The Secret Trap House Millionaire Strategy No One is Doing with Ryan Jackson

Mike Hambright (00:33)
Everybody welcome back to the show today. I’m here with a good friend local guy Ryan Jackson. We’re going to be talking about how to play the long game. You’ve got to pivot in this business. I think a lot of people that we respect that have been in this business a long time. They went through some shit storms too like some of us have been going through this year. And the goal is don’t leave. It’s like just figure out how to get stronger. So that’s what we’re talking about today. How to pivot how to move how to change exit strategies whatever it might be to kind of stay alive so you can live to play another day. So Ryan welcome to the show. Welcome.

Good to see you, buddy. Have you been here before? You haven’t been to my I don’t think I’ve ever been here, no. Yeah, it’s HQ World headquarters here. Nice. Yeah. Cool, man. So good to see you. Good to see you, too. Yeah. let’s talk about, before we jump in, you you’ve been in DFW investing for quite a while now. And a lot of folks know you here locally. Want to talk about, like, what you’ve been doing to kind of pivot and just the wisdom you have from.

navigating different markets and stuff like that. Before we jump in, just tell us a little bit about your background. Well, I’m Ryan Jackson, also known as Metro Texas’ number one trap house buyer. That’s just kind of my gimmick. Am I really the number one trap house buyer? Well, I sure act like it. But anyways, I’m from Amarillo, Texas. I’m West Texas boy. I started working at a ripe age of 11 years old. I started investing at 11 years old, buying mutual funds through the guidance of my grandfather and my uncle, who was a stockbroker at the time.

always worked hard, moved to the big city at the ripe age of 17 and got a job and started investing at, I mean again, even at that age into 401k and then I bought my first house when I was 20. I did house hacking, did pad split before pad split was even a thing, paid that thing off in five years, five and a half years to be precise, but before I got my third college degree I had my first house paid off. That’s awesome.

been around investing my entire life, it seems like, whether it’s time, investment of time and energy or money or something like that. I’ve just been doing it a really, really long time. I feel like I got a jump start on all my friends because, I mean, who’s buying mutual funds at 11? Their parents are usually doing that. My daughter, she’s got mutual funds and she’s not even two yet, but I was working in…

making sure that money went to my stock account and stuff like that so I could save for my first vehicle. I got me a GMC Sierra when I was 15 off the money I started saving when I was 11. Of course, mom and grandpa hooked me up a little bit to get that vehicle and did that through high school, went off to college. Started working at AT &T, Singular Wireless, I guess, three days after my 18th birthday. They wouldn’t let me start until I turned 18. I impressed the manager.

He saw me as a roofer, as a workhorse. I worked at my parents’ bakery. I had a resume that was pretty lengthy at the ripe age of 17. So I pretty much walked on there. And I had a 12-year, 10-month career there. went on to, I won’t say their name, but I went on to be a broker dealer and a financial advisor. And they terminated me from my real estate business. So that’s why I won’t say their name. But if you look hard enough, you can probably figure it out. Because they didn’t like that you were doing real estate stuff?

They didn’t like it. They were scared I was going to take your money and put it in my office. Well, that’s what I did at that broker dealer. And now I just, same strategy, just different office. Instead of Wall Street products, it’s Main Street products. And I can get you a Trap House IRA pretty quick. So what is a Trap House? Trap House is a place where illicit drugs are dealt. Prostitution happens. Maybe some human trafficking, lot of roaches, lot of infestations, just nasty, disgusting, ruined.

It’s a variation of an ugly house. It’s a variation. Yeah. Yeah. Stripper poles sometimes. I don’t think I’ve ever found a stripper pole. I’ve had a couple. I’ve, you know, drug paraphernalia. Yeah. I’ve bought with homeless folks in them, squatters, et cetera. It’s a trap. That’s what it is. It’s just a trap. Yeah. I’ve had two houses with stripper poles. One of them was really nice, like a professional stripper pole. One of them was just like some chain link fencing stuff that was for the.

ladies that didn’t qualify for the nice one I Excellent marketplace items. That’s right. Yeah. So let’s talk about hustle a little bit. You grew up a hustler. We talked about this before. You just kind of shared that. And I’m the same way. Like I was literally, I grew up in Illinois. So I was shoveling snow, mowing lawns, lemonade stands, selling candy, like by the piece, like whatever. Oh yeah. All that stuff. My first trip to the principal’s office was for selling candy. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. So I don’t think as many people, as many kids have that drive today.

Where are we going? Are we doomed for failure or what’s gonna happen here? You’ve got a young daughter. I mean, nobody really taught me to hustle. mean, like really, really hustle. mean, at a young age, I guess my grandfather was teaching me that there’s two types of interest. What? Like, I’m not even in college yet and I’m being taught about two types of interest, the interest you pay and the interest that you make. And you pay as little as you can and bring in as much as you can is what his strategy was. Yeah, it’s a great lesson.

Yeah, our son is 18. You sometimes wonder, your kids listening? And he’s been listening, because he’ll say stuff. So he’s really intrigued by stuff. I grew up in a very blue collar family. My family worked very hard. And my son only knew. We started our real estate business when he was one. He just turned 18. So by the time he knew what was going on, our lives looked easier on the outside.

We had to our asses off to get there. So you worry about those things. It’s like, can I convey those same messages when it appears that I have an easier life than I do now than I did? But how do you still instill that hustle mentality? Well, you got to start by not spoiling your children. mean, everybody wants to spoil their children. I’m guilty of that. I want to spoil my daughter. But I have to teach her how to work for the dollar. I have to teach her to work hard for what she wants in life.

When I was a young man, I was probably five or six years old, guess, young child. I asked my grandpa, said, Grandpa, can I borrow $50 to get a pair of roller blades? And that’s how much they were back then. Best Products in a magazine, you could go over there on 45th and Western in Amarillo, Texas. They had a little place you could go and buy all your stuff called Best Products. And it was $50 in the magazine. That was before the internet, where you could scroll and you had to buy it out of a shopping catalog. And he said, he taught me.

well how are you going pay it back? He taught me the difference between borrowing and asking for it at a young age. can go back to my mental files. That was probably 1994, maybe 1995. I’d be nine, 10 years old. I want to say it was 94. And I’m sitting there riding in the back seat of my grandfather’s dually. And we’re heading from Amarillo to Vernon, actually, Electra, Texas. And the reason why is we’re going to see my great-grandpa. And at this time, he’s in his early 90s. He’s still trucking.

I’m in the back seat with my grandmother and in the front seat is my uncle who’s a stockbroker and my grandfather’s driving and ⁓ This is 30 years ago and I’m listening to the conversations with my uncle and my grandfather about dollar general stock And we’re driving through all these old towns on 287 dollar general dollar general dollar general still have and they’re still everywhere Yeah, I wish I would have had the money to buy dollar general stock back then but you know this this is that was my first Interest in stocks. Yeah

I know we’re here talk about trap houses and not stocks, this is just investing or whatever. We get to decide what we want to talk about. Exactly. So I was intrigued by stock. And I don’t even know what a stock certificate is. And I’m listening to my uncle just chat and go on and on on about it. So that’s rang in my head for 30 plus years about Dollar General stock. And I’ve just seen Dollar General’s open. I haven’t seen any of close, honestly. Yeah.

It’s funny because now that we have our ranch in East Texas, that is the general store. When we’re in town in Vann, there’s a Dollar General and there’s a Brookshire’s. That’s it. And you’re lucky to have a Brookshire’s. You go to Krum. I have a Denton address, but it’s really Krum. We don’t have a Brookshire’s. Which is a grocery store for those that are listening. Yeah, the only grocery store we have in Krum is a Dollar General. But the nearest Walmart, which I hate Walmart, but is 30 minutes away.

South Side of Canton or Home Depot is 45 minutes away. So when you’re out there, I’ve been to a Dollar General in the past year, year and a half out at where my ranch is more than I’ve been to Dollar Generals in my whole life. I went to one last time, bought three bananas for $1.05. was $1.05 for three bananas. I’ve just been interested in investing and making money. You said hustling and stuff like that. Hustling, candy.

I’m trying to think what else I would hustle over the years. was… This is a family friendly show, be Yeah, I’m trying to think of what all I can say here, but no, I… You can say whatever, don’t kid me. No, I never sold drugs. I’ve never done anything like that. Long, long time ago, I was buying cell phones and a lot of people… I don’t even know if I really want to say this, but I was investigated by the Secret Service for selling stolen cell phones on eBay.

I was 20. OK. Yeah. Did you know they were still on her? No. OK. I set up a sting. The guy I was buying them from, they were like pieced together repairs. Like this guy just repaired houses. Repaired cell phones. like sometimes they were buggy. Sometimes they were glitchy or something like that. I had to them back. now he was, his whole story lined up. And next thing you know, the Secret Service is kicking in my door. And I’m 20 years old. I’m scared shitless. And ⁓ I never got arrested.

My name was sent to an indictment. They declined to indict me, so that was good. So I didn’t get indicted, but I helped the Secret Service put somebody behind You became an informant, basically. Yeah. I mean, were being stolen from Motorola over there on 820 at the old country-wide building. naive 20-year-old making some money flipping cell phones while I was working for the cell phone carrier. Luckily, they didn’t hear that. It might be.

The United States Secret Service is calling me from private numbers, they’re asking me questions about other files at AT &T. And I’m just like, man, this is some wild stuff. And I’m just like, I can’t get into this. They’re trying to leverage that. And I guess it was singular wireless at the time. But man, it was freaking wild having the Secret Service raid my house. And it taught me a good lesson. It’s like, look, you need to do a little bit more due diligence when you’re doing business with people. Yeah. But.

All those lessons add up. That’s what we’re talking about here is kind playing the long game. It’s like what you realize. You take it for granted. I take it for granted sometimes, all that I know. it’s like you just, it’s not, there’s this quote about don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. And so it’s like that’s how you get better. You play the long game, you touch a hot stove, you get shot in the back. All these things happen and it just makes you a stronger, honestly a stronger human. Hopefully it doesn’t like.

start to you to start to hate humanity on some level. But you just learn how to play the game better because you’re like, I’ve been through that before, or something like that. Here’s how we’re going to do it. Like, don’t make connections with people at pawn shops that turn into stolen cell phones at Motorola. I mean, luckily, I didn’t get in any trouble for it. I mean, I rolled on them, and they stopped it, and stuff like that. But it still was pretty scary. Yeah. So when you’re talking about playing the long game, you’re talking about investing.

You were talking about interest and learning those lessons early on it really is about time Right. I’m like you wish you’d invested in this a long time ago the thing about real estate is and you know You and I are surrounded with wholesalers and folks like that. They’re not really investors. I mean they’re investor of time and I’m not taking anything away from them, but they’re not building wealth there’s transactional and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think that you and I would both tell those people like

If you want to build wealth, need to keep some of those houses. Right. I can’t tell you how many people that were wholesaling like crazy in 2021, 2020, 22, when the market was still really strong and they were just selling their equity and I was buying it left and right. Yeah. And, you know, in a year like this, mean, buyers are not buying as much. Their fees are probably not piling up like they were. And a lot of those guys have reached out to me and, you know, how do you hold real estate? And I’m like, shit, we’ll start.

10 years ago when it was easier. Now it’s ridiculously hard to hold something compared to what it was five years ago. Yeah, and DFW are, I don’t know if you’ve looked at this, the cost of insurance and taxes for us is the equivalent of five months of rent a year. And it used to be three. Yeah, and it’s getting worse, obviously, right? So it’s like, got to rent. That’s by the way, if I have no vacancy, I have no issues, if everything goes No capex, nothing. Yeah. And nothing ever goes well. Like, it goes well for now, but eventually.

you get hit with that $40,000 make ready. It’s like, man, if this thing cash flows perfectly for the next five years, maybe I’m back to break even. Yeah, I mean, you just have to let inflation do its work. You have to let government have bad monetary policy that creates more inflation, that creates more wealth. And I’ve been playing that strategy for a long time. So let’s talk about just pivoting. I’ve seen people that I’ve talked about this many times.

When things get hard, whether it’s in real estate or somewhere else, but we’ll talk specifically about real estate investors, they jump into the next thing. Roofing, solar. Whatever, right? Crypto trading, whatever. A lot of roofers these days. And so the problem is that seems easy, but that too will get hard. Everything gets hard. It’s always easy for the first two or three years, and then it gets hard again. And people just keep starting over every two or three years, and they’re just starting from scratch every time instead of building something that I worked through the hard period.

And now it got easy again. you just keep, think of like this S curve, it’s like the heydays, and then it’s hard, and you kind of go sideways, and then you figure it out, and you kind of keep having these breakthroughs. So let’s just talk about that. Because I know what it requires is changing your strategy sometimes. You just pivot. You do some things like Airbnbs, short-term rentals. You do some new construction. Talk about some of the stuff that you’re doing, and maybe some of those lessons learned about not leaving, but pivoting. Well.

This is 2025, it’s been a year of cleanup in my opinion. I got two businesses that I’m closing down, two partnerships that I’m ending by the end of the year. All with a great handshake, a hug, high five. We did it, it’s over. Moving on to bigger and better things. No hard feelings, I’m glad to say that. I did sew one up at the end of last year with a lot of hard feelings. A lot of hard feelings over that. But pivoting.

you know into twenty twenty six you know what what what is twenty twenty six like rates are going to high they’re saying maybe one drop i think they’ll have more than one drop because government shut down and we don’t know all the data and new fed chair and the fed chair with political pressure that he’s not supposed to supposed to succumb to him but he will but he will we won’t be to get the job right so i think what we’re doing is we’re

maybe kicking a bigger can down the line there if you know anything about interest rates and follow them. But this year has been a clean up year, getting rid of some partnerships that are not exploding anymore, that are out of gas, ready to move on to something else, as you stated. And those partners, that’s fine, moving on to something bigger and better, that’s cool. But to me, what is bigger and better for me in 2025 into 2026? Being that rates,

or what they’re at and the market is slow. What do people want right now if they’re gonna buy something? If you’re gonna buy a vehicle right now, are you gonna buy a brand new one or are gonna buy a used one? Used one, interest rates are based on years and mileage versus a brand new one. You see them all over the advertisements, 0 % this, 0 % that. So that’s why it’s tracking people to new vehicles. Well, let’s talk about homes. What is Lennar offering right now on interest rates? I think I saw like a 3.75 or a 4.0 or some advertisement recently.

Some of these new home K and B homes, I think they got some packages they can sell you. A lot of these new home builders are offering really really good rates. Now is that something that I can do as a small home builder? Probably not. But if you’re going to buy in this market, you’re probably just gonna buy a brand new asset. Everything’s high, everything’s expensive. Do you want CapEx on your homestead or do you not? I mean if you got all these bills, do you really want a sudden…

know plumbing bill because you got copper versus packs or cast iron in your 60s versus you know PVC that you got today is your foundation crap You know, is it is it a brand new one with a warranty with a 10-year warranty that’s transferable? that that just sounds like something that would be better for a consumer versus something that’s gonna have a bunch of unexpected repairs as time progresses I bought I bought my first brand new house in 2012. I Paid off my my used house that year as well. I was graduating college the third year. It might have been 2011

2011 or 2012, don’t quote me, one of those two. And I bought a brand new D.R. Horton House, 215,000 brick granite, 3,000 square foot, four bedroom, three and a half bath, two car garage, HOA, 35 inheritance trays, in North Fort Worth, just perfect place to be at the time. And I didn’t have any cat bags. Like, air filters was about the only cat bags. I think I upgraded the wood floors. And I think I had to fix a line between two water heaters one time.

I mean, it just wasn’t much CapEx. And I sold it seven or eight years later, and it was still in pretty good condition. But you go into some of these 60s bills and 70s bills, and they just have their personalities, and they do what they want to do, seems like, until you start up that stuff. For people that want to live in a very specific neighborhood, they may not have as many choices. if you’re like, it’s interesting that you’re saying that, because people are like, you know.

People know that they have additional expenses from the problem. Maybe not first time home buyers, because they think everything’s perfect. But if you’re in a move up house or you’re in your second home, you’re like, I need something with less problems. Well, we also need to talk about the sales agents. Who’s getting bigger commissions right now? Or who’s giving away bigger commissions? The builders or the guy that bought his house three years ago that’s trying to get out? You see what saying? The builders are emotional.

Like when I came in in 2008 and we were flipping houses, it was a different market than now, but it was like now, it was slow. And we would fix and flip houses and we’d put them on the market and it was unusual that we didn’t have it on our contract in a week for our house. But all these other ones just sit on the market for months. And it’s just like we were not emotional about it. I wasn’t thinking about, I remember when I painted my daughter’s breaddome. It’s like, this is just a widget for me. ⁓ And it was at a time where we could buy them cheap, which is different than now, and we could over fix it up.

nicest house on the market, and put it on the market for cheaper than the three surrounding houses around me, and I’m just next in line. But it’s a different market now. I think people are just getting comfortable staying where they’re at because they’ve got a low interest rate, or working virtually so they don’t have to worry about moving across the country and starting over. People are a little more financially savvy, I think, these days, maybe. Maybe not from an investing standpoint, but from a managing their own money standpoint.

Yeah, I mean you kind of have to. I groceries are still high, insurance is through the roof, taxes are through the roof, interest still high. There’s just still a lot of things that are giving us pain points in this economy. And then, like I said, if you’re gonna go buy something and you’re gonna pay 27 to $3,500 a month for it, it better be brand new and I better not have any CapEx on it for a long time. So, you know, we can sit here and continue to…

Try to flip these trap houses, or can knock them down and build something nice and new. And it’s a statement for the neighborhood. And make somebody want to buy it. You’ve got to make somebody want to buy your product versus some of these just run-of-mill HOA houses. Yeah. As an investor, though, you’ve to find ways to pivot and squeeze more rent out of things through short-term rentals. Like you said, maybe do some new construction stuff. So let’s talk about how you’re pivoting a little bit in this market because you’ve been forced to.

Well, I’m still collecting rent. Has that been a struggle? My usual suspects, even through good times and bad times, that can’t manage their money, I’m still dealing with those. for the most part, people are paying their rent on time. Airbnb revenues have kind of, they dropped it in the summer. In the spring, I had a pretty good spring, and then the summer dropped, and then the fall, late winter has actually caught up to about the spring. So we’ll see how goes in the next year. I’m renting trap houses on Airbnb. I mean, I’m not just renting.

these Taj Mahal houses with pools and hot tubs and mountains and forests and stuff like that. I’m not that guy. I’m the guy that’s here to put your family here for the weekend in DFW for commerce or for something that’s going on around town and you’re just standing out and you need something economical. Being that these are tight economic times, are you going to go rent the Preston Hollow House or are going rent a trap house in Denton? don’t know. Yeah. That’s a boy. That’s an interesting thing for me because it’s been a few years now, but I,

I started renting just because as my family was, well, as my son got older, we were like more likely to rent an Airbnb than two hotel rooms or something like that. And especially if we were going for like four or five days, I’m like, let’s be a little more comfortable to like have a house, know? And then it really opened my eyes to, this is probably five or six years ago, to like how common Airbnbs are, short-term rentals are, just in regular neighborhoods. Like not necessarily next to a stadium, next to a…

whatever yeah so they’re just it right in the regular regular neighborhoods i ⁓ recently went to memphis go to graceland i had some friends over from across the pond and they want to go check it out i ran to the airbnb last minute why last minute well i’m an airbnb host i know how this works i think i got us a two nights for two hundred bucks with cleaning fees before that went to wholesaling live in san antonio rented an airbnb last minute behind the the venue

Just yesterday I got back from Mexico and we had a penthouse overlooking the water. So sometimes if you’re going to the beach, you kind of want those nice little amenities, but just traveling around town, trying to keep it cheap, trying to go to conferences and stuff like that. I’m not here to see a pool. I’m not getting You’re not going to be there very much. Yeah. So I just want something cheap and economical. So as an Airbnb host, that’s what I provide. I provide cheap and economical. Here in Dallas, Fort Worth, my average unit is about four, four grand a month. Some of them are pulling $3,100, $2,800.

⁓ some of the one fifty fifty nine six thousand what would the equivalent be if it was a long-term run on those my my cheapest unit is on rose street indented texas the trap house on rose two-bedroom one bath house nine hundred fifty four square foot with a lawn closet turned into a podcast studio that one would bring by sixteen fifty maybe sixteen ninety five on around the rental and that one’s pushing

3100 roughly okay Do people rent that for the podcast studio? Sometimes yeah, I’ve had a few people do that It’s really just a room with padded walls on a TV and a heater. It’s a couple chairs. Most people smoke pot in there It’s kind of I always tell people you know if you’re gonna hotbox the the the podcast studio. It’s $420. Go ahead Yeah I got another one. It’s a three one three one. Yeah, three bedroom one bath 802 square foot consistently does 44,000 to 4100 a month

And then rent on that one would be about the same. It’s a tiny, tiny three bedroom house. what would you say to folks that are feeling the pinch right now in terms of being willing to pivot a little bit? Not necessarily pick up and leave, but change exit strategies, be open minded to it, consider doing things a little bit of a different way. And it’s not necessarily like this is your new way forever. It’s like this is the way you’re going to have to do it.

market until things change and then you could start to do a little more of what you used to do maybe. Well if you’re dealing with used assets versus new assets I mean I consistently see people that are on Facebook and social media that are pulling stuff off the market and converting to a DSCR loan. They’re not gonna sit here and wait for a buyer they just they’re feeling the pinch they want to get off this 12 % or 13 % money or whatever they’re on they want to get into something long get their lender out of the deal and

I’ve taken away my buyers. I don’t have buyers. I mean, most people don’t have buyers in this market. I mean, unless you want to wait a hundred days. Right. So on new construction, it’s a different game, but on remodels and stuff like that, when you buy something, no, you’re not going to sell it. So if you walk into the deal knowing you can’t sell this, are you sure you want to walk into this deal? So make sure that you want to keep this. I bought a little 432 square foot,

Abandoned salon has been abandoned for 30 years a mile under a mile from Lake Louisville on the west side 35 and Corinth if you know where that is, it’s in Shady Shores Wholesaler sold it to me for 62 5. It’s a trap lot doesn’t even have frontage had to argue a an easement and then Figure out what I could do with the footprint and I’m building a two-story two-bedroom two bath Overlooking patios on each side on a 432 square foot slab footprint

I can’t pour any concrete. can’t even pour a driveway. can’t pour walkways or anything. So I’ve got to get real creative. But who’s the buyer on something like this? Well, me, because I’m going keep this, and it’s going to print $4,000 to $4,500 a month when I’m done. So I know that I don’t have a buyer. That’s why I was willing to take that. If I was flipping it, I probably wouldn’t have bought that deal. Let’s talk about building your brand. wow. So you.

For those that don’t know you, you drive an old Caddy around town. It’s all branded for your brand. I was surprised when you walked in the door today, because normally I want to see you got a cowboy hat on, a bolo tie. I thought about it. Yeah. I lacked motivation this morning. apologize. This is Wednesday. This is a casual Wednesday. This is a casual Wednesday, so I at wore my trap house I’m not judging you. It’s just normally I see you dressed up in your.

brand building. My sunglasses, my trap house, Bolo, my number one trap house belt buckle, Python boots, cowboy suit, matching hat. that it’s, it’s wild. It’s wild. you know, you know, Nick Perry is right. I flew to Panama to hang out with Nick and I got a couple things out of it. The first thing I got out of it was

If you got a microphone in front of you, always be Randy Savage. So go back to your younger heydays when you were watching WCW and Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage and all those guys are on the microphone and little guys with the bald heads talking and forgot his name. And he just starts going, the cream of the crop rises to the top. And he’s got his shades on. His tassels are hanging down. And I’m like, I flew to Panama to learn this.

he wasn’t wrong. He was not wrong. You know, and there were some other things that he taught me and I’m marketing PPC and stuff like that. the brand building. Was that a pivot for you? were you, were you, did what changed after that? It was a pivot actually. When I got that 93 Cadillac in 2021, I didn’t wear a suit, didn’t wear a cowboy hat.

I put out by trap houses on it and it just started picking up steam and then, the brand just kind of started morphing into, you gotta start looking good for the camera or looking goofy for the camera, one or the other. And I can sit here and rattle off a whole bunch of bullshit, but if I got a cowboy hat and sunglasses on, at least you’re going to like, you don’t even need to say anything. don’t really got to say anything. Sometimes I’ll go out, you know, in different towns, like was wholesaling live. went to dinner.

dressed up like that after a long day of running around in that uniform and boots and like I walked into Rosario’s in San Antonio and just walked to the bathroom and every single person watched me. It was weird. You know, I had my sunglasses on so I’m not making eye contact with anybody but like everybody is like who the fuck is this guy? And you know, if I can live rent free in your head, why not? What can you do with that? You know, your brand is very, very important. mean,

And I’ve just continued to morph it a little bit. I’m trying to get a TV show. We’ll see if that happens. That came from that. Somebody found me on Instagram, along with some other people that were calling me, that found me on social media. So just being loud and nothing short of a buffoon, I mean, it’s really what it is. It gets you looks. It gets you likes. It gets you shares. And then it gets you really anything you really need. I’ve had investors pull me off.

off of Instagram, reach out to me, want to talk to me, and let’s go have lunch. And next thing you know, I’m borrowing money from them. And it’s just that of that old school cowboy stockbroker, West Texas mindset. And it’s just really helped people. People want to invest You look like a big enos from Smokey and the Bandit. Yeah. little bit of that. Who also drove an old Cadillac, but it was a convertible? I was talking to Pzzt.

to Pace Morby at Wholesaling Live and he actually is like, I love your brand. was like, holy shit, Pace Morby just acknowledged my brand. That was cool. So what advice would you give to people if they don’t want to go that far, necessarily physically transform? Because your brand doesn’t have to be necessarily how you physically look. It’s how you treat people, you, you know, the willingness to share your time or your knowledge or whatever. I there’s a lot of things that your brand could be. mean, any kind of wisdom you could share with people on?

If you don’t look good, you better have a hell of a mouth. You know what mean? You better have platinum in your jawline if you want to get things in this world. You better be able to talk, you better be able to sell, you better be able to hustle. And those little tweaks in your business can separate you. mean, if I just looked like this all the time, I wouldn’t have a few investors that I know of. If I wouldn’t have that stupid Cadillac, the battery’s dead in right now, I wouldn’t have…

half my following on social media that gets me other things that I need. That Cadillac is on its last leg, I’ll be honest. And right now it’s just a timepiece. I don’t even really drive it a whole bunch, I drive it some, just kind of knock the dust off of it. But shocks and suspension are not worth fixing. The paint’s trapped, the trap house sticker’s starting to come off, and all my hubcaps are falling off. I got a hole in the side of the quarter panel. I got a mirror that’s held on by Gorilla Tape.

The ashtray’s package is dangling. I mean, it’s it’s time to get a new one. But I’m still trapping. That’s funny. So what advice would you give to people to just kind of stay mentally strong? Because we talked a little bit about today, you and I have talked separately about just working through a market like this. So sometimes it’s getting around other people that you can talk to that understand your situation. People will pull you off the ledge, or you can pull them off the ledge as needed.

just what what advice do you people to kind of stay strong in a market like this? Well, I mean keep your keep your mental health good. I mean there’s there’s there’s some folks that haven’t been able to do that. know, lean on your on your I’m gonna lean on your friends and your family, lean on your network. If I went broke tomorrow, I feel like that I could dig myself out the next day just because I have a brand and I have a network. mean

just our casual conversations over the last couple of years, felt like I could, sounds shitty, could use you to help me if I needed it. I’m not really trying to use you in a negative light, but I feel like if I needed some help, Mike Hambright would at least point me in the right direction of somebody that could help if he couldn’t help. But as far as the advice, don’t stop looking, don’t stop searching, don’t stop.

⁓ doing what you know no is the right thing to do to get to the top yeah it’s okay to to pivot it’s okay to change to tweak your business model a little bit give yourself a business plan give yourself an action plan tweak it with with other entrepreneurs other i mean you can go to chat gpt and and learn how to make money if you really want to

So you’ve got Texas Tuesday, the event you host in Fort Worth on the first Tuesday. How do folks, tell us a little bit about that and tell us how folks can get a hold of you if they want to. Ttdfwrem.com, hashtag I buy trap houses at Ryan buys houses LLC. But ttdfwrem.com, which stands for Texas Tuesday Real Estate Mastermind broken down. That mastermind started with me and Chase Howard and Freddie Sotelo over at the SoGio building when Freddie owned that building.

pre-COVID about 2018. We started that. We just wanted some dudes to talk shop and drink some beer. All right. Well, let’s talk some shop and drink some beer. And then next thing you know, people are

getting drunk, saying racist things. We need a bartender. All right, so let’s get a bartender. Kind of fix that up. And then next thing you know, COVID hits. know, Freddie in the building went separate ways. It’s like, man, what are we going to do? And we reached out to a few other places and next thing you know, we wound up at Hyena’s Comedy Club. We’ve been there for quite a while. don’t know how long we’ve been there.

I guess since COVID opened up and that right there COVID opened up COVID opened up the launch since since since whenever COVID stopped or whatever. but that mastermind, it just allows you to talk to the people, you know, just like this podcast allows you to talk to the people and you get samples and tidbits of everybody’s lives that you talk to and you can make yourself a well rounded person. People ask me all the time, like, dude, how do you, how do you know that? How do you know so much about real estate?

easy. I started the mastermind, what would it be, probably 13 months after I started my real estate career. I started a real estate mastermind with two guys that just didn’t really have much time to work on it anymore and I just kept running with it. eight years later, the Texas Tuesday mastermind has a lot of respect from a lot of other groups. I don’t ever see any challengers that are wanting to have a first Tuesday meeting. If they do, they’re stupid.

But we’ve had some really, really good names this quarter. Carlos Reyes, Pace was there, or not Pace was there, excuse me, Jerry Norton was there, RJ Bates, Cassie. We’ve had a really, really good lineup. Next year, Chris Rood’s coming, Ryan Stewman, he’s coming. I’m trying to think just based off of memory, but I’m pretty much built out. You might even have my camera out there again. Yeah, we might throw you on there. What I was doing is I was doing one speaker. Use me.

I’ll use you every day if I have to. But now your brand helps. I mean, it’s really cool to have investor fuel at the bottom of our advertisement. I don’t know how much that helps you guys, but it legitimizes my mastermind by using your brand. mean, if you ever want to pull it, you can. But we like that. We like having nice.

nice sponsors such as Investor Fuel sponsoring our mastermind to get to the people.

Creating this mastermind has just taught me so much from different people. mean, I’m trying to think about your presentation. It’s been a while. It’s been over a year, I guess. But there’s been some nuggets over the years that I’ve gotten. Mitzi Dyane, I’ll throw her name out there. What did I learn from her? I learned that, what is it, 21 or Century, I’d have to Google it again, but Century, they’ll loan money on mobile homes pretty easily. I don’t even think about that. I don’t really deal in mobile homes, so that’s something I learned from her. I’m just trying to think of little things off the top of my head.

Yeah. What’s came out of that mastermind? big thing is people are hungry for relationship, more hungry for relationships than ever before because of COVID, because of, like we spend, not everybody, but I spend too much time on social media, but it’s not really the real world. Like the people that I’m trying to get through to never see it. The people I don’t want to get through to do see it. Everybody’s a critic, but online they’re all keyboard warriors and I do a lot of stuff online, so I’m not knocking it too I love the critics.

Yeah, but I’m saying there’s nothing better than getting in a room with people that you can have a good conversation with and just and especially when it’s sometimes somebody that you’ve never talked to before or you know them and you just never had it there was a time where you and I were like that like I knew who you were we’d run in a lot of the same circles we hadn’t talked and now we talk every once in a while right and so I enjoy those conversations so I think just being able to come into the real world where a lot of times it feels like we’re in this fake world and that’s part of the rise

Part of the reason why you see me dress up like a urban cowboy is just it’s the fake world. That’s what it is. I mean, it really is. It’s a phony, fictitious world that we live in, social media. I mean, it works. Yeah. Awesome. Well, we’re to add the links down below for folks that connected to you. Thanks for joining me today. Yeah, man. Good to see you, I appreciate that. I thought we were going to do some caddy rides after this, but I guess not. You know, being here in the city of Carrollton, I got pulled over in that Cadillac after going, look at a pre-foreclosure.

And I rolled through the stop light just like three feet past the white line. The cop pulled me over. And I said, I’m going be honest with you, sir. I wasn’t speeding. I didn’t run a red light. I don’t know why you’re pulling me over, than I’m driving a 1993 Cadillac in your town. And he started laughing. And he said, now you crossed that white line by about three feet. So that’s why I was able to pull you over. I was like, smelly drugs? I didn’t think so.

And ⁓ he’s just laughing. He’s like, what are you doing in my town? I was like, I’m coming to look at a fucking trap house, bro. And I was like, give him my sales pitch, give him my business card. Hey, you any of properties you just kind of need to get off into new hands? Give me a call. Now he’s a bird dog for you. That’s right. Every time I get pulled over, I try to get him the bird dog for me. I don’t get very many tickets in that thing. I get pulled over all the time, but I don’t get very many tickets in it. Yeah, that’s funny. Well, thanks again, buddy. Good to see you. Yeah. Thank you very much, Mike. I’ll afford to.

Appreciate you. 2026 and investor fuel, getting good things coming up, I guess. We got a lot of good stuff coming up. I can’t wait to we do is good stuff. That’s good. to do, yeah. So appreciate you having me. Everybody, hey, thanks for joining us today. I think if there’s a theme here, it’s play the long game. Don’t quit when stuff gets tough, like pivot. Get around people that know how to navigate these waters. Quite frankly, a lot of people that have been around a long time, they don’t necessarily know how to navigate this, but they just are more confident that they can get through it. Like, they make decisions quicker.

And once you know you can get through anything, once you know if you lose it all, you can build it right back up again because you’ve got that confidence. Then the whole world opens for you and you’re going to act with a lot more confidence. So appreciate you. We’ll see you on the next show.