The Art of Private Lending with Mitch Stephen

November 03, 2022

Expert CRE Secrets Podcast

Mitch Stephen has purchased well over 2,000 houses in and around his hometown of San Antonio, TX. Today he specializes in owner financing properties to individuals left behind by traditional lending institutions and giving new life to properties that scar the neighborhoods.

He has perfected a method of achieving cash flow without having to be a landlord and without having to rehab properties. He’s mastered the art of raising private money and the classic “Nothing Down” deal.

A passionate speaker who delivers the message of integrity first and profits second; an expert at keeping it simple and explaining, in plain English, the theories that made him financially independent. He is always an inspiration to those around him.

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The Art of Private Lending with Mitch Stephen

Brett:

I’m excited about our next guest. In fact, he's a repeat guest. He's a self-made creative real estate investor entrepreneur who has perfected a method of achieving cash flow, without having to be a landlord and expert in breaking down two-plus decades of experience and explaining the logic behind the art of creative real estate investing and how private money changes everything, and so much more. He has sold and bought, and over 1000 houses, and he's out of the great state of Texas, please welcome show with me, Mitch Stephen. Mitch, how are you doing, sir?

Mitch:

The title of My Life in 1000 Houses was some 2008. It should be like my life in 2500 houses, but who's counting, Brett? Who's counting?

Brett:

When you're in that hall of fame $1,000, 1000 transaction in the above, it's who is counting, because there's not too many that are, that are at that level, Mitch, which is pretty incredible. to have only done it and just over 20 years, it's incredible over 2000 houses flipped, or maybe that's 2500. But you also have a passion for teaching others how to do this as well. They can get some freedom. Would you just maybe give our listeners a little bit about that story, that inspiration, and kind of your current focus right now?

Mitch:

At some point, and I know it sounds cliche, and if you're not there yet, then it sounds ridiculous. But money loses its luster to a degree, and you have to have a higher reason to keep forging forward and to stay engaged, and to make the game worth it. Today, like Dale Ramsey, he does the primal scream, when people get debt-free, we ring the bell around my office when I help someone quit their job, because they've replaced that income with some cash flow, that they've originated somewhere that's going to come in come hell or high water for months, and months and months. The reason why that's important is that it clears up 2600 hours for that individual who does not have to have a job now. That they can become the person that they're supposed to become, and go on and do what they really need to do, no matter what that is, take more time with a family or charity, or whatever it is you want to do whatever you're supposed to be, you can get your 10,000 hours now pretty quick, because you just freed up 2600 hours because you don't need to show up at a job anymore. That's my calling.

Brett:

I love how you connect the transformation from the talent that you've achieved and the experience you've achieved. you're giving back to make a difference. part of what I call the success of the fulfillment formula, which is knowing that unique gift timing it by maximizing the potential of that gift, which part of that is you got to get that 10,000 hours in and how do you do that? Well, you got to figure out a way to get your finances and your money working for you, and as much of a passive way as possible, and then go into impact other people. when you put all those together, it's an absolute transformation for yourself and your fulfillment. I think what I believe is the God-given reason we were put on this earth to make a difference in other people's lives. I want you to help our listeners, Mitch, go back to your high school days. Go back to when you're younger Mitch. I believe we'd been given a couple of gifts, one or two types could be more, but maybe one of those one or two gifts that you believe you were given, and has it helped how you help and bless people today?

Mitch:

Well, the obvious gift was I was given a great set of parents. We weren't rich, but we didn't know it. We didn't know we were poor. We were happy. Then they introduced me, my to my God, and Jesus Christ. that's probably the biggest gift of all, but it came from a set of good parents. then after that, I got a work ethic. I was led into athletics where I learned to get hit hard and get knocked down and get back up. I just had a great compass, from those things, from my coaches to my parents to my Christianity, not by saying any stretch of the imagination that I'm perfect or anywhere close but at least I know right from wrong. It's important to me.

Brett:

It's fantastic. Having great parents having great faith, and having a great work ethic, if you can have those three things, the sky's the limit, which is kind of hard to beat. I kind of have to be right when you've been given those gifts. That's beautiful, Mitch, thanks for sharing that. We're gonna dive right into the topic at hand, which is the art of private lending. Mitch, what's the best secret when it comes to the art of private lending?

Mitch:

I just came out with a new book, The Art of Private Lending. I wrote it with my partner, Mike Powell. I have a podcast as well. The goal of my podcast is to help people find that their financial independence as I described before so that they can free up that 2600 hours. to get to that freedom number is not being wealthy, it has nothing to do with being wealthy. It’s just like what do you make it your job? And if you're making ends meet, and you have a job, what does it take to replace that number, whether it be $3,000 a month, or $4,500 a month, or 8000 a month, whatever it is, what do you get to do, to take control of your own life in your own financial future, and replace that job with something. I think one of the things that you can do is you can lend your own money or begin to lend your own money. because it doesn't matter to me how you get financially free, you want to learn how to buy houses with OPM or other people's money and seller finance on 30-year notes as I do. Then talk to me about that, I'll help you do that. But if you want to do something completely different, maybe you're an Amazon reseller, or I don't care what you do Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, whatever you're good at. Let's just, let's just work to get you financially free. The Art of Private Lending is two-fold, it's a two-fold book. One is, if you want to go out and make 14,15, 16, 17 18% return, then you can study this book, I'll spell it out to you how you loan other real estate investors money.

But do it in such a way that you're protected, that you have a real piece of collateral that's backed up with a real set of documents, that if they don't pay you, you can ultimately end up with the collateral, and save yourself from loss. quite potentially set yourself up for a great game, if, if things go the way they're supposed to, and you've done what you're supposed to do. But in order to make those kinds of returns, you have to roll up your sleeves, and you have to become knowledgeable about your expertise in this department. then you're gonna have to go to work because you have to find clients who are going to have to look at collateral and you have to size it up to decide whether you want to loan X amount of money against this building or against this house because you want to know what that house is worth compared to what you're loaning. Or if you retired, or you already have a full-time business that keeps you occupied, that you're making your extra money with your residual money, then there's a passive way to do it. that way is to loan the money to someone like me so that I can do everything I told you to need to do in this book for you and with you. you can remain passive.

You won't make 16 18% But you can make eight or nine or 10. that's a pretty good premium interest rate or rate of return for a very passive investment that has real collateral in the background as security. That's what the books are about, it's to help people get financially free on their own if they want to start a business or and the cool thing about loaning money is how much money do you need to start a loan Your Money Business, I don't know, if you only have 100 bucks, you can loan out 100 bucks on something and get paid a premium and just start to grow from whatever amount you have. that's quite different than a lot of businesses because a lot of businesses it's going to take some real capital to get up and off the ground. I wish I'd known about loaning money, starting in high school because I'm sure I could loan some money to some kids in high school and have been way ahead by the time I got out.

Brett:

We love video games back in the day. Do you like video games swaps? Or like, I think we did. Pogs like, like fourth and fifth grade. That was all the rage for like two years and then it all busted, and you get left with slammers that you didn't want. But that's another story. By the way, you can learn more about Mitch Stephen at 1000Houses.com. He's I think I'm gonna buy the the the URL 2500 houses.com Mitch and make you and see if you get some people loan money to get you to buy that what do you think?

Mitch:

I'll just blow past you and swipe up 3000 houses.

Brett:

I love that you talked about the first thing I think is is the belief that you actually can make 14, 18% return based upon real collateral, loaning money on houses is the first option.

Mitch:

It is just as important. Do it with minimal to almost no risk. I mean, you don't ever want to say anything's guaranteed, but you can choose the level of risk you want, for example, if you like $90,000 on a $100,000 house, that's one level of risk. But if you only own $40,000 on $100,000 house, that's not a very big risk, as long as you've done your assessment of that real estate that you have as collateral well and so not only do you get to choose what you want to make to a degree, you get to choose your level of risk.

Brett:

Makes sense. Because if you foreclose, and if you bought a $100,000 house, the likelihood that it's only worth 40,000 or less, is very low. Right now, if you do it at 90% of you have 90%, then you potentially could lose there. Now, of course, there's the cost it's going to take to actually foreclose. I'm just curious out of the 2500 homes that you've you've done different deals with how many of you? What percentage of them? Are you actually having to foreclose? And then how many of them? Did you actually even really lose money? Because he probably did some healthy LTVs (Loan-To-Value)? What are the kinds of stats come to mind, Mitch?

Mitch:

2500 houses I've lost on six deals to a grand total of 60,000 over my 27-year career, so I've lost on six deals, and they weren't much per deal. The good news is, I made money on the other houses I did that month. Instead of making, 50, 60, 70, $80,000 that month. I only made 49, 59 69, I didn't lose that much money. I still had a good month, I just chose to settle up with my problem in that month and took a little pay cut, but it's still had good months. Yes. Now, when I started out, I had about a 10% foreclosure rate, because my MO is to buy houses. For 1x, owner financing for 2x, take a 10% down payment in finance the balance to my buyer at 30 years at 10%. Fully amortized, no bullet. I'm basically a self-professed mortgage company. When I started out, anybody in the world could get a loan. Like, if you could fog a mirror, stated income loans and everything. Then the recession hit, they tighten things up in my buyer pool grew, I also got to see who was failing. I started to notice trends of those, I started to see similarities. I cut out those people that were failing. Today, for the last 10 years I've averaged a 1% foreclosure rate.

Brett:

You're evolving.

Mitch:

And to finish the question, and on the ones that you took all the foreclosures, I did, counting the six that I lost one. I have made way more money on the ones I didn't lose on that I actually captured five years’ worth of appreciation when they failed. I recapture some appreciation because when I sell the house owner, five vitiations, because not my house anymore, but then when I get it back, five years later, this house isn't worth what it was, when I sold it to them, it's worth a lot more. If you wanted to look at those two numbers side by side, mice over foreclosure would blow away, hands down my losses.

Brett:

I'm gonna try to break that down. We're going to break down an actual example here. Out of 2500 homes, only six deals that you've actually taken a loss on about $60,000, about 10,000 on those six, and that's 27 years. in general, you are looking at buying 4x. or walk us through that equation again, and actually, just walk us through an average deal. We can understand the numbers, Mitch.

Mitch:

Let me give you some real numbers. These are the numbers I built my career on. They might not be the correct numbers now, because houses have inflated, but I know these numbers, so I'm just going to throw them out. Stay with the theory, not the prices of these houses. I would buy a house for Olen for 50,000. I borrowed the entire 50,000. That 50,000 would include closing costs, remodeling everything. then I was owner finance is based on the rents told me that I could owner finance this house for 100,000. How did the rents Tell me? Well, I figure if these people living in this neighborhood are paying $1,000 a month for rent, then they could pay $1,000 a month to own so I back into the rents to establish a sales price before an owner finance sales price. That's going to have a PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance) payment equal to what the rent is in the neighborhood. The only thing The buyer needs is different than a renter, there are two things they need to 10% or bigger down payment. I need to like them, I need to feel like they're going to make their payments for whatever reason because I'm the guy loaning the money, I'm the underwriter. I'm going to sell it for 2x or 100,000, with a minimum of 10,000 down. I am going to finance the 90,000 at 30 years at 10%.

Let's just say I'm borrowing the 50,000 that I bought the house with from a private lender. They know that I'm going to wrap this mortgage. They already know that I'm going to sell the house to someone else on payments, I have their permission. This is not like a sub-two deal, where you're wrapping a note that could be called my notes are not called I have $26 million out on the street right now, in 12 and 15 years, private loans from private people, and they're all have given me permission to wrap the loans, which means buy the house with their money, then sell it on payments to someone else, and not have to pay them off. The mortgage that I'm collecting from my buyer is wrapping around my debt to my lender, hence the wraparound mortgage. Here I am paying 8% on 50,000 for 50 for 15 years, and I'm collecting at 10% for 30 years on 90,000. I'm making 2% on my $50,000 borrowed money because I borrowed it eight 8%. I'm collecting 10% on the 90,000. I'm making the full 10% on the spread between my debt and my note balance. The difference between 90,050 1000 is 40k. I'm making the full 10%.

On that, because I have no debt on that I originated that equity through my strategy.it's uh, I have about 300 mortgages that I collect on. I average say, for easy math, say 500 bucks a month. What's that 150,000 A month positive cash flow, here's the kicker. I'm not a landlord. I'm a mortgage company. When the money comes in when the check clears, that's my 500 bucks positive cash flow, it doesn't have to go out to the air conditioner, man or the or the roofer guy or it doesn't have to go out to anybody. That's my money. Because of the air conditioner breaks, it's not my house. See, that's the difference between being a landlord and a lienlord. I'm a lien lord. I'm not responsible for the repairs.

The Art of Private Lending: “As long as you've done your assessment of that real estate that you have as collateral well and so not only do you get to choose what you want to make to a degree, you get to choose your level of risk.” – Mitch Stephen

Brett:

The whole world's going vegan man. I think it sounds pretty good to me. People were getting leaner and healthier. I like that I like the sound of that somebody tried to break that down and got a walk. That was a lot there. But I think I followed it, but I'm gonna try to try to unpack it for ours, our listeners. The first thing you need to figure out is what's the average rent in the area? What's the average rent is $1,000? How do I back into numbers to make it attractive for a renter to be an owner with about a 10% down payment, which would be 100,000, 10% would have that would be 10,000. Then that $1,000 rent would also now be the mortgage payment. You're going to finance $90,000 at 10%, which is right around that number.

Mitch:

For 30 years.

Brett:

For five years.

Mitch:

No, for 30 years.

Brett:

For 30 years, then you mentioned the wrap, and I think I fall but are you now going to some another bank and someone else to get to secure that loan? Or? I don't know if I quite followed that when you said the wrap so would you just explain that one more time.

Mitch:

I borrowed 50,000 from a private lender, he loaned me the money for 15 years at 8%. I owe about let's just say I'm pulling the number out of my head about 350 a month, to my private lender. then I sold the house for 100 grand with 10 grand down I'm carrying the 90,000 for 30 years at 10% They owe me 850 So they pay me the 850 I pay my private lender 350 out of that 850 And I keep the $500 spread so I'm creating a positive cash flow that has very little liabilities and I'm getting paid $10,000 to do it because I have none of my money in this. I financed the house the repairs, the closing costs everything my private lender loaned me that money I have not one penny in it. when I collect a $10,000 payment that's what I don't make my payments whether or a person would make their house payment of their car.

Brett:

That's the key. In the very beginning that was the other missing piece. The 50,000 that was already loaned to you wasn't your money, including closing costs that included the house purchasing the house the renovations and so it's nothing out of your pocket, you just owe them the money at a 15-year loan at 8%. then immediately you're going to improve it, increase it, sell it for 100. But finance it back, and then the spread between what the rent or the owner of the new house, you're lending the money to and what you owe the person who gave you the 50. Upfront, that lender is about $500. Is that a fair summary?

Mitch:

I averaged just under $500 per transaction, positive cash flow for 30 years, potentially, if the note went 30 years, most notes only go about, 10 years in the economic Echelon ideally. But because they eventually sell the house and the realtor list it and they get a new buyer, and it's a new loan, and I get a call for a payoff. But if you did 500 times a 360, they owe me $180,000 In the future of positive cash flow, and I got paid $10,000 in a down payment to make that happen. Now, if you do eight of those a month, which I do, I have done about 100 houses a year or eight a month, for over two decades. That means I'm collecting 80,000 a month and down payments, that is all mine. I'm increasing my cash flow by $4,000 a month every month.

Brett:

That's a heck of a business model there, Mitch. I can see I have $26 million out in the street right now.

Mitch:

One of the reasons I have the 26 million is because like, unlike flipping a house, a flipper just needs the money for six months, eight months, he does the house, he does the rehab, he sells a new loan, or cash. the deal is over. he has to settle up with everybody. I need private lenders that want their money out for the long term at a decent rate. Because when I buy that house, I need at least 10 or 15 years with the money because I'm selling it to a guy on a 30-year note. The reason why I have 26 million out is when I put my money out if I put 100 grand out for 15. It's been out for 15 years. When I go to buy another house, I need to get another 100 grand from another private lender or get another 100 grand from the same private lender, I'm going to put it out for 15 years, so I can do 15-year loans with a 10-year balloon or a 15-year amortization with a seven-year balloon. But I'll never borrow the money for less than a five-year balloon because time flies in.

Brett:

By the way, you can find Mitch Stephen more at 1000Houses.com. Also coming his new book, The Art of Private Lending. He is a he is an expert, if there's a master class to learn on private lending and doing houses Mitch is your guy. it's interesting, the marketplace, Mitch seems to be at an all-time high in a lot of places. one of the advantages of private lending, and correct me if I'm wrong, is it's kind of a hedge between a number of things. But as long as you're not taking too much leverage. The market can go high or you can go low. Talk to us about (A) what you think about the marketplace, and the values of real estate right now, and then (B) how private lending can help you hedge against a big market correction.

Mitch:

Here’s the thing. I never let my private lenders in over 65% of what the rent formula says that I can sell or finance the house for the roof. The rent for me is not mathematically accurate, it doesn't fail if the average rent and in the neighborhoods 1000, then I can finance this house for I can carry a note for 98,000. I already know the math and so that if I can carry a note for 90,000 and have a principal interest, taxes, and insurance payment equal to the $1,000 rent, and what does that make my sales price? Well, I just add 12% on top. that becomes my OFV or the Owner Finance Value may have coined that moniker, I don't think anyone else is even paying attention to it. But the owner finance value is a value on a property based on the rental income that it can drive. It's kind of like a cap rate but less sophisticated. You can choose. I mean, I never let my private lenders in over 65% I average only borrowing 58% of what my oh FV is or what the owner finance value is going to end up being. But that's because I'm just very conservative. I need to make sure everyone wins in this equation. I need to make sure that the buyer wins. I think he is winning because I am moving this person from being probably a lifelong renter into being able to own their own home.

If you look at the statistics, there was a huge number of people and I forget the exact amount but like 85% or 90% of most People's net worth is tied up in the equity of their home. It's that if they didn't have that home, they wouldn't have a net worth. I'm doing good for those guys. I'm doing good for the private lenders because until they meet someone like me with a plan that makes any sense, they either have to gamble and live by the ticker tape of Wall Street, which you have no control over. Or you put your money on a 1% CD (Closing Disclosure). That's really kind of basically the two choices, you can say, mutual funds and diversification. I said it's all ticker tape. Here, you either get paid back as agreed, or you get this piece of real estate. it all hinges on what is that real estate really worth. If we do our numbers, you should be pretty protected. I like to keep at least a 35% hedge. Because I know the things that can go wrong. I need some pretty big margins, just in case on this particular property, some of those things go wrong. I need a big margin, I need a margin that says, you didn't make a whole lot this time. But you didn't lose, you made a little. That's what big margins do for you.

Brett:

I want to dive into something here that as you're talking, you're talking about everybody wins. Sometimes Capital Gains Tax Solutions, by the way, the Deferred Sales Trust, were based upon IRC 453, which is known as a seller carry-back, everything that we're talking about right now, with Mitch is the foundation of IRC 40, which is the foundation of the Deferred Sales Trust, the 90-year-old tax law, and sometimes people are like, the 1031 exchange is being challenged, and they could take that away? Are you guys being challenged? I'm not going to do this deferred sales trust or do this deal, just to know that the government's gonna just say, those are no longer legal anymore? You can't do those? Would you just talk about how the government wins, by allowing this tax deferral strategy, the private lending aspect of it, that somebody can, as a personal person, private citizen, that you buy a house, that you can lend back and open up that, can you kind of committee connect those dots and why you believe, seller carry back is here to stay?

Mitch:

Well, the first thing is, is when people start taking care of their own retirements, then they're not living off the government during those golden years. That's the main thing. That's why the IRAs were invented in these retirement plans. These strategies were invented in the first place, they wanted to give people a chance to be self-sufficient in their non-working years. Am I wrong about that? Am I right about that? I mean, that’s why they did that.

Brett:

That's exactly right, Mitch, keep going.

Mitch:

What I'm offering is a premium return for people, but with minimal risk, it's against the law to say guarantee in the first place, because there is no guarantee I mean, the earth can hit the sun tomorrow, for some reason, I don't know. But so all you can do is minimize risk, there will always be risks. But how minimum can you get it? I don't buy fancy houses, I buy Walmart houses for Walmart people. The reason why I stay in that venue is that I believe that the day that my little Walmart houses a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1400 square foot house and an average neighborhood, the day that that house is not worth any money, is the day that your money was never didn't matter where you had your money, we were picking up guns, we're going someplace, the day that those little houses aren't worth anything in the United States of America, we got way bigger problems than what your 401k did.

Brett:

That is so well said I have never really thought about it on that just that basic human need level of why IRC 453 and being able to carry back paper rail to do the private lending, and I want to try to pull it out for our listeners, and those are looking at the Deferred Sales Trust. At the most basic level, the government is not in the business or wants to be in the business of taking care of all of us in the retirement they couldn't. If they had to take care of everybody and for all of the retirement all their needs. Guess what, we're also living longer than ever. We're healthcare costs are going higher. Costs are going higher with inflation. If they're not doing things to incentivize ways to have people do their own retirement like an IRA or like a 401k, or like a Deferred Sales Trust or like even lending at the basic level. They're distanced, they're putting themselves in a potential to have to take care of more of us. Then also now on the actual home part, the government's also not in the business of owning all of the houses or providing houses for everybody. They can't even do that. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't write you see government housing.

Mitch:

Even though they do it, they do a crappy job of it. It doesn't matter.

Brett:

they do. They do a crappy job of it. What is happening here is they're saying experts like Mitch, who can connect the dots put the deals together, boots actually on the ground in the communities going into these properties, understanding the needs and the challenges of folks who want it own. By the way, when you own something, guess what? You tend to take care of it. There's the pride of ownership. It's your place where Mitch, that big stat you mentioned before 85 to 90% is tied into the net worth of their own house.

Mitch:

It's a huge number level. Back to there was another part of your question I want to get to, but it's kind of far back there. But the problem with 1031 exchanges is for us to defer the tax so that we can buy more houses or provide more housing or better retirement, so we don't have to depend on the government. The problem with the 1031 exchanges, is that you're usually selling at a time when you can get the most money because that's when you're supposed to sell when prices are high. But the problem with the 1031 exchanges, then you have to turn right around in a really tiny window and reinvest the money back in, well, the market doesn't turn in 180 days, or 100, whatever it is, because I don't even care anymore, because I'm not even gonna look at 1030 ones because of this problem, I have to go and buy something in the hot market that I just proliferated from. It doesn't make a lot of sense. The only way 1031 ever made sense to me, is if I happen to have a deal already, that I could lock up. I already know where it is before I do my 1031 exchange because trying to do a 1031 exchange. Under time pressure is like having a gun to your head. you'll make some really bad decisions just to meet some deadlines. I actually bought a house for what it was worth, so I could just sell it for what it's worth. I can start my time over.

Brett:

Very well said Mitch, thank you so much for sharing that in that plug. It's part of why we're here at the Capital Gains Tax Solutions because we want to give you freedom from the 1031 exchange using something called the Deferred Sales Trust, you got a CapitalGainsTaxSolutions.com. To learn more about that. I think we saved four or five, at least in the past six months 1031 exchanges. It also works for cryptocurrency businesses, primary homes, now it's got to be a million-dollar net proceeds million dollar gain. it's a part of that you can qualify to use the Deferred Sales Trust. I appreciate you sharing that, Mitch. at the most basic level, again, just to wrap up the thought the reason the government puts these tax legal incentives in place, and also the ability to lend is to incentivize commerce. when you incentivize commerce, macroeconomics, and the study of macroeconomic states that basically is gonna create more jobs, more revenue, more tax revenue, but also the most basic level like housing, people can move from an area of renting their entire life to ownership and building up their net worth and bettering their family to the next generation. It's an absolutely beautiful thing. Now we're running out of time here, Mitch, are you ready for the lightning round?

Mitch:

I'm ready for the lightning round.

Brett:

All right, if you can go back to your 25-year-old self, Mitch, what's the one golden nugget make sure to tell yourself to do?

Mitch:

I would start my self-education a lot sooner and a lot more direct and with a lot more power. When I formally graduated, I thought, okay, schooling is over. Well, it's never over. I, in fact, learned a lot more when I started educating myself on things I was interested in than I ever learned at school.

Brett:

Absolutely. Great, great answer. Next question. What are you most curious about right now?

Mitch:

What am I most what?

Brett:

Curious about?

Mitch:

I'm curious about what this country is going to do to get back on the right track.

Brett:

Likewise, I couldn't agree more. What's the number one quote or theme that you strive to live by Mitch?

Mitch:

Do unto others. I mean, it's a religion for me. That's why I haven't been in 2500 houses, I've had three lawsuits. That was because I tried to help homeless people in their flawed and they got some problems. The reason why I have so little conflict is that I won't do anything to anybody that I don't, that I wouldn't want to be done to me, and it served me very well.

Brett:

Very well said love that. Last question, Mitch. After all, your success helping the people you've helped, helping that people get become homeowners over 2500 At this point. making a lot of money while you're doing it too, which is the great American dream. How do you stay centered in your values? And how do you stay encouraged to charge forward to reach new heights?

Mitch:

I stay centered. 've been talking a lot about Christianity here. I'm not a preacher, and I don't usually wear my religion on my shoulder. But I stay centered by, like, trying to do the right thing and stand around people that have morals and integrity and in making sure that I can look them in the face at the end of every day and say, I did the best I could.

Brett:

It's a beautiful answer, Mitch, I want to thank you for being on the show. I want to encourage you to keep using the gifts and talents you've given, given to you by having amazing parents and doing right by them. When when when you see him again, continue to have your faith drive you and also your hard work and help people get freedom from renting and owning properties. Also, people will get freedom from their day job to get that 2600 hours. What would you do if you had 2600 hours? More next year. you had some passive income, and you an opportunity to maximize the gifts you've been given? Bless other people. It's a beautiful thing to be free from the day job. We so appreciate you, Mitch, for our listeners who want to get in touch with you. Would you remind them one last time what's the best place for them to find you?

Mitch:

It's 1000Houses.com. Go there. You can get sick of me over there. There's so much Mitch Steven over there you want there are podcasts, there's YouTube education, there are four or five books, there are blogs, believe me, you can get really tired of Mitch Stephen over there.

Brett:

Mitch, I'm never gonna get tired of you. You're always welcome back on the show. I so appreciate you being here with us, thank you so much. For our listeners, I also want to thank everyone out there for listening to another episode of the Capital Gains Tax Solutions Podcast also streaming on eXpertTaxSecrets.com. Where we believe most high net worth individuals and those who help them they struggle clarifying their capital gains tax deferral options not having a clear plan is the enemy using a proven tax deferral strategy such as the Deferred Sales Trust as the best way for you to sell highly appreciated assets and defer the capital gains tax and also getting with someone like Mitch Stephen either learning becoming a mastered The Art of Private Lending or perhaps even becoming an investor with him to help him lend to more people. All of that combined can help you to create and preserve more wealth. What so you can have more freedom to do more of what you want to do or help others do the same? You so appreciate you out there please rate review subscribe, go to CapitalGainsTaxSolutions.com If you want to learn more about all things Deferred Sales Trust. Thanks so much for listening.