Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah, it's amazing. Once you use God's word and a little bit of simple maths and when you talk about things like being content and gratitude, being patient forgot to thrive rather than running ahead and then being generous, like people's entire perspective about money can check and check.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Welcome to this week's Wealth Builders podcast. We have got a really great guest here, an amazing couple. I will call you guys friends for sure.
We've got Travis and Laura Wardlaw that are joining us today. And I think it's kind of neat because you guys are in the coaching programs.
Both of them, you started to come to wealth builders. We hit it off right away. We get to know you so well in coaching, and that's such a beautiful, wonderful story. And we just really felt that this would be inspirational for people and really give all of you a little insight into who are these well filled with people, why these coaching people that we talk about in this couple is absolutely amazing. So I'm going to have them share with you a little bit of their story. So just tell us a little bit of background. You guys are so sweet. So I'll let you go as personal as you want, as far back, but.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Just to show how like minded we are, look at our jackets. Totally not planned. I know you go ahead.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Well, okay. So when we met, we met at work. So we both work for the same oil and gas company or worked at the same oil and gas.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: And you're still there.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: I'm still there.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: 26 years.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's been a great opportunity. This company is a huge blessing for us. But, like, I had an enormous amount of student loan debt. Right. And she was debt free except for her house. So she had a house. And so when, you know, you get to that point in the relationship, you're like, let's put all the cards on the table. Like this was a thing. And so we both worked together to get my student loan debt paid off as quickly as possible.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: And was that before you got married?
[00:02:18] Speaker A: I think we started 27 years. 26 years. I'm trying to remember. But I think we started before we got married. Living on one salary.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: And paying down the debt.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: So we finished six months after we got married, and then we just decided to continue on with our house.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: So by 2005, we were completely debt free, including our house. And we hadn't even had our kids yet.
[00:02:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: So that's really interesting. So you met at work and Laura was the one that got you out of debt.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Okay, well, let me share the background on that. I grew up in a debt free church, which was really unusual in the seventies and eighties down in Houston. Brother John Morgan at Sagemont church, that was my home church for so many years. And so I was learning financial freedom from him long before Dave Ramsey was popular. And I'd seen family members struggle with that, and I just knew, like, I didn't want that for ourselves. So I listened to his programs and listened. I read other books, my degrees in applied mathematics. So I like the numbers. I like seeing charts and seeing, like, what numbers can become.
And so, yeah, that was just my passion. And so, yeah, he kind of had to take that on when we met. It became his passion, too.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I was already doing some of it because I did not like that field. Right.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: And so I had an emergency fund, and then everything else I was making was going towards that. Right?
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:31] Speaker C: And then it was just, we were able to compound that effect and really shrink the payout time together.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: So once you live like that, you don't really quit living like that, right. Like on a dime. Like, it just. I like to tell. I'm a financial coach, too, which I'll talk about here in just a minute. But I tell my ladies, being in debt snowballs. We all know that feeling of debt creates more debt creates more debt.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: I.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: But being out of debt snowballs, too. And all of a sudden, we turned around and like I said, we paid off our house, and then we were maxing our four hundred one k, and we were investing outside in the stock market, and it was like, okay. Like, it was snowballing, right?
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: So just a little bit more history on me, too. So once we decided to have children, because we had been living on one income and we got all the debt knocked out, I had the option to be able to stay home with my kids. And at the time, that was more than a 50% pay cut. Cause I made more than he did at the time. He has far surpassed me now, but at the time, I was making more than him. And so it gave us that true freedom to be able to, for me to be able to stay home.
And then I was able to start really investing in women. That's when I started leading women's ministry, Bible studies. I have a passion for marriage. I have a passion for God's word. And so it was just so beautiful to have that freedom, to be able to stay home and do that. And you're gonna see that come up when we talk about the different businesses that God really prepared me during that time, leading those Bible studies.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that is so cool. Because, you know, you guys are, you're very, you're successful early on. You're very successful. You. I always wonder, like, how do people like you find wealth builders, right? Yeah. And, um, we know, but there was, there's something in there. You guys are financially free, out of debt, and then you hit that point where you're like, there's got to be.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't want any more house. We're satisfied with our house. We had paid for cars. We were living on the water in a custom home that we built. You know, like, we had everything we wanted and we had lived through that lost decade that Billy taught us about. Like, I had lived through it, but didn't know that that was a thing. Like, I just knew the stock market hadn't returned for like ten years. So it was like, what do we do with this money? Because, like I said, being out of debt snowballs. And we would have this money and before then we would just upgrade houses. And we just got to the point, like, we're comfortable now.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: But it started to feel like rather than just focusing on being debt free, it's like we're stewards. And it just started to feel like we're no longer being good stewards. Our heart was to be a good steward. Being debt free had been being a good steward for many years, but now we needed to go to the next level and we needed mentors to that. Right?
We went from getting refunds from the government to having to write big checks to the government. You know, we had this chunk of money that now that inflation is starting to be a real thing again the last couple of years, it's no longer worth what it used to be worth. So saving it in the bank isn't being a good steward either. So that's when I'll talk about my financial coaching business here in just a minute. But one of my clients had said I'd asked her about real estate. We knew a lot of friends that had like, bought ten single family homes in a year. We even had a neighbor that did like, a big apartment, syndication. And then we would turn around a few years later and most of them were not in that business anymore. So we never felt really good, not even about the debt part, but about, like, is this a business that we want to take this kind of risk?
So I started being interested in real estate again. We were talking about it, but we wanted to do it biblically wise. We've seen people go bankrupt. Even Dave Ramsey went bankrupt on real estate. Right. And it's like, okay, how do we do this and not jeopardize the good of what we built but still be willing to go to the next level? And she told us about Billy, had never heard of him. Told us about wealth builders, and she said, you need to go look at Billy. He's right there in Colorado. Didn't even know he was right here where we could actually meet him in person. Meet you in person. You know, the coaches in person.
And we went to, I think we signed up for the very next conference was in just a couple of weeks. You were sold out in person. We had to attend it online.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: The real estate.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yep, yep. And we got to, like, day two. And it's like, I think we found our mentors. Like, we online are so many influencers that are in their twenties, they've never ridden out a whole real estate cycle. They don't even remember 2008, much less the eighties, you know? And here was Billy with decades, decades of investing wisely, real formulas, real protections in place, and we're like, okay, so that's when we joined wealth builders. That was two years ago. Yeah, yeah.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: The quick start was probably a month and a half or two months after that first cop.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Yeah. We got to spend all day together. It was fun.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: That was narrow.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Hey, I want to go back to a story we were talking about offline.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: So, Travis, tell us a story about how nervous you were buying this house.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: No, not this house. Our first house.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: First house together. Right. So, yes, we found this house we were doing the last walk for before we actually go and sign the papers.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Right, and this is after you're married? Yes. Yeah.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: And I am just hyperventilating, bent over, like, trying to get a breath.
She's kind of getting upset. She's like, you didn't get this upset when we got married. You weren't this nervous when you got married. I was like, I dated you for two years. I knew I was getting a good deal.
Now I'm walking. I'm on two dates, and I'm walking down the aisle. So I was extremely nervous that, because.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: That was a mortgage and we were paying down the student loans, you know, so it was nerve. It was nerve wracking to find another loan. Right?
[00:08:38] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: So it's. I bring that up because I think sometimes, you know, we see where you guys are at right now, and we're going to learn more about that, but it's good to go back. And it's always been easy to buy house, all that. No. You know, you actually had to step out of faith to buy your first.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, yes.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: Yeah. It's not always easy. And, you know, I tell, I tell my folks at work, you know, growth experiences come with a measure of pain and suffering. So, you know, but it's true. But, you know, it's, it's a good thing. It's the good kind of growth. You know, it's the good kind of pain, right?
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Yes.
Yeah. To go to that next level.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: And I think to you just, you know, they're just, even with some of the steps you've taken, it doesn't come without resistance.
[00:09:31] Speaker C: No.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: And something that we talk about a lot in coaching and Billy shares all the time is that when you hit resistance, a lot of people think, oh, we shouldn't have done this. We made a mistake. But. And they think it's God.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: And it's not like he says it like this. It's your stick and flesh.
That's what Billy says. But anyway, I think, too, just being transparent and open, like when you make this decision that you're going to go to the next level, there is new territory. There is sometimes resistance. We hit bumper road. Yeah. Fear tries to come in, but, you know, if everybody could do it, they would. But there's a very small percentage of it. So let's talk a little bit about your heart, Lori. Your heart to help women is just amazing. And so maybe to share with them a little bit about the faithful pantry, some of the things that you do just to help others to really get to this place. And then how we were talking the other day, I think there's another layer help that bill cloud not just get out of debt. I was sharing with people about that. And that gives a lot of insight to you.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. So after being just a stay at home mom for but 14 years, then.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: That was a difficult job.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Please say don't take us.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: I know that I usually say it in quotes, but. And, you know, my kids were getting older. I think they were, what, 14 and ten at the time the pandemic hit. And my kids are home and my husband's home, and I can no longer have my home Bible studies that I've been doing for so many years. People didn't want to get together in person. And this random Facebook ad came across my screen and on my phone that talked about being a kingdom entrepreneur. And I didn't have a business. I mean, I sold some photography, but I really didn't have a business. And I started reading about it and just sounded so interesting. So I dove into this 30 day challenge. I learned how to create offers, how to do marketing, how to create funnels, Facebook ads, you know, all these things that I had never done before. It was so much fun because otherwise, other people were binging Netflix. Right? At least I was learning something that was really exciting and from a godly man. And so what I decided to launch at the time, he said, look at where you have authority. And the one thing that I felt like we really had authority in is we had been debt free for, at that point, 15 years. Completely debt free for 15 years. And so I was like, okay, I have a passion for God's word. I have a passion for discipling women. And now if I bring that in with the money as well, this is something that maybe people would join me online for. So I launched what was called Kingdom Savers at the time. And so much fun. I had so much fruit, and then I just kept learning and becoming a certified coach and certified challenge consultant. All these other things. But I seeing a woman, like a pastor's wife, pay off their house in a year and a half, seeing people pay off $50,000 of debt in 90 days, and even a man saying, our marriage was saved because of this. So the passion is really not so much the numbers. I actually like to think that I'm more like a Bethmore or Priscilla Shirer. It's more heavy on the Bible than it is, like, Ramsay with the numbers. Right. But I like to dig into, like, where does this history on money come from? What is your figure? Yes. Rather than just the things you say have to say no to, that just becomes, like a grenadier kind of thing. And oftentimes, the men understand the money better, understand the numbers better. And so I'm kind of a bridge between the husbands that are actually trying to create wealth for their families, and the wives are trying to do what's best for their kids, but maybe they're spending money they don't have on all organic stuff or all, you know, things that they think are best for the kids. And this just kind of helped bridge the gap on, let's see what we really want bigger down the line, and let's see what's going on in your heart. Keeping up with the Joneses, you know, idols in our life that have snuck in and beliefs that we haven't confronted. So, yeah, it's amazing. Once you use God's word and a little bit of simple math, and then you talk about things like being content and gratitude, being patient for God to provide rather than running ahead and then being generous. Like, people's entire perspective about money can change.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. And in this, Travis, you're. I know. You're just like Lori because he gets support.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Such a super fan of everything that she's doing. So from your perspective, when you see her ministering to people on the faithful pantry and things, what are some of the biggest takeaways that you have seen where, where more has really been able to help people?
[00:13:48] Speaker C: One of the biggest things is you'll hear, I've heard many times, and from the folks in her group, the ladies in her group, they didn't realize God spoke so much about my nation in the Bible.
And it's kind of a revelation for them. Right. It's like, oh, it's not this taboo thing. It's not because we're talking about it. It's not that I'm cutting it and now it's an evil thing. That's. It's kind of an eye opening experience. Right. And then the next thing I'd say was the next biggest thing is the freedom I see. Like, it changes their lives. Right. And so I'm so proud that she's a, you know, she's a vehicle for that, you know, so, yeah, okay.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: No talking about real estate.
Change the subject.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Change the subject. But it's not such a good background, too, and just even the dynamic with you. And so then, you know, we talked a little bit before then all once you just got to this point, have everything in life that we thought we would want to have.
And you guys were like, hey, we don't need more cars or newer cars. We don't need more houses. And you started to understand there's something more now. And then in comes wealth builders. Like you mentioned, you learned about Billy and here this time that you've spent your debt free. We've talked about you really identifying with that, but really grappling with. We're debt free, but for us to have an impact, we need to go a different route and be better calories of it. And in that, you purchased an amazing real estate investment. We're not saying that it's been easy, but you joined the coaching program. So just tell us a little bit about that. You know that new wineskin is what it is.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Well, it took almost a year. We joined in May.
We started making our first offers, I think, at the end of December. And just to kind of also show how once you start taking a step, you know, like the merc that talks about, he's a lamp unto our feet. He's a light onto our path. He just usually lights up enough to know the next couple of steps. You don't always know the end result, right? And so as we started taking that step, another random Facebook ad, you gotta love them. Eavesdropping sometimes was for a local realtor that specialized in short term rentals. And then she just happened to be having an open house in Breckenridge, and we attended that and we got to meet her. The owners of that house just happened to have been Dave Ramsey, debt free people before they bought that house. And we're like, God, what are you?
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Like, yeah, connections.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: It's not coincidental, right, where God was just saying, you know, trust me, and let me, let me keep opening the next door as you walk through it. And so, yeah, I think we got to about January and thought, our coaching program is going to be over in May, and we haven't bought our first property. You know, we had looked at apartment complexes, we had looked at some different options, but really, I love hospitality. That's one of the things we value, is hospitality. We love homes. And so the thing that we built a home, a custom home, we've remodeled a home, so it made sense to do a home to start with. But up here in Colorado, oftentimes the single family homes don't work, right? Unless you do a short term rental. And then I remember in one of the conferences, Chad was talking about the short term rental loophole, which I'm a rule follower, I don't like loopholes.
But if you look on the IR's site, it's very defined what qualifies you to have real estate be an active endeavor instead of just a passive one like it normally is. And so through all this process, again, just every nugget, we'd show up on the bi weekly calls, we'd ask another question. And I love how Billy says, you know, you gotta get in the game to even know the questions to ask. So in some ways, we didn't even still know all the questions to ask until we got in the game, which is scary, right? But we had spent time asking God for wisdom. And he says in James, if you ask for wisdom, he will give it. And then when he gives it, don't doubt. And so I prayed and fasted about it. I know he was praying about it too, and just said, lord, if we are deceiving ourselves into going back into debt, if we're getting trapped, going back into bondage, oh, I wanna share something on that. So I had another mentor say, you know, when you come to the Ramsey world, debt is dumb. It's just grilled into you. And it was even before Ramsay that I felt that from other mentors, but I had this mentor say, you know, if you have $100,000 in the bank cash and you go get a hundred thousand dollar loan, are you really in bondage?
As to. There's the whole the borrower slave to the lender verse. Right. And I was like, that's the first time I went, you know, that actually makes sense. Right. And so that kind of opened our mind to start. I know how to do the numbers from math, but my heart just could not believe that debt was okay. So, yeah, so we started doing the numbers. We had our CPA even run numbers on a paid for smaller house versus a luxury house in record ranch.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: I.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: The luxury house made more sense. Like, just. Yeah, he kept meeting us in our doubt.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Even the house that the other house that we could have, you know, taken our savings and paid for in case of a bad time now. Right. Is actually going to add to our tax return. Right. So it wasn't going to help out our.
Right.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: That's true. And just to give a little background on it, too, you guys had the.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Heavy tax burden writing big checks for two years.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah. To the IR's. And so in that. That stewardship part, like, really, is this. What we're to do is write big tech to the IR's?
And also, just to clarify what we mean by debt. It's not consumer debt.
[00:19:13] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: It's the. What Billy called the law of leverage.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: And if. If you want to learn more about that, the money mastery book, Triple X Factor. It's amazing. And it is a different way of thinking through things where you're not getting in debt to, like, get a new house.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: Or to get a bigger car.
It's leveraging other people's money, what is called to. To help you to make more funny. And all of this is, like, focused on the kingdom, plus to save you a lot of money on tax.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: And so there's this point, I think, that a lot of people hit giving out a debt, be it financially free, but there's this building wealth part that you guys started to tap into.
And I remember, too, like, maybe you even want to tell the story. We got as coaches. We were on the phone. I was on the zoom with your lender. Lender, yes. And your real estate agent.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: So just a great story about how, you know, God is in the understanding how much to offer anything but can you share a little bit about where you're at with the price and then also what you would experience in one of the houses you bought that you went back and offered a lower amount? Oh, okay.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: That was on our personal.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: That would be our first sale house, but it kind of set the stake.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'll start with that one. Yeah, if that's okay. So when we. Because it'll show you my heart, too, of, like, contentment where we were and kind of arguing with God about more. So it got transferred to Colorado seven years ago, which was my heart's desire. We love Colorado. We vacationed up here. We thought we were coming here ten years before that. Often God shows you glimpses, and it's not. It's a timing thing. Right. And I started looking at houses. We had a custom house on the water with a boat in the backyard. It was Houston, you know, great people, awful weather, you know, but that was our one way to be outside in Houston. And when we started looking at houses up here in Colorado, it was depressing. For the same amount of money, what I could get, it was just gonna be like a simple branch, three bedroom, two bath house in an ugly neighborhood. You know, they're beautiful parts of Colorado and some parts of Denver are just not that pretty. I thought, are we gonna move for this? You know? So I kind of had an argument with God about, like, I was mad about it, and he said, well, do you have it? Do you have more? And I was like, yes. And he was like, well, then you can either spend it or you can sit there and be mad.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: That's what I felt in my spirit. And so we upped our search from what we had been comfortable. I mean, we still. I was trying to get dollar for dollar what we had spent in Houston right up. And as soon as I upped what we were searching for, this house that had been for sale off and on for years had just dropped $200,000 into our price bracket. Like, I was mad. I did not want to spend this kind of money on a house. It was a million dollar house. It's like, nobody needs a million dollar house. I was still at that point, like, who buys a million dollar house? And so we raised our search to a million, and this house dropped from 1.2 to 999. And then God, let me see within Zillow. Like, we don't have this kind of information in Texas, but in Colorado, it's all public knowledge. And when I started scrolling in Zillow, I could see how often they had had it listed off and on for years. Come to find out they were going through a divorce. They had bought at the peak in 2006. It had just now been worth what they had paid for it. So that's the other thing, is real estate doesn't always go up. Right. Good to know that.
But I'd seen what they had lowered it to, and then they would start back high again and lower it and start back high and lower it. And I had seen that they were willing to take 875 at one time. And so I told my realtor, that's what we're offering, and this was 2017. She's like, the market has changed. That's no longer the market. And I was like, well, it's still sitting there. And this is what they were willing to take at one time. And so we got a $1.2 million house at the end of the negotiations for 915. And so we've been able to ride out, you know, it going down, and it almost doubled by last year. It almost doubled in, like, six years.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Then you are looking at this property in Breckenridge, and you're in the position. You made the decision like, okay, we're gonna do this. We're going to take advantage of.
Were you leaning over then?
[00:23:18] Speaker A: He was probably puking.
[00:23:20] Speaker C: There were some sleepless nights right. Where you're. You're up and. But, you know, we'll get to that in a little bit. But there's a. There's. There's an analogy of the field and so forth that.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: So we're seeing more now that we're in the game.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: That's why it's faith. It's faith because you don't see it all yet.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: Yeah. It's like you're getting. Trying to get perspective of the whole house that you're at. The purse, the first floor.
You can't get more perspective until you climb to the second floor. Right. You see? You can't see the whole thing.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: So what were you asking about that?
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Yeah, we're kind of in that same thing, because what. What we do in coaching is we help you run the numbers and take a look at it and analyze things and to make sure that, you know, you guys are not emotional buyers, but sometimes, you know, that you can be.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: And you're so good at math. And so we kind of hit that point. But your real estate agent was saying you're not going to get it for that.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: That was actually our personal home.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: But we. We had wanted to be a little bit more aggressive on this house as well.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: But so that this house, I remember that it was. It was a higher price, and you were pushing it.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: They had already lowered it. They had already lowered it. Been on the market for a few.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Months and said, nope, this is what we're gonna.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: And so just that process, too, because I think that God helps us to know that. Right point. You have the numbers, but also I think he knows, like, where you come in. So share that experience a little bit through that sales process.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: And I just think, given what had happened with our personal home, that realtor was wonderful, but she also did not think we would ever get it for that. And we did. I mean, she told me later, like, I've never seen anybody get that kind of deal on a house in Colorado because they were going fast.
But so on this house, I had a little bit more confidence to push. I think the hard part about real estate is, you know, you hear different things, like, your money's made when you buy cash flow day one and things like that. But I've also heard. Who was it? Was it Warren Buffett that said, I'd rather have a great house for a fair price than a fair house for a great price?
[00:25:18] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: And so that's kind of where we were. We thought we could negotiate another $20,000 or 30,000, 50,000, but we could already get going, get in this thing, and get it producing money, and it was just a great property. So many other things we had looked at needed so much work. We're not in that season of life. We had a graduating senior this year. We have elderly parents that we need to help take care of, and so it wasn't. We weren't in the season to do another remodel or massive work. So, yeah, when you recognize the deal we did negotiate, we did get a good price, but it's not like we got a smoking deal on it. But it was an unusual property for the area. Most houses in Breckenridge are older. They're dated. This was very modern, very updated. So, yeah, it's a special property, but it's something.
[00:25:58] Speaker C: You got pushed in the coaching program all the time is to do your homework and do your research. I mean, when you bring a property. When you bring a property, you guys. You guys ask us what the numbers are.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't get away with this.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: No data. You've got to do the work, right? Yeah, you've got to do the research.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Something else. You really driven home that again. I heard it here. But it didn't sink in until we did. It was making sure that your team are all investors. So the fact that our real estate agent isn't in short term rental investor herself, our designer, who installed our furniture, everything, also owns short term rentals. Even our photographer owned investments.
It just. It's so different. And I'm such a do it. We tend to be do it yourselfers, you know, we remodeled our own house and all of that, but this time, hiring. One of the takeaways, I was going to say, is hire experts. We got going so much faster because they knew what to do. We were online faster. It was my first experience with people doing a better job than I had done for myself.
Having reserves, we haven't talked about that much, but being able to ride out the seasonality of a short term rental. We've had our first guests trash the place, have the hot tub unplugged, open, frozen over the same day a guest is supposed to check in. We had almost a brand new boiler. Find out it's undersized and it's not performing when people are in the house. And that was a major expenditure. We had our mortgage go up $1,500 in one year. So just one of my takeaways for people, too, is make sure you have done the math, that you aren't stretching yourself, that you have some reserves, that you've run the numbers and just have realistic expectations of how long it's going to take to get it off and running and stabilized.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's the thing, too, with short term rentals. You know, we do share that a lot is your cash flows are up and down. If you guys were in that position, then you could manage.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: There were some bumps in the road, which, you know, oftentimes there is, but you're kind of on the other side of that.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: And now you're moving into this place. So. So just share with everybody. First of all, it's just, it's. We love you guys so much. You've been in coaching and you're gonna be friends for life. I'll never forget. Boots on the ground. If you want to know more about that, you can check out the website boots on the ground.
But with that, now that you're kind of through some of those little ups and downs, you've seen the benefit in your taxes where you're not giving, matter of fact, the IR's, I think, giving you quite a bit.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Yep. Yep.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: What advice would you have? Like, how are you feeling about things now? And looking back and looking forward. Where are you guys at?
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah, well, he said several times, he feels like if we had done a long term rental rental, it probably would have taken me three to five years to get the experience that I've gotten in the last year. Short term rentals definitely accelerate.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Yeah, this is true.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: They're the hardest thing to manage. People are the hardest on it. They have the highest expectation. It's their vacation. They don't want it interrupted. So now I feel like I can manage a manager. Right? So that's something we're looking at this year. I'm still actively managing it. We still had. We had done a cost segregation study. We didn't really say why we got the taxes back, but part of the short term rental loophole is you can do a cost segregation study, which costs a little bit of money, but it lets you do bonus depreciation, which meant we got to roll a whole lot of depreciation into the first year, and so much so that we had enough to roll into this year. So I did need to actively manage it again this year in order to get that, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We've met one of the top property managers in Summit county, and we're looking at working with him next year. He's helping us convert our lofts into conforming bedrooms so we can up our occupancy. So we're definitely on that lot optimizing now. We got through the first year kind of limping along. We actually did pretty well. I didn't know if you wanted us to share numbers. I mean, we. We had, you know, like, a $20,000 August, we had a $40,000 December, and I was like, we're rocking it. And then everything.
Then we had all the problems, right? And then we sat there in April completely empty. And so the thing with short term rentals, too, is sometimes they're booking really late, really close to time now. And so, like, just within the last two weeks, our entire summer, almost booked up. So you've got to have a little fortitude, right, of, like, once you know the cycles and you know the patterns, the faith to just keep sticking it out. But we should be good this year after the second pop from the taxes, and we should hopefully be able to have a professional manager pay for himself and maintain that property. And then I'll be free to continue focusing on my financial coaching with ladies and maybe find the next rental property we gotta decide with.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: So we're. You know, this is such a great start. And there's a lot of details behind it. But, you know, you guys did, you ended up the plan that we talked about, it did work out really well.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: And, you know, you, you didn't write that check to the IR's. You got money back. And there are things that happen with properties, but overall, when you look at this last year and where you ended up, that it's impressive.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think it's important to look at the goal. Right. Like, if our goal was cash flow, then we probably would have done a much smaller property that could have gotten us more money, you know, coming in every month. But we didn't need more money coming in every month. We were already paying taxes for money.
[00:30:55] Speaker C: That we're still going to be working.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:58] Speaker C: X number of more years. Right. So we need that tax room.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: And now that we've had the bulk of that bonus depreciation, and you start looking at the next property and saying, you know what we can do over the next few years. Probably a small apartment complex is kind of where I'm leaning now. Probably like a 16 unit small apartment complex. So we'll just see what God highlights is to kind of diversify into a more stable, not a luxury market, but more the working man.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Needs for rental houses or rentals.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: Talked about. Laura and I have had a lot of conversations. Travis, you've made on some of those, too. But one of the things, and you guys are in the advanced real estate coaching, and one thing I thought was a highlight this last year is, and you learned it really well, is how to analyze commercial properties. We also dove in deep on vacation rentals, you know, so there is a lot of hands on with town, and you guys caught on to that really fast. And I think, you know, you do look at a commercial property, or that was, you're looking at a really cool property in Florida. Something not to go forward with, but things like that, you know, would you just share, like, where would you be with all this if you didn't have the coaching?
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Probably still stuck in paralysis of analysis. Right?
[00:32:08] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Back to that call you had with us on the, with the lender. Right. This is the first time we're signing papers to go into debt. I again, in like 18 years. Right.
I remember us getting off the call and there was a product that you had kind of tested with a lender saying, I want to make sure I understand this is right for Laura and Travis. And you asked questions, having been in the banking industry for 25 years. And when we got off that call, I turned to Travis, and I was like, that was worth the whole coaching program. As Billy says, that was worth the whole price of the ticket, right? Yeah, you learned the billyisms, but that one on one of you being there and you lending your lending experience to it and just confirming that this was not a product that was going to ruin us, I think I still would have just been reading books I had been in. Part of what I was going to say about my financial coaching is I've been in these other programs, been learning a whole lot, even two years before I met wealth builders. Right. But I kept getting stuck because I couldn't get the one on one intention. And with wealth builders, what has really stood out to me is we invested a good amount of money in both areas of programs. But with your program, we would be in group for one week, and then we'd have a one on one and not a one on one, sometimes a two on one. Two coaches to me, three coaches to me. And just being able to talk about our business, our real estate, either our real estate stuff, because I'm in the real estate program or my business stuff, and I would get unstuck and get onto the next thing. And so when you ask where we would be, I mean, I'd probably still just be doing my little financial coaching business. We probably would have just paid cash for a property if we were willing to do that, but we wouldn't have been seeing more. And I know you've been challenging me that even just this last week to think bigger. I think longer term, we've walked up.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: To the door four or five times.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: Over ten years, we'd have been, like.
[00:33:45] Speaker C: Over some lipstick period. Right. And we just would just step back each time.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: You're right.
[00:33:53] Speaker C: And I think mindset was a. Was a huge part of that. That and not having someone to walk through that door with us. Right. And so that was a huge deal. And, like, you, you know, I can't say enough great things about you participating in that meeting. I mean, that really, that really, you know, made us at ease. And then, you know, it's not into the other coaches as well. Like, I remember the next conference after the quick start, we were still trying to determine, like, what type of real estate for you going to invest in. We were still kind of going back and forth and doing the pros and cons of each type. And frame runs me down at the next conference, he's like, hey, what happened, not that we're trying to figure things out, is that we get really nervous when we don't hear from you. Yeah, we want to hear from you. Like, what are you thinking? I went to Laura and I was like, that's just amazing.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: Well, we were worried we were going to bother you. So some of these other programs, like, you had to pay big money to have a one on one, right? And here we didn't even feel like we could take you up on the one on ones, or we didn't believe that we could actually do that. And you guys are saying, email us, ask us these questions, bring us these deals. So that helped us understand. And then when you talked about unraveling the mindsets, too, I mean, Karen is a smart cookie, as I'm sure all of you can tell. And the times that she's lovingly challenged me to say, like, when I said, you know, I'm no longer going to say I'm debt free, right? Like, that's a big deal when I'm coaching clients to become debt free. And she said, laura, your identity is not being debt free. You are a real estate investor. And even more than an identity of being a real estate investor is our heart's always been to be a steward. So it's not about being in debt, not being in debt. It's just about being a good steward. You were going to share one of the things we noticed as we started walking through the store, like, the economy.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: That we have created, and this goes back to the mindset shift, and it's something like, I would have never gotten there had we not been in the game. You guys push that a lot. You push the students to get in the game. But again, this is not consumer debt. This is leverage on an asset.
And what's the result of us doing that? Leverage on the asset? Well, we've created a job for the claim and created a job for the pool, for the hot tub. We created work for the handyman and the plumbers that come out and do that. Like, we created money and jobs for those individuals that help us run this property. The snow cloud guy, he has income. He has worked because we stepped out into leverage and we would not have done.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: And then our guests come in and they pay 12.275% in lodging taxes to our local and our state entities. They come and spend money at the restaurants, at the local shops, at the ski resorts. And so when you start realizing, oh, my gosh, this one house that we were so scared to step into is creating, it's like, I think of it like the field and the gleanings in the bible. Our field of this house has gleanings and we don't have to keep it all for us. And even on the the property management side, it's like, oh, I would want to keep all that money. Right. Why would I pay somebody when I can do this? But you're like, that is a gleaning that somebody else can come in and.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Provide for their family on that great perspective. And, you know, your property is absolutely beautiful. The people that come there, they're enjoying family time.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: They're bright memories. Yeah. Creating memories. And if you are curious to see this house, by the way, we actually found the wealth builders business masterclass. We rented their property and you'll get.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: They didn't even let us just give it to them. Look at how kind they rented it from us. Yes.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Yeah. You guys have so much fruit with that.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: Yeah. To ripple such. Right.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: And then I was telling Chavez, like, it just dawned on me. I don't, I'm almost positive this is true. I can't go back for our 26 years in books, but I'm almost positive that last week we wrote the biggest tithe check we've ever written.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: A what?
[00:37:43] Speaker A: As a result of the refund and other things.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Wow. That is awesome.
[00:37:50] Speaker A: So not only putting it into an asset, but being able to give it back to the kingdom. Right.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: That is so.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: So do you want to finish on the business real quick? So I'm also in the business program. Right. And so just another God story there is. You know, over these last few years, I was able, I had 450 women in my last challenge. I have over 3000 people on my email list. But it is just me. I don't have a team. I don't have any systems. It was wearing me out. I love the fruit.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: You're getting worn out.
[00:38:18] Speaker A: But when I finished the last one, I was like, I can do it this way again. And I remember hearing in my spirit almost like the, do you have it? Are you gonna spend it or be angry? I heard in my spirit, you need a business coach. Because I'd basically just been throwing spaghetti against the wall, right? Excited to have learned a bunch of things about marketing and everything, but not really having a business plan. And again, a God story. That weekend was the wealth builders real estate business coaching conference. And we were taught I was exhausted from running my challenge. I was like, I don't even want to go. I'm so tired. But every time we're like, they're right here. How can we not go when our coaches are, when we're within an hour of these coaches? How can we not go. I got to do a speed coaching with you that morning, and you offered me the business coaching. I was like, okay, God, you just told me I need a business coach. And then you gave it to me within the same week, within the study. So we're in the middle of kind of relaunching that, revamping that more strategically where I can reach more women but preserve more of my time and my energy and stewarding my time and my energy. Right. And my purpose.
So, yeah, that's exciting, and I appreciate your help, but we're gonna, one page have an entire business plan. Amazing.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: I'm really excited about being a part of that with you, too, Laura, because you know how when you, like, Laura's amazing and you're like, yes, I manage amazing. Sometimes we need someone that actually can see him more for who you are. Sometimes it's hard press. We're doing each other. So I read so much because Warsaw, maybe. And it's like, look, I think where God sending you or drawing you is way bigger than anything that you're talking about. And finally you took a leap of faith and you got your, you got.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Your warthough.net that wasn't available a few years ago. I even looked for it a few years ago. She's like, I think you need to register, Laura Wardlaw, because you're a thought leader. And I'm like, what? So, yes, having people that can see what you can't see or believe for something bigger than what you can see right now.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: Yeah. It is a total honor and a privilege to be in this with you guys. And we always say, too, as coaches, like, you know, we don't need more to do. Right, right.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: For sure.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: But it is a fall on our card. You know, we're so grateful for Billy and Becky to create this opportunity, but it's really people like you that come and be a part of this. This is what wealth builders is. And I really appreciate Billie and Becky. It's like, it's not about them. They know if it was about them, they could not have the impact and bring transformation, we call it to families, neighborhoods, cities and nations. Right. But when you guys say yes to this and just taking us through your journey, the people that you're impacting, where your life is going, where your kids are going to see things, that is an impact and a legacy that's going to last for generations. So really, you guys are out there doing wealth builder. You are wealth builders as much as Billy and Beck Gargan. We are. So we love you guys. Dave and I, we love you so much. We've really become friends.
[00:41:11] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am.
[00:41:12] Speaker B: We're just so honored we've had your charcuterie board. Yes.
[00:41:15] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Our go to concierge. Chicken rewards.
[00:41:17] Speaker B: Amos, our duck bread. Right. Yeah, I don't cook. So, Lori.
[00:41:23] Speaker A: Well, speaking about the dinner, do we have time for one word, a little generational story? So, you know, as you, during the pandemic, when I started listening to all these programs online, it's like my kids are listening, right. They're passing through to the kitchen. I have teen boys, so they're always going to the kitchen for food, and you don't realize how much they're picking up on. Right. And so our oldest son, he had a nomination to go to the naval academy, went all the way through the process, and he had some health things that brought that to a stop that he was able to enlist, and his scores were so good because he could have gone to college. Right. But he really wanted to be in the military. He wants to be in the academy and an officer program.
He qualified for this nuclear program that has, like, a $75,000 sign on bonus. Like, he has to finish boot camp for 25. I bet he has to finish the six month school for 25 of it. And here I am on social media seeing 30 year olds saying, we'll never be able to afford a house.
And here's my 17 year old saying, I'm gonna have enough for a down payment on a house by the time I'm 18.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: That awful line. Good thing.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: And so he's been listening. He's been watching us and listening to us, you know, his whole life, but really watching us the last few years. And I'm thinking, here's an 18 year old who's gonna have a rental property. He's gonna be in the military. He's not even gonna need a house, but he's gonna be able to start with a rental property at 18. He can see it.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: The game at 18. Yeah. That is generational. Yeah.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: It took us till we were 50, and he'll do it at 18.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Aren't you glad that our kids can grab all of those? But you know what? If you had nothing, right?
[00:42:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Your kids wouldn't be there.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Probably not.
[00:42:53] Speaker C: Well. And if you guys had not been available and coached us and been able to walk through the door with us, we wouldn't have done it.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: My heart is so full.
[00:43:03] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Thank you for loving us and pouring into us. It is so much more than just a coaching program.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: So much. Wow.
Aren't they amazing? This is like, this is.
Well, thank you so much, Laura, travis, for sharing your story. And you can find them at the events. You know, you guys pretty much come to all the events, and we really want to glean from you guys to Laura Scott allowed to offer travis as well. You guys are very successful. We're so blessed that you are part of this. So you will be seeing for, I'm sure, up tribe that's been Dora. So thanks again. Thanks, all of you, for joining us on the podcast. Please, if this is a blessing, and I'm gonna share these podcasts and about wealth builders with friends and family, and if you want to start getting in the game, we actually have a real estate boot camp coming up that's completely free. You can go to wealthbuilders.org bootcamp, and when you attend that, you'll learn more about our workshops, coaching, and things like that. But it's a way for you to start learning about real estate. So thanks again. God bless you and make it a great friendship today.
