Generate More Revenue Than a 50-Unit Apartment Building With One Single-Family Home

Steve Trang: Jump on the steep train with real estate disruptors. Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. So we've got Isabelle Greeno Smith with Residential Assisted Living Academy, And Isabelle is another operator in the Phoenix market. And we're gonna talk about how to generate more revenue than a 50 unit apartment building with one single family home.

Now I am on a mission to create 100 millionaires, and the information on this podcast alone is enough to help you become a millionaire In the next five to seven years, if you'll take consistent action, you will become one. Now one thing that we've been doing a lot of recently, myself and some of my peers is having private conversations, talking about how to navigate this market. And, something we never offered before but we're starting to offer now is a diagnostic call. So if you want to discuss where exactly you're in your business today, where you wanna be, in the future, and some of the challenges that you're facing that's preventing you from getting there, let's schedule a call. Now this call is not cheap.

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And this is a live show, so please ask your questions for Isabelle to answer. You ready?

Isabelle Greeno Smith: I'm ready.

Steve: Alright. So first question is, what got you into real estate?

Isabelle: Well, it actually started with something very close to home. So my grandmother fell, broke her hip, needed twenty four seven care. The doctor said she can't go home alone. She needs, you know, help with her activities of daily living. My dad had been a real estate investor for forty years, but when this happened, he was like, okay.

What do we do? You know, do we quit our jobs and take care of her full time? Do we give her in home care, which can be incredibly expensive? Or do we put her into a facility? And it just felt so icky, so wrong, like, you know, many people face this and it's just like, I I it's my beloved mom, my beloved grandmother, you know.

So, he kind of stumbled into residential assisted living. He found a home and realized really quick, wait, I'm gonna pay $5 a month for her to live there or I could own this and be cash flowing $10, and she could live for free. Yeah. So he purchased his first one. I was a flight attendant at the time, actually.

I had graduated college.

Steve: So he looked into this, saw it as 5,000. Yeah. And instead of how most people, I imagine 99 plus percent or more look at this as like, crap. I need to come with $5,000. Yep.

He immediately saw opportunity.

Isabelle: Immediate opportunity. Okay. Yes. Combining his knowledge of real estate with saying, I have no idea what I'm doing in this field, but I'm gonna leverage other people's knowledge and insight to make this happen.

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: Purchased his first one, got into it. I saw what he was doing. I was a flight attendant making no money, but having a lot of fun. And started to slowly be like, dad, why are you so happy? Why are you hanging out with old people?

What's going on? Because I'd watched him be a real estate investor for forty years, and there's a lot of ups and downs in that. You know, tenants, toilets, drama, unpaid rent. And he was super happy, seemingly had more money than ever, and it was like, what's going on? So I just started forcing my way into his office, learning things, overhearing him.

And then eventually, I was like, hire me. I wanna work for you.

Steve: So I'm gonna ask some personal questions here. Yeah. So how long ago was this?

Isabelle: This was about eight years ago.

Steve: Eight years ago.

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: And about how old were you?

Isabelle: I I'm 31 now, so early twenties.

Steve: Okay. And I'm asking this question because one of the things that happens, and I'm I'm guilty of this as well. Right?

Isabelle: Like Yeah.

Steve: I'm an entrepreneur. I love what I'm doing. And I I I'm hopeful, but not requiring my kids get involved in the business. Yes. So prior to this Yeah.

Was your dad trying to drag you into the real estate business?

Isabelle: Never.

Steve: He never tried to drag you into

Isabelle: Never. He was very much make your own path, do what makes you happy, choose what's for you.

Steve: Okay. So then it was just curiosity. Yeah. You're like, wait a minute. Yeah.

Something's different with dad.

Isabelle: A 100%.

Steve: So I've met your dad.

Isabelle: Yeah. And

Steve: he seems like a very jovial person. Yeah. Very happy.

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: So he was not always as happy?

Isabelle: I mean, I think that he is we our nickname at home for him was mister positive. Mhmm. He was always very happy, but I think I just saw it wear on him. Being a real estate investor is not always the easiest thing in the world.

Steve: No. Especially this exact moment.

Isabelle: Right? Yeah. And so it just wears on you, and so I think we just saw a lot of that, and just him being an entrepreneur for so long, and there's highs and there's lows, and then it just felt like this is something different. It they're just it just felt like something was different. So he never asked me or any of my siblings to be involved with this.

I literally just started walking into his office every morning saying, how can I help? Mhmm. And eventually being like, you should hire me.

Steve: Right. Okay. So you just kind of forced your way in there.

Isabelle: I forced my way in. I ended up being his first employee. And, at that point, he had purchased two more properties, turned them into residential assisted living homes. And he just really started teaching me the lay of the land through osmosis, through just being near him. It's not like he ever sat down and told me step by step, this is what you're gonna do.

I just learned it through conversation, through hearing things, through being in his email and poking around. And then all of his friends in real estate started being like, can you tell me what you're doing? Can you start teaching and training on this? And, he was a wonderful educator. So he just naturally started to be like, okay, I'm gonna start training on this.

And then the birth of Residential Assisted Living Academy grew from there.

Steve: So you were involved after he bought his first one?

Isabelle: After his first.

Steve: Yep. So were you there as part of the process? Like, what were some of the challenges and then and then nightmares and stuff like that?

Isabelle: Oh, yes. Because the first one was an existing business. So there's kind of four ways you can get into it, and one of them is buying an existing residential assisted living. So he purchased the real estate and the business. Mhmm.

And there's a lot of drama with that. Right? Because there's already staff there, and they're already set up to be working with a different owner.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: And now what if they don't like the way you want to operate it, you know, and now everyone quits on you or or something like that. So there was a lot of learning curves. Also, he had no idea what he was doing in this. No one was teaching on it. No one was training.

So he was just learning through trial and error. So I watched a lot of that, and then when he had bought his next two, a a different way to do it is buy a single family home and convert it to become. That's what he did with the next two, and I was part of those processes. So

Steve: So what were some of like the biggest challenges or nightmares do you that you recall from the very first one?

Isabelle: Oh, I think, staffing. I think families. There's always family drama. In any business, it's people who

Steve: are Your family drama or other people's family drama?

Isabelle: No. The seniors living in the home, their families. Just because it's a shift. It's a change. So maybe we're saying, hey, we wanna renovate this home.

It's a fully running business, but the home needs some updates. So when one person passes, okay, we're gonna renovate that one room, you know, until we get another person in. Well, some people might be like, oh, you can't renovate this house. You know, my mom's living here and the the the dust, and it's like, we're not doing her room. We're doing one room at a time.

We're trying to be as safe and conscious as possible, but we wanna elevate this. We want it to be a nice home for you. So people is always any the the drama in any business. Right? Yeah.

Steve: There's something I've said before and people, you know, think I'm really jaded. Possibly, I am. It's like, I love everything about real estate except for houses and people. Right? Like, we could just eliminate those two things.

Like, real estate would be really easy. Yeah. So the the so the family drama from Yeah. The I mean, you could you consider them patients or clients?

Isabelle: Residents.

Steve: Residents. Yes. So the residents, their family

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: So it wasn't necessarily the resident themselves that were causing grief. No. But someone coming in to look out for them for their best interest is causing, excessive drama.

Isabelle: Yeah. Maybe a little maybe a little drama there. And then and then the caregivers, you know, just a shift in management, people wanting to run it differently. Like, hey, no. You're not gonna be texting in the corner.

Like, we're putting cameras in this house, and we're watching you. Yeah. And you're gonna do it right. So there's

Steve: more supervision.

Isabelle: More supervision and just being more hands on and saying, like, this is the standard. We wanna run these homes and step up or step out because we're building a new culture here.

Steve: Yeah. And I'm kinda thinking, I can't remember which, Adam Sandler movie this is. Right? But it's the one with Ben Stiller and, like, he's, like, the evil, like, nurse resident nurse.

Isabelle: Oh, yes. Oh my gosh. I I know exactly they're they're making the quilts in the sweatshop.

Steve: Yeah. I can't remember that movie the name of that movie.

Isabelle: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Okay. So you that was the first one. Yep. And then the second and third one, you guys did it differently because you guys not like buying an existing one anymore.

Isabelle: We just wanted to go a different route because of you know, buying an existing is a really great way to get into this because it's one of the faster easier ways.

Steve: You're

Isabelle: paying for speed. Someone else has done a lot of the leg work for you, but we wanted to try a different route of buying a single family home and then converting it to become a residential assisted living. So we tried that route next with the next two homes.

Steve: And how was that?

Isabelle: I I think easier because you get to control the look and the feel of the property. You're hiring the people. You're not having to break systems or a way that things have been done and recreate stuff.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: So for us, I think we really liked that because we had a very strong what we wanted to see and the culture we wanted to create and the environment we wanted for those seniors. And we were very set on that. So it wasn't like, it was it was a lot easier, I think, to do that and be able to create the home the way you want it.

Steve: Got it. So before we get into, like, the the specifics here, like, what kind of revenue are we talking about? Because we mean we put a pretty bold Yeah. Line, like and and I'm all about creating clickbait headlines. I know.

I apologize people are watching, but that's what works with algorithms. So, so, like, what kind of revenue are we really talking about if someone's, like, doing maybe their first one?

Isabelle: Yeah. Okay. So I wanna give a low end and then a high end if that's okay. Yeah. So average rates in America today is $4,500 a month to live in an assisted living home.

Steve: Per resident?

Isabelle: Per resident. Yep. 4,500. So depending on where you live in the country, that totally varies. But that's average rates.

You're allowed to have anywhere between six and sixteen residents in the home. Mhmm.

Steve: So

Isabelle: when I say single family, a lot of people think a three bed two bath.

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: Yes, that's a single family, but also a seven bed five bath is also a single family. So we have to think differently when I'm saying that word. Right?

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: So in Arizona, we're allowed to have 10 residents in a home. So our homes, other than the one we purchased, but the other two, they didn't start that way. We had to convert them to become 10 bedroom 10 bath homes. But in that case 4,500 times 10 seniors, 45,000 coming in gross.

Steve: So 10 bedrooms 10 baths, so they all have their own bathrooms?

Isabelle: One of the homes has nine bathrooms and one has 10. So

Steve: yes. Okay.

Isabelle: The more private private you can do, the more you can get

Steve: for rest

Isabelle: of them.

Steve: Yeah. Got it.

Isabelle: So, so yeah. So 45 coming in. Your expenses are pretty high because this is $24.07 for these senior. Medication management, three meals a day, twenty four seven caregivers on staff, you know. Activities, food, cable, internet, everything.

So let's call it

Steve: because each one has like their own TV and their own cable.

Isabelle: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The word like, we're giving them everything and anything that they want. They're paying a heavy fee to live in the home.

They should really be living out their golden years in the best way possible.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: So let's say $30 in expenses, and then your debt service or mortgage maybe 5,000, right? In most parts of the country, you can still get a pretty nice home for $5 a month. That's giving you $10,000 on that home every single month take home as the owner. That's after you've paid all your expenses, everything.

Steve: Including the caregivers?

Isabelle: Correct.

Steve: The utilities? Yep. So we're talking net.

Isabelle: Even vacancies, everything baked into that. Yeah, net. So that's kind of your average home. In certain states, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, you're allowed to have 16 residents in a home. And what we teach in our training is to never do average, do above average.

So if 4,500 is the average, we have plenty of students all across the country who are getting $6.07, $8,000 a month per resident because their homes are very luxurious.

Steve: Is that covered by the family or by the, medical, by the government? Like, it's a significant sum.

Isabelle: It is. Typically private pay. It's almost always their the seniors using their cash, their IRAs, they sold their home and are using those funds or their adult children are paying for it, which is also something to consider because a lot of people are not prepared for this. The silver tsunami is coming.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: The baby boomers are coming. And if you don't have a plan for your loved one, that's pretty scary. Like you've gotta figure this out. So let's say there it's a 16 or or a 15 bedroom home for easy mass, 7,000 times 15, that's a 105,000 coming in gross, but our expenses are gonna go up. Maybe they're not 30, maybe they're 50.

Steve: Yeah. It's not proportionally going up.

Isabelle: It's going it it It's

Steve: going up, but not by this same ratios.

Isabelle: Correct. Because this is a luxury home. Also, there's five more residents. So we need to think of more food, more care, more everything, really. So a 105 minus 50, and let's say the debt service, this is a 15 bedroom home.

Let's say it's $15 a month. That's still leaving you with $40,000 taken. So when we say one of these beats a 50 unit apartment, that's what I mean because each apartment you're maybe getting, you know, a couple $100, maybe a thousand bucks, but that's not always the take home. Right?

Steve: That's gross.

Isabelle: Exactly. Yeah. So it definitely beats it. We have a guy in Jersey who those are exactly his numbers. He's got 15 residents, $7 a month, He brings in $40 a month.

Yeah. Pretty cool.

Steve: So this is a different model than, for example, maybe going to buy a franchise. Yeah. I was, I heard I saw Cantona, my agent yesterday, one of the clients, you know, they have a a Mexican fast food chain. Yeah. And they make $40.50 grand a month.

I was like, wow. That's a lot of money for just, like, you know, burritos and stuff. But, you know

Isabelle: It must be good burrito.

Steve: I wouldn't go that far. It's a high volume business. But this is just a different direction if you wanted to, like I mean, you can't do a Starbucks, but you were do I think, like, maybe a coffee bean you can franchise. Right? This would be like a French buying a franchise.

Is there a lot of owner involvement in these, or is this like like, if you buy, like, a seven eleven franchise

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: You're pretty involved.

Isabelle: Yeah. Right?

Steve: Is this a situation where you're buying, like, a convenience store franchise, or is this a situation where you're buying and you're an owner but not an operator?

Isabelle: Okay. So we set it up that you own and operate the real estate and the business Mhmm. But you're still hiring a licensed administrator, which in real estate world we'll call that the property manager. It's a medical license that they have through the states, so they can care for the residents. They can do intake with the residents.

But typically, they're doing like, you know, touring with the families. They might be in charge of filling the beds, the marketing, hiring and firing caregivers, payroll, all sorts of different stuff. They're your hands on go to person. So how we teach and train and how we run this is one phone call a week with that person. Of course, they can call in emergencies.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Isabelle: But one set phone call a week, and then I try to only visit the homes, like, every other month. Mhmm.

Steve: I

Isabelle: don't wanna be hands on. I don't wanna be working there. There are plenty of people who do this hands on, and you absolutely can, but you also don't have to. And that's how I like to teach to set it up as more of a pactive. Right?

Passive and active. But a little bit I don't wanna say it's completely passive because it's not. You know?

Steve: Well, it's just like having a rental. Yeah. It's passive, but is it?

Isabelle: But is it? Exactly.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So then, let's say I mean, we're in the same market. I think, you're in Gilbert. Right?

Right? I'm in Chandler. So, you know, I I call you. I was like, hey. You know what?

I'm sold. Let's do this. Yep. I guess the first question is before I get into all the other questions. If we're talking this kind of cash flow

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: You don't have to buy the house at a discount. Nope. And, Like, really, you can just pick off any house off the MLS as long as it hits the checks the boxes. Correct. Okay.

Alright. So I'm sold. I'm ready to go. What's the first thing I do?

Isabelle: Well, as far as location for that home Mhmm. That's gonna be your biggest thing to look for. And when I say location, the big thing I mean is the demographics. Mhmm. So we wanna be where the 50 to 70 year olds who are upper middle class who make twice the median income.

Steve: So like around here in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley?

Isabelle: Uh-huh. That's pretty much where you want to be located because that's the daughter Judy. Right? The adult child who's paying for mom or dad to live in your home, and she does not wanna drive forty five minutes to Glendale just because it's cheaper.

Steve: Yeah.

Isabelle: She doesn't. She wants it five minutes on her way home from work or the kids or whatever. So location is, like, the number one thing.

Steve: That's an interesting thing. Right? Because, like, not a lot not a lot of people think about that. Right? They think about the numbers, specific and this and that, but, like yeah.

Like, they want to be able to visit mom Yep. When it's convenient. Yep. It's not like, how do I put it? It's not like, necessarily a planned thing.

Isabelle: Yes.

Steve: Right? Or at least if it's in state out of state, of course, it's planned. But in state is like, yeah. You know, I just want to be able to stop by and say hi to mom.

Isabelle: 100%.

Steve: Okay.

Isabelle: And so I think when you're looking for the property, demographics is key. You wanna make sure that there's density in the area. Like, is there going to be growth opportunity here? I always tell people if a new big box, right, a Brookdale, Sunrise, Atrium just got built in your market Mhmm. Bingo.

You want your home

Steve: Are those the names of, like, residential assisted living areas?

Isabelle: About big facilities. Yeah. Like those, like, commercial ones, you know, hundreds of beds. Yeah.

Steve: Okay.

Isabelle: You don't know a Brookdale? You've driven by them a thousand times. You live in Arizona.

Steve: I believe, if I if I'm being honest, I think I had to go to one of those Yeah. To get a seller to sign a contract.

Isabelle: Yeah. I believe

Steve: I believe that was the circumstance.

Isabelle: It's Arizona. I'm sure. Now you're gonna drive by. It's gonna be I'm gonna

Steve: see them everywhere.

Isabelle: Red Corvette Syndrome. They're gonna be everywhere. Right?

Steve: Oh, for sure.

Isabelle: So density. You wanna make sure that there's a need in the area. Those big boxes, they're spending millions on internal feasibility studies to determine if this is a good place for it. So if there's a new one coming up, bingo, put yours as close to that as possible. Yeah.

You also wanna make sure that, you know, we have to have people who work in the home. So if we're in a super nice area, but there's no workforce around, that's not gonna work either. You have to have that good in between where you have a workforce, but you're also near daughter Judy Mhmm.

Steve: And

Isabelle: you're still near everything else that you need. You know, this isn't over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. You know, you have to make sure that everything that you need is right around it. So definitely location is key, and then you get into renovating the home. Right?

So most people want private bedrooms, private bathrooms, like we were saying earlier. The states will require you to have 80 to a 100 square feet per person.

Steve: Okay.

Isabelle: That is tiny. Like, if we're 10 people in a home that is way too small. We like to say 300 to 500 square feet per person, so minimum with 10 people a 3,000 square foot home upwards of 5,000. So having a larger footprint already to start with is nice, because then you have to chop it up less inside. You can do it with multi level, gotta add in a chair lift, add in an elevator.

In Arizona, we're lucky there's a lot of single level homes. Yeah. But that's not true of everywhere. So I've seen a lot of residential elevators, you know, be put into these homes. We wanna make it as senior safe as possible.

Steve: Right. And then how many kitchens are they're typically in these?

Isabelle: Still one kitchen.

Steve: Still one kitchen.

Isabelle: Yep. You want it I don't want home like. I want it to be a home.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: Like, I want them to actually, like, that's the kitchen. If they wanna go get something out of the fridge, go go get something out of the fridge. You know, like, this is your home, this is where you live. A a communal living room, we've we have students who have homes that have salons, movie theaters, game rooms, workout rooms. Like, these are luxurious homes, you know, in good parts of town.

And you can have those fun amenities, but minimum, you're gonna want sitting room, dining room, living room, kitchen, you know, all the regular things.

Steve: Yeah. I'm trying to picture this because, you know, honestly, I haven't been through a lot of these, you know. Like, the ones I've been through are, like, sober living houses or Yeah. You know, where they're taking care of, like, kids in need. Right?

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: And they have the same setup, but

Isabelle: Like, shared spaces.

Steve: This yeah. There's a lot of shared spaces, but, you know, it's drawn out the same. So so there's someone always say, oh, this be great for assisted living. It's like, I have no idea if this would be great for assisted living or not. Right?

But those are kind of things that are kinda going through my head. That's the reason why I'm asking these questions. Yeah. So alright. So demographics.

Yeah. Step one. Yep. What after that? What aft after that research, then what?

Isabelle: So getting the physical home that is best suited for this larger footprint, as many bedrooms and bathrooms as you can already have, you know, finding out your state maximum. Like I said, it's gonna fall somewhere between six and sixteen. So once you know that, getting that suitable property

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: And then really hiring your licensed administrator. That's, like, your key player. If you want to be hands off in this, then you've gotta have somebody really, really strong in that position.

Steve: One thing I I remember a long time ago, early part of my career, we're talking to people about, you know, doing assisted living. Yeah. And if I recall correctly, the biggest bottleneck was the licensing from the state.

Isabelle: Oh. Is that Here in Arizona.

Steve: In Arizona.

Isabelle: You know, the states all have, like, ranges of how long, like, California on their website right now says six months.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: But there's still a ton of things you're gonna do in those six months while you're prepping to get it licensed. So I'm like, that's fine. I've never really seen anything take longer than six months. Most states are on like a three to four month, but, there's also ways you can go about that. I am very much a people person, and my dad taught me this.

Do not submit it via mail. You get your butt down to the office. You walk it in. You hand it to that person. You bring them some brownies or cookies or a coffee or something.

And then you ask them, when can you come over and do the inspection? I'd love you to oh, you've got one in Chandler next week? I'm in Chandler. Come on over.

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: You know, and get them to bump you up to the top. When it's mailed in, it's put at the bottom of a pile. They don't know who you are, and, you know, good luck to you. That's when it's taken six months, but you can sometimes expedite that process. Not always.

But Yeah.

Steve: It could've just been really bad intel. I could just be remembering entirely wrong, you know. But I I believe it was they they made it sound like it was like winning in the lottery. You're able

Isabelle: to get the permit. No. No. No.

Steve: Okay. Alright. So step one, demographic re demographic research. Step two, finding the the quality licensed administrator. So where does where do I go about finding one of those?

Isabelle: Yeah. I mean, Indeed, Craigslist, targeted newspapers.

Steve: So there's, like, a lot of them then?

Isabelle: This is a this is a career that exists. Yes. CNAs, HHAs, those are usually people who are also licensed administrators.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: Every state has different requirements for what you need. It's typically to be 18 or 21 with a GED with this state licensing.

Steve: Got it.

Isabelle: So you can even go to community colleges. A lot of community colleges are adding in caregivers and administrative programs

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: And get a list of fresh graduates, or this is a really tight knit industry. So talking to other people who are homeowners, operators, or placement agents, geriatric doctors, nurses, elder law attorneys, saying who do you know who might be looking for a job? Really, word-of-mouth is a great way to find people as well.

Steve: One of the things, especially in Arizona, we're probably fortunate Yeah. Because this is like the place for older people. One of two places.

Isabelle: There are 3,000 RAL homes in Maricopa County alone.

Steve: Yeah.

Isabelle: That's insane. There's only 30,000 in the entire country, and we have 3,000 in one county.

Steve: I mean, I'm not surprised. Right? Between Arizona and Florida, we just kinda go back and forth.

Isabelle: Yes.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So hiring someone, what do I do after that?

Isabelle: So once we get them hired, we really want them to buy into the culture and to, you know, what we're gonna be building. Are you gonna have one of these homes? Are you looking to scale? Do you want three, you know, we call it a three pack. Right?

At least three of them. Or do you want 10? Do you want 25? Do you want a 100? We want them to buy in because they are the face of our business.

They're the voice of our business. They're the ones dealing with everything hands on. So once we get them, it's really getting them to buy in and be a part of that journey with us.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: So when we're hiring those caregivers, that they're hiring them to the standard that we want. Right. You know, that we're going through all of that culture and onboarding with them so that they can really take this and run with it.

Steve: So three or 10. We're talking about three or 10 houses, three or 10 residents.

Isabelle: Houses.

Steve: Okay. Yeah. So you're talking to the licensed administrator and asking them how many houses do you want to manage?

Isabelle: Basically, most will say between two and four.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: But we also just want to recruit them. We wanna onboard them into our vision. So if Right. If your vision is 10 homes, maybe it's recruiting them to say, I want you to manage the first four, if you're up for it, basically. And then once we get up to 10, I want you to manage the other three managers who are gonna be overseeing three to four each, and you're gonna be my, you know, my big chief.

And getting them involved in that, you're really building a business here. So getting that, from the start, getting them bought in so they see the vision that they're bought in and their loyalty will be there because you're automatically presenting them. Hey. Here's an opportunity with massive room for growth.

Steve: Right. I'm

Isabelle: not giving you one job. I'm giving you a long term career. And what are your goals? How can I help you achieve them? I think that's really important.

Steve: Alright. Onboarding and leading them effectively. Yep. Okay. So then you've got them.

You've onboarded them. Yep. Then what?

Isabelle: They're gonna be hiring your caregivers, and you'll be working on getting the physical home licensed.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: So this is kind of all happening chicken before the egg simultaneously. It's all happening at the same time. So they're working on building out your staff and marketing for those seniors while you're working on the physical home requirements. It typically doesn't need to be ADA compliant, but you want it as close to that as possible. So we're gonna want ramps and guardrails.

The fire marshal will come over. He'll give you that stamp of approval for whatever you may need, and then the physical home will get that license on it. So you as the owner operator don't have a license. The physical home is a license, the licensed administrator has a license, and the caregivers have a license. But you are just owning and operating all of this together.

Steve: Got it. Okay. Anything else after that?

Isabelle: Getting the license and then it's filling the home with seniors.

Steve: How long I mean, like, you do all these things. The research, I don't know, a month. Yeah. Right? Finding a person, another couple months.

Yep. How long from starting this process until you have your first resident and then a filled house.

Isabelle: I always tell people, like, as soon as they're in our training and they are committed to doing this, they're like, when should I start marketing? And I'm like, yesterday. Right? Like, we need to get the word out there now. I don't even care if you don't have a property.

Start building the brand. Yeah. Start building that you're coming. Get the community excited that you're coming.

Steve: Build a pipeline.

Isabelle: Yeah. It's so important. So, marketing is everything and the sooner you start marketing, the easier it will be to fill those beds. When you wait until opening day and say, okay, now I'm gonna do an open house and fill it. You're gonna have a tough time.

It's gonna be a couple months. I do like to bake in at least six months to fill the home, once you're up and running. But if you're doing your pre marketing, you might have three people moving in day one, you know. And and so that makes it a lot easier because getting that first resident is always the hardest. No one wants to be the first one to move in.

Steve: That makes sense. Yeah. So then how much would it cost? Right? I'm doing this on my own.

I'm I'm, you know, I'm gonna go out without help. I'm just gonna do this for myself. Yeah. How much would it cost from starting until, the first resident, occupy Yeah. Occupies.

Isabelle: It ranges, and I hate that answer. It depends. Right?

Steve: It's it's mean

Isabelle: But it

Steve: I've I've learned that it depends is probably a more honest answer than a specific answer.

Isabelle: It is because, like okay. So the four routes I said you could get started. We talked about buying and existing.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: When you're buying and existing, you need the capital to buy the home, buy the real estate. And then the time frame on that is probably three to six months for per for for that purchase. Right? Yeah. But you're up and running cash flowing day one.

If you're gonna buy a single family home, that's the acquisition of the real estate, the renovation, building that business, and I always like to bake in at least two months of carrying cost. Because I want to give you time to get that business up and running. That could take you six months to a year depending on how much renovation needs to happen. The third way to get started is leasing a home for this. So you work with someone who's already owning the home, has already retrofit the home, and you're gonna lease it from them.

Now you just need money for to start that up. Right? I mean, whatever origination cost they want to include in that, but then you're carrying cost because now it's it's time to go. You gotta fill that those bets. Yeah.

And then the fourth way is buying land and building custom from the ground up. So we have a lot of students who've done that.

Steve: Really?

Isabelle: Yeah. Especially our contractor students like in the Midwest and stuff, or states where you're allowed to have 16 residents.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: Because to get a a single family home up to 16 bed, 16 bath

Steve: It's a major remodel.

Isabelle: It's you you basically you might as well. You might as well. So a lot of our students like to do that when they're in states that where you can have twelve, fourteen, or 16, and they'll just buy land, build custom from the ground up. I've seen that take as little as a year, and I've seen it take up to three years. So it really ranges on time frame and then as well as cost.

But at least two months carrying cost, I think, is safe and comfortable if you're gonna start that pre marketing.

Steve: Got it. Okay. And then, we're gonna get to questions in a little bit, but I wanna ask you. So one of the things you put here is that you built eight companies over the last seven years? Yeah.

So I've been accused, I believe wrongly, of having shiny allergy syndrome Okay. In case it's probably true. So building eight companies over seven years, that's not a small feat. No. So what what are these companies and, like, how how was how is that possible?

Isabelle: Yeah. So we started with the concept of the impact housing group

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: Which really just frames around, we wanna create housing and teach people how to use housing to make an impact. Making money is cool, but affecting people, changing lives, impacting people is the coolest thing that you could ever do. So it's kind of started with, you know, at home with with my own grandmother needing this and residential assisted living academy started. Impact housing groups kind of that overarching company that teaches and trains on all different types of housing that makes an impact. So we also have a company recovery housing academy that teaches on clean, sober recovery homes, those who are justice involved, you know, foster kids who've gotten kicked out after 18, all sorts of different, types of recovery that people need housing for.

We also have the AL network, which is basically just informational resource from podcast and blogs and and information basically on everything assisted living. We have the RAL National Association. It is the only association for all 30,000 care homeowners across the country. When we got into this industry, no one was there for us. Yeah.

You know, the big boxes, they run this, and they have a lot more money and power than all of these small care homeowners do. And we were like, we need to create something to represent these people, give them a voice in the industry. So we have a team of lawyers who's there to help people. Yeah. And and really fight for our rights as small care homeowners.

So we represent all 30,000 of the 16 and under beds across our country today. The national, convention, which just happened last weekend, is our large annual convention for all of those care homeowners, where we're bringing them together, celebrating them, and really just honoring the journey that they have. I'm trying to think of what else. Pitch Masters Academy. We teach and train people how to pitch.

I'm sure dad talked to you about that.

Steve: Yeah. He did.

Isabelle: That's a fun one because a lot of times people who come to us, they say, well, this is gonna cost a lot

Steve: of money. Mhmm.

Isabelle: And I need to raise capital, and I don't know how to do that. I've never done that. And so, you know, my dad was an incredible public speaker and wanted to impart that knowledge on other people of how to pitch to raise money, how to in in in get people to invest in you and your ideas. Yeah. So, yeah.

That's that's all the companies that are coming to my head right now. But

Steve: Yeah. That's incredible. So, and then you were the integrator for all these? Yeah. Okay.

So you, you've seen all the different parts of all the different businesses.

Isabelle: Yeah. Got it.

Steve: So what was that like?

Isabelle: You know, my dad and I had the best dynamic ever. He was, such an incredible visionary that he would just come with an idea and basically just spout it out. Like, I'm thinking this and this, and it's gonna look like this and feel like this, and this is who's gonna come. And I'd be like, okay. Put it all down, Chris, you know, poke all the holes, come back to him with this is how much time it's gonna take.

This is who's gonna be involved. This is how much it's gonna cost. These are the red flags I see, and here's the successes I see. Do you still wanna do this? And we just worked so well in that way together.

Steve: That's awesome.

Isabelle: And so I think that really manifested something in me that, you know, when you go to school, I went to ASU and it's like, I didn't know what I really wanted to do. Double major, double minor, doing a bunch of school. Mhmm. But I had no real direction, no real vision. I didn't know how to use my god given skills to do something that meant something.

And then finally working with him, it was like, oh my gosh. This is my skill.

Steve: Yeah.

Isabelle: Is is taking someone else's idea, bringing it to fruition, and and presenting it to the world is a true real thing in business. So we just worked so seamlessly in in that way together. So now I'm I'm integrator slash visionary, and I've rehired myself as as integrator. I've got a great team now who handles that all for me. So now, I'm learning to tap into that creative side of myself and and throw ideas at my team to drive them crazy.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I mean, that's kinda when you're trying to come up with ideas, that's that's kinda our responsibility. Right?

Isabelle: Yes.

Steve: And sounds kinda crazy. And I I got a chance to meet your dad. You know? Yeah. I was let's see.

I got a chance to see him speak at CG, but I didn't really get to connect with him. And then, we're both in Family Mastermind. Yeah. And, he was in there. And that's when I actually got to finally connect with him.

Yeah. And, he actually you know, we get our book. Right? Active Listing two point o. And I was like, hey.

You know, like, let me give you this book. You know, tell me what you think of it. You know, check it out. And not only did he review the book, he told me, like, okay. You should change that title.

I was like, give me a better title. I was like, give me a better title. I was like, okay. That's a much better title. I But then he also suggested some other NLP books that were really helpful and instrumental for me for a sales trainer.

So, I mean, he was really impactful, for myself. And then I remember, you know, one of his last presentations, if I have a master of mine, I think probably his last presentation, if I have a master of mine, was talking about how to leave an effective legacy. You know? And, I I shared this with somebody because he passed away last year. Yeah.

Right? I mean, I think, you know, there were two people that passed away last year that I personally knew from COVID, and he was one of them. And, in watching his video talking about, you know, how to leave an effective legacy for your family, like, it really connected with me. It's like, man, like, that guy actually did. Yeah.

We all talk about it. Yeah. Right? Everyone talks about the reason why they get in the business is more time freedom, more financial freedom, and leaving a legacy. Yeah.

But he actually did it. Yeah. Right? So he talked about how he's intentioned with it, how he's able to do it, and it was pretty cool to watch all go into, come into fruition. The other thing that, you know, your family, is is a model for us was that we had Gary Harper.

Right? So we had Gary Harper and Susan Harper. Yeah. They've consulted with us and helped us kinda, like, structure everything.

Isabelle: Yep.

Steve: And I remember the very first meeting. I think it was probably the first three, four hours. He's like, you know what? With what you guys are doing, you guys should copy the And to which I already said, who are the garinos? Right?

Yeah. But as we were talking about this offline before we started, it's like, oh, yeah. Like, what you guys are doing is exactly the direction I wanna go where we have an umbrella company Right. That has the CFO Yep. That has the chief marketing officer.

Yep. Right? We have the CTO, and they run all of the companies.

Isabelle: Correct.

Steve: Yeah. So that's definitely something I wanna do. And it sounds like that's what you guys did with Impact Housing Group Yep. To have all these other companies, one holding company or one umbrella company Yep. That has all the c level suites or c level c level executives.

Okay. Drive all the other companies. Correct. Yeah. That's pretty remarkable.

Yeah. Thank you. Alright. So, let's we want to answer the questions. But before we get into the questions, let's take a quick commercial break, and then we'll answer all the questions.

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Steve: So going to the questions here, first question is on YouTube from Karina Karina two zero six. So this about, Ariel, is this Ariel inside as single family housing?

Isabelle: Correct. So residential homes being used for assisted living.

Steve: Yep. Okay. Do you do anything else or only single family?

Isabelle: We only do residential homes. So only single family homes, nothing commercial.

Steve: Got it. And another question from YouTube, this is Vasili, Marmol. Would Sacramento be a great fit for this type of opportunity?

Isabelle: Potentially in the more suburban areas of Sacramento, I know the cost of living is insanely expensive out there. Mhmm. But there is a lot of daughter Judys out there, a lot of 50 70 year olds, upper middle class, and there's a lot of needs. So definitely, we do have a lot of Northern California students, and you can make it happen. In California, unfortunately, you're limited to six residents in a home.

It is one of the lower states, But the cost of real estate is expensive in California, so getting a five bed, four bath, that's doable.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: You know, here in Arizona, you're not gonna find a 10 bed, 10 bath. You're going to have to create something. Over there, you're not gonna have to do nearly as much renovation. It might just be adding more, you know, ramps and guardrails and making it senior safe instead of this massive addition. So that helps combat the cost of expensive real estate.

Steve: With it being capped at six, can you charge more in California?

Isabelle: Exactly. The rates in California pretty much at the state rate, average, right, is about $5,300 per month. And, again, we focus on only above the average. So most of my California people are getting $7.08, even upwards of $9 a month per resident. Yeah.

Steve: So you can't get as many doors or many rooms, but you can still get probably close to comparable cash flow.

Isabelle: Correct. Also, the fact that, we also teach on memory care because you're gonna deal with it no matter what. Right? I forgot where my keys were this morning. Like, we all have memory care issues.

When someone needs memory care, it's an additional thousand to $1,500 more per month that each resident's paying, because the level of licensing is a little higher. The physical requirements on the home are a little bit more, and the caregivers have even a higher level of licensing. So if you live in a state where you can only have six, seven, or eight residents, I always do recommend doing memory care.

Steve: Got it. You know, I forgot earlier. You know, we're talking about getting started. So buying a house and everything else, like, all in, like, let's say I'm doing this in, Scottsdale. Yeah.

Right? I have to buy because this investment, I'm gonna put 20% down, typically?

Isabelle: It depends. Because you could use someone else's money.

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: JV, partner for this, you could do 25% down. You could buy the house outright. There's so many different ways. But, yeah, let's just say you did.

Steve: So because it's it's investment, I'm gonna have to

Isabelle: Put something.

Steve: Put more down.

Isabelle: Yep.

Steve: And then out of pocket for everything else, we're talking not a lot of overhead, right, for everything else, except for except for the marketing and your, licensed administrator.

Isabelle: And you're carrying costs. So just like having at least, if we're saying it's gonna cost $30 a month to do this, then I would wanna have, like, at least 60 or 70 just in cushion money for those first couple months as we're not a 100 percent full yet.

Steve: Okay. Because the expenses don't change.

Isabelle: Correct.

Steve: Just the revenue.

Isabelle: Correct. Because I might still be paying for that staff and paying for that cable and utilities and whatever, you know.

Steve: Yeah. Got it. Okay. So then next question here from Jennifer Hudson

Isabelle: on the Jennifer Hudson.

Steve: Yeah. Do you have a favorite professional association for this industry?

Isabelle: Professional association?

Steve: I'm guessing probably the one that you've mentioned earlier. Yeah.

Isabelle: I would say RAL National Association. So, I think in the show notes, they'll have, like, a bunch of links, but r a l n a dot org, rawna.org, is the association for all 30,000 of these care homeowners. It's the only one that exists, so that is my favorite.

Steve: Yeah. Oh, that makes total sense. And, I mean, you're competing against, like, the giant organization, so you do need to band together.

Isabelle: Oh, yeah. We got it. We gotta come together as a team, so it's important.

Steve: Then they have so they have an association. Yeah. So I think that's the same thing. Right? That's your association.

Yeah. Next question from Hailey is can you do this in a gated community?

Isabelle: More than likely, yes. So I will say this, an HOA may have rules that, hey, no businesses in this neighborhood. Right? First of all, if there's an HOA and then there's a neighborhood right next door without an HOA, pick the neighborhood without the HOA. Right?

I don't know why people choose problems. But if you have to choose an HOA neighborhood, that is all that exists in your area, then it is what it is. First note, not all HOAs are created equal. Some cost $11 a month and some cost hundreds of dollars a month. Mhmm.

So there's always different rules. Read those rules, know the codes and covenants, but also note this. The Federal Fair Housing Act is a federal law that says it's discriminatory against disabled persons to not allow them to have housing. So that is a federal law. It trumps any city, state, angry neighbor, HOA, county, you name it, we win.

Mhmm. So, and we've used it time and time again with that legal power through the national association. I'm not saying they're not gonna fight you. They might fight you tooth and nail, but they're gonna lose because it's federal law, and they need to make reasonable accommodations. Also, more than likely, the guy who's running the HOA or gal who's running the HOA is usually a realtor, a broker, an accountant, someone who works from home.

So, oh, we can't have my business, but you can have your business? I don't think so. Right. We have a lot of fun in those HOA meetings, making sure that if we're gonna get shut down, so is everyone else in this neighborhood. Right?

Steve: So you're coming in guns blazing.

Isabelle: Guns blazing, baby.

Steve: I love it. And it's a good point. Right?

Isabelle: Yeah.

Steve: Like, yeah. Okay. Yeah. You know, I I get it. We won't run any businesses here.

So

Isabelle: you should be too.

Steve: Yep. Alright. And then and and that's a good question because the gated community, I don't jump to HOA. I just jump into, like, you know Nice. Why does gated matter?

But, yeah, HOA, it's, always considered the the the very extremely, fascist organization. Yeah. And I when I used to do foreclosures, I used to list properties for, you know, Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, whatever. HOAs were constantly the bane of my existence, you know. Yeah.

And they always acted like they ran the show. It's like, buddy, like, you just you just work in HOA. Like, it's just

Isabelle: Just volunteered for this.

Steve: Yeah. Just just calm down a little bit there. Dexter said, yeah. It's like the universe is telling me something. She's he's been, watching you and your dad for the last six months.

Isabelle: Oh, thanks for watching.

Steve: Yep. So, mister Smartbucks, so goes back to my question earlier. How many bathrooms are needed per, residence?

Isabelle: Yeah. So your state will have very bare minimum requirements. Most states will say, like, for every six people, one bathroom. That is not good. So definitely as many private as you can, as many private bathrooms as you can.

Even if every room could have a half bath or a three fourths bath, that's still something, you know. So, I I like to have as many as possible because when daughter Judy's coming to tour, one of the big things she's thinking of is privacy. It I want mom to have her own room. Mom is leaving her own house to come live in a room. She needs her own bathroom.

She needs a closet. She needs her own TV in case she wants to watch her show. Privacy is key. So the more bedrooms and bathrooms you can have, the better.

Steve: Especially, Tom, what we're we're discussing are your premiums. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So Corina's question, would you say the same for Texas?

I know that many of the snow snowbirds choose Arizona, Florida. So I guess, this is probably in the context we're discussing earlier, Arizona, Florida one and two for retirement. Yeah. Is Texas one of those states? Do you know?

Isabelle: Texas has a lot of these homes and there are a lot of people, you know. Okay. I'll say this. Raise your hand if you're aging or know someone who is. Right?

Steve: Right.

Isabelle: Okay. People are aging everywhere. And just because you turn 85 doesn't mean you move to Florida or Arizona. First of all, people usually move at 65, not 85. If you've lived in Charleston, South Carolina your whole life, you're not gonna pick up and move at 90 just because people have assisted living in Arizona.

There is need for this everywhere in every market. And I also want to note this, with 3,000 homes in Maricopa County, I've got some competition.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: Right? I've gotta stand out. We created the first Ariel home in the state of Rhode Island with one of our students, Mandy, and she has a waiting list out the wazoo. The state is begging her to open more because she's one of one. Mhmm.

The only other options are big box facilities. Yeah. So just because a state has a lot of seniors or a lot of these exist, doesn't necessarily mean that that's where you wanna do it. You know, you might prefer a state that maybe has some more hoops to jump through, but there's way less competition. And so you're gonna be full at all times.

Steve: So this is a question I asked your dad, years ago. I'll I'll ask you the same question. As a real estate investor, wouldn't having a residential assisted living facility be a lead source for buying houses?

Isabelle: Yes.

Steve: Yeah. So because I was like, hey. Like, jeans. Like, send me some referrals here. He's like, I can't.

I was like, why not? I was like, I just can't do it.

Isabelle: There's a lot of people most of those people who are moving in, they're trying to get rid of their own home. So, yes, you could play both sides of that. There's entire companies that do that. They basically seek out the seniors who are ready for assisted living, and they help take care of the noun of, assisted living, the person, place, and things. Mhmm.

Steve: And

Isabelle: they will help place you in an assisted living home through partnering with people who work for companies like that. Or if you yourself are a realtor or a real estate investor and just want to buy more properties, you could play on both ends of this for sure.

Steve: Yep. So then, follow-up question from Vasilia is how are you standing out from your competition then? You know, you got 3,000.

Isabelle: Yes. So I think that just being a step above everybody else making sure that when every time you walk in that home that it smells great, it feels great, it's good energy. Right? Like, we wanna make sure that our home has things that not everybody else has. So let's just say for example, if you live in a state where no one else, none of the surrounding homes have a private chef, I put a private chef.

That's how you stand out. If everyone has a private chef, you also need a private chef. Right? So it goes the same both ways, but doing something that makes your home a little different. Our staff always talks about doing niche homes.

Steve: Mhmm. So

Isabelle: there's a home here in Arizona called Shalom Home. You don't have to be Jewish to live there, but it sure caters to them Right. And makes them feel nice and comfortable in that environment. And they're right near the JCC, and so a lot of people who are from the Jewish community, they want their loved one to go live in that home. Right.

You can do all sorts of niche homes. Women only, men only, different cultures, different ethnicities, different languages. Because a lot of seniors, who who speak two languages, when you get older you start reverting back to your native tongue. And so if you live in a population where there's a heavy Latino culture, you may wanna do a home where all your caregivers speak both Spanish and English or whatever the case may be. And you have that music, you have that culture, and that might be something that makes you stand out.

Because everyone else who's running this is just caring about, okay, just care and get it done, but doing those little features, those little things to make yourself stand out. It could be a keto home, a vegan home. I mean, whatever you want. The options are endless.

Steve: Right. So very, very niche specific. And it kinda I mean, it makes me think, like, Airbnb. Like, that's what a lot of Airbnbs are doing right now. Like, not only does it have a theme, it has a name.

Isabelle: Yeah. Right? The hideaway house.

Steve: Yeah. Like, parts of me wants to roll my eyes, but part of me understands this what has to happen. Well, as far as the Airbnb

Isabelle: I wanna stay at them. Are you joking? They're they're they're getting me with the names, with the names.

Steve: Getting you. So you might be a little more sentimental than myself. Right?

Isabelle: Yeah. I wanna stay in Barbie's Dream House Airbnb, whatever it is.

Steve: Yeah. See, whenever I'm traveling, all I need is a bed. Alright. I just need a bed.

Isabelle: Hotels are for you.

Steve: Hotels. I need a bed. I can sleep through the night. That's the biggest challenge whenever I travel is Yeah. Sleeping on a bed that

Isabelle: Comfy.

Steve: Allows me to sleep through. I don't know what it is. Like, I sleep wonderfully at home, but, man, traveling is Yeah. And I could sleep. I could do that.

Yeah. So, guys, if you have any other questions, please fire away. So what are some of the biggest challenges you're facing right now?

Isabelle: You know, I think, as far as the homes go, I would say the biggest challenges right now is staffing. Right? Over the last two years, the great resignation, we have all these people leaving this industry. Being a caregiver is hard work, and they're only getting paid minimum wage plus a couple dollars an hour. So, you know, usually, depending on your area, less than $20 an hour.

Steve: Wow.

Isabelle: That's not a lot, and it's hard work. About 80% of this industry is run by immigrants from other countries, and they are incredible workers, and they are some of the kindest and nicest and best people I've ever met.

Steve: Mhmm.

Isabelle: But it's also difficult for them, and it's difficult to find people who fit your culture. I always say slow to hire, quick to fire. If anything goes wrong, it's like zero tolerance policy. These are people's lives at stake. This isn't just like, oh, whoops.

I posted the wrong thing on social media. No. No. No. This could be someone's life or death.

You know what I mean? Like, we wanna make sure that everyone is in the absolute best hands. These daughter duties are trusting you with their loved one's life, and you need to treat every interaction like that. So, you know, I think staffing's always going to be a challenge in this industry, but particularly over the last couple years, anybody in the medical industry who dealt with COVID, God bless you. And that was a very difficult, you know, two, three years.

I I watched friends just have mental breakdowns from, you know, being in the hospital environment, and it was tough for our caregivers too. So, I think staffing staffing for sure.

Steve: Yeah. That makes a little sense. So let's see what some other questions here. So let's talk about your family. Right?

So it's, yet it's a family business.

Isabelle: Now it is. Yes.

Steve: So talk about that. Talk about what it's like working with a family or working with your family.

Isabelle: Yes. So I pushed my way in as I shared in the beginning and and really became my dad's first hire, his first, you know, employee. And then, one of my brothers, he was a realtor, and he asked my dad, like, hey, what can I do to help you in this? How can I use my skills to help you with this? So he started, buying and selling RALs, because the transaction's a little bit different than just your typical, you know, regular rental or single family home.

This is a very sentimental industry to a lot of people, and because so many of these owners are mom and pop owners who do work in the homes, it's like they're selling their baby. Like, it's very emotional and the process can take a while. So he became the number one realtor in Arizona buying and selling these, working with a lot of our students, and doing that. So he works, in that regard with us. My sister became our CFO over time, and she's absolutely incredible.

Love working with her. We on a personal side, we totally did not get along growing up, but now we get along better than ever. You know? So I think in a weird way, the business has brought us really close and and and given us something to talk about and to bond over and, just really something so fun. My youngest brother, he always wanted to be an orthodontist, and we were like, he's not gonna work with us.

And then just, last year, he started working with us, and, it's been so wonderful. My mom is now our principal owner. Mhmm. As everything got passed to her, We have, I I've worked with mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, cousins, uncles, you know, mom, dad, brother, sister. It's it's been a blast all the way through.

Steve: Can't be easy all the time though.

Isabelle: Can't be easy all the time. I think that the biggest thing is having everything laid out, contracts. Right? People say don't work with friends and family. Who does that leave?

Enemies and strangers? Like, no. I love my friends and family. That's the other thing. We don't just hire family.

I hire a ton of friends. Mhmm. I love working with my friends because when I'm at work, we're talking about work stuff and then we're like, oh, you wanna go do that cycle class later today? Like, because we're friends. We hang out outside of this.

And it just makes, to be honest, life so much more pleasurable because I enjoy talking to these people. They're a part of my everyday life. It's almost like, I don't know, growing up on a farm, you imagine it's a family culture. Everyone's doing it, and you're doing this work together, but you're bonding over it. And of course, there's gonna be disagreements and stuff, but it's it's that work life balance all in one.

And I want to show up and chat with people who I want to talk to every day. So I really like that.

Steve: That's awesome. Dexter's follow-up question is how important is the city that your home is located in?

Isabelle: The city so location is the number one key. Right? Making sure that those demographics are are correct, making sure that there's density in the area, and that the home is located properly, absolutely key. So

Steve: So not a small town?

Isabelle: Not a small town. We definitely want a larger population, you know.

Steve: Is there a population target?

Isabelle: Not necessarily, but I I would say like, I don't know, like, no less than 30,000 people. Like, I I just I wouldn't necessarily go for a small town. I also wouldn't go for, like, San Francisco. You know? Like, that that's not gonna work.

There's no there there are residential homes there, but they're nice and long and tall, and they're not what we're looking for. So Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. And then, best type of loan, you recommend when you're closing on a facility?

Isabelle: Great question. A lot of our students use SBA. That's super super popular in this, and they really know and like what we do with residential assisted living. So we have preferred vendors that we send a lot of our students to because they're like, we get it, we know it, we we're happy to lend on this. In our training, we also go over private money, hard money, bank loans, crowd funding, and then syndication.

Because a lot of people want to invest in this, but they don't know how, and they don't know who to trust or what to do. So we really teach, heavily on syndicating these deals.

Steve: Syndication is pretty fascinating. Yeah. Because you have to be a credit investor. Yeah. Typically.

Typically. And usually most investments require at least a 100,000, maybe 50,000 on the lower side. Yeah. So how much are these indications raising?

Isabelle: It could be a couple million. I've seen, like, one of our students out in Tennessee, they raised 3,000,000 because it was for the home, the rental, the carrying cost, paying themselves. You know what I mean? And, and they did they did at least 3. I've seen it as low as 500 up to 3.

Steve: Wow. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't expect those numbers for residential assisted living.

Yeah. So what is your why?

Isabelle: Oh, my why. You know, this whole thing started with my grandmother. And then when my dad passed, it really became about me carrying his legacy forward. I, of course, was so sad to lose my dad and my best friend. But he left me the biggest blessing that I think anyone could ever leave their kids, which is a legacy.

He taught me everything that I could ever need and want to know about this, and he left me cash flowing businesses. He left me assets, not money in the bank. Businesses that change lives, that impact people, and that I knew what I was doing with them. You know? It wasn't just like, oh my god, he's gone.

What do we do? Yeah. And I just it it clicked in me. Like, I'm surrounded by a bunch of incredible real estate investors who don't have any plan of how to get this to the next generation. They're doing awesome, but they have no idea how to pass this to their kids.

Right.

Steve: And

Isabelle: so it's my mission and my why to teach as many people as I can how to create this as a family legacy, as a lasting legacy to pass from generation to generation. And I really think that's what drives me every day.

Steve: Yeah. I think that's awesome. Right? I can see the passion in your eyes, and I think that's one of those things that's so like, again, we all say time freedom, financial freedom Yeah. And legacy, but then our actions don't always line up with that.

Yeah. Okay. So then how do you measure success?

Isabelle: Oh, that's so tough because I'm a perfectionist, so it's it's never enough. But I think success would be, you have to measure it internally and externally. Internally, there is a feeling in your heart and soul where you just know, like, what I'm doing is right, and what I what what the path I'm headed down or what I accomplished that that ticked something in you. And I think that you do need to have that internal like, motivation and goal to be able to see success. I did this.

I accomplished this. I also think it's partially external. You need other people to recognize what you did and see that, hey, what you're doing is awesome and, shout you out for that. I don't think if even if something's a success to you, if no one's there along the ride with you to point it out or say that you're doing incredible, it doesn't feel as, accomplished. It doesn't feel as successful.

So I think it's a little internal and external.

Steve: Makes sense. And what is your superpower?

Isabelle: You know, I was thinking about this on the drive over here because I know you always ask this one. I think that I am highly efficient. I use my time very well. I'm very organized. I do not make excuses for anything.

It's like we have a thousand things to accomplish today. We're accomplishing a thousand things. There is no room for error.

Steve: Really?

Isabelle: So, yeah, I'm very, very, very efficient and organized, and just fast and focused. I feel like that is by far one of my greatest superpowers.

Steve: That's awesome. And what's the greatest lesson you've learned?

Isabelle: I think the greatest, lesson that I've learned would be that, well, you know, a lot of people ask me, like, oh, did your dad teach you all of this? He never sat down and taught me anything. I learned it all through watching him. And I think that's so important because we say it a lot, like, with kids, like, in relation to kids. Like, they're not gonna do what you say.

They're gonna do what you do. Mhmm. I literally did that as an adult with him. You know? He didn't teach me how to speak.

He didn't teach me how to come on this this show with you, do anything. I just watched him do it and was like, I'm gonna do what he does. I think that's so important to be conscious of that everyone around you from your kids to your employees to just everyone in your life, They are watching you, and they're gonna do what you do if you are a mentor or a coach to them. And I think that's just really important, to know and to carry forward. And I think it's been one of the the greatest things for me going forward is just being conscious of that and, watching my behaviors and my actions to make sure that there are things I want everyone to pass on and carry on.

Steve: Absolutely. And I think that's one of the best lessons I learned was, the you're always on stage. Yeah. Always. Yeah.

It doesn't matter. Right? Like, they don't it doesn't matter how you demonstrate exhibit when the cameras are on and when things are good. Yep. Right?

What matters is how you carry yourself when things are bad. Yeah. Right? When things aren't going your way Yeah. Then, like, the one of the other things I I remember learning, right, like, how can you expect your employees to provide excellent customer service to your to their clients when they screw up when in the situation that they screw up, you lose it on them?

Isabelle: Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. 100%.

Steve: Yeah. What is the, what is your favorite, best, or most interesting failure?

Isabelle: Oh, my most interesting failure. You know, I think I I I would say probably the the first time that, you know, I had watched my dad speak for years. And he was an excellent speaker, excellent salesman, excellent presenter. And at at this one event we were at, we worked so hard to fill this room. We worked so hard.

There's probably a 150 people in there. No one bought. It was an egg. Right? And we were just like, oh my gosh.

And and in that moment, I didn't realize he was teaching me something, you know, because I didn't think I was ever gonna speak. But he just, you know, at at that night, we went out, we got some wine, we got dinner, and he's like, it happens.

Steve: And we

Isabelle: get up tomorrow and we do it again. Mhmm. And the first time I spoke and I got an egg and got zero sales, it was just like, this is an epic failure. This cost our team money. This cost us energy.

This cost me time. And I think it was just so, like, I can sit here and pout and complain and cry and be sad and be in this moment, or I can say, let's get up and do it again. Yeah. And again, I didn't know that I was learning a lesson in that, but that failure really just taught me, like, sometimes it doesn't work out. And it's okay.

You get up and keep moving.

Steve: You gotta have short term memory.

Isabelle: Short term memory.

Steve: And then let's see. We got a couple other questions here. Have you looked into childcare or adoption homes?

Isabelle: I do really want to do, I've never done, like, daycare right for for children. I think they're talking about children. I've never done that but I really do in impact housing group. One of the types of homes that we really want to teach and train on once we crack the code for it. I don't do anything that we don't also do.

But is home for developmentally disabled adults? So those with autism, you know, who are older and when their parents pass on, who's gonna take care of them? I think that's a really, really important thing. So I don't know that I'll do daycare, but I do think we will get into that industry probably in the coming years. Big need there.

Steve: Yeah. And it's kinda funny because that was the next question.

Isabelle: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Do you

Steve: have homes for those with disabilities who are no longer with family?

Isabelle: Yeah. It's a big need and a lot of people come to our training and say, I wanna come learn everything I can to try to apply it in that way. And I always tell them, it's not exact, but take what you can. And if you crack the code, come and tell me and and we'll do it. But big, big need there, and and I really wanna be able to help in that in that way.

Steve: Yeah. And last question from me is what book have you gifted more than any other?

Isabelle: The number one book actually that I gift, it's not a self promo book, it's a real book that I'm obsessed with, is called The 5AM Club. Have you read it?

Steve: I haven't read it. I'm familiar with it. Yeah. Because the guy has a 5AM call every day. Right?

Isabelle: I think so. Yeah. So great book, and it's basically just, it's kinda like I don't know if it's fictional or nonfiction, but it feels fictional. It's like story story telling. Yeah.

Steve: It's a table.

Isabelle: Yeah. But, you know, it's just about, like, getting up, grabbing the bull by its horn, living your life to the fullest, stop making excuses, go for stuff, which is very just my energy, my vibe. So I love it and I always give it to people and be like, get up at 5AM. And when I start calling you at 6AM, stop complaining.

Steve: Yeah. I do get up at five 5AM every day. It's, not because I want to. Yep. It's just the only way I'm gonna get

Isabelle: Get stuff done.

Steve: The only way I can get. I can get the things I want to get done Yep. In the day. So what, someone wants to find out more about this. Like, where do they go?

Isabelle: Yeah. So, I think we're gonna put, links in the notes, but RAL one zero one is a great place to grab free information. There's webinars and books and podcasts, but RAL Academy, and you guys can follow us on any social. We're on Instagram, Facebook, even TikTok. Follow me there.

I follow you. I love your stuff on TikTok.

Steve: Thank you.

Isabelle: We're having a lot of fun there. So, yeah, anything on social, would be great, and then I'm sure we'll put all the websites.

Steve: Yeah. That's, we have that link right there.

Isabelle: There we go. Ariel one zero one. Okay. Us there.

Steve: Awesome. So, I'm gonna make a couple of quick announcements. So think about what you wanna leave the listeners with. Okay. Guys, if you have value today, please like, subscribe, share, comment.

I'm asking you guys to do this. It helps us helps us accomplish our mission. And then like we said earlier, Ren Bartlett and I were doing our sales leadership training. I think right now, more than any other, it's really important that you do take good care in shepherding your salespeople. It's really easy right now to, say, oh, you know, the market's slower.

It's gonna sell less. Well, they have a purpose. They have a goal. They're trying to accomplish certain things, and even neglect them, there's nothing gonna keep them attached to you. So you gotta effectively lead and manage your salespeople, and Wren Bartlett is the guy to talk about how to do that effectively, especially in a market that's going down.

So what last thoughts would you like to leave everybody with?

Isabelle: I think that, obviously, so many of your listeners are real estate investors or, you know,

Steve: getting into

Isabelle: this industry. And I think that no matter what role that you wanna play in this industry, it's really important that, you're doing something that is gonna change your world, your community's world, and anybody like that. So investing with an impact is something that I want everybody to start considering as an option to add to their portfolio, whether it's RAL or something else. Just do something that, changes changes the community, changes the world, and and causes a big splash, causes an impact.

Steve: Yeah. I think that's huge. And I think that's, like, kinda like, you know, we all get into initially for money. Yeah. Right?

And then we get to it for more time. But, yeah, the impact is when it turns from, something that, you know, you're you want to do Yeah. To something where it's passionate and fulfilling and, like, everything is just better.

Isabelle: Yep. Yep. Our company motto is to do good and do well. Yeah. Because making money is good, but making an impact can't beat it.

Steve: Exactly. Alright. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.

Isabelle: Thank you.

Steve: Thank you for coming on, and we'll see you all next week.

Isabelle: Thank you.