Michael Palacios | Title insurance- Scam or lifesaver? Persistence & Hard Work, Sobriety + more

In this episode of the Let's Talk Assets podcast, co-hosts Chris A. Williams and Giovanni Paradise welcome Michael Palacios, @mike_notorious on Instagram, Owner of Fortis Title and Escrow @fortistitleescrow They explore Michael's career journey, including his time in Hawaii and his decision to quit drinking. Michael shares insights into the title and escrow industry, explaining the role of title companies, the importance of title insurance, and the intricacies of handling property transactions. He emphasizes the value of time, attention, and accountability in both personal growth and business success. Michael also offers his contact information, inviting listeners to reach out for real estate assistance. The episode underscores Michael's commitment to the community and the real estate sector. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00:28) - Let's Talk Assets podcast. I'm on your host, Chris Williams. I'm joined by my co-host Giovanni Paradise.

Speaker 2 (00:00:34) - Today we have a very special guest for you, our first guest on the Let's Talk Assets podcast. No other than Mr. Michael Palacios, owner of Fortis. Title in escrow. Welcome, Mike.

Speaker 3 (00:00:46) - Thanks for having me, guys.

Speaker 2 (00:00:47) - Yes, sir. Super excited to have our first guest. Hey, Chris. How do you know this guy?

Speaker 1 (00:00:51) - Man, I got a funny story about Mike. So literally the very first time I saw Mike was, one of our business partners. He was having a little party, a little shindig at his house, and, I was there with my partner. My girl, of course. And she just kept on nudging me. She was like, do you see that girl over there? She was like, do you see her back? And I was like, no, like, okay, what about the back? She said, that's a go yard back.

Speaker 1 (00:01:13) - I'm like, okay, like, what is it like, what's the go yard ballet? What's good about that? She's like, it's a go yard bad. You have to look it up. She showed me the price of a go yard bag. So I'm like, okay, she's here with this guy. So whoever her husband is, he must be balling. So. So I asked around and it ended up being Mike. So that's my funny story about Mike and how my very first time meeting him. Little do they.

Speaker 3 (00:01:36) - Know that my wife makes more than I do. she's a baller. Yeah, she she's got her own company. She, she she does very well at. She's been doing that for a while now, but she, I did make the the mistake. It was probably about five years ago, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. We went to New York for the first time for Christmas with, some other couples, and everybody had nice bags, and they were like, man, they're like, we got to hit Louis Vuitton.

Speaker 3 (00:02:03) - I'm like, we got to hit what, like Louis Vuitton? We're going to get this. We're going to get that. And I'm like, yeah, I'm just racking up the numbers in my head. And like, we go there and and we pick we you know she, she grabbed a couple and and they had one. It was the same one that everybody has I feel like which is like the I think it's called the key ball or something. Never full, never full. That's what it is. And I thought it was so cool because one, it was the cheapest one they had and two, because it came with a little person there. So I was like, dang, two for the price of one. I was like, sign me up, right? And. You know, up until then she had worn, like, Michael Kors bags, and I totally messed it up by getting that bag for her for Christmas that year. Because ever since then it has been a downward spiral of, of bags.

Speaker 3 (00:02:49) - And now there's, like, more bags than shoes in the closet. And like I said, I'm very grateful that she has a very well-paying company.

Speaker 1 (00:02:57) - Oh, he's never looked back. That's funny. Now, Gio, how do you know Mike?

Speaker 2 (00:03:01) - Man, it goes back to my days. My baby days as an agent. I was on the Ryan Finch real estate team, and we used to have team meetings and all of our vendors. The people that we did business with would come in, and, Mike at the time was working for a company, and he brought us all nice catered breakfast and, you know, kind of gave us his pitch on why we should use him to close all of our real estate transactions. And, he was my go to guy as I started ramping up. And it always gave me a high level of service. And, yeah, that's probably about 7 or 8 years ago I met Mike, and, it's been awesome. Okay. Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (00:03:37) - That's what's up.

Speaker 1 (00:03:37) - So we've kind of detailed about how we know you might, but the audience doesn't know you. So, Mike, tell us about yourself. Like your background. You know, where you came from. How did you get to this point? As you mentioned, you know, owner, director of operations before this title. But how did you get there?

Speaker 3 (00:03:52) - All right. So, Where to start, man. you know, I kind of fell into this business by accident. I was, I was I had a company that was that would buy gold, platinum and silver. And, we started here in Greenbriar Mall in Chesapeake. It was actually our first location, and I was the first employee. I worked at the kiosk, and I went from there to opening, helping open 380 stores in 38 different countries. and so my, my role was to do sales and, and build the business and then let them go from there and train them on how to do it. and so I started in Virginia and I did all the Virginia stores, and then I worked my way west.

Speaker 3 (00:04:40) - I opened in California, all across the United States. And then, my partners were like, hey, we need you to come. They were from Australia. They were like, we need you to come to Australia and New Zealand and open out here. And I said, okay, let's see, you know, I was 20 something years old. It's a great experience for me to travel the world. And and they, you know, it was a company expense and I was making good money and got to see, I mean, all of Australia, all of New Zealand and and so after staying there for about a year, that they were like, all right, we've got another opportunity for you there. Like, so we want to open in Hawaii or we want to open in, in Japan. And they were like, where do you want to go? And I was like, well, I don't speak Japanese. And I knew a few people in Hawaii and I love to surf. So I was like, let's go to Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (00:05:32) - And so I went to Hawaii and I was there for, just about, I believe, three years, three and a half years. And, I had five stores there throughout all the islands. Then I had one in Guam. we were the number one store in all of the the whole company, which was 380 stores. We had the, the highest grossing stores, at and you know, I, I came back in 13 and can you, can.

Speaker 2 (00:06:01) - I rewind you a little bit there. So you're in you're in Hawaii, you're working with this company obviously grown with them. Yeah. You guys have grown together. And Hawaii obviously a beautiful place to live. What was your mindset? I mean, you said you're, what, late 20s at this time?

Speaker 3 (00:06:15) - yeah, I was yeah. Yeah, I just turned I turned dirty 30 in in Hawaii. We celebrated my 30th in Hawaii. Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:06:21) - Beautiful. And so what was your mindset with this company? Obviously you're making good money. You're living a good lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (00:06:27) - You're in a beautiful place. What was your mindset about what your future was at that point?

Speaker 3 (00:06:32) - You know, I didn't really know, because, like, it was it was very fast paced. We, you know, we knew it was a bubble business. We knew that it wasn't going to be a long term business because there were so many people that were getting into it. And the way that the gold had had risen in price, it started at $600, $600 an ounce. When we started to, it got close to 2000 when I was in it. And so we got to ride the, the, the high of that and it was awesome. And it me being so young and not really knowing what, you know, a real bubble business was, I just thought that this was something that was going to go on for forever. And then when I realized that there was I think there was last time I checked, there was, I think it was 38 or 40 something stores buying gold within a five mile radius of of my stores.

Speaker 3 (00:07:21) - I mean, that we had saturated the market. So it was, you know, it was time for me to to kind of pack up, my stuff and, and come back here. the business continued to go. I came back here because, like I said, it was a very fast paced business. And with fast pace comes partying and and all of the the glitz and glam of of being a single guy in his late 20s, making a lot of money and, and you know, I had the, the high rise condo, two streets off from the beach with security. I mean, I had a movie theater, had pool, hot tub, tennis courts, putting green, I mean, security, everything. It was sick and, and I was living in Hawaii. I mean, it was like, no bad days there. Yeah, it was great. And, like, there, you know, I was very fortunate to have lived in Hawaii and and it all paid for by the company, you know, and, still make a bunch of money on top of it.

Speaker 3 (00:08:19) - so.

Speaker 2 (00:08:19) - 2013, so, like, walk us back. you kind of gave us that whole experience, right? You're living in Hawaii. Obviously. Lifestyle is a lot different from from being, raised here in Virginia Beach where you were born and raised here, right? Yeah, Virginia Beach, Virginia. And so obviously, you know, you got year round, you're around action, sunshine, tourism, everything. So you pick up, you move back home. What was the plan when you're on that you're on that flight right. It's not a not a short flight. Sure I bet a lot of hours. Yeah ten hours a lot probably goes through your mind. Did you have a plan? And when you're on that plane.

Speaker 3 (00:08:54) - Now, now I, I, I didn't, you know, I was actually coming home to, to visit for Christmas and the plan was to go back and then it just didn't end up working out that way. I was basically asked not to come back. and that was due to, you know, the fast paced life that was.

Speaker 3 (00:09:17) - I was partying a lot. I was I was drinking a lot. I was spending a lot. I was actually spending more than I was making. And, so I didn't have a plan. And, and so, you know, the first move was like, where am I going to live? What am I going to do? And so, you know, at 30, you know, whatever, 30 something years old, I was like, oh, I guess I'm that game with mom. And, you know, I had a, I've got a younger sister. She's 26. Sum 42. So it's that 16 year difference there. So you know, I had a very young sister that was living at the house. And, you know, I was living there and just I didn't know what I was going to do. so I started working. There was a bar that I would go to here. It was called garrisons over at, Great Neck next to Central Avenue. Yeah. And, and so I would go there all the time to, to pregame, and then I would go to, to central and venue, to finish the night.

Speaker 3 (00:10:18) - And there was a guy I'd met at, at Garrison's his name was Mike Jones, and he owned a shipping company, and he was like, hey, do you want to come do sales for me at the shipping company? And I said, sure. and so I did that for, for quite a few years, probably like five years. I got back into the family business. My dad started, zero subs with, with his two cousins, in 1967 and, franchised that business. So he was opening a new location on 17th Street, with this guy Mark. And so I jumped in and help Mark and and trained him because that's kind of what I really did growing up and throughout, you know, my first early years of college before I left was, helping out with zeros and, and training new franchisees and, and helping people get set up. I've always been in kind of like a. Build phase of some sort, whether it's training or doing sales or just building. you know, now that I look at it, relationships, that's what it's really been.

Speaker 3 (00:11:24) - And, and since day one, and, you know, I, you know, to go back to what you were saying. No, I didn't have a plan. I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants. And I even played, in my late 30s, a couple nights a week at, Zoe's restaurants. I would I would work at the shipping source, I would work at Zero's, and then I would leave from there, and I would go. I would go to Zoe's.

Speaker 2 (00:11:45) - So you're on the grind.

Speaker 3 (00:11:46) - Hustling. I just needed to fill my time as best as I could, you know, coming back because I wasn't. If I had free time, I was up to no good. Right. And so that's that's what I wanted to start. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:11:59) - I kind of wanted to touch on that. And this was, you know, set up by our producers. You know, we didn't plan this, but there was a bottle of very expensive liquor next to you.

Speaker 2 (00:12:08) - Yeah, but, I've known you for a long time. And those that already know, you might know that you don't drink. Right. how long has it been?

Speaker 3 (00:12:14) - So it's been ten years. Ten years? Yeah. This is this is pretty funny because, you know, all these fancy bottles and you guys, you know, when you come to closing, like you always have, like, the great bottles of tequila or the champagne or whatever it is, and, like, this stuff came out, I think, after I quit. So like the, the, the IPA beers and all these, you know, crazy beers and, and the cool tequilas and the whiskeys and stuff like, that wasn't a cool thing when, when I was partying, like, it was just like you would drink Jagermeister or like, I think when I was living in Hawaii, I was drinking Johnnie Blue. Johnnie. Yeah, yeah. So I would, I would drink that. And it was like it was the worst.

Speaker 3 (00:12:51) - I mean, it was great, but it was the worst.

Speaker 1 (00:12:53) - I bet you all saved a lot of money, though.

Speaker 3 (00:12:54) - Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I actually have this app. It's pretty funny. If I pull it up, it'll tell me how much I've saved. And I think last time I checked, it was like in ten years, it was like $275,000, I'd say. Yeah, I mean, and.

Speaker 1 (00:13:06) - I'm not drinking.

Speaker 3 (00:13:07) - Yeah. And I just went, I went super modest too on like my thing. It was like, how many nights a week do you drink? And I think I put like 3 or 4 on there. And it was like, what did you spend a night? And I said, 100 bucks. Yeah. We all know that there's no way you're going out and spending less than $100 at the bar. So like I was, you know, I it's probably two and a half times that. Maybe three times that. Yeah. But like, you find other ways to, to spend the money and.

Speaker 3 (00:13:36) - You get new hobbies. you know, mine for me was I when I left the old business, I. Had a lot of like credit card debt because I was used to living a certain lifestyle. And when I came back to reality and I tried to keep up with that lifestyle, my my paychecks weren't covering the amount that was going out. So I got into quite a bit of debt. I think it was like, you know, 20. I think it was like $24,000. and so when I got sober, my sole mission was to pay that credit card off, and I wanted to pay it off, like really quickly. So I worked all day, and then I would go valet at night, and I would, I would eat, if I was working at zeros, I would take like 2 or 3 subs home with me and eat that for lunch. I would eat it for dinner. And so like, I never spent any money. And then in my free time I would go to the gym or, I play video games or something like that, you know, like Call of Duty NBA whatever.

Speaker 2 (00:14:34) - And well, to say ten years is a long time. Mike. Yeah, yeah. It takes a it takes a lot of discipline, a lot of determination. And you know, to not touch alcohol. Period. After, you know, growing up and drinking and then being a part of the culture and stuff like that. And you know what? You have to have a strong Y. Yeah. In order to what was your why were you able to to put that down and put that aside. What was your why.

Speaker 3 (00:14:59) - So the, the guy that that I started the, the gold bars with his name was Tim Oldfield. He is from Australia. He started a company called Cash and Cash Converters. He brought those to the United States and they were like our first really big pawnshops in the area, I believe. Yeah. And there was one at hilltop, you know.

Speaker 1 (00:15:17) - All this?

Speaker 3 (00:15:17) - Yeah, yeah. Next, next to the Taco Bell. Right. And the Wendy's and, and so he was like one of the smartest dudes I had ever met.

Speaker 3 (00:15:24) - And he was way before his time and and. After he asked me not to come back to Hawaii and and work for the company anymore, he he had said to me he was like, man, he was like, you're so good at what you do. He was like, but. And there was always this. But like, you're not living your true potential because of x, Y or Z. And so like. It didn't click until, you know, one day when I was like, I just can't do this anymore, right? And and, I had woken up on the floor of some stranger's house and I was super hungover. It was my sister's, 16th birthday, I believe, which is also December 24th. So Christmas Eve. Yeah. So I came home after this like, crazy bender, I felt terrible. and mind you, home was my mom's house. And so I've got all my family there. You know, her birthday, it's all about her. And I come in, and I just look like crap, and, And, you know, I just saw how upset they were again.

Speaker 3 (00:16:32) - And I was just like, you know what? I just. I can't do this anymore. Right? And so I promised myself that day that. I would never do that again. I just couldn't do it to my family anymore. And I need to make up for all the time that that I had just partied everything away, right? Because I had a ton of opportunity. I could have been in a much better place. I could have done so many other things, but all I thought about was partying and I never thought about the future. I never thought about the next step. It was just today, right? And like, where can I go tonight? Who can I meet? What can I do, what, who can we party with? And there were lots of great times. But like. They weren't really good times. You know, the good times are now. The real times are now. The experiences in life lessons that I'm going through now are so much better than what I was doing back then.

Speaker 3 (00:17:22) - and you know, it. It's my why is. You know, I want to have the best family, which I do, and I want to be able to give them everything that that they deserve. And like I also want to show my my children that you you get rewarded with hard work. Right? And I don't ever want to see them, to see me laid up in a bed, hung over, not doing anything because daddy had too much last night or because of this and that. And like, I'm proud to say that like, my kids are ten and two and they've never seen me drunk, they've never seen me drink and they never will, God willing, you know? So like my, my thing is, is like, I just keep it simple and, and I just my dad used to tell me this one thing as a kid, he'd always be like spike Lee, spike Lee. And I'm like, what's that? He's like, do the right thing. And so, like, I tell my kids that, yeah, right.

Speaker 3 (00:18:20) - And that's all I want to do is do the right thing, right? Absolutely. And that that motto works for me in, in all aspects of life. It is in business. It's in, you know, my personal life, it's in my family life. Everything. Just do the right thing, and and good things will happen. the the long term plan, you know, is is starting to starting to work now that that we've, we've opened, 40s and, and we've got that going. you know, can you tell us.

Speaker 2 (00:18:49) - A little bit about that, Mike? I mean, I know you left us off. You were you were working, you know, you had three jobs. Yeah. You know, kind of grinding nonstop, for this title. And escrow wasn't your first stop, right? In the in the title and escrow business, correct? Yeah, yeah. And so can you walk us through a little bit of your journey of what led you to to where you are now to becoming an entrepreneur?

Speaker 3 (00:19:11) - Sure.

Speaker 3 (00:19:11) - Yeah. So, you know, I was I had been valet and I'd been working at these places, and, a buddy of mine was in the title and escrow business, and he was like, you know, you really got to do this. I was like, no, I don't want to do this, man. This isn't this isn't anything I'm interested in. He was like, nah, you got to. He's like, you'd be really good at it. And I'm like, I don't want to do it. And then like. After some thought and consideration, I was like, you know what? I'll do it. And, I sat down with the president of the company and we spoke about, you know, how much money I could make potentially. And I was like, he said, you know, if you go really hard, you can make this. And I'm like, dang, that's a lot of money. That's more than I was making in the gold business. Right.

Speaker 3 (00:19:53) - And, and so I just went hard, man. I just, I reach out to every single person I knew that was in the industry. And I kept reaching out to them, even when they told me no today, I would call them tomorrow and be like, hey, what about today? And, you know.

Speaker 1 (00:20:07) - I would just follow up.

Speaker 3 (00:20:08) - Yeah, hey, it's the fu, man. It's the biggest thing ever. Like the most successful dude in town. His name is Steve Ballard. And if you knew him, he, he he curses like a sailor. Right? And so his biggest claim to his fame is, is his. If you. And if if you knew him, you're like, oh, man, he's definitely cursing right now. Right. And I know is his follow up. So he's got a book in his bathroom, his, his plane, he's in his own plane, in his office everywhere. And all he does is writes down stuff. And it's his follow up game.

Speaker 3 (00:20:38) - And, and so he his follow up game is the best. And so that's always stuck with me is is the follow up. And so. My follow up game is is just really hard and you know, so I kept doing that and following up with people and where they told me I could be. I was there in a year and then I surpassed that. And then every year just got bigger and bigger and bigger. and then I got my I got my first big account, which was first class where I met you, which was awesome because, like, I'd gone after single agents and always gotten a bunch of, like, single agents or loan officers sending me, like, a refinance every year and there and then, like, I got my big break and I got. I got first class.

Speaker 2 (00:21:19) - Walk us through that. How did you catch a big fish?

Speaker 3 (00:21:22) - Yeah. So. that actually, I, I won't take the credit for it because I don't think that I am the one that really landed it.

Speaker 3 (00:21:31) - I'm the one that passed the information along to land it. I heard that they were they I heard that they were getting rid of their title company, or their title company was going out of business, something like that. And, and so I ran and told the president of the company I was working at, I was like, hey, I was like, gotta get first class. Like, I know that you've talked to to Ryan Finch before, like, call him right now. Come right this second. Like I've talked to his sister. I talked to an agent who's also talked to him. And like, I just. I don't know him. We went to high school. But you have a relationship with him. Just call him. Just do something and like. And and I think they ended up talking and, you know like very shortly after or something like that. and, and worked out the, the small details and we ended up getting the account and I got to be the sales rep on it.

Speaker 3 (00:22:17) - and so, you know, my. My job was to build the business within first class. which is super cool because, you know, to see where they started. You know, I think I've been working with first class for eight years now, and and to see where they started to where they are now is like night and day. And it's just so crazy to see the explode them explode in the way that they have. Because, like, if you've ever talked with Ryan like Ryan's ten steps ahead of everybody else, I feel like. So when he's talking to you, I'm just like. What are you talking about, man? Like, I don't understand what you're saying. Yeah. And then. You know, a couple months go by or something and you're like, oh, dang, that's what he was talking about. You're like. Right? This dude's living in the future, right? and so I got them. we ended up having an opportunity to hop in with, I think it was, what, Chantelle Rae real estate at the time.

Speaker 3 (00:23:21) - and so that was like, I think my second really big account. and then it just kind of man, it just kept going and going and going and it was like. Every all the stars aligned and I just couldn't miss. Like I was getting all these, these big teams. I was getting all these lenders. And then I started branching out. and, you know, the business was really good, and I was making a ton, a ton, a ton of ton, a ton of money. and it was great. The. Where where we kind of, you know, went different ways was they went more of a national route. And I am a, I'm a purchase and sale guy, like I do retail, which is your residential. so, so me calling lenders to try and get them to send me business was really not my thing. and so, you know, after a while, I was like, you know, I just really want to focus on the process. And I think that there's a better way.

Speaker 3 (00:24:20) - I think that I can simplify this, and I think that, you know, we could do x, y, z. and it had been in my mind for a little bit. And then it got to a point where I knew that, you know, things were going to change. Right. And, I was like, I just, I kind of, I kind of don't want to do this anymore. Like, it's gotten so easy that I don't want to do it. I'm on cruise control. So I was like, let me try something different. Let me, let me get into lending. And and so I went to, I went to evolution and, and I started doing, I started doing, a studying for my mlo. And, after the, the 20 hours or however many hours it is of studying and then like, realizing I have to take a test like I, I started, like, calling people and like, talking to them. And it was a lot of work, like you guys, realtors and loan officers.

Speaker 3 (00:25:14) - I feel like don't get enough credit because of like how much time goes into it, like, and and how you guys are on the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like the title guys. Like, it's very rare that you need to talk to me on the weekend or after hours. So like. After doing that and after leaving the company that I was at, you know, and realizing lending wasn't for me, the opportunity it got brought to me again about doing title. And so I was like, you know what? Let's do it. And so I started my own, and, and, you know, Fortis is born and, you know, we we have been fortunate because we had such a good following and such a great amount of support from everybody for these past two years that it has just done so well with really no marketing, no branding, no selling. It's all been word of mouth. And and I think what's good for me and the company too is, is that it? It gave us time to work out a lot of the kinks.

Speaker 3 (00:26:14) - Yeah. You know, a lot of the people in the area like to, to use an, outdated, antiquated system, which is like a manual data entry system where they have to collect the information from the clients, and then they put it into the system, and then they have to remember to do this and that and blah, blah, blah. And like, for me, it was it was never that. It was always like, you need to put the money in the technology, and the technology can do the heavy lifting for these, these girls, these processors, these paralegals, whatever.

Speaker 2 (00:26:43) - So innovation.

Speaker 3 (00:26:44) - Innovation, right. You know, you don't reinvent the wheel. You just make the wheel better. And and really that's where we started. Like there's an easier way to do this. There is a better way to do this. And a lot of people don't know that. And like, you don't know until you give us a shot. Like, I think that working with us versus some of these other companies is, is like, you don't have the processes that we have.

Speaker 3 (00:27:08) - You don't have the the all star behind it, which is not me, it's Olivia. Olivia. Yeah. Olivia. Olivia. Olivia. Shout out Olivia Lee, you know the goat? She's, She's mad. She's she is the she is the best in the game. And and she is just so methodical in the way that she sets the systems up and the way that we open a file to the way we close a file there, I mean. She. She just. It's crazy. Like, she she cares about two things. It's work and her dogs. And like, she is so amazing. She puts in the time, the energy, the effort all of the girls do. Every girl that works for us is just such a hard worker. Like working. Yeah. I mean, like, I wouldn't be anywhere without them, you know? You know, I can bring I can bring you guys to the table all day. But if I keep messing things up, if I'm not doing the things, if they're not doing the things the right way, you guys are going to leave.

Speaker 3 (00:27:59) - I'm sure there's a million people that knock on your doors daily. They're like, hey, come here, we'll write you a check. Hey, come here. We'll write you a check. You know, whatever it is, whether it's an attorney's office or or another title company, 100%.

Speaker 2 (00:28:12) - No, I know Chris. Yeah, we had some questions. We kind of prep for Mike. Do you want to go ahead and kick off with something that you wanted to ask them?

Speaker 1 (00:28:19) - Yeah, well, it was definitely, before we even get into a question, though, I know you gave a modest answer saying, you know, as your own previous company as such. Sure, somebody else brought in first class, but, hey, first class is still with you. So the credit goes to you even though you left and that's your, your new company and such. Yeah. So whatever you're doing that for us is clearly working because people are following you. Yes. It's all for your processes. Everything great that you bring in your relationships up that you built.

Speaker 3 (00:28:45) - Yeah. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:28:46) - So, Mike, one of the questions that I have for you is we touched on your past. So if you could go back ten years ago, so ten years ago yourself today, what one piece of advice would you give yourself?

Speaker 3 (00:29:03) - Quit drinking sooner. Now. I don't know, man. It's such a good question. Like as an.

Speaker 2 (00:29:10) - Entrepreneur, let's keep it an entrepreneur as a broad. Okay. Yeah. Let's focus that down. Like as being an entrepreneur. Now, if you were to give yourself advice because a lot of people that watch this are either entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. Okay. What would you tell yourself ten years ago that would set you up for a better success today?

Speaker 3 (00:29:27) - Invest sooner. You know, like there's a lot of things that when I was making all this money, instead of me spending it at the bars or spending it at the clubs or whatever, it was like, I should have been putting that money into real estate had I bought real estate in Hawaii when I had the opportunity to like, I'd be so rich right now.

Speaker 3 (00:29:45) - It's not even funny. Like, they've it's nuts. I've got a friend, Evan, that lives there, and he eats, he eats pancakes for breakfast every morning. He eats, beans and rice, peanut butter and jelly and, like, he he works on his house himself. He bought a house for a man. I think it was like six, 5 or 600 grand, something like that. He got four roommates. They paid for everything. Plus and now he owns five properties out there. He quit his day job. He just manages his properties, and he's buying properties for a million, five, 2 million, 3 million bucks like he. That's what I should have done. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:30:19) - Passive income through assets.

Speaker 3 (00:30:21) - Yeah, absolutely. I got to see what you did there. I see what you.

Speaker 2 (00:30:24) - Did there a little, little play. Yeah. Yeah that's right I got a good one for subtle plug. Subtle plug. so for Fortis this is a kind of a Fortis slash.

Speaker 2 (00:30:34) - You question what's the one thing that you feel separates you or Fortis from all the others? What separates Fortis from other title companies?

Speaker 3 (00:30:43) - once again, me I think that it's, it's going to be me. My accessibility, the knowledge that I have learned over the past eight years. and then really, the girls, man. The girls, there's nobody that's going to work harder than the girls that we have. And and our back end system, are back in system is. There's nothing like it. It's it's got integrated AI into it. it's the best. It does ten people's job. There is nothing that that system can't do better than a human being.

Speaker 2 (00:31:12) - A little bit.

Speaker 1 (00:31:12) - Okay, so Mike, I have a question also too. So for this is a title company, right. Yeah. Not everybody knows what title companies are for and kind of what they do. Some people think title companies aren't even needed. Like say someone buys a house cash, like I don't need that. Can you kind of explain why? Like what's the importance of a title company and why is the title company needed?

Speaker 2 (00:31:32) - Well, what's so funny is I went through that today.

Speaker 2 (00:31:34) - So this is a very important question. I bought a house today or put a house under contract today for cash, and she was asking me like, why do we need a title company? Oh wow. So Mike's going to explain.

Speaker 3 (00:31:44) - You want me to hand you the cash? Is that how this goes?

Speaker 2 (00:31:47) - There's people literally older, especially older, like it just just bringing me in a briefcase. I'll sign you over the deed.

Speaker 3 (00:31:52) - Yeah, yeah, that would be really nice. Yeah. I mean, if you guys guys got briefcases of cash, just bring me one to. I'll take it. Right. no. So what we do is is, we we clear title to make sure that there's clear, marketable title for your buyers. and then also, if you're selling a piece of property that same thing when the, the other side is buying because Virginia is a dual settlement state, so the buyer chooses their closing company and then the seller chooses their closing company. You want to make sure that there's clear marketable title on their side.

Speaker 3 (00:32:20) - So if they have any liens or judgments that need to be paid off. We get those for them and we pass that off to the buyer's title company. We also disburse all of the proceeds so you know the lender is going to send us their wire. We're going to take that. We're going to pay the seller with that wire. and then everybody else, if there's any invoices on there, that's how the commissions get spent. We pay everybody as the buyer's title company in Virginia. We pay everybody. There's one settlement company, which is the buyer's title company. and the seller side is is, like I said, we're ordering, payoffs. We're ordering if there's any liens or judgments, ordering payoffs for those. And then we're passing all that information on to the buyer's title company to make sure that that gets on to the closing disclosure, the HUD.

Speaker 2 (00:33:04) - Beautiful. Why? What is title insurance, Mike? And why is title insurance so important when purchasing a title.

Speaker 3 (00:33:09) - Insurance is a complete scam. No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3 (00:33:13) - so no title insurance.

Speaker 4 (00:33:16) - Is it really? He was like, go cut, cut, cut. No.

Speaker 2 (00:33:19) - Sir. I just, I just I just paid.

Speaker 4 (00:33:20) - You for title insurance. So, no.

Speaker 3 (00:33:24) - Title insurance is great. It is the reason that we're in business, obviously. you know, a title search goes back 40 years. 60 years could go back a hundred years, just depending on on how long it needs to go back for. standard, I believe it's 40 years. But the reason that we go back is because if if there is any. If there's any. Kink in the armor, right? So if some person misses something for some reason, you know, because there is people that are going over the chain of title, and people make mistakes until we're, we're all on, blockchain or, we've got robots doing everything there is going to be error. and that's what title insurance is for, you know. So title insurance covers you for anything prior to you owning the property.

Speaker 3 (00:34:10) - if there's any liens, judgments, you know, heirs that that never signed off on, on the property being exchanged, all of that stuff is going to be covered in, in title insurance. That's beautiful. Yeah. And it's funny because like I see so many people like skip it. Right. And not so many, but it is optional here. And and so you do have people that are like, oh, it's $1,000, $1,200. It's a one time fee for the most expensive thing that you're ever going to purchase. So save.

Speaker 1 (00:34:38) - You a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (00:34:39) - Right? It saves you a ton of money in the long run. And like perfect example is I had somebody bring me a deal the other day, and this is probably my favorite one, and I can't remember exactly what the the judgment was for. But let's say the judgment was, you know, 5000 bucks, 4000 bucks, something like that. Well, it was 90. It had been filed 19 years ago. The seller knew that it was on there.

Speaker 3 (00:35:01) - And they were like, hey, I'm thinking about selling this house. Let's let's order a payoff on this thing. And I don't have owner's title insurance. Right. So let's let's file, let's see how much the payoff is. And I'm like, okay, so we we get Ahold of the people that filed it 19 years later and we're like, hey, so-and-so's got a judgment on the property. We just need to get this taken care of. Yeah. How much is it? It ended up being like $42,000 with compound interest. That hurts. Yeah. And it's like, had they just paid the $900 that it would have cost them, they would have been fine. But now they can't sell their house this investment property because they owe $42,000. And they're like, I don't want to pay the 42,000. I'm like, you should you should have paid the owner title insurance. If you want to sell the house, that's like.

Speaker 2 (00:35:47) - Car insurance like you. You don't. You don't need it until you get into an accident.

Speaker 2 (00:35:51) - You get.

Speaker 3 (00:35:51) - Into an accident.

Speaker 2 (00:35:52) - Right? You know, it's a I've had to use title insurance before.

Speaker 4 (00:35:55) - So we.

Speaker 2 (00:35:56) - You know, and I haven't been in the business for, you know, as far as buying a bunch of property for years and years and years and we've had to use it. It saved me, you know, 50, $60,000. Insane. So it's been a thousand to save 50 or 60, because, look, it may be something that might have been actually retroactive. It basically, one of those companies was NVR or whatever. They put a lien on property. So it didn't show up in the initial title search after we closed, it filed. And when I went to go resell the property, there was a lien on my property. Yeah, but I had title insurance, so thank God I had that. Or it would have been very expensive. Yeah, because it would.

Speaker 3 (00:36:32) - It came out of your pocket.

Speaker 2 (00:36:33) - Well, what do you think is one big myth or common myth or thing that is misunderstood about your industry or your business.

Speaker 3 (00:36:40) - That you have to use an attorney for closing?

Speaker 2 (00:36:44) - Why is that?

Speaker 3 (00:36:44) - Why is that? I don't know, I, I think, you know, there's this, this misconception that, you know, if you close with an attorney, it's better because they've got paralegals and we've got processors. They both do the exact same thing. They don't go to special paralegal school to become a paralegal. They're just named paralegals because they work for an attorney. I do think attorneys are great in, in the the fact that they can give you legal advice. You know, we work with a couple and we do that because when we need legal advice, we have to somebody that is an attorney has a law degree. Absolutely. you know, but they don't do anything different than we do. There is never a time that I have seen, in my opinion, did I get all of the asterisks before I get reamed for this one, that an attorney looks over every single document that comes over to their office? It's always going to be.

Speaker 3 (00:37:39) - Not always. For the most part, it's going to be a processor or a paralegal that looks over it, and the attorney won't come in until after the fact.

Speaker 2 (00:37:47) - When there's a problem.

Speaker 3 (00:37:48) - When there's a problem. Exactly. Right. So because they're.

Speaker 2 (00:37:51) - Getting downloaded with them, you can tell I've been through this obviously doing a lot of real estate transactions. You do. yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 3 (00:37:58) - I've done a few.

Speaker 2 (00:37:59) - Yeah, I've done a few, done a few. I've dealt with this where the paralegal knows what's going on, and the lawyer taps in and the lawyer doesn't know what's going on. And like, what a what they say doesn't make sense, right. You got to recap. Yeah, yeah. Re catch them up and then you got to re you know I mean there's.

Speaker 3 (00:38:14) - Been lots of times where Olivia, you know, has gone toe to toe with some of the biggest in the area. And, and yeah she's right.

Speaker 2 (00:38:22) - Now this is for Virginia.

Speaker 4 (00:38:24) - This is for viewers.

Speaker 2 (00:38:25) - For Virginia because you got tidal theory stage. You got attorney.

Speaker 3 (00:38:28) - You do you have attorney states which North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Jersey, Massachusetts, Massachusetts. You gotta use an attorney.

Speaker 2 (00:38:38) - So you have those states, make sure you look up and research. But we're here. We're talking about Virginia. We're talking about Virginia. And Fortis also operates in Florida. So we're in.

Speaker 3 (00:38:45) - Florida, Ohio, Virginia. Yeah. and so, we really actually started in Florida, which is beautiful, which is great. Florida's been phenomenal. Florida's been my favorite by far. You know, you not only do I love being in Florida, but like, you get both sides of the deal in Florida. So so the listing side actually drives where the the the buyer side closes in Florida. And the listing side also pays for, for the most part, pays for owners title insurance for the buyer. And that's why they get to drive the traffic that's in majority of the counties. Miami-Dade is is different.

Speaker 3 (00:39:22) - but majority of the other counties, it is the sellers paying for the owner's title insurance. And so, you know, here we tend to go after buyers agents because that's who produces the big the big numbers for us. there we go. After heavy listing agents. and it's great. I get to go down there. We work in. We're in Pensacola. Jacksonville. Tampa. Orlando. Miami and. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're we're working on growing throughout the whole state. Ohio. We just opened in a couple weeks ago. congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. So it's been going good. We. Yeah, it's it's getting there. And and, you know, we don't want to be in every state. We just want to be in a few key states, and, and really just focus in on those and go hard. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:40:15) - For sure. So as you're talking about for this for this is geared towards real estate. And real estate is one of the best income producing assets.

Speaker 1 (00:40:22) - So here let's talk assets podcast. We want to talk about assets. So Mike what would you say is your favorite asset that you own.

Speaker 3 (00:40:29) - Ooh I like I'm a big fan of my house. you know, I, I like my house a lot. I, I've got, you know, I've, I've been fortunate that my brother in law is a is a high end watch dealer. he's he's kind of the goat in, in his industry. And, I've come across a few of my, my grail timepieces, that I just keep in a safe I wear occasionally, but, like, these were things that I didn't ever think that I was ever going to be able to afford. And, you know, I was fortunate enough to to get some of the watches that I really wanted. and, you know, hopefully one day I can pass those down to my kids. But, like, I got lucky, you know, I got in at a just like a house, right? Like I got in at a really good number.

Speaker 3 (00:41:17) - and now those watches have appreciated. Appreciated. By I mean tenfold. My my house. You know, I got my house at a super cheap, in Great Neck, and my house is worth two and a half times the amount that I paid for it. you know, going back to your, your ten years ago question, like, had I had multiple of those right throughout this area, I could have bought houses here. There was nothing stopping me from buying. I could have bought my grandmother's house. I could have bought my mom a house. But like, I was spending the money on on booze and partying. Right. And girls and, and like I that's I would go back I would, I would get buy the houses, pay off the mortgages and and just cash flow I mean like you two are, are obviously some of my favorites because you guys are so good at doing that. Like, you guys are in my office all the time. It's always constantly buying a new house or, you know, you know, getting a rental or getting a flip or there's just you just open, you open my eyes, you open it.

Speaker 3 (00:42:20) - I mean, it's it's crazy because. I feel like in Virginia Beach we there's so many people that are Virginia Beach is this big, right? And there's so many people that either came from money or they built their business. And it was very specific. Right. And so they don't ever think of these outside ways to get property. Like, I would have never thought to buy a property subject to or, or like, you know, owner owner finding any of that stuff, like that stuff was all brought to my attention by you guys. And like, it's such a genius thing because, like, now you can you can show the world and, and these investors how they can get in without spending 305 hundred, whatever it is. Right?

Speaker 2 (00:43:03) - Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:43:04) - And so also plug for this title too, because you guys don't know how to handle creative financing like subject to owner financing. There is some title companies out here that do not know anything to do with.

Speaker 4 (00:43:14) - Yeah it's tough.

Speaker 1 (00:43:15) - Guys are well equipped with that.

Speaker 3 (00:43:16) - Yeah there's and you know that all comes from the previous company that we worked at like they they very much instilled in us that we need to think outside of the box and that real estate transactions are not A to Z. Like you have to get creative when it comes to this because like. Not every closing is an A to Z closing. Like, you know, there's errors, there's people incarcerated, there's people that are dead. There's this, there's that, there's the lean judgment holder is has gone out of business. Now what do you do? Like you can't just throw up your hands and be like, well, we tried everything. That's it. Move on. Like I would lose you guys for forever. Like we have to figure it out.

Speaker 2 (00:43:54) - Yeah, absolutely. What would you say, Mike, to to everyone that's watching this, that maybe is either a thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, starting that journey, or has just started their journey. What would you say to them? The biggest piece of advice or biggest lesson maybe you've learned that you can give them when it comes to starting a business?

Speaker 3 (00:44:14) - Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:44:15) - So, it's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. It is. It is.

Speaker 4 (00:44:21) - Hey, man, it's.

Speaker 3 (00:44:22) - Tough, man. It is a it's a it's a hard business, you know, like being in the restaurant industry with my dad for a while, that that was tough because you're on 24 over seven very much like you guys in in real estate. you know, you don't get to see your family much. so just know that, like, if you're going to start a business, if you're if you're going to be an entrepreneur, like it's going to take away from something else and and like life is a pendulum. And so if you're giving more here, it's going to take more from here. And and for me it's figuring out how to keep that balance. Right. Because like, I'm not willing to give up the family life because that's that's everything that I've always wanted. And I've got it and I want to keep that. And and so if I put more, more energy here, that's going to take more from them.

Speaker 3 (00:45:09) - And, and I don't want to do that and I do my best, at that, you know, like when I get home, I try and stay off my phone. but, you know, it's it's tough sometimes to just kind of detach from work. So I would say, it's not for the faint of heart, but also, you know, bet on yourself like, I knew for for sure that I couldn't fail because I had a family. Right. And there's no way that I can let them down. And if I give up on myself, then that's giving up on them, too. Well, now I've got 11 employees, so if I give up on on Fortis, then I'm giving up on 11 employees, plus my family, and they've got families. So like it's nonstop. You have to keep innovating, right?

Speaker 2 (00:45:55) - It's a different level of responsibility. It is.

Speaker 3 (00:45:57) - It is. You know, all I had to worry about before was sales. Now I've got to worry about, you know, if if Stacy feels sick today, who's going to cover her position or if, if, you know, a notary just decides not to show up in Ohio.

Speaker 3 (00:46:10) - How am I going to get that fixed up? You know, like, if the money doesn't go out, what happens? Like, there's so much more to think. Insurances, payroll, everything. you know, there's just so many small things, bank accounts that you don't think about when you work for somebody else. So. Putting it all together, putting it down on paper, you know, having a solid game plan of what you're going to do, I think is, is pretty good idea or is good advice not good idea. you know, and then executing, you're gonna fail, you're gonna mess up. But you have to keep getting back up. You have to keep going, and you keep pushing through and you figure out what not to do next time. And that's, you know, where I'm at now. You know my path to Fortis. I wasn't wasn't the best. And, you know, if I could redo things I would redo them. you know, there's there's bridges I would like to mend there.

Speaker 3 (00:47:02) - There's people I would like to apologize to. There's things that I would do better as a person. And, you know, I didn't realize that until now, you know, not today, but, you know. Yeah. Recently. Yeah. Recently, you know, in the past few years. And so that's one of the things like, you just need to know that. There's stuff that you're going to have to figure out along the way.

Speaker 1 (00:47:22) - Yeah. For sure. So my one last question for you, what would you say is the biggest asset you can offer to someone?

Speaker 3 (00:47:32) - In personal or in business.

Speaker 1 (00:47:36) - either you pick your poison.

Speaker 5 (00:47:40) - I think.

Speaker 3 (00:47:42) - It's a really tough question. I think,

Speaker 5 (00:47:46) - I think.

Speaker 3 (00:47:48) - Man. My friendship, my my time. You know, that is a big thing for me is like, if I'm actually giving you my time and attention, like, like I said earlier, it's a pendulum that I'm taking away from something else. So like, it is important if I'm giving you my time and attention, because that's time and attention that I'm not giving to my two year old, my wife, my ten year old, like, you know, those are those are very near and dear to me.

Speaker 3 (00:48:12) - And like, I don't mind doing it, you know, that's it's actually my favorite thing. That's what energizes me doing these things, doing things with people, spending time helping other people's, other people grow as people or in business is like my favorite thing that refuels me. But don't take advantage of it. Do not use it for you know, your own well-being and discarding mine, because now I've taken away from somebody else that could have had that time and attention, and I've given it to you and you're you're squandering it, right? Absolutely. Giving it.

Speaker 2 (00:48:48) - Away. And so for those that want to work with you, Mike may have, you know, they watch this, they may have questions either about for this title and escrow about that process. Yeah. How do I hope so. How do they contact you?

Speaker 3 (00:49:00) - they can, hit me on my beeper. call my cell. my cell phone number (757) 333-2752. I am on that all the time. you can if I don't answer. If you call, you can shoot me a text and I'll respond back to you within the hour at most.

Speaker 3 (00:49:17) - you can email us at, M Palacios at Fortis. Fortis dash, like the minus symbol, title.com. They can. That's me directly. where's.

Speaker 2 (00:49:33) - Your office at?

Speaker 3 (00:49:33) - We're off of South Lynnhaven Road and reflections for, So we've got a,

Speaker 2 (00:49:40) - Conveniently located off the.

Speaker 3 (00:49:41) - Conveniently located.

Speaker 2 (00:49:43) - I love the first. I love the new office.

Speaker 4 (00:49:45) - Yeah. So we're we're we're. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. The old one at the beach.

Speaker 3 (00:49:48) - Was not very good. That was very small. That was our starting grounds, though, right?

Speaker 4 (00:49:51) - Yeah, it was cool. It start somewhere a.

Speaker 2 (00:49:53) - Block off the beach.

Speaker 3 (00:49:53) - Yeah. That was my favorite part. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:49:55) - You know, it was.

Speaker 3 (00:49:56) - It was very close to the beach. but no, it's cool. We grew from that to this to where we're getting ready to bump up to a bigger space in our building, too, which is great because we're maxed out at our space.

Speaker 2 (00:50:07) - Love it man. So we we really appreciate you coming on being our first guest.

Speaker 2 (00:50:12) - Kind of. This is awesome. Being an asset. to.

Speaker 4 (00:50:14) - My first time on a podcast. First time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:50:17) - Being an asset to the community, man. Being an asset to the title industry, helping buyers, agents, real estate agents, period. In the industry throughout Hampton Roads. Real estate.

Speaker 4 (00:50:26) - Agents, lenders.

Speaker 3 (00:50:26) - Investors. We work with. You buy a house, you refinance our house, you sell a house. We'll help you.

Speaker 2 (00:50:31) - Mike's the guy. Hey, weather. Virginia, Ohio. Florida. Let's go reach out to this guy.

Speaker 1 (00:50:35) - Let's go. Let's talk assets.

Speaker 2 (00:50:37) - Thank y'all.