0:01 Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of streamed consciousness. This is me and Daniel and the truck driving around with hardly ever to get into when we get together we'd like to try to piece one of these together for you guys so you can see what we're up to what we're talking about and where we're headed. And so, where we are today, Castroville Texas, it's about 3040 minutes west of San Antonio. It was a little corn town farm town, you know, just a couple years ago, and now it's getting really, really nice to get some major car dealerships, Walmart, I mean, you have a lot of things that, you know, a very small town wouldn't have. So this town is blossoming nicely. Neighborhoods going up a bunch of beautiful farms out here, people taking care of the land. It's not over industrialized, you don't have neighborhoods going up everywhere destroying farms. So it's a perfect balance of what a small town what happens when a small town merges with a big town. So this is cash flow right outside San Antonio, Texas. 0:51 One thing I like about this property is we talked to the seller, we got to get to the contract over the weekend when I was here, which I hardly ever do that. When I'm when I'm going to work virtually because I'm from California, but it's kind of cool getting to talk to the seller, we saw the Airbnb, we're going to house with this property. So free free real estate, you can get free houses anywhere other niche, you know. So it's kind of cool, getting free to free real estate free houses, talking to the seller to be as big a deal whenever we get it whenever it's completed, hopefully when we'll do another record breaking time on this one, and not to deal with the park. 1:26 Yeah, I think this is probably one of the most beautiful properties we're working on right now. So I really like this area. So it really makes me like happy to be in this business. Because I love flipping houses I've been in construction since I was a kid was like 12 years old. So I've done a lot of remodeling in my day. I mean, I couldn't I finally remodeled more than 100 homes. And I really love it custom homes, lots of big houses dominion, like a lot of the upper scale areas here in San Antonio. And I've been in a lot of nice homes, I've done a lot of nice custom work inside of homes myself. So I love the business, not really knocking it. But when I'm out here and surrounded by you know, 2500 acres, 1000 acres, 100 acres, it's just makes you see a part of Texas that you don't that normal people don't get to see, it's the hustle and bustle of the city, it's being in the office, you know, it's heading straight home, you know, kids a bed, boom, do it all again the next day. But being out here in the country, there's like there's farmers out here, ranchers, you know, there was a little bit slower paced life, but people have bigger squares of property. You know, and I live in a pretty nice neighborhood, you know, but you still only get like, a third of an acre, maybe, you know, quarter acre. So if you're out here in the country, it's like everybody has 10 or 20, or 50 or 100 acres. So if you got into a situation where you needed to borrow some money, I mean, you could just borrow against your 1000 acres, right. So it's not very big. It's not a very big significant piece of your wealth, or of your land. And that's where they live. So these people are well connected. They're wealthy, awesome, genuine people. God fearing just really, really a beautiful area to be in surrounded by amazing people out here in the country, and nobody's even paying attention to it. It's impossible to get shiny object syndrome, because there is no object, you know, you're just driving by and you see the hundreds of acres 1000s of acres, and it just looks majestic. And this is amazing. 3:13 Yeah, that's certainly cool out here, man. Like even right now we're driving just cornfields, random fields, few businesses pop up here and there. But it's just land. Lots of lots of lots of it. And plenty of it. I think the topic of this call was like, defending Texas, us land use land. And defending that from outside entities. There's a lot of people out here trying to buy US property. And that's not to say the immigrants or whatever, like most of our buyers are immigrants, but it's the it's the money, outside money that's trying to buy up all the property, which I think is like a lot of people in the United States that can't afford acres, like it's the American dream to buy and live in your own space. But there's outside money from foreign entities coming out here and buying acres up in droves. So one of the when me and Anthony been talking about this for a long time is that a lot of what we do has an internal battle. Like there's a bigger battle than just making money. I think a lot of people that just chase the money and chase them dollars. But there's a bigger battle happening over us land and over Texas Land. That's what we really want to talk about today. 4:22 Yeah, man. So it's something we think about all the time. You know, I've been in marketing for about 15 years, maybe longer now. I just keep saying 15 years for like the next 10 years. I really love it. I have a passion for it. And I watched it for a very, very long time. And I think marketing behaves like an organism. And then you start to watch what what any marketing environment could become right. So you see them morph into different things. So you'll see a small town get over industrialized and then it becomes neighborhoods or becomes factories or whatever that developer had in mind for that area. So I think by controlling the land, you're controlling certain markets like the path of growth in certain cities that We operate right at the cutting edge of growth and beyond, right, because we know that's where the city's heading next. But also, there's also more rural areas where they're not ready, they're not prime for a lot longer time. And so there's a lot of buying and holding strategy in land, because people are buying land, anticipating what's going to happen 10 or 20 years from now, or maybe 50 years from now. And I think that's an interesting legacy play, you know, to be able to, like, have to hand off to the next generation, your life's work, right, and now somebody else in the future is going to inherit a 50 years, 75 years worth of chess moves that you made in your lifetime. And I think that's fascinating. So if you think in terms of that skill, there's capital that's moving in us land, you know, at the rate of $200 million, $300 million. And once I learned that, I thought, you know, who are the players? Right, who are the players in this game? So ever since I've learned that years ago, it always makes me think about like, well, this is just a giant chessboard, then right, the United States, and the globe, for that matter, is a giant chessboard. And if you don't know that you're playing a game against all those other players out there, I'm gonna be willing to bet that you're probably losing, right, because you don't even know there's a game in the first place. But but your empty chair at the table is, has you in a losing position. So that's why it's something that Dan and myself are very passionate about. It's like, yeah, of course, we need the money, we want the money, we want to be successful in our businesses, and be able to bless the people around us and do some amazing things before we die. But there's a bigger, bigger game at play here. And, again, I think it has to do with national security, it has to do with legacy, it has to do with taking good care of the environment, let's say a foreign company, you know, just somebody who doesn't love the United States as much as we do, comes in here and throws up a million houses in an area over the last aquifer that's going to feed, you know, some, some city or a good portion of some city, you know, and it's not in our best interest, but some foreign dollar that's profit oriented first, is not going to care what happens to that local environment. So I think it's up to people like us, it's up to us to be able to be those forces that push back, gently push back, and then force forcefully if it happens, if it comes to that. But if we can just play smart chess, make smart moves and defend the land, how we see fit, to protect not only the local environment, but the local community and the growth and also future generations, then it's time for us to stop pretending that the game is not happening, at least, at least once you become aware of it. Now you can choose to sit out, you know, and cower down and not do anything about it. Or you can just get in the game. And that's what Dan and myself are pushing everybody to do every single day is it's just get in the game. 7:45 So we're definitely a little fish in a small pond. But I'll give you guys a real life example. So I was watching. I don't watch the news or anything. But I saw something online about how Saudi Arabia had bought farmland to build to, to grow off alpha. So Falfa is a very water heavy driven crop. And the Saudi Arabian company bought the land to build alfalfa to the point where they're, they're drying up all the water from the aquifer What now, other properties that you said putting in water are now suffering, because they're pulling so much water draw from that, from that property itself. And from that area, I told Anthony about that. And it's like they're literally stealing our water, because they have available resources. It's a valuable resource out there as far as alfalfa goes. So it might be cheap, a cheap resource out here because it's plentiful. But out over there, as soon as they grow it and ship it back. They're essentially stealing our water through the purpose of a crop above alpha. 8:48 So let's let's think about that for a second. Right, let's say on the chessboard, there's been this game that we're playing on the game board, there's there's valuable resources scattered throughout the game board. And they've been scattered there for millions, whatever, eons right, since Jesus Christ walked here. And there's these lakes and puddles, and within streams and creeks and dams and rivers, somebody's going to own all that. When I knew, I might wonder I was a kid growing up, you think, Oh, the rivers and the lakes, oh, the government owns those. You know, the government doesn't own anything. They own some national parks, like some sizable lakes or rivers. But a lot of that is privately held. So you have developers out there that are building neighborhoods and your big three, right, that are throwing up hundreds of houses all over the country, but they're not buying what we're buying, they're heading in the opposite direction. Right? They're headed after development land, it's nice and flat and has good drainage and access to water there. That's what they're looking at. So they can water these houses. And us in our mind, like we're looking at a lot of like flooded land and bottom land and stuff like that, where those resources run in abundance. So I think the direction that we're headed in the niche that we're playing in long run long term is going to prove to be the best niche to have been in since They won. 10:02 Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of cool things like that. But it really, really opens your eyes to other possibilities. And this is where like it's different level, like the joke, different levels to this is literally different level that like we didn't even see at first, when we got into the land space. This is one of the things that as we've been in it longer and longer, we're seeing different opportunity to the point where the cash flow property we just came from there, they're doing Hey, they have a Haley's on it. And they're taking hay from that. And that produces a certain amount of bales of hay per year, as long as it's not a drought. And this is where like drought really affects the economy in a lot of different ways that I didn't even notice as well. Like I learned a lot about hay bales and price per bale, and how many acres you can take. And if it's, if it's a rainy season, you're in a lot more hay, like I learned a lot just talking to the seller. But there's this is information that's been passed down to all these ranchers, like generation to generation, there's just no, like, there's other ways to profit off the land than just building on it. And that's the only way developers look at it. So this is like the ranchers know, multiple ways to do it. And we're learning more and more about that, as we progress down this rabbit hole of large, large farm and ranch. 11:13 Okay, yeah. So here, let me blow your mind real quick. So you got the one he's talking about foreign company comes in, buys up all the water right effectively is what they're doing is buying up all the water in that area. So much so that it's draining people's homes, right, and then they have this valuable resource, they can ship back home and sell for any price they want. Because obviously, the water doesn't run in abundance over there, right. So they're stealing the water marking up the property. So it's like they're benefiting off of off of this one particular strategy. And again, that's where an organism comes in and doesn't care about the remainder of the organism, something that's gonna lead to something detrimental. I went and looked at the 2500 acre tract this past weekend with Michael Suarez and Christa Shut up, shout out to them, they're gonna frickin destroy it. We have this broker who's telling us that he knows them another property owned by Lubbock. That's $80 million. And the guys doing like cotton, and I don't know what else over there. But the guys willing to sell it for 80 million. Have a you have a company coming in to pick it up with 80 million cash. So that tells me that there's there's some serious capital out there that's coming in the US land at a very high rate. So just makes me wonder for one, where does that cash come from? Who are the players in the game? And if there is a game that big to be played? Why aren't we playing? That's what I think about. It's like, why 12:31 aren't we playing in? Yeah, this is the point where we hit a game you get, you don't have to, like have bigger thinking. And I think we progressed and grown. And this is like the whole thing of us as investors, us personally, we've grown every stage to the point we are now and I hope we continue to grow. But a lot of other investors and business people, they just stay in their one spot and they can stay content and they find a good niche. And I think that's the best they could do. But stay curious, man, stay curious out there. keep learning, keep educating, keep delving down and learning and getting the information you need. Because there's more there's always another deeper level that you're not seeing. There's a deeper level that can be monetized as a deeper level that might pay more money and it's easier in some spaces. But there might be a deeper level that you might have to put up road signs like we did today. 13:25 I mean, I'm done with breaking a sweat. I love it. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm moving somewhere if I'm at the gym and let's go put up some signs. I was digging holes Andrew, myself low on that six, you know, for property. Yeah, I was out there digging holes. You know, I couldn't let Andrew do it. I don't even have to show up. Give me that shovel. I want to get a little bit of action. 13:43 But I think I think it's one of the little that's one of the things where you got to lead from the front. And like today we're hammering some nails. We forgot that we forget the drill. We got screws, but we got the drill. So now we're hammering nails, putting up signs. I'm out of town, driving and I'm here putting up signs 14:00 on your road trip to go fix up a ranch real quick. 14:03 Yeah, you're putting in work. So I think it takes it takes a lot of effort to do big things. And this is where like, you can't do it by yourself. You're just not going to do it. There's so much work and effort and resources involved, that you're just not going to do it. It's too hard. 14:22 Yeah, definitely lots of moving parts. I would say guys, you know, get in the game as soon as you can learn everything you can. And lock elbows with anybody if it's not with us lock elbows with somebody find somebody that you love and trust and go get it. Yeah, it's a bigger game at play here. The game might not be available forever. 14:41 The game may not be available forever. We will talk about that and that's a good that's a good point. The game may not be available here forever. I think I think the Texas Game is gonna be here for a very long time. I think if we focus just on Texas, then we'll be here for a long time. But this is the point where like you There's a lot of there's a lot of talk right now about the debt ceiling in America and us not being able to run out of money at the end of June or middle of June this year, as the government, this episode probably come out right around that time, I don't know what's going to happen. Still middle of May, but government run out of money. And we're there's a lot of efforts going on to devalue the US dollar now. Especially the word of Ukraine, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, they're all joining forces against the United States dollar. So what are you going to do? What are you gonna do? You have to think about opportunity elsewhere. And this is where I told them, I told my wife this before, too, is this like, there might come a point, we have to leave the US. Not that I want to happen. And once I want to live in somewhere else, it's just, it's a realization that things may not be the same forever. And if you think that way, I think it's dumb thinking, but definitely be ready to adapt and change if needed, if need be, and needed. And it requires. 16:09 Yeah, I'm thinking to like, you know, maybe maybe the country doesn't collapse, you go into turmoil, you know, but even if, like, I guess, other bigger players are coming in and buying everything, you know, how long we for there's no longer it's not no longer makes sense to compete with them. If they bought all the best properties, and a radius around every major US city, you know, for 100 miles or 200 miles? How do you compete with that? Right? So I feel like there's kind of a race to that is where if we can buy rings around every major US city that we dominate, we own now we own the most valuable resources, and let's include the farms and ranches that serve those communities as well. Because that's, that's the backbone of the whole infrastructure. It's like if you go to HEB, or you go to Walmart to get groceries, what do you do when there's no eggs on the shelf, no milk on the shelf, there's no cheese on the shelf. There's no beef on the shelf, no ham. When all that farming stops, everything stops. So we needed we like I said, there's not a lot of time to move. I mean, even if, if it's a 10 or 20 or 30 year curve, there's no time to waste the time to move. 17:14 Every every today is the best day to start working in making a difference and making a change. 100%. But one thing I really want to change students like a lot of I think a lot of us land and real estate is all held by individuals. I think I think NCCER becoming more powerful, getting back funds and all that stuff. But I think I think like even the stock market, there's like $3 trillion of managed capital, by hedge fund managers that are managed into the stock market, their name and self managed so I think there's a lot of St. Louis same real estate. There's a lot of individual owners and individuals that own a lot of this. This asset and acid capital. And this is where like I think this is the big advantage of our next lady talks about the silver tsunami and the boomers retiring and passing away and that next generation taking that that control. I think that's there's about two waves that happen in every sector, including businesses land ranches. I mean every ranch owner we talked to is mostly over in their 60s or 70s Every single one older, every single one of you have you talked to a ranch owner that's under 50 18:25 Nope, one guy I think it was in his 30s but he owns something far next North Texas that was like 2000 acres of massive property but like I was an anomaly every single hundreds or if not 1000s of people I've talked to you yeah there are these are senior citizens do senior 18:41 citizens man and even the agents that represent the sellers they're all senior citizens to Yeah, 18:48 yeah some of them old boys and old agents they've been in the game forever and they're really good guys they know that land better than you ever thought you're going to and they're sharp guys are razor sharp and they're very wealthy. 18:59 No and that's that's the funny part like the ranch game is all men there's a definitely a new wave man of opportunity for the land space as a whole man 100% There's opportunity if you're an investor if you're an agent if you're just just dig down deep and you're gonna do some business for a long time man it's such a cool it's such a cool niche. Like I said we probably past 10,000 acres in the last 20 minutes since we've been on this call it's plenty opportunity. There was a there was a tweet the other day that said that every every strip mall because he's he's a strip mall person is every strip mall is owned by somebody that you passed. And then I took it to point even further than that, like every land. Every land that has a strip mall on it is owned by was owned by somebody before they put the strip on it. Somebody, somebody monetized. Everything you see built at some point over and over again, every time. And this is where like real estate change changes hands all the time. We had a call today with a apartment broker, he sold apartment. Pay people, he sold the apartment for the previous owner. 15 years, the new owner came in remodeled it for two and now it's changing hands again, he's ready to sell and exit. So think about this. Apartments change hands all the time. He was like he thought it was an anomaly about the apartment owner before him holding it 15 years. Imagine land these guys hold it forever. They're holding that thing forever. And it's just passed down. And then that next generation is the one that's willing to sell it most cases. I saw something yesterday that the Texas Texas Property taxes is forcing that next generation to sell because they can't even afford the taxes 21:00 aren't even think about that. 21:01 They can't even afford the taxes. They can't even pass that ranch down because the taxes are insane. Here in Texas, 21:09 and I'm gonna say do something to alleviate that before they hand it off. But sometimes Yeah, it's not planned exit. 21:14 So plenty of opportunity here. Plenty of opportunity happening in the near future. There's a lot of land to be had, there's a lot of protection we do. And this is why we like selling to my Spanish speakers and better investors. We're in there buying it and selling it to minorities, and they're the ones holding it. You know, it's not going back to it's not going it's not going to outside entities. It's not going to someone we don't know, per se, you know. So there's a lot of defense going on. And hopefully you guys can help us with that. Control the market control the game guys. Control the market control the game? Well, we appreciate you all we're doing we're having an event this year in San Antonio, October, last week of October, last week of September 1 of October. It's like the first weekend, I don't have the dates in front of me. But we'll put the link in the bio if you guys want to check out the hive mind event. This is our third annual event. Here in San Antonio, it's going to be a small time about 30 people, Max, we'll probably get like, five speakers or so that too heavy. But two days of stratification. We're gonna record it but we're not releasing it. 22:39 I can proudly say that the information you're gonna hear in that room was not heard in very many rooms at all in the world. 22:45 It's very specialized knowledge to the point where our team is talking circles around business people here and so it's funny. 22:55 Our 20 year old team members are out networking and you know people canceling their poker games, pull them aside and be like, Okay, we need to talk. Funny 23:06 experience, but those guys can be dangerous. They are any dangerous. We appreciate you guys listening in. Please go like share, subscribe, do all the things you know how to do. I gotta ask but I'm gonna ask anyway. We'll see on the next episode is Anthony Daniel. 23:26 I'm on Route. Wow.