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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Micah Johnson speaks with Justina Chi, a seasoned real estate investor and entrepreneur. Justina shares her journey from growing up in a family involved in real estate to her current ventures in property management and billboard investments. She discusses the challenges of navigating zoning laws, permits, and the importance of taking action in the real estate industry. Justina’s insights into evictions, property management, and the complexities of billboard investments provide valuable lessons for aspiring real estate professionals.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Justina Chi (00:00)
And let me tell you, my brother used to call me the eviction queen.because I evicted anybody and everybody and I had a strategy. ⁓ And I did not play because I had to learn the hard way. And the hard way was, you know in the lease where it says if you don’t pay five days you’re late? No, I changed that to three. I get three days and I would tell my tenants, listen, if you don’t pay on the third day, they have a thing called e-file. Forget the courthouse, okay?
You’re not going to run this game where you don’t pay Friday and think I’m going to go to courthouse on Monday. No, I’m going to go online that same day, that same night, and I’m going to file the paperwork that same day.
Micah Johnson (02:12)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Justina, who’s been making moves in real estate pretty much since birth. Justina, welcome in, glad to have you.Justina Chi (02:25)
Thank you. Thank you so much. MJ, pssh, back to you.Micah Johnson (02:28)
Boom,and you know it. Okay. I’m excited about our talk today. You’ve done a lot of things. You have a long history in real estate. You produced a TV show. You’re someone I’ve enjoyed speaking with so far. So I’m excited to unload it on the listeners. So for those who don’t know you yet, tell us a more about who you are and what your main focus is right now.
Justina Chi (02:48)
All right, great. So who am I? I’m Justina Chi. I grew up in New York City. My parents, my father’s Nigerian. He was an engineer. My mother’s Irish. And she was first an architect, she went into graphic design. They met at Pratt Institute. So I grew up, like you said, I grew up into rental property, collecting the rent, paying the bills, Brooklyn Union Gas, Con Edison at an early age in elementary. And you know, that’s not what I went to college for.Originally I wanted to be a doctor and I didn’t like the blood. And then I went to school for business and I got my bachelor’s, my MBA. Never even thought about rentals or anything like that, because I did it so young. But once I got out of college, my mind, I’m like, ⁓ I’m not getting an apartment or a dorm. I have to buy a condo or something. And then from there, I rented that out, bought another one, rented that out, rent, rent, rent, rent, rent. So here we go.
Micah Johnson (03:43)
the snowball effect in motion. love that. So from business degree, MBA in college, what was it? Right into real estate after college? Are we doing anything in the middle?Justina Chi (03:46)
Yeah.Well,
no, I would say once I got the condo and I moved on, because you you get bigger, you don’t want to be stuck in a little condo forever, ⁓ I started renting out the famous Airbnb, you know, as everybody does. First, I don’t know how far back Airbnb goes. I think I rent, I got that condo in 2007. And you know what was so funny? When I came to Atlanta, everybody wanted to be in Buckhead. That was the thing, Buckhead, Buckhead.
Micah Johnson (04:01)
All right.Justina Chi (04:24)
And I got this condo in Sandy Springs and people were laughing at me. you’re not in Buckhead, know. You know how that goes. And I bought it then for like 80,000. That was like worth almost 200,000. know, so like I say, don’t worry about what people say. I’ll never forget the real estate agent said to me and I was like, well I probably need this. I need this. I need this. He was like, but you can’t afford that or you don’t need that. And he asked me, he said,Let me ask you a question. Is anybody else gonna pay for this stuff? Like your friends, when they come visit you, are they gonna pay for an extra bedroom? And I was like, no. He was like, oh, so then don’t worry about it. And I was like, okay, that made a lot of sense, right? As far as investment goes, you shouldn’t only invest in what you can afford, you know, cause you might be in debt. From there, I got another property and then got another property. And then I started learning about wholesale.
Micah Johnson (05:14)
Right? Right?Justina Chi (05:24)
property. So instead of me putting down 5 % based on my income, because I mean, everybody has been through the same situation. It’s rarely that you’re going to find someone out of college that has the best credit in the world, the best job history in the world. And you know, these companies, want everything. know, originally, I will tell you, when I first got that first condo, I had a great rental history, right, from being in college.Micah Johnson (05:50)
Okay.Justina Chi (05:51)
I didn’t even know a thing aboutcredit. I was like, credit, what is that? You know what mean? And I was on the phone with Bank of America like forever, every day. And they were like, get this paper, get this. I had stacks of papers like this at my job and faxing them. You know, this is when they didn’t, you we weren’t doing scanning email fax. I faxed them my life.
I got that condo and that deal was the worst deal in the whole entire world. was like in, so like 2007. I didn’t realize that 2012 when Obama became the second president and they were writing off your second mortgage or whatever it was, they were writing off the mortgage. He wrote off my second mortgage and that one was like 12,000 or 20,000, right? So I was left with 60,000.
So mind you, from 2007 to 2012, and I was like, oh, wait a minute. I started off with 60,000, I still owe 60,000. I was like, what? Right, and then I’m sitting there like, wait a minute, so what? I’m only paying like $100 towards the principal? What does that mean? I’m like, oh my God. So I basically had to learn all this stuff on my.
Micah Johnson (06:53)
All right, how’d this happen?Justina Chi (07:08)
Even though I went to school for business management, no one’s gonna sit there and hold your hand and be like, yeah, by the way, this is how you own a house. So I had to learn all this stuff. And I had to self-teach myself. I actually went through the workforce, they call it workforce, at Department of Labor. Whenever you’re in between jobs, they give you free training. Let me tell you, I went to Emory University to get a paralegal degree.Micah Johnson (07:09)
GASPINGJustina Chi (07:37)
That’s how bad I want to learn about the law and the legal system. Cause I was like, my God, I cannot be getting cheated out of my money. And I got a degree, ⁓ certificate. I was there for nine months, got a paralegal certificate. And once I finished renting out the condo and got another place, here comes tenants. And along comes tenants comes evictions.And let me tell you, my brother used to call me the eviction queen.
because I evicted anybody and everybody and I had a strategy. ⁓ And I did not play because I had to learn the hard way. And the hard way was, you know in the lease where it says if you don’t pay five days you’re late? No, I changed that to three. I get three days and I would tell my tenants, listen, if you don’t pay on the third day, they have a thing called e-file. Forget the courthouse, okay?
You’re not going to run this game where you don’t pay Friday and think I’m going to go to courthouse on Monday. No, I’m going to go online that same day, that same night, and I’m going to file the paperwork that same day.
So if you don’t pay, this is what’s going to happen. Right? And being a paralegal, I’ll tell you how I made some side money as a paralegal, because I’m not an attorney. I can actually represent anyone in any state or any state, right? Because most attorneys can’t do that. And I’m not going to go to court, but…
Micah Johnson (08:47)
Right?Justina Chi (09:02)
I will tell you this, during COVID, I ⁓ evicted people in New Jersey and in New York during COVID. I actually flew to New York. I had judges laugh at me and say, you would never get anybody out during COVID. And I did. I got people out in Clayton County, Fulton County, Georgia, New Jersey, and ⁓ Suffolk County in Long Island. Yeah. So, and how I do it? I do it.Micah Johnson (09:17)
⁓ yeah.Justina Chi (09:31)
Because when I was in elementary school, I went to these places by my face. And so this is the reason why I’m so good at evictions and doing this stuff, because I do the same thing. I go in person in my face. I don’t sit there at a desk and like, oh, let me fax them or email them and hopefully they’ll get back to me. No, right in your face.Where’s the sheriff’s office?
Micah Johnson (10:42)
Here I am. It’s time to go. Pay up or get out.Justina Chi (10:46)
How come you didn’t fold the paperwork yet? It’s been five days, that’s what you said. It says here it takes five days. Where is it? I’m waiting. I got a baby at the house.Micah Johnson (10:50)
Thank you.Right.
That’s right. Well, squeaky wheel gets the grease. That’s the way it goes, is getting in there, taking action. mean, that’s name of the game to real estate investing in general, is taking action. What are you gonna do? Because if you just sit and wait, it’s gonna run you over and it’ll go right by, doesn’t care. The game continues.
Justina Chi (11:09)
Yeah.Yeah,
I had a place where I had to get two surveys done. It was $1,500. And you you just do it online now. You you contact these people, you do it online. And I was just waiting. Two weeks went by, and then four weeks went by, and nothing. No emails, no calls, nothing. So I drove over there. And you know, it’s a regular office. It’s not like they have people coming inside. It’s just for the people that work there.
Micah Johnson (11:25)
Right.Justina Chi (11:43)
And I’ll never forget, I knocked on the door. It was in Marietta. And the lady opened the door a little bit and she’s like, can I help you? And I’m like, yeah, I got some services. And she’s like, whoa, we don’t really let customers come here. And I slid myself in the door while she had the door open. And I’m looking around, I’m like, so I see this huge board. And on the board, I see all these companies. And I’m like, it’s right there, look.There’s my company right there. So when are you gonna? And I’m like, is the owner here or the president was? She’s like, you can’t be in here. So he finally comes out, you know.
Micah Johnson (12:21)
I love that!Justina Chi (12:22)
I’m tellingyou, I learned the system. You have to make things happen. You cannot send an email these days. I mean, you can, but you know how that goes.
Micah Johnson (12:32)
No, yougot to stay on top of it. You got to, one of my favorite quotes is you got to inspect what you expect. Like you got to get in there and make sure what you think is happening is actually happening, especially when you, especially when you’re dealing with offices and things like that. And that kind of leads into what you’re going through a little bit. Now your new project is bringing billboards up from the ground up and you’re kind of running into the same thing with cities all the time and counties of.
Justina Chi (12:38)
Yeah.Micah Johnson (12:56)
just how to make sure they get their job done to get these projects off the ground. So take us a little bit into that. I haven’t spoken to someone doing billboards before. Enlighten us, what do you got going on? I love it.Justina Chi (13:05)
Meneither. So look, okay. ⁓ So after the, you go from steps to steps, right? You have rental properties and then people will say, do a fix and flip. And you’re like, ⁓ okay. Right? So I did a fix and flip and I did it, right? And it was okay. You know, it was all right. And, but I sat back and I thought, and I’m like, do I really want to buy old houses and fix them up? Because no matter how much
The inspector and specs, no matter how much the appraiser, let me tell you something. We’re not even going to appraisers, okay? That’s a whole nother story. That’s a whole nother story, because there are companies that, you know, it’s just a scam to make money with these appraisers. That’s a whole nother thing. The inspectors are usually your friends, but even so, people are human. They’re not gonna see everything. They’re not gonna know everything. Sometimes they’ll miss something and you get this old house.
And then a couple of months later, you’re like, what is that? What’s that noise? You know, and you’re like, what is that? And then you’ll be like, what? Because it’s just everything they can’t. I’ll give you an example. Like one house I had, ⁓ not then, but now ⁓ we realized that things were coming through the pipes of the toilet and going into the shower, you know? So they did a whole inspection with the cameras to find out that, ⁓
I guess the, you know, back in the days they had certain pipes that they used then that rust that they don’t use now and those pipes are old and they need to be replaced. So you go from not knowing something, you know, you might just flush out a shower, which is like, what, a couple of hundred dollars to now you got to change the pipes, which is like three, $4,000. That’s a whole big, listen, and no inspector would know that because it’s way under the
Micah Johnson (14:57)
Bye.None,
Justina Chi (15:03)
then they’re notMicah Johnson (15:04)
right?Justina Chi (15:04)
gonna do all that. They come there for like three, four hours. They’re not gonna spend the whole day to do that, right? So in my mind, I’m like, yeah, fix and flips are good. But in reality, unless you’re doing like five and 10 and 20 fix and flips, you just want these tenants to be in there complaining every day that something different is happening, it’s a headache, right? So the grounds up are good, right? Grounds up are definitely good. I do work with an engineering firm called Ram Tech.Micah Johnson (15:12)
Yeah.Justina Chi (15:32)
and they do groundups, but they do commercial, they do some residential, so I’m trying to wait for them to do a residential. Not really waves, like I keep telling them, we have this land, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. But you know, you’re always on someone else’s time. You know how that goes. Because with groundups, you can’t do a groundup unless you have the experience. So you’re always waiting for this person because they have the experience, right? So that’s near, that’s here. As far as the paralegal work for myself,Micah Johnson (15:47)
Right? Right.Justina Chi (16:01)
I have a lot of people that have either language barriers or they have computer barriers or they’re just a little bit older and they can’t really keep up with the time of pulling their permits or renewing their license or just doing Excel. Who knows? Printing something. I remember when I worked for the city as a project manager and they had to scan invoices and they were scanning one paper at a time. And I was like, what are you doing?They’re like, yeah, we’re just scanning. I’m like, why are you scanning one paper at a time? They’re like, because that’s how you’re supposed to do it. I’m like, no, you can scan them all at the same time. They’re like, no, you can’t do that. I’m like, yes, you can. Just do it. And they’re like, no, you’re to break the machine. I’m like, oh god. So I showed them, and then they came out. And then when it came out, that was even worse. They’re like, oh my god, it’s like 100 papers now. What are we going to do? You can’t even separate all this stuff. I’m like, but you can. Look.
Micah Johnson (16:43)
I’m like…Justina Chi (17:00)
You can separate it and they’re like, wow. So, I mean, I have people like that and they’ll throw me a couple of hundred dollars here and there, sometimes a thousand dollars or whatever, just to help them out. And that’s good pocket money for me, because I have a son and he always wants something. for me, it takes a couple of minutes, right? I went to school forever. I got all these degrees.Micah Johnson (17:05)
Hahaha!Yeah, I can run it.
Justina Chi (17:29)
It took all these programs. So I’m like a computer nerd. So to me, I could just be like, yeah, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, Okay, it’s done. And they’re like, there’d be way no a week to try to figure it out. So.During COVID, I was a office manager, project manager for this ⁓ one restaurant. And ⁓ they didn’t have a billboard, but there was a billboard down the street that they wanted to get. So I did some research for them and I was realizing, I’m like, okay, hmm, I never thought about that. You know, because we’re just driving around and we see all these pretty billboards with the cow, what, for Chick-fil-A, and we see all these nice signs.
And we never think about it that that’s a business too. That’s a real estate business, right? So I’m like, this is interesting, okay? Because with a billboard, what do you have to do to maintain the billboard, right? So I had another client and he has this big billboard in the back of his business. And I’m like, so what are you gonna do with this? He’s like, I don’t know. I’m like, what do mean you don’t know, right? You got a whole billboard here.
Micah Johnson (18:39)
youJustina Chi (18:42)
You don’t know what you’re gonna do with it? He’s like, I don’t know, you work on it, you figure it out. I’m like, okay. So I go and I do, I love chat GBT, they’ll tell you anything, you know? So the maintain a billboard, depending if it’s Rhino or digital, right? So you need the person that’s gonna go up there or the person is gonna do it. So let’s just say that’s a couple of hundred dollars. That’s not big, right?Micah Johnson (18:53)
Right? Right.Justina Chi (19:08)
Then you need the electricity for the lights. Even if you have vinyl, you’re still gonna have some lights so it can shine. And then if you have digital, you have that. So that’s just a couple of hundred dollars too. Insurance, couple of hundred dollars, right? The big part of the billboard is really the zoning, right? And to make sure it’s the correct size and what else could be the build out of the actual billboard. Because you might have a billboard that may be old and they need to put a new one.Micah Johnson (19:26)
No.Justina Chi (19:37)
So a vinyl billboard would run you about maybe 100,000 to build and a digital billboard would run you about 400,000 to build, right?It’s well, it’s the 400,000 lot. But check this out. Companies will build the billboard for you and then they will pay you rent to rent it out. And I’m like, wow, that’s amazing. Cause I did all the research and then I contact.
What I did, I went online and I found all these companies and I sent them all the email and I’m like, yeah, I have this location. Do you need a billboard? And so for my research and talking to them, this is what I came about. ⁓ But the problem is most billboards are in industrial areas or zone for industrial, right? And here we go again with this, I’m going to say the city BS or the county BS.
But you might have some billboards that are either grandfathered in or they’re in this place and why are they at this place? Because that’s not an industrial place, right? might be, you might see houses or ⁓ like, let’s say like a insurance ⁓ office or something like that. You see a billboard, but is it zoned? Maybe it was back then and maybe they changed it because they changed the zoning all the time, right?
And so now you’re sitting there and you’re like, yeah, but we have this billboard. Why can’t we use it? You know, so that’s, that’s another part of this. So you might have these companies and that’s the, the, the halt that I got to where I had these companies that are willing to put in the a hundred thousand, four hundred thousand to build it brand new. And then they want to rent it out. They would even go to the part where I said, well, how about when you build it out, if you want to rent it from us, how about we take
one side and you take the other side. Cause I’m into business, you know. Them renting it out, you know, a billboard contract is going to be for about 30 years. They want their money because they know that it doesn’t cost anything to maintain a billboard, but you have to sell the billboard ads. So, so for the vinyl ads, they usually run anywhere between let’s say 600 to 2,500 on each side, right?
Micah Johnson (22:08)
Right?Right.
Justina Chi (22:34)
Is that you? I turned that thing off. For each, for one side, then you have the other side, and then you have the expenses that they have to pay, right? So let’s just say expenses came to a thousand, they profit three, and they’re renting for like 1500, and then they get 1500, right? And in your mind, you’re probably saying 1500 is not a lot of muff, but they’re getting that forever. 30 years is a long time. If I was 30 years old,You know, they’re paying rent until I’m 60, you know? You gotta think, the billboard’s not going anywhere. But now you have the digital ones. So the digital ones could probably make up to about $20,000 a month, depending. Because now you have some where ⁓ a person might, a company, let me say a person, a company might have theirs play in the morning, or they might have it play for one hour, or maybe it’ll play for five minutes, or maybe it’ll just pay you on the weekend.
You know, let’s say it’s something like, ⁓ I don’t know, ⁓ Michael Jordan, and Michael Johnson, Michael Jordan’s sneakers. And he wants to do it the whole entire All-Star weekend, right? And you know, so you can break it down to smaller payments. So where on the vinyl, you couldn’t really do that because who’s gonna go up and down, up and down, up and down, keep changing. They’re gonna do that just once a month, right? But with the digital, you can keep changing, changing, changing, changing, right?
Micah Johnson (23:45)
All right.Right, exactly.
Justina Chi (24:00)
But the zoning becomes the issue. So right now, our issue is that even though you’re in a commercial zoning, the billboard itself needs to be in industrial, right? All right. So now, of course, you go to zoning, right? And what do they say? Put an application in, $2,000. Right? So before you put the application in, well, no, let me rewind that.Micah Johnson (24:25)
Right. ⁓Justina Chi (24:28)
Okay, so because before you do all that, you email them, right? And they never respond. You call and they never answer. You go up there and nobody’s ever there. Is it me? I’m the only one in planning and zoning, no one’s ever available? You can never find anybody, right? So finally when they are, you give them the address.Micah Johnson (24:34)
Right.No, not just you.
you
Justina Chi (24:54)
And you say, hey, I want to put a billboard here. What do you think? And they’re like, well, that’s not zoned for that. And you’re like, OK, well, can we appeal it? Can we talk about it? And they’re like, yeah, put the application in. The application is $2,000. So I need to pay $2,000 just to ask you a question? Yeah. No, ⁓ I’m not going to pay $2,000 to ask you a question. So they’re like, all right, well, there’s other ways to go.Micah Johnson (25:12)
Right? I think you still say no to. ⁓I’m sorry.
Justina Chi (25:22)
Let me get you the correct verbiage before I say something wrong. ⁓ They have what is called the ⁓ legislative committee, right? And then you have the neighbor committee. So the legislators route, ⁓ you can go to them and you can ask them and say, hey, will you support me and go to zoning with me when we go to the court and you know, ⁓and I stand up and I say, I want to put a billboard there and you’re going to be like, that company is a great company. They put a billboard there. You’re going to get a lot of jobs. Sure. You should do blah, blah, blah. Right.
Micah Johnson (26:00)
Right.Justina Chi (26:02)
Do you know, like, when it comes time to vote for all these people, they’re always around?Micah Johnson (26:08)
Right? ⁓Justina Chi (26:11)
But then when youwanna email someone, you can never find them. find them. Right, so same thing. Yeah, they’re like, well, yeah, know, talk to your ⁓ legislature, congressperson and see if they’ll support you. So you go and you email them, you type up this nice pretty email and they don’t respond. And then you email them again and again and again. And then, you know, it’s not like, so.
Micah Johnson (26:16)
Right. Only needs stuff during election season.Justina Chi (26:41)
It’s different from planning zoning. You know what planning zoning is. You can’t just pull up to the legislator’s house. know? So you got to call. Right. So finally you get in touch with somebody and they’re like, well.Micah Johnson (26:50)
You don’t go to the door trick, my word.Justina Chi (26:59)
I’m the zoning is here, legislation is here. You need to talk to the neighborhood first and find out if they even want this billboard. Okay. So the neighborhood is kind of like HOA, right? A little bit different. All HOAs is nonprofit, the neighborhood is nonprofit. And what do you know about people that work nonprofit, except the real, real nonprofits? They never answer the phone. They never answer email. They’re not around.because this is not their job, right? They work a regular job like me and you, and then on the side, they’re like the HOA or the neighborhood HOA for the board and stuff. And they’re doing this. Why are they doing this? Because I guess somebody needs to do it. And you know how HOA is. So yeah, they have this thing called the neighborhood committee.
Micah Johnson (27:30)
Right.Not good.
Justina Chi (27:52)
And you know, that’s just like any commercial property. Anytime you want to do some of the zoning, you got to reach out to neighborhood committee. You send them a bunch of emails or letters. And when you go to court and you’re like, I want to do this. And you know, you always had that one old man, no, no, don’t tear down that house. I love that house. You know, so I go and I go and email them.Micah Johnson (28:10)
Right, the NIMBY.Justina Chi (28:19)
Let me tell you something. The worst time I think to do any type of construction business is in November because you know what happens in November, Thanksgiving, and then December, Christmas, and then New Year’s, and then Valhous. So you’re busy at work because of Valentine’s Day. They find every holiday, it’s so many, and then.Micah Johnson (28:19)
Thank you.Okay.
holiday start.
Right? Right.
Justina Chi (28:47)
these new holidays, you know? There’s all kinds of holidays. ⁓ We just had one, something, I don’t know what it was, and I’m like, that’s a holiday? They’re like, yeah, we’re off work because of that. I’m like, ⁓ God. And then, let me tell you about these government buildings. If you ever noticed and looked at the calendar, all the government holidays are usually on a Monday or a Thursday, Friday. So what they do is they take off.The whole, they literally take off, right? And they’re off Friday and they’re off Monday. So only time you can get in touch with them is either Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But guess what I’m planning on zoning? We’re not open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I don’t need my appointment only.
Micah Johnson (29:18)
Right.See Thursday.
There’s a method to the madness. ⁓
Justina Chi (29:39)
So finally,I got in touch with the guy, he’s the president of the neighborhood committee. And then he goes, well,
I don’t even know if we do that address, but I think we do, but we share it with somebody else. And I’m like, on, you know? So after I, so since November, November, December, January, and I’m on top of it. I finally get through to him and,
Micah Johnson (30:39)
Right.Justina Chi (30:49)
You know, we talk and talk and I’m like, can we just have a meeting about this? It’s like every time we talk, we just talk about how we’re just gonna meet up for the next time, but we haven’t even talked about the fact, can we do the billboard or not? That’s all I wanna know, right? So finally he’s like, he’s like,Micah Johnson (31:03)
Right.Strong alone.
Justina Chi (31:10)
Actually today I called him because I know I was gonna have this podcast with you and I called him like listen I’m about I didn’t tell him I was going on podcast, but I was like listen I’m about to go to this meeting podcast meeting and I need to tell them something I can’t just sit there and tell my gear. I was calling them since November and I still don’t have an answer That just sounds like ridiculous So he goes he’s like, yeahI looked it up and yeah, it is around a commercial area and there’s no residential there. So I don’t find any reason why we would deny the billboard. I mean, you guys should go ahead and we’ll support you because there’s no reason not to. And I’m like, okay, well, thank you.
Micah Johnson (31:56)
Great news.Justina Chi (31:57)
Right, like it took 50 months just to say that. Okay. So now, all I have to do now is go spend that $2,000 that they want that we never see.Micah Johnson (32:11)
right?Justina Chi (32:12)
Right. Who gets this too? Because what I, you know, I always wanted to know, right? I worked for the city, not that city, but another city, right? And as a project manager, I made, let’s just say I made $40 an hour, right? If someone gave me a paper to process, it would probably take me, I don’t know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. So what is the $2,000 for? What? This without job.Micah Johnson (32:33)
Right.This baby does another way to pack.
Justina Chi (32:40)
What is the $2,000for? Why do you need $2,000 to process paperwork? I don’t get it. To go for the board? Is it for the board? Is it for the meetings? What is it for? So anyway, all right. So that’s gonna be my next.
Micah Johnson (32:57)
to keep people from tryingto rezone.
Justina Chi (33:03)
Yes, now that could make sense. I could see that because in the calendar year, in the calendar year, you can only but do so much. I’ve had places in other counties, I’m not gonna mention their name, where they give you the calendar and you’re like, you only have appointments in June? Where in February? And they’re like, that’s the calendar. And I’m like, June, are you serious?You know, but then I’ve had some clients where I got permits pulled for them and they were supposed to pay and they’re like, ⁓ I don’t want to do it anymore. And I’m like, why are you wasting these people time? You didn’t, we did all this work. Now you don’t even pay for the permit. You don’t want to do the work. Why? I don’t like what they said.
Micah Johnson (33:32)
Okay.Welcome to real estate.
Justina Chi (33:55)
I don’tknow. The more properties a person has, the more bougie they get. I don’t like those people. I don’t want to do it. I’m not selling. I’m not building right now. You’ve been sitting on the land for like 50 years. Do something with it. What are you going to do? You just going to die and it’s still going to be sitting there? So anyway, make a long story short.
Micah Johnson (34:10)
Do something!Right.
Justina Chi (34:20)
So I will have to file in with the zoning. basically I will read what it says. basically rezoning the C3, which is commercial and it’s C3 is what the commercial property is. And I think the billboard needs is a C1 and to not only to change the zoning, but then I have to get a signed permit. So both, right? So we’ll pay the $2,000.Micah Johnson (34:26)
Thanks.Gotcha.
Justina Chi (34:50)
⁓ file for the zoning and then of course they’ll deny it, of course, right? Because it’s not zoned for that. And then when they deny it, then I’ll go and appeal it and then I’ll go back to that neighborhood guy and hopefully he’ll have, now this is what someone told me. They said, just because he said yes now, doesn’t mean he’s going to say yes later down the line. That’s the tricky part, you know, because it’s not like you’re going to get it in writing. It’s not a contract or agreement.Micah Johnson (34:56)
Thank you.Right.
Justina Chi (35:19)
And then it’s not justhim, you still have to go through legislators, you still have to go through the board, you still gotta get up there and tell them all this stuff. And just because he said yes, that doesn’t mean that somebody else might say, ⁓ we don’t need a billboard and blah, blah, blah. know, you just, there’s really no, there’s no residential around there. So I don’t see that happening. But I could see maybe there is a billboard that is…
way, way down the street around the corner. I could see them saying like, ⁓ that’s a conflict of interest. We already have a billboard. We don’t need another billboard. You know, who knows? But let me tell you something. Money always talks. So remember when I said I send all those emails and I got some big time companies. I’m talking about big, big time, because they have billboards in every state. And if I can get like up in front of the board and get the permit almost ready to go,
Micah Johnson (35:56)
Something silly.Right.
Justina Chi (36:15)
I can call one of them and they’ll bring their big wigs in and take over from there. They just don’t want to do the dirty work, you know?Micah Johnson (36:20)
Right. Set it up. Right.Right. They want to do the ending part. Well, it’s fascinating. Billboards is interesting. So I really appreciate you hopping on today and sharing more about it. It’s it’s I’m excited to hear what you get keep going on. I have to bring you back on here in about six months and see what’s progressed since then. So for someone that’s listening in out there, they’d like to follow along more with you, learn more. What’s the best way for them to find you?
Justina Chi (36:37)
Yeah.They can definitely hit my Instagram, is Justina ChiChi, which is C-H-I-C-H-I. That’s short for my middle name, which is Chinyeri. Because I know people like, what is that? And they can also email me at [email protected]. Everybody loves that email. They’re like, I love that email. Yeah, [email protected]. yeah. ⁓
Micah Johnson (36:46)
YeahOkay.
Justina Chi (37:13)
So look, I’m definitely me, I’m definitely good at all paperwork, ⁓ if it’s pulling permits, anything, anything that needs to be done, any evictions, any contracts, any zoning. You will not believe that I’ve been out in the field and helped with surveys and surveyors. I gave my boots off.Micah Johnson (37:35)
I would believe it. you’re taking cash for rentals when you’re in elementary school, I have no problems believing you’re out there with the surveyors. That’s been your modus operandi for some time.Justina Chi (37:43)
Yeah. Listen, I put this hair up in a bun.I get my bubble goose on and my boots and I’m out there. I’m like, what we doing? Yeah, because you gotta be on top. Listen, I gotta tell people, if you need someone to be on top of people, well, not on top of them, like standing, but you but you need somebody, I get, I’m on top of them. I guess it’s a New York thing. Cause you know, in New York, everything is ba-da-da-da, heavy up, heavy up, heavy up, heavy up. And that’s just how it is. Where are you, where are you from?
Micah Johnson (37:51)
students and faculty or staff. ⁓I got you.
That’s it, get it going. I love that. Well, thanks for being here today.
I’m from Florida, born and raised.
Justina Chi (38:14)
Okay, yeah. So Florida is nice and warm. It’s probably laid back, you know. But in New York, it was so cold. It was snowing one time in May.Micah Johnson (38:19)
It is.No, thanks. Yeah, my wife, Connecticut. That’s as much cold as I need. I’m happy here in Florida. I’m in St. Augustine and it’s, it’s just right for me. But again, I appreciate.
Justina Chi (38:25)
Just to give you an example.That’s why she
moved and came to live with you.
Micah Johnson (38:39)
That’s it. Exactly right. Exactly right. Well, again, I appreciate you being here today. Thanks so much for folks that are listening and watching. Check the show notes to get Justina’s link in her email. Reach out to her. Touch base with her. Follow along with somebody who’s doing some real work in the industry. Thank you all for being with us today. We appreciate each and every one of you watching along. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Justina out there building a real business in the industry. Thanks for being with us today. We’ll see you on the next episode.Justina Chi (39:10)
Yes, and don’t forget the TV show, Love and Basketball TV show.
