Successfully Navigating VA (Veteran) Offers in ANY Market & Overcoming VA Myths

This podcast was created by Real Estate Professionals for Real Estate Professionals; Brokers & Agents a like who are looking to “LEVEL UP” their business and their life WITHOUT all the BS and FLUFF. Each show has actionable information you can put into practice immediately and take measurable action so that you can experience measurable results!

This Episode we are going to deep dive into "Successfully Navigating VA (Veteran) Offers in ANY Market & Overcoming VA Myths".

Being a Veteran myself as well as servicing Veteran and government buyers for years this is one group I feel should be getting all of our love and unfortunately especially in this current real estate market they are having difficulty and in some cases being told by uneducated agents "Hey listen this just might not be the market for you"...... This obviously is not an unacceptable dialect....

Not to get political but these folks (Veterans) are a very small segment of the population who took an oath to put their life on the line and put America's needs before their own....

So in this episode we have the amazing opportunity to share the studio with an absolutely incredible guest, one who is still an active duty military member with the US Coast Guard and is making huge differences in local Veteran's lives and net-worth. Michael Valencia is an absolute bad ass and drops some serious knowledge and tactics in this episode you will want to listen to the very end!!!


Want to get in contact with this episode's Co-host Michael?

Michael Valencia
https://www.instagram.com/mike_the.real.estate.guy/
📧 mvalenciarealty@gmail.com
mikevtherealestateguy.com


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Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Welcome to the level up your real estate biz podcast. This podcast was created by real estate professionals for real estate professionals who are looking to level up their business and their life without all the BS and fluff. All right, hello and welcome. My name is Lucas Rowell, and I am your host. Very, very excited to have you here with us today for Episode Three with an absolutely incredible guest. I can't wait to introduce him to you guys. So Episode Three is going to be veteran buyers or VA buyers and overcoming VA myths. Alright, so each show our objective is to give you the tactics behind the strategy. So you can immediately put into practice what you've learned, because measurable actions lead to measurable results. So I'm super excited to introduce my co host, a very special guest today. For this episode, this guy is an absolute badass. Not only is he making huge differences in the local veteran community, he's still active duty coast guard out there making a difference serving this beautiful country of ours, and setting that bar extremely high in the local real estate space. So please help me welcome the man. The myth, the Coastie the legend, Mr. Michael, badass Valencia. Hey, what's going on Luke, thank you for having me on. I am extremely humbled by this invitation this opportunity. So thank you No, man, the pleasure is all mine. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule. I know we were chatting beforehand, and you've got a lot of things going on. And you know, we're just super, super excited to jump into a chat with you. And really be able to bring some value to our listeners and help them to understand whether they're a VA buyer, what they should be looking for, or whether they're an agent, how to best assist the veteran community and follow in your footsteps. So really appreciate you taking time, Anytime, anything I can do to help. Cool brother. So If you would kind of to get us started, could you tell us a little bit about yourself how you got into real estate? You know, and where your focus is? Yeah, absolutely. Um, my name is Michael Valencia. I'm an AMT one and Air Station Miami. For the Coast Guard. I've been in the Coast Guard for 15 and a half years. Right now, my, my workday kind of gives me the freedom to do real estate on my time off. And so when I'm not helping guys at work, you know, better themselves, you know, become better mechanics or whatnot, or better Coasties. On my off time, I'm helping people look for homes, especially in this tough market that we're in, is everyone counted on? Right? That is definitely we are definitely going to dive into that man, this is an unprecedented market really is. You know, and unfortunately, you know, around the scuttlebutt, if you will, the, the word is difficult to get VA buyers accepted, you know, it's difficult to, you know, for them to purchase in this market. So really looking forward to today, we're gonna dive into kind of some of the things that you're doing to, to have that success and really make sure that, again, those VA buyers, what to look for in an agent to make sure they're gonna get the absolute best service. Absolutely. So why did you start? I mean, I know you're, you're in the military, right? So But why did you why did you start to focus your efforts on military clients? Like, where did that? Where did that specialization? Why why did you decide on that subgroup? Well, it's, It was kind of obvious, is it kind of an obvious question, because obviously, I'm in this space on active duty, I, kind of from my personal experience, I got into real estate, really, in 2009, when I was 21 years old, fresh out of high school, my reporting to my first duty station, and my wife and I basically had an agreement that we're going to buy, and we're gonna do everything that we can to buy a house, you know, we just knew it was the right thing to do. And especially because, you know, like I said, I was 21, she was 19. None of our, all of our friends were just starting college. And I was like, Hey, let's take advantage of this opportunity that we can buy a house with 100% financing, right? That was like, that went off. And we had, we didn't have the best experience buying our first property with us at nine. Then when we got orders to come down to Miami, we didn't have the best experience selling that property. We ended up having to kind of let go of the firm Stage and hire a second listing agent. And then she was a lot better she, she had a great work ethic. And then once we came down to Miami, started working with different realtors, and I was asking questions about the VA loan, and they were telling me that you can only use the one, they were telling me all these different things that I knew were wrong. But my, my wife got accepted into Rutgers University, and I was going to be feel bad for for six months, probably okay, well, she's in school, I am going to better myself and do what I have to do to get my real estate license. And my philosophy was to just give people the service that we wish we could have received. And along with that service, also comes the education, you know, a lot of things that I was learning, I was already teaching some of the guys that I worked with. And it turns out that a lot of realtors just don't do that. Outstanding man and what a what a great, great segment to focus on. And that's, that's certainly, you know, being in the real estate space myself, and, you know, and being in for a long time, and having that military and government focus. That was that was one thing that that we definitely saw across the board is that there's a lot of misinformation, there's a lot, a lot of MIS education. And unfortunately, the person that typically suffers is the veteran. And if they don't, you know, they don't know, they could very well be having that disservice, you know, without the knowledge of it and it affecting their purchase. And or being able to accomplish that purchase. Right, like one of the things that we have to realize, and especially in the Coast Guard, we're such a small service that we wear many different hats, right. And a lot of the things that I learned I in the Coast Guard, come on my military experience and basically applying it to my business, right. But what I learned is that I'm not just a realtor, I am also a teacher, I'm an advisor, that to me, it's like the number one thing I have, I am not just going to sell you something because, you know, that's what you're hiring me to do, I am going to advise you. So when my clients come to me, and they say, this is what I'm looking for, this is what I'm looking at, then I take that data, and then I based on my experiences and what I'm seeing on the market, that's when I'm able to advise them. And even though this is what their expectations are, I kind of bring them to like, Okay, this is where your reality should be. Interesting. And that's important. So if we could just take a couple of steps back real quick and just kind of circle into, like, what we're, I know, you had mentioned when, you know, you start on this incredible journey of, you know, serving not only those that you work with, but others, you know, in the veteran community in the real estate space, but what were some of the road roadblocks and things that maybe that you ran into, I know you mentioned, there were some difficulties and, and things with some of the agents and you had to unfortunately, let one go. And then, you know, you had to kind of bounce around a little bit to figure out the best fit. But what were some of those things just so our veterans that are listening can can maybe maybe some of them relate some of them are going through some of those same experiences. So they can, they can figure out how to mitigate that and how to navigate that. I think the bottom line is, is don't get don't get so wrapped up around the sales pitch. You know, if you are able to have an honest conversation back and forth with your realtor, if you find out that, like you can kind of reach out to them at any anytime of the day, you know, you can just basically ask advice, and you can tell that it's sincere you can tell that it's coming from a good place. And you know, it's just it's it's a tough question because it's, there's so many aspects behind it, you know, the very first one that for example, that I had to let go was because I felt like he wasn't putting in the time to really market my property. If you aren't listening, you need to be hard doing everything you can to market that property. You want to get as many eyes out there to see that this property is for sale. And this is this, the great things about this property right? Like that. That wasn't my happening to us when we're listing our house and then when we came down here to look you know, nobody there was a lot of people that was like I said before that hey, you can only use your VA loan once if every veteran could use it. Be alone more than once everybody will be buying property, more properties. And I'm like, Yeah, I know people that have bought four different properties, and they still own them around the country. Yeah. Those are awesome, man, I appreciate you sharing that. So let's maybe shift gears a little bit and look at so from the agent side, why do you feel that that agents have a tough time working with veteran clients? Because it's a different product, it's a different mentality, right? Most of our guys, again, we kind of our our downpayment is really the sacrifice that we, we've already given to our country, right? So in a way, that is why we are able to do 100% financing. But a lot of realtors don't know the ins and outs of VA loan. It's complicated, but it's an amazing product, because it's a low risk product for the banks. You know, it's a product that is backed by by the VA by the federal government where if God forbid, a veteran wants to default on the loan, the Department of VA will step in and, you know, kind of handle that loan for the bank. That's the reason why we are not only able to do 100% financing, but we have probably the best rates on in the industry, if you compare it to a conventional loan or an FHA loan, right. Awesome, man. Yeah. And that's definitely, definitely one of the things that that we see is that not understanding some of the terminology, some of those other pieces? It really is where folks get kind of gun shy, if you will, and maybe they don't want to dive in deeper, ask enough questions. Do you? Do you see that as well? Yeah, absolutely. I think that, that is the number one takeaway that I that, again, applying what I learned from the Coast Guard into my business, as you have to continuously learn, learn, learn, learn, you know, I even till this day, like a recently, I just got a few golden nuggets. From the VA loan that I didn't know, I didn't know that two service members could basically come together and buy up to six unit, instead of just four for one. And not only that, but one of those six units can actually be a commercial property. So if you find a building that has four units, and the downstairs is basically a commercial, whether it's an office space, or our market, whatever it may be, two veterans can come together and purchase that building together, share the benefits. Outstanding. That's That's incredible. And we just aren't hearing that out there. Right. Right. We hear oh, zero down, you don't have to bring anything in your you know. So that's, that's fascinating. I appreciate you sharing that with us. So in, in your opinion, right. And this is kind of continuing to follow down the same path. But in your opinion. Is there a negative connotation with sellers and listing agents in regards to working with veteran buyers? Absolutely. Absolutely. The number one thing that I hear and you know, and I sell properties, from basically Florida city, homestead and all the way up to Margate, Coral Springs and Lake Worth and everything in between. The number one thing that I hear every time once we start having a conversation with the listing agent, what kind of financing or how's your client purchasing the property? They're doing a VA loan? Oh, so does that mean they don't have any money? Like no, that's not what it means. It means they're there can use their benefits or financing. And a lot of realtors just aren't. They haven't done enough VA loans. And they're like I said, well versed on them. So they're they're a little ignorant to the process. Interesting. So what it sounds like is that the owner and the listing agent are saying, hey, if they're using a VA loan, it's because they don't have any money in the bank. Right, right. And then there are ways to combat that. One of the things that I like to do is share my own personal reviews on them. And as soon as I close a property, I make sure that my client has a great experience throughout the whole process. So I can comfortably say, you know, thank you for the opportunity. The best thing you could do for me right now is just give me an honest review of my service. And, and sure enough, once I leave that review, now I have a track record of like the use of the properties that I have closed, you know, I've closed, I've represented the buyer with a VA loan. And now when I send them out offers, I also attach my reviews and say, Look, I am not just another salesman telling you, I can't my my buyers are extremely well qualified as I have a track record of me being able to close the VA buyers. Outstanding. That's brilliant. So taking, taking those reviews, taking that, that past experience and saying, listen, not only are we you know, here, here are the terms, here's what we're doing. This is what qualifies the buyer. But this is what qualifies me as a buyer's rep. And this is what I understand. And this is how we're able to navigate this. And I've actually had a lot of Listen, agents come back to me and say, Oh, that's so good that you are so experienced in it, because I have zero experience. So I would I like to work with you. So you can teach me the ins and outs, absolutely, I have no problem. Everything you know, and just building that rapport right there is massive. So because a lot of times the listing we can be it'll, it can be between a conventional and a VA loan. And it's not just about the terms, it's also about the representation that you hire. So if I already built a good rapport with the listing agent, that's one of the things that's honestly helping my clients get the offers, except that as I'm building more and more reports, we're listing agents that want to do that with me. So when even if it's between three or four offers, if I even had one recently, where we were we offered slightly above asking, and they had multiple offers way above asking. But because of the way the contract was written the terms, you know what to put in the email and the conversation that I had with the listing agent, both the listing agent and the seller said, you don't have to pay up of asking password we're asking, and the house is yours, they accept their offer. Wow, man, that just goes to show and that's something we talk a lot about is you know, the importance of relationships. And that, I mean, heck, if we're doing any amount of business in the market, you're gonna probably come back to these people, right? So you got to play the long game as well, you got to make sure that when you're going through, like you're building that rapport, you're having that relationship, and you're able to really bring those terms about and show them how you're going to bring value to everybody in the transaction, not just the buyer, not just the seller, but to the to the listing agent or the sellers rep as well. It goes back to what I keep saying, what are the core values of the Coast Guard? Duty, right. So if I already come to you, and I'm 100% transparent about who I am, and how I operate my business, you know, I'm already showing you respect to the sellers respect and and say, Look, I understand the market that we're in, and this is how well qualified I am. And then just not only telling you that I'm going to be dedicated to that transaction, but I'm going to make this as quick as possible, but actually show you a track record. Let's say I'm a veteran listening, right. And I want to know what I should be asking an agent to see how experienced they are with VA buyers. What three questions would? Would I be asking that agent? That's a great question. I actually get this a lot, especially when I have guys that are transferred to other units. And they asked me, Who do you recommend? Do you know a realtor in this area? Who do you recommend? A lot of times I already have we have a pretty strong network of Realtors around the country. But if if I don't know anyone, or they're already speaking with someone, I always sound to ask how experienced Are you? With the VA loan? How many deals have you closed in the last year? For with with the VA? Then can I use the VA loan more than once? And see what they say to that? And if they say if they give you the correct answer, which is yes, you can use them more than once. Oh, really? So what are the formulas are? What can you tell me about that? And that's how you are going to be able to test their knowledge about the VA loan. And you can then say, okay, this person definitely knows what they're talking about. Or maybe I need to maybe I interview a few others? For sure. No, that's absolutely solid advice. And that's, I mean, at the end of the day, you really have to people, I guess don't really realize how important it is to have that professional that that knows what they're talking about that understands the market that and especially this, this segment, and that's why there's literally for those that haven't been through, you know, the military, that's why there's well and even for those of us that have you know, you have those designations to literally teach about this type of buyer because at the end of the day Hey, there's there's a lot of misinformation out there. So those are absolutely absolutely solid questions. So you guys are veterans to gals or veterans at home? Those are your three questions that you really, really should be asking, and bringing that in when you're transferring to your next location, or you're looking to buy where you currently are. Absolutely. So I think we've all heard negative talk right about appraisers, and VA loans being valued less than other types of loans, right? What what is your outlook on this? And what are the things that you're doing to help fight this this ongoing monster elephant in the room stigma? All right. So the this is the most difficult part of the entire transaction right now, especially in the market that we're in, right? Where we are in, completely never seen before market, you and I can speak to 100 different real estate professionals, my broker who's got 30 something years of experience, any professional to speak to they have never seen a market like the one we're in today. Right? So the appraiser, it ultimately is a is an opinion of value. Right? Okay, we can hire three different appraisers and everyone's going to have three different opinions of what the value will be. When I said in the beginning that you have to be an adviser, just because somebody or your client says this is the one I want to put an offer on this, you can just run and start filling in the contract and send it and get it ready to go. You need to do a little bit more due diligence than that, especially in today's market. And you have to look at the recent comps in the area first, and you have to make sure that if your clients are going to offer 1020 30,000. Above that, you have an idea of what that market in that neighborhood is going to be right. So short answer is yes, there is a stigma there is it does tend to happen because it's happening to my listings is happening to my buyers where the properties are appraising lower than where it needs to be right, or where we're under contract for. But the whole reason for that is kind of is to protect the veteran, ultimately, that's what we're taught. But the ways to go around that is there's actually a lot of different ways there's like every single transaction is different. In some transactions, if you're being offered a bonus as a commission, you can say maybe don't pay me the bonus, and you know, bring down the price to the appraisal price, or we can still pay you five or$10,000. Over there, there's different ways to kind of structure a deal. And every single deal is differently, you have to get really, really creative, to make the numbers work and show the seller that look, ultimately, this is going to be a good deal for you. Because if you go back to market, or even if you got, you know, $10,000 more with a conventional or a cash, these are some of the things that that could have gone wrong in that scenario. And you really have to be able to paint a clear picture to everyone in the transaction, both the seller and the buyer. And ultimately, the one thing that you can do is and I don't think a lot of people do is is the rebuttal for okay, because the appraiser says that the property is not or this is the market value of the property. That's not the final word. The the veteran can still and I do it for my clients where there's a rebuttal form, you can add more comps that are not listed on the original appraisal report in the neighborhood. That makes sense. And then the veteran can write a letter saying, VA Department of VA, I believe the price of this home should be this much based on the data that I am submitting, right. And believe it or not, it's about a 5050 chance from what I've seen, but I've seen prices go up once you actually go through that process. Interesting. So let's say I'm a veteran listening right now, I'm going through some of those situations. What if I'm talking to my agent? What types of thing? Is there a specific term I should use? Is there a specific How would I tell my, my agent that I'm working with like, hey, we need to like is it just a request form? Or how like, how should I it's called it's called a rebuttal form a VA rebuttal form? And yeah, that's exactly a grid of you know, the subject property and then three additional comparables that you Want the Department of VA to look at and it actually goes to appraisers at the Department of VA, that will review it. And I want to say like for our area down here in South Florida, it goes to clear water St. Pete area, that's where the, that's where it goes. But again, it's the veteran that has to submit that paperwork, we can do it, the lender can do it. But we can help out the veteran, you know, do the letter and submit the comps. Outstanding. Okay. So that's, that's an incredible tool. And that's incredible. And that might be something as well, you know, when we're talking on the front end with the, you know, the list agent or the seller's rep, that we actually have that additional tool, whereas in some of the other cases, where the other loans that actually isn't, you know, readily available, so that could be a really cool tactic to, to also help with the with the listing agent. Absolutely. I had, like, the last one that I actually saw, I had one recently that didn't work out, it did not change the value. But in November, I actually had two properties that we went through the whole process. And one of them, they brought up the value by $8,000, there was about 25,000, and a$20,000 gap for these two particular scenarios. And one of them, they brought up the value 8000. The other one, they brought up the value like 12 13,000. So now, that's a much less gap that we have to fill, right? $7,000 gap, okay, can the lender pitch in where you know, we all kind of work together can the buyer pitch in additional wanted to, and you see that gap starts to get smaller and smaller and smaller, where the seller is like, it's happy at the end, and then everybody's like, Hey, that was not as bad as I thought it was gonna be Outstanding. And it's it sounds like this, this special theme here is that being proactive rather than reactive, understanding what could happen. And if you don't have that knowledge, if you don't have that experience, find somebody in your market that does have that if you're an agent, right to partner up with and learn from. But then if you're a buyer to make sure that you're really doing your homework to, to ensure that you're with somebody that knows these tactics, and knows how to navigate because that that could have killed the deal. But you all were able to work it out and then find, you know, find what the real gap is and say, Okay, well, let's, let's mitigate this and figure out how to make it all come together. Absolutely. It's a stressful, stressful time, especially because it's literally the last hurdle before you get to the closing table. But if you set that expectation, from the very beginning, saying, look, there's a high probability that I can get you on the contract at these prices, just know, the property is probably going to appraise down here. But if you trust me, this is how I combat this scenario. And it's going to be stressful, it's going to be more paperwork, you I set that expectation to from the beginning, and the buyers say, Okay, I got you, let's go for it. You know, for sure, once once that happens is no surprise to anyone we knew what we knew to do, we got the CMA report, and the comps ready to go, you know, we're ready. Outstanding. So, again, the theme then is being proactive rather than reactive. So just to kind of dive into that a little bit, before we leave appraisals here. So on a VA appraisal, right, I've heard that they would come back, right, we've all we've all had this before. But for those that maybe haven't experienced this before, right, where an appraisal comes back and says these particular items need to be corrected. Right? For all sign off, and maybe it was a light cover, right, light switch cover missing? Or could you walk us through like, what what is that? And what is the best ways to combat that? Being that, again, a lot of the information that's coming over listing agents are hearing it third, you know, second, third hand and they're like, Well, what if this happens, and how do you mitigate that type of thing? That luckily, I haven't had that happen too many times. But the times that I have had it happen, it's just an honest conversation. That's it. Hey, guys, look, I'm sorry, in order to be able to close, the VA is requiring us to do these repairs. You know, facia is the number one thing that I see that there's a little bit of wood rot on the face or on the roof. You know, get somebody to do it. But the way I do it is I say do you have anyone in mind that can help take care of these issues? If you don't, I have somebody that I can recommend for you. You know, try to make it as smooth as possible for everyone. Don't just say oh, here's the problem. Go figure it out. Let me know when it's done. Right. So hey, look, we got to take care of these issues. I can recommend these people Before you unless you already have somebody all you do perfect, let me know if you need anything else. Outstanding, so you help bridge the information gap, and you give them a path to success. I know we've even like when it's been simple, small stuff we've gone in and been like, okay, let's just, you know, we'll we'll get it taken care of, I'm gonna bring my handyman and let's we'll get that closed out. Don't worry, it's a couple 100 bucks. Like, let's, let's just keep this thing moving. Have you guys done that as well? Absolutely. Absolutely. Maybe about twice now. Like I said, that doesn't really happen too often down here. For me, at least. Very true. Very true. I think it's the the monster under the bed that everyone's like, Oh, no, another, you know, putting up another barrier, right? A lot of like to try to put barriers in the way of us and success. Right? So they're, they're kind of doing the same thing in a transaction. Oh, this is why it's not going to work? Well, it's not going to work without giving it an actual chance to experience it and let it work. Yeah, I have had a few listing agents come back and tell me like, oh, but you know, the VA is not, it's not too different from the FHA, where they're gonna want us to do repairs. And they want us to do these things. I'm like, Look, I honestly haven't had, like, you know, that your listing, I know, your listing, I've already been to it. I didn't see anything that's gonna stick out. And again, here's my track record of how experienced I am with it. Outstanding. So moving forward, because that was that was an absolute awesome, deep dive into onto the appraisal side. But let's say all right, so switching back to an agent, I'm an agent listening right now. What are three things that I could put into practice today? To better assist veteran buyers? What could what could I do to make sure that I'm helping them better? Learn, learn, learn. And you got your you're an expert, you have to there, everyone's going to come at you with questions, fears, especially the number one fear right now, are we in a market bubble? What you know, I feel like everything looks the same as 2008. And the way that I combat that is tell me why you feel that way. All because look, as these prices, they're basically the same as if they weren't 2007 2008. I'm like, Okay, let's start. Let's break that down. Let's unpack that a little bit more. Are we? What caused that that global financial crisis? I think it was a lot of bad loans, right? Absolutely. That's it. So we had ninja loans, no income, no job loans, right? If you can fog a mirror, you got a loan that nobody was verifying any information. And they were just handing out loans like crazy. And then all these adjustable rate mortgages were basically due at the same time. We're not seeing that right now. What we're seeing right now is some of the most well qualified buyers we've probably ever had in history. Because after that market crash, there was federal regulations that were put in place to prevent that from happening again. After Corona happened and epidemic shut down. And banks started tightening their lending. They ended up raising minimum credit scores, I think Chase raised it up to 700 for mortgages, and no one lending to anyone that wasn't able to put less than 20% down. So banks actually got tighter and stricter. And the people that are still buying are some of the strongest buyers that you've ever seen. So no, we're not I'm not seeing the bubble face is honestly cheap money, you're able to get really low interest rates, which would let the home prices increase in value. Right. And, and then, of course, it's supply and demand, we had extremely high demand, people that were looking to relocate now you were able to work from home. And demand is, was an is still at an all time low. Bottom line. We think South Florida is looking at 600 People relocating here per day, according to census data, we are the number one place that people are migrating to four months in a row. And inventories 25% less than we were last year. So if you're able to answer questions, if you are able to provide data and kind of put people's fears at ease, that is some of the best value that you can bring as an agent Learn, learn learn every single day. Outstanding man right, once you stop learning, you stop earning Right. Absolutely. Yeah, that that absolutely hits home. 120% Because, you know, we we never know. And I love that they're telling me more. Right? So a lot of times us as agents, you know, we're problem solvers. Right? We want to jump right in and say like, you got a problem. I know how to solve it. I've jumped at it, right? Yeah. All right. Pull it back a little bit. Let's see. You know where that's coming from. Let's see why they feel that way? Let's see is it you know, Grandma grandpa's at mom and dad, like, who's? Who's in their ear? Who's talking to them? Are they watching CNN, Fox News every day? Every second? Yeah. What's what's happening to bring about that mindset? And that's an incredible question that you asked, it's super important. Absolutely, yeah, you you need to understand where their mindset is at, to be able to assist them properly, you know, you have to know what their fears are, you have to know what their concerns are. So you can address them, as you start to look at properties. You know, if you if you this is, these are your concerns, once you start showing properties, or whether you're representing the seller and you win sellers a different story, but mostly with buyers, you have to another thing that I also do is once I start showing your properties, I also tell you, this is your exit strategy. You know, based on what's happening in the neighborhood, this is where I believe the values are going to keep increasing in this area. And but I don't think you're going to be able to make that much money by the time you go to transfer out. However, if you keep the property, which is what I always recommend, this is how much you can rent that out for you know, I'm probably the worst Realtor in South Florida because I always tell my buyers don't sell it just keep your property and rent it out. No, bro, you and I are cut from the same same cloth. That's what I'm always telling them like, guys. Build your net worth, right? Yeah, I was one of my mentors, my best mentors when I was in the Coast Guard at DC one and he's like, every single is old, crusty salty guys, like every single station I went to I bought a house. He's like, I thought through my career, he was you could tell in his in his coffee mug, you know that? Yeah, it was not coming clean. But when he retired, he has, you know, he has an incredible portfolio that is going to pay him on top of his military salary as well as retirement. So Absolutely. That's exactly. It's funny, I had the same exact mentor. It was another empty one that I that I looked up to. And I just saw him recently. And it came around full full circle, because he planted that seed that like look at every duty station, you go to you buy a house and you buy closest station, so you can rent that out to Coasties. Everyone's always going to be looking for a home close to their station. And I was like, Man, what a great idea. So literally, I started just copying and pasting the same process. Well, I became a realtor or, you know, part of that seed that he planted. And he had a property here in Miami. And last year, you know, retired after X amount of years, he still had my number and he called me he's like, Hey, I heard you're a realtor in Miami, would you like to list my house? You know, I'm having an issue with the tenant. And I think it's time that I let go of that property. So it just came around full circle that 10 years ago, like it came back to help them out. I love it, man. And that's that's what it's all about. Right? Is that education and helping? And that's that's what we've been talking about this whole episode, right guys? And is that you want to make sure that a you're working with someone that has that knowledge that has that experience. But then for the agents that are listening, right, it's important that we continue to educate ourselves, it's important that we understand, not just like, Okay, I need to sell this, it's no, they're these are people these are we're we're impacting their lives, we're, we're becoming part of their timeline, and they're looking to us, if you're going to call yourself a professional on your business card, like, you got to show up, you got to give them that information. So, you know, yeah, granted, that strategy may not work for everybody, but we've got to at least help them to understand why it's an important strategy, why it could help them and what that all looks like. So I think that's brilliant that you're doing that that's incredible. Absolutely, I think, look, at the end of the day, you have to put service above your own personal needs. Bottom line, if you want your business to take off, look out for the best interest in people. And that in itself is going to pay pay, your return on investment is going to be infinite. Because every almost every single house that I go to every listing appointment that I go to the very first thing that I tell them is, look, these are what the comps in the area look like. But just so you know, this is what the rentals look like, and they tell me what your mortgage payment is. Okay, this is how much you can rent that out for and this is what you can expect to cash flow after you put money away for expenses and maintenance and you know, all that. And believe it or not, there's actually a few people that that listen to my advice and they say, you know, I think you're right, I'd rather have somebody pay down my loan for me build my net worth every single month. And, you know, people that I've been helping with rentals for the last two years. Now they're getting ready to sell their property. Eddie and Dave are making $200,000 More just by keeping it that extra two years longer, you know? Yep. So Outstanding. It's all about that strategy. Exactly. I think I've heard it explained as asymmetrical risk, right. I like it. Asymmetrical risk, always have a exit strategy and always have multiple exit wins. Absolutely. So you obviously have been having an enormous amount of success within real estate. What would you say some of the main things are that contribute to that success that you've been having? Can you see the pictures back here? No, we can't. We can't see that. Okay, here we go. Yep, yeah. The young lady right there. My wife. Yeah, yes, she is, she is my confidant on my advisor of my everything. So yes, I'm always, like I said, I'm always down to learn, learn, learn. But it's because of her support, because she gives me that, that freedom, that support to just be able to just focus on what I have to do, she's so understanding that I am providing such a service and a need for our people right now. That, you know, I'm active duty, um, I have a full time career. And now it's like, I have another full time career, which means my family life is almost non existent right now. Right. And she is a saint, just taking care of, you know, all the the other aspects of life and and then she still finds ways to keep me involved and make sure that I show up to my son's, you know, karate and everything else. So, again, you it's learning, and also just making sure you you have the things in life to kind of help you build that foundation and those in those blocks. Outstanding. So like having a strong why and having those surrounding yourself with those that are supporting the mission. Everyone's rowing in the right direction, everybody. Exactly. And everybody's on that same cadence. Absolutely. Absolutely. Outstanding. Outstanding, man. I'm so glad to see. And this is not just not just from like, the currency standpoint, because I think that's awesome. When I saw our sorry, you pop up in the area, and I started your currency and you're kicking butt taking names. I'm like, buddy, that's what we do. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, it's definitely a, it's, of course, people will see the success that we'd like to share on social media, but they don't necessarily understand the grind. And the time that we put in and everyone sees, like, oh, Mike is doing great, but they're, they're not also seeing the sacrifice that, you know, that I'm making, being away from my kids and, and my wife and how much she's helping out and all the work that she's putting in, you know, exactly the I think it's the, for lack of better words that suffer in private for the public celebrated success. That's great. Yeah, they don't see the they don't see the work behind what what the end product is, but that's what it's all about, man, you're focusing it sounds like, you know, you're focusing in it, it shows you're focused on the right stuff, you're building that, you know, you're leading with value, you're over delivering, you're, you're putting your client's needs first and the rest comes full circle. So, you have, right you have a lot on your plate, being like you just said active duty, you know, and then also being a badass realtor being you know, badass dad and a husband, like helping, you know, what are some of the things for agents listening, right, that are maybe feeling overwhelmed in this market, maybe feeling that burnout, right? What are some things that you do to help start your day to ensure that you're absolutely killing it every day, and that you're in that you know, that peak state where you're able to give all of you to everybody? This year, I kind of changed that up a little bit more. I I wish I could be working out more. That's a combination of having a little less time and, you know, our recent kind of medical condition. So I kind of had to scale that back. But I am just exercising this muscle, listening to books. I don't even have time to read some just I always have just something playing in the background that it helps in my either my EQ or my IQ, right? My emotional intelligence or in jest, or my business intelligence. I'm just all He's just trying to feed the mind. And then, and that's what I tried to. I literally go to sleep, listening to a book or listen to a podcast. And I wake up listening to the same. And now that just gets me motivated and like, Okay, time I hit it hard. And then, you know, calling clients and banks and title companies and everything else. Outstanding. So you create that anchor for yourself in the morning, you have that time or in the evening, you take that time for yourself that personal time to kind of recharge, so that you can put essentially put on your oxygen mask first. So then you can go out and help everybody else that you do every day. Absolutely, absolutely. Outstanding. So, I know we're coming about to the end of this here and just wanted to again, really, thank you for taking the time out of your crazy schedule. I just got a couple more questions. If you have a few more minutes. Yeah, yeah, let's go. All right, man. So what is help us understand what is the rest of 2020 to look like for you? You know, do you have any projects or anything specifically that you're focusing on? It's, it's really hard for me to, to project so far out. So I kind of like focus on them now. And, and I do have some future plans. But for right now, I kind of have to work around the Coast Guard and how they need me, if I have to take care of a heavy maintenance team, I have to change shifts, which next week, I'm already going to be on a different shift, if you know if I need to go to training or anything like that. So I do have to make that my priority and work around that and continue to lead by example and show that dedication. And then from there is, you know, I got present Chairman circle. Nice 2021. So I like to repeat that again for 2022. And I'm I'm already on the right track. And then just keep building the real estate portfolio. As as I have been outstanding, then. So bouncing off of that. And I know it's it's tough sometimes when we're in the trenches to see the bigger Battlefield, right. But what would you say? Like looking at your five year plan? What What would that look like for for you? Five Year Plan, I think 2026 is when I'm eligible to retire from the Coast Guard. So I want to give it a solid, you know, 20 years. Again, I'm extremely grateful for, for the service and everything that I have learned from and I continue to learn every single day. Because now I say shift supervisor or primary QA. Now, it's all about learning to lead people. So I kind of like to follow in your guys's footsteps and possibly create a team, real estate team, you know, Valencia real estate team or whatever, in the future. I think Tao would be amazing if I could if I could do that. But again, how to continue to focus on building my knowledge, building myself and becoming the best leader that I can be. So I'm able to motivate others and have other people that will also want to work with me. Outstanding man, it sounds like you're absolutely doing that right now. And you've set that foundation, you continue to set that foundation and grow that every single day, which is what it's all about, man. Right? You got to be a little better today than you were yesterday and a little better tomorrow than we weren't today. Right? The small wins to lead to the larger, larger growth. Absolutely. That's incredible. Well, definitely looking forward to continuing to follow that progress, man, because that's, that's that's what it's all about. You know, I think John Maxwell, in the 21 Laws of Leadership had said, most of us think we're leaders, but the true test of testament of it is is to go for a walk, right. And if you've got followers, then you're a leader. But if you don't have anyone following, we're just going out for a walk, right? Yeah, I love that. Absolutely. And how we do that is just like you're doing man, you lead with value and you're doing the right stuff. And absolutely, it's it's incredible. So keep doing what you're doing, man. I love it. Absolutely. Absolutely love it. So, thank you. So is there anyone that you'd like to give a shout out for today while you're in the show, man? Ah, man, I think that the one person that a kid doesn't have any reviews, the one person that doesn't have enough credit on social media that one person doesn't get as much love as she showed my wife. Hi, brother. Hi Ken. I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her support her guidance and her advice every single day. Outstanding that we're the same age. And the same exact way. I was like, she's she's a rock, you know? And it's like they they push us to be the best version of us, right? Yeah. Yeah. Or BS, like, that's BS. Now you can do better like, yeah, get out of here. Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's what it's all about you have that, that support and just taking care of all the other little noises that just allow me to focus on, on what I need to focus on. It's, it's an amazing support to have the unified nation don't. Yeah, exactly. And I don't take it for granted at all, you know, Outstanding. So, to wrap this up here, man, so let's say, I'm an agent, right? I've been listening and like, wow, this is really great. I love everything Michael has been talking about, you know, I want to work with more VA buyers, but I just I don't know where to get started, I don't know who to talk to, I don't have that information, or person that conflict on if you will, to provide the best service for veteran buyers. What's the best way for me to get a hold of you? You guys can follow me on Instagram at Mike, the real estate guy, I have a pretty good following on there. You can all my personal information is listed on their cell phone, email, I am always here to help anyone out. It's one of the things that my wife kind of bugs me for no matter the time of the day, I answered the call. And I talked to people. So if you need any guidance, feel free to just, you know, get all my info from there. Awesome. And what we'll do, as well as in the show notes we're going to provide, we'll put all of your contact information in there as well. So anybody that's watching that has questions about, you know, VA buyers, if you're a veteran, and you have questions about what you should be looking for, again, if you want to have a further conversation, or if you're moving to the area, and you want to work with Michael, you know, we'll make sure that all that information is in the comments, because you've been you've been absolutely generous with your time you've really brought an incredible amount of value. You know, I wouldn't expect anything less fishes. Absolutely, absolutely has been a wonderful time to spend with you. And I know you've got a lot of different things going on, you've got a lot of fires in the background. It's like we were talking about. So I really appreciate you taking 50 minutes outside of your your schedule to chat with us. I meant that I am extremely humbled by this opportunity. And I hope we can do it again in the future and catch up at the end of 2022 and see how the rest of the year wet. Oh, yeah, man. So as I mentioned, guys, I have a lot of respect for Michael and what he's doing. He's serving his country, he's taking a stand to ensure veterans receive unparalleled service here in the south Florida market all while growing his net worth and helping other Coasties do the same as well. So absolutely, super, super honored to have had you on our show. And to call you a fellow Coastie as well, or as some like to affectionately call us puddle pirates. It is it's wonderful to see everything that you're doing the large impact you're making in people's lives every single day. That's what it's all about. Right? And this is not my quote, but one of the ones that stays on the tip of my tongue, a rising tide lifts all ships. Right. So every single episode, what we're looking to do is we're looking to bring you the tactics behind the strategy, cut through all the BS, right? And bring you the people who are getting it done that those tactics so you can continue to level up in your life and in your business every single day. So if you like the podcast, please give us a comment, share it with your friends, follow the Facebook page, IG page, we should be streaming now on all major platforms. All of our contact information is in the show description below. As well as Michael's information. So again, if you want to get in contact if you want to have more conversations, please please just go down to the description. We'll have it there. And lastly, a little plug for my team. If you are in the real estate biz, and you're looking to change your life and you want to level up both your life and in your business. shoot us a message on IG our team currently serves all the state of Florida and even more specifically Miami to the keys and we would love to have a conversation with you. So until next time, this is Lucas Rowell signing out wishing you everlasting success in your life and in your real estate business. Thanks again guys. Take care everyone