How a Barber Went from $12 Clips to Six-Figure Cash Flow in 10 Years

David:
This is the BiggerPockets Podcast show 755.

Rick:
Growing up with no air condition in my house to becoming a barber and charging $12 a haircut. And then bam, over a span of 10 to 12 years, we got a portfolio of $3 million.

David:
So today’s guest is Rick Morin, who went from being a barber to a million hair. That will make a lot more sense as you listen to today’s show.

Rob:
That’s all right.

David:
Rick’s story specializes in getting rich slow and safe and steady, three S’s that will never do you wrong. He’s financially independent, but he keeps his job as a barber because it actually makes him a smarter, sharper investor. And he has worked real estate into the life that he already has, rather than trying to change the life that he has for a completely different one in real estate.
Rick Morin, welcome to the BiggerPockets Podcast. How are you today?

Rick:
I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

David:
First question, where are you joining us from today?

Rick:
Corpus Christi, Texas.

David:
I was looking into investing in Corpus Christi, Texas like eight years ago. I was thinking that might become a travel destination. Do you think that I made a mistake not buying there? Or do you think that was a good call?

Rick:
I think it was a good call, because it’s going to allow me to buy more.

David:
I love the honesty. We’re off to a great start here.

Rob:
And you would’ve ruined Corpus Christi for everybody if you had talked about it on BiggerPockets for seven years.

David:
That is the curse of David Greene. You’re exactly right. I did that to myself in Jacksonville and a couple other markets. So that is how it goes. So before we get into your portfolio, Rick, I want to ask you, what are you doing for work these days?

Rick:
So I am, I guess you could say, part-time barber, because I’m in the barbershop two days a week. And also, I travel. I work for a Clipper company and I travel the world sharing barber knowledge. And up until, well, recently, about two years ago, I started sharing real estate advice to barbers and stylists at these big barber conventions as well.

David:
Let’s get into this, the most important pressing question that I can think of. What do you recommend we do with Rob’s quaff?

Rick:
Honest opinion, I think, we need to take it all off and let it regrow because I think it’s uneven on top.

Rob:
Okay. And so shaving it off would even it out a little bit?

Rick:
Well, it’ll give you that fresh start.

Rob:
Oh. Okay. All right. I mean, I’ve always thought about it. I’ve always thought about buzzing my head just for the sake of looking at a photo one day and being like, “Oh yeah, remember when I did that?” Otherwise, I’m going to show photos to my kids and I’m going to look exactly the same over the course of 30 years.

Rick:
Well, I tell you what, when you’re ready, make sure to go to Booksy and book an appointment with me.

Rob:
Okay. You’re the guy I’ll call.

David:
Rob’s hair does look like when you’re raising a palm tree and you tie it to something next to it so that it grows in a certain direction, like it’s been trained to go in that way.

Rob:
I’ve grafted the quaff on over time.

David:
Yeah, I’d be curious to see what it looked like if you split it in half, it had each one going at a 45 degree angle, like a V for victory.

Rob:
Y’all are starting to sound like my TikTok comments now. Every day I get comments that are like, “You make all this money, but you can’t even afford a barber.”

David:
Well, I mean, that, you’re keeping the attention off of your black pocket tee if they’re talking about your hair. It might be part of your grand plan. You’re like, “I don’t want everyone to realize that I have a big sponsorship with Haynes and that’s why I wear these underwear T-shirts for every episode of the podcast.” So you keep talking about your hair. So what about before you bought real estate, Rick? What was life like then?

Rick:
Wow. Childhood wise or adulthood wise?

David:
No, when you were an adult, what were you doing for work?

Rick:
Okay.

David:
You know what? Actually no, let’s go back a little bit. What was your childhood like? Because I want to know what drove you to get into real estate investing to the degree that you did.

Rick:
Okay, so childhood. I grew up on what the common people would say, the wrong side of the tracks, the bad side of the neighborhoods. And it was tough. I mean, I loved my childhood, but it was extremely tough. Like I said, I live in Corpus Christi, Texas. We’re in summer. On average, we get a 100, 510 degrees with the heat index of 115, 120. And I didn’t have air condition in my house. My parents, we’d had no air condition in the house till I was about 16, 17 years old. And after that they put it in a window unit in their bedroom. So at night, me and my brothers and sisters would sleep on the floor there. I mean, if I came home and dinner was tortillas and butter, I mean, that was great. I didn’t have my first steak until I was 18 years old.
I didn’t know what a steak was. So it was humble beginnings, but it allowed me to value life as well. So yeah, at 17, I joined the army, spent six years in the army, loved every single minute about it. Blew out my right knee. So when I blew out my right knee, it was a unfortunate situation at the same time. So I blew it out right before my unit was going to Iraq and I called home, called mom and dad and said, “Hey, I’m not going.” My mom, “Thank you, Jesus.” She said she was praying that I wouldn’t go. And I was like, “Well, now I’m broke so I can’t go.” So fortune for me, at the time, I was stationed in Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.
And my orthopedic surgeon then said, “Hey, I’ve got a friend who’s in Corpus Christi at the NAS station down there, the Naval Air Station in Corpus. And he’s a phenomenal orthopedic surgeon. I think I want to send you home in your last two and a half years of active duty and just go get your therapy and surgeries done down there.” So I was like, “Oh wow, this is great.” So I came home, and at the time my sister had just had a baby and she was about 19 and she lived with my mom and dad. Well, this baby was a crybaby. I’m talking like he cried nonstop. And I’m telling my dad, “Dad, I got to get out of here. I can’t stay here much longer because I’m trying to sleep and have friends come over and that baby’s crying all the time.”
I said, “I’m going to go rent an apartment.” And he said, “You can’t leave this house until you buy a house.” And I said, “I’m only 20 years old. What am I going to do buying a house?” He’s like, “Well, that’s the only way I’ll let you leave this house.” I said, “Okay.” So me and the girlfriend at the time when I was dating, now she’s my wife, I said, “Hey, I want to move out. And my dad said, the only way I can move out is if I go buy a house.”

Rob:
Wow, okay. That’s a journey. That’s a whole journey. And I think, you say it very casually that you didn’t have AC, but it sounds like based on the temperatures, you were hot all day every day. What was that like growing up, man?

Rick:
Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t know. Because my grandparents didn’t have air condition. Most of my families, we had fans on the windows. Remember the box fans that you put on the windows? So that really helped a lot. It helped circulate air a lot. But I didn’t know any other way. The only time we were ever at AC was when we went to school really. School was most of the time it had AC unless it broke, which was very rare. But other than that, as a kid, we were outside playing all the time anyway. So having air condition wasn’t really, I didn’t feel as if it was a necessity at the time.

Rob:
Sure. And you told us a little bit about your hometown, but overall, what were people’s perception of your hometown? What was that like?

Rick:
Well, I’m going to say, back then, I’m going to say it’s very similar to what it is now. We’re by the Gulf of Mexico, so we’re a beachy, touristy town, still small for Texas. I think, currently to date, we’re about 400,000 people, so still a small town for considering we’re in Texas. But I would say that they would say it’s more of a retirement town, like older people come here to retire.

Rob:
Oh, okay. Cool. And so your parents living there, you’re doing this thing, you’re trying to move out, your dad’s like, “You got to buy a house first.” I got to imagine there’s a reason for that. What were your parents’ relationship with real estate to dictate that one requirement for you?

Rick:
So my parents didn’t buy their first house till, I think, my dad was about 30, 32 when he bought his first house. He rented the whole time. So I think his theory was, “If you go out and buy a house, you’ll be a homeowner and you won’t, quote, unquote, “throw your money away” on rent.”

Rob:
Okay. So he was watching out for you?

Rick:
Oh, definitely.

Rob:
Wow. Okay, cool. And so you said, your now wife, but you pitched this idea to her and she was on board and then you guys bought a house?

Rick:
Well, I bought the house. At the time, we were probably dating for maybe a year or two. So we didn’t move in until the day after we got married. But I knew she was the one, so I wanted to make sure she was happy with the house because it would ultimately be our first house married together.

Rob:
Okay. And how long ago was that in reference to today?

Rick:
About 20 years ago.

Rob:
Wow. Okay. All right. And at what point did you buy your first rental property?

Rick:
So the first real rental was that house. So what happened was I bought that house at 20 years old and I was staying there for about three months. And about three months after I’m in there, a buddy of mine calls me and say, “Hey, you got a room for rent? I know your cousin told me that you just bought a house and I need a place to stay.” And I was like, “Yeah, I got a three bedroom house.” He said, “You want a roommate?” And I’m like, “I grew up with a roommate. My brother stayed with me my entire life. When I was in the Army, I had a roommate. Like, sure, come on over.” So he came over, checked it out, he’s like, “Yeah, I like it.” And he’s like, “How much you want rent?”
I said, “Bro, I don’t know. I’ve never rented anything to anyone. I don’t even know what to do.” And he said, “Well, how about I pay you $500 a month, and we split all utilities?” And I wanted to be fair because he is my friend. So I said, “Is that a fair price? I don’t even know what to charge. Is that fair?” He’s like, “Yeah, no, this is real fair.” I said, “Okay, cool. Deal. Let’s do it.” So no lease whatsoever, just a handshake. And he paid me $500 a month and we split utilities. My mortgage was $515 a month.

Rob:
Wow.

Rick:
Yeah, I was winning big time. But I was fortunate enough that I was still working, well, getting my paycheck from the army. And what I did is I said, “You know what? He’s giving me 500. I might as well just pay the additional $15 and throw in my mortgage payment as well.” So I paid off a 30-year note. I did that. And then when I had extra money here and there, I paid off that note in seven years.

Rob:
Whoa. Okay. That’s huge.

Rick:
Yeah.

David:
Yeah. You were basically doubling your mortgage.

Rick:
That’s exactly what I did. I doubled my mortgage every month. One payment was going straight to principal and then periodically if I got some extra cash, like a big bonus or something, I would throw that towards the mortgage as well. He stayed with me for about three years and then that’s when me and the wife got married and I said, “Hey man, me and the wife are getting married. You got to get out of here.” So that’s when he moved out. And then me and the wife stayed there and she was working. So I said, “Hey, this is what I’ve been doing with the mortgage and I think it’d be beneficial if we continue to do that because if we do, I think we can pay this off, I figured about eight years total.” And she’s like, “Okay, let’s do it.” So she was technically the second roommate who came in and kind of helped me pay double mortgage on it.

Rob:
Well, I was just going to say the fact that you paid it off so quickly, David, as our resident mortgage expert in-house at BiggerPockets-

David:
Kind of mortgage guy.

Rob:
Kind of mortgage guy. Yeah. That’s a callback. That’s a callback. I don’t know if that episode is out yet, but as our kind of mortgage guy, why was he able to pay off that so quickly? How does that math actually work out?

David:
That’s a very good question. And I love, Rick, that you sort of stumbled bass-ackward into this awesome hack for paying on the house, which especially when mortgages were $500, we all wait for it to go back to bad time. It’d be easier to do it, but you would think that if you doubled your payment, you pay off in half the time. So a 30-year loan, you would pay off in 15 years. But it’s actually a quarter of the time. And it’s because when you’re first making payments, the majority of the payment is going towards the interest, not the principal. Well, that $500 extra payment you were making goes a hundred percent to the principal, meaning that the next payment has more going to the principal and less going to the interest because you basically jumped ahead of the payment schedule when you made the extra principal payment.
And then that compounds with every single payment where a higher chunk is going towards the principal than the interest. So for those that are disciplined, this is a great way to pay a house off fast. Now, we haven’t really been giving this advice the last couple of years because you’re paying off a 3% mortgage. It didn’t make a ton of sense, but as mortgages are getting to be expensive again, and the interest rates are getting higher, this is a legit strategy people can use when you can’t find new cash flowing properties to just take the one you have and make it more efficient.

Rob:
Oh yeah. I mean, if you ever look at your amortization schedule at the end of the first year, you’re going to say, “Oh man, okay. I paid $15,000 this year in mortgage payments.” And then you see that only a thousand dollars of it actually went to your principal, and the other 14,000 went to your interest. I mean, it’s very much like that student loan amortization rate where you’re just like, “Man, do I ever actually take down this principal, man?” It hurts in those first couple of years.

David:
Yeah. But Rick, you kind of found out a hack there without realizing you did it. And I love that you filled your wife, “Let’s do it again. I don’t know why that works. It’s just real estate magic.” But dude, if I could stick my hand in that magic hat, pull out another mortgage free rabbit, let’s go for it. So was she on board with that? Did you have a wife that was sort of on the same page with you when it came to financial independence? Or did you get some pushback because they weren’t seeing it from the same perspective?

Rick:
No, even when we were dating, it’s really cool. So when we were dating, we’d go, I remember our very first date, we went to a movie and dinner, just like majority of people do, dinner and a movie. Well, dinner came, I paid. When we went to movies, I’m pulling out money to pay. And she’s like, “No, I’m going to get it.” And I’m like, “I’m sorry.” She’s like, “I’m going to pay for the movie and popcorn and snacks.” I was like, “Why?” She’s like, “Well, you paid for dinner.” And I was like, “Well, that was the first. No girl I’d ever dated did that.” It was just common thing for the guy to pay for everything. So when that happened, and then we obviously switched back and forth, but I knew she was going to be a team player. So yeah, I know when I told her about, “Hey look, the roommate moved out, we’re moving in together. Now that we’re married, I think this is the best thing she can do.” And she was on board. She’s like, “Okay, great. Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

Rob:
That’s really cool. That’s important too. And that’s why I always make David pay when we go out. So it seems like what you stumbled onto here is just a good old-fashioned house hack. You took your property, you subsidized a portion of that property, a room to a friend to subsidize your mortgage. And really, most of the time when you do a house hack, renting your room can chip away 300 or 400 bucks at your mortgage. In this case, it actually paid for all of it. So this is just the magic of a house hack that not only did someone pay your mortgage, you continued to diligently pay that mortgage and he paid it off in seven years. That is a huge success story. And I got to imagine that probably was a catalyst for the rest of your portfolio.

Rick:
Oh, definitely. I mean, I was 27 years old with a paid off house and I was like, “Whoa, this is not the norm.” And honestly, I didn’t know until maybe about 10 years ago that that was called house hacking. I didn’t even know. I was like, “Whoa, I house hacked our first house and I didn’t even know I was doing that.”

Rob:
Wow. Okay, cool. And so how long between buying this accidental house hack, if you will, and getting into your first flip? Because as I remember, that’s kind of your trajectory.

Rick:
So actually what we did, when we paid off that house, we stayed in for maybe another year, and then I wanted to move to the other side of town. So I found a house on the other side of town, we bought that one, and then I, full-blown, used the first house as a full-blown rental. So now I’ve got my personal house, and now the first house is a full-blown rental. And then in between that timeframe, it was about, I’d say about 7, 8, 9… So at year 9, two years after paying off the first house, year 9, we’re in our current home or at the homestead at the time, our second house. I saved up some money from the rent of the first house, and saved up money. And then I just started looking and talked to a friend at church, he’s a real estate agent.
I said, “Hey, look. This is what I’m looking for.” He’s like, “What’s the budget?” And I said, “Man, honestly, I got like $20,000. So I don’t even know what you’re going to be able to find.” He’s like, “Let me see what I can find.” We found a small, one bedroom, one bath house on a big lot in the neighborhood I grew up in. It was $23,000. And my dad is actually my go-to guy. So 9 out of 10 properties that I’ve bought, dad goes in there first and checks it all out. My dad’s that inspector who does all that stuff for me. And he’s not a true inspector, he’s just a jack of all trades and knows a little bit about a lot. So he’ll go in there and check things out for me. Well, he did. And he’s like, “It’s not it. The foundation is jacked here.”
And he goes, “But, I mean, the man’s actually living here and it’s livable. It just needs a little bit of work. You can live in it like this. Foundation’s jacked, but it’s still livable.” And like I said, our neighborhood, that was probably the norm. So I was like, “So is it worth it?” He’s like, “I think it’s worth it. Offer 20.” I said, “Okay.” So I told the realtor, “Hey, I’ll offer 20.” They came back and said, “No, sorry, that’s not going to happen.” I said, “Okay, cool. No worries.”

Rob:
Wait, $20,000?

Rick:
Yeah. They wanted 23 for the house.

Rob:
You got a house for $20,000?

Rick:
Let me finish. Let me finish.

Rob:
Okay.

Rick:
So remember it’s a one bedroom, one bath, about 600 square feet in the bad side of town. And I offered 20, they went at 23. I offered 20. They said no. Well, then about two weeks later, my realtor comes back and says, “Hey Rick, he’ll take the 20 if you can close before Labor Day.” And Labor Day was like 10 days away. And I said, “Okay. Well, now I’m only interested if he’ll take 17. And I can close before Labor Day, because I got cash in hand.” He’s like, “Dang it, Rick. Oh, man.” And I’m that guy, I will, because I’m like, “What’s the worst they can say? No? Then what? I’m in the same position I am right now.” So I’m totally that guy. So he calls me about the next day.
He is like, “All right, Rick. He said, he’ll take it.” I’m like, “Let’s do it.” So we bought it for 17. Me and the dad went in there, we literally put lipstick on a pig and then I rented it out. I put $3,000 in it. So now I have 20 grand in that house. And I rented it out for about 650 a month to the same person for about two and a half, three years. So you do the math, I recuperated my 20 grand from just the first renter. Yes. She messed it up.
So now I have my other handyman in there because dad was a little too busy. So I have my other handyman in there fixing up some stuff. And he calls me and he’s like, “Rick, some man just drove by and says if the house is for sale.” And I was like, “Shoot, everything’s for sale. Yeah. Tell him to call me.” So he called me and he said, “Hey, yeah, I want to buy the house. How much do you want for it?” And I had never thought of selling it. So in my head, I just said, “Well, if I got 20 in it, but I’ve already recuperated my 20 from the rent, let me just throw 40 and see what he says.” So I said, “40 grand.” He said, “I’ll take it.” I said, “Holy snap. I just flipped the house.”

Rob:
Okay.

David:
You didn’t ask him what he thought was fair?

Rick:
No, I didn’t. No.

David:
He said, “I’ll give you 40,000, then I’ll pay the utilities.” And you’re like, “All right.” Man, I love hearing the story that you’re telling here so far. I was just thinking like, “Okay, you paid 20 grand for a house, rent it for 650. Where are these 3% rule deals in today’s market?”

Rob:
Oh my gosh. Yeah. So yeah, let me get this straight. So it was listed for 23, you offered 20,000. They said, “No, get out of here.” A couple of weeks later, they’re like, “Hey, if you can close before 10 days from now, we’ll do the 20.” You say, “Eh, I’ll do 17.” And they’re like, “Ugh, we got to take it.” And they take it?

Rick:
That’s exactly what happened.

Rob:
Wow. And then how long ago, or how long after that did you sell it for 40k?

Rick:
Three years later.

Rob:
Wow. Okay. So you doubled the appreciation, I guess, or the worth of the home, doubled in three years. That’s amazing.

David:
Now, this was before Zillow, right?

Rick:
Yeah. This is way before Zillow.

David:
Okay. So you can’t just go online. I think a lot of people are wondering, “Why would you do that?” You had to call a realtor back then in ask them and they had to do some work. It wasn’t like it was easy to just jump on a computer and find it out. So there’s a couple patterns I see emerging. You became a landlord accidentally. Your homie hit you up and was like, “Can I rent your room?” “Okay, I can.” And that basically paid off your house in seven years, that one decision.
Then you became a landlord accidentally because you ended up moving out and renting out this house that you never had planned on renting. We call that the sneaky rental tactic. When you buy a house on a primary residence loan, then you move out and you basically have a rental for 3.5%, 5% down, whatever it is. Then you become a house flipper accidentally. You’re just like, “Okay, I’ll just double what I paid for this house and a couple of years after I’ve already got my initial investment back in rent.” So you could just accidentally find your way to the top of the bouncing band. And this is a pretty cool story.

Rick:
Well, I’m not going to… Yeah, it sounds accidentally, but I’m a man of faith and I prayed for this. I manifested it. I thought about it. I wanted it. Now, I never thought it would be reality. I’m going to be totally honest. From where I come from, the lifestyle I live now is amazing and I’m truly blessed for it. But I never thought it was going to be a reality. But slowly but surely, it was coming reality.

Rob:
That’s amazing, man. Well, give us a little frame of reference here. Because I think, if our math is correct, you bought your house and then about nine years after that is when you bought the next house. So how long ago was that from today, that second house?

Rick:
About 12 years ago.

Rob:
12 years ago. Okay. And so that’s really the beginning of when your real estate journey really kicked off and you started blowing up your portfolio, right?

Rick:
Yes, that’s exactly what happened because now I have this… Well, technically I had the 40, but I didn’t. What I didn’t mention is that when I called my realtor and said, “Hey look, this is what’s going on. I already got the deal, but I don’t know how to fill out this paperwork. Can you help me?” And he was like, “Yeah, for sure. I’ll do it for a hundred bucks.” I was like, “Okay, cool.” So he helps me fill out the paperwork and then when we go to close, they said, he goes, the buyer’s like, “Oh, by the way, can you owner finance it for me?”
And I’m like, “Oh yeah, sure. 10% interest.” He said, “Okay.” And I said, “And $5,000 down.” He said, “Done.” So I took the 5,000 and I knew I was going to have the 40. And he did a five-year note. He’s like, “Look, let’s be realistic. This is a car note. So I don’t want 30 years. I’m going to do a five-year note.” So he did a five-year note. So what I did with that 5,000, and then with some other money I had saved up, that’s when I bought my first true flip.

Rob:
Okay. And so at this point, and again, this is around 12 months ago, you’re getting into the flipping side of it. Obviously, you’re ramping up. Had you set any goals? Did you know what you wanted to do? Or were you just like, “Eh, I’m going to buy one and see where it takes me. Or buy another one and see where it takes me.”?

Rick:
So the goal was to have-

Rob:
Sorry, I said 12 months. I meant 12 years.

Rick:
Yeah, 12 years.

Rob:
This was about 12 years ago.

Rick:
So the goal, and I still have it written down on my notepad because I’m a firm believer that written down goals get achieved more than just thoughtful goals in your mind. But I wrote down that I wanted to have 10 rental properties by the age of 40. So that was the goal. But then when I made double my money on a flip, I’m like, “Whoa, maybe if I do a flip, I can take all the money and then go buy rental.” So after that deal, I went and bought my first flip. It was a three bedroom, two bath, one car garage in a nice neighborhood, actually, two blocks away from my very first house that I bought. So that house, it’s the only house that I’ve ever bought that I didn’t share with my dad. I didn’t ask dad to go look at it, because I was pretty sure dad was going to tell me not to buy it, because it was bad.
I mean, it was bad, but it was good at the same time. So the house was already gutted. It was all studs. So I’m like, “Okay, this is going to…” And this is my very first flip. So I’m like, “This is a big project, but I think I can do it.” They have a hole in the roof, holes in the roof. There’s several holes, like sunlight just beaming in, car size holes. And I was for sure dad was going to tell me no. So I was like, “I can’t do it.” But my realtor was like, “Rick, this is a really good buy.” Because the house was… They wanted 40 grand for it. About 1400 square feet in a good neighborhood, they wanted 40 grand. And I told him, “Realistically, how much you think this house will need?” He’s like, “I think 35. 40 pushing it and you’ll be golden, and it’ll sell for 129, 139.”
I said, “Okay, great. I’m going to do it.” So we did it. I told the wife, “Hey, look, that’s what I’m doing.” She’s like, “All right, let’s do it.” Well, I bought it and I end up dumping 50 grand in it because… And the professionals tell me to never do this, but till this day I still do it. I overdo houses, I fix up houses as if I’m going to live in them. And people are like, “Why do you do that?” Even my rentals, I fix them up as if I would live in it. I said, “Because if at one time, at any given time, if I need to move in it, I will feel comfortable because I fixed it up the way I like things, and the way I like my environment.” So I went over budget, 10 grand on that deal, and the whole time my realtor is guiding me and helping me, because I’d never done a true flip.
Well, I was watching those home improvement shows where they do the flips and then sell them. And one Sunday, me and the wife just sat on the sofa all day long watching those. And I said, “You know what?” One of them, they did an open house, but they had a moon jump for the kids, they did mimosas for the ladies, they did beer for the guys. I told the wife, “You know what? I’m not going to use a realtor to sell this. We’re going to sell it on our own, and we’re going to do exactly that.” Well, I call my realtor and I’m about a month away from finishing up, call the realtor and tell him that. He’s like, “Rick, please don’t do this to me.” And remember, this realtor is cool. He goes to the same church.
I’ve never signed a contract, I’ve never signed an agreement with him. It’s always just, we shake hands and we trust each other with it. And I said, “Look, if I owe you anything for your time, let me know and I will pay you.” I said, “But I think I want to do it on my own.” He’s like, “Rick, give me seven days. If I don’t sell your house in seven days, then deal. You can do that.” And I said, “You know what? That’s fair. I’ll give you seven days.” So I gave him seven days and then he actually called me on the following Sunday, which was Father’s Day. He says, “Hey Rick, Happy Father’s Day.” I said, “Thanks, same to you.” He’s like, “You ready for it?” I said, “What?” He’s like, “Check your email. Check the email.” He had a signed contract for the house for 149.

Rob:
Oh, wow. Okay. So 20,000 over your low end, right? Because 129 is what you were, the baseline.

Rick:
Yes.

Rob:
Wow. And do you think that’s because the market was just really good at that time? Or do you think it’s because you actually splurged and over designed it if you will?

Rick:
He told me it’s because I splurged and overdesigned it. Because that neighborhood called for Micah or Butcher Block type countertops. Well, I went level three granite. I put cam lights, I did a bunch of cool stuff that shouldn’t have been done in that neighborhood. But he said ultimately that’s what sold it as well.

Rob:
Man. Yeah, this is why I’m so scared of taking on flips at a large scale, because I am the person that is splurging. David can attest to this. We would probably make a great HDTV show always fighting about the budget. But I would so over-design everything. David, are you ever in that situation? Are you very good at staying on budget with your flips these days?

David:
Yeah, that’s a great question. I don’t splurge nearly as much as it sounds like either of you do. But I think if I do splurge, it’s probably on different things. So I’m more likely to add a square footage to a house than to put really nice light fixtures in. Or Rob, I’ve noticed that you look at real estate from the lens of, how’s this going to look in the photo? So you’ll splurge on furniture, you’ll splurge on furnishings. You’re like, “Look…” And I actually just thought of this yesterday when I was walking through our house in Scottsdale. I think I get it. I look at practical use. What’s the most efficient use of the space? You’re looking at it like, how’s it going to look in the picture? Because that’s what makes people book it. And it is money. It’s not like emotional immaturity. It’s, as a short-term rental investor, that is the way you have to think about it to get it to book.
So that was actually a good little insight for me because I think before I just assumed it was, “Oh, you just like nice things and so you spent too much money on it.” But there is a financial reason why you look at it like that. And Rick is a good example too, where when you overspend on a rehab in a hot market, sometimes you could get bailed out. You definitely don’t want to do that when the market’s on the way down. But Rick, was that just your personality? I see you’re wearing a hat that says honor like craft. And you mentioned you’re a barber and I know you’re really curious. Is it just who you are as a person that you believe you need to do your best at everything that you do?

Rick:
That’s exactly what it is. Yeah. Man, I just can’t settle for anything less and it’s just built in me. Yesterday, I was flying home, walking in the airport and I saw someone accidentally, or maybe not accidentally, drop a napkin. And I walked past it and I’m like, “You should pick it up. You should pick it up. You should pick it up. You know you’re going to pick it up.” I walked past this, “No I’m not picking it up. I didn’t drop that.” Two feet after walking past it. I turned right back and pick it up.

Rob:
Yeah, I feel that.

David:
It’s the voice of God convicting you to pick up that napkin, man. You just can’t resist it sometimes.

Rob:
And that’s when you read the plot to Lethal Weapon and you made the movie. You know how they always say that movie is made on the back of a napkin? All right, we can move on. No movie buffs anymore? Has cinema died?

David:
Never heard that one.

Rob:
No? Okay.

David:
But thank you for explaining the joke. I appreciate that.

Rob:
Well, maybe somebody will laugh. All right. Maybe someone in the large BiggerPockets audience will laugh. Okay, so after this, obviously, you’re very, you’re a budding real estate entrepreneur in this time. Seems like you’ve relatively got a knack for it. You’re pretty good at it, seems like you’re passionate about it, you want to keep doing more. Was there any why that was driving you? What was the reason for pursuing real estate more?

Rick:
Yeah, definitely. So there’s a verse in the Bible, Proverbs 13:22, and it says, “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.” And I take that to heart. And I know, biblically it’s meaning like, “Hey, make sure you tell your children about me, about His ways and to honor His book and the Bible and things like that.” But I take that literally as far as finances and housings and properties and things like that. So that along with not having grown… Well, growing up without air condition, that [inaudible 00:30:17] is my driving force. My goal in life is to make sure that no Morin that comes after me ever has to live in a house without air condition.

David:
That’s beautiful. I love hearing that. I mean, that’s a powerful why. What I love about that is it’s not going to drive you to get into materialism. You’re not going to overextend yourself. You’re not trying to keep up with the Jones’s or prove that the only champagne I will ever drink will be Cristal for the rest of my days. It’s a very healthy goal that’s going to stop you from taking your eye out the ball and losing focus, but it’s not going to make you make foolish decisions that could jeopardize your children’s inheritance. Everybody has to be able to sleep with air conditioning. That’s a beautiful baseline. Did you come up with that? Did you sit down one day and just say, “This is my why.”? Or did you look back at what you’d been doing and just realize that that’s what had been driving you? Was that pain in your shop?

Rick:
Yeah, so the Bible verse has always been there. Probably the last 8 to 10 years, it’s been my go-to. The why with the air condition, yeah, I think that as I was looking back over the last couple of years, I was like, “Man, the goal was to have 10 rental properties by 40. I hit that at 37.” Me and the wife hit that at 37 and she’s like, “Well, what now?” And I’m like, “Well, we’ll just keep buying more.” And she’s like, “Well, how many more?” And I was like, “I don’t know, until we just can’t buy anymore. Maybe one a year, two a year.” And then she’s like, “Why are you so persistent about this? I thought 10 was the goal and then you’d be happy and satisfied.”
And I was like, “No, 10 was the first goal. There’s obviously multiple goals.” And then looking back, I was like, “You know what? That’s exactly what it’s why. It’s I want to make sure that my great-great-great-great-grandchildren who I’ll probably never meet will be able to, hopefully my heirs would show photos of me and the wife and be like, “These are the two Morins that literally changed our generational finances. Because they sacrificed and they busted their butt, we’re able to live in a house like this.”

Rob:
Yeah, man. Well, can I ask you a personal question? Because my dad, very similar immigrant from Mexico, gave up a lot and did not grow up with air conditioning either. We had air conditioning and you never let us turn it on growing up. So what do you keep your air conditioning at now when you go to sleep?

Rick:
69.

Rob:
Yeah, baby. Me too. 68, 69 here in Texas. All right. I just had to get it out there because I want to know.

Rick:
Yeah.

Rob:
That’s true goal right there. Not just having the air conditioning, but turning it on. Go to sleep. It’s a big deal here in Texas.

David:
Well, 69 is not that bad either. You still learn to wield this power that you’ve been given where you have air conditioning, but you’re not running all the way down to 62 and going overboard. You’re still handling that responsibility well.

Rick:
Yeah, definitely.

Rob:
With great air conditioning, comes great responsibility. So let’s recap this. So you buy a house, accidental house flip or accidental house hack. Then you turn that into a full on rental, you get another house that becomes an accidental flip, and then you sort of decide to go into another full on flip that you make pretty good amount of money on at 149. What comes after that? Do you just go all in on long-term rentals or do you start experimenting with other real estate asset classes?

Rick:
Yeah, so from then on, we bought long-term rentals. With the profits of that second flip, I went and bought a condo, a one bedroom condo, because I’m telling you, my reasonings sometimes have no backing. So I just sold the three bedroom, two bath flip. The very next day, one of my friends, slash, customers, because remember I’m a barber, hits me up and is like, “Hey Rick, do you have any rental properties right now?” I was like, “No, I don’t have nothing open. What are you looking for?” He’s like, “One bedroom.” And I was like, “All right, let me see what I can find. Give me a week.” He said, “Okay, I need to move in within two weeks.” Called the realtor, say, “Hey, you know any one bedroom’s going up? Probably a condo or something.” He’s like, “Hey, actually I just listed one yesterday. Yeah, for sure.”
So dad goes over there, checks it out for me, and he’s like, “Yeah, the only thing is carpet’s trash, needs to be replaced, put some vinyl in it or something.” I said, “Okay, cool.” So that was a super cool one because it was a cash deal. So I tell the realtor, “Okay, I’ll take it.” And he’s like, “Okay, they’ll accept it, right? Full asking offer whatnot.” I said, “But here’s the thing. This was on Monday.” I said, “I need a close by Saturday.” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because I fly out of town to India on Friday and the renter needs to move in on Saturday.” He’s like, “Holy smokes. Let me see if I can find a title company to make this work.” He found one, made it work. Friday, I went and closed, went to the airport, jumped on a plane, and then he took care of the rest of the deals.
I said, “Hey, get with my friend. Make sure to sign the lease with him and get him the keys and everything like that.” So then we bought that long-term rental. And I’m a huge saver. I’m a huge saver. So I literally save 90% of all rental incomes. So now that I’ve got a couple long-term rentals going on, the money stacks very easily. So then once it stacks to a certain amount and I’m just in the market looking, I find a house within that price range and then I just go buy another one.

Rob:
Cool. And so how are you finding them? Do you have a pretty good deal pipeline just rocking and rolling at this point?

Rick:
Yeah. Well, at this point, yeah. There’s about three or four realtors who hit me up every so often. But I tell them, “Guys, honestly, I’m not looking for on market deals. Because on market deals is retail price. I’m looking for something that’s on sale.” So there’s a couple wholesalers that hit me up every so often. And then the most recent deal I just found, it was via realtor. We went and looked at it, they didn’t accept my offer, they accepted someone else’s offer. So I was like, “All right, whatever.” Well, it was in December and I told the wife, “Man, that got me. I got that fire under my butt. I want to buy something now by the end of this year.”
And she’s like, “Well, what are you going to do?” I was like, “I just went to Facebook.” I just went on my Facebook page and said, “Hey guys, I got this much money. Anyone have a property they want to sell or know of anyone want to sell something? I’d like to close here within the next two weeks.” And an ex neighbor of mine had a duplex and he hit me up and he is like, “Hey Rick, I think I want to get rid of the duplex.” So yeah, I closed on that duplex within him within 10 days. And so I bought that one last year in December as well.

Rob:
It’s kind of cool how when you become a real estate person, you’re like the one person in your network or in your group of people, and they know you for that, deals just find you. You obviously have to work for that at all times for consistency, but it’s really cool how deals can just find their way across your desk. So I understand you make your own comps. We were talking about this earlier before the podcast. Can you explain what that means?

Rick:
Yeah. So remember the neighborhood I grew up in wasn’t the best, but they were big houses because in the early 1900s, that neighborhood was the original country club for my city, for Corpus Christi. So there were some 5,000 square foot houses in that neighborhood. The house I grew up in was about 1600 square feet, but then the house on the opposite corner, literally the same street I grew up on, Brooks Drive, went for sale for closure actually. But I knew that house has been empty for two or three years because I go visit mom and dad and drive by at night. I never really seen anyone there, and I knew the family who lived there. And they weren’t there no more. So I buy that house and the realtor tells me, “Rick, how much do you think you’re going to sell this house for?” I said, “I’m going to sell it for over 200 grand.”
He’s like, “It’s not going to happen, Rick.” And I was like, “No. The square footage of this house, this is a 2,400 square foot house with a two car detached garage and a 300 square foot man cave, slash, she shed in the backyard on a corner lot. Huge.” I said, “I’m going to sell it for over 200.” He said, “Rick, no house in this zip code has ever sold for over $200,000.” So I go with the different realtor, he tells me the same thing. I said, “So what y’all telling me?” They said, “Rick, we think you didn’t buy a good buy, because that house needs so much work, you’ll probably just going to break even.”
And I said, “Well, if all else fails and I break even, I’m okay with that as well. Why? Because I fixed up the neighborhood that I love, the neighborhood that I grew up in.” Well, long story short, I fixed it up, was probably the worst flip I ever did. Not necessarily the condition wise, meaning it took me two and a half years to do it because I got screwed by three or four contractors and for like 20 grand. So at this point, I’m like, “Yeah-”

Rob:
How long should a flip take, by the way?

Rick:
Well, I think it varies on the square footage and what all needs to be done. But that first flip I did, that was all studs, that took me 12 weeks.

Rob:
Okay. All right. So two and a half years is considerable.

Rick:
Oh yeah, definitely. I was telling myself that this flip was going to take me four to six months, and that was pushing it. That was extremely a long time up. The goal was three to four months.

Rob:
Okay. And so you had ran through a few contractors.

Rick:
So then I finally get it done. But here’s the cool part, while I’m fixing it up, and this is the only house I’ve ever done that to, I think, because I had an emotional attachment to it because it was my neighborhood, while I’m fixing it up, I’m taking a picture of the outside, “Hey guys, we’re just putting new siding on. What color do you think we should paint the exterior of the house?” And I’m getting 50 to 120 comments on social media, just, “Oh, I think this is going good. This is going good.” And then I’m like, “Hey, I’m thinking of painting the cabinets gray, bottom gray, top white. What are y’all’s thoughts?” And then people are giving me a bunch of comments. So the whole process, I’m giving my supporters on social media the options of, “Hey, what do y’all think I’m going to do, A or B?
And literally whichever one went with the most votes, I was like, “All right, we’re going to do that.” And the wife’s like, “You are nuts.” And I’m like, “I know, but this is super cool because I like both of them, so it’s not a loss, which either one we go with.” So long story short, we get it done. Right about two weeks before I get it done, I’m still once again posting on social media. And I’m posting, I’m thinking price point of this point, this point, this point. Well, I’m like, “All right guys, how should we finalize within the next two weeks? 229 is what I’m thinking. Here’s all the details and here’s some photos of the work that I’ve been working on before it was completed.”
Well then a friend of my sons, my son and his friend, they’ve been playing football on the same football team since they were six years old. They’re 11 now. So we’ve grown to love his parents, right? Because they’re like friends of ours now. And she hit me up and she’s like, “Hey Rick, I think we are going to want the house.” And I’m like, “Oh, that’d be great.”
She’s like, “What’s the asking price?” I told her and she’s like, “Okay, let me talk to the husband. Let me talk to the bank.” Came back and she’s like, “Yeah, we want it.” And I’m like, “For real, for real?” She’s like, “Yeah, we want it.” And I’m like, “Heck yeah.” So I ended up selling it for 229 and I was the first person, slash, first house in that zip code to ever sell for over 200 grand.

Rob:
Wow. Okay. That’s a big deal. So you talked to two realtors, you told them that you wanted to sell it for 200, is that right?

Rick:
I told them I was thinking about 209 to 219.

Rob:
Okay, 209. And they’re like, “You’re crazy. I’m sorry, this is a bad deal.” You’re probably a little bummed about it. But you go out there, you do the social push. Someone actually agrees to buy it for 229, so you actually superseded that goal. So all along the way, you’re just kind of crushing your own goals, right?

Rick:
Yeah, definitely. And the crazy thing is, after I agreed, and once again there was no contract involved at the time, but they’re personal friends and I agreed, “Yeah, we’re going to do it.” Someone else hit me up and said, “Rick, I’ll give you 249 if you take this deal.” And I was like, “Holy crap.” And I’m like, “Man, if it wasn’t these people, because I love them so much.” Like I said, they’re family now. I said, “I would do that deal, but I can’t, man.” I said, “This is a family that we love and cherish. And no, I don’t want to give their hopes up.”

Rob:
Do you lose a little sleep though? Was that night were you like, “Dang it”?

Rick:
Not at all. No, not at all.

Rob:
That’s the answer I was hoping you’d say. So all while you’re doing this, you’re still working as a barber?

Rick:
Yeah.

David:
All right. So let me ask you about that if you don’t mind. Why keep working? You’re making money with real estate. Isn’t the dream to get a couple houses and then quit and do nothing and just go to the beach and drink my size? Why were you still working at this time?

Rick:
It’s funny you say that because that’s what I told the wife. When we get to 10 houses, I’m going to stop cutting hair and we’re going to just live off the rental properties. Well, when that happened, I was, like I said, 37 at the time, she said, “So are you quitting?” And I said, “No.” And she said, “I thought you said you were going to quit.” I said, “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll only cut hair two days a week. I’ll just cut hair two days a week.” I said, “Five days. Two days family day, three days working on real estate projects, paperwork, things like that.” Now, some of those days, I do travel, like I said, I work for a Clipper company and we travel the world teaching barber classes, but I’m only in the barbershop on average two days. Some weeks is only one day.
And then depending on travel and vacation, sometimes I’m not in the shop. But on average, I’m at least in the shop six days a month. So why am I still in the shop? Because I love cutting hair. I’ve been a licensed barber for… This year makes 16 years. And I seriously do not feel as if I work. Even when I was in the barbershop 65, 70 hours a week, I didn’t feel as if it was work because I truly enjoy what I do. I make connections with people, I meet people, I cut their hair, I make them look good, and at the end they give me money. And I’m just so blessed with that opportunity because not only that, when I first started cutting hair, I was charging $12 a haircut. So $12 haircuts allowed me to buy my first rental property. So on top of loving what I do, I feel as if I owe it to barbering. It’s my way of paying homage to the industry that allowed me to change my family’s legacy.

Rob:
That’s really cool, man. So are there any actual… What are some of those skill sets that you got from being a barber and running that business that have helped you succeed so much in real estate? I got to imagine there’s probably some parallels there.

Rick:
Yeah. I’m going to say like management skills, right? Because I own the barbershop. So being able to manage barbers and clients and things like that. Because I mean, the worst thing about flipping a house is dealing with contractors. That’s the worst thing of all. And it was so funny because one day it was actually when I was doing this, the house that I just told you that we sold for over 200, I got so bummed with that house, the third contractor I got screwed over with. I told the wife, “I’m done. We’re just going to sell the house. Even if we take a loss, we are so done.”
And then I listened to a podcast and Brandon was on, and Brandon just said, “You guys want to know how to deal with contractors?” And I’m like, “Yes. Yes, I do. I want to know how.” And he says, “They all suck.” And I’m like, “Oh crap, okay. It’s not just me. This guy’s in Hawaii and they suck out there too.” So that got my hopes up. I showed it to the wife and I said, “Look, they suck everywhere. We just got to deal with it. We’re going to make this work.”

David:
That’s a big piece of real estate, I think, sorry to interrupt you, but a lot of people think they’re doing something wrong because they can’t find a [inaudible 00:45:40] deal or stuff falls apart in the house. They anticipate, or the contract teams don’t get the job done and they think that means that they’re bad at it, when really everybody has these problems. But nobody wants to make a TikTok video to get a bunch of people to pay for a course by saying, “Let me show you all the ways I screwed up with contractors.” But that’s the reality of what everybody’s doing.

Rick:
Yeah, definitely true. And here’s another reason why I love being a barber. One of my houses that I found was via one of my customers. We’re small talking. He’s like, “Hey Rick, you looking to buy another house?” I was like, “Man, if the opportunity is there, I’m always looking.” He’s like, “Hey, my aunt’s selling this one. You want to go check it out?” I was like, “Sure.” I end up striking a deal with that. My plumber, great guy. I don’t cut his hair, but I met him via a barbershop. So I mean, it’s just the connections, it’s the networking, the connections that I make with people via barbering that allows me to, I feel, be successful in real estate as well.

David:
So on that note, can you tell us how you got into short-term rentals? I understand that you had a client that kind of helped you on that front?

Rick:
Yeah. So a friend, slash, client, they have a few short-term rentals and during COVID, we couldn’t really go nowhere and I wasn’t working. The government shut me down for I think about nine weeks and I’m like, “You know what? Let’s just go to the beach.” So we would go to the beach. It’s 20 minutes away from where we live, but for us going to the beach and coming back home sucks. So he had some short-term rentals, some beach condos, and I said, “Hey, how much for this weekend?” And he was like, “Oh, I’ll hook you up, a couple of hundred bucks.” So he’d hook us up. Well, we were doing that almost every two weeks, if not every weekend or just a Tuesday through Wednesday or whatnot like that.
And then I was like, “Man, I think I really like this complex. This complex is really super dope. They’ve got a gym, a sauna, a car wash, a pool, a hot tub, five minute walking distance to the beach. I’m going to look into one here.” So me and the wife looked into one and yeah, I saw it. I actually saw it on Facebook. It wasn’t via a real estate agent. And I got it for about 15 grand under market value. Yeah, so that was about two years ago. Two years ago we bought our first short term rental, which was a beach condo. And last year was our first full year with it. And I was like, “Holy smokes. I really like this short term rental stuff. This is very lucrative.”

Rob:
That’s cool. Do you get any other ones after that?

Rick:
Yes. Well, so what happened was, at my barbershop, so I own my commercial building. The building that I’m in at the barbershop, I own the building. We’ve had it for about seven years now. And there’s two units. It’s unit A and unit B. However, unit B… Unit A is the barbershop and that’s the street frontage. That’s what you see driving down the busy street. Unit B is behind the barbershop, so still, it’s zoned residential and commercial. So I would rent it out to, you rent it out to a vape shop, to an insurance people, to a few people here and there. Well, after one year, they were like, “All right, we’re done. Sorry, it didn’t work out here. We’re closing business.” And I’m like, “Man.”
And I tell them, “Look, it’s because you’re behind the barbershop. You have no street frontage. This isn’t a place that can be just start being a new business. It has to be an established business that really doesn’t even have customers coming in, more just office space.” Well, I put it for lease again after the third tenant moved out and it was only asking like a thousand bucks a month, right? Because it was like 1200 square feet. But I know the location wasn’t the best and I couldn’t get no one in. Took about two months, still no one in.
So I told the wife, “Hey, we’ve been saving up this money. How about we convert the back of the barbershop into an Airbnb?” And she said, “I can’t picture it. You got to explain it to me.” So I went over there and I kind of drew it out. “Look, this will be the kitchen.” Because it didn’t have a kitchen, it only had a toilet and a sink. So no shower. I said, “This closet right here, we are going to have to break the concrete for the plumbing, but this will be the shower. It’s got the bedroom here, it’s got an open floor plan. We’ll put another bedroom set up here.”
I explained it all to her and she’s like, “I like it. I think that’ll work.” So that took me about two and a half months for the construction and remodel. I furnished it and I literally put it on the short term rental websites. And on a Saturday, and like two in the afternoon after one of my kids’ football games. And then, bing, I’m like, “No freaking way.” Someone booked for the very next day. And I’m like, “Holy smokes, we got to make some money. Heck yeah.”

Rob:
Nothing beats that. And then you’re like, “Oh no, it’s not actually ready. I was just [inaudible 00:50:04].”

Rick:
Yes.

Rob:
And what was the game changing tip for using this short term rental in your commercial building?

Rick:
One of my customers, a customer of mine, he is actually the CEO of a local tourism group. So I was like, “Hey bud, I can’t get anyone in here. I’m thinking of doing this short-term rental. What are your thoughts?” He’s like, “Rick, I think this is a perfect location. You’re 15 minutes to the beach, you’re 15 minutes to downtown, you’re 15 minutes to the local hospital. I think it’s going to work out great.” And he gave me this one great tip. He said, “Only because I know this.” He’s like, “Every city’s different.” He goes, “But Corpus Christi, the number one booked short-term rental in this city sleeps six, so make sure it sleeps six.” I said, “Okay.” So I had the two queens and a pullout sofa. He said, “That works. As long as it sleeps six.” So yeah, that one’s actually busier than our beach condo, because our beach condo only sleeps four.

Rob:
Wow, okay. So the beds and heads strategy actually really paid off in this particular property?

Rick:
Definitely.

Rob:
That’s amazing. Okay, so your portfolio, as it stands today, you have nine long-term rentals, one commercial building and two short-term rentals, right?

Rick:
Correct.

Rob:
Okay. And so of your total portfolio, can you tell us what is your portfolio net worth and what is the net passive income, if you don’t mind disclosing those details?

Rick:
Yeah, so net worth’s about 3 million and passive income’s about 275 to 285 a year.

Rob:
That’s amazing. So you really went from barber to millionaire by really just consistently investing. You started small, you were going slow, boom, acquiring properties, just absolutely crushing it. And somehow, you were also able to really marry the trade of being a barber and a real estate investor and using those skill sets that you built through just years of that trade. That is an amazing story, man.

Rick:
Yep, exactly. Yeah, for sure. And here’s why I tell a lot of people like this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. I hate running. When I got out the army, I haven’t ran a day since I got out the army. Because the army made me run all the time. I walk. I’m like, “No, I’m a walker.” I walk three miles every day. And that’s about it. I hate running.

David:
Rick, I want to ask you, when people come to you and they hear your story, of course, they’re going to say what everyone says. They’re going to say, “I want to do this. How can I do this?” My opinion would be many of them are not ready to manage a portfolio because they’re not managing a business, they’re not managing their own lives. They think that they’re going to go from a life that’s chaos into managing potentially millions of dollars of assets and it doesn’t work. They don’t have the ability to manage the things that you’re doing. Is that the same perspective you have? Or do you think that people can get into real estate, buy a lot of houses, make money in it, if they don’t have an experience like what you had with the barber shop?

Rick:
I see both sides of it. I would agree with your first statement that yes, that was very beneficial for me and helped me. But I do think they can, it’s just going to be a little bit more organizational management that they’re going to have to learn in the process of buying the real estate.

David:
Maybe that’s the advice you’d give to people that are aspiring investors. It’s not just analyzing the deal and closing on it. There’s an entire element, once you’re done of actually managing this asset if you wanted to stay profitable that people need to understand.

Rick:
Definitely. Definitely. For sure.

David:
Well, that’s fantastic man. And I love the fact that you did this slow. That was a great line. This is a marathon, not a sprint. It does not help you if you start a marathon racing as fast as you can right out the gate, shooting to the front of the line just to run out of energy and get packed up by everybody else and then you can’t finish the race at all. Then best wealth, at least my opinion, it sounds like yours too, is wealth that is built slowly and consistently and as boring as you can possibly make it. Do you have any other advice for our listeners who are inspired by your story and want to follow in your footsteps?

Rick:
Yeah, what you state is exactly right. Once again, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t compare yourself to other people and live life the way you want to live life with real estate. If buying two properties changes your life because now you’ll never have a car payment because the properties pay that and that’s all you want, then stick with it. Do it. If you want 10 properties or 15 properties because you want to retire your wife or you want to physically retire from your nine to five because you don’t love it and you don’t like it, then go for it and do it. But if it takes 10 years, don’t get upset. Just stick to the grind, keep walking. Keep walking and you’ll get it.

David:
That’s cool, man. Well, what’s next? What’s on the horizon for you, Rick?

Rick:
So after we got the portfolio we have now, I told the wife, I want to obviously continue sharing my knowledge with the… And barbers and stylists are big in my heart because they make a lot of cash, a lot of cash. We’re cash industry, business. But because they make it quick cash, they spend quick cash. They spend it quick and I see it all the time on social media, in-person and I’m like, “Man, if I knew…” I’m 40 now. The most barbers, they’re young, 24, 25. I said, “If I can share with you to do what I did at 25”, I said, “When you become 40, you’re going to supersede me.” I said, “That’s what I’d love for you to do.” So I’m going to continue to share my real estate advice and coaching with barbers and stylists and obviously anyone who listen. I’m going to continue traveling the world with the Clipper company I work for and sharing barber techniques as well, because it’s just something I’m very passionate about.
And I’m going to continue to keep buying property. When we hit the goal of 10 in about eight years or whatnot, the wife said, “What now?” And I said, “We’ll buy one every year.” She’s like, “For when?” I said, “Forever.” She said, “One a year?” I said, “Yeah, that’s very doable. One a year is very doable.” If I live on average… I think, statistically men live to be 78. I’m 40, so that’s 38. That means when I pass, we should be able to have at least 45 properties total. So I mean that’d be a great inheritance to leave towards my three children.

Rob:
I love it man. I love the story. Well, thank you so much for sharing it, man. I think it’s going to be very inspirational for everybody at home listening. If people want to reach out or people want to connect or find out more about you or learn from your teachings here, where can people find you online?

Rick:
On Instagram, it’s @dapeoplesbarber. So it’s D-A, people with an S, and then the word barber.

David:
How much did you have to go back and forth deliberating between peoples with an S or peoples with a Z?

Rick:
That was not the deliberating part. The deliberating part was da versus the.

David:
That was my follow-up question. You beat me to it. That’s exactly what I was thinking. That’s good. Rick, do you have a BiggerPockets profile by chance on the website?

Rick:
I do not.

David:
Would you mind doing me a favor and making one?

Rick:
Yeah, for sure.

David:
Yeah, you’d be a huge asset to our committee in there, man. I’d love to see you on the website more. So everybody here, please do go follow Rick and then look him up on BiggerPockets [inaudible 00:57:06] there. You are a gem of an investor man. I really appreciate your time today. You’ve shared some great things. You’ve kept a level head on your shoulders, you’ve brought your wife along with the journey. Instead of finding with that person, you teamed up with that person. Doing it by faith and then just doing it slowly was awesome. So thank you for being on the show. Rob, do you have any last words before we get out of here?

Rob:
No, man. Very inspirational. Very, very inspirational. And if I’m ever in Corpus Christi, I will hit you up.

Rick:
Yeah, man.

David:
Yeah. And I want to make a last minute confession here. The world needs people like you to cut hair because no one knows this, but I actually have an addiction to getting my hair cut. I kind of got out of hand a couple of years ago and that’s why my hair looks like this, is every day I have to go in and get a haircut. And that’s the reason that I’m bald, it actually has nothing to do with inferior genetics or age or anything that people tend to think. It’s actually just a condition of mine. So I’m a protected class. Don’t make fun of me for that. So thank you for cutting hair because people like me that are addicted to haircuts absolutely need it. We’d love to have you on again, Rick, so let’s make sure you stay in touch, man. Appreciate you. This is David Greene, Rob Abasolo. Signing off.