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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Joe D from Maven Mansion, who shares insights into his innovative approach to real estate through content houses. Joe discusses the unique model of combining luxury real estate with user-generated content, the investment strategies involved, and the importance of networking within the fashion industry. He also reflects on lessons learned from past experiences, the future goals for expanding his business, and the vertical integration of services offered through Maven Mansion.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Joe D | Maven Mansion (00:00)
at its basis, it’s buy and hold. So you buy the property, you hold onto it, you put your team in place, they pay the mortgage through rental. And until they have their team in place, you Airbnb the surplus rooms. That’s the gist of it. So what we’re trying to do is buy and hold the properties, hold the liquidity out, that equity as it goes in value. And then you can roll that forward in your next property and just buy and hold, buy and hold, buy and hold over the, you know, over years.Micah Johnson (01:56)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Joe, who’s been making some serious moves in real estate the past few years now. Joe, welcome in, man. Glad to have you.Joe D | Maven Mansion (02:08)
Thank you. Glad to be here. Appreciate the opportunity.Micah Johnson (02:11)
Absolutely, for sure. I’m excited for our talk today. You’re doing something in real estate that’s out of the box. One of my favorite things about real estate is the ability to be creative with it. And I think for the right person, it could be really interesting for the show. So let’s dig in. So for folks who may not know you yet, tell us what’s your main focus right now and what markets you operate in.Joe D | Maven Mansion (02:31)
So my main focus right now, we have a content house network. We call it Nathan Mansion. Right now we’re based in Tampa and Miami, sorry, Tampa and Vegas. We’re looking to ⁓ put a property in Vegas, sorry, Miami, getting us backwards all the times. So yeah, we’re currently in Tampa, currently in Vegas. We’re looking to get a property in Miami, also Orlando, Dallas, Houston, Austin, LA, New York. Those are our primary markets because that’s where a lot of our network.just kind of resides next to the network, friends of Maven. So what we’re really looking to do is follow the McDonald’s methodology. McDonald’s owns the property, the franchisees put the structure in, they run operations, they pay a franchise fee, and then a portion of gross profits back to the McDonald’s mothership. We’re looking to do something very similar. So right now it’s all a collaborative effort with the Vegas property. We don’t own that property, unfortunately, but…
Moving forward, we would like to put one in in the city.
Micah Johnson (03:32)
love that man. So for someone who doesn’t know what a content house is, take us more through the model of what you’re building.Joe D | Maven Mansion (03:39)
So we actually have a charity that’s side-saddle to what we’re doing. And the content house is principally where people will come in, they’ll do UGC, user-generated content. Sometimes they’ll do photo shoots, ⁓ videography, things like that. What people are more commonly associating content houses with are like BOP houses, like OnlyFans models will all live together. We’re staying away from that. We’re doing more the charity, luxury, high status. ⁓higher end real estate. what we’re focused on. That just gives us access to a different tier of networking, a different caliber of networking, more professional networking, put it that way, that we’re targeting.
Micah Johnson (04:22)
Gotcha. And so what’s it, so you’re looking for the property. What’s the kind of property that fits the model that you’re looking for when you’re going into each city? What’s the ideal one?Joe D | Maven Mansion (04:32)
So ideally it’sgoing to have at least five to six doors. We’re going to lease those out to the people that live on property. We’ll have a management team that helps you operate. And we’re following similar to Airbnb. Matter of fact, the property we have in Tampa, we do have several Airbnb. We had some false starts with code enforcement. We figured all that out. Thank God we got it all worked out. So yeah, Airbnb temporary until you build your team. And then you’ll actually have enough. ⁓ When you build your team, put this in the…
existing doors.
If you have surplus, you can use that for events. can use it for bringing folks in for higher high end events. If that makes sense. What was when we just did here in Tampa was Carson Gator. We brought a modeling agency was a, the fashion show company came in. They stayed with us. They brought some of their models. A few of them stayed overnight because we had surplus space for them to stay. So that was a nice networking opportunity for us to build with their models, their team.
And then we all went collectively to this big luxury event together and we showed up in force. So that was good for image. It’s good for building our mirror exposure effect and the perceived status of the halo effect of having the models with us. So that really unlocks some doors that are previously closed to a lot of folks.
Micah Johnson (06:35)
Interesting, man. how is, from the investment side, how are you applying that McDonald’s model all the way down through? it’s, what’s that team doing, right? Cause you’re talking about leasing some things out. You’re talking about having some events and having a team, like get us into that area of what’s really taking place on the ground floor.Joe D | Maven Mansion (06:56)
Soat its basis, it’s buy and hold. So you buy the property, you hold onto it, you put your team in place, they pay the mortgage through rental. And until they have their team in place, you Airbnb the surplus rooms. That’s the gist of it. So what we’re trying to do is buy and hold the properties, hold the liquidity out, that equity as it goes in value. And then you can roll that forward in your next property and just buy and hold, buy and hold, buy and hold over the, you know, over years.
Micah Johnson (07:22)
and doing it in markets that appeal to this particular type of model, right? That’s why you name it really popular cities and states where you’re putting them.Joe D | Maven Mansion (07:31)
Right. And that’s where, that’sthe reason why we’re targeting those cities. Miami, Vegas, and Dallas, and New York to an extent, are huge with the fashion industry where you have a lot of fashion models, brands, agencies that can leverage what a content house is. In a lot of cases when they want to do a photo shoot, typically they’ll rent an Airbnb, which is iffy because Airbnb is generally professional photography is against their service. That’ll get your account banned if you’re not doing it right.
Micah Johnson (07:58)
Right.Joe D | Maven Mansion (08:01)
So going to a proper content house that is built to spec for photo shoots. Now there are some things you need to be mindful of if you do it in that sense with commercial photography, because now you’re a commercial property. But this is where one of the things that we kind of have that kind of helps with that is the charity side of things we talked about before. Charities can host private events, and then you host the charity. That’s one way of kind of like smoothing that over. There’s a lot of IRS rules you got to follow, so you got to make sure your board of directors are on board and all that.we walk you through that process.
Micah Johnson (08:33)
Gotcha. Gotcha. So there’s few nuts and bolts to know what’s going on there. But in essence, how long does the lease normally last for someone that’s written it out on the team?Joe D | Maven Mansion (08:43)
For those that are doing UGC, the content creators, three months. We’ll do a three month hook and then we’ll see how they go. And if they want to stay and if things are well, then yeah, we’ll keep. But, and unfortunately we talked about this before. We found all the ways not to make money the first year. Now we’ve kind of got things dialed in.Micah Johnson (08:47)
Three months, okay.Okay.
Joe D | Maven Mansion (09:36)
That first year we had 13 evictions across six doors.Micah Johnson (09:40)
Okay. So really I’m nailing down that ideal customer profile of ⁓ who makes those rooms work best. Excellent. So location, right kind of tenant. For someone that’s thinking about that tenant type, who are the ones that tend to stick it out, make sure that everything’s working well.Joe D | Maven Mansion (09:41)
So yeah, unfortunately.Generally, it’s going to be your professional ⁓ folks who are getting into content creation, who they need the hand holding, they’re learning as they go. Those that, or they’re already very well established. What you don’t want is someone who’s just breaking into content creation, who thinks that that’s going to be their primary source of income. It never is.
Micah Johnson (10:18)
Gotcha. Gotcha. is yeah, so it’s it’sYeah, hope can’t be the strategy. There’s got to be something behind it, right? So that there’s already an established way or they’re using it in a way to where they’re getting it done. That makes sense, man. It moves throughout the rest of industry in similar ways. So what are you excited about for 2026? What’s the big opportunity this year?
Joe D | Maven Mansion (10:43)
building our team, there’s that hope, our goal, our target is to bring in investors to partner with to buy more properties, add them to the network, and then we’ll walk them through the process of how to build the team, how to franchise, and just grow our network. That’s what we’re looking to do is grow the network in a professional sense and acquire more real estate assets.Micah Johnson (11:07)
Do you have any that on the, that your houses you’re scoping out right now? How many are you looking to buy in this next year?Joe D | Maven Mansion (11:11)
Yes.Realistically, probably just the one. Miami and Orlando are our focus just because we’re already based in Tampa and they’re both within driving distance. So it’s just easy for logistics. And then if they have any issues for care, feeding, handholding, we’re right there so we can do it locally.
Micah Johnson (11:29)
Yeah.Interesting. Excellent, man. Excellent. So what are the, you said you’ve mentioned you’ve had some down times and some up times. What’s one of the down times that really taught you all lesson?
Joe D | Maven Mansion (11:43)
⁓ More of on a personal level, just don’t get involved with friends. That’s one of the things. So we’ve tried to help out some local friends. Unfortunately, in general, don’t do business with those that you’re close to. It’s not a good idea. That was the big lesson right there.Micah Johnson (12:00)
Interesting. What’s some what’s what’s some of the the wins that y’all had along the way?Joe D | Maven Mansion (12:06)
Oh man, some of the big ones were some of the models that we’ve gotten involved with have huge followings scale. So that’s helped us level up a lot with, uh, not just the brands that we partner with that we help, but just internally, like locally that’s it’s helped out of time. It’s given us a lot of, I don’t want to say clout, but it’s kind of like that of this it’s proven our metal in a sense. So people have a certain caliber won’t mess with you if you’re not up to their standards. That makes sense. So.Micah Johnson (12:26)
Right.No, it does me because
it gives you credibility, gives you that legitimacy. That’s what every business is looking for. Like, why should I work with you? We only work with people we like, know and trust. And that third one is really important, trust. And it’s kind of a very big deal, especially as if you can get someone that has that kind of following to lend that name to it, you get to buy it. You’re borrowing credibility, man, and you get to build it on your own. So that is powerful. What doors has that opened up for you?
Joe D | Maven Mansion (12:37)
Credibility. That’s the word I’m looking for. Yep.Well, it’s actually helped us launch the modeling agency that we’re now stacking on top of Maven Mansion. So we have Maven Modeling. It’s all vertically integrated. And this is actually a unique service. I don’t think anybody else in the country is doing this. We call it status as a service. We saw an Instagram video about this a while back where a guy was putting models on his closing calls and it raised his close rate by 43%. So, and again, they’re borrowing from the model’s payload effect. It gives them that credibility and people are more trusting of the
the person who’s doing the sales. And it’s geared more towards high ticket sales, high ticket closing, ⁓ executives who are, say, they’re trying to woo venture capitalists, so VC money. So what we’ll do is we’ll put the models either in the business meeting on-prem or we’ll them sit in on the teams meetings when they’re doing the closing calls. So if you have any clients that want to potentially triple their close rates, us up.
Micah Johnson (14:38)
Interesting, man. So y’all are really trying to find all the ways that you can leverage into it. So vertically integrated. So how many things do we have stacked in? have the take me through what all stacked in what you got going on.Joe D | Maven Mansion (14:49)
So got the physical property that’s generating revenue through the rentals. We are doing brand deals through the charity arm of things that’s bringing in revenue for the charity. Now we’ve got the modeling agency stacked on top of us. That’s going to bring in revenue for the modeling agency. And it’s all one giant ecosystem. And who knows? mean, sky’s the limit on where we can go with this in the future.Micah Johnson (15:10)
I heard that, man, I heard that. So for someone listening in that piqued their interest, they’d be interested in learning more, finding out more about you, what’s the best way for them to find you?Joe D | Maven Mansion (15:20)
Instagram is always best. That’s maven_mansion or email [email protected].Micah Johnson (15:29)
Okay, excellent. So if you’re listening and watching it out there and you want to find out more, reach out to Joe, check the show notes. We’ll make sure his links are there for you to touch base with him. Joe, man, any final thoughts before we sign off?Joe D | Maven Mansion (15:41)
Now I just want to thank you forthe opportunity. This has been interesting. I’d love to do it again sometime.
Micah Johnson (15:45)
Love that man. Well, thanks for being here. Appreciate you sharing your expertise with us. The up times, the down times, real, just the real thing behind it all. So if you’re listening, watching in out there and got value out of today’s episode, please like this episode, share it with someone else you think would get value out of it. And don’t forget to subscribe. We appreciate every single one of you follow along with our podcasts. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Joe out there building a real business in the industry. Thanks for being with us. We’ll see you on the next episode.
