The Maui Millionaire Mama w/ Zasha Smith

[00:00:00] Zasha Smith: I have nine long term rentals that majority of them are section eight HUD or are on some sort. Rental assistance, because like I mentioned before, coming from that sort of background, living in affordable housing, I wanted to find a way to give back and still cash flow and still achieve, my wealth building goals.

[00:00:21] So initially I was thinking it in terms of amount of properties, but now I know it really is amount of cash flow. So my goal is $20,000. A month. 

[00:00:32] Intro: You're listening to the real fi podcast where we discuss time, tested tricks, techniques, and strategies for pursuing financial independence today, so that we can enjoy a better tomorrow financial independence Isn't about getting rich quick. It's about cultivating a foundation to grow financially. Physically and spiritually let's figure out how to kick the nine to five. Here are your hosts, Patrick and James 

[00:01:03] Patrick McGrath: buddy. And welcome back to the real fi podcast. I'm your host Patrick McGrath with my co-host James Ripon.

[00:01:10] How's it going today? James 

[00:01:12] James Rippeon: Going pretty good, man. Happy to be here. I know we got an awesome guest and we're gonna really open up some really cool things in the field of personal finance, financial independence and real estate. So I'm looking forward. 

[00:01:24] Patrick McGrath: So we have today, a very special guest invest with Sasha.

[00:01:28] I'm sure you guys have seen her. She's all over Instagram, all over YouTube. How are you doing today? 

[00:01:34] Zasha Smith: Hello everybody really well. It's a happy hum. Day Wednesday. 

[00:01:39] James Rippeon: Wednesday hump day. So Zha, we always like getting started with a little bit of background on our guests. We want to fill in some of those contexts for people to understand like where you came from and how you got to where you are now.

[00:01:50] So why don't you give us some of that fun back background information on yourself and tell us how you got to where you are today. 

[00:01:59] Zasha Smith: [00:02:00] Yeah. So I was raised in Maui in Hawaii, my whole life. And by a single mom had brothers and sisters and never really had aspirations for real estate or even thought that was something that I could get into.

[00:02:14] I did grow up, without much money living in the housing and really struggling to. Find a place to live, to call our home. So that was always the goal from the get go, but never really thinking about investing. And even when I went to high school, I. Didn't think about going to college.

[00:02:35] It wasn't until one of my teachers had let me know Hey, this is an option for you. They have financial aid. So I found that throughout my life asking a lot of questions and just being open to different strategies per se, or life experiences had less has led me to success. And when I went to college, I honestly was trying to get through it.

[00:02:59] Went [00:03:00] into liberal arts, wanted to do the easiest thing, want wanted to major in psychology. And I did, and I got a D so that obviously wasn't meant to be. And then I started as a counselor in the college of engineering and my boss was pro-women engineers. And I said, I'm not that smart.

[00:03:17] I don't wanna build stuff. So she said, you're helping. Students who come in with their classes and you seem like you're really good at math to try to take a few courses. So I did, and I liked that. I found out that about myself is I like one plus one equals two. I like tangible things that I can grasp and know what the answer will most likely be.

[00:03:38] And then from there graduated with my civil engineering degree because I knew to move back home to Maui in an expensive market, either had to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer. I picked. Engineer wrote and moved home, worked as an engineer for 10 years, but I was working like 60 to 70 hour weeks.

[00:03:58] I have two kids and a [00:04:00] husband. They weren't getting as much time for me as they needed. And I felt that they felt it. And so I started looking for an alternate route to offset some of my income and the fact that my boss was going in on Sunday. On top of Saturdays. So I started going on Saturdays too, was like, whoa, that was where kind of the light bulb went off to okay, something's gotta change because she's in here almost at 70, still working.

[00:04:28] And of course we are, I don't think it was really my passion to be an engineer. However, I'm a really hard worker and I, whenever I commit to something, I go all in. So from there I just, one day was like Googling. How to get, rich quick or something, something silly like that. And real estate ended up being the number one way that a lot of people.

[00:04:50] Building their wealth. And so that's how I started on the side investing while working my W2 and now ended 

[00:04:58] James Rippeon: up here. So you said you, [00:05:00] went into college and developed this very logical mind, one plus one equals two. And I think we all know engineers who, think like that.

[00:05:07] And they're very like straight to the point do the facts, gimme the data, gimme the inputs. And I can tell you the output. You mentioned that you're married. Tell me a little bit about your husband. Does he think similarly, or does he have a D. Brain and mindset when it comes to analyzing things like that, or how do you guys mesh together?

[00:05:24] Zasha Smith: For me, I'm very analytical and for him, he is definitely a driver. So he is passionate about what he does. He owns a plumbing company and a business. He has seven employees, a warehouse and everything like that. So he definitely is a visionary in that. And does think logically, but takes action first and figures it out later as to where I need a plan.

[00:05:47] I need to know something works before I step on that next stone. 

[00:05:50] James Rippeon: I totally resonate with that. I'm both my wife and I are I'm. I like to call myself a recovering attorney. She's also, I prob I'm probably more on the [00:06:00] creative side and she's also got the like one plus one equals two, like the very straight, there's an answer to this.

[00:06:05] Like we can figure it out. That kind of mental path. So I think that's super interesting. Tell us a little bit about, getting out of your civil you said civil engineer, correct your civil engineer career and leaving that and getting into real estate. Talk to us a little bit about that transition.

[00:06:21] Zasha Smith: And everybody thinks that, the engineering part, because I was doing projects it's similar to investing, but it's a totally D. Aspect. We did do draw up plans for buildings, but in, in civil engineering, it's all the underground work. So it's not any architectural, it's not the outside of the building or the actual building itself.

[00:06:41] It has to do all with underground. So jumping into investing in something totally new finding deals, finding money putting together teams and stuff like that. I did have experience with project management through. Being an engineer, however, the totally different fields. But for me it was all about [00:07:00] finding more flexibility and having more freedom to do, the things that I was passionate about, which I found out just talking to people, talking to sellers, talking to homeowners, finding out their situations and actually just trying to help.

[00:07:15] rather than sitting behind a computer all day, designing stuff, which was nice. But I found that I really like that human interaction component of investing. 

[00:07:26] Patrick McGrath: That's fantastic. So tell us about how you got started, into real estate. So we have your background, we have all that. So what path did you decide to take to, to start investing in real estate and, tell us about your first deal.

[00:07:42] What did that look like? How did it come about break that down for us? 

[00:07:46] Zasha Smith: So my first deal, I was looking at the MLS. I had actually connected with an agent who was also an investor and told them, Hey, I wanted to start putting in bids on projects, but I don't [00:08:00] even know what to look for. I started listening to bigger pockets, getting some info from the podcast and from the website and just taking action immediately.

[00:08:08] Even though I was working my W2, I would come home at night. Between, after the kids went to sleep at 9:00 PM till 12 or 1:00 AM do research on what your first steps were. So for me, the most easiest part was to reach out to a realtor because I didn't have time. I had my W2 and have them send me automatic alerts.

[00:08:28] And so when he started sending me stuff I realized that the price point in Hawaii at that time, a medium home price was around 600,000. So I said, If I buy my first deal and I mess up, like that's over half a million dollars that I'm gonna have to figure out. So I went the smaller route and said, okay, let me start on a condo because condos, you don't have to worry about the structural components, you just worry about inside. And the HOA kind of takes care of the outside. So [00:09:00] I got a notification about a foreclosure property, walked that, and he had told me, who are you using for your lender? I was like, I don't even know. I didn't even start that. I just gotta find a deal. And so it's yes, but then also the financing comes next, if you wanna put in an offer.

[00:09:15] So it was really me just connecting with people and then finding out the next. And so I did that and because I had my W2, my husband owned his own business. We really had strong income. We qualified for a conventional loan and come to find out a lot of the conventional lenders that I had dealt with.

[00:09:33] The roof couldn't be leaking and there couldn't be too much mold or something like that. But it was basically as long as there was appliances in the home and things seemed to be working, there wasn't anything major going on, they would still lend on it. So my first deal was a foreclosure. It was dirty inside.

[00:09:49] It was, I didn't think it was lendable, but for me coming from Aspect of a typical home buyer, you expected furniture to be nice, everything painted, but it wasn't necessarily [00:10:00] that. So that's something that I always a quick tip for. Newer investors is that you can, you don't have to jump right into private and hard money.

[00:10:08] You can try to see if your deal might qualify for conventional financing. And so we got that deal at around three 12, I believe. And it was a condo, there was a small backyard. The parking stall was like really right near the condo itself. And I knew that brought extra value for me, living in condo. There is two parking stalls, not only one for a two bedroom.

[00:10:30] And typically there's only one parking stall the yard. When I went and walked around the actual complex. Once you cut down the yard, it looked out to banana patch. So there was like B that's another like huge value add that. I think a lot of people. Might not have seen because they didn't really, walk around.

[00:10:49] So that's another thing. If you are where you invest, you can find, little things like that might be value adds to add to your ARV that could make the deal work as [00:11:00] well. So we put about, I think, 35,000 into it, and then we sold it at four 70. 45 days later. So it took us 30 days to renovate and then 15 days to sell to a cash buyer who was retiring from New York and wanted to move to Maui.

[00:11:21] And yeah. Wow. 

[00:11:23] James Rippeon: That was the deal. There's numbers just sound incredible. You bought it 30 12. Put, what do you say? 35 fives and sold. Yeah, an excess of $400,000. It sounds like your ideal. Deal first deal. It went great. I'm sure you had no problems that came up. I'm sure that everything went smooth.

[00:11:41] I'm joking here. Tell us about that rehab process with my first one. It's your first deal? You and your husband, haven't done one of these before. Were you guys nervous doing this first deal? And what did you learn as you were, taking on that first project? 

[00:11:55] Zasha Smith: So I think the biggest learning lessons was not to try to [00:12:00] do everything ourselves.

[00:12:01] So we did hire out contractors for painting, demo. But I was going there on weekends and Hey guys, what do you need me to do? Driving the dump truck to the dump, like unloading it, like just doing running to Lowe's on my lunch break. Delivering material there because I wanted things to move quickly.

[00:12:17] So I just realized in the interim, me doing all those small tasks, definitely wasn't the most efficient use of time I could have been looking for the next deal. But I felt like it did help me build rapport with the contractors because that was my first deal. And letting them know Hey, if we work together more, I will always be doing this, but at least, I'm like a thousand percent on board to do whatever you.

[00:12:41] Needed. And then also one thing to be aware of with HOAs is that they definitely have timelines for you to begin and start work, where the contractors can park, what they can throw on the trash cans, the noise level, even that has to be kept down during [00:13:00] the. So it was a learning experience of dealing with HOAs.

[00:13:03] And even though you didn't have to worry about the structural components or the outside exterior, you still had to be aware of all these little rules that they have as well, 

[00:13:14] Patrick McGrath: that's that's such a great first deal. I 130 K over what you've put in, minus the real estate fees.

[00:13:20] You're walking away with you. 80 to a hundred grand. That's a home run on your first one. So Bravo to you. So take us now. What does Sasha's real estate? Empire look like, how many houses are you flipping? Do you have any rentals? Are you doing any Airbnbs and lovely Hawaii?

[00:13:40] Break it down for us and tell us where you're at. 

[00:13:44] Zasha Smith: So today I have nine long term rentals that majority of them are section eight HUD, or are on some sort of rental assistance. Because like I mentioned before, coming from that sort of background, living in affordable [00:14:00] housing, I wanted to find a way to give back.

[00:14:02] And so cash flow and still achieve, my wealth building goals. So initially I was thinking it in. Of amount of properties, but now I know it really is amount of cash flow. So my goal is $20,000 a month net cash flow. And so from my. And then I also, sorry, step back. I also have one Airbnb that I just bought the end of December.

[00:14:26] We renovated it's is up and going now. And that cash flows about $2,000 a month net versus my long term, which probably between, it depends if there I have some paid off and some. So have mortgages, but those net about 500 to a thousand a month. So there is a huge difference that I'm learning in doing short term rentals.

[00:14:48] And I'm probably gonna get started more concentrating on those because I can build up to my wealth, passive income number, my financially free number sooner. But, [00:15:00] and I was 

[00:15:01] James Rippeon: gonna say let's dig into the long term rental strategy that you have going on with the HUD and section eight and the assistance programs, because I think that in the market that you are operating that would just.

[00:15:13] Off the cuff sound untenable and like a terrible investment idea because of how expensive things are, but you're over here making it work and crushing it. So why don't you talk to us a little bit about that strategy and kind of what it entails and maybe get into some of the misconceptions that people have with making that work.

[00:15:34] Zasha Smith: So right now, and it all comes down to the numbers in the deal, right? So I bought a home for. Three, I wanna say it was around three 50 and it was already set up into different units. And so I put probably it was a major rehab. I probably put about 150 into it and knew that I could rent out, have four different rentals in it.

[00:15:59] [00:16:00] And it's probably in, I would say like a C class area for Maui, maybe a little bit C minus. And so I knew, okay, this would be a perfect for hood. If I could get four of four people on hood, I looked at what the SA the standard payments were right now for each individual unit calculated that. And it really worked, I think right now I probably met about $3,000 a month from that one property.

[00:16:26] And it's been pretty, pretty smooth, I would say. Dealing with the HUD offices. The inspections really actually helps you in the end because as a landlord, you're pretty much guaranteed a certain amount of money and they usually only have to pay a couple hundred a month. So versus having a renter that is, going through this pandemic, not sure if they're gonna have their job tomorrow.

[00:16:50] Not sure if they can make payments, you actually have the county or the. Making sure majority of that rent is automatically direct deposited to [00:17:00] you. So that's why I like the stability, the benefits for a landlord. And when they do the inspections, they're basically doing your job for you, checking on that, all the intellectual Electrical components work, making sure there's no leaks checking the windows, that everything's working properly appliances. So they do that once a year, which we just had one, but it's like a cross check for you as a landlord and you vet them like anybody else.

[00:17:27] So they did background checks, credit checks verified employment and. for a lot of 'em. I, the credit is one where I have some leeway because I understand that not a lot of people know how to manage credit or even know what it is when I married my husband at, we're like 27 or 28. He had really bad credit.

[00:17:49] And I love you, honey, but I'm just gonna share this story. He never knew that he had a repo on his. Credit report because he was sending home money to his sister [00:18:00] to pay for his car payment while he was in the military. And he had no idea about it until I married him. And I said, look, I gotta check your credit and make sure that this is a win-win here.

[00:18:10] but just like 

[00:18:10] James Rippeon: your tenants are applying to your rentals, made your husband apply for being a husband. I like that. Oh yeah. 

[00:18:15] Zasha Smith: But yeah, so I, I think that's the biggest difference that people think oh, they're gonna trash your house. One of the big misconceptions about section eight or HUD, is that you're gonna get really bad tenants when in all honesty, when you meet them as well, you can.

[00:18:31] Oh, what was that? 

[00:18:33] Patrick McGrath: Oh, no, sorry. I I was giving James the finger that I had a question. Oh, okay. But so sorry to cut you off there, but we're gonna leave that in as we always do. But what I was gonna say was is that I think One of the things is it's really hard to get those vouchers and get approved.

[00:18:52] So once you actually get one and get a good place that you like people really try to keep the voucher and keep the place that they [00:19:00] have. So you get long term tenants and you actually have long term tenants, which is amazing. And especially because like you said, in the beginning of your story with, having to live in, subsidized housing when you were younger, and going through all that, to be able to give back. and have that a part of your portfolio, I think is really huge. And the fact that you're making $3,000 a month, on four units, that's, almost seven that's $750 a month per unit on, HUD or section eight. That's huge.

[00:19:32] So there's viable, ways to be able to do that even in a seed market. I think that. I think that's amazing. So that's really exciting. 

[00:19:41] James Rippeon: I find it hard to believe that there's a sea market anywhere in Hawaii. I'd like to compare that to where I'm at first hand maybe, but yeah, it is amazing there's pretty incredible business structure they've got going on there.

[00:19:54] Patrick McGrath: Yeah. That's wild. So let's jump into this Airbnb real quick. Cause you said like [00:20:00] you got one in December, it's bringing in $2,000 a month. Tell us a little bit about it, how much you paid for it? Because I know James and I have been wanting to get into Airbnbs. We have other guests with Airbnbs, the numbers sound amazing, but I still haven't got one yet because I haven't been able to find one.

[00:20:17] So tell us all about that. Cuz I need some more energy coming my way to go spend some money. 

[00:20:23] Zasha Smith: So that one was honestly, and this is a power of social media, right? I posted on my story in the beginning of December, cuz I just had a meeting with my tax accountant and she said, you need to buy more rental.

[00:20:36] So I said, okay, I'm gonna start looking for deals and really make this happen. Before the end of the year, I posted on my story. Hey, anybody know of an Airbnb, that's discounted that the seller is in distress or wants to sell quickly. Let me know. Agent had reached out and she said, Hey, I have this place in Laina.

[00:20:54] They just did a price reduction from 3 75 to 3 55 it's for a studio [00:21:00] condo in that area. And I said, okay, let me run some numbers. See what it looks like. We did a walkthrough and found that it was like an original condition from like the seventies. And they had a long term tenant in there, but you could do short term rentals as well as zone for.

[00:21:16] And. After doing the walkthrough. I said, okay, this is gonna take a lot more renovation than I expected. And it's farther. It's probably like an hour away from where I live. So I knew on that the island is sectioned right in different cities. And so the further away it is from town, the harder it is to find workers find cleaners, fine handymen.

[00:21:38] So taking that on all into consideration, I said maybe I could offer a 300 and see what she says. She came back at three 10. I said sold and . And we put about 30,000 into the renovation. And right now I could list it at around four 50, but I wanted to try to see I, and this is the. [00:22:00] Importance of having multiple exit strategies, right?

[00:22:03] When you get into a deal, just in case the Airbnb numbers didn't work and also be aware in Hawaii during the pandemic, nobody could fly in for six months. So that was a big scare. We also have a lot of legislation going on right now about short term rentals. So that's, it's not really a short term friendly state.

[00:22:23] And so being prepared with those multiple exit strategies is gonna help you along the way as well. But started off hired a property manager. And I was like, Hey, I'm looking at comps at Airbnb and looking only rent for 1 49 a night. And we are currently getting around 2 50, 2 60 a night, so a lot higher than we expected.

[00:22:46] James Rippeon: And I think that's super important for people to pick up on is knowing how your jurisdiction treats short term rentals, because they're not all the same. You can't just go into any city. Or area and just expect that, the short term [00:23:00] rental laws in one place that you're familiar with are gonna apply elsewhere.

[00:23:03] And it's very interesting for you to be thinking through that and appreciating that things could change. lot of the people that I've talked to who are doing short term rentals are going very aggressively into it. That's, they see the cash flow, the appreciation and they're going.

[00:23:18] More or less all in. And they're getting rid of some of their other long-term rentals and they're pivoting toward short-term rentals. Have you thought through if you were to make an allocation of your real estate portfolio between your long-term rentals and your short-term rentals, how much you might allocate towards the short-term rentals as part of a diversification strategy or kinda where's your mind at, 

[00:23:40] Zasha Smith: with.

[00:23:42] Yeah. So moving forward, I already started looking into other markets that have, stronger Airbnb kind of numbers and less regulations like big there. Joshua tree. Places like that to where I wouldn't have to really worry too much. So moving forward to [00:24:00] diversify, I do wanna get more short term rentals.

[00:24:02] I do wanna do more syndications. I'm a part of 110 unit general partnership right now. There's a company of us. And so getting into that space as well and trying to make it more passive, I also do have six flip projects going on and I'm finding that, just finding, dealing with contractors and dealing with those kinds of deals that are so short term, isn't maybe the best use of my time right now.

[00:24:26] And there are large margins, like you've seen with that one condo. You can make six figures and it only makes sense here because of the high price point to do a flip or a short term project, if it's gonna. Bring in those six figures, just because the cost of money because the living, and then also, with this market, with inflation and all that kind of stuff going on, you just never know when you wanna be prepared and dealing with homes that are like, $50,000 versus a billion dollars is there's a huge, there's a higher risk.

[00:24:57] In our. 

[00:24:58] Patrick McGrath: That's so huge. And that's awesome. You [00:25:00] have so much going on between the long term rentals, the Airbnbs, the syndication, the flips. Tell us about, what the ultimate goal with all this is what's your financial independence goal. What does that mean to you?

[00:25:14] Break it down for us. I know you said the goal is to get to 20 grand a month, but how are you gonna get there? And what does that look like? 

[00:25:23] Zasha Smith: So right now, I'm probably around halfway there and, to supercharge that I would probably just buy a few more Airbnbs and get to that number or get into more syndications.

[00:25:34] But with that, I'd need, the money, my own money to invest in it. As well as bring in limited partners. I think the ultimate goal is to have my properties managing themselves, have syndications. That's extra, right? Because those are longer term. They take two years to renovate and then refinance, and then they're you hold them and sell 'em at the fifth year, sometimes [00:26:00] longer.

[00:26:00] So you don't really reap the benefits until a few years later. And so that's why I keep the flips going. I keep, buying these smaller rentals and I do have a few multi-family rentals as well, that do really well. And I think, my financial independence life looks like me traveling the world with my family without any worries.

[00:26:23] With that. Right now my long term rentals are basically rent themselves. They take about four hours a month and mostly at the beginning to make sure that everything was paid on time, get those electric and I self-manage them, the nine units. Make sure the utilities were paid out if they were paid separately.

[00:26:40] But other than that, there's not too much work that goes into it. And then with the short term, I can afford to hire a property manager to handle that. So I'm leaning more towards getting a few more Airbnbs and then also using syndications as like the icing on the cake. Once they come in, keep recycling that money and [00:27:00] having more time to do, to travel.

[00:27:03] Patrick McGrath: I love it. I love it. All right, so now. Break us down. To what obstacles you feel like are gonna stop you from achieving that goal? What do you see as something that's gonna, maybe hinder you, whether it's the current E economic climate, whether, it's the limited availability of housing, your time, break it down for us and tell us you.

[00:27:26] What do you think stopping you from getting there and how you're gonna blow past that? 

[00:27:32] Zasha Smith: I feel like just finding really good deals is the only thing that's gonna prohibit me from doing that. And because currently I'm trying to leverage a few of the properties that I have owned outright, but with the new rates, the birth strategy, isn't really looking like the best strategy to use at this time with those properties.

[00:27:52] So it's more so what's gonna hinder me is not having enough money to put into these deals that I want to keep long term on [00:28:00] my own because I don't right now necessarily partner with anybody unless it's a huge hundred 10 unit apartment building, but everything else, I keep, if I'm keeping it long term, I'm keeping it on my.

[00:28:11] James Rippeon: Yeah. And I think that's an important thing that, appreciate is, and just to put this into context for when this airs, I think mortgage rates on the 30 year fixed is what is it, Patrick, around high fours right now. It 

[00:28:23] Patrick McGrath: is 5.25 today. 

[00:28:26] James Rippeon: Oh, we cow. So it, man, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that.

[00:28:31] Cause I feel like it was 2015 last time we had rates that high. But yeah, these things really do affect what you can do and how you can position yourself as a. Faster. And I was talking to somebody the other day and I heard this word mouth. I didn't run the numbers myself, but when you compare what you could buy at the lows of what mortgage rates were at, like 2.2 and some change compared to five and change now, it's almost like a 30% Difference in the purchase price of what you maybe a little bit less, maybe about [00:29:00] 25%, but it's a significant difference between what you can purchase and the difference.

[00:29:03] So when you're looking at all your properties that you have, especially if you have high equity position it, it's a difficult decision to make. Do I take out these fixed rate loans at a higher interest rate or kind of hold off and see what happens? Yeah, James, 

[00:29:18] Patrick McGrath: I know exactly who you heard that from.

[00:29:20] That was me on our last podcast where we talked about the fed and interest rates and broke that down. So if 

[00:29:29] James Rippeon: this who

[00:29:32] Zasha Smith: I've been seeing, I've been seeing across the board because I'm also an accountability coach in Ryan Penn's mentorship. A few of our students are seeing that their buyers are falling out because they no longer qualify when they go to do the final underwriting. And then they have to go back in, under contract again, and plan for longer holder times, plan for appraisals to take longer.

[00:29:55] I have two multifamilies listed right now on the market and both have been [00:30:00] extended by probably. Two or three weeks just because we can't even get appraisers to come out and give them the report. So that's something to be aware of as well as as, as well as not being able to qualify for as much plan for the longer hold times plan for whatever, entities are involved in, the transaction might need a little bit longer.

[00:30:20] And then also as things increase, the banks and other lenders are gonna get more. 

[00:30:26] James Rippeon: And just so people can visualize how this might play out. And I'm saying, I'm not saying how it's gonna play out one way or the other, but appraisals look back. In time that they're a backward looking mechanism, so they look back 180 days.

[00:30:37] So you might be able to expect I'm just saying if prices are gonna move in your markets up, down sideways or in circles it might be a little bit of time for that to play out. If you are able to refinance and if you need to refinance for the long term perspective it might be worth, jumping on that while you can.

[00:30:52] If you think that rates are a reasonable price, 

[00:30:55] Zasha Smith: exactly when you're not always stuck. You're not always stuck at that rate as [00:31:00] well. You could plan to refinance. Don't take any of the points out, but at least you get some cash back and then refinance again later on. Maybe when it drops or something like that.

[00:31:08] Cause I know a lot of people who in, a few years ago were paying between 16 to 18% because they got their loan in the eighties. And then now they're paying, they refinance out down to three. So there's always ways that you can make it work. Just make sure it works for. Right now and the cash flow that you need, or the cash back that you can get is worth it 

[00:31:28] Patrick McGrath: a hundred percent.

[00:31:29] We're getting ready to do a cash out refinance on our 10 unit department building. And I'm like, oh, five and a half percent, but you have, a quarter or half a million dollars sitting there. It's I'm taking it, but we're my wife and I we're also, we just took out a home equity line of.

[00:31:47] On our house, that's locked in for five years because I wanna have that cash readily available. If and when things do become a buying opportunity, I want to be [00:32:00] as liquid as possible to be able to take advantage of that. So we're in this time where for the last couple years everybody's been saying, oh, I'm gonna wait for the prices to come down.

[00:32:10] Oh, I'm gonna wait for the prices to come down. The prices are gonna go down. Your cash is gonna be tight and interest rates are gonna be up. You gotta be prepared now. And it sounds like all of us are in that mode right now, trying to increase our cash flow and all of that. So for everybody out there, is there anything else that Sasha's doing to, bring in.

[00:32:33] Some income, this is the financial, this is the real fi podcast. So we talk about financial independence and all the ways that people, are side hustling and bringing in cash. So do you have anything else besides, the small list of things you already gave us to add income to you each and every month?

[00:32:50] Zasha Smith: So I actually started lending as well. So I started lending on other people's projects to bring that in and then also content creation. I've been really focusing on that, [00:33:00] not only for the networking aspect of it, of people bringing you deals and money, but also the ways that you can get paid towards, affiliate programs or making your own courses.

[00:33:11] So those are some things that I'm thinking. Doing in the interim just to get other streams of income and, it's like they say, and it's not like you said it and forget it. But if you make a course one time or, one guide that will help somebody and throw it up online and they can just pay for it or buy it whenever they want, then you re it's a free stream of income that you don't really have to think about in the long term and, trade your time for money.

[00:33:34] So those are something. I've been concentrating on and then also applying. 

[00:33:40] James Rippeon: So for, as physical of an industry, that real estate is we do live in a digital economy. And I think there's a lot of ways for people to leverage technology, the digital economy, to turn that into a profit profitable return on your time.

[00:33:57] And it might not just be content creation. It could be [00:34:00] something like finding, using technology to leverage, leveraging technology, to find deals. And wholesaling or using technology in your flipping process or installing technology into your business. So you have systems going, keep track of everything and generate a higher ROI.

[00:34:15] So I think it's important for everybody to stay abreast of that and be on top of, how tech and eCommerce economy can fit into their business. 

[00:34:24] Patrick McGrath: Yeah. That's that's huge. So I had to ask, because I know you've got so much stuff going on that it's wait a minute. I'm sure there's a couple more things she hasn't told us yet.

[00:34:34] Cuz this girl is like doing everything. So it of leads this into the last segment of our podcast. So we call this segment. Though big four. And this is though big four, and this is where we ask you, four separate questions to tie everything up in a nice bow and get people the information that they need to go out there and look and find different things.[00:35:00] 

[00:35:00] So James kick it away. 

[00:35:03] James Rippeon: Sure. So Zha, this one's gonna be a little fun. I want you to kinda look at what you do in your personal finance life and kind of describe something that you do on a maybe consistent basis. That is a financial independence hack, something that other people maybe aren't aware of doing that might be simple or something that just feels like a cheat code to achieving financial independence.

[00:35:28] Zasha Smith: So I can give you this tip. Okay. I bank at my local credit union and they actually have a checking account that you can gain. I think it's 3% a year. Which is a CRA, which is crazy to think about it's. I dunno how to yield it, but anyway, so if I have I, if I send a certain amount of money and have a certain amount of money in my bank account, I literally get paid like 30 to $50 a month for just having that checking account.

[00:35:58] So that's a little half [00:36:00] to where you have to do like a certain amount of transactions or something with that checking account. But as money you already have in kind of building. On what you're doing without having to spend a lot, right? You. Doing it, but most people charge to their credit card. Cause they're trying to build their credit.

[00:36:16] They're trying to, pay their debt off or buy themselves a little bit more time. But there's also checking accounts that will do the same too. So I think that's a little hack that I found out that was like, I wonder if anybody else knows that their credit unions or banks do have kind of specialty checking accounts instead of getting nothing for your money sitting there, you can actually gain a little percentage.

[00:36:37] Patrick McGrath: That's awesome. I had no idea. I'm gonna have to check into that, cuz I think I have enough going on in my bank account to make that happen as well. All right. So for the next one, are there any books? Podcasts or influencers out there that have really shaped your financial independence journey [00:37:00] or have put you on the path that you are other than the number one, answer the book that everybody says, rich dad, poor dad.

[00:37:08] So any books, podcast, or people that you recommend, everyone should go out there and check. 

[00:37:16] Zasha Smith: I definitely recommend something to do with changing your schedule or habits like atomic habits has really influenced me in miracle morning. I could say those are not real estate related. However, they have helped change my.

[00:37:34] Routine and make me a lot more efficient, especially because I do have the family I'm, doing a lot of things, but finding that extra time of peace before the craziness of the day starts and really planning out, okay, what are the top three things I have to do this morning? Okay. I need some time to meditate.

[00:37:53] Some time to exercise. I can't find it throughout the day, or the day runs me over. And I, by the end of the day, I'm too tired. [00:38:00] It's okay, S. And waking up an hour earlier in the morning so that you don't feel rushed through the day, you feel like, okay, I can accomplish a certain amount of things and still be there for my family.

[00:38:10] Still do you know, my investing things still do the things that I'm passionate about, but having enough energy to do it. So those. Two books I highly recommend. And then of course, bigger pockets podcasts is an all time favorite and has definitely shaped me, especially from the beginning. All of their books, I mean can recommend as well.

[00:38:29] But definitely more mindset shifts have helped me scale and being a part of mentorship. Yeah, the habits part is, has been huge for me. This is 

[00:38:41] James Rippeon: definitely all a mental game and I can attest to the miracle morning, being life changing. And it's of counterintuitive. The more you invest early in the morning to kick yourself in ask to get going, the more you get out of it throughout the rest of your day.

[00:38:54] So I'm definitely a great recommendation there. So for our third one it's your, it's the future? You it's five [00:39:00] years in the future. I want you to visualize what your life looks like, and you can describe this either or both from a personal perspective or a business perspective.

[00:39:10] What is Sasha's five year life down, down the road look like. 

[00:39:16] Zasha Smith: So in five years I'm gonna be 40, the big four. Oh. And I see it as me waking up. Feeling at peace, not having to go through emails or phone calls and choosing my day, living it a little bit more flexibly than I do now. And being there for my kids, taking them on trips with me, cuz right now a lot of my trips, I go to, conventions and masterminds, but it's by myself.

[00:39:45] So my husband can stay back and watch the kids. But I see. My life being more traveling with the kids. More time flexibility investing in more syndications, a lot more passive, passively investing instead of doing these [00:40:00] flips and, long term rentals, short term rentals, having them all managed by a property management company and just living that kind of four hour work week is where I see myself in five years.

[00:40:13] Patrick McGrath: And what a great way. I love it. You are, I think the second person to break it down in when they wake up in the morning and like how their day goes. So it's so interesting to hear how people, take that question. So what a great answer. So the last question of the big four, one of the most important ones for everybody out there is how do our listeners get in touch with you?

[00:40:36] If for some reason they haven't heard it. 

[00:40:40] Zasha Smith: I am most active on Instagram at invest with Sasha. I do have other social platforms that I'm on, but if you message me, I will try my best to get back to you. And if you have any questions at all, I feel free to ask and open. I'll be open and honest with you and real I'm not a licensed realtor or anything like that either.

[00:40:59] So I can say [00:41:00] whatever I want.

[00:41:04] Patrick McGrath: that's awesome. All right guys. Let's wrap it. James, Zasha it's been great for everybody out there. Make sure to give us a follow apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Google, all those other ones. Leave a review. If you like this, if you hated it, we want to know. And don't forget to send James an email us info@therealfi.com .

[00:41:28] Thanks a lot, guys. See you guys Mahalo. 

[00:41:33] Outro: Thank you for listening to the real fi podcast where you learn from the investors that have lived, the hard lessons for you to connect with us during your pursuit of financial independence. Be sure to join our community by following us on Instagram or emailing us info@therealfi.com 

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