#287 Marshmallows and Thanksgiving

by Stephen Michael White

Author

June 1, 2021

Last Updated

Podcast

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Resources Mentioned on this Episode:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rentprep

Show Transcription:

Eric Worral: (00:00)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of RentPrep for Landlords. This is episode #286. I think I’m wrong on that one. It is 287. You know what, I’m not going to re-edit it because it’s a holiday. Yeah, that’s right. It’s 287 and we’re going to be talking about being thankful for real estate today. I’m going to talk to you a little bit about what I’m thankful for and also some shout outs from the community. As I pose this question to the Facebook group, run prep for landlords and got some great replies and just talking about how real estate has impacted your life and why you’re thankful for it. And it’s always a good reminder, you know, to think about these things this time of year, around Thanksgiving as this episode is publishing on Thanksgiving, but really all the time it’s always good to have gratitude. All right guys, let’s get to that right after this.

Voice Over: (00:48)
Welcome to the RentPrep for Landlords podcast and now your hosts Steven White and Eric Worral.

(00:54)
So I got to admit that introduction stinger as it’s called in the biz, is a little bit dated, right? So Steve White hasn’t been on the podcast in a while, if you’re not familiar, CEO of RentPrep, founder. And the reason for that is actually something that I am thankful for. So we read a book the recommendation of a property manager that we’re friends with and it’s called traction. And in that book basically it’s these structures and framework for getting traction within your business, how to run structured meetings, how to have, you know, a weekly, monthly quarter and annual goals and how to really, you know, hold your feet to the fire on those things. And through reading that book, we ended up joining this program called the EOS entrepreneurial organization system.

Eric Worral: (01:41)
I think it stands for, I don’t know, we always call it EOS. But we’ve been doing these meetings and having coaching and it’s been great for our business. And that’s actually part of the reason that Steve kind of dropped off in the podcast was that one of the things is you really got to own your position and then you gotta be able to delegate other aspects of it out. So with the podcast, it makes more sense that, you know, the marketing director myself is handling that. And then Steve’s handling things that I have to do with the vision of the company and we’re really seeing some great traction to use the title of the book on making things come together at work. And it’s really cool because we’ve got some awesome things coming down the pipeline in the next year. We’re going to be teasing some of those things, which I’m doing right now, but we’ll be announcing those things through the podcast and other channels as they launch.

Eric Worral: (02:26)
And really excited to just kind of see some projects that we’ve been working on for a long time, really starting to actually get some traction and ramp up and speed up in their production and development. So more on that in the future. And I suppose I should just bite the bullet. Maybe it’s, you know, a piece of me that thinks Steve’s going to come back on the podcast, but I should probably just get that stinger changed out. So stay tuned to that. So the first thing that I want to talk about to personally what I’m thankful for when it comes to real estate is my of real estate and also what they call the marshmallow study. Forgive me if I brought this up on the channel before or I should say the podcast, but the marshmallow study, what that is, is a scientific study that was done like I think in the 70s you know, by some white coats maybe from Cornell.

Eric Worral: (03:15)
You know, I’m not big on details, you know that by now. But before they did, as they sat down all these young kids and they put them in front of some marshmallows and they said, Hey, you’re going to have one marshmallow now, or if you’re willing to wait 15 minutes, you can have two marshmallows. So since then, they’ve recorded these types of experiments and the reactions are hysterical. I mean you see these kids losing their minds trying to wait 15 minutes to eat that second marshmallow. So what the study’s doing is it’s really trying to get a sense of willpower and restraint that these kids have. Cause some of the kids can’t handle it. They eat that marshmallow immediately and only get one. Some of them can wait the 15 minutes and get to, even if it was really hard to do. And what they’ve found is years later they kind of followed up with these kids from the original experiment like 20 years, 30 years later they had higher sat scores, lower BMI, and just a higher sense of general achievement within school.

Eric Worral: (04:08)
So it’s really interesting to see that because they found that willpower is such a strong indicator of future success in various ways. So the reason I bring that up is the real estate investor I think would really crush the marshmallow study. I think that because if you think about being a buy and hold real estate investor, what you’re really doing is delaying gratification and showing a lot of willpower to do what you’re doing. There’s a lot of risk involved. There’s a lot of, I’m taking funds and money that you have right now, putting it into a down payment to say, you know what, I’m going to turn this into investment for my future. And you’re really, you’re delaying that gratification and you’re not eating the marshmallow today so you can have two. And you know, maybe it’s a year, 10 years, 30 years kind of depends I guess on what your plan is with it.

Eric Worral: (04:53)
But it’s just really interesting and I find it commendable to the people who are involved in this space. I have, you know, very on a small basis been involved with it. As you know, I owned a, a house hacked out of a, a two-unit property that I owned for 11 years. But I have the utmost respect for people who are involved in this space and are real estate investors or property managers or anybody who’s involved because it is a difficult space, right? You are thinking about your future, your, you’re not thinking about today. You’re thinking about how can I grow tomorrow to, a better tomorrow for myself? And maybe your family or whoever is involved in your life. And thinking about the last year of my life, I realized that I had been delaying gratification for 11 years and I finally ate the marshmallow, so to speak.

Eric Worral: (05:41)
And for me, what that was, was selling our property. I bought it. I don’t remember the year is probably 20, I’m going to go 2009. He has probably about 2009, 2008. I had it for 11 years. It’s kind of just depends I guess when I was and when it’s sold. And ended up taking $114,000 property, selling it for 270. And the appreciation on this thing was tremendous. And of course, I was following it all along. Right. I see it on Zillow, whether or not, you know, how accurate those estimates are. It was actually pretty close for mine on the spinal sale price. It was a little bit low. But I thought it was pretty accurate and I’m seeing that appreciation, but I’m not really experiencing it. Right. It’s not changing my life in any way. I wasn’t using that you know appreciation that had happened to secure another loan or anything like that.

Eric Worral: (06:31)
I wasn’t taking in a home equity line of credit or anything like that. So I never actually tangibly felt or experienced the appreciation, but when I sold the property, I certainly did. Now, of course, I’m gonna get a good tax bell from it and a lot of people would have said, no, you should have held that thing forever. Well, everybody’s real estate experience is different. Your vision, your goals, what you want out of it is always different. Some people want a thousand units, some people want one. Some people want, you know, just like 25 units that can support themselves and so they don’t have to work. You know, it’s different. And figuring out what you want is probably the most important thing to figure out that you have that vision that you want out of this. For me, I’ve always wanted to have time. I’ve wanted to be able to not feel like I’m rushing all over the place constantly when I have a family, especially when they’re young.

Eric Worral: (07:16)
I want to be able to absorb those experiences and be with my family and be supportive. And when I had my second kid who’s in the other room right now, cause I’m recording this from home and he’s sleeping okay, at least I don’t hear him crying. He’s not even two weeks old yet. And it’s just such a wonderful experience to be able to sell that property and have the security of knowing that, you know, I’m not rushing out right now to work on a broken pipe or anything like that. But I also am able to put away some funds and you know, make sure that college education and those things are taken care of and really just be able to have the flexibility and freedom at this point that that property has provided. So just wanted to share a little bit of my personal story.

Eric Worral: (07:59)
I could kind of weird about sharing it just cause I don’t, I’m, I’m somewhat of a private guy I guess, but maybe not cause I’m sharing that. But for those of you who have a vision that you’re like, I’m holding this thing for another 20, 30, 40 years, and sometimes you have those tough days, just understand that you’re delaying gratification. You’re not eating that marshmallow. And when you do, it’ll just taste that much sweeter. So I again, commend you, have all the respect in the world for people who are doing a buy and hold strategy and are taking that cash out right now when they could. So another thing that I want to talk about is our community itself. I pose the question to our Facebook group and just said, Hey guys, you know, is there anything that you’re thankful for? Let me know.

Eric Worral: (08:42)
Love to hear it. So why don’t we take a look at these, sitting down again now. Luka yells at me, are podcast editor, If I sit in front of things, where makes a noise bounce, so it might sound a little bit different as I have in front of me now. All right. So yesterday 6:03 AM early riser now cause a little guy the I put on here if you could comment below with how being a real estate investor has positively affected your life. I read it on our podcast and publish on Thursday. That’s right cause this podcast is publishing on Thanksgiving and that’s why we’re talking about being thankful for real estate. So a couple of comments here. Jennifer Coon asked if you’d still do the Wednesday thing with property manager Q and. A. I’ve been Mia in awhile and love that.

Eric Worral: (09:26)
Thank you, Jennifer. I appreciate that. We don’t do that anymore. Got a little bit redundant doing weekly updates on our property management. But I appreciate that. And Jennifer has been a pretty avid consumer on the Facebook group that’s around RentPrep for Landlord’s Facebook group. Bill Kaiser also very active in the Facebook group, said the opportunity that I’m granted every day forward for past efforts. I think he took what I took me about 10 minutes to say with the marshmallow study analogy and just putting the button on it in about two seconds. So I’m thankful for that bill. That was a, that’s great. That’s well said. Very succinct. Fred Vint, I’m thankful I have the opportunity to be a landlord. I feel like there’s probably not that many people that agree with your friend. Most of them are thankful for the cash flow, but not many of them get to say the opportunity to be a landlord, but I love the perspective.

Eric Worral: (10:16)
I love that he’s, it looks at it like an opportunity. Right? it’s an opportunity that not everybody is afforded to be able to do that with their life. And sometimes it might feel like it’s tough and it’s not an opportunity, but really is a, you know, good landlords who are focused on their future, who are growing the retirement nest egg or maybe just, you know, like I was house hacking and just kind of setting yourself up for the next phase in your life. It’s a great opportunity. So I really feel bad. I’m gonna butcher the name here because Dan is awesome. The last name is Barufaldi. He is a moderator in the group. So I will stop right now to say that I am very thankful for the moderators of the Facebook group.

Eric Worral: (10:58)
That is Dan, Jonathan, and Becca. They have been awesome. They have helped so much with the group. You guys don’t really see this if you’re part of the rum prep for landlords, Facebook group because you know, unless you’ve said something outlandish and had it pulled down, you probably haven’t you know, experienced them. It’s kinda like when you’re a little kid, right? Like I don’t remember the school psychologist or counselors because I wasn’t like getting into trouble or didn’t need those services. But my wife who works in a school says, yeah, like usually, it’s just kids who, you know, get in trouble. Maybe you’re familiar with the school counselor or the principal. So if you’re in the group and you don’t know who Dan, Becca or Jonathan are it’s probably because you are a good group member and you stay on point and stay on task.

Eric Worral: (11:41)
But they do a tremendous job for keeping the conversation on point and the Facebook group. Trust me, it will go off the rails in a hurry if it wasn’t for these guys. And thank you so much. Damn Jonathan and Becca, I really appreciate it. But Dan here was a very thoughtful guy as well, said. I’m grateful that my real estate investing has allowed me to have a rich, fulfilling, comfortable life. On top of that, I have gained awesome longterm relationships. Lastly, it’s a channel through which I can implement my values and watch them deliver on their promise. I know Dan is really big on being a great landlord. He’s gone out of his way multiple times to make sure that his tenants are in a safe sound place. I know he spent the night relating pilot lights because he couldn’t get, a guy out there to work on the furnace.

Eric Worral: (12:26)
I mean, he’s a probably, you know, every runner’s dream to have her a landlord. This next one hits home. This one’s from my buddy Matt, and he said, I’m thankful that you are my friend Eric. So Matt is my former tenant. He was my tenant about a month ago and now just my friend and he’s a really good guy. He’s a pilot and it’s pretty cool to live vicariously through his adventures of flying all over the globe. And Matt, I appreciate you too buddy. This next one comes from Adria. She says that she was only able to buy a home because it has a rental unit that covers a large portion of my mortgage. So it sounds like she’s house hacking and she says, I’m single and self-employed, but wanting to own my home after my divorce a couple of years ago.

Eric Worral: (13:12)
This is the only way I could do it. And I’m grateful. I’ve had good tenants. She does heavy screening, she put here in parentheses and I actually enjoy having people nearby with responsibility also comes freedom. And I love my freedom. That’s such an awesome, awesome comment from Adria. And it gives you a really good perspective too. Cause I was sharing my story about like buying a rental property really before, like I even met my family and then how that’s kinda had an implication and impact on my life in a positive way. And Adrian’s talking about here in kind of a different phase of life, but you can see how every real estate investor is different, right? You’re using it in a different way. And I think that’s really important to keep in mind too. Cause sometimes people throw out these generalizations or this is what you have to do or this is how you have to do it.

Eric Worral: (13:54)
But really, you know, use it as a tool and use it to help you get where you want to go, right? If it stops being a tool to help you achieve your vision and your goals, then maybe you’re living someone else’s dream. And real estate is so flexible and there’s a million ways that you can skin the cat, which is really a morbid saying now that I think about it by I said it anyways that Andrea, thanks for that comment. I really appreciate it. And lastly, the guy who makes me sound better than I actually sound. This is a comment from Luka and I just want to talk about butchering her last name. Sorry, Luka. D, Djordjevic. He’s from overseas. But I found him on a site called Upwork. He audio engineers our podcast. He does a tremendous job. He is on point.

Eric Worral: (14:34)
Like he reminds me like, Hey, you didn’t do a podcast yet this week. You got to get on it. And I say, sorry Luka, let me get to that. So if you ever are interested in a an audio engineer for your podcast, he does awesome work. And he says that he’s grateful for being a podcast producer for RentPrep as we made significant impacts with the podcast and almost three years of working together. Furthermore, work with Eric and RentPep gave me new job opportunities that were rocket fuel for my online business. Luke is a pretty smart guy as far as a business owner. When I’ve had guests on, one that comes to mind is Matt Theriault from Epic Real Estate. He said, Hey, would you mind introducing me? I think I could really help this guy on. I said, yeah, of course. No problem.

Eric Worral: (15:11)
He ends up editing that guy’s podcast like five days a week. And that’s been a great gig for him over there as well. So it’s cool when you have these symbiotic relationships where you both are getting value out of it and it’s working out great. And Luka actually came into town and was on one of the podcasts and I kinda checked out Niagara Falls and got to spend a little bit of a day together. So that was pretty cool too. So guys, I’m gonna wrap up this podcast because it’s getting close to Turkey time. I’m actually going to be going out and spending time with the family that’s in town today and showing them off. They the new little guy and just it’s a pretty cool time in life right now and I’m just going to try to absorb it and take time to tell people that. I love that. I’m thankful for them as well. Cause you know what, the stats, sometimes you need that reminder because it’s such a huge piece of your life. But yeah, I hope you guys are having a great time. Maybe you’re hearing this, you know, a month later cause that’s how podcasts work. So we’ll just be a good reminder to be thankful for something. And I hope you have and had a great Thanksgiving until next week. Take care.