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Show Summary
In this engaging conversation, Nick Copland from MTR Authority shares his journey in the real estate industry, focusing on the midterm rental (MTR) model. He discusses the advantages of MTR over traditional long-term rentals and short-term rentals, emphasizing its potential for higher cash flow with lower risks. Nick explains how he coaches individuals looking to enter the real estate market, particularly those interested in MTR, and highlights the importance of consulting with experienced advisors to avoid common pitfalls. He also shares personal anecdotes about his family and lifestyle, illustrating how MTR has allowed him to achieve a desirable work-life balance, including plans for extended travel with his family.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Nick Copland (00:00)
If you’re paying $2,500 per month for a house and then you’re receiving 5,000. Okay. ⁓ Let’s shave off. ⁓ let’s shave off 500 for utilities and extra expenses. Your cash flowing to grand. Doesn’t that sound better than a couple of hundred in long-term rental? So what’s the difference? What do you have to do? You had to furnish the place.And people are like, okay, well, it’s 15 or 20 grand for me to furnish a place. You can, you can spend 15 or 20 grand. I never have and I don’t ever intend to. I’m averaging, you know, five to 7,000 for a three bedroom, two bath house, you know, But if you’re cash flowing 2500, look how quick that pays itself off. And then you’re in pure cash flow.
Q Edmonds (02:18)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Super excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest. Man, this guy got three businesses. I’m gonna let him tell you which one he wanna deal with, right? Because he’s a wealth of knowledge, knows what he’s doing, kept trying to trip him up. This is the guy knows what he’s doing. And so I’m excited to talk to him. I’m excited to peek through his lens. And so this is gonna be a fun episode, I really believe.And I want to introduce you all to, and I should have asked him about this last thing, but I’m going to take a crack. Mr. Nick Copland
Nick Copland (02:53)
That’s right, no E inQ Edmonds (02:55)
Yes,sir! I was paying attention! I was paying attention! How you feeling today, dude?
Nick Copland (03:01)
It’s good. I feel good. The weather is good. I don’t care, man. Let’s do this. You know, I this.Q Edmonds (03:07)
Ilove it man. Well, listen, let’s dive in I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days, right a Little bit of an origin story Nick of how you got into real estate where the patch it came from We would love to know that and if you don’t mind telling what part of the world you’re in right now because that’s gonna change very sure I mean very soon, but tell them a part of the world you may you’re sitting in right now. And so you got the tour man
Nick Copland (03:29)
All right, I’m up in the Pacific Northwest. I’m just on the west side of Portland, Oregon. So tucked right in between Mount Hood and the ocean. So easy, easy, you know, easy to have fun going east or going west for us. We love our we love where we’re located. We’ve only been up here six years, my wife and I, her name is Shannan. And been married 18 years, we have two little girls, Shannan, I were married for eight years before we had our first so both of our daughters are in elementary school.And they’re awesome. They’re a part of our company. They are involved. They are paid. know? And ⁓ yeah, they’re young, but you you look at our social media, they’re on there, you know? And we involve them in every aspect of our business that we can, regardless of their age.
Q Edmonds (04:14)
I love it. I love it. I love it. I mean, that was pretty concise, man. How about an origin story, man? Like, how did you get started into it,Nick Copland (04:21)
Yeah,sure. So I mean, if you go way back to like, when I was in elementary school, I was an entrepreneur, I didn’t come from it. My dad’s electrician, my mom worked in a pharmacy, but not a pharmacist. And you know, that’s kind of how I grew up on the youngest of three, older sister, older brother, and then me. And a lot of the friends that I had were kind of wealthy. But my family was, you know, middle of road.
So I was constantly like wanting what everybody else has that I was surrounded with when it comes to material things, you know how you can be as a kid, right? So I started becoming a hustler. It didn’t matter. So I grew up in Michigan. it was cleaning gutters, pulling weeds, raking leaves, shoveling snow, doesn’t matter. Helping with little construction projects and I was just a hustler. And then, you know, when I was 23, started my own business. I was living in Tennessee at that time. And I started a full service removal and trimming like a tree company.
Yeah. I did that for about six or six and a half years, met and married Shannan during that time. And then we have lived abroad. ⁓ After that, we’ve lived in six countries, counting the US. And we’ve taught English and helped churches and things like that, mostly in Europe. And since we came back, that’s really when we started getting into real estate. So my wife and I, have the hustle.
We have the, you know, that energy, that, that hunger, and we are motivated, sure, by, by some money, but we’re also motivated by quality of life. And that is what we have built now. So, you know, like, for example, April’s just around the corner. four of us and our family are going to be gone for two solid months. We’re doing two cruises to get us from Florida all the way to finishing in Venice, two cruises, total of 23 days. And then we’re to spend some time in Venice.
Verona, Italy, Milan, Italy, all together about two months before we come back home. So that is what I have been helping people kind of have that quality of life since the beginning of 22 is when I started giving back and, you know, developed a course and coaching and advising and consulting. So yeah, there’s a little bit about me all the way back to me as a kid, really.
So, but yeah, our passion is helping people kind of get what we’ve already gotten. I love that. I’m motivated by it.
Q Edmonds (07:38)
Yeah, no, listen, man, you kind of set me up. I love talking to someone like you because at this point, I normally prime people with this statement. I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning like no matter where you’ve been the destination of your life, where you stop, you have built momentum to make you who you are now. And so I normally prime them because I want to kind of take them back to like when they were younger to say, when did things click?But you already told me, said when I was younger, I was an entrepreneur.
Nick Copland (08:11)
I’m here to give people what they need and hopefully what they want. So I just went for it. Let’s keep going.Q Edmonds (08:16)
I love it, man. if you could put language to the characteristics that make you who you are today, what kind of language would you get it? Would you say hustler grit? Would you say ⁓ maybe ⁓ analytical? Like what are things language that will put to how the way you think and how you process to kind of make you successful?Nick Copland (08:39)
something that stuck with me, if I rewind back to when we lived in Verona, Italy, we were just living there teaching English and we were Christians, so we were going to church, but it wasn’t a church made up of a bunch of Americans in Italy, it was an evangelical Christian Italian church. when we were there, they gave me this nickname and it stuck with me, they called me the volcano. Okay, because I have ideas.I’m motivated, I’m inspired, and I like to see, I like to do things and see change. And so yeah, they call me the volcano.
Q Edmonds (09:15)
Wow, wow. listen, we both Christians, so I’m gonna dig a little deeper because we know he knew what’s when he was in our mother’s womb, right? So like, so again, why are some God, I’m, because we just, we’re here, man, with some God qualities. Like what are the things that you know God has kind of poured on you to say, Nick, hey, this is who you are, this is what I want you to do, this is who I want you to be. And I’m not gonna ask anybody this question, but Nick, I’m asking you, man, like yeah, yeah.Nick Copland (09:43)
good with it, man. You know, whatever people want to hear, I’m just trying to try to be a giver. Yeah, I’ve received so much from people and experiences over the over the years. And why not flip that around and just spray it out to everybody, right? So ⁓ something that, you know, a lot of us have some have things that happened to us in our upbringing, in our childhood, right? And we don’t need to get into the nitty gritty of you or me or whatever. But what I will say is thatthe things that we all experience, is like, we’re like a piece of clay, and we’re molded, we’re formed over time through experiences. And I think God allows us to go through certain things, so that because of those experiences, we can relate to certain people. And so, I I had some things that ⁓ I went through growing up. And I think a lot of that gave me my hustle.
Q Edmonds (10:29)
Mmm.Nick Copland (11:15)
⁓ Ultimately, after high school, I went to work for Carnival Cruise Line as an entertainer host for two years. And the funny thing is that’s when and where I became a ⁓ Godwin found me on the seven seas, you know, around on the cruise ship.Q Edmonds (11:25)
Yeah, are you serious?Absolutely, I love it, man. I love talking to people like you. I heard when I was at a very kind of crossroads in my life, I heard a pastor say, when you know who you are, you know what to do. And when he said that, that has stuck with me because it has challenged me to identify who I am. And that way, when I know who I am, I always know my why. You drop me in any situation, I know my why. When it comes to my family, you my why. But in business, I know my why.
it comes to help, know my why and that kind of pushed me to be who the direction that I’m going to. And so with that being said, you have multiple businesses that don’t successful. because you know, you, why, you know who you are. What is the next real goal for you? What are you looking to solve a scale net?
Nick Copland (12:19)
Yeah, I mean, as it relates to midterm rentals, which is the whole focus of our business life. ⁓ I feel like my wife and I and in our team, we have that really dialed in. I feel very confident with that. I don’t see any big hurdles. Of course, everybody’s talking about AI and ⁓ what do you how are you using AI and to incorporate into you know, what you’re doing now or, or whatever. So there’s always that as we’re all trying to learn that.But ⁓ for me, the next thing is just being able to work with more and more people and impact their lives. I’ve coached and worked and consulted with a lot of people who are already in real estate, like doing long term. Everybody loves that buy and hold and the appreciation over time and all that. ⁓ then you don’t have a lot of the cash flow. You’re usually a couple hundred dollars or something or a few hundred dollars is pretty typical, right?
but you had to drop 20 % or sometimes more usually, you know, to buy that investment property before it’s going to make you a couple hundred dollars a month. And I’m not okay with that. So then of course, everybody learns about STR short-term rental. And then it’s like, okay, well, there’s lots of regulations, nothing less than 30 days in lot of cities and things like that. And then there’s, you know, people partying in your place causing damage and
blah, blah, blah, the things everybody knows, it’s kind of common knowledge. think anybody who’s in real estate kind of knows the the the negatives, the potential negatives of str platform. So I love MTR, it’s the sweet spot in the middle, it’s low risk, high cash flow, and you can still have the buy and hold if they’re properties that you own. So there’s a lot of people that already have, ⁓ you know, long term tenants when those contracts end, I help them learn how to set it up.
and successfully do for MTR. So now they have the long term buy and hold, and they have the high cash flow, right? And then there’s a lot of people, probably the majority that I’ve helped that just so they know the majority of millionaires and billionaires do real estate. You know, and so they’re like, I need to get into it. But it’s so expensive, you know, referring to that 20 % to buy investment property or, you know, so what are different strategies to get into it? You know, conservatively from a financial perspective, as well as from a risk.
perspective. And I really have found in my own life and tons of people that I’ve coached, and you know, midterm rentals, I think is really great for people. And then you layer on top of that, people that would like to do the rent to rent. Right? So so me as a person, you as a person can go out, go on Zillow and find a home for rent.
You can rent it, build the contract out in a certain way between you and the homeowner where you have permission to sublet or sublease legally the property. And by the way, just to give people some value, the way that works in all 50 States is not by signing it in your personal name between you and the homeowner, but you set up an LLC. That’s a key difference. So your LLC is renting that house. And so
Then you have the ability to do this legally and you have a bunch of tax write offs as you’re setting up the property and then it’s cash flowing. And also just to give people some value, I like to drop gold nuggets here and there. Please do. Yeah, please do. Right. So if you’re renting a house for let’s say it’s a three bedroom, two bath, depending upon where you are in the United States for easy math, let’s say it’s $2,500 for you to rent that house. Right. Once you get it set up and list it in all the right places.
to find the right clients. Now we’re talking about like corporate clients. Okay. So let that set in to the type of client. We’re not talking about people on vacation. Okay. These are people for work, families, you know, a tree fell on their house. It’s an insurance booking, right? Different situations. So again, you’re, renting it for $2,500. Whether you have somebody there or not, you’re required to pay the $2,500. Right. But when you get a client, they’re not there for days, like short-term rental, they’re there for months.
Right. So you’re renting months at a time. So if my first tenant comes in and they say, okay, we’re, we think we’re going to need the place for two months and we’d like to have the option to extend. Okay. Sounds great. So then I have all the time that they’re there to find the next midterm rental client. I don’t start looking as soon as they check out and then have a few days or a couple of weeks with nobody there. No, we keep it pretty, pretty tight and pretty, pretty packed.
⁓ You know, enough time to get in there, do the proper cleaning and do any maintenance that might be needed, clogged drain or just little stuff. ⁓ I’m just, I mean, obviously I’m passionate about midterm rental. I’d like to see more and more people do it. And I just think it’s the best of both worlds in real estate.
Q Edmonds (17:51)
I it, man. I love it. Listen, I want to put a bow on this because you’ve been talking about helping people. Do mind if I give the number you told me of how many people you coach? Do you mind if I get that number? Yeah. Okay. So you coach coach over 500 people. So I want to put a bow and a tray on top when it comes to relationships, right? It sounds like relationships are obviously important to you. It sounds like you’re good at building relationships. So give me your perspective when it comes to relationship building.Nick Copland (18:01)
Yeah, it’s fine.Q Edmonds (18:20)
the premium you put on relationship building. What is your perspective when it comes to building relationships?Nick Copland (18:25)
business. mean, it’s it’s in in most things in life, but I’m going to say, especially in real estate, networking is really a key component to your success. It really is, you know, it doesn’t matter if somebody is doing the exact same thing as you but in a different geographical location around the United States, you have so much in common, right? And then you’re not just doing real estate.you’re doing midterm rentals. And so you have even more in common, right? They learn about a new platform that comes on or another a new company that has insurance specifically designed for midterm rentals and as opposed to long term rental or short term rental, you know, when you’re in a network of people, you’re just you’re just rubbing shoulders and and you’re helping them and they’re helping you. And you just you’re not in a big ocean all by yourself. You have community surrounded around you and it’s a really it’s really important. Yeah.
Q Edmonds (19:19)
Yeah. I mean, listen, and y’all take this from somebody who’s been all across the world, think six, living in six countries. I mean, and in two months, in April, during the two months, like, I think you’ve met enough people to know and hammer again how important relationship building is. And so it means a lot coming from you, somebody that’s experienced just building different relationships in different parts of the world. And so I appreciate you bringing it out, Nick. ⁓ Listen, is there any topicthat we did not touch that you want to touch on, or is there any other words of motivation, education, or inspiration you want to leave to people? If you have it, I would love to hear it,
Nick Copland (20:00)
One more gold nugget. example we were talking about together just a few minutes ago about renting a place. And I said, $2,500 is how much your, company who’s renting that house has to pay. What I didn’t say is how much you are going to rent it out to your future client for. So here’s a gold nugget. Most of the time, depends depending on the demand and the seasonality time of the year and things like that. But the majority of time you’re able to double that sometimes even more.And of course there situations for less, but think about it.
If you’re paying $2,500 per month for a house and then you’re receiving 5,000. Okay. ⁓ Let’s shave off. ⁓ let’s shave off 500 for utilities and extra expenses. Your cash flowing to grand. Doesn’t that sound better than a couple of hundred in long-term rental? So what’s the difference? What do you have to do? You had to furnish the place.
And people are like, okay, well, it’s 15 or 20 grand for me to furnish a place. You can, you can spend 15 or 20 grand. I never have and I don’t ever intend to. I’m averaging, you know, five to 7,000 for a three bedroom, two bath house, you know, but if even if you’re not good at it, you can easily do it for 10 or 12 grand, right? But if you’re cash flowing 2500, look how quick that pays itself off. And then you’re in pure cash flow.
you know, a lot of times people start a business and they try to become profitable after five years. How about two or three months? So there’s a little, little gold nugget.
Q Edmonds (21:34)
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a no brainer to me, When you put it the way you put it, it sounds pretty good to me.Nick Copland (21:42)
Yeah, right. mean, people are doing the same thing with STR. I’m not going to hide that, but they do have a lot of rules and regulations, 30 day minimum popping up all across the United States and they’re trying to come down on it. And why is that? Because hotels are feeling the threat. Right. And so they got, they have the backing, you know, billion dollar companies and they can just come down on us. But what’s, what’s not going to happen is, you know, a 30 day minimum, which our clients are usually two to six months on average.So, know, we’re not going to get cracked down on a midterminal space and we have that same high cashflow as STR, but without the risk of, you know, bachelor, bachelorette parties, ⁓ who knows what people are doing, you know, so just leave that dangling for some people.
Q Edmonds (22:25)
That part.Yeah, right, right. But us Christians don’t let me stop. me stop. Anyway, Nick Man, thank you, sir. If someone wanted to connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to get in contact with you?
Nick Copland (22:50)
Absolutely. So if you want to look us up through our website, through our website, that’s MTR, which is short for midterm rental. So it’s MTR authority.com. Okay, that’s our website. And then if you guys want to find us on social media, YouTube, TikTok. What else is there Facebook and Instagram, we’re on all four of them. And that’s just ⁓ my name and my wife’s name. So Nick and Shannan, but I’m an ICK and then Shannan, she’s got to be difficult.S H A N N A N not O N. So yeah, you guys can find us that way. And you know what, something else just popped in my head real quick, because I’m all about giving you guys value. And there’s a lot of things you can do in real estate. And four years ago, I learned about something called neighbor or neighbors, the app or the website is neighbor.com. And I’ve been working with them for four years, I’ve made $30,000 completely passive. And
now because I’ve been building it up over time, I’m averaging $1,000 a month. Now what is it right? So real quick, what it is, is if you have the house where you live or a house that you own, like as investment property, or even have permission to use somebody else’s house, you can rent out spots for people’s cars or RVs. RV could be a boat, a jet ski.
you know, an actual camping RV trailer or a motorhome, any of these things, it’s basically a parking spot, right? And so I have multiple of these and my, my smallest one gives me a hundred dollars a month and my biggest one gives me 150 a month. So with a thousand dollars a month, you can, can tell I have, you know, nine or 10 spots, right? And that’s for me, that’s divided across three of my houses. So somebody watching this right now is like, okay, light bulb, there’s some extra money that is so passive.
I mean, that takes nothing, right? You just allow people to park there and their neighbor has insurance and all the stuff. It’s kind of like how Airbnb or VRBO is like you rent somebody’s house. This is renting a little part, a little piece of their land. It’s like that. And so anyways, I know that’s for somebody watching this right now. And I love it. Like I said, extra $1,000 a month for nothing and $30,000 over four years. Okay, so
Q Edmonds (25:06)
Love it, man. Well, listen, thank you so much for sharing. Let me say this sincerely. Thank you. One, thank you for your time because obviously, know, time is very valuable, very precious. So thank you for your time. We could put a premium on our time, right? Thank you for that. Thank you for your story. I’ll put a premium on stories. Kobe Bryant said before he passed away, then nothing in this world moves without story. So there’s a story to everything.Our cameras have a story. The glasses I have won’t have a serial number. That has a story. So thank you so much for your story and the gift of your your vulnerability and transparency. And lastly, thank you for your mind. Thank you for your perspective, the way your mind thinks and bringing that to this podcast. I greatly appreciate that. Thank you so much for coming.
Nick Copland (25:52)
Q, it’s my pleasure and thank you for having me on Investor Fuel.Q Edmonds (25:56)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard the value from Mr. Nick. You got it. You can tell me you didn’t. So definitely make sure you check him out, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Nick. So sir, thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.
