[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to the Short term show. The show about short term rentals and long term wealth with real property owners hosting real properties who are crushing it in the vacation and short term rental space.
And here's your host, Avery Carle.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey, y'. All. Welcome back to another episode of the short term show. Today we have a really cool guest. We have Lucas Papa Giorgio. I, as always, am your host, Avery Carl. And let's get right into it. So, Lucas, you are a short term and long term rental investor. And tell us a little bit about yourself. You know, introduce yourself, tell us who you are and how you got into real estate.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: Yeah. So thank you for having me, first of all, and hello, everybody. So my name's Lucas.
As you said, I have a little bit of long term, a little bit of short term who I am. I work a corporate job, so I wouldn't really say anyone special, but on the side, I've decided to start investing in real estate because I always thought that it would help accelerate my path to wealth. And more than that, it's more so just having another income stream so that I'm not always dependent on a W2 job because just me personally having someone else control your destiny is not something I'm a huge fan of in terms of how I got into it. The long story short, and I can elaborate if you'd like, but the long story short is I bought a 4 flat because the concept of someone else paying for me to live was something I liked. Or maybe not fully live, but tenants paying for majority of my mortgage while I live in one of the units was something that I thought was quite enticing for my first step. So that's how I got into it.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: All right, so what is your day job? Occupation?
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Yeah, so my background's engineering, but I work in a consulting company. So I do manufacturing consulting, so quite a few hours.
And then real estate on the side.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Consulting is a lot of hours. So you live in the Chicago area, right?
[00:02:09] Speaker C: I do. I came here after college and I've been here since eight years.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Eight years. Okay. So you, what made you decide to buy a 4 Plex and live in one of the units? So what, what prompted you to do that?
[00:02:22] Speaker C: Yeah, so I don't deserve any credit, to be honest. The credit goes to. When I was in college, I had an internship. I. I had one of my. In one of my internships, basically I had a manager who basically my last meeting with him said, ask me whatever questions you want. Which to him was like, for me was the best thing ever to him it was the worst thing ever because I just bombarded him with questions. But anyway, one of the questions was like what's something you wish you knew when you REM age? And it was, his response was people will buy a house or a building or some, some type of real estate that allows you to have either roommates or other people giving you rent and in exchange you live for significantly cheaper than you would live if you had rented that place out or if you rented somewhere else in the area.
So that's what got me into it. Or that's how it got started. And then why a 4 flat? To be honest, I just, I got on the MLS with a realtor here and I just, you know, so daily emails, once the listing is live, I would run the numbers. I think the property ended up buying was like my 157th property I reviewed. So it took quite a bit of time. Yeah, just that's what the environment was like back then. But I, you know, toured a bunch, reviewed numbers for 157 and then eventually I found one that worked and here we are.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Okay, so guys, what I want you to hear and pull out of just the beginning of this is that he reviewed 157 properties before he even made an offer.
So when I hear some of you come and say, oh well, I was looking in this market or I was looking in that market, but the numbers don't work.
Maybe just the numbers that you've looked at so far don't work. If you haven't made at least 10 offers, then you don't get to say that the market doesn't work. You have not put in the work. And reviewing 157 properties is a lot of work. So what were you looking at in terms of purchase price and what you wanted each unit to make? Like what was.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe. Let me just add one more thing that I think further exacerbates your point. I actually had one other property under contract. I forget what number it was, but it was a hundred plus. I ended up walking away because it was just way too much work and it didn't make any sense terms of a first time in my opinion at least a first time homeowner buying this building. So anyway, number 157, what was I looking for? To be honest, I was very young, I was very naive. I didn't really know too much. I knew enough to be dangerous. And after that I just like it was, you're going to figure it out as you go. If I'm going to wait to have all the knowledge in the world to get started, then I'll never get started. So I didn't really have a number that I wanted each rental unit to make. What I wanted instead was to cash flow positive. I think it was 3, $400. That way I have enough money should something happen. And of course, this is after property taxes, maintenance reserve, vacancy reserve, the whole nine yards. In terms of purchase price. I was two years into working, so I was using an FHA loan, three and a half percent down. So the max that the FHA would let me get is what my purchase price would have been.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Okay, so FHA, you reviewed 157.
What was the purchase price on this guy, if you don't mind me asking?
[00:05:29] Speaker C: No, I don't mind.
$625,000 with 10k in closing costs rolled in.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Okay, and you were able to do an FHA loan, so would you put like 5% down?
[00:05:39] Speaker C: Three and a half. I put the bare minimum. It was two years into my working career, so I didn't have all that much cash, and I had to make sure I had some for renovations and repairs and all that. So I did the bare minimum.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Love that. And what are you renting out each unit for?
[00:05:56] Speaker C: So today I have each unit at about 16, 20, and then the garden unit is a little below that at like 14.
And then I live in one of the units.
So to put it simply, the income offsets the expenses.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Okay, so 16, 16 and 14, what does that come out to? 32?
[00:06:21] Speaker C: 4,600.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: 4,600amonth. And if you were going to rent a comparable unit to what you're living in just as a single unit to go rent, what would that run you in? Rent?
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, my unit, let's say that I live in now, would be 1600, but if I wasn't owning this building, I'd probably be living in downtown or in a lot fancier of an area. So I'd probably be spending north of $2,000.
Not that there's anything wrong with my area. Just I don't think young adults live here.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: You're right.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: That's the trade off.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Okay, so you would be paying north of 2000, and you're paying 0 for your unit, and the other units are paying basically for you to live and for the expense sizes of the building.
[00:07:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Wow. Love that. So that's really, really cool. So already you were kind of off to a good. And how old were you when you purchased this?
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I was 24.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Oh, my. Good for you.
Off To a great start. So at 24, you're making probably a pretty good income. As a consultant, your biggest expense typically is going to be your rent. You don't have that because you've invested. So what I'm trying to. I want to stick to this one before I move on to the short term rentals. So after your, your boss recommended that you do this. Because I've had bosses recommend things before and I'm like, yeah, that's a good idea. And didn't pursue or didn't listen. So did you listen to any podcasts or do any other type of research or did you just kind of like dive in and learn as you went?
[00:07:53] Speaker C: No, I definitely did a lot of research. So I'll listen to everything and then I'll just like read and try to form my own opinions. So definitely did research.
To be honest, as I was building, like my Excel sheet calculator, I was also learning a lot. Right. And then there were some, I think, bigger pockets books I read. There was also just naturally through looking for a house, you hear what a realtor has to say. So they give you an idea, you research it a little bit more. So it was a combination of some podcasts, some books, and then just going for it.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. Wow. I'm so proud of you already. And you're not.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Yeah. To be honest, I think the message shouldn't be that, like, I'm this huge, very courageous person. Maybe instead it should be I'm a bit naive as well. I don't regret anything. But like, to give you an example, I walked the property two or three times between showings and inspection and all that. And like, just to show you that sometimes you don't think about the basics, I forgot to buy a lawnmower. And it was during COVID So then I went like two months without mowing the lawn. And what I'm trying to say is, like, sometimes you're just so naive in some things you don't remember that you need to buy a lawnmower or snowblower or whatever the case may be. So part of it is just trusting the process.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's, you know, relatively small on the mistake scale of forgot to buy a lot more.
Awesome. So, all right, so you're 24, you've. You've bought this fourplex, you're living rent free, basically, and you decide to buy a short term rental. How did you come to the idea of doing that?
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Yeah, so it was right before I bought the 4 Plex, like as Covid was Becoming a thing. And then summer of, I think 2021, maybe it was 2020, I don't remember exactly, but I'm from Cyprus, so I go back to Cyprus every summer for whatever reason. That's because of COVID I couldn't go back that summer. I still wanted to do a trip. So I went camping with a friend of mine in the Smokies. And we're driving around, I'm looking at all these cabins, and basically I'm thinking to myself, like, what's going on here? There's no way people are living here. So I start to think about, like, the business behind it and what could be going on with rentals, things like that. And just one thing led another. And long story short, I found out about you and the numbers looked good and I was like, let's give this a shot. Let's see what this is all about. And I. I bought my first short term rental in the Smoky Mountains.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Okay. So thank you for listening, reading the books and, and all that. First of all, thank you very much. And hopefully it was helpful. And hopefully you're not like, man, I wish I'd never, never done this. So what made you choose? You're living in Chicago. You really could have invested anywhere.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: So.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: So what made you choose the Smokies, specifically?
[00:10:28] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a very good question. That's a question that people don't ask enough. It was a very short term rental, mature short term rental friendly area, which I thought was a huge plus. I think in general, some of the state laws around eviction, some of the state laws around landlord versus tenant rights, all that kind of stuff, are also very favorable to owning property there. In addition to that, I enjoyed it when I went camping. So if you have fun in the area, I think that's another thing to keep in mind. Like, I. My girlfriend really bothers me about this, that at this point the properties are just something for me to go and work on and leave and never truly enjoy. But back then it was a bit of a. Like a thought process. It was a part of my thought process. But yeah, it was. It was a combination of the numbers, but also the laws and the landlord friendliness of the state. And of course, no state income tax.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: Yeah, that. No state income taxes is very nice. So, all right, so you liked the area, you like the laws, you like the prices of the house. So what was this? 21, 22, 2022.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: So maybe not the best time to buy, but that's.
You don't make that judgment until it's Time to sell. Right. Things change. Things are cyclical. So not focus too much on that.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Okay, so let's talk about the deal that you got. How big was it? What was the purchase price?
[00:11:47] Speaker C: Yeah, so purchase price was 620.
It was a three bedroom. We advertised it as Sleep Six. It has an unfinished basement that is still unfinished.
And then like, I guess it has a bit of a loft. So it has the voltage ceilings, things like that.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Okay, so. And what part of what area of
[00:12:07] Speaker C: it's in Sky Harbor? So for those who don't know, sky harbor, it's basically in between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Gotcha. So sky harbor, right between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, off the spur. Very, very centralized. Probably the most centralized location that you can get when it comes to the Smokies and decently affordable properties in there. It's not like brand new construction. It's very kind of like meat and potatoes cabins. So it's a two bed with a loft, you said, or a three bed.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: It's. It's a three bed. Technically it's a one bedroom because of how, you know, like the laws and how people were developing back then. So it has three bedrooms, but two of them don't have closets. They don't technically count as bedrooms. But yeah, it's three bedrooms. And then two of the bedrooms are upstairs.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: Okay, and you paid 6. 25. And what is that property grossing per year?
[00:12:55] Speaker C: My best year was 67k, so I still think I could be doing better. Last year was a rough year. I did 55.
But between my W2 and this other property that I live in that we've already talked about, I just. I try to have 80% of my. I guess I try to get 80% of the money available for 20% of the effort. And the other 80% effort I need to do to get another 20% of the funds is probably a drawback that I'm willing on living with right now or compromise I'm willing on living with just because of my current situation.
So I realized that I'm probably leaving some money on the table.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Gotcha. And are you planning on doing anything with that unfinished basement? Does it. A lot of times unfinished basements in the Smokies seem. Seem like a great idea, but they don't have access unless you go outside. You can't access them from inside the house. Are you planning to do anything with that or just leave it?
[00:13:49] Speaker C: We always. The thought always was, I can convert this to something like you said, but right now, not in the near term, I don't want to have a property where you have to access the basement from the outside, and interior access is a bit of a challenge. So for now, it's working as it is. Just, I don't want to break something that's not. I don't want to fix something that's not broken. Basically.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Gotcha. So you're happy with this property the way that it is?
[00:14:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Okay.
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[00:15:32] Speaker B: and you bought a second one, right?
[00:15:34] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Okay. Was that also in the Smokies?
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Yeah, it was five minutes down the street.
This one. This one's an interesting one. This one is a lot more cookie cutter. The first property I bought was built by hand from, you know, a father son team. They like. It was their vacation home. They barely rented it out. This one was cookie cutter. Like, you've probably seen the layout a thousand times, and it's. It's bigger. It sleeps eight. To be honest, of my three properties, this is the one I struggle with the most.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Just because it. Yeah, for. I don't know, maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but just, I struggle with getting some, like, consistent reservations, getting it booked out as far in advance as possible. But it's still.
I think last year maybe I lost a little bit, but it's paying for itself for the most part, so it's not the end of the world.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Okay, and what year did you buy that one?
[00:16:20] Speaker C: 2024, when no one was buying. I thought to myself, let me take advantage of the higher rates, buy it at a better price and then just stomach a higher rate. Refinance eventually, and I'll write some appreciation. And eventually the cash flow was going to work out for me.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Why do you think that that one is not booking the way that you want it to?
[00:16:41] Speaker C: It's a great question. I've Spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I spent some time with some of the coaches thinking about this. I think it's a combination of maybe it's slightly too big. Maybe I sleep state. I don't think it's really that big, but.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: No.
[00:16:53] Speaker C: Perhaps it's because it's in the back half of Sky Harbor. The location is a bit more of an issue.
And if it's cookie cutter, I think that it's just less appealing to people.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: What do your photos look like? Don't name names, but, like, do you have professional photos?
[00:17:10] Speaker C: Yeah, everything is always professional photos.
They could be maybe. I guess it's something I'm. I'm considering. There's two or three improvements I want to make and then I want to get new photos. So maybe that's what helps turn it around.
But they're not bad, I guess, to answer your question.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Gotcha. You know Tim Grillo, he used to be an agent.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: I know Tim.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So he's a photographer now. He was actually on an episod a few weeks back and he. His photos are so beautiful. I highly recommend, once you get everything kind of the way that you want it to be, calling him to do some Twilight photos and some regular photos
[00:17:51] Speaker C: too, because of course, so long Tim was my agent. And whenever I'm back in the Smokies, I want to text him to just have a beer or something. So I'll probably get him for some photos.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you absolutely should.
So I want to hear about how you financed these two properties. So did you save up for the down payment? Did you pull equity out of another property? How did you do that?
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Good question. So for the. I guess we already discussed the first one, so only in the short term rentals. I just saved up to invest the first short term rental. As I was doing some research, my brother happened to call me to ask me a different question and he was interested in going in. So obviously we're 5050 on that one. Maybe I should have mentioned it earlier. Sorry if I didn't. But he ended up contributing his portion of the down payment. So we co. We just do everything together. And then the second one, again just saved up. So. Second home loans, 10% down.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Okay. I am such a fan and I don't get any love for this, but such a fan of just saving up for the down payment. You don't have to go too fast. And so many people during the COVID run up just over leveraged and over over leveraged and pulled all this equity out of every property that they had to buy more properties and then ended up having to sell in the worst market we've seen in a long time in 2023 and 4 and 5. It's kind of picking back up now though, in 2026. It's better. But having to sell a property or all their properties in a bad market because they over leveraged when the, when things were good because they didn't, they didn't plan for worst case scenario. They just assumed everything would keep going up, up, up and got themselves in a situation where if one property underperformed or had some kind of a problem where they had to shut it down, you know, maybe a maintenance thing, that everything would fall apart. So everybody wants to hear that cool hack or trick for how to come up with money when you don't have any. And really just saving up and going slow is the way to do it, in my opinion.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: I think that's the best piece of advice someone can get out of this episode. Like being self sufficient and sustainable about what you do, whether it's real estate, investing or any other part of your life, parenting, working, hobby, like that's the way in my opinion, you will eventually be very successful because everything you've built is on a very strong foundation that you can revisit or reap the benefits of for many years down the line. So I really agree with you. Like I have a HELOC on this property in Chicago, 150,000.
It's untapped. Like maybe I'll tap into it. But what for? So I could end up ruining what's doing? Well, I just, for me, I struggle with that.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. It is hard to watch other people, you know, on social media, just their highlight reels of how much they're doing and wanting to do that too. But you really don't know what's going on behind them.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Exactly. Everyone's always, everyone will always tell you all the highlights, but for every highlight there's two or three lowlights and no one's going to talk about those. How many people will tell you about replacing a toilet at 12am or whatever, whatever other maintenance, repair, losing money one year, whatever the case may be. Everyone wants to show off. No one wants to tell you about how they got to the point where they could show off, assuming they even got to that point. And they're not lying.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Right? Right. Because we've all had bad years and, and mistakes and bad properties. I've had to sell property that for less than what we paid for it and multi family like it, it Happens if you stay in real estate for long enough. You're, you're gonna have a dog eventually. And, and a worst year ever. And, and back to that.
So your properties did not have their best year ever in 2025. A lot of people immediately when they have a year that isn't anything other than their best year ever, they want to sell the property and I'm selling my properties. This doesn't work anymore. I don't know why I did this.
What would be your advice to them? Because it doesn't sound like that's the way that you're going after not having the best year ever.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: No. First of all, one year can be an anomaly. I think, I think this is more of a philosophical question or whatever, but let's just say I think people have become very nearsighted or short term and they look at one year's worth of results to your question and think that's what's going to be or that's what's going to drive the next few years. I try to take a step back and look at a bit of a higher picture. Right. The past two, three years, if I look at it over a three year basis, it was fine.
I had a bad year, maybe I made some bad decisions, maybe I was a little too busy, maybe the economy wasn't the greatest. There's several factors. Some I'm responsible for, some I'm not. What can I do better? And then let's see what happens the second year. And if I have three straight years that are bad, then maybe, yeah, I, it's not for me and I get out. But I think it's, I think people are being very harsh on themselves or very, very near sighted when they try to get out after only one year because they expect a get rich quick scheme. It's called investing for a reason. It's, it's not a get rich quick scheme.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Right. It's up and down. And then if you move over to the stock market, everybody knows you don't sell when it's low. And people are able to stop themselves from doing that because they know it's eventually always going to go back up. But with short term rentals and real estate in general, for some reason people always assume it's just going to keep getting worse and go all the way to zero when they have a bad year instead of just hanging on and waiting for it to go, to go back up. And it's, they're both investing and you, you have to watch the cycle for both and selling at the Bottom is a great way to lose money in both types of investing.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: You're 100% correct.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So what, what's next for you, Lucas? So are you looking to buy a third short term rental? Gonna do a new market, Another multi family? What are we looking at here?
[00:23:51] Speaker C: That's a great question. It's something I'm trying to figure out as well. Like there was.
It goes back to what you were saying about, you know, like don't, don't take cash out of something to put it into something else. Save towards it. I'm at the point where it's time. Right. From a numbers perspective, but it's also about making sure you find the right deal. It takes discipline to buy the right one, but it also takes discipline not to buy the wrong one. So I would love to buy something again. However, what I'm really struggling with right now is just finding something that works. There's one or two that I'm kind of looking at, but they have some issues.
And in terms of market, I was reading one of your emails that you sent to clients.
For whatever reason, the beach just entered my mind. I'm not sure if I'll end up going for it. But yeah, I'm in the stage where I'm trying to find something, but I'm just not. I just haven't found what it is yet.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: And that's a totally fine place to be. Once again, I love your patience that you analyze 157deals before buying your first one. And you're not sitting here with your money burning a hole in your pocket like, I gotta buy something right now. You're waiting, you're analyzing, you're just kind of feeling things out. And I think that that's so important. And when you said that it takes discipline to buy the right deal, it also takes discipline to not buy the wrong deal. And just jumping in just because you have the money and forcing things, I think is a big mistake. So I, I love your patience here.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: And maybe I'm coming off as very patient, very calm. But to like those listening, in the back of my mind it is spinning like, oh, it's been two and a half years since I bought something or whatever the case may be. But like you, those thoughts in the back of your mind, you keep them there and you stick to exactly you just said Avery of like, keep the discipline. Keep the like the strong foundation that you're trying to build and eventually you'll get something. Maybe it takes a little longer, but it'll come.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Totally agree with that.
So, Lucas, before we go to the last three questions of the show, is there anything about your story that I haven't asked about that you really think that our listeners need to hear so that they can be motivated or that they can relate to anything?
[00:26:00] Speaker C: That's a good question.
Yeah, I would say, I guess, when it comes a few things. Right. First off, when it comes to starting, maybe I make it sound a little too simple and maybe you could argue that I wasn't well prepared. I don't think that's the case. But really all I did is I just saved as much as I could from my paycheck. And something that a story maybe to share here is, I remember I was at a team dinner.
I would travel for work. So when you travel for work, you get an allowance per day. And basically I had shared that, like, yeah, if I save money from my allowance, I put it in my house fund. And I had gotten a comment from someone more senior on the team who said, what's the point? You get $10, I'm sure you're gonna go buy a $10 more expensive house and something that's very important. And the message here is when you're using leverage, the $10 you could put down, especially if you're using an FHA loan where it's like three and a half percent down, is 33 times that $10 you just saved, right? So don't overlook the power of saving a little bit at a time, even if it's a dollar from getting a buy one, get one free deal at the supermarket or whatever the case may be. So I think that's the first one. The second one is like, I was willing on putting in the work and doing the dirty work in order to get to the point where I am today where I understand a lot of things and I can now hire stuff out. So I would unclog drains, I would paint the walls myself, I would replace toilets, all these types of things. In order for me to now know whether or not a plumber is messing around with me on the prices or a contractor is trying to take advantage of me, I sat down or I spent a lot of time reading or watching videos or whatever the case may be to understand the work that needs to be done, I would do it myself. And then now when I'm in a bit more of a financially stable situation, I'm able to hire it out. But I think those early years of doing the hard work yourself and sweating the details, being up at 9pm doing stuff that you don't want to be doing is what's allowed me to also be in this position today. So there's a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. And I think that's like the second and probably the more important message that people tend to overlook. Like you can't have the success without having the hard work that you need to put into it.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: That is really, really great advice. You can't just outsource everything right out of the gate. You have to truly learn the business of investing before you can outsource it to other people and let it run itself. It is not just buying a house and then never touching it again and printing money. So very good advice.
[00:28:31] Speaker C: If it exists, someone tell me because I'd love to participate, but I haven't found. I haven't found it.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: If it exists, me too. All right, you ready for the last three questions of the show, Lucas?
[00:28:42] Speaker C: Yeah, let's do it.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: All right, so first question. What advice would you give 20 year old Lucas if you knew then what you know now
[00:28:52] Speaker C: That's a really good question. I think.
I think it's putting a little less respect on all these different people that you're going to end up meeting.
Just because a realtor says something, it doesn't mean it's true 100% of the time. Just because your accountant says something. Yeah, it should be true. But how many accountants do we know that mess things up? What I'm trying to say is it's not to speak poorly of all the other people in the professions, financial advisor, accountant, plumber, whatever the case may be, but it's more so to empower yourself to learn this information because you could learn it like, you're not going to know every tax loophole, you're not going to know every piece of every line of code out there, but you can reach a very solid understanding of things that you need to be successful in terms of real estate investing by putting in the time. And it's not that I didn't put in the time, it's that I put too much respect on all these professions.
So I would advise myself to, to be a little less dear in the headlights when someone tells me things and just trust my judgment a little bit more and trust my like, gut reaction to what they're saying.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Very good advice.
Number two, what advice would you give a new short term rental investor who's looking to get started today?
[00:30:02] Speaker C: Do you want to be specifically for short term rental or long term as well? Because I think it's very similar.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Investing at All.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I think Luke uses this term as well. Like, just let it rip. Obviously, do your research, right, and like run your numbers. But the perfect property doesn't exist. You're going to have to compromise on something. So once you find something where the numbers work and the property for the most part, meets what you're looking for, just go for it. Because when you get this, to this stage of analysis paralysis, you're just never going to move forward and you're going to keep repeating that cycle over and over again. And at the end of the day, like, it's going to hurt you. Better you buy something now that doesn't meet all your boxes. But at least the numbers work. Just to clarify, right? Like, if it's a 90% match, 95% match, it's probably pretty good match, right? So go for it. And then two years from now, you can go for something else instead of being in this analysis paralysis cycle where you never do anything and you just always wonder, what if, what if, what if, what if? And you don't benefit at all.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Also, great advice.
And last question. What is your favorite book that's impacted your mindset?
[00:31:13] Speaker C: Oof. Just one.
If it's just one, I would say Good to Great by Jim Collins.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:31:24] Speaker C: He talks a lot about. It's more from a business or a company perspective, but a lot of the principles he has there you could apply to the. If it's just you or if it's whatever. If it's you and your business, small business, or like you and just a few properties that you're investing, whatever the case may be, you can, you can boil those principles down to a very small amount, a small team, even if that team number is one.
So that's what I would say. Like, he teaches you things like getting the right people on the bus, right? So what does that mean? Like, if it's just me investing in properties, like, make sure I have a good accountant, make sure I have a good contractor, make sure I have a good cleaner, make sure I have a backup cleaner, things like that, right? Once you get the right people, then the world becomes your oyster. Because you could trust them, you empower them, they empower you. And you don't waste as much time on the fine details or the tasks that aren't worth your time, more so you're able to continue building towards something. Or he'll teach you the concept of put your best people on the biggest opportunities, not on the biggest problems. So you could translate that into real estate investing, for example, and be like, always try to focus on things that are additive in nature and not things that once you solve the problem, you're done. And that's how you can keep growing. So there's a lot of principles that I thought had parallels to real estate investing, but also just everyday life.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: That's a great one. Truly great book.
And, Lucas, that is it. We have come to the end of the show. Thank you so much for coming on. If our listeners want to find you or follow you on social media, do you have that? It's totally okay to say no, but if they want to, how can they find you?
[00:33:00] Speaker C: That's a great question. I. I guess I have a profile out there. I don't use it.
I guess if you need to reach me, just email me. My name is. Or my email is just my name. Yahoo.com. so that's the best way.
I am not some big influencer. So right now it's just.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:33:18] Speaker C: It's just a cell phone and an email address.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: Love that.
All right, well, Lucas, thank you again so much for coming on. And listeners, we will catch you next week.
[00:33:28] Speaker C: No problem. Thank you for having me. And hopefully this was helpful to somebody.
