0:00

what is meant to be will come your way , but you also

0:02

have to go and search for it too . You have to put

0:04

yourself in the right room . Maybe you got to pay for

0:06

those right rooms , and that's fine , but that could lead

0:08

to so much more . So that's why I always

0:10

harp on investing in yourself

0:12

, educating yourself , but also networking

0:15

with other people . You never know , one

0:17

person could change the trajectory

0:20

of your entire life , of your

0:22

entire journey . So go to those meetups

0:24

. Just be open and try to think

0:26

of some way too , you can add value

0:28

to others .

0:29

The journey to wealth is a long walk and

0:31

some may walk quicker than others , but what good

0:33

is sprinting to the finish line if you pass

0:35

out when you cross it ? On Walk to

0:37

Wealth , we enlighten and empower

0:39

young adults to build wealthy , abundant

0:42

lives . They say the journey

0:44

of a thousand miles begins with a single

0:46

step and your first step starts

0:48

right now . This is

0:50

Walk to Wealth with your host

0:52

, John Mendez .

0:54

Hey , everyone welcome back to the Walk to Wealth podcast

0:56

. If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the podcast

0:58

directories , make sure to do yourself one teeny

1:01

, tiny little favor . Make sure to give us a follow

1:03

, because I don't want you to miss any of the amazing

1:05

guests I have coming on this year . But

1:07

without further ado , let's get right into this

1:09

one . Zasha , for anyone who hasn't

1:11

had the opportunity to get to know you , to get to

1:13

see you on IG or any of the social

1:15

media platforms , tell us your quick little elevator

1:18

pitch who are you and what do you do ?

1:21

Aloha everybody . My name is Zasha Smith

1:23

, raised here on the island of Maui

1:25

, and I'm a full-time real estate investor

1:27

.

1:29

All right , and this is my favorite question , because

1:31

I guess people would go back in a time machine

1:33

, as I like to say . So take us back in a time machine

1:36

. What was it like growing up in Hawaii

1:38

? What was it like as a child ? Was

1:40

the money , what was the topic of money and

1:42

wealth ? Like growing up .

1:45

Well , definitely here people have an

1:48

image of what it's like to

1:50

live in a vacation spot

1:52

. But there's also the other side

1:54

. Growing up here , drugs

1:56

, low income , because

1:58

the cost of living is so high . So growing

2:01

up , I mean , my dad went to jail

2:03

, my mom had to raise us as a single

2:05

mom . We lived in low income housing

2:08

. Very much money

2:10

was never there

2:12

, and so we were always trying to find

2:14

ways to make money , as in

2:16

elementary school I remember , like just buying

2:19

candy from the store and

2:21

then selling it at school We'd have garage

2:23

sales and car washes , I don't know when I was

2:25

like third or fourth grade . So we're

2:27

always trying to help my mom , you know , be able

2:29

to survive , especially here in

2:31

an expensive market . I

2:35

put my . I ended up graduating from Maui

2:37

High School and put myself through college

2:39

because I wanted a different route

2:41

. My mom never went to college . I was actually the first

2:43

one out of my entire family to graduate

2:45

with a bachelor's degree and I always

2:47

thought , like you know , that's the way to make

2:49

it out , and especially living here , you have

2:51

to be like a doctor , lawyer or engineer

2:54

something in order to make ends

2:56

meet . So , coming

2:58

home , I graduated with a bachelor's in

3:00

civil engineering and

3:03

I actually also had my first daughter while

3:05

I was in college , so that was a little

3:07

bit of a struggle as well , but it honestly gave

3:09

me more of a push to want to finish

3:11

and do it , cause I don't know if

3:13

you're from a small town or not , but

3:15

my first year

3:17

I got , like you know , I was

3:19

wanting to move back home Cause it

3:22

was scary , it was a new environment . I went to Cal

3:24

State , long Beach , so California and Hawaii

3:26

I mean similar weather kind

3:28

of , but not really similar people in

3:30

the aspect that you know , there's highways

3:32

, there is high rise buildings , there's so

3:35

many more people . But

3:37

it really opened my eyes to what else

3:39

is out there . It gave me the opportunity

3:41

to know that there's this bigger

3:44

life out there than just , you know , living

3:46

on a small island . But I ended up moving

3:48

back because I had my daughter realize

3:51

that the cost of housing was so expensive

3:53

. So I , partnered with my mom , bought our first

3:55

house together as a duplex . So she

3:57

lived in one side , I lived in the other . It was

3:59

two units and after

4:02

we sold it we realized

4:05

that we didn't have to pay taxes

4:08

on the profit . So we sold at 300

4:10

net profit , we split the

4:12

150 and we didn't have to pay taxes because

4:14

we're living in that house for

4:17

the two out of the last five years

4:19

. So that got me thinking like , hey , there's

4:21

something with this real estate thing . And so

4:23

my job required me to work like 60

4:25

to 70 hour weeks . I was always away from my

4:27

family , you know . A few years later I got

4:30

married , I had my second child and

4:32

really I was always tired

4:34

, I was overworked . I started going to work on the

4:36

weekends and it was a lot of brain

4:39

work . So as a civil engineer , you're designing

4:41

underground utilities for subdivisions

4:43

, hotels , shopping centers

4:46

, like really intense things

4:48

, and so I was already used to managing

4:50

crews and contractors , staying

4:53

on a schedule , staying on budget , and

4:55

so when I was talking

4:57

to my husband one day , he was just like you

5:00

know , they're getting the best of you and we're getting

5:02

the rest of you . You're always tired

5:04

. So that really struck a chord in me

5:06

to be like , ok , I need to find something

5:08

else that I can do

5:10

in order to replace my income . So started

5:13

Googling , like any millennial you

5:15

know , like how to quit my job and get rich , or like

5:17

how to quit my job and survive , or what

5:19

else hide side hustles I

5:21

could do . Found real estate

5:23

, dove into bigger pockets , which is

5:25

a free resource , a podcast they

5:28

have a website up as well and

5:30

from there just kind of took off .

5:34

That is an amazing story . I kind

5:36

of want to touch on the the

5:38

selling candy at school , because I

5:40

always like to say that I wasn't the

5:42

traditional entrepreneur . I got into the

5:44

game a little late compared to most people . I was

5:46

, I think , 20 when I read Rich Dad

5:48

, poor Dad . Yeah , I was 19

5:51

when I read Rich Dad , poor Dad and then

5:53

, you know , it took me a little while , but that's

5:55

when my whole world kind of flipped

5:58

. So , selling candy bars at school , how

6:00

did that entrepreneurial spirit kind of

6:03

play out throughout the course of your life , whether

6:05

it was at your job , whether it was away while you're at college

6:07

, like how did that help you pretty much

6:09

go on throughout your earlier , earlier years

6:11

?

6:13

Was more . So , you know , for me early

6:15

on I did realize it was more of connections

6:18

and more of catering

6:20

to what people wanted . So even

6:23

though the candy , you know , like we bought from Costco

6:25

or I guess they have Sam's Club over there

6:27

, we have Costco over here but you know

6:29

you can get a pack for a certain amount and then

6:32

if you divide them all out , ok , this might

6:34

cost me 50 cents for one

6:36

. If I go and sell it at 75 cents

6:38

, I'll make like the difference and

6:40

people pay for convenience

6:42

. I feel like that had been the underlying

6:45

philosophy

6:47

that I'd learn , just being entrepreneurial

6:50

and then learning how to negotiate . Because

6:52

some people they don't want to pay the 75 cents . I'm

6:54

like , okay , what if I include , you know

6:56

, an M&M and a Snickers for this price

6:58

and to make it worth their while ? So I'd offer

7:01

a little bit of a discount . So I think I was always

7:03

just used to that mind frame

7:05

of you know , people will

7:07

pay for an end

7:09

product or to , you know , I

7:11

guess , get a result and for that it was

7:14

just like candy , or like when we had car

7:16

washes , right , it was like we lived

7:18

on one of the main streets here , on McConny Road

7:20

, and so it was

7:22

easy to advertise whenever we had car washes

7:24

and then we people would pull up

7:27

and be like , okay , how much is a car wash ? We'll be like , okay

7:29

, $5 . And like , oh , I only have $4

7:31

. Okay , then we can only just wash down

7:33

the car , we're not going to use soap or whatever . So

7:35

I learned early on how to

7:37

, I guess , like pivot or just kind

7:40

of negotiate our way to still

7:42

be able to make money too . So I think

7:44

it just comes from the environment

7:46

and I also had a few sisters

7:48

. I grew up with three other sisters

7:50

, so we're very competitive

7:53

as well , but I also had the help

7:55

around . It was like growing up with a little team

7:57

, you know , especially around the neighborhood .

8:00

Yeah , yeah

8:04

, that's amazing . I remember I saw my family

8:06

on my mom's side of the family is Dominican and

8:08

I went to Dominican Republic back

8:10

I think it was 2019 . And I kid

8:13

you not , like whenever my uncles would go

8:15

out somewhere , it's like every

8:17

conversation was a negotiation , like

8:19

super Chris Voss

8:22

style , like every whether it was a food

8:24

truck or you know a little , you know

8:26

food stand , or whether they were getting

8:28

a mango or you know getting plantains

8:30

, whatever it was , there was a negotiation everywhere

8:33

in the Dominican Republic . And I think it's a a lost

8:35

start . I think people are afraid to ask , even

8:37

like now , afraid to ask for what

8:39

they want , because most people realize

8:41

whatever is you know , don't realize that

8:43

whatever is said usually isn't

8:45

as far as people were willing to go , and

8:48

if you know how to negotiate definitely

8:50

helps out a lot , and so the transition a little bit

8:52

. Then you got into the engineering space

8:54

and then you said you bought a house with your mom about a duplex

8:57

. When you were buying that house , was

8:59

it like , okay , let's get a duplex , maybe we'll

9:01

stay investing ? Like did the bug kind

9:03

of hit you there ? Or was it just like , okay , I want to live in

9:05

one unit and want my mom to live in the unit . The

9:07

other unit , like what got you into investing

9:09

into , you know , buying a duplex instead of just buying

9:12

one big single family house .

9:45

Well , I didn't qualify on my own for anything

9:47

here because it's so expensive . So

9:50

, I knew I needed either a co-signer

9:52

or someone else on the loan , and

9:54

so my mom had been renting , I was

9:56

renting , and at that time we were both single

9:59

moms . So and now I was old enough

10:01

, I graduated from college , I had a really good job

10:03

, and so for me and her

10:05

it was more so about stability . And

10:07

then you know later on , if we had

10:09

kept the house , we could have kept it as

10:11

like a family house and started building

10:13

our wealth together as a family . So it wasn't

10:16

intentional to start like investing

10:18

in real estate . And now the they

10:20

coined the term like a house hack , right when you

10:22

have multiple units on a property and

10:24

you collect rent . But my mom ended up

10:26

moving out because she moved to another island

10:28

for a job opportunity and

10:31

so I ended up renting out her side

10:33

. I think our mortgage at that time

10:35

was only like 1500 . So I rented

10:37

that side for 1500 . And

10:39

then I also I had a three bedroom . So I

10:41

rented out one of the bedrooms to

10:43

one of my friends and she was paying me $400

10:46

a month , so that helped cover utilities

10:48

. So I was basically living for free . You

10:50

know , I think I was 24 at that time

10:52

and I mean I didn't , like

10:54

I mentioned , didn't intentionally start investing , but

10:56

then that got the wheels turning to like , okay

10:59

, if I have multiple , if I'm living in the house , I get

11:01

a place to stay , plus I have other

11:03

people like paying for it and then building

11:05

wealth and appreciation and all

11:07

those other stuff . It really did A

11:10

light bulb went off , but not necessarily

11:12

to become a real estate investor

11:14

, it was more so . Okay , I got to figure

11:17

out this , how I

11:19

can do this more often , and

11:23

I think it's a good place to start too for

11:25

people who are just beginning

11:28

, even in your life . Like don't go and

11:31

buy that first home with a white picket

11:33

fence . That's everything you always dreamed of

11:35

. Like you can always move . You

11:37

just need something like start building your wealth

11:39

now by something and living it , even

11:41

if you qualify . If it's just a little condo

11:43

or something like that , you can always house hack by

11:46

renting out rooms . If you buy a duplex

11:48

, you know , of course if it's connected to

11:50

you , you want it to also be somebody you trust , so

11:52

very much vet those people . But there's

11:54

a lot of opportunity there . If

11:57

you can only qualify for something on your own

11:59

, or if you want to start but not be so

12:01

intentional like I want to be investor

12:03

, I got to buy a rental property . Know your rental

12:05

property could be your property .

12:10

Yeah , 100% . It's funny . So I'm licensed

12:12

as an agent but I really don't like doing any

12:14

agent stuff . I stopped doing it a while ago . I

12:16

told you before we hit record that I'm more like the

12:18

marketing and the course stuff started things now and in

12:21

the podcast , of course but I was

12:23

talking to my best friend's dad and he

12:25

was sending me a couple properties in this one

12:27

town . It's

12:29

known around here as not to be like the town

12:31

you want to live in , but he's under your purple

12:33

properties . He was just like John

12:35

, if I like , if I have to sleep on the floor , I'll

12:37

do it like I don't care . I just like

12:39

I just want to get into home ownership

12:42

and it's like I mean maybe not

12:44

going to that extreme , but like he has the right

12:46

idea . It's like people , so you know

12:48

, want to get into like yeah , I got to have

12:50

this that this new floors

12:52

knew this , knew everything , and then

12:54

have a first-time home buyer budget and it's

12:56

like I

12:58

don't know how any of this is gonna work out . But

13:01

we could pray , right , that's probably the best we

13:03

could do . And so let me ask you

13:05

now . So you got the duplex , you ended up selling it

13:07

. I didn't have to incur any taxes on

13:09

it because you guys lived in it for after a while . I

13:11

know you . I think you already

13:14

had a couple I think

13:16

close to 30 40,000 on IG , so

13:18

I'm a little late to your journey as

13:21

to when everything started picking off . I know you got a lot

13:23

more now , but what was your journey

13:25

? So , after you sold the duplex , of course , how did you

13:27

really get started in real estate investing ? Like what was your

13:29

process ? Where you're going to network and meet up , do you have like a

13:31

local RIA ? Like what were you going

13:33

to ? And how did you start getting like the knowledge to

13:35

Really get your investing career and

13:38

journey started ?

13:39

Well , so from that house we decided to sell

13:42

because my mom actually needed the money . And

13:44

then I got married and so I

13:46

was looking for another house to live in and

13:49

, like I mentioned before , even with my

13:51

husband's income we could barely qualify for things

13:53

. Or we're just realizing , like our

13:55

mortgage payment would be so high if something

13:57

happens to one of us , like we might

13:59

end up in foreclosure . So we started

14:01

looking at those foreclosed

14:03

properties that were listed on the MLS and

14:05

then my uncle had told me that he had bought

14:08

a home . At the courthouse

14:10

I was like what , how do people do that

14:12

? What does that mean ? So I started

14:15

, you know , diving deep into foreclosure

14:17

auctions and started attending them actually

14:20

live here on Maui ended

14:22

up that's how we bought our first home and From

14:25

doing renovations , from going through that whole

14:27

process , there was like a freaking clouded title

14:29

. There was an expired permit , like

14:31

we still limit it to this day because we're still

14:33

closing . We finally got the title cleared , we

14:36

Close the permit

14:39

, and it was like it took four years to do

14:41

that . So be mindful that any of these

14:43

strategies off-market that you try

14:45

to do , or if you're doing creative financing and all

14:47

that , there are some downsides to

14:49

it or some things to challenges to

14:51

be aware of when you're buying off-market , because

14:53

you don't have that realtor or the

14:55

escrow company there to kind of protect

14:57

the ownership of the home and be able to trace

15:00

it back . Or if there is like open permits and

15:02

things like that , unless you go and check with the county

15:04

prior to buying and I was very new to

15:06

this , I didn't even know to check for those things

15:09

. But we fixed that up and

15:11

Ended up going to the bank

15:13

and I was like , oh my gosh , we just spent

15:15

all our savings , all my money , from one house

15:17

to another . And I was just talking to a teller

15:19

at Bank of Hawaii and she's like , well

15:21

, why don't you get a key lock or do

15:23

a cash-out refinance to get your money back ? I was

15:25

like , what are those things ? So it

15:28

was just like asking the right questions to the right

15:30

people . From there we ended

15:32

up doing the bird strategy . So we

15:34

bought the house , we renovated it well

15:36

, burr , that we lived in and

15:39

we ended up refinancing , getting back all our

15:41

money that we put in . I think we were all in about

15:43

80,000 getting a conventional loan . We

15:46

got all our money back and then we also

15:48

got a hundred and twelve thousand dollar key lock

15:50

on top of the home . So there was already

15:52

built-in equity . So from there

15:54

that was like , oh shoot , how

15:57

the heck did we get this money like , and we don't have

15:59

to pay taxes on it or anything ? So that

16:01

kind of blew my mind too . I was like , wait , so we

16:03

sold this house , we lived in it , we

16:05

didn't have to pay any taxes . Then

16:07

now we're pulling out money from this other house

16:09

. We don't have to pay taxes on that . I was

16:12

like , okay , now I got to get

16:14

more into this real estate thing . So with

16:16

that hundred grand we ended up buying our first

16:18

rental and then I bought my first

16:20

flip . We started going to meetups , like

16:22

really diving deep , and then I joined a mentorship

16:25

. So it wasn't it wasn't

16:27

necessarily like me getting into

16:29

these networking space and being around other people

16:31

. It was like seeing for my own eyes from purchasing

16:34

my own homes like , wow , there's

16:36

really something to you

16:39

can really like . This is how the rich get richer

16:41

. Like you know , leveraging

16:43

equity and leveraging loans

16:46

and debt .

16:48

No , 100% , and it's one of those things where there's

16:51

so many different ways that

16:54

you can make money in real estate . It's

16:56

insane and it kind of separates perfectly into my next

16:58

question which I wanted to ask you . You've met

17:00

a lot of people from all different experience

17:02

levels in terms of their real estate journey

17:05

and , as you know , there's like a trillion

17:07

different vehicles in real estate alone , like

17:09

on the investing side . Then you have

17:11

like the agent side of things . Like there's so many

17:13

different avenues in real estate to make money

17:16

, to build wealth . From

17:18

what you've seen , what

17:20

are some of like the biggest misconceptions ? Because

17:23

real estate is like I mean , we have bigger pockets , we

17:25

have all these different real estate influencers

17:28

and it looks like amazing

17:31

from social media , but like what are some

17:33

of the biggest misconceptions behind

17:35

the scenes ? Screw ups , whatever that usually

17:37

doesn't get shown on social media , that

17:39

people don't know what they sign up for

17:41

until they actually get into it ?

17:44

A lot of it has to do with the construction

17:46

part and the rehab . That's where things

17:48

can go left , especially if you're not working

17:50

with good contractors

17:52

. So there's some contractors I've worked with

17:55

them once they did great jobs and then , as things

17:57

go on , then they slack or they

17:59

ask for bigger payments up front and then don't

18:01

end up doing the work . So I think that's something

18:03

to be very much . If you're doing these high rehab

18:06

homes , being aware that there's

18:08

going to be additional costs , it's always going to go

18:10

over budget and over the

18:12

price , over the timeline

18:14

as well , like it's just inevitable

18:16

. Every single project that I've done and

18:19

we've been conservative with it , it's just

18:21

that's . It always happens . If

18:23

you're in the fix and flip game , and even in the

18:25

refinance game , now you see interest

18:27

rates are way higher than they were

18:29

before . So some places that we wanted

18:31

to keep as rentals , we're just flipping them

18:33

because we couldn't even project before

18:36

. When you buy a property , say , for me , it

18:38

usually takes me six to eight months to renovate

18:40

it . So in that six to eight months timeline

18:43

, like the interest rates doubled and

18:45

we maybe we said , okay , it's 3%

18:47

now , maybe it'll be 5% or 6%

18:49

Now it's like 8% , 9% for

18:51

investment loans . So with that

18:53

, just to give you perspective , if

18:55

you had , like you were projecting

18:57

an 1800 a month , you know mortgage

19:00

payment , now it'll be 2400

19:02

. Like that's a huge gap difference

19:05

. And of course in a lot of places

19:07

the rent doesn't always keep up

19:09

with the actual cost of the home

19:11

. So expenses come in . Putting

19:13

aside when people say , oh yeah , I'm

19:15

renting this , my mortgage is 3000

19:18

. I'm renting for six , so I'm making three

19:20

grand it's like no , you have to set aside money

19:23

for insurance , taxes

19:25

, emergencies , maintenance , like

19:27

there's going to be . These big capital expenditures

19:29

come up like leaks that happen in the home

19:32

, even if it's a brand new home . Some

19:34

something gets stuck in the tub or in the toilet

19:36

and then you know leaks everywhere . So

19:38

it's just to be mindful that you have to

19:40

definitely put aside extra money

19:42

for those types of expenses

19:45

that do come up , and they do come up often 100%

19:49

.

19:49

So I got three things from that , the first of which is always

19:51

run your numbers before you get into anything real estate

19:53

related . The second thing is always

19:55

run your numbers conservatively . And

19:57

then the third thing is always

20:00

have a plan B . And so I kind of want to ask

20:02

you on that third part , because in life

20:04

we always hear the if you want to seize

20:06

the island , burn the bridge , burn the boats , right . If

20:08

you want to seize the island , burn the boats . But in real

20:10

estate investing it's like the complete

20:12

opposite . So I want to ask you like what

20:14

mindset shifts do you have to adopt

20:17

to find any level of success

20:19

in real estate ? Because , as you know , the failure

20:22

rate is extremely high and most people don't

20:24

stick with it long enough to see the light of day . So

20:26

it's like what do you have to that mentally

20:28

going in , now that you have a lot of experience

20:31

, now , now that you know a lot of other people would experience , you

20:33

talk to these people , like what mindset

20:35

do you have to adopt to start finding success

20:37

and be able to persevere through the thick of it

20:40

when you're starting off ?

20:42

I think you have to realize that you're not alone

20:44

. There is always somebody that can help you

20:46

, but oftentimes that comes at the price

20:48

you might have to give up some equity , like

20:51

, say , you are going to flip something and then

20:53

now you have to hold it long term but you don't

20:55

qualify for a conventional loan . Go and

20:57

partner with somebody that does qualify

20:59

and that can get you out of that situation

21:01

. So it's being able to pivot in

21:03

those times and make use of your network

21:05

, because they're going to want to do it If

21:08

it's a good deal and a cash flows and you already

21:10

ran your numbers for that . But there's

21:12

, I've been able to scale so quickly

21:15

through partnerships and it has to be the right

21:17

partner . Right , you have to have the same morals , integrity

21:19

and vision in order to partner

21:21

. But there are people out there , especially

21:24

if you find a really great deal that

21:26

you can leverage to get

21:28

out of situation . So it's I think the

21:30

mindset is always

21:33

knowing that there is a solution , like

21:35

you'll never be backed into . Even when you're

21:37

backed into a corner , there always is a way out

21:40

. It just might cost you a little bit

21:42

, or like if you have to hold something for a while

21:44

and it's negative cash flowing like but

21:46

it's an appreciating market . You know there's there's

21:49

always different angles to look at things and

21:51

sometimes it takes working with an

21:53

experienced investor to really see that

21:55

.

21:57

Yeah , and so I want to actually because , like working

22:00

with someone , I feel like a lot of young people have

22:02

this ego . Because you're young

22:04

, you're hungry and I'm actually speaking

22:06

about myself right now You're young , you're

22:08

hungry , you're passionate , you're energetic , you have a good head

22:10

on your shoulders and it

22:13

doesn't play out like play out the way you

22:15

draw it up a lot of the times and that could

22:17

be very discouraging . So it's like

22:19

, what have you done in the days that

22:21

it didn't go as planned ? To pick

22:23

yourself back up Like what ? What

22:25

does it look ? Cause for me , as I said , I

22:27

ended up pivoting entirely out of real estate

22:29

to , as I said , now I'm doing like marketing and stuff

22:31

like that for realtor . So it's like for

22:33

the people that want to stick in it , right , how

22:36

do you pick yourself back up and just

22:38

keep on pushing through when it doesn't

22:41

go as planned and when you have might have

22:43

that ego that kind of gets in the way , whether it's the

22:45

ego getting away of a potential partnership

22:47

, that it's beneficial , or getting in the way of a deal

22:50

or whatever it may be . But how do you pick yourself

22:52

back up ?

22:54

I think it's just realizing that

22:56

, like , 50% of something

22:59

is better than 0% of nothing . So

23:01

for me , even when

23:03

I do feel like , man , I really messed up

23:05

or this deal or I could have done this differently

23:07

, I just keep moving . I just keep pushing

23:10

because I know there's so many more deals

23:12

out there that I could be getting or

23:14

that will pick up or even out whatever

23:16

loss that you may have taken , and

23:19

that's fine For me . I already

23:21

know this game is a roller coaster

23:23

Like investing in real estate is crazy

23:25

. But what is more , I think what

23:27

gets me out of that slump is that , one

23:29

, a lot of my rentals that I have now

23:32

are Section 8 or HUD or

23:34

have people in it that have rental assistance

23:36

. And two , my slips majority

23:38

of them I sell to first-hand home buyers

23:40

or somebody local here

23:42

that will add value to the community . They don't always

23:45

have to be the highest price , the highest

23:47

offer or , you know , have the most

23:49

money or the most stability . If

23:51

I know that that family really wants that place

23:53

. Like I , put a lot of hard

23:55

work and effort into these homes

23:58

I wanna see somebody in it that'll appreciate

24:00

it . So if I'm making whatever I gotta make

24:02

and I could be making more selling to a cash

24:04

buyer or somebody who wants their second

24:06

home . That's not really my target . So I

24:09

think you just stepping back one , remembering

24:12

your why , being like okay , I'm doing this for , build

24:14

wealth for my family , inspire others . But

24:16

two , you're really the impact

24:19

or the difference that you can make on other people's

24:21

lives that's what's kind of pulled me out of

24:23

or shifted me out of

24:25

having these challenges along

24:28

the way is like , okay , why am I really

24:30

doing this ? Just taking a step

24:32

back and figuring out what

24:34

I gotta do next time too to

24:36

prevent that , but also just staying

24:39

motivated , right If I feel like

24:41

in a slump or something's gotta change

24:43

. So what can I control ? I can

24:45

only control myself . Maybe I just start reading

24:47

more , maybe I start getting up earlier , maybe

24:50

I start ramp up my

24:52

exercise routine , maybe I've been a little lazy

24:54

, I don't know . There's a lot of factors that

24:56

can contribute to you feeling

24:58

a certain way , and a lot of times it's mental

25:01

right .

25:01

So thinking about that health

25:04

side of it , that'll help pick up

25:06

that professional side too 100%

25:10

and like on this topic , like the mental side of things

25:12

, are there any like

25:14

real estate people that you looked up to that helped you

25:17

get started to just learn

25:19

about real estate ? Once you decided to take this seriously

25:21

, like , how did you begin investing

25:23

in yourself ? I know you mentioned networking meetups . I

25:27

mean , I don't know how many of us live in Hawaii so we

25:29

might not be able to attend yours , the ones that you go to but

25:33

at least digitally . What did you do ? Like

25:35

what programs , if you don't mind me mind

25:37

sharing did you start looking into that helped

25:39

you ? Or what YouTube you know YouTubers

25:41

or blogs that you just did you start reading

25:44

? Or podcasts that help you

25:46

get started learning about this stuff ? Cause we

25:48

both know it's a lot to kind of consume

25:50

and there's like a lot of technicalities

25:52

and it's like the more you do real estate

25:54

, the more you realize how much you actually don't

25:56

know any of it , because there's always some

25:59

law or by law or zoning code

26:01

or something that just always pops

26:03

up . So like , how do you start in , you know , learning

26:05

about this stuff ? So , for anyone that wants to get started , For

26:08

me .

26:09

I joined a mentorship . I got my first two

26:11

deals . I was running to

26:13

Lowe's on my lunch break . I was meeting contractors

26:15

on the weekend , paying them cash . Some of them

26:18

weren't even completing the jobs . So

26:20

I learned a lot , even though my first deal

26:22

, my first flip , I made 103 net

26:24

. With making all those mistakes

26:26

, it was a different market in 2019 . So

26:28

now you have to be much more conservative . But

26:31

I made a lot of mistakes along the way

26:33

, and so I knew I needed more guidance

26:35

and I wish I had joined a mentorship earlier

26:37

, just so that I wouldn't have to go through that Cause

26:39

it was still working full time as well . But

26:42

it was a learning lesson . I ended up joining

26:45

Ryan Pineda's Wealthy Investor and

26:47

, honestly , that's how that

26:49

opened up my mind to like , holy

26:52

moly , these guys are doing things on like such

26:54

a large scale and doing things

26:56

all across the country , and so

26:58

that's kind of what shifted in me , and

27:00

I mean , since I joined his program

27:02

, I joined Peace Morbis

27:05

program . I'm constantly joining

27:07

these programs that I'm interested in because I know

27:09

whatever I put in , I'll get back . Like 10

27:11

times I've partnered with people in

27:13

those programs that I've made six figures

27:15

with five figures with Like just different

27:18

streams of income have come

27:20

from that and you know , the content

27:22

creation side ended up blowing

27:24

up as like a frigging influencer who

27:26

knew on Instagram

27:28

and get deals . I've raised

27:31

over a million dollars off Instagram . I've

27:33

partnered , I don't know , on nine , nine

27:35

or 10 deals just this year from

27:37

social media and people bringing

27:39

me deals . So it's been a

27:42

crazy kind of transition from

27:44

going from full time engineer working in

27:46

the office in a cubicle all those

27:48

years . You know , for a decade I didn't

27:50

start till I was freaking 30

27:53

. And then I got financial

27:55

freedom at 33 . So it only

27:57

took me three years to become

27:59

a millionaire , to build up , you know , and now

28:01

I have 17 rentals . Now I'm

28:04

37 , just FYI . So it's been a while

28:06

but I

28:09

have 17 rentals . You know I'm

28:11

a co-GP , I'm a general partner in

28:13

100 to 200 unit

28:15

apartment projects . I've

28:18

made over a million dollars fixing and flipping

28:20

. I raised private money off Instagram

28:23

and social media and connections

28:25

and networking . So if ever

28:27

you're thinking like man , you

28:30

know you have this

28:32

self doubt or self limiting beliefs are like

28:34

oh , I don't know if I should go to this meetup

28:36

. I get a lot of people that come to our meetups here

28:38

and they're like oh , I don't know if I should be here . I don't

28:40

know anything about real estate . I was like that's exactly

28:43

why you need to be here . You need to be connecting

28:45

with people , because I partner all the time people

28:47

in this room . If you have a deal

28:50

, somebody , you will be able to get the

28:52

money . It's no doubt . You'll

28:54

just have to figure out the equity splits and what that looks

28:56

like . But you know what ? I've had

28:58

a lot of people launch

29:00

off , partner with me and then be able to do their

29:02

own thing and fly , and I love that . That's

29:04

the one thing that keeps me going in

29:07

sharing and having this abundance mindset

29:09

. Like you know , some people are like oh

29:11

, I figured out the secret way of like how to

29:13

get deals and I got to keep it to myself , or

29:15

I got to . You know it's . You have

29:18

to have that mindset of abundance and just

29:20

believe that you know what

29:22

is meant to be will come your way . But you also

29:24

have to go and search for it too . You have to put

29:26

yourself in the right room . Maybe you got to

29:28

pay for those right rooms and that's fine , but

29:30

that could lead to so much more . So that's

29:33

why I always harp on investing

29:35

in yourself , you know , educating

29:37

yourself , but also networking

29:39

with other people , because that's

29:42

how I got into . I did it . I just

29:44

got into apartment buildings last year . I

29:46

know , I know

29:49

what's it called drive to want

29:51

to become an apartment investor . It's

29:54

just I linked up with one guy . One

29:56

thing led to another . He's like there's this great opportunity

29:58

, you could be a partner on the deal on

30:00

this 110 unit in Austin , texas . I

30:03

was like , okay , what do I got to do ? Like

30:05

you know , so it was already . Had

30:07

built that rapport with him . I had built

30:09

that connection , met him a few times and , just

30:11

you know , scaled from there . So , you

30:14

never know , one person

30:16

could change the trajectory of

30:18

your entire life , of your entire

30:20

journey . So go

30:22

to those meetups , just be

30:24

open and try to think of some

30:27

way to you can add value to others . So

30:29

if you're really good at Excel or

30:31

bookkeeping , you know , add that value

30:33

to other people . Brandon Turner , who

30:35

lives right here on Maui he ended up

30:37

hiring this local guy who was

30:39

, like you know , a good at accounting and Now

30:43

they're , he's a part of their team . He has equity

30:45

in their billion dollar company

30:47

. So you never know what value

30:50

you have to add to somebody else

30:52

.

30:53

I love that you mentioned that . I think like this could be a

30:55

quick game plan , and this is what I've done , honestly

30:57

, is survey people

30:59

but don't make it seem like they're being surveyed and

31:01

just ask some questions like , hey man , what are you struggling

31:03

with ? And act as if you know you're

31:05

there and you want to just generally have a conversation

31:07

with . What are you struggling with ? What are your biggest

31:10

fears around ? Whatever this topic

31:12

? For me , in my case , it was content creation . Right

31:14

, you know ? What are you currently doing for

31:16

? Fill in the blank , what do you would

31:18

like to be like an ideal world . And

31:20

then my favorite question is if you could wave

31:23

a magic wand , what would help get you from where you at

31:25

right now to where you want to be ? And

31:27

then , whether that's for content creation or whether that's

31:29

for being , you know , a bird dog

31:31

that helps find people deals , whether that's

31:33

driving it for dollars , but finding

31:36

I think the best skill you could have as

31:38

someone that's young or someone that's inexperienced

31:40

is the ability to find gaps , and

31:42

I love what you said about , you know , going to networking events

31:44

and just seeing how you can provide value to people , and

31:47

finding the gaps will help , definitely help

31:50

me get to where I'm at . I'm not a big shot yet , but

31:52

it definitely helped propel me in

31:54

my journey . So I want to , you know , sell everybody

31:56

. Where can we find you at ? As I said , I've been keeping

31:59

up with you for quite some time now , but for

32:01

my audience , who might not know you yet and wants

32:03

to learn more about what you have going on , sasha , where

32:05

can we find you at ?

32:06

I'm mostly active on Instagram at

32:08

invest with Sasha , or you could go to

32:10

my website , sasha Smithcom , but

32:13

I love sharing my life . I love

32:15

doing the stories on social media

32:17

and just giving people real insight

32:19

, letting them know I'm still a real person , I

32:21

go through a lot , but it often

32:23

inspires other people to know that , you

32:25

know , we I've came from nothing now

32:28

made you know millions of dollars

32:30

to real estate , but I'm still the same

32:32

person , and so I love to showcase that as

32:34

well and hopefully inspire

32:37

other people to at least get started , at least

32:39

buy your first home . You know , even if

32:41

you can buy one property

32:43

, one property can change your

32:46

life and your family for generations

32:48

100%

32:50

.

32:50

And now it's time for our rapid fire round . Question

32:53

number one what is the most

32:55

impactful lesson you've learned in life ?

33:00

The most impactful lesson is that

33:02

somebody always has it harder than you . So

33:05

renting to people on Section 8

33:07

or on rental assistance

33:09

whenever you know I walk through them

33:11

in the home like the

33:13

look of appreciation that they

33:15

have that somebody will even work with somebody on

33:18

rental assistance is huge . It's

33:20

a game changer . And then it also makes me realize

33:22

how blessed I am to have

33:24

been successful . I've worked for it , you know

33:26

, all my life . But now I'm able

33:28

to give back to other people who some

33:31

other you know landlords overlook

33:33

. So that has been one of the key

33:36

pivoting moments and what keeps me

33:38

driven to keep doing this .

33:41

What is the most admirable trait a

33:43

person can have ?

33:46

The most admirable probably perseverance

33:48

, I would say ability to get through

33:51

anything pivot , be able to figure

33:53

out different strategies or

33:55

different ways that things can go and , like

33:57

I mentioned before , just always be

33:59

able to find solutions . There's

34:01

always a way that you can get out of something

34:03

.

34:05

If you had to change someone's life but only had one

34:07

book , which book would you recommend ?

34:11

Which book I

34:14

would say atomic

34:17

habits . I believe that you

34:20

making a schedule , making best

34:22

use of your time , time blocking and just

34:24

getting into the habit of doing the small

34:26

, boring , monotonous tasks or waking

34:29

up early in the morning , creating a routine

34:31

, will definitely help set your mind

34:33

, first and foremost , and then set

34:35

you up for success for the entire day , especially

34:38

if you're very intentional about

34:40

what you need to do .

34:41

Question number four what is the legacy

34:43

that you're trying to leave behind ?

34:47

Definitely that you can build wealth while making

34:49

an impact , a positive impact on

34:51

your community . For me it's all about

34:53

. You know , not necessarily even

34:56

with my kids . Now I tell them they're not going

34:58

to just get handed down everything . They have

35:00

to work for it . So my daughter at 16

35:02

years old , she just read Rich Dad , Poor Dad

35:05

, and I'm going to be teaching her kind of how

35:07

she can manage properties , how she can get into

35:10

it . She talked to me about possibly

35:12

wholesaling , but I want to leave

35:14

the opportunity open to her . She wants to get . She's

35:16

seen all these stuff on TikTok like vending

35:18

machines and point operated

35:20

laundry and things like that . So I definitely

35:23

want to instill in her that entrepreneurial

35:25

mindset , but also making

35:27

sure that along the way she is giving

35:29

back in some sort

35:32

of capacity , whether that be renting to people

35:34

that actually need the home or

35:36

that be donating to some sort of charity

35:38

and , you know , just remembering

35:40

that the more money

35:43

we make , the more we have to

35:45

get 100%

35:47

.

35:48

And final question for anyone that wants to embark

35:50

on their walk to wealth today , what

35:53

is the first step you recommend they take ?

35:57

Surrounding yourselves by like

35:59

minded people or people who are where you're

36:01

wanting to be . So , whether that

36:03

be attending a free webinar

36:05

, listening to walk to wealth podcasts

36:08

or , you know , just going

36:10

to a meetup , actually , I think once

36:12

you take yourself out of your comfort zone

36:15

, you'll realize that it's not as scary

36:17

as you thought it was , and so

36:19

for me , that's been . Networking

36:21

with other people had got me started

36:24

listening to bigger pockets and just

36:26

filling my mind with positive

36:28

things and even doing affirmations in the

36:30

morning .

36:32

When . That is all for this episode . As I

36:34

said , I've been looking forward to this for a while

36:36

now . We've made it through all the hiccups in the obstacle

36:38

that you know life through our way during

36:40

this interview , but thanks again for having

36:43

. I'm so excited to have been able to have you on a podcast

36:45

and I'm looking forward to staying in touch .

36:48

You've now finished taking the first step . Now

36:50

let us help you take the next one . Subscribe

36:52

to our newsletter at walk to wealthcom

36:55

. That's walk the number two wealthcom

36:58

so we can keep you moving on your journey . We'll

37:00

see you on the next episode of walk to

37:02

wealth with john mendez .