 1031 Exchange into Florida stuff um years ago for ah five times when I bought it for. Wow. Did you do all the remodeling or did you contract that out?
00:12:03
Speaker
It's great. You know what, Philip? I did the first remodel I ever did, that one. I'll never forget. I had a surfing buddy contractor who you know said, yeah, I'll help you out on the weekends and show you.
00:12:14
Speaker
And he was my buddy, luckily. But he was like, oh, dude, you are not good at this. like this like i'm And I'm not. And that's where it's so funny. I mean, two of my sons are are very mechanically inclined, and I'm not. So people expect, oh, you've done 1,000 rehabs. You're so good at that. I'm horrible at it. Now, looking at assessing it and and filling in in the pieces um for what needs to be done.
00:12:39
Speaker
But I'm not a good rehabber. I don't have that mechanical inclination. So you wouldn't want me fixing your roof for your AC or no. But I know how to find the right roofer and to get the AC and to look at, OK, let's change this about the house and add this and landscape this.
00:12:54
Speaker
But doing it myself, I did that first rehab and I knew I had to change or this was going to end really quick. yeah I appreciate your honesty. A lot of it's just knowing your skill set and then working around it. yeah We all got our own faults. That's good. Absolutely.
00:13:09
Speaker
um Okay, so it sounds like you didn't sell it right away. Did you refinance it, take the equity out and then go do it again? Yeah, see, that's the that's the secret of wealth.
Strategies for Long-term Wealth Accumulation
00:13:19
Speaker
You plant seeds and you let them take hold, you let them grow.
00:13:23
Speaker
And then with discipline, you pull money off of that property, normally through a refinance. yeah And so you could buy Rolexes or go to Vegas or just blow it. Or you could do the boring thing and put it into two, three more properties. Right. That's how we really grew the the business and the portfolio was doing that. And that's, it's such a a straightforward formula that people, first of all, they don't believe that that can work.
00:13:48
Speaker
Secondly, they're too impatient. Yeah. Do it. I said, man. Right. Please stop looking at the you know next 14 months. Look at the next seven to 10 years. Yeah. We'll just take that approach with real estate like so many people before you.
00:14:02
Speaker
It's amazing the opportunities that can open up. Right. Okay. So when does Southern Impression Home start? Not then. Not then. So left California, you know, came, ah came to Florida in about, over but why did you leave California? We've skipped that. Why? Okay.
00:14:19
Speaker
Come on now. it was Well, I'm not a fan of their landlord laws. here ya i don't encourage the landlord laws. Beautiful state, some nice people. Landlord laws were horrible. And, and by that time, you know, there was such a frenzy occurring in I was in a place called Bakersfield, California. you know Johnny Carson made fun of it. It's like the armpit of California.
00:14:42
Speaker
Really nice people. It's just a hot, dry area. It looks like the Midwest. And ah people were coming down from San Fran up from L.A. and buying properties for, I'll never forget, it's $70,000 to $80,000 above praise value. No appraised value, no appraisal. call wow Numbers weren't making sense. And so I wasn't that smart, but I'm like, this doesn't make sense. I can't keep doing what I'm doing here. yeah And we heard about a little place on the Northeast coast. I had family here of of Florida called Jacksonville, Florida. And they said, you know, look up the numbers that you look for. It's here. And I found that Jacksonville, Florida was the most affordable large coastal city in the, in the U S by far, like hands down, there was nothing close.
00:15:24
Speaker
I said, oh, that's interesting. And I was I wanted to be warming by the water anyway, because I'm a surfer and I love the beach. And and so that's why we made the move. And California was again, there's things I loved about it, but it was easy as it from a business aspect to stay goodbye. You know, one of the biggest reasons now, especially, you know, fast forward, Philip, 20, you know, well, that wasn't quite 25 years from when I started. But, you know, let's go 20 years. Yeah. don't look at landlord laws. Yeah.
00:15:50
Speaker
You've got to pay the landlord loss for your individual state because it is detrimental. I've watched it happen to some friends in certain states, especially through the pandemic. If you can't collect rent for 14, 16 months, oh yeah how do you how do you survive? I'm seeing even the big guys that we've built for suck wind, um you know larger institutions, family offices. So I say...
00:16:11
Speaker
There's things you want to look for, but one of them underlying is, does that state allow you as a landlord to protect your assets and to get people out a fair amount of time if they don't pay rent? Right. That's good. so you get to Florida, get to Florida, went into, you know, did some, some fix and flips,
00:16:29
Speaker
Got in some properties here in Jacksonville, Florida, that were the worst decision of my life. You know, the funny thing is you go from being, you know, the hot shot senior in California to the president here. Oh, I didn't think the neighbor was that bad. The condition was that bad. Well, if some of those houses I had to sit on for 12 years almost. Oh, gosh. it's Bad areas.
00:16:48
Speaker
And, you know, and those were a lessons. But one thing great that happened, which I thought was initially going to bankrupt me, was 08. Yeah. and But what happened with 08 is, okay, that was a really painful time. But you remember the bottom fell out. Oh, yeah. yeah hard scene And I had always kept a ah great reputation with my investors. I had always protected them through anything.
00:17:10
Speaker
And so the bottom fell out so quickly. I had people from the different... You know, mastermind groups and real estate events that is coming to, hey, we want to start buying, there's a buying opportunity and they hire me ah to to get into this, you know, foreclosure market. And I built relationships from the top REO brokers in Jacksonville, and we just bought bulk foreclosures.
00:17:31
Speaker
i ah I'd renovate them. I'd either on sell it to an investor or keep them for myself. We did a blend of that. And then we built up, you know, the company well with that. um You know, by now my family's involved and i got to tell you, and I write about this in our latest book, that model sounds great. And it, it it made me wealth, but it bankrupt my time.
00:17:52
Speaker
I didn't want to do that. And and it' it started even to look worse about a a decade ago because, you know, the the secret was out. oh wait, it was, Completely done. You know, ah there was no more shadow inventory like they talked
Adapting to New Challenges in Real Estate
00:18:05
Speaker
about. Everything was getting overbid. And my now partner came to me and said, hey, you know, what if we tried to build our own properties instead of, you know, finding old ones to renovate?
00:18:14
Speaker
Hmm. Huh. That's a terrible idea. I'm a rehabber, you know, it's right who put it? And he convinced luckily so because it's a way bigger scale than we could ever go. And also, there's so many things that have bought back my time with this model.
00:18:28
Speaker
You know, we had about five people on our team. Well, now I'm part of a team of 140. We're a partner in this bigger company. Sure. I only handle one thing. And I have so many more people in place and I'm not fighting over the same thing. And yeah, there was a barrier entry, but we have better funding. We have our own in-house financing for our investors now.
00:18:47
Speaker
We're building from scratch, which I can tell you has gotten us into better areas, but also things like this, Philip, with the hurricane. New construction, you know, you have to build differently as of 2004 or newer, instead of building a two feet above sea level in certain markets we were in, like in 1950, you now have to build it. Right. Right. bird All these things I gripe and complain about until a hurricane hits and we don't have any damage. And I'm like, yeah, right. I got to stop complaining.
00:19:15
Speaker
Right. and That's good. Okay. Where were you in your relationship with your wife at this point? Like, When did you meet her? Obviously, it's in Florida. But when we met her my wife and I met in 2010, married in 2011. She was divorced with full custody of two young boys. She had married a high school, her high school boyfriend right out of college. Awful situation that she talks very openly about. It's been part of our story.
00:19:40
Speaker
Alcohol abuse. She stood up for herself, got out, got full custody. And I met her a very short of few years later. and and so we hit it off but here i am philip instant dad i'd always been different kids activities and like big big family full throttle yeah it was full throttle and then these two little boys hit it off they asked me to adopt them when when i married jamie and wow of course um and so it was great but here i am 2008 you know we to bankrupt us, but we're on our way back up. We're helping a lot of people, building a lot of successful portfolios, but I'm running two real estate businesses.
00:20:19
Speaker
And here's this beautiful Montessori principal that, you know, that I fell in love with right away and her two boys and we're an instant family. So we're, we again, this is where I like when, when this started to take, take stride, like I also now have a 10 year old, a seven year old a three year old. So we've continued on the family, but you know, that was a lot of,
00:20:41
Speaker
how am I going to do this better? Cause now it's not just working, you know, for, for just myself or a wealth goal. It's like, I want to have my time. I want to have, you know, I don't want to miss this. That's why our, our, i don't know if you can see it for here, but our, our, our family education miss is called 18 summers because a mentor of mine.
00:21:02
Speaker
He said, yeah, he said, look, you can, the stats show it. The average person will spend about 85% of the time they ever have with their child by the end of the 18th summer. Yep. Take advantage of it and know that you could cheat that you could get more time if you do the first 18 years right. They're going to want to come back for more. There's going to be more of a foundation.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so that always stuck with me. i'd I'd say it inspired me and haunted me, Philip. Yeah. Because being a young, impressionable guy that got into these real estate events early, man, I saw some really big names that you and I would know. Mm hmm. balance sheets, big followings, huge crowds cheering from them. And then you would get behind stage and and their life was in shambles. And one of the saddest things when I say shambles, they had basically little to no relationship with their family. Yes. Isn't it? They're on top of the mountain with nobody to see the beauty. Yeah. Their kids weren't talking to them. Their their wife was living down the street and it was just kind of worse situation. staying together for image. And it scared me because there what I want to be clear on this.
00:22:00
Speaker
I was like, man, i'm I'm not the smartest guy, but I am smart enough to know that could be me. for sure For sure. I might fall into that same thing and start growing. And and so there was a certain um there was there was a certain different path that I tried to take that may have cost me money in the short term, but I think it's created a lot of better things in the long term.
00:22:24
Speaker
Right. Yeah. i I always say like, it's, it's not worth it. If you're on top of this mountain by yourself, like I've never heard that, but that is, that is spot on. Yeah. And I just think like keeping your family and your marriage a priority, you know, because it's easy to focus on the kids and focus on your business, but, and just know, I take it for granted that you have a spouse that's like right there, lockstep. And so she's been incredible. So the things that we've been through of building the family of anything from you know health setbacks to deaths in the family to overcoming past traumas to know hosting our own family events to growing a real estate portfolio together, helping others do the same. It's been it's been a hell of a ride. Never perfect, but but's so meaningful. And you know we're just excited for the next 10 years now. That's cool. How'd you and your wife meet?
00:23:19
Speaker
don't know if you said that. No, I didn't. So I was, um so you'll, you'll, you'll be, you'll laugh at this. So I went out to dinner with a buddy of mine. I'd been surfing all day. He's like, come on, and come out for, for a meal. I'm like, ah, but I don't know. I'm tired.
00:23:33
Speaker
So I, I go, I meet him and and we, we, we're, we're walking back from this little sushi place in this little village town. up near Jacksonville, this little beach town. And, and he goes, Oh, let's go into this, this, this bar. And it's this little brew pub that I, you know, I had heard was a nice place. And we walk in, it looks like a bad wedding, right? It's just, it looks like it's like we're we're crashing a wedding. There's all ages dancing to this band.
00:23:57
Speaker
And, uh, And literally, I locked eyes with my wife. And it's pretty awesome because, um you know, i was completely sober. And, you know, I saw her and I was like, whoa. in in And we joke like, oh, were you looking at me or was I looking at you? I mean, the honest truth, of which I won't tell you, I was definitely looking at you. But yeah.
00:24:20
Speaker
She was in there. It was her 28th birthday with her whole family. And so I met her whole family the first night because I'm nice. Yeah. So, you know, I was like either really courageous or stupid. I'm not going to think it was. Or love. Whatever. or in love or the are Yeah, that's a good one, too. But I walk up to her and her friend and I'm like, oh, they're trying to take a picture. I'm like, can I do that? Now, like I just said about rehabs, you don't want me touching your technology. I mean, you saw my setup problems here.
00:24:49
Speaker
Like they asked me to take a picture. I think I got like a picture of like her friend's shoulder. Yeah. But that was a joke later. But yeah, that's how we met. And we talked for about five minutes. And she had said, um we just had a really good conversation. And, you know, i think that I was in the right state of mind and frame because she's a very beautiful girl. And and she just said, I don't, I've never given my number out.
00:25:12
Speaker
um But if you want to call me, you can. And if you met my wife, she was shy and coming out of this. and you know Yeah, right. PTSD. Yeah. And she just, and so, um and we've talked every day since.
00:25:23
Speaker
ah every day since so it's pretty pretty cool stuff so how long you been married now we've been married how many years now 15 years now maybe 15 14 years now okay yeah wow that's great that's very cool okay so you get married uh things are going well You're rehabbing or you're, you're doing a deal.
00:25:49
Speaker
Oh, it hits. Now you start changing your like kind of past. Okay. Now we're past. So you changed your business completely to now do new, new builds, new builds. Yep. And then what's next? Sorry.
00:26:04
Speaker
Um, you know, there's always challenges. We went, as we started a new builds, we're like, gosh, this works great. But what we had found too, is we started to build like here in Jacksonville, Jacksonville is our hub market.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yep.
Expanding Horizons and Overcoming Challenges
00:26:17
Speaker
We had the decision to make that if we stay in Jacksonville, then we're going to have to start building properties in areas we don't want to be. and i want i have a rule that was taught to me, original mentor ever. Can you walk down the street at eight o'clock on a Friday night without concerns? I still i still listen to that. That makes sense to me because I've tried it their way.
00:26:40
Speaker
I know some people do well. There's just not for me. I've gotten started there. And so we had to make decisions to go outside of Jacksonville. and We had to go through all sorts of things where, you know, we now are self builder. So we're own builder in all our markets now. and But how do we become that? Well, became that because we went out to Ocala, great market.
00:26:59
Speaker
And we, you know, had a several million dollar judgment against a contractor that went belly up that didn't do his numbers, could have bankrupt us. it We covered it. We got it all the builds done for our investors and then we continued to grow. So these things are always happening when when when you're um building, you know, the are the hurricanes.
00:27:20
Speaker
Is Florida going to last the pandemic? I mean, right what's going to happen? I'll tell you during the pandemic, too. And this is to the credit of my partner. Beginning of 2020, when all that was going down, we had known to build to rent.
00:27:32
Speaker
And no one knew what this was going to happen. It was literally with all my real estate friends. Real estate's going 0.8 times 10. Yeah. or yeah And so we we talked about him we said, we're either going to be really right or really wrong.
00:27:46
Speaker
um But we decided to try to be really right. And we we bought over 20 million in land positions in Florida right in the beginning of 2000 to 2020. What happened to land costs in those next two years? Oh, man.
00:28:01
Speaker
And so now we have enough land or We have over 5,000 lots that we're going to be building out in Florida, a mixture of single family duplex and quads. And remember, it's not building costs. Yeah, they went up ridiculous and you have to work on that. But if you don't get into the land right, almost everything else.
00:28:17
Speaker
Right, right, right. It goes up belly up pretty quick. You can't make the numbers work. So we feel so lucky we made that. But again, it was a risk we had to take. And there was some educated risk to it, but it was a risk we have to take that was pretty scary. and Again, for anyone listening here, you know, you don't have to build the Taj Mahal your first deal, but you got to have the courage to go into that first duplex.
00:28:37
Speaker
I always say that, do you know, a multifamily, right? Yeah. we Well, we build single family duplex and quads. We do an array of all residential real estate so we can get you that good residential financing, but we do- Yeah, right.
00:28:48
Speaker
Right. That's good. And now do you help people do that? Like client can call you and be like, hey, I want to step into this and you can get them into that. Yeah. So what we do is we do, um we're on a continual build cycle. You don't build pre-construction with us like, hey, Philip, give me a deposit and I'll give you a house in 10 months. No, we we build on our own dime. And so you can close on a new construction home that's just finishing within 30 Oh, wow.
00:29:12
Speaker
and and not only that so you have to put up your deposit obviously like you're buying a house but we have now our own in-house financing so right now um and again this is another part of the story but we were partially acquired by a big group called sumit too suy tumo stepped in and bought a piece of our business um because they like bill are rent they liked florida They're 330 years old out of Japan. They're an absolute powerhouse. Warren Buffett is heavily invested in one of their conglomerates.
00:29:40
Speaker
ah But like Warren Buffett's style, they give us autonomy to run the business in full funding. So we don't have to raise money to buy land anymore. have zero bank debt. which many builders cannot say. Yeah, that's right. they They've given us the green light. And also now with the balance sheet that we have, we were able to work with a few banks where we can pre-buy mortgages. It's called a builder forward commitment.
00:30:01
Speaker
And you have to have a certain level confidence but you know, security in your business to do that. um But we're able to now buy these mortgages up front, Philip, for our people. and It's 3.75%.
00:30:14
Speaker
Holy cow. Right now. So we're cutting the the market by about 3% on what it is. And that's 10 year fix 30 year am. Wow. That's crazy. And then how do you get renters? Are they already rented? Some of our properties are pre-rented.
00:30:28
Speaker
Others, you know, we have our average days of what it takes to rent and in different markets, but we have management. We we manage 95% of what we built. but People can use their own management if they want, but most people go to us. Normally with our incentive programs, like right now we're offering two two free years of monthly management, free management.
00:30:48
Speaker
ah for the first two years. So, you know, it's hard to say no. And again, we were in management before we were in building. That's how my my partner and I met. he was He was a property manager, him and his father, and I had left California, as you know, and I hired and fired four property managers. Yeah, dude. They're hard to find good ones. And it's a tough business. It's the worst part of the business, I think. But they they started to take over my portfolio and did a better job than I did. And that's kind of how we got our start together. And then the building came once. But we always try to set up management in any market we build in before we start.
00:31:21
Speaker
Okay, so when did the family board meeting book come out and like and it in all conjunction with all this?
The Impact of 'The Family Board Meeting'
00:31:28
Speaker
Yeah, so that came out about 10 years ago. okay We just started you know with meeting Jamie within the first few years. I'm like, man, I don't want mess this up. I have these two boys. We're going on to have more kids.
00:31:39
Speaker
So many people had always said to me, oh, you know I wish you know I'd be at these events. And you know it never just stays about real estate. It goes into relationship, personal development, purpose. And they're like, I'd get up and I'd have to speak. And I would just share...
00:31:51
Speaker
And just what brought me on my journey? And it was never a straight line. People said, I'd love for my kids to hear this. So we just started to throw these kind of impromptu events and people started coming to. it And the lessons we were sharing, you know, a good friend of ours who's with a group called Strategic Coach, she said, you guys need to write a book.
00:32:11
Speaker
I said, I have no interest in writing a book about family. I don't. Our stories are kind of ah vulnerable and sensitive. First of all, I don't know if I want to put that out there. And and secondly, I'm not a family therapist. I'm not a psychologist. And they're like, exactly.
00:32:25
Speaker
You're an entrepreneur that can relate. And so we wrote it. And think we so on the first edition, we're now on our third edition. think it was like. a thousand bucks and we we were putting it out, but two big podcasters who I didn't realize were big. Cause I was kind of like Forrest Gump had seen me speak and invited me to come on their big podcasts and the book just took off. And then the second, in the third edition where we got a real publisher went to number one on wall street journal. and And I tell that not to brag, it's because the family message is so resonated with people. It's not our writing.
00:33:01
Speaker
It's the story and the simple principles that we shared that, you know Now we think there's probably over 200,000 families using this now, which is pretty special. for That is cool.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool. What a role is Jamie playing in your business, business?
Financial Management with Family Support
00:33:20
Speaker
the family board meetings, like all this stuff, or does she just like, this is kind of more my wife, like she just organizes the house. And like, that's a, that's a job that's more than I could Like, I can't pay you enough. Like you're right. but I agree. The feng shuing of the house is unbelievable. So ah that is part of it. When we have some, you know, like two, two people to help with that. One thing Jamie will not give up on. She is the Montessori mom. I mean, she ran Waldorf and Montessori schools is that she is like,
00:33:50
Speaker
kids are just magnet magnetized to her. So she won't give up kid time, but we'll have other support in the house. and And she's very involved in our kids' education. We're very involved with a smaller turn of school. We help start for different ages in our town. But then she she doesn't get involved in the bigger real estate business, but helps oversee our own portfolio. And the one thing that we determined, Philip, is, and I'm very proud of this, is, you know, what is it?
00:34:18
Speaker
80 something percent of divorces are because of financial issues. She is very attuned and very involved in our finances. We both are. So every Thursday we sit down, we're going over things with our accountant, um you know, our bookkeeper to see where it's at. So we both understand where the money is. And she's very involved in that part because um she has a good knack for it. First of all, and it's really good communication to know when things are great, when things are low, when things are okay. And, you know, what should be our next move? And we make those decisions together and it's worked so much better than the Lone Ranger approach.
00:34:52
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. That's good. Jim, I love your uncommon, man. This is awesome. So if our listeners want to hear more about you or the family board meeting, like what would be the best way for them to reach out or just find out more information about you?
00:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, go to JJPlaybook.com. That's something that Jamie and I wrote up. We just had in a second book come out and it's USA Today bestseller. You guys can get the first three chapters free. And also some of our principles, you know, what real estate path do we take? Why do we go from old to new construction? And just a pathway you might be able to follow for that. And not only success in the real estate, but success at home. So JJPlaybook.com will be a great starting point with free information. and yeah, that's what I'd recommend.
00:35:32
Speaker
Okay, that's good. Well, hey, thank you for your time. I appreciate just all the ways that you have used your gifts to impact other people. And yeah, I wish you the best of luck, man. Huge fan. Love it. Thanks, Philip. Good being on here. Yeah. You've been listening Uncommon Wealth Podcast. If you have any other questions, ah reach out to myself at uncommonwealth.com. And thank you for listening. Until next time, go be uncommon. That's all for this episode brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners.
00:35:59
Speaker
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