Jan. 13, 2026

How a Pilot Bought a $10M Hotel Without Managing a Single Employee | Curt Marker E66

How a Pilot Bought a $10M Hotel Without Managing a Single Employee | Curt Marker E66
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Think you need hotel operations experience to invest in boutique hotels? That belief may be the only thing standing between you and building serious commercial real estate wealth.

In this episode, you'll discover how a Gulfstream pilot raised $1.5 million and became co-GP on a 130-room boutique hotel in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains - without managing a single employee or making a single bed.

A private jet captain who flies billionaires by day reveals his exact framework for partnering on commercial deals, vetting operators, and bringing value to the table through capital raising and deal analysis - not daily operations. When a USDA loan delay tested the partnership and threatened investor confidence, his communication strategy and the GP team's quick action turned a challenge into a case study on how strong partnerships weather any storm.

In this episode, you'll discover:

  • How to add massive value as a hotel investor without operations experience (the skills that actually matter)
  • Why 80% of Curt's $1.5M came from his existing network (not Instagram followers) and how to leverage yours 
  • The critical questions to ask operating partners before co-signing on a major hotel acquisition 
  • Why booking 3,000 additional room nights and raising ADR from $85 to $129 proves the value-add model works 
  • The monthly communication framework that kept 100% of investors confident during an 8-month loan delay
  • How GPs can inject capital at 10% interest to avoid diluting investor shares during unexpected shortfalls

If you're ready to stop letting "lack of operations experience" keep you out of hotel investing, this episode shows you exactly how to raise capital, structure partnerships, and protect investor relationships, even when deals don't go according to plan. This is proof that you can build commercial real estate wealth without being the operator

About Captain Curt

Curt Marker is a 15-year veteran pilot and the CEO of Captain Capital, a commercial real estate firm specializing in developing high-demand assets such as small-bay industrial flex space and boutique hotels. As a third-generation aviator and active private jet captain for billionaires, Curt translates elite "cockpit discipline," safety checklists, and high-level service into rigorous risk management for his real estate projects. He is widely recognized for his radical transparency and "skin in the game" philosophy, focusing on building long-term trust and resilient wealth for his investor partners. Curt also hosts The Captain Curt Show, where he educates professionals on transitioning tax-inefficient income into high-performing, cash-flowing commercial portfolios.

Connect with Captain Curt

Connect with Curt on LinkedIn.

Follow Curt on Instagram or visit their Website.

Learn how to use AI to underwrite faster, streamline operations, automate the busy work, and make better decisions. Start your 7-day free trial of the AI for CRE Collective here.

Connect with Michael on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Email Us at info@hotelinvestorplaybook.com

Visit the Hotel Investor Playbook Instagram

Invest with Malama Capital

Submit a deal

WEBVTT

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If you've been on the sidelines of boutique hotel investing because you're worried about operations, like how the hell am I supposed to manage this thing?

00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:09.279
Here's what you need to hear.

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You don't have to.

00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.960
My guest today is Kurt Marker.

00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:23.120
He's a professional pilot who raised a million and a half dollars and became a partner on a 130-room hotel deal without ever talking to a single employee.

00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:31.440
He brought capital raising, strategic guidance, and his balance sheet to the table while the operating partner handled the day-to-day.

00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:33.520
And that's a real lane that you can play in.

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And we don't just talk about the highlight reel, we get into what happens when a deal gets messy, specifically a loan delay that dragged on, created real pressure, and forced hard decisions.

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The most valuable part is how Kurt and the team communicated it to investors month by month without losing trust.

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So whether you're looking at your first hotel deal or you're already in the game, this episode gives you a real-world look at roles, risk, and what professional communication actually looks like when things go sideways.

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.120
Let's get into it.

00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:37.280
On this podcast, we talk story about everything you need to know to make money investing in hotels and in hospitality assets.

00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.640
My guest today is my man, Kurt Marker.

00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:47.920
This is a guy who flies Gulf Stream jets for billionaires by day and raises millions for commercial real estate deals by night.

00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.599
So, Kurt, you're a pilot who's built this real estate portfolio.

00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:55.439
It includes everything from boutique hotels, flex space.

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Look, I want to know all about your capital raising efforts.

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I want to know about how you've built a personal brand.

00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:05.599
I want to jump into some of the deals that you're investing in from residential to commercial.

00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:07.200
So we're gonna get into all of this.

00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:08.960
But first of all, welcome to the show.

00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:09.599
Thanks a lot.

00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:10.560
Excited to be here.

00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.120
Yeah, so a little fun fact, right?

00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:14.560
We went to the same high school.

00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.400
We grew up in Carlsbad, California.

00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:17.199
Kurt, what are you?

00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:18.240
Are you like a year younger?

00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:19.360
You were a grade below me.

00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:19.759
Is that right?

00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:20.400
Yeah, yeah.

00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.360
I think you're 98.

00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:22.319
I'm 99.

00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:24.719
And uh I think you were football, right?

00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.400
I played football before, but I was a water pollen swimmer, so kind of hung with that crowd.

00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.719
And yeah, you know, we didn't really quite cross paths in high school, but you know, it's interesting.

00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:35.759
Like later in life, we've got a lot of things in common now.

00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:41.120
I mean, from just being from the same town, but investing in real estate, a lot of the same personal connections.

00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:42.240
You know, we've talked now.

00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:51.039
It's like we're kind of in that same path with kids and investing in real estate and balancing work, life, and trying to sneak in trips to Fiji and things to go surfing.

00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:58.080
And so it's interesting how although in high school we didn't necessarily hang out, now it's like, well, man, like I feel like we we've got a lot in common.

00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:59.599
So it's good to circle back later in life.

00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.520
Yeah, it's it's a funny, long, long story, long story coming up.

00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.919
But it's great when you, you know, you connect with people that what you're doing at that time.

00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.080
So a lot of my high school friends are great people.

00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:14.400
We were friends for a long time, and then now my friends are business people, right?

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People that are growing wealth and I'm dedicated to my kids just like you are.

00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.280
It's the struggle being a parent, but being, you know, a little bit of a workaholic, right?

00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.439
I'm still trying to build but balance life.

00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:31.360
So, like after this Zoom call we're having the podcast, like I'm going family time, going to Legoland or Chuck E.

00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.280
Cheese for the rest of the day, and I'm shutting work down.

00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:42.080
So I'm still learning the balance, but it's real fun to reconnect and uh really talk about growing wealth and providing for a family is the reason we're both growing wealth, right?

00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.400
So I think we have a similar, similar look on life when I think it's a big deal.

00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:48.000
Yeah, different chapters in life.

00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.719
You you've got friends like that that fill a very important role at different points in time.

00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:57.520
But like you said, right now it seems like you know, I follow you on social media and I I see a lot of what you're posting.

00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.719
And some of it relates to like, well, finding out your why, right?

00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:03.280
There's this uh mindset piece that you often talk about.

00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:04.639
Like, what am I working so hard for?

00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.479
You know, am I just a hamster or a tread wheel?

00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:08.319
Or am I is there a larger purpose?

00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.319
I definitely want to unpack that a little bit.

00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:16.319
I think you got a lot to offer, especially for for perhaps younger listeners that are trying to figure out who they want to be.

00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.160
I mean, you've you've got some whiskers, right?

00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:30.160
You and I are not necessarily the youngest guys in the room, but we've gained some experience over the years, and so I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned, and I'm excited to pick your brain a little bit about where you are now and where you plan on being and how you got there.

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It is 2026.

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It is the first week in January, and I'm stoked that you're actually so this is the first episode that I'm recording this year.

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You know, obviously these episodes are not live, and so I took a couple weeks off for the holidays and I'm back in the podcast seat.

00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:52.000
And I want to start out with a banger episode, and I'm so pumped that it's you, Kurt, because you got a lot to offer.

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.199
So let's get into it.

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Well, let's start with a little bit about what you got going on in 2026.

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Like, what are you focused on?

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What's on your plate for this year?

00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:03.279
Well, I'll start with the most important part to me.

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I've kind of dedicated my 2026 to charity.

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As I get older and as my kids get older, you know, I'm leaning into not just making money and providing for the family, it's about giving back to other people.

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So the first thing I tell everybody right now, 2026, I'm raising money for kids that are critically sick.

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One of them being is my son's teacher.

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He's 10 years old, he's been battling leukemia for five years.

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Does it relate to real estate?

00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:29.360
No.

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But as I get older, like I want to get more out of life than just money and buying things and going on vacation.

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So it's some I'm I'm not a runner, so I'm turning into a runner to raise money for sick kids.

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I have a child of the 10-year-old I just spoke about.

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I'm gonna grant him a wish this summer, which is a beach house and oceanside for a week for his friends to visit.

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And then we're flying him on a private jet.

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I have a client that donated that up to San Francisco to go to the Pokemon World Championships.

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So I'm excited about charity for 2026 and bringing the people that want to change people's lives along with that.

00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:09.600
So honestly, I'm probably dedicating like 25% of my time to learn using my fundraising techniques before charity.

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A lot of people want to give, they just don't know or trust where they're gonna give.

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So that's the biggest thing for me in 2026.

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The second piece of that would be business.

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25 was a challenging year for a lot of people with rates kind of still high for development or acquiring assets, as you know.

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Rates are finally coming down in 2026.

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I believe they're gonna come down a lot more, especially in May when Jerome Powell gets replaced.

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I believe we'll have a very real estate friendly nominee as long as the Senate approves.

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So, my focus in 2026 is to buy more land and do some of my industrial developments that I really enjoy.

00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:53.519
They're pretty simple projects, and I like kind of being the quarterback as a CEO or developer.

00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:55.759
You're kind of the quarterback of a lot of moving parts.

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The second piece of that is I'm gonna go ahead and acquire, I haven't acquired anything, an existing building in over two and a half years, just over two and a half with the last hotel.

00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:17.040
So I'm gonna probably acquire one or either a hotel or an industrial building like mine and use the bonus depreciation since we got 100% back.

00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:21.920
The last thing I will comment is I I'm going into a new asset class.

00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.279
Uh, even though I like staying in my lane and I'm really an expert in industrial, which I'm building now.

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I focus on it every day.

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I'm learning.

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I'm partnering up with a friend of mine who actually was on my podcast, and he's a broker in San Diego, and he builds a lot of the ADUs near San Diego State University.

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So we're closing on our first development project February 1st.

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Thing I like about this is number one, he's already a broker that sold 30, almost like 26 million in 2025 in his first year at his new brokerage.

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He's the ADU expert.

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There's multiple people in San Diego doing it, but he has a lot of experience.

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So what you do is you buy a single family home.

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The one we're buying is a five bedroom already, and we're gonna add an ADU that's six bedrooms in the back.

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So now you got 11 bedrooms near San Diego State University.

00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.040
They rent them out by the room.

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Investors are buying those like a commercial project, like a commercial product on a cap rate.

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There's a lot of money to be made because ADUs were building them for $350 a square foot and selling them for about $700.

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So it's just the the uh same, the same square foot price as the main house.

00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:35.039
Well, what I noticed that you are are doing, and I've just kind of followed along your journey a little bit on social media.

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You have a really big presence on Instagram, you've got a lot of followers and things.

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But what I can tell is you're pretty much real estate agnostic.

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Like if the deal makes sense, hey, you'll you'll pursue it.

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You're not just stuck into one particular asset class.

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And depending on your theory, that could be a good or bad thing.

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Some people argue, like, look, stay in your land, be hyper-focused.

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I had folks that say the key to productivity is becoming a master in one thing, but you're kind of a you know, jack of all trades in a sense.

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Like you've invested in flex space, you've invested in boutique hotels, you're now getting into the ADU play.

00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:10.960
And so, how do you kind of balance all these different shiny balls?

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Do you feel like this is a distraction or do you feel like it's an advantage that you're flexible?

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So I would say it's a little bit of both because in my past, as a newer investor, I was flipping homes, then I was flipping fourplexes and then managing fourplexes.

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Then I wanted to get I bought a mobile home park because I wanted to scale, right?

00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:31.039
It was an easier way to scale.

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A lot of seller financing in mobile home parks.

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That deal went well, except for my partner.

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So I think it's you got to be careful how quick you jump to an asset class.

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And it is hard if you're trying to manage four different asset classes, four different states.

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I have projects in multiple states, but with zoning regulations or operations with STRs, right?

00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:56.559
We're talking about short-term rentals starting to get outlawed in certain cities.

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I think it's good to be flexible, but you really got to have a base.

00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.399
So I've been I've been investing for 10 years now.

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.440
I had a finance and economics base before that.

00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.840
So what I'm learning is I kind of mentioned I'm a good quarterback.

00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:16.799
So if I can find the right partner, which I have failed at that before, when a partner is they've talked how good they are at this.

00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:21.440
And then as soon as you bring the money or you close, they kind of like don't do what they promised.

00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:26.480
So I found myself in a couple deals that didn't go well, and I wanted out of those deals for months.

00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.639
So you got to be careful of that if you're dipping around.

00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.679
But what I'm doing is I'm partnering with people like our hotel.

00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.639
Blake Daly is the main operator of that hotel.

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I'm not on the phone with employees all day long.

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I think we have 12 staff over there.

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I've never talked to a single one of them.

00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.440
So I brought a lot of money to the table.

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I signed on the note with Blake.

00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.039
So there's a lot of liability there on a $10 million note.

00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:52.159
Let's pause there for a minute because I want to dig into this a little bit.

00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:55.039
So yeah, I mean, you've got a lot going on, man.

00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:57.919
But look, let me just summarize your investment journey here.

00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:01.360
So sure, you started investing in residential real estate.

00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:03.440
You were doing some house hacking, from what I understand.

00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:07.039
You did some flips, then you transitioned into mobile home parks.

00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.679
And then you decided at one point, hey, you know what?

00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:13.840
I'm gonna get out of residential and I'm gonna, I'm gonna go into commercial real estate.

00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:19.440
What was it about commercial real estate that you felt, okay, that's the path for me to go?

00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:24.960
Where were what were the advantages in commercial real estate versus what you were doing in residential?

00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:33.519
The commercial real estate, I mean, I fly private jets for some people that are commercial real estate individuals, or I've been at conferences with people that do residential and commercial.

00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.279
What I found is commercial are just bigger projects, and most of them you need partners for.

00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.000
They're hard to do by yourself if you go to a larger one.

00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:46.399
But it seemed like there's a lot more money to be made in commercial and quicker.

00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:54.000
So even though you can make 100 grand, 200 grand on flipping a house, it's nonstop every day on the phone with contractors, this and that.

00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:02.080
I like to draw of commercial, but because I'm kind of a high net uh high income earner, commercial banks love loaning me money now.

00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.519
Where when I was flipping homes, I was making a hundred to two hundred grand a year.

00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.120
That's about all the loans I could get were enough loans to flip two homes a year.

00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:09.519
Yeah.

00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:11.840
So do you own any short-term rentals?

00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:17.200
I only own one and I really use it more as a personal vacation house, but I do operate it as a short-term rental.

00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:22.639
Hey guys, people have been hitting me up asking if I have a mastermind or a course.

00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:27.840
I don't run one right now, but I do know the legit operators in this space.

00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:39.200
If you're thinking about paid education and you want my honest take on who I'd talk to for your situation, just email me info at hotelinvestorplaybook.com.

00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.960
I read every email and I'm happy to point you in the right direction.

00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:46.559
I mean, the thing is like short-term rentals are cash cows, right?

00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:48.720
There's very there's like a low barrier to entry.

00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.080
I mean, I love short-term rentals.

00:12:50.080 --> 00:13:01.519
Honestly, if I could buy more short-term rentals and be successful, like I know that commercial real estate has its perks in terms of like getting additional loans and equity appreciation and all this, but I mean, there's cash in short-term rentals.

00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:06.639
Like you can you can buy a home and immediately start seeing a nice, healthy cash flow return on it.

00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:07.039
I don't know.

00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:08.480
What are your thoughts on short-term rentals?

00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:10.080
Yeah, I mean, I like them.

00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.840
What I have found is like I thought I was gonna scale and buy more of them.

00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:15.840
I bought mine in March of 2020.

00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.159
I did very well for about two years, and then everyone bought them in my town.

00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:23.120
I picked that place because I wanted to go on vacation there.

00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:24.960
So it's a house that I'm gonna hold forever.

00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.960
It's a 2.75% interest.

00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.279
But if you're doing short-term rentals, you're right, it's a low barrier to entry.

00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:37.759
I think I put down 20 grand on that house and then I remodeled it and furnished it for 40,000.

00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:39.840
I refinanced 50 grand back out.

00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.000
I was 10,000 into owning that house.

00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.519
That's a pretty good deal.

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:50.639
But if you're gonna go into STRs, I feel like Airbnb and VRBO are always changing that platform.

00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:58.000
So you really kind of need to focus on it or have a manager manage it for you that's an expert with all the different little things.

00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.960
I was very into it for the year I was operating it.

00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.879
And that's right before I started flipping home.

00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.840
So it's kind of like my one thing I focused on at the time.

00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:12.000
I have friends that are doing very well in the short-term rentals, and I also have friends that are not doing so well and may want to get rid of them.

00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:18.480
But I think the key difference is during COVID, people like were kind of over going to hotels.

00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.919
They all wanted the bigger homes with pools and all the amenities.

00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:30.080
So, right now, if you're gonna do short-term rentals, the ones that are cash cows, in my opinion, have a bunch of amenities, whether it's a pickleball court, a nice pool.

00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.559
I've seen like golf simulators going in.

00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:36.960
They're definitely more money, but they're equivalent to kind of running a hotel, in my opinion.

00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:38.879
Yeah, I think that's a natural progression.

00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.639
I call short-term rentals kind of like the gateway drug for me because once I got a taste of the cash flow, I was addicted.

00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:45.919
I was like, oh my God, hospitality.

00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.000
This is an asset class that I want to be a part of.

00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:59.039
I want to show, I want to demonstrate an example because what you just said is, hey, look, if you are gonna go into SDRs, you need to pick something that's got some sort of amenities, got to have some sort of maybe it's a larger home.

00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:04.080
I've got two short-term rentals in Hawaii and they're they're cash cows, but there's there is a barrier to entry.

00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:13.919
You can't just go buy a short-term rental, at least, not a four-bedroom and a nice home in in Maui where I live, because there's rules and there's regulations and there's a limited, there's a finite supply.

00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:19.440
So I have this moat where I got something before it's just not like an endless abundance of supply.

00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:20.720
So this is very unique.

00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:23.600
Now, compare that to my home in San Diego.

00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.759
So I recently just started short-term renting a home.

00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:26.960
I've owned it for 20 years.

00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:30.799
I had it as a long-term rental, and it was kind of, you know, it was a little bit beat up over time.

00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:40.080
And I put about a hundred grand, 150 grand into it to spruce it up, new roof, backyard, redid the backyard, just really kind of gave it the love that it needed.

00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.759
And so this property, you know, I bought it many, many years ago.

00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:44.399
It's gone up.

00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.039
I've got over a million dollars in equity over time.

00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.080
That's just appreciated.

00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:50.480
A California home in San Diego is gonna go up.

00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.000
I, you know, I'm fortunate in that regard.

00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.720
But when I'm short-term renting it, I'm doing the math on this.

00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:58.799
It's nowhere close to the type of cash flow that I'm getting for my Hawaii properties.

00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:01.039
I think, you know, and this is a good beach property.

00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:04.399
I mean, it's in a beach area, so you would think, oh man, this thing's gonna kill it.

00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:08.080
I'm projecting around $30,000 a year for that short-term rental.

00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:09.279
Hey, that's not chump change.

00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:09.759
I'll take it.

00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:10.639
I'm grateful.

00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.840
But I've got a million dollars tied up in this thing.

00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:22.000
$30,000 on a million dollars, like the the return on my investment's not fantastic when you put it in that perspective.

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.799
And that's why I'm starting to shift my focus more into hotels.

00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:31.440
This is one of the big reasons why I'm looking at investing and taking that money.

00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:39.600
I'm thinking about selling this premier location property in San Diego and doing a 1031 exchange into a hotel.

00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:48.159
Currently, I'm about to enter into a transaction in Idaho and I'm gonna transfer a million dollars of 20 years of equity into a commercial asset.

00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.200
And why would I do that?

00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.639
Well, it's because with commercial real estate, there's levers that you can pull.

00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:58.399
And when I do the math on the equity multiplier, commercial real estate isn't always about cash flow.

00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:02.799
It's oftentimes about pulling the lever where you can generate massive equity.

00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:09.359
And I think that's the unifying principle when you look at all of these different assets that you're currently evaluating.

00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:14.319
It doesn't matter if it's hospitality, flex space, if you're doing the ADU thing.

00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:19.440
I mean, regardless, you're looking and you're referring to constantly how do I build equity?

00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:24.640
How do I build massive wealth over a shorter, relatively shorter period of time?

00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:34.880
In my opinion, it so look, it took a million dollars to generate, I'm sorry, it took 20 years to generate a million dollars worth of equity for this single family residential home.

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:44.400
I believe, and I am positioning that this next hotel I'm buying is going to produce $2 million of equity in a seven-year period.

00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:51.440
So it's just reframing your mind about how what is your target, what is your goal, and how are you gonna get there?

00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.839
And that's that's what I like about what your philosophy is.

00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.000
I'm kind of paraphrasing what you're saying here, but you're agnostic.

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.359
You're like, look, I run the numbers from an objective perspective.

00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:02.319
I'm a pilot.

00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.279
So pilots are very like checklist oriented, right?

00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:08.400
They're to a degree, they're risk averse, right?

00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.640
You know, you gotta follow a process.

00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:21.039
And what you've done now in multiple deals is you've partnered with people that have credibility that can follow a process because your goal has been equity growth.

00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:30.319
So I just wanted to provide my perspective on what you're saying, because I think that there is that unifying sense of what you're doing, despite that, the asset.

00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:31.680
It's a unifying principle.

00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:36.720
So, you know, I'll pass it back to you, but we were starting to talk about that Tremont Lodge with Blake Daly.

00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.640
And you said, Hey, look, this is a big project.

00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.519
I think there was like what, a three and a half million dollar renovation, right?

00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:43.839
This was no, yeah, this was a big deal.

00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.200
Can you walk us through that a little bit?

00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:47.920
Like what you saw, who were the partners, what was your role?

00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:50.400
Yeah, so I'm I'm one of the main GPs in that.

00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:53.039
Blake came to me because he needed to raise extra capital.

00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.720
Daveier is also a GP in that deal, the military to millionaire.

00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:00.720
He's a great guy, has a great community for veterans and people in the military.

00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:03.680
So they needed someone to bring more capital to the table.

00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:07.680
Blake was so focused on the underwriting, his back was kind of against the wall.

00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:13.039
I had heard him actually on Rich Summers podcast and was very impressed by Blake Daly.

00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.240
His episode was, I mean, oh, more than two years ago, two and a half years ago.

00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:21.759
And he was a younger guy in the Air Force that he handled acquisitions of buildings for the Air Force.

00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:23.359
So I kind of like that already.

00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:25.359
But he had already owned six hotels.

00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.680
He had a bad partnership where they didn't agree.

00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.279
So he sold some of the hotels.

00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:30.559
I had been there already.

00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.799
So we hopped on a bunch of Zoom calls and I just started asking business questions.

00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.480
What would you do in this scenario?

00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.440
I really liked the uh the hotel was a mom and pop.

00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:40.720
There was no marketing.

00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.440
They were on one platform, booking.com, and that was it.

00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:45.119
So I said, Blake, what's your strategy?

00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.680
I understand marketing well, but I'm like, well, if you're gonna pay 7 million, how are you gonna exit it at?

00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:50.799
You know, what's the exit price?

00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:53.680
So he's thinking 14 million, 14 to 17.

00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:55.279
I said, Well, what's the plan to get there?

00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:01.279
And he's like, Well, day one, we can go in and put it on 14 platforms, which already, which is Going to cost any money.

00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:05.039
The average daily rate at the time, I think, was $85 a night.

00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:08.480
We just had our meeting today, and right now we're at $129 a night.

00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:08.960
Wow.

00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:10.000
So we're happy with that.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:15.680
But the biggest thing is in 2025, we booked 3,000 more rooms than 2024.

00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:21.440
Expensive expenses have come up for replacing sheets and maids and and things like that.

00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:23.119
But so far I like the project.

00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:24.720
But wait a second, though.

00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:25.839
3,000 more nights.

00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.519
Break that down for me just like relatively.

00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:29.119
How many nights were you booking before?

00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:31.119
Like I want to know what you have doubled your occupation.

00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:32.799
Number we just went over today.

00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:37.359
Basically, it's 130-room hotel times that by 365 nights.

00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.759
That's like your total available nights.

00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.480
But we just finished the major reservation in July.

00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.200
So a lot of the hotel, the buildings were down.

00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.640
It's an eight-building hotel laid out over 15 acres.

00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.480
So two buildings at a time, we renovated completely and then opened those up.

00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.480
Long story short, I like the operator part, operating partner.

00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:03.920
They asked to use my bank debt or my personal financial sheet because the bank liked that I was a high income earner compared to everybody else.

00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.160
And I also raised $1.5 million to bring to the table at closing.

00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.480
And $300,000 of that is my own money.

00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:14.559
It's not, it's not a small chunk of change, but I believe that much in the project.

00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:16.160
Why I believed in the project?

00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:17.440
I like the property.

00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:18.640
We want to add value.

00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:20.480
The thing needed a remodel.

00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:22.799
The pools got redone, the lobby.

00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:26.480
We were able to get rid of the manager's suite and open that up to a bridal suite.

00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.960
They weren't really using it that well for weddings.

00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:30.880
And we had 22 weddings last year.

00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.119
Our goal is 40 weddings this year.

00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:36.880
So I saw the project as like, wow, this isn't a great area.

00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:38.160
I'd already visited the area.

00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.240
It's the smoky mountains of Tennessee.

00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:52.880
When I started doing my research on it, even though I'm not a hotel expert, I understand finance and business, and I relied on the hotel expert to teach me how are you going to raise the rents in the room, the nightly rate in the room.

00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.119
And so I just kind of learned the language pretty quick.

00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:02.000
I went out and visited and I said, Yeah, I would put my dad's money, who is also in the deal, in friends' money as well.

00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:06.160
So I like the boutique hotel because it was a mom and pop ran.

00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:07.920
It wasn't a national brand.

00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:13.839
And it was like you go in there, you add a bunch of marketing, you throw three million dollars, room rentals, new mattresses.

00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:15.519
We got two pickleball courts.

00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.200
We added a big fire pit, gazebo, barbecue area.

00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.759
And we target a lot of the former guests.

00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.880
We we had got the email list when we bought it.

00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:28.319
And a lot of these guests are returning every year, twice a year.

00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.559
So it's been really great so far.

00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:33.839
What I like about it is that I'm not involved in daily operations.

00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:37.440
I'm on monthly calls, or if I have questions and I call Blake personally.

00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:39.519
And so far it's been great where he's very open.

00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:40.640
That's a good point.

00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:46.880
That you know what, right there, I think you just you just struck a chord, at least with me, because I like putting deals together, right?

00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:56.720
I I like looking at the numbers and I like figuring out areas of opportunity, but I don't really like dealing, frankly, with people and issues and challenges and emotional states.

00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.000
Like I'm kind of, you know, a little bit more of an introvert.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:05.440
And so it's difficult sometimes for me to like lead manage people, like human emotional beings.

00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:14.559
And so I think that this is a natural point, an area of pain for people when they think about buying a hotel, they go, operations, how the heck am I gonna do that?

00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:31.039
But what you're demonstrating is you can have a role in investing in hotels and bring a skill set, bring a level of experience, bring a bank role, bring a balance sheet, and be a partner without necessarily having to be responsible for operations.

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:38.960
Now I know Blake, and we had a conversation last week about this because I talked to him about, you know, hey, Blake, just out of curiosity, like, why are you doing the operations?

00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:40.880
Like, why not hire a third-party manager?

00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:44.400
You've got this how many hundred plus what how many rooms is it?

00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.000
130 at Trim Lot.

00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:50.240
Okay, this is this 130 plus room hotel.

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:53.359
Like you've got enough scale to go hire a property manager.

00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.480
And he has a mastermind, great mastermind.

00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.559
And you know, he wants to be involved because he wants to, if he's gonna teach, he wants to know how to do it.

00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.400
And so he's operating that.

00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:04.319
That's his dream, not mine.

00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:11.599
And I think that a lot of people get hung up on the idea when they start investing in hotels that, oh my gosh, like I'm gonna have to operate this.

00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.759
And it's not actually always the case.

00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:17.279
And Blake is demonstrating how he's operating this very effectively.

00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:22.160
And if you want to learn how to do that, he's a guy to reach out to for education in that regard.

00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:25.039
But there's third-party operators that can do this.

00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:29.039
And there are, in your case, there are people that want to do the operations.

00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:30.319
You can be a partner in a deal.

00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:32.400
You just gotta find the right people to connect with.

00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:39.359
So I just wanted to touch upon that because it resonates with me that you're applying your skill sets.

00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:46.880
You're a great capital raiser, you're a networker, you're in touch with high net worth individuals through your job as a pilot all the time.

00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.599
And you, you know, you have experience and the ability to analyze deals.

00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:55.519
So you bring that to the table and you don't necessarily have to be the operator yourself.

00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:56.240
Yeah, I agree.

00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:57.119
And you know what's funny?

00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:01.519
I had someone on my podcast recently, and he's a he's similar to me.

00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.359
We love the chase of the deal, the underwriting, the sourcing.

00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:07.680
How do you find it through relationships?

00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:09.759
And it's kind of a challenge to close.

00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:11.759
This hotel was a challenge to close.

00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.839
We were raising capital until the night before we closed the deal.

00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:20.559
And I love the chase and the thrill and the close and the big picture of it.

00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:24.480
And then he said to me, he goes, Hey, I kind of get bored once we're done.

00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.359
So he hands it off to his operations team.

00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.400
And I'm realizing that's kind of where I what I like to do.

00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:37.279
I like to bring people together, raise money, educate people how we can help them make more money, more than their 401k.

00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:44.000
And I like to source the deal and vet the operator, vet the deal, and then kind of put my stamp of approval on it.

00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:48.480
And how I do that is say, hey, I'm putting 100 grand, hey, I'm putting 200 grand into this deal.

00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.319
I think you should come along for the ride.

00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:54.319
So I agree, people should know what their skills are.

00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.559
And I bring certain things to the table, and there's certain things I don't want to bring to the table.

00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:01.519
You know, Blake said, Hey, you need to come out here and help operate the hotel.

00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:03.440
I want to come out, you know?

00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.400
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.240
This deal, I want to talk about this.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:07.759
This deal had some hair on it, right?

00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:08.799
I don't know the exact details.

00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:16.079
Maybe you can shed some light on this, but there's some opportunity with uh getting a USDA loan that is very attractive, right?

00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:16.720
It's appealing.

00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:24.319
And so the draw is you know, you can get a very low interest rate in great terms, but I think these USDA loans, they're complicated and they can be time consuming.

00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.599
Can you walk us through what happened?

00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:27.519
Because you guys were in this bridge loan situation, right?

00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:32.480
You're paying this high interest rate, like 14% interest while you were waiting for the USDA loan.

00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:33.440
So what happened?

00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.319
What got delayed?

00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:37.039
And then how much extra an interest did this cost you?

00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:39.200
What were the what was the impact of this delay?

00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.839
Yeah, it was supposed to be a four-month bridge loan.

00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.599
For those that don't know, that don't know.

00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:46.160
It's basically a hard money loan, short term.

00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:49.279
And so the they came out and met us all out at the hotel.

00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:51.359
14% is a lot of money.

00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:55.839
But we were already in discussion with USDA before we closed the hotel.

00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.160
They said their process is six months.

00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.240
They couldn't get it done in two months or whatever.

00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.200
Okay, so we'll take the bridge loan, we'll pay the high fee.

00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:09.359
And then they had told us, okay, we'll have it done by April, which is like three and a half months after we close the hotel.

00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:15.920
So you're doing your underwriting, but the bridge loan at the time, I think it was like $75,000 a month, right?

00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:18.160
And that's a lot of money when you're operating the hotel.

00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.960
So the hotel is already going into the red because of the debt.

00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.200
Uh, so you're trying to operate the hotel really well.

00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:28.480
Well, they had to do like an agricultural, like civil soil samples.

00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:36.480
And I believe, I can't remember right, but I believe Blake, number one, they found some skeletons of an animal on the site, if I remember right.

00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:37.599
Archaeological.

00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:39.039
That's what it was, a survey.

00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:45.039
So that paused everything for like a month or two to make sure it wasn't like Indian remains and some kind of weird thing.

00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:50.160
But then what we had learned is once that we got past that, that was like a two-month delay just for that.

00:27:50.160 --> 00:28:01.200
So now we just lost another compared to the regular loan rate, we were losing like, let's just say we're bleeding 30 grand a month between the bridge loan and then what we thought the USDA loan would be close.

00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:02.640
So we're just losing money.

00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:07.839
The USDA, I guess the guy that we were talking with ended up leaving and quitting his job.

00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.519
The file sat there on no one's desk for like two more months.

00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:17.359
All in all, Blake was pulling his hair out, but we're also just losing money trying to operate the hotel as best we can.

00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:21.599
And the USDA loan, I think, took an extra six months.

00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:23.359
So we paid that bridge loan.

00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:27.920
I can't remember the all-in cost, but it ended us costing us like an extra $200,000.

00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:28.720
Damn.

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.599
Which is a lot of money on a $7 million purchase.

00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.799
You know, yeah, and and that that money doesn't just come out of thin air, right?

00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:35.440
Like, where's that?

00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:37.759
Did you guys have reserves that you had saved up?

00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.839
So we had some reserves, but some of that, the GP's loan back into the business at a very low interest rate just to kind of save the cash flow of the deal.

00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:48.400
The hotel was kind of breaking even on cash flow.

00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:52.000
So one of the GP partners has actually put up 150 grand.

00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.200
I didn't want to do it.

00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:56.160
I had other deals going, you know, I didn't return.

00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:59.359
And dude, I love this, bro, because this is the real deal.

00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:05.440
Like, right now, you're spilling the beans on like this is the kind of shit that happens behind the scenes that no one's glorifying on Instagram.

00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:12.960
Like, if you're gonna invest in hotels, dude, you gotta understand and realize that and have contingency plans for when shit goes sideways.

00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:14.319
So, but you guys pulled through.

00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:16.240
Like, look, the hotel right now is doing well.

00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:25.200
Real quickly, though, how did you handle communicating this negative, like these this negative news to the the investors without causing them to be like freaking panic?

00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:30.720
Yeah, I'll tell you, like, I think I'm pretty good at the communication fact like side of things.

00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.039
I actually enjoy it, even when it's bad news.

00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:42.000
I don't say enjoy bad news, but we had a GP call, general partners call, and some of the people on there were like, hey, we just shouldn't say anything because we don't know an answer yet.

00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.559
And I said, I think we got to talk about the delay.

00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:47.039
Like every month you gotta be updating your investors.

00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:51.599
We do monthly updates, we're only required to do quarterly, but I don't think that's good communication.

00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:56.559
So every month we're writing letters, and first off, we're starting with the positives, right?

00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:58.319
Hey, the average daily rate was 90.

00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.400
We're at 120 before the remodel.

00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:04.160
We couldn't even remodel before the USDA loan was closed.

00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:06.799
They said no construction until then.

00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:14.000
So here we are thinking we're trying to get these weddings and everything booked on a remodel hotel, which didn't happen for quite a long time.

00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:19.039
So it didn't just delay the loan, it delayed remodel and it delayed new hotel rooms, right?

00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:23.759
Remodeled retrofit hotel rooms, and it delayed some of the profits, in my opinion.

00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:28.640
I will say this it also delayed profitability on the hotel.

00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:34.160
So we thought we had 12 months we would start giving investors a small return, right?

00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:35.680
Profit of the cash flow.

00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.960
It has yet to start.

00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.079
We're two years in.

00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:43.680
We're over a year late of investor disbursements, but we put that out in email.

00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:46.799
Hey, we have money right now to disperse, right?

00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:55.759
We know it's taking a while because of the loan, because of construction, but we want to keep some reserves in the bank for January, February, which are the two slow months out there.

00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.480
So as long as we're talking about the positives.

00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:00.640
So what we do is we re-relay all the positives.

00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.720
Hey, we booked way more weddings last year.

00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:05.359
We have six tours today going on at the hotel.

00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:07.039
It's the most we've ever had in one day.

00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:08.319
So we talk about the positives.

00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:14.960
The average daily rate is up, the new general manager is great, like the so, and then you got to break it down to the negative.

00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:18.880
And you don't have to just go super negative with it, but you got to tell them the truth.

00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:19.279
Yeah.

00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:25.200
So I'm always about people want to invest with you again if you're telling them the truth and you're communicating.

00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:33.519
If they feel like through your email or videos and your photos, you supply that you're working your butt off and you're trying really hard and you're protecting their money.

00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:37.519
The other thing is they all they know that we all have a lot of money in the deal as well.

00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:40.240
And it's just we haven't got disbursements either, you know.

00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:46.960
So I feel like as long as you give some positive and it's not just all negative, negative, negative, there's no win, then that looks bad.

00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:49.519
But if you have some positives, hey, these are the positive.

00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:50.799
We got some new staff.

00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:56.079
We fired some of the cancer in the staff, and uh, we have higher average daily rate.

00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:03.279
We booked more rooms this year, but we made 500,000 more in revenue than we did the year before.

00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:04.799
We like that number a lot.

00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:07.759
Now and now this year has a nice ring to it.

00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:09.920
So that was our meeting this morning.

00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:13.599
I love having the monthly meeting and just talking about hey, what can we do?

00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:14.960
What can we do on marketing?

00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:19.119
And what that comes down to is all the partners have different backgrounds.

00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:23.119
Blake's the operator, but I'm 15 years older than Blake.

00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:24.799
I got a lot more business sense.

00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:26.000
I've done more loans.

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.839
I may not be the hotel expert, but it's like, how can we improve marketing?

00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:31.200
How can we cut costs?

00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:34.960
Like, so it's a balancing act forever with hospitality, I think.

00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:39.759
It's let me ask you, I want to dig in so real, real briefly here, just for my own curiosity.

00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:45.359
But why go through all this pain and and headache and distress of trying to secure this USDA loan?

00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:48.880
What are the advantages of a USDA loan versus a conventional loan?

00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:57.519
I mean, honestly, it's the lowest rate at the time, but I think right now they just let us drop a point, which was $10,000 a month without having to refinance.

00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:02.720
They just said, hey, you know, we want to protect our assets, so we'll drop the rate, save you guys money.

00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.640
They're still profitable because the rates are coming down.

00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:15.680
I'll tell you right now, I think, I think if you looked at a regular conventional loan, we could probably refinance out right now below the USDA rate, which is our plan to do, but we're gonna wait about another year.

00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:26.160
We want to show the next bank the highest year over year, which is gonna be 2026, and then we'll go into a refi because they want 12 months of solid use of the hotel.

00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:26.799
What's the right word?

00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:29.440
Because our remodel kind of just finished in June, July.

00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:33.440
We don't have 12 months of like so yeah, they want a trailing swell.

00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:38.079
Yeah, so so right now we're just kind of pumping that up for uh 2026.

00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:44.000
The reason at the time was the USDA loan provided the construction, also, and not all companies would do that.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:55.200
Some would we had a seven million dollar purchase price, so the USDA loan was kind of the only loan at the time we could get at 10 million dollars, but allow us to draw 3 million for construction.

00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:56.240
Dang, okay.

00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:57.599
So how much was the purchase price?

00:33:57.599 --> 00:33:59.519
We purchased it for 7 million.

00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:03.200
7 million, and then you put what three and a half into it?

00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:04.640
Yeah, like 3.2.

00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:05.119
Yep.

00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:06.960
3.2, okay.

00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:08.880
And what's the projected?

00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:09.440
What do you get?

00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.039
So it's 130.

00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:12.960
Oh, 130 units.

00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:15.119
So like $80,000 or so a key.

00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:16.400
A key, yep.

00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:22.880
And then what the projection was 10 years out, like you do with most commercial, but the projection sale price is 17 million.

00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:24.960
Wow, 17 million bucks.

00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:25.360
Okay.

00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:30.000
Well, if we take I mean, yeah, I mean, that's just comes down to NOI.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:32.800
We could go through that exercise, but I was just more curious what that was.

00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:36.480
So, just real quick, what what is the interest rate for this USDA loan currently?

00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:37.920
7.85%.

00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:40.000
Oh, that's high, dude.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.599
That's higher than I thought it would be.

00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:50.880
Yeah, it wasn't like wow, you know, I believe it was actually eight and a half, and then they they helped us by decreasing a point, and that point just got decreased in October.

00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:55.599
So the advantage was hey, look, you got to go get a construct, you got to pay for this renovation.

00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:00.559
And so they were open to financing the cost of the construction, but not necessarily at the lowest rate.

00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:03.920
It was just about facilitating the capital for the renovation.

00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:04.559
Correct.

00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:06.320
Yep, and that was the best way to do it.

00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:12.480
And then our overall plan was to refi out within two years, but it was really to capture that 3.2 million.

00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:16.239
So we didn't have to bring as much equity to the table for a normal construction loan.

00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:16.719
Okay.

00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.519
And so you had to communicate this bad news to the investors.

00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:20.320
What was the response?

00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:22.239
Did anyone squawk and be like, what is this?

00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:22.960
This is BS.

00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:23.840
Was anyone pissed off?

00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:28.000
I mean, they had questions like, Hey, what is the reason the loan has taken so long?

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.320
And you know, you like you can place blame on USDA, but we have no control over that.

00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:38.719
So most of them understand because number one, we provide photos and really good monthly updates.

00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:41.039
I'm available by phone call for all my people.

00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:46.559
And if I'm hanging out with someone like my dad or a friend that's in the deal, I talk to him about my call today.

00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:47.280
You know what I mean?

00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:49.119
So it's like, hey, the monthly thing is great.

00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:51.440
So I just I feel like communication is key.

00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:56.719
But yeah, some investors, I mean, my myself, I want to refi and get my capital back out and go get more projects.

00:35:56.960 --> 00:35:57.280
Yeah.

00:35:57.519 --> 00:36:01.440
As long as you portray to the investors, you guys are all working your ass off, which we are.

00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:03.119
Blake's there every day.

00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:14.320
Then the end result was you didn't have to do a capital call because you guys for well, not you personally, but others on the GP, the general partnership, forked over the cash to meet the shortfall.

00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:16.960
So that speaks volumes, right?

00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:18.480
You're not doing a capital call.

00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:26.480
The general partnership is so invested in the outcome that they're willing to invest their own personal funds to help float the deal.

00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.400
And so that was loaned.

00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:36.880
The investors did technically have to pay a portion of that cost because the GP capital was loaned to the investment fund there.

00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:40.880
And then was that all that money returned to the GP once you guys refinanced?

00:36:41.119 --> 00:36:41.519
Yeah, yeah.

00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:45.599
Well, it's already been returned because we had some really good profitable months.

00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:53.119
And so what they do is, as far as I know, and what we do on my deals as well, is the GP can loan at a max of a 10% interest.

00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:54.960
So there's no like advantage.

00:36:54.960 --> 00:36:56.960
You have to pay an interest rate by law.

00:36:56.960 --> 00:36:59.599
You can't just input money or it's a cash call.

00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:15.840
So if you're loaning the project money, it's actually cheaper and more beneficial for investors for the GP just to loan it at 10% annual and get the money back because there's no equity, or else you're you're liquidating people, or you're you know, downsizing their percentage in the deal.

00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:20.639
If you just invested another 150 grand into the deal, yeah, you're diluting their share.

00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:21.360
Diluting.

00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:21.840
There you go.

00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:22.079
Yeah.

00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:29.920
So so no one's shares got diluted, and the 10% on a hundred and fifty thousand dollar loan that we use for six months is a pretty minor number.

00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:31.599
It's what 7,500 bucks.

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:32.239
Yeah.

00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:32.639
Yeah.

00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:34.480
I mean, on a deal that size, yeah, yeah.

00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:36.559
You know, but dude, that I mean, that's that's a lot.

00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:37.519
That's a lot to go through.

00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:39.199
And now it's a learning experience.

00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:44.079
Every time you go through this exercise, like you build confidence in yourself and your investors.

00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:48.239
If they come out on the on the positive side of this, they build confidence with you, your ability to communicate.

00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:54.960
So there's always a silver lining, but you know, we all should we all wish that we could just mark up how everything's gonna go smoothly and perfectly.

00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:58.079
And, you know, I I think we all realize it doesn't always work that way.

00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:01.280
So that was that was a hard lesson, but I think a valuable one.

00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:08.559
And man, I'm I'm really I'm I'm grateful that you shared that experience with us because we don't always get the true grit of what's going on behind the scenes.

00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:10.079
So I appreciate that.

00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:17.679
Hey, but I do look, I want to talk to you a little bit about just capital raising in general and how it relates to you building your own personal brand.

00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:25.840
This is kind of an area in my life right now that is that is relevant because I've been building my own personal real estate portfolio over the last 10 years or so.

00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:29.519
And, you know, I've I've done pretty well, but I've I've built in silence.

00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:36.239
And honestly, man, I was looking at your stuff and it was helpful because like I'm a 45-year-old man.

00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:46.159
And when I go on Instagram and I see like people that are young and attractive and doing, you know, fun stuff, and it's like it seems like it's a very like young cultural thing.

00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:48.639
And I'm like, oh, like how do I fit into that world?

00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:50.239
You know, and do I even want to do this?

00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:56.960
And what you've demonstrated, you've inspired me that you can do so and be your own, be authentic to yourself.

00:38:56.960 --> 00:39:02.800
You've built a personal brand partly off of maybe some entertainment aspect.

00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:10.880
I think what you started with and gained a lot of traction with was marketing yourself because your brand is Captain Capital.

00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:25.920
It's a little play on words for you being a pilot, but a lot of your social media initially was you demonstrating and showcasing what it's like to be a pilot for private jet charters, for chartering people that you know are very affluent.

00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:30.559
And so I'm I'm curious, you know, about that journey that you went on.

00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:36.480
Maybe you can lend some advice, things that you've learned about building your own personal brand, where you were and kind of where you are today.

00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:37.599
Yeah, it's a great question.

00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:42.159
So when I first started building a personal brand, I saw other people in the real estate building it.

00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:46.480
And there's a lot of people in the real estate space trying to build a brand.

00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:51.440
It's all good stuff, but it's almost like I felt like it was kind of overplayed or overdone.

00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:53.679
It's a lot of the people saying the same things.

00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:58.320
There's probably 50 people in the STR space just only talking about STR.

00:39:58.320 --> 00:39:59.760
So I just said, well, hey.

00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:02.159
I fly private jets for billionaires, which is true.

00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:03.519
It's what I do for a living.

00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:04.960
There's credibility in that.

00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:08.639
Like they trust me enough with their 20 to 40 million dollar airplane.

00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:09.920
I run flight departments.

00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:11.039
So there's credibility there.

00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:14.960
But also, I find private jets, even for me, still interesting.

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:20.159
And so everyone that meets me at lunch or a real estate meetup, they're like, wait, you fly private jets.

00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:21.840
Like, I got a question for you.

00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:29.840
So what I did was I started putting out videos of like, hey, this jet from LA to New York cost this much just in fuel.

00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:31.679
And people were flabbergasted.

00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:33.840
And private jets are for wealthy people.

00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:37.840
I mean, you can break it down to like splurge for yourself, but it's still expensive.

00:40:37.840 --> 00:40:39.280
I got a lot of traction with that.

00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:40.320
Some of it is good.

00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:41.840
And then a lot of it was good.

00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:42.880
I got really good views.

00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:44.480
Some of it was humor, like you said.

00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:46.159
I have a good personality.

00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:49.199
I like comedy and entertainment and things.

00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:54.559
So I made some videos that were like, hey, the worst, these are the worst three things about flying jets for billionaires.

00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:59.679
And it made them funny, like going on, going to Tahiti for eight days and having to eat steak and fish.

00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.079
And I got a lot of like laughs at it and whatever.

00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:05.760
But so it got me a lot of attention, a lot of follows, and I blew up really quick.

00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:10.880
And I was like, holy crap! Now the downside of that is it wasn't real estate related.

00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:14.400
My whole content goal, build a brand, help people make money.

00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:17.360
I was a financial planner before I was a pilot.

00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:22.960
So I just I've always wanted to help people make money, including myself, but bring other people along with me for the ride.

00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:25.199
So it brought a lot of attention to me.

00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:28.559
I got a lot of pilots DMing me, hey, how do I become a pilot?

00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:28.960
This.

00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:35.599
And then all of a sudden, I honestly got sidetracked because people on my content team are like, you should build a pilot community.

00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:38.559
So I did that and I spent so many hours.

00:41:38.559 --> 00:41:44.159
And it ended up that like everyone that wanted pilot advice is just new in their career and they're broke.

00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:46.159
So there's there wasn't a way to monetize it.

00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:52.239
And I was spending like four to five hours a day between shooting content, giving pilot advice, building all this stuff.

00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:56.000
As much as I enjoyed it, it took away from family time.

00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:11.599
And it wasn't, I'm not saying it won't long term, because right now I have a lot of pilots on Instagram that maybe have been following me for two years and now they're hitting me up because I shifted fully about real estate and family things and just regular life, that now they're wanting to invest in real estate.

00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:14.320
If you were to summarize that though, like what's the key takeaway?

00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:15.199
Like, what did you learn?

00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:16.880
What was the key lesson from that experience?

00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:22.800
The key takeaway is getting attention is good, meaning follows, messages, all of that.

00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:29.840
But it was too much attention in the wrong way that I wanted it because my DMs were flooded with no real estate topics.

00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:38.559
So just be careful with what you wish for because it's great that I will say I'm probably selling a couple aircraft because of some of those.

00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:46.639
But my main focus on content is hey, I'm still a guy that flies private jets for billionaires, but I don't want a bunch of DMs from pilots that are 21 years old.

00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:47.679
It sounds nice.

00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:49.760
I only have so many hours in the day.

00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:53.199
I'm running a flight department, I'm trying to build real estate.

00:42:53.199 --> 00:42:54.880
So I want to focus my content.

00:42:54.880 --> 00:42:57.440
I guess I'm still Captain Kirk, Captain Capital.

00:42:57.440 --> 00:42:58.159
I love that stuff.

00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:02.480
But I want to you got attention, but it was a bit of a distraction.

00:43:02.480 --> 00:43:05.519
Now you've had success, you've raised millions of dollars.

00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:09.840
Where would you attribute your capital raising success from?

00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:16.159
I would tell you, most of the people investing with me currently, I would say 80% of them know me at some capacity.

00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:20.239
They're people I used to fly airplanes with, family, friends, this and that.

00:43:20.239 --> 00:43:22.480
But I will say a lot of them have reached out.

00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:30.320
And now, because I've shared it on social media, that's where everybody's watching Facebook, Instagram, whatever their uh choice is.

00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:33.360
And it's I've shown credibility after so many years.

00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:35.039
I'm sharing more of my deals.

00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:39.199
And honestly, I don't have time to share all of them and everything that goes on.

00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:45.440
Like if I set a camera up here in my office, it would just be nonstop meetings, phone calls, negotiations.

00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:50.480
I want to share more of it, but it's a lot of time, it's time consuming, it's expensive, you know.

00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:56.480
But really, 80% of people that you know, but when you put it out there online, now they're actually gonna come to you.

00:43:56.480 --> 00:44:03.760
It may take a year, it's not gonna be day one, but they're gonna go, wow, you know, can I tell you something that's been I want to tell you something that's been frustrating for me?

00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:16.079
And you know, part of it may just be ego and just as a human being, but man, sometimes I'll go and I'll I'll scroll on Instagram and dude, I'll see people on there that are having success.

00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:18.400
Like, hey, hats off to them, right?

00:44:18.400 --> 00:44:23.039
They're gaining a lot of attention, they're gaining awareness.

00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:32.239
Some of them are starting communities in which they sell education, and it's hard for me sometimes because not to take anything away from what they're doing, okay?

00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:41.599
I'm just setting the context, but I'm like, dude, I know a lot of stuff, and not many people even know I exist, relatively speaking, because I haven't been out there.

00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:56.800
And sometimes it's frustrating for me when I see people that are less qualified, less experienced, less knowledgeable, that are gaining way more attention and accolades or gaining opportunities simply because they're out there posting content.

00:44:56.800 --> 00:45:00.000
And so those that are active are not necessarily more skilled.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.079
They're just, they're just putting themselves out there.

00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:22.880
And that's kind of the realization that I had for 2026 is like, dude, you gotta just get out of your skin, your comfort zone a little bit and start posting stuff because the more people are aware, like what you're describing, the attention you got from all of the interesting stuff about being a uh private jet pilot, that puts you in a position to where you got enough reps to be like, I feel comfortable doing this.

00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:32.239
And then you started hyper, you started refining and started focusing on what are the things that are going to move the needle for what you're ultimately trying to accomplish, which is raising money for investing deals.

00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:37.519
But the first step was you just got started and then you refined it, and now you're starting to see more success.

00:45:37.519 --> 00:45:39.840
And so for me, that's been a challenge.

00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:41.760
I've been reluctant to go on social media.

00:45:41.760 --> 00:45:46.559
I've just started posting on LinkedIn and realized, okay, you know, hey, there's some opportunity here.

00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:53.119
I'm curious from your perspective, what channel has been the best for attracting an investors?

00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:56.000
Like LinkedIn, Instagram, you've got a podcast.

00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:57.199
Like, what do you think?

00:45:57.440 --> 00:46:01.039
Yeah, I mean, for me, it was Instagram because it's the largest, right?

00:46:01.039 --> 00:46:04.559
And so a lot of people are on there, but I'm kind of shifting that.

00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.920
I'm shifting more focus to YouTube and LinkedIn.

00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:10.320
The podcast, I love doing podcasts.

00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:15.599
I love learning and learning about my guests and getting their expertise as well.

00:46:15.599 --> 00:46:17.039
It just makes me smarter.

00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:18.079
It's a little selfish.

00:46:18.079 --> 00:46:20.960
But podcast costs money and a lot of editing and all that.

00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:26.079
I haven't got really, I'm not saying I can't, I guess I can't track investors through the podcast just yet.

00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:33.119
I have an investment form, but because I don't have a lot of investment opportunity, like I said, I didn't close a single deal in 2025.

00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:34.239
I did it on purpose.

00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:37.679
I was overloaded with my pilot community and everything I was doing.

00:46:37.679 --> 00:46:42.079
I offloaded a couple of assets that were a pain in my butt that I just was tired of operating.

00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:44.719
So I kind of did a clean slate 2025.

00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:48.960
I revisited my goals, and now 2026, I'm going to implement.

00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:54.800
But for me, LinkedIn and YouTube are going to be my most sought-after to get after people.

00:46:54.800 --> 00:47:02.079
People listen to your podcast, they start trusting you based on the hour that they spend with you on each episode, right?

00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:05.760
So I can't track like, oh, I got five investors from there.

00:47:05.760 --> 00:47:09.760
On my form, you can, but not everybody puts where they found me from, you know?

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:12.000
Well, let's make this practical for anyone listening.

00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:16.559
Let's say, look, they're presumably working a job, they've got a full-time responsibility.

00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:18.079
Maybe they've got family and kids.

00:47:18.079 --> 00:47:22.079
And so the idea of running a podcast, it's not really remotely close to what's feasible.

00:47:22.079 --> 00:47:37.519
So if they want to raise capital in order to purchase real estate, whether it's hospitality or other asset types, in your experience, what is the best way for someone to gain that exposure and to make people aware of what they're doing?

00:47:37.679 --> 00:47:39.679
I would say target Instagram.

00:47:39.679 --> 00:47:43.920
And even like the tweet posts that you see people put out, I put out a bunch myself.

00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:46.079
They take three minutes to come up with.

00:47:46.079 --> 00:47:48.000
It's like, hey, I want to do some mindset stuff.

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:49.440
Right now I'm focused on charity.

00:47:49.440 --> 00:47:51.599
You'll see more giving back tweets.

00:47:51.599 --> 00:47:53.280
Those tweets take three seconds.

00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:57.440
You don't have to have a camera, you don't need editing, and those can go out.

00:47:57.440 --> 00:48:01.920
I mean, once you post it on Instagram online, it can just accelerate some other day.

00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:03.519
It could have a hundred thousand likes.

00:48:03.519 --> 00:48:11.440
The first day I put stuff out, sometimes it's 2,000 thing views, sometimes it's 3,000, and then all of a sudden, a month later, it's 100,000 views.

00:48:11.440 --> 00:48:13.679
And so it just has to get shared around.

00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:20.079
Not all of them hit, like one out of 10 hit, but honestly, repetitions they get easier.

00:48:20.079 --> 00:48:23.840
So I would say, like LinkedIn and Instagram, just make tweet posts.

00:48:23.840 --> 00:48:25.679
LinkedIn loves text posts.

00:48:25.679 --> 00:48:28.159
If you have some ideas or thoughts, throw them on there.

00:48:28.159 --> 00:48:29.920
Use the AI feature on LinkedIn.

00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:34.800
There's a lot of professionals, working professionals on LinkedIn, and start connecting with people.

00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:44.800
I'm on my LinkedIn daily, at minimum every other day, connecting with pilots because I can really connect with another pilot and say, look, this is what I do on the side.

00:48:44.800 --> 00:48:47.840
I invest all my money that I earn as income and I build wealth that way.

00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.719
So that's my plan for 2026.

00:48:51.119 --> 00:49:01.760
But I think also like reading into what you're saying, like if someone right now wants to get started in real estate, they don't necessarily want to be some influencer and gain like half a million followers on Instagram.

00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:02.400
That's not the goal.

00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:04.719
The goal is to raise money to buy real estate.

00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:06.639
And you've been successful at that.

00:49:06.639 --> 00:49:16.480
And I think listening to what you're saying, what I'm gathering, at least as it relates to myself, is really the people that are most likely to invest with me are not unknown strangers on Instagram.

00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:26.079
It's the people that are already connected with me, that know me as a human, as a real person, and just see me on Instagram and see me often and regularly posting.

00:49:26.079 --> 00:49:30.079
And they might not, they may never even engage with anything that I post.

00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:30.880
But it's crazy.

00:49:30.880 --> 00:49:34.320
Like I was over, I don't know, the summer break.

00:49:34.320 --> 00:49:35.199
This is a little bit ago.

00:49:35.199 --> 00:49:39.920
I ran into some friends and I had very sporadically posted.

00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:43.920
And people that I haven't seen in years, they never even responded to any of my posts.

00:49:43.920 --> 00:49:50.719
But I was at a you know, like a barbecue and there was a collection of people that I knew, actually from Carlsbed, folks that you would also know as well.

00:49:50.719 --> 00:49:54.400
And, you know, sure enough, people brought up, oh man, how's the hotel investing going?

00:49:54.400 --> 00:49:55.280
How's the hostels going?

00:49:55.280 --> 00:49:57.360
I'm like, how the heck did I register?

00:49:57.360 --> 00:49:59.920
Like, it didn't even, they had been following on Instagram.

00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:01.760
And so it's incredible.

00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:10.239
Like, if you just start posting and you're not necessarily seeing the results in terms of like likes and shares and follows and all that stuff, that doesn't really matter.

00:50:10.239 --> 00:50:12.000
It's your initial network.

00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:19.920
Like we had a business coach who once made me go through this exercise where we were talking about raising capital for this deal we had in LA.

00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:21.760
And we're like, okay, how are we gonna do this?

00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:22.079
You know?

00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:27.199
And he's like, I want you to open your phone right now, and there's like some way to go through your iPhone and look at your contacts.

00:50:27.199 --> 00:50:30.400
And sure enough, I have like over a thousand contacts on there.

00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:42.960
He's like, export that to a spreadsheet and methodically go one by one by one and start identifying people that might have an interest and start by just sending a text that says, Hey, I just thought I'd let you know I'm investing in real estate.

00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:45.280
I should have some deals popping up in the next few months.

00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:49.280
If you have all, you know, any interest in it, I'm just letting you know this is what I'm doing.

00:50:49.280 --> 00:50:51.039
And so it's uncomfortable.

00:50:51.039 --> 00:50:53.920
Man, it was really kind of like, what's the word?

00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:57.280
Not like um, yeah, cringy, you know, to reach out to someone.

00:50:57.280 --> 00:51:00.320
But the people in your network, they want to support you.

00:51:00.320 --> 00:51:04.239
They know you, they like you, presumably, and they they want to trust you.

00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:09.280
And so if you just post regularly, it's not that you're gonna be insta famous, you know, immediately.

00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:15.599
It's the 300, 400, 500 people that you already are connected to in a combination of LinkedIn and Instagram.

00:51:15.599 --> 00:51:18.159
Those are the folks that are gonna invest in with you for your first deal.

00:51:18.159 --> 00:51:20.159
At least that's what has been told to me.

00:51:20.159 --> 00:51:25.119
That's the key takeaway that I see with you, Kurt, is you've been successful raising millions of dollars.

00:51:25.119 --> 00:51:26.800
You are expanding your network.

00:51:26.800 --> 00:51:31.360
But at the end of the day, the people that have invested with you, they they kind of already know you, right?

00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:32.559
They know you in person.

00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:34.239
So that's the takeaway I see.

00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:39.119
I think for me, 2026, I'm flying a little bit less, which is nice, meaning I'm home more.

00:51:39.119 --> 00:51:47.199
And my focus is gonna go to a few more in-person meetups because even though I'm an introvert at home, I just like to work and I like to hang out with my kids.

00:51:47.199 --> 00:51:48.719
I'm strong in person.

00:51:48.719 --> 00:51:53.599
So at a couple meetups, I pretty much get one investor at minimum, every meetup.

00:51:53.599 --> 00:51:55.440
I want to get their number, whatever.

00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:56.960
I just do really well in person.

00:51:56.960 --> 00:51:58.719
So I want to do more of that.

00:51:58.719 --> 00:52:00.159
So people should know their strength.

00:52:00.159 --> 00:52:08.480
If you're not like outgoing and you're not a people person, maybe you're analytical, then just stick to the emails and the texts and posting on social media, like you're saying.

00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:11.599
I honestly have not gone through my phone and text everyone in there.

00:52:11.599 --> 00:52:16.079
I've texted like the 10 people at top of my head that I'm close with that I know that have some money and deals.

00:52:16.079 --> 00:52:16.800
And guess what?

00:52:16.800 --> 00:52:18.159
They've invested in deals.

00:52:18.159 --> 00:52:21.679
So my next deal, I will probably be going through my phone.

00:52:21.679 --> 00:52:22.800
Why do I say that?

00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:29.119
I'm gonna be going through my phone for my charity fundraising for this uh leukemia child in the next three months.

00:52:29.119 --> 00:52:33.840
So I'm gonna probably start that this week and I'm just gonna be singly texting people.

00:52:33.840 --> 00:52:35.119
Is it time consuming?

00:52:35.119 --> 00:52:36.960
Yes, but I think it's well worth it.

00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:45.599
And like you said, targeting the right people that have some finances, they're not a college student that's broke, targeting the right people that may be interested.

00:52:45.599 --> 00:52:47.519
So I think that's great advice that you just share.

00:52:47.760 --> 00:52:48.639
Yeah, love that.

00:52:48.639 --> 00:52:51.360
Okay, I want to ask you one last question as we wrap this up.

00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:59.679
You've had a lot of success, you've invested and you own a large portfolio of real estate with on your own and with partnership.

00:52:59.679 --> 00:53:05.679
If you could go back to the version of yourself who was just getting started and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

00:53:05.840 --> 00:53:06.480
You can do it.

00:53:06.480 --> 00:53:07.840
It's give yourself confidence.

00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:13.599
When I first bought my first duplex, even though I had read so many books, I'd wanted to invest for years.

00:53:13.599 --> 00:53:15.360
I wanted to be rich, dad, poor dad.

00:53:15.360 --> 00:53:16.559
That was the book that turned it for me.

00:53:16.559 --> 00:53:18.000
It started my investment.

00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:26.000
It I mean, it's scary, but I I kind of surrounded myself with an appraiser and a contractor at the time to go visit this house that I bought.

00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:27.679
And you don't know if it's gonna work.

00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:29.199
It's like, well, I need a place to live.

00:53:29.199 --> 00:53:30.079
It's a duplex.

00:53:30.079 --> 00:53:36.079
I don't know how to manage a tenant, I don't know how a lease works, but at the end of the day, you figure it out as you go.

00:53:36.079 --> 00:53:38.400
I think just knowing that you can do it.

00:53:38.400 --> 00:53:48.079
Every time I look at an asset to buy, all it is now is do the numbers look good enough to bring along and will investors come in on this deal.

00:53:48.079 --> 00:53:50.159
It's not if I can do it anymore.

00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:56.639
But back when it was the first deal, the second deal, the first mobile home park, the first hotel, my first development.

00:53:56.639 --> 00:53:59.519
I'm literally in the middle of my first in industrial development.

00:53:59.519 --> 00:54:02.159
It wasn't a if I can do it.

00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:04.480
It is okay, I've got enough confidence.

00:54:04.480 --> 00:54:06.000
I know I can make this happen.

00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:07.840
So I think you build confidence.

00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:12.159
Just even if you think you do, you don't have enough confidence on your first deal.

00:54:12.159 --> 00:54:22.079
You need to just go with your gut and realize any issues that come up, there's people that you can call on, there's people that you can pay to coach you, there's CPAs to talk to.

00:54:22.079 --> 00:54:25.119
Just have the confidence that you're gonna make it work out.

00:54:25.360 --> 00:54:26.000
Yeah, yeah.

00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:27.119
Learn by doing.

00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:28.480
I like to say that all the time.

00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:34.559
You know, people get so hung up reading books, and oh, if I only just join this next workshop, then I'll have the information I need.

00:54:34.559 --> 00:54:37.920
No, sometimes you just gotta jump in, even if it's uncomfortable.

00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:39.360
So love that, man.

00:54:39.360 --> 00:54:40.960
Kurt, this has been great, man.

00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:47.039
For folks who want to follow your journey, learn more about Captain Capital, or connect with you, where should they go?

00:54:47.199 --> 00:54:48.960
Yeah, Instagram's probably the best place.

00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:51.840
It's the Captain Kurt with all C's.

00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:54.079
And then my website's CaptainCapital.com.

00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:57.119
We got development info on there and updates with photos.

00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.000
And uh, those are my two uh most spent places, you know.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:02.480
So easiest way to find me, and thanks for having me on.

00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:02.960
It was great.

00:55:03.039 --> 00:55:03.519
Yeah, man.

00:55:03.519 --> 00:55:05.039
Appreciate you sharing your story.

00:55:05.039 --> 00:55:07.360
Thanks for being here for our listeners.

00:55:07.360 --> 00:55:08.960
We'll catch you again next week.

00:55:08.960 --> 00:55:10.079
Aloha.