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Speech Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  

Hi this is Kevin from so you guys take on real estate and if you really want to learn how to level up your life, you should be listening to the time to shine today podcast with my good friend Scott Ferguson. Time to shine today varsity squad

Unknown Speaker  0:12  

it is Scott Ferguson and this is episode 180. With my buddy from Massachusetts, Mr. Kevin shippi from two guys take on real estate yet, fd listen to the show, you got to go to two guys take on real estate YouTube channel because there’s a plethora of information you can really dig into. To really level up your real estate investing. A lot of people know that that’s how I started in Ghana gave me some financial freedom is to invest in real estate. And I don’t believe there’s a better vehicle out there. Because they’re not making any more real estate and you can get your little piece of the pie and really make a nice life for yourself. So without further ado, make sure you have your notebooks out, make sure you’re just relaxing turn everything off, because Kevin dropped some serious knowledge nuggets on how to level up your real estate investing. So here comes Kevin shippi. from two guys take on real estate. Let’s level up. Time to shine today. varsity squad, it is Scott Ferguson. And you know what the people that know me and that listen to the show, thank you so much for tuning in. That real estate was the vehicle that allowed me to achieve financial freedom, I’ll just go out there and say that along with being able to help as many people as I can, and doing something I’m very passionate about. And this is the gentleman that I’m about to bring on right now. He’s part of kind of a tandem, you know, his name’s Kevin, and he’s the property Prince. That’s what they they call him their yellow brick management. And then he’s partners with Matt, who’s the flipping landlord, Ninja. And what they really want to do is help others they’re not coming on here looking for your business. They are complete go givers, they want to help you by giving back to help you avoid the mistakes that they have came across in their real estate investing adventures. And to me, I wouldn’t do anything else. I can’t control the stock market, I can’t control what happens. But I’ll tell you what, they’re not making any more real estate and the more that you can own, I truly believe that it’s a vehicle that can help you achieve financial freedom to help you achieve leveling up your life in all aspects. Because it’s just it’s a different hat every day. And my good friend Kevin is gonna kind of come on and explain that. So Kevin, come on, introduce yourself the time to shine today. podcast varsity squad. But first, what’s your favorite color? And why?

Unknown Speaker  2:37  

Well, I think right now my favorite color is red. And

Unknown Speaker  2:41  

we’ll leave it at that just for

Unknown Speaker  2:43  

yellowbrick management. But let’s just say read for the next week. I

Unknown Speaker  2:46  

love it reds, fiery. I love it. I love it. I love it. So let’s get into the origins Kevin, of where yellow brick management what you were doing, because you had a day job punching a clock if I remember correctly, right?

Unknown Speaker  3:00  

Yeah, yeah, that’s absolutely correct.

Unknown Speaker  3:02  

tell that story fro over that. And then into yellowbrick management.

Unknown Speaker  3:07  

You know where I started? It is, you know, I was I, college educated, went to the great university of massachusetts didn’t know what I wanted to do like when you’re supposed to do after high school. And then after a couple of years of it, they’re really pushing you to declare a major. So I declared something I don’t know. And, you know, there was never a drive where I was like, You know what, I need to be a firefighter, I need to be a surgeon, I need to do whatever. And I admire people that knew exactly what they wanted to be. I thought that was weird. And such a foreign concept. I didn’t know. So when I got out of college with my degree, first thing I did like anybody else’s I got a job in retail, I don’t know, I thought it’d be a lot of fun to work at RadioShack stores, because growing up in the 80s I love RadioShack and new toys and all their gizmos, and my family was awesome about getting you that stuff. So I got into retail, I quickly started taking over management of stores manage some of the larger areas stores. And you know, I found myself being very successful doing that. And, you know, one of the things I always realized as I was doing it, I enjoyed it. But I peaked and there was no moving up really from from what I wanted in my career with that. But I realized I’m making that Corporation very successful and very wealthy, I’m taking home a paycheck, and I’m living off of it, that’s fine. But I’m making somebody else really, really rich with, you know, my hard work and my skill set, whatever, you know, whatever I developed is a skill set. So, you know, it’s a short time after that. I mean, I had met my business partner, Matt, the flipping landlord ninja as we call him on YouTube, and met him in college. And so I’ve known him all this time. And he was always very alternative. He never really liked the idea of working regular, you know, regular jobs punching clocks, and it was him that that conned me into the idea of getting into real estate and trying that out. So at that time it I was working on Just a regular nine to five job when we bought our first property. And he and I and another person, we all scraped up, you know, a few grand each five grand or something, you know, for a down payment, we got a hard money loan. And we bought this piece of crap property on a bad Street, the bad section of town, this nice side by side duplex that needed the works. And, you know, none of us really knew how to do much for that kind of stuff. You know, Matt had dabbled and failed a couple of times with remote investing in a couple of properties. But, you know, we had this duplex, we It was a horrible distressed property, we renovated it, I would literally wear crappy clothes in the morning 7am, to show up to work on it with Matt and everybody that we could have helped us. And I would bring nice clothes with me so I could change and then go to work. And then I would put those clothes back on at work and come back over to the property and work through the evening and night. On the house. We did that for quite some time.

Unknown Speaker  6:00  

So you worked. You worked your day job, but You mind your own business. Right? I pulled that right out of a purple book from Robert Kiyosaki. So that’s what, that’s how I kind of started real estate investing, as well as that, you know, I worked a day job as a personal trainer, and loved helping people, but then you know, work your day job, but mind your own business. That’s fantastic. So your first property was a duplex. And you guys like to stay hands on with the local area there and Massachusetts.

Unknown Speaker  6:30  

Yeah, I mean, this was also around 2008. So when the crash was starting to happen, and going into full effect, so we stumbled on this at the right time, and, you know, this city was was hit pretty hard, you know, as we were, you know, soon after that property. You know, as we fixed it up, we, we did what they call the bur method, which for it was a thing I guess, and, you know, with the money we pulled out of that property we use towards buying another one. And so it was really one of the coolest things to see is while trucks of handyman and local contractors are driving around with big sheets of plywood, and guys to board up houses, were showing up in these houses with crowbar. It’s off, and we’re actually bringing these houses back to life.

Unknown Speaker  7:11  

I love that. So what did your family Think about your choice of kind of leaving that, as you eventually phased out and left that nine to five? We’ll just call it that into the real estate investing pretty much full time.

Unknown Speaker  7:24  

Yeah, nobody really, you know, understood. And, you know, I think the bigger comment that I probably got at that point was like, wow, this is a really bad time to buy property, you know, wow, the markets terrible, why would you Why would you invest? Why would you buy houses now the markets, though, you see what’s going on? And, you know, that kind of a thing. And, you know, that just the real basic concept that alluded the general people, which is, you know, this is the best time to start investing is when things are crashing.

Unknown Speaker  7:51  

Right? Tell me about one of those fails that where you had to fail forward and and learn from that you want to help people help avoid?

Unknown Speaker  7:59  

I don’t even know where to I just don’t know where to start. You know, we, we’ve had so many times that, you know, we would make just mistakes. Yeah, I think the the bigger and more general one that that I would probably say was it was one of the larger setbacks for us was, uh, you know, and I think a lot of people would say this in real estate would be, you know, shoving just shoving people into a rental, just get somebody in there and get the place rented, just get some money coming in? Sure. Because my I mean, what a terrible effing strategy that was, you know, we, I think at one point, we moved in a, you know, like 40, or 50 different people into our portfolio, very, very, in a very, very short succession. And this was part of a local program, this state has a ton of money that it puts into homelessness prevention. So it was keeping homeless people or people that declared themselves as homeless in hotels, I mean, they were literally paying for people to live in hotels, and realize it’s way cheaper if they could just get them into an apartment, it’s better for the family, you know, it’s a home, and it’s cheaper. So we were taking people in embracing this program, hand over fist without really doing enough due diligence and tenant screening. And man, did we pay a massive price so you know, we got the the assistance, money and some of the maybe some stipend to help you know, that the payments happen for a little while. But the problems far outweighed the small rent, we were getting paid. And eventually, the rent stipends run out, the support system expires, and you’re left with people that won’t pay and are destroying your property. And that costs us so much more in the long run. So that was probably one of the most damaging things.

Unknown Speaker  9:41  

So you obviously you kind of tweaked that you ship it, you know, shifted and pivoted to how to to put more qualified tenants in there. I appreciate you sharing that with us. So if someone comes into real estate investing, and they’re coming to you and they’re in there like Kevin, you’re really looking to get into Real Estate Investing? Is there any good formula or secret sauce you might pass on to them to help them find their blind spot within the real estate investing arena?

Unknown Speaker  10:13  

Yeah, I mean, yes. And it’s hard to describe, it’s a little bit less tangible, but I would say, have, you know, gauge and have a better a good temperament for doing this? And that, you know, it’s one thing I don’t like to compliment myself much. But it’s one thing, I have gotten a lot of feedback from people saying, wow, you know, you have a great temperament for doing this. And I said, Well, thanks. You know, I’m a little bit awkward about accepting the compliment. But, you know, it’s not something that I always had. And it’s not something a lot of my teammates, my partners always share either, when somebody’s not paying when somebody is doing something wrong, a lot of people think, man, you got to be hard on them, you got to be you know, you got to yell at them, you got to make them pay for stuff, you got to kick them out, you know, you have to be aggressive, you know, and loud and really, you know, harass that person and get them to do what you need them to do. And although it’s important to enforce rules and enforce payment, I think it’s more important to have the right temperament of how to do it. And I like to describe it as saying, you have to be prepared to be firm, but fair with your people. You can’t kick somebody out for not paying, if you legitimately haven’t been doing your end of the bargain, which is, you know, making sure your property’s running, right, the heat working, all that kind of stuff. You know, so really, you know, making sure you’re not handling emotion in real estate with a lot of motion. Dealing with tenants, especially, you know, if you’re holding your property and renting, if you’re renting and dealing with tenants from an emotional point of view, you should be looking at from a balanced fairness point of view. Because ultimately, I mean, at least where I am, where we have a very liberal tenant law system and a court system that backs it up, sure, you’re going to be explaining yourself to a judge who’s going to do exactly that, they’re going to weigh this stuff out. So I just automatically try to treat every situation as if the judge is standing right in front of me, and I’m explaining That’s awesome.

Unknown Speaker  12:06  

That’s fantastic. So the follow up in the question, if, you know, you’re kind of like, you feel the need to take someone under your wing and kind of help them out in their journey with the real estate investing. What is there any good question that you wish they would ask you, but never do?

Unknown Speaker  12:27  

Yeah, I guess just about almost almost every aspect of it, I can usually tell tell people, the pros and cons of it. You know, when it comes to rental properties, you know, in dealing with tenants, you know, we get people get very surprised when they hear about one of our practices, and then I will, you know, be happy to give them kind of like, well, this is why we do this, but you know, this, you could also do it this way. And you need to figure out what makes the most sense for you. So, you know, a newbie, you know, tenant newbie landlord might rent a multifamily house out, you know, three bedroom, three family house, and traditionally they leave, you know, the tenants having access to the basement where they have washer and dryer hookups and all that kind of stuff. And I, you know, if somebody was having me mentor them, I would advise them very strongly against that. Gotcha. Give them basement access, don’t give them washer and dryer hookups don’t allow washers and dryers and units don’t allow storage in the basement or access to the heating systems or circuit panels or any of that stuff. And here’s why. Right? No. All right. So, yeah, and I mean, I’d be happy to you know, weigh them out the reasons that some of those things may have some value, so they can make a decision for themselves. But those kind of things. Easy, easy and happy to always go over with people love it. Love that. That’s fantastic.

Unknown Speaker  13:44  

Yeah. So let’s get in our your know you said you grew up kind of in the 80s. Let’s let’s get in our DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the 20 year old Kevin.

Unknown Speaker  13:55  

What kind of knowledge notice about myself that don’t do it?

Unknown Speaker  14:00  

What kind of knowledge nuggets would you drop on Kevin? To help him level up shorten his learning curve? And blaster?

Unknown Speaker  14:08  

Yeah. Well, I mean, it’s actually not to plug it but you know, we have a YouTube channel and my partner Matt and I are literally doing just that we’re trying to drop out some of the nuggets of some of our experiences we’ve had over the years. Because, you know, that’s when I say that all the time out the door. And I mean, man, if I could go back in time, I would say oh my god, don’t do this avoided. Reference. This was so hard. But you know what I first thing I would probably say is is find somebody to shadow. You know? Yes. Thank

Unknown Speaker  14:40  

you for saying that.

Unknown Speaker  14:43  

Yeah, I I love the concept of just get out of bed and go do something and make it happen and force your way through it with that you can make it but it will be so much easier if you’re able to follow in someone’s footsteps and Renting property and real estate is, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here, though so many people have done it so successfully emulate successful ones, look at bad behavior, learn from bad behavior, learn from mistakes, you know, you’ll make fun of your own. But, you know, I’ve made so many in every aspect of our business, that I’m always happy to share what I learned from the mistakes, because that’s one of the things we found it really, really critical. To buy something was a weak point for us. We always try to put a procedure or a system in place to avoid it.

Unknown Speaker  15:34  

Love it. So how do you want your dash remembered then Kevin, that that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date? How do you want Kevin’s dash remembered?

Unknown Speaker  15:46  

Wow, that’s a great, it’s a great one. You know, I don’t know, I guess I would say, you know, I like I would like to have people remember and think of think of me as somebody who was a provider. I provide dozens of jobs. We work with many contractors who have families and employees. We support a lot of businesses, you know, obviously Home Depot, but a lot of local places as well. We have had over 500 families. And for our first year, we gave away turkeys to our first 20 units that we ever had. And our next year when we had four units, you know, we gave away 40 turkeys and hand delivered these things. And I think we got up to about 300 turkeys one year before we were able to not be able to support that anymore, as you might imagine. But sure. Yeah, I think I think somebody had to, you know, somebody that’s a good provider, you know,

Unknown Speaker  16:42  

for the shoes for yourself or family but for the local businesses, and it’s expanding that ripple effect. I thank you for saying that. So what is your definition of a life well lived then?

Unknown Speaker  16:58  

That’s it. Wow, man, we’re getting some insightful.

Unknown Speaker  17:02  

Today, we’re not top 100 for nothing, people want to know.

Unknown Speaker  17:06  

I appreciate it.

Unknown Speaker  17:09  

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, feeling satisfied that you did, and tried your best that you made a positive difference within your sphere and making your sphere be as large as possible. So it affects positively as many people as you were able to. Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m one of those people that I’m one of those people that does, you know, really does care and does want to see, you know, positive change in the world. And, you know, whatever, whatever can be done to do that. That’s awesome.

Unknown Speaker  17:39  

That’s awesome. As we wind things down just a little bit here. We’d like to do our time to shine leveling up lightning round. You and I could talk 1520 minutes on each one of these questions. Okay, but you got five seconds and each one of them can be answered in five seconds. So you ready to level up? Okay.

Unknown Speaker  17:56  

We’ll see what I can do

Unknown Speaker  17:57  

do it. Let’s do it. What’s the best leveling up advice Kevin’s ever received?

Unknown Speaker  18:05  

Wow, what’s the best leveling up advice I’ve ever received? Correct? Yeah, you know, you have to sometimes make a decision and and you know, figure out how to make that decision work for you. Love it.

Unknown Speaker  18:17  

share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Unknown Speaker  18:23  

Oh, absolutely treating everybody the way I would want to be treated.

Unknown Speaker  18:25  

You go there the rule right baby. Love that. Yeah. Okay. Not other than yellow brick.org your website and time to shine today.com I you know, shameless plug. Is there any other website you’re like to go to level up?

Unknown Speaker  18:41  

Yeah, I mean, really love people to tune in and check us out on our YouTube channel. Which is two guys take on real estate. Beautiful. I

Unknown Speaker  18:49  

love that you guys take on real estate. That’s sweet. So recommend me a book man if I’m feeling my doldrums not really feeling it? Fergie, you read this book. What’s your book?

Unknown Speaker  19:02  

I liked one of my favorite series ever was the Wheel of Time Series it was by Robert Jordan real similar to the Lord of the Rings Tolkien ones and yeah a lot of awesome elements in there one of the things was probably about honor and obligation love it

Unknown Speaker  19:17  

a lot of good lessons. I love reading fiction with lessons bro. That’s my kind of jam too. So what’s your most commonly used emoji when you text cuff?

Unknown Speaker  19:26  

Definitely a smiley face I mean if you look at the look like frickin Cheshire

Unknown Speaker  19:31  

Cat

Unknown Speaker  19:32  

Yeah. You know people you know incoming traffic at night and they know it’s me because they see the

Unknown Speaker  19:40  

good you know, favorite charity organization like to give your time and or money to.

Unknown Speaker  19:45  

Oh, animal rescue. We have a local animal shelter. I’ve rescued so many animals, we save so many animals that were left behind in our apartments. It’s It’s horrible. That’s awesome. And we have an office full of dogs and dog beds around here. So

Unknown Speaker  19:58  

let’s do that. frickin awesome, dude, thank you for doing that man. How about last question. You can elaborate on this one a little bit? What’s the best decade of music? 6070s 80s or 90s?

Unknown Speaker  20:11  

I gotta say 90s. Yeah. Nice.

Unknown Speaker  20:12  

All right, very cool. Very cool. Love it, man. So how can we find your brother?

Unknown Speaker  20:18  

Well, I mean, like I said to guys take on real estate, that’s our YouTube channel. You know, we’re having a blast putting out videos. You know, we’re probably not as production value savvy as you are at this point. But we’re working on getting our way up there and just cranking these things out. So do you guys take on real estate on YouTube, we started the tic toc channel, same name, two guys take on real estate. That’s become a lot of fun. We’re just coming up with creative things to do and say on those. So I love it.

Unknown Speaker  20:46  

So definitely

Unknown Speaker  20:46  

check that out, get back

Unknown Speaker  20:48  

all that will be in the show notes and squad you basically just had a free masterclass from my good friend Kevin here who, you know it everyday lives his passion, you know, he made others wealthy before and then you know, with the help of his good friend, Matt, they kind of made a collaboration that really makes it work that really help others. You know, he’s gonna remind you, if you’re a landlord, make sure your tenant screening protocol in place. So you make sure you’re not filling people just with heartbeats, and make sure that you put the people in there that it’s going to serve themselves, but also serve your company as well, you know, have a good temperament. You know, he’s gonna say that, you know, that, you know, as soon as Kevin developed the good temperament, he became fair, firm, but he was fair. So he pictured himself every time in the real estate business, including myself, I’ve been to court many times. I love his analogy of standing on the line and acting like you’re in front of the judge that at the time before you really speak to the tenant about anything that might be going sideways. You know, if you’re getting started in real estate, Kevin’s to remind you to find somebody to shadow, find that mentor, you know, to also learn from your mistakes, but when you learn from your mistakes, pay it forward. so other people can learn, like Kevin and Matt do with two guys take on real estate, which will be in the show notes. Okay, you know, he Kevin wants to be known as someone that provided employment not only to his team, but to also help out the local businesses, the big box businesses in his area, and he’s doing just exactly that. You know, he wants to be remembered as someone that tried his best made a positive difference within his sphere. And that ripple effect is going to take it elsewhere. And Kevin, you’ve earned your varsity letter here at time to shine today, varsity squad. We appreciate your time. Thank you for coming on being so transparent. I look forward to doing some collaborations with you guys in the future brother.

Unknown Speaker  22:35  

Oh, we’re always open everything and hopefully I’m sorry, Matt wasn’t able to be here. But hopefully it’s man who can hear that too.

Unknown Speaker  22:44  

Well, thanks, brother. I appreciate you.

Unknown Speaker  22:49  

I appreciate you having me on. Thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker  22:52  

Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast. Proudly brought to you by southern New Jersey real estate real estate excellence, who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter in nugent.com. If you’re a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on time to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com slash guests. If you liked this episode, please subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a link in the show notes to our website. Also there you will see our recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you’ve been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating and tell your friends how to subscribe while you’re at it. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up. It’s our time to shine.

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