On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. You're lacking. Don't let that get in the way. And don't think don't dwell on the fact I gotta get my masters. I gotta get my bachelor's. I gotta get this kind of financing lined up. I need to get these things in place. Just take that first couple of steps.
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe Gathering fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars, from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today.
We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a The and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and Kings like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe, Gathering the Kings podcast. Today, I've got George Newberry on the king stage.
How are you good, sir? Good. Good. Thanks for having me on Chaz. A 100%. I'm excited for this, this little get together here. Why don't you tell us what kind of business that you have? Sure. So I run a a company called American Homeowner Transportation. We own a National Mortgage servicer, national mortgage originator, pre REO, which is The marketplace for where institutions sell distressed mortgages. To real estate investors on a The off basis.
We also own a title insurance company and a number of other related businesses. So we're busy. It's it's, you know, we've grown. We started this 14 years ago, and we've kind of evolved into what we The Yeah. I love it. I love that you're in the, not just the lending space, like you said, but then you've got these these these auxiliary businesses that I go along with. And so or ancillary. And so looking forward to getting to to know you some of your story.
I am curious about your take on the market and where we are right now. We'll probably get him some of that as well, but Before we do any of that, George, I wanna know what makes you tick. Like, why are you still doing this? You're 14 years in. You've had a massive level of success. Alright. Why are you doing this? It's too you know, if you ask me 2 years ago, I said I really like working. I do.
It's like, you know, I I like accomplishing Kings, and I like to do things where people say Kings of think The way you can do that. And and and prove them wrong and do it So, I mean, background, I have a I have a GED. I 14 years ago or, no, it's almost 20 year. 20 years ago, I owned almost 4000 apartments across The country, so I built, quite an empire.
And that was by taking risks, calculated risks, and they're working really hard to make sure that they that they turned out successfully, but that's You know, that's that's what I've liked. 22 months ago, my life was changed. I had a my life was changed a couple times in my life, but that was a big moment in time. My wife and I welcome Twin Baby Boys to the world, and that really does change she or for me, let let's just talk about myself. It really changed my mindset.
I mean, more than anything, I wanna spend time with them and and teach them and guide them and support them And and it's been an awesome experience, but all of a sudden, it it it forced it's well, for me, it's forced me to balance my life as much as possible. It still a little bit out of balance, but I'm feeling better Chaz I as I, you know, the weekends are really devoted to Jorge and Randy are The are are my two boys. And and now been alleged trans a transformation for me.
But what makes you say? Where where are we going from here? You know, I still have big goals, and there's, you know, one mammoth goal that we're trying to accomplish. I'm putting together and have put together a team which I can help hope can help accomplish Chaz. And then that will really help me spend more and more time with with my boys. Yeah. I love it. Obviously, the, the father's heart, man, it's it it changes everything. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that.
Mom or dad, the same. It's the same spirit, some part. So when when I so I got I'm gonna use that perspective that you've got here now. Kings maybe has a vein throughout show, but I would love to know before the Kings. Was it just like all out just goals only, like, and you just had permission to do so because you didn't have that or or give me give me a little bit be maybe before, you know, pre Kings. Yeah. Preach Kings. Well, let me go.
I'll go to 2007. So 2007, we had extraordinary growth The was me and about twenty people. Everybody reported to The, and I was working relentlessly. I'd get in the office probably about 9 o'clock on on average. I worked till about midnight, and then I go home. And I walk to work, and I work I live live The work about 5 minutes. Workplace at home. We're about 5 minutes from more than others. So it was really all about work, and I'd work I'd get it The work out, you know, probably between the 2.
And that was it. And and it was fun, and and I was growing the business. But at that point, I realized, hey. This is unscalable. I'm going to if I have to be a part of every major decision or even every minor decision, that isn't going to work long term. And a friend of mine had, had shared similar challenges and he had hired a CEO for his company and who came from, you know, more of a not so much an entrepreneurial background, but more of a corporate background.
And he he shared how transformative that was. So I said, hey. I gotta do the same thing. So I have, you know, at that point, it was me in 20, in 2007. I have since changed and and and hired leadership. You know, many people Chaz as certainly in whatever they do, they're disciplined. They know a lot more than I do.
And they come from a mindset that isn't necessarily an entrepreneur where, you know, we get excited about doing a deal and Kings just, like, focus on that deal and and everything else may not be running at option and option speed. So now there's actually or we actually have an organization between all our companies is about a 120 employees, and so it really has grown into a company where know, we have a goal. I'll share, you know, I shared that I have a big goal. Right now, I'll turn 60 in 2025.
My goal is to have to take this company public and get us on the New York Stock Exchange roll up all the individual companies into 1, which we're already working on doing, and then and they get this list on the New York Stock Exchange. We're not that far I mean, I need I need a good downturn. All of our businesses will thrive in a downturn, and that's where we can pick up significant market share.
So Today is preparing for that downturn downturn Grove significant market share, Roam Revenue, and that would prepare us for something in 2025 2026, right, in that area where we can actually accomplish that goal. That would be big achievement, obviously, big achievement. For me, it's a big goal. And I always set these big goals and then Kings work towards The. Step by step. And and, that's how you can accomplish.
I mean, in mind, mind, you can really accomplish anything you set your mind out to it, but you gotta break it down to, like, all these little steps. And when you look at the if you try to look at it as one big step, it's really hard to imagine, The. Chaz I really get this done? But if you if you do if you take it step by step, you can Kings say, okay. Well, I got here. And and then it's, you know, you it's it's just taking those steps.
So that's been Kings of the mantra for my life, and I've done a lot of different things where, you know, I kinda set my mind to something and then work work towards it. And it always it is that little breaking it down to the little bite sized pieces where you're not necessarily looking at the the end goal because that can be a little bit daunting is the right word. Exactly. It's like, oh my god. Can I really ever get there?
And and, certainly, you know, this is a goal now, and and everyone who comes on the team knows the goal And we're we're a long way from it. We don't know where near the revenue that would justify that Chaz, but, but we think you can get there. Yeah. I love I love the the big the big goal, the mammoth goal, as you say. And then, obviously, just the real the realization of the little steps. Thank you for the reminder because I think we all know Chaz. We've all heard it.
We've all read it in a book. We've listened to it in an audio, or they've listened to it for the first time now. You're saying it, but it's so simple. Like, of course, break it down, take a step by step. But it doesn't always work like that because our brains just wanna, like, skip over a bunch of stuff and get to the end result. I'd love to hear your thoughts maybe on that before we transition away from the subject.
Anything there that you wanna give as far as the our natural tendency to wanna skip things? Yeah. I know. It's a step by step. Everything's The stage. That's just like a someone said to that, but, like, 40 years ago. And, I mean, I'm sure there's other ways of saying it, but it is. Or or it maybe it's inch by inch. Everything's a cinch. Let's see. That's that's the one. But either way, it it's the same thing. It's just taking steps.
And I'll tell you so it's always been that way in my life with with little I I'll take a go. Okay. This is what I wanna do. Let me let me break it down. Give me an example, which is Kings The which is kind of far fetched, but then in my mind, I believe I could do it. So in 1984, there was, they Chaz the Olympics in Los Angeles. And, there was a bike bike race. And I not that I I delivered papers on my bike, but I never really rode a bike seriously, but I said, hey.
I get in with him from a bike racer. And, a couple years later, so I started, you know, I I I bought a better bike than I had. I started riding. And somewhere I read, okay, bike professional bike races ride 500 miles a week. So I started riding 500 miles a week, which is just, like, a huge amount of mileage. Yeah. But I said, well, that's what you gotta do.
And I was, was probably writing a I I know I was writing a lot slower than any of the the pros, but either way, I was putting in the work, and that was really key. And then I started writing with group and and started riding on kind of a that these training rides with increasingly better riders. And and then I started racing. And and by 1988, I was in the Olympic trials in in Spokane, Washington, and I was 42nd.
They take the top 5, so I didn't I didn't get on the team, but it was you know, it is something where I was in on a trade team. I was riding. You know, I raced as my livelihood. It was it was a modest livelihood truth to be told, but that was my life for, like, 5 years. And it was cool to kinda get to Chaz, say, okay. This is what I can do, and then do it. Knock quite reaching the goal, but lots of times it it was close.
And in my mind, it kind of, you know, I always I always think that, you know, again, I'm repeating myself a little bit, but same perspective. Like, we're all humans. You know, if you if you decide, you know, we all may it's easy to focus on what we don't have. I don't have a college education. Okay. Yeah. I I don't think I could do The, or as a result, or I don't know. You know, I didn't start bike racing when I was, you know, 10. I started when I was 18. And so you could look at these Kings.
Well, okay. That's why it's not gonna work out, but look at what you do have. You know, if you have The willingness is by far and away will will prevail over over education, over money, over skills, training, I mean, there's a that will can I mean, you see it in sports? Sports is like the obvious one. And bike racing was great because either you were doing putting the work in or you weren't if you weren't, it was evident. Like, okay. You know, this guy's out the back and and he's done.
So if you put in the work, it it showed, and same as a business and a thing ballet, whatever the pursuit is, piano, if you put in the work, it shows, and you win the race, and a lot of my life actually goes back to bike Gathering. But if you win the race, It wasn't because what you did that day. It's because what you did in the months and even years prior to that day. And it's The same in business taking company public that isn't gonna be something that's going to happen. Like, oh, it happened.
Like, there's this co company, all of a sudden, went public. It's months and years of preparation and building and building. And the reality is, or my experience for sure, and I think it is for most people, it's not like a steady growth. It's usually like a like a growth and then you then a few steps back and then you you you go again and and eventually, you know, you make it progress Chaz you hit the goal, but there's a lot of a lot of steps back.
But bike racing was, again, a really good exam a really good lesson in that you learn more from your success than your fail from your failures than your success. So every time I lost a race, every time I it didn't work out, I'd examine and say what Could I have done better? What did the winner do that I didn't do? And how can I do that? And the same thing, you know, what are some of the the business leaders in this world doing that we can all learn from it. And they all put out books.
They all do talks on YouTube. It the information's out there. You know, when I was a bike racer, it was I was reading books like over and over to try and figure out how to do stuff. And that information's out there. It's just a matter of, following it and following that guidance and taking what's helpful and and and and starting out what isn't. Yeah. I would even turn what you're talking about as far as studying and preparing and and all the things that still fits into the will. Right?
Like, if you If you Wolfe If you're willing it, then that's that's a great place to start. If you don't if if you don't will, it's happened. You're not gonna spend the time searching the video or searching the box or whatever. And watching that video, like, 8 times to Kings, like, get every to digest it all. Because last times, you know, as even books, you know, you read them once, that's helpful, but you you every time you read it or or or go back to certain sections, like, okay.
How did this really work out? And so Yeah. Exactly. I love it. Okay. So let's let's use your your little platform that you created here for us of of learning from our failures and making them is I actually wanna know of a bad decision that you made in business that that we can learn from that you learn from.
Catastrophic, colossal failure Chaz so I I actually wrote a book about it I had a NASA brought a success, and it was all to do with hard work from probably my mid twenties through through probably So 1990 for the next, 13 years years, I had a massive running success. The I was turned 25 in 1990. I got my first real job as my in my, you know, it was a bike racer still, but It wasn't it wasn't making any money. I'm still living with my parents house. I was working at a bike shop. I said, okay.
I gotta do something different here. And, one of my teammates, girlfriends always had a nice car always seemed comfortable, so I asked her what she did. And she said, hey. She was a mortgage loan officer, so she helped me get my life and become a mortgage loan officer. Actually, I got hired at the company that she, she she worked out when she got promoted. And and a couple years later, actually, started my own company and I and I hired her. So yeah. So she but she was really helpful.
And but that was the catalyst. I needed somebody to kinda show me and and guide me and be there when I have questions. And once I started working, you know, I went into this the phone room. Literally, I was in a a contact center, and it was just me and a handful of other people, and we're all Kings clustered together. And one thing notable back then, this is 1990. They still allowed smoking in the office.
So I remember one of the Chaz Slope next to me, and it was like, I go into this Kings, you know, this bike race and Abby's slope is smoking a slope all day. It was terrible, but that's some that's what it was, but I could hear. I was here. I was closer up to everybody that could inhale their secondhand smoke, but also over here all their conversations. So I just got a sponge. I was a sponge for all this info. And, you know, I was excited because when I first started the job, they said, okay.
For the next 2 months, you get a $2000 drop. After that, it's commission only, and it's $150 for every appointed The you set that turns into eventually turns into a closed loan. And so I into everybody. And I also figured out, okay, some of these people go to lunch. Well, most of you go to lunch or go to a doctor's appointment during work hours, and I said, okay. One of the Kings, if I can just be here from 8 to 8, you know, they open at the doors at 8, they close at 8.
I'll just be here the whole time. Every single day, when I went to the, like, the restroom, I'd run to the restroom and run back because I rapidly figured out The more calls you answered, the more you're gonna close, Kings of very basic math, but very It was clear that others were were not Chaz as focused on that. Yeah. So, basically, I took all my bike racing focus determination and strategy and applied it to Kings at a contact center. So within 6 months, I was top performer.
Believe me, when I started this job, I needed nothing about mortgages. I mean, I basically knew what a mortgage was, but that was it. The callers knew more than me. But, you know, every time somebody asks me a question, I if I didn't know, I say, hold on. I let me good question. Let me ask their supervisor, ask The. And then, they give them the answer. And, and that way I learn, and then, okay, in my mind, and I write things down, okay, this this is what to do.
And and, eventually, I got comfortable with it. And and my follow-up was just people don't listen to other people. People don't realize that that The sale doesn't happen on the first call. It happens. It's and it's all over the internet all over every book. You know, it takes, like, 7 or 8 impressions to get a sale, but people want that that first called to be the sale. And if not, they didn't follow-up. I was following up incessantly. And when I followed up, I wasn't me. I I'd asked, okay.
You know, okay. You're not ready to go ahead with loan know, when when would be a good time for me to call and they'd say, yeah, give me a call in a month. And I'd actually call them in a month. Most people didn't, so I'd actually call them in a month. It's kinda like today, I'd go on on a on websites and fill out a contact us form, and then no one calls me. It's just unbelievable either way. So so that that was my my entree at a business. So 2 years I I rose through that company's ranks.
I became a loan officer, then The branch manager, and then I split off and started my own mortgage company. And, and this was Now it's, like, 90 that was 92. So 9394, the real estate market Kings getting got shaky in California. And and there was a bit of quite a bit of a downturn, so I started buying distressed properties. And within by 98, I had about 500 units in California, and the market started improving. So then I started buying outside of California.
And in fact, my first big out of state acquisition was in Kansas City, Missouri. I bought a yeah. I bought Pickup Plaza Downtown, which is right near city hall. It's 233 units. And then I went to and I kept buying bigger And what I would do is I'd buy the the most challenging properties I could find because they were always at a big discount, and then I would work really hard and transform them and then and then sell and I had bought I'll step back in LA.
My last major acquisition, I bought 2 98 units in downtown Los Angeles for 850,000, which just seems okay. That seems preposterous. That's right. Wow. And it it was, but it wasn't because my massive deal make you a really secret deal. I'll I'll tell you The story. So in The that was 98 when I bought it for $850.
Go back about 5 years, and that same property has sold for $4,000,000, but the property was in such bad shape that the owner went to jail over slum The have a slum housing tax force in LA. And the property they they gave him some orders to do some work. He wasn't able to finish it, and he got put in jail. So he sold it for two and a half 1,000,000. And that buyer went to jail. So that guy sold it for 2,000,000, and that buyer went to jail. So now no one wanted to buy it because it's like, okay.
Buy the property equals. You're blowing shit to prison. Yeah. Yeah. So that that is not a good, and and. The guy that I buy it from. Now The he put him in jail for a year, as soon as he got released, they deported him because he came to America with $2,000,000 bought this property. And then now he went back penniless and with a with a criminal record.
So when I bought it, I before I bought it, the inspectors, because I knew it from my projects, which were granted much smaller, and they said, but I bought stuff that was in, you know, head code enforcement and different issues. And they said, don't buy it. We're gonna innovate it for Sarah. This is the Don't do it. And, of course, you know, I'm like, no. I I can do this. And so I bought it. Chips still on your shoulder? Don't tell me. I can't Yeah. Exactly. That's it.
So don't tell me, yeah, The I always have that telling me don't do it. And then that's that almost makes you wanna do it more or better yet. He can't do it or something like that. Sometimes there's no way this guy's gonna pull it up and then, okay. I'm gonna work, like, crazy to make it make it work. So this So I bought it. And I met with the inspector shortly after buying it, and they said, and they said, okay. Got 6 months. We can't selectively prosecute.
So You gotta get The thing done in 6 months, or we have to take action like we've done against everyone else. And so I was so I worked really hard, and they came by every single month. And they said, hey. Making good progress because I was making major progress. And but on December 31st of 2008, I bought in June 2008. A friend of mine called me and said, hey. You're in the paper. And I said, for what? He said 34 criminal charges filed against Braddondo Beach Man, which turned out to be me.
And I I was, you know, your heart Kings and everything. What what did I get myself into? But I had made good progress. I knew they knew that. So I but I I was, granted very scared first and last, luckily, criminal criminal brushed, but I and I couldn't reach my attorney, which was scariest Kings. So I went the whole weekend. It was a Friday. So I went the whole weekend, not knowing.
And, but the first thing that crossed my mind when my friend called is I lived about 10 minutes for my parents, and I thought, oh my goodness. My parents are gonna read this in the paper about their son. I can't let that happen. So I I I the it was in Los Angeles time, so I drove over to my parent's house, and I failed to pay mistake, believe The had yet to open. Swooped it up. The metro section was missing from that paper that day. And I walked out the door and said, bye.
And I didn't tell them until after this was all done, which took a little Wolfe. But the Monday, I got ahold of my attorney. He called the city attorney. The city attorney said, hey. We know it's making good good progress, but we can't selectively prosecute. So they agreed that I would be pay a $10,000 fine and be on probation. And and I was like, oh, god. I'm gonna have to go, like, probation office every week or something like that.
But they said, no. They gave me summary probation, which is the lightest form of probation, which allows that as long as you don't get into trouble, then and I had 3 years, but I couldn't get into trouble, Chaz long as I don't do that, then then probation's over and nothing nothing happens. I don't have to do any reporting or anything like that. So I graded the terms. I paid the $10 and it took me 11 more months. So I'm always, as an entrepreneur, always very optimistic.
I thought I'd get it done 66. I got it done at 17, but on in in The, a few days before Thanksgiving. All the inspectors came in on one day, they had to go through the 298 unit property and which was by and not find a single violation, which we had a few false stars, but that day, it worked. And, and they signed off on it. I promptly sold the building and made over a $1,000,000. And I said, wow. It it was I was excited, but also it was a mixed blessing. It emboldened me.
It kind of made me think, okay. I'm going to I can take on any challenge, even where everybody else has failed, and I can prevail. And so that was a negative part of it. So I went Kansas City. I bought Pickwood Plaza where they had 8 murders in the prior prior year, and and I moved in because mostly people thought it was admirable that I actually moved in the property that I that I transformed, but actually I was kinda cheap. That was the real reason. That's the truth.
Why buy it at a hotel when I have, like, plenty of vacancies that this Yeah. This complex I'm working on. So I moved in and, but we tried it around and and it was a big success. So then I kept buying and And in 2000 and shortly thereafter, I think it was 2001. I purchased 1 of the biggest complexes in the entire country called Woodland Meadows Apartments. It's 1100 units in Columbus, Ohio. Wow.
And it was nicknamed Uzi Ali because it had been just infested with drugs, gangs, prostitutes, completely out of control. And The 54 Acres, a 122 buildings, this massive massive property, and Chaz was my big biggest challenge. And you were I'm getting to the point because your question was, what was your biggest failure? So this is the run up to it. So I'll tell you what happened. Because it was my biggest failure, and and I could have done so many things differently.
And and my life would have been different. Not better. Just different. Yeah. If I hadn't had this this major setback in my life. So I set about executing my formula The time on a major stage because the media was totally paying attention to this building. And or this complex.
And and so I, you know, one of the things I noticed was predominantly minorities a African American Hispanic tenants, and they had a Wolfe man, all white security force, all armed with, like, cars, security cars, and stuff like that. And and this was causing a huge amount of friction on the property, and it was mostly their behavior. And even worse, I mean, this is I've never seen a property since or before or since with this one.
I Wolfe call it The amenity, but one piece that they actually had a jail on the property. A jail cell on the property. So they actually the security would do citizen's arrest and then take them to the security office and put them behind bars in this jail just to extraordinary. And I remember one day I was in the security office. I was like, what? There was a young man behind the j in the jail cell, I said, what is this? And and I own this property. What what is going on here?
And and they said, well, though, we believe he was he was stealing drugs at the real police Chaz Columbus PD are coming over. They're on their way to take them. And I said, let him go. I said, I I mean, I it It didn't it didn't make sense. I didn't wanna be part of it. We promptly dismantled the The. That was the end of that, but just unbelievable that that was The. And Chaz it was just like this kind of factory.
Well Yeah. That's not the but it was the lack of opportunity and the massively high unemployment rate on property was contributing, and then the the the aggressive policing was contributing to these elements to to this dynamic. Hey, Chaz Wolfe here. As many of you know, I have been on absolute mission to help entrepreneurs from all across the country in many different industries, level up their game and grow their business, and intentionally connect with other entrepreneurs.
We do Chaz, obviously, through the podcast, but we also have a peer to peer mastermind group specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners. We are bringing some of the best and most successful entrepreneurs and minds together in a regular and a super intentional way to not only grow our network, but to be able to leverage.
And at a certain point in business, success becomes about leverage, leveraging time, leveraging resources, leveraging key relationships, The is exactly what we're doing inside of the peer to peer mastermind group called Gathering the Kings, specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners, So if that's you, if you're ready to level up your 7 to 9 figure business even to the next level and get around other big hitters just like you, I want you to
go to gathering the Kings dot com, flood a short application, and, it'll come to an application, call with me and I wanna chat with you to see if it might be a good fit. Talk soon. And so what we did, I was I was scared when I made this decision because the property manager suggested it And I was hesitant, but I because it it it disrupts the status quo that had been there forever, but We fired all the police. All all the security. We let them go all in one day.
And the media, people are predicting absolute bed limit The profit. Like, this is gonna go completely out of control. Right? But we replace them with a community patrol, which is made up, of made up of the tenants Tennessee wanted to make The property better. And we and none no one armed. No one was armed. And it it worked. It was myself, the property manager in first. It was like 2 or 3 tenants, but soon enough, people saw, hey. They're really trying to make a change here.
So And that's what the majority of the people living at the property wanted was changed. Right. So they started helping out, and we made just massive progress within months, the crime rate had dropped in half. And, again, people were predicting like The is gonna go go berserk. Yeah. And it went completely the opposite just extraordinary. Now we still had issues. I mean, domestic violence issues.
We still had had a big problem, which was on the quarters in the in the summer nights and stuff like that, anytime it was warm, there'd be 2030 young men, predominantly African American, we go up and and and they just be hanging out there. And they weren't necessarily doing anything wrong, but The fact they were there, people tenders will complain. They say, hey. You know, I'm friends coming to visit. There's all these kids hanging up front. And and The were kids.
I have a usually teenage or early twenties and they're all hanging up. And and so we we go up to them and say, hey. You know, can you move? And they would they would move, but they moved, like, two Blocks away in the same property. And so it really didn't help. And and I remember a common response was, well, give me a job. Give me a job. And we were like, I'll contest Chaz initially just kinda like went in one ear and out the other.
I was just at the moment, I was just trying to move them and and satisfy the the tenant's complaint. But then we heard this off enough. We said, well, why don't we give them jobs. And that's the problem. If they don't have jobs, that's why they're hanging out. And so we created a program called the teach program, and we we told people that if you come to this program and you're on time every day, for 2 weeks, we guarantee we'll give you a job.
And we are figuring we're doing almost $20,000,000 in renovations to this property. We are all these contractors are coming in from the suburbs into the property, getting paid, and then going back and spending the money in the suburbs, why don't we spend some of that money to train The tenants and their families. And then they could that money says that the property strengthen those families makes it easier for them to pay rent, and and that's what we did.
So the first, I think maybe 5 or 6 people showed up for the 1st class. They went to 2 weeks, but then they actually got jobs. And then We were pretty soon. Yeah. Words for Ed. They're like fifty people showing up. And then people, it was transformative because people showed up, you know, people wearing, you know, baggy pants and and and different clothes, but pretty soon The they started wearing, you know, what they'd wear to church. And it was like a wait.
Is this, you know, they they they look completely different. And and that was an an over time The majority of the construction crews, the labor on those construction crews is made up of tenants from the property. We train people to become men and women to become part of both the construction crews and and they get education different trades. And then they start working in the office, like leasing agents, you know, support services, rent processing, different things like Chaz, maintenance.
And, and now the property was like, this is run by the tenant. And it was really, really transformative, not just for the people, but for the property.
And for me, just to Kings witness this and be part of it, it was really one of the most exciting periods in my life and to see what what given the opportunity that that so many people who have many times been Kings of written off by society, given the opportunity, which many times they aren't, but given the opportunity, a good chunk a good portion of them would would seize it and and and take a totally different path.
I think I think the lack of opportunity for many Americans is contributes to some of the issues that we have today. And, you know, you heard the the, you know, in 2020, you started hearing about defunding the police. And I won't say we defunded the police, but we certainly did Some of what we the experiment that we did had the success that people envisioned. I don't think anyone really didn't wanna have police, but there needs to be a different different minds, yeah, different approach.
And in this case, it worked. And I think there was a it was transformative for me too. The Now there's a and and what what happened next, we started getting media attention about, hey. What's happening at this property? And now some of these these skills and people wanted to support it. So other businesses would started hiring the people the the company. So some of these groups as they became employees. From work from your training program.
Yeah. They started, like, starting their own landscaping company and different things like that. And I remember there was an Arby's nearby, and one of the one of the gentleman in the program said, hey. I went to RB's to try to get a job and because he had a criminal record, he couldn't get a job. But after a few months later, they hired him to do their landscaping, which because they don't do criminal checks usually on vendors. They do it on on employees. So Employees. It was eye opening.
And some of those businesses, now it's more than 20 years later, some of those people, those businesses are still around. I mean, they're still working and they grow, which is really truly exciting, but there's a sad end to all The story. So in on Christmas Eve 2004, that property was hit by an ice storm, which is The largest, February declared disaster in Ohio history, and our property was probably the most impacted of all. And if you can picture this, all the power went out to the property.
The, you know, trees went down and knocked down power Kings all everywhere. And so when that happened, the when we had no power, the power to the boilers, which powered all the heat to all the units, also went down. And when that happened, because it was in the negative. I think it was about negative 8. All the water, both in the pipes that distributed the heat and the and the domestic water, they all froze. So we had Yeah. Thows of families living there.
We had no heat, no power, no water, and negative, you know, negative below 0 temperatures side, and that was truly a disaster. The and it was the whole city of Columbus was out for 4 days for for power, but I should've the whole city about more than half of the city was out And but we were one of the worst impacted. And when we came up and things warmed up, all that pipe, all those that water and those pipes started bursting, and We, in the end, it was truly a a a tragedy.
We had, the Red Cross opened up a a The shelter across the street at a church. We we allowed people to break leases and move off the property, and it was because the first four units in all a 122 buildings were subterranean, all the water came in and and flooded the first four units across the property. And now in retrospect, I could have done a number of things.
My never want what I should have done, and it's easy to say now, is just close the property and say we're done and wait for the insurance settle. I had more than $50,000,000 of insurance. Eventually, I would have Chaz would have worked out the best, but that's not what I did. I was intent on rebuilding this property because we had so much success I said, no matter what Yeah. We're gonna rebuild this property.
And that was a my the tunnel vision that I had for years that got me to that point and drove my success now drove my failure. And I did not realize at the time, but the city, this was, like, one of the largest pieces of of land in the city of Columbus. It was absolutely a, was well located just across the street from a brand new VA hospital just down the street from the airport. It was out of place.
We backed into Beck which is the highest state of neighborhood in in Columbus, and here we were predominantly Logan Housing. So the city seized upon this opportunity to try to get rid of Logan Housing up with Le The And they but they did it, initially, they made some overtures, which I completely went over my head. They they commanded me to come to this to the city, bring bring all our financials and stuff like that. But when I went there, they basically said, hey.
We'll support you if you move the tax credits that we had at the The, and the section 8 contracts should support you to move them to another property in Columbus so that you have to buy. And then, you know, we'll Kings end up with this property, and I was, no. No. I gotta build this one. Not Kings of there was an The zone, which I should have picked up on 8th. If you don't do this, they're gonna knock you out. So, basically, that's what happened.
I didn't do it, and the city found ways to to basically under under Under country efforts. So Yeah. Under company efforts till till I they got the property, which in the end is what they did. They now own the property. The I'll give you the highlights of this The or the low lights really of, of this of this dismantling. So the first thing is the insurance company denied the claim, which is extraordinary.
Now I'd learned that that's very common if you have a mass play, which this was absolutely massive, that they would deny it and force you to sue, and they denied it saying, well, the reason this went down was because of the boilers, and you don't have boiler and doors on your insurance. So as a result, you had you're not covered. And I was saying there's no way we have it. The reason the boiler shouldn't work is because power went out because of this natural disaster.
So we my attorney said, hey. You're gonna get the money. Just Gonna take a minute. Yeah. It's gonna take a little while. So I made a big a series of mistakes. This is probably one of the biggest ones. I said, okay. Well, I have all these other successful properties around the country including Pittsburg, Kansas City. I gotta borrow money on those and use it to to help fund this this rebuilding effort at Willow's. And so I did just that.
And at first, I thought it would be a few million bucks, but we spent about 5. And that didn't work. I mean, we were nowhere near Don. And then we've got to because we every time we dug, you know, took stripped out drywall, there was, like, more issues. And by the summer, I was into it close to $20,000,000 and the rehab, and we and we're completely out of money and on fumes. And The litigation, no no nowhere near at the end.
And so the city counts what they did is they came out and they said Chaz because we had removed all the drywall from the first four units, which were flooded, it exposed a construction defect by a prior owner that has rendered all these buildings, all a 100 and furniture Kings, subject to imminent collapse. And as a result, they issued 3 day evacuation notices in in in order to, evacuate the property. The so I called my attorney and and we came up with a plan.
So we hired an engineer, and the engineer came out and did their study, and we went to court And in court, my engine the engineer I hired presented their findings that all the buildings are stable and not subject to imminent collapse. And so the judge looked at the city, Okay. What do you have? And they didn't have anything. They had no engineer Gathering. They just said, well, basically, it looks like they're subject to him in collapse.
And so We we ended up getting a temporary restraining order against the city to to stop their evacuation of the property. And, mean, hindsight is Kings funny, but all the media was there. And big deal. Yeah. It was. And so the court the the court said, okay. Here's what we're gonna do. We're going to point, a monitor. He's gonna be at the construction meetings every week and report back to assist of progress. And as long as you get this thing done in 6 months, You're fine.
And that's why I said, okay. Great. I told my attorney, call the insurance company and settled for whatever you can get, and let's get this thing done. And they settled, And and this will speak to the the extent of the damages they settled. And this the discounted settlement The we got was $32,000,000. And so just a amount of money, but the The is the damages weren't close to $50,000,000 total. So I was really there was a short probe, but I said, hey.
Take the 32. Let's I'll deal with that later. And, so we started spending money. We're back up to, like, two hundred people a day working at the property, but what I had to recognize is or realized that even though the city in court was saying, okay. Yeah. We'll go along with this. They had a meeting with HUD a couple weeks later, and they met with HUD and hold HUD to hold my contracts. And so HUD came out and said that The said there's damage. These properties, the the unit aren't up too far.
And they said, yes. Because because the storm damage, you can see there's hundreds of people working here trying to repair that. And so they went back to the office, and they sent me a letter saying you have 30 days to fix everything. And so I went back to court and went to the judge and said, hey. Here we have this big, elaborate order saying that we have 6 months to fix this here. HUD is saying we have 30 days.
And so the judge summoned HUD to court And Hud said word back saying we're a federal agency. We're not subject to a municipal court. We're not showing up. And so The thing I know. And the media was, like, all over this thing. So I went so what happened next is on 30th day after that letter, and so I came out and and went there for 5 minutes and said, you're not done. I said, no. I mean, I I I was pleasant, but I said, I told you I couldn't get it done, but you can see all these people working.
So they they canceled all of our contracts, which represented, you know, 100 of $1000 in rents every month. And that was the end. That was the end. I I tried to I tried to hang on, but there was no way without this The then the city moved in, started doing The. Their evacuation and I had lost. And, you know, what could I've done differently? Been open to to the city to maybe a different plan. Different one that I envisioned, but listen to somebody else and and and Kings read between the lines.
I was very literal and and still am a bit. So they say this. I'm kinda taking that as based value. At its face. Yeah. Not reading into, hey. If you don't do this, this is gonna be a a pretty rocky road for you. So I could have done that. It would have made my life a lot easier. Borrowing money in the other properties absolutely huge as the sake in business probably out of my life.
If I had just let this one live or die on its own, and they each of the others, you know, lead lead them alone, that would have been, you know, I could've walked away. Even if this one went bad, I could've walked away, and I'd still have everything else intact. As it is, the whole My mini empire completely collapsed over the next few years. And this is, like, when the market was still super strong, it was 2004, 2005. You know, everyone else is doing great.
And here, I was I was financially collapsing. I ended up with went down. The Titanic went down. 26 ended up with $26,000,000 in debt. Most personal guarantees that I was unable to deliver on and that from mortgages mostly that on properties that I lost a number of properties for foreclosure. Others, I sold it, and it kind of failed, Kings of, fire sale prices. And more than anything, I ended up with, you know, it it It was humbling.
It was, you know, it's definitely a feeling of failure and constantly at that point in time, you know, where did I go wrong? You don't like to look back and see, you know, you wanna learn from the experience. At that point, it was raw. It was, like, you know, it was tough not to beat myself. It was tough. It was just tough. Let's just say that. And and then I guess even more challenging is, you know, I tried to hide it Is that the right word?
But I tried to limit my family's exposure to to my challenges, but I remember one of my cousins read this article online and forwarded to my dad and, you know, it was a pretty rough article about me and Chaz was tough to, you know, everyone's seeing me as a as a success now seeing me. I won't say a failure, but certainly, I have failed. No question. And and it was it was so colossal and so public. It really, it really was, you know, tickets tall. And that was that was tough.
And And and before that, you know, I could get loans, like, so easily. And after this, I I said, okay. Well, I'll just rebuild, but no one wanted to make me alone. No one had a partner made me. It was just a it was truly a failure. So that's why that was my long answer to your question of, of my biggest failure, but that was a Yeah. I mean, probably one of the most incredible stories we've had. Thank you for sharing.
I I I don't think anybody who's listening to that is gonna be upset about listening to that because, wow. I mean, we were there the entire time, like, literally going with you. I was in the property. I was looking at the drywall. I mean, I was right there with you. You're an incredible storyteller. I wanna know, obviously, with us Kings looking to wrap the show up here.
I wanna know, you you you started the show by saying, gonna take this company public in the next few years, or that's the big that's the big mammoth goal. So different from how you just left us in 2004, 56, where you had Gathering. Nobody would, you know, loan you anything. You, for all intents and purposes, were in such a reversed position that almost anybody thing right now, even though they've never maybe hit a 1,000,000 in revenue or maybe they they're still, you know, a small fish.
You, at that moment, that you just left us at, so far behind any of these guys listening. Give us the one thing or give us the give the listener the one thing that you did from, you know, 2004 to now Chaz that's applicable to them as well. I mean, it's self believe, believing that no matter what I mean, you always have the one thing that came out of that was my mind.
And so The, financially destroyed, credit destroyed, reputation destroyed, but I still, by mind, which, you know, had succeeded Chaz now had a big failure, but Chaz succeeded. So I think, again, it goes to, you know, what do you have versus focusing on what you have versus what you don't have. And and at that point, I really had nothing. Again, I started out at a GED, so no no education. And not that the either in the reality, that really doesn't matter.
It hasn't it hasn't never been an inhibitor but I had no money, but worse than no money because many of your listeners may say, hey. You know, I'm I've owned a couple of rental properties or, you know, I'm just getting going, but it's worse when you when you have no money No credit. No, you know, bad reputation. I had 1,000,000 of dollars in judgments against me. I had lawsuits. I had tons of lawsuits against The. And so but what in that did I still have?
And, really, the only thing I had, I mean, beyond the family and and some friends, some friends, it was tough for them too. So it was my mind. And Chaz was the 1, I guess, my biggest asset, and maybe my only asset at that time. And so I think You know, when people say I can't do I think your list was made. It's so easy because we all get in The trap too. Well, I can't do this because I don't have that.
And but here, I I truly Gathering in, like and and now I've used my experience and largely I've used that experience to Kings of fuel my rise after Chaz. And I'll tell you the story. You'll learn that if you share with people what you lack or what you're afraid of or what makes you vulnerable and you're genuine and sincere about that, people relate to that. It's hard to relate to people's, well, success. I mean, it's great to hear about people's success.
But really, people made more attention when you share your failures. So whatever anyone in your audience, everybody has had challenging points in your life. And many of times, as my inclination for those 1st few years, was when anybody found out about it, I was like, ugh. You know, that was like a punch in the gut. Like, okay. Now they've they've heard about all my Yeah. Been exposed to all my chances. Yeah. But now that's, I wrote a book. It's called Burns Own, so that's on on Amazon.
And and a lot of people are support me, support my current businesses, invest with them what what not because of the the challenges, which is it's funny. That's a complete opposite of what you expect. You wanna invest in something successful. But people relate to somebody who's who's succeeded, fallen, and came back. And so I think The message to your listeners is whatever you're Kings. Don't let that get in the way. And don't think don't dwell on the fact I gotta get my masters.
I gotta get my bachelor's. I gotta get this kind of financing lined up. I need to get these things in place. Just take that first couple of steps. Lots of times, they don't require any money or very little money and something that's within your means and take those first couple of steps to whatever your goal is to achieving. And, again, whether it's sports, whether it's it's family, whether it's relationship, whether it's business. I it's all the same thing.
It's taking small steps and and and getting towards whatever your goal is. And then if you're like me, the the one challenge and and affliction that I I have, I'm probably getting a little better with now they have the The. But the is every time I reach a goal, It's like, okay. I gotta set another goal that's even more preposterous.
And so it's like a never ending journey, which I guess is what life is, but But I'll tell you now with with the Kings, and it Chaz, again, back to what we talked about at the outset, that has been transformative. Once I hit this goal, I think I'll really like I think my life can take a I I can I'll take a different vantage point. A different perspective going forward. I really truly wanna bounce, and I think that's what what having kids has done to me.
And I think it probably does to others is is it makes you you know, it's a business that's important. Family's important, but but more than that, I mean, family can is the most important thing. And once you have kids, it really, for me, at least it's really, really kind of ingrained that Chaz I want I want it to be balanced. Yeah. I I love how you've ended this just right where we started, which is set up a goal, take some small steps, It's okay that that you might feel a little scared.
It may not know how to do everything. Don't skip the steps. Just take the little ones And then what you just ended with, you know, finally there was, you know, the family is everything, kids, and and the future generations. I mean, it is literally why we exist. Pro create, I mean, biologically. So Mhmm. For you to be able to put that into motion, emotionally now, not just biologically, but and go, wow. This this is really what life is about. And then the relationship behind it is incredible.
I think it's incredible for the listener. I think that that looks different for each one of us, right, each one of our journeys, Like you just said, may maybe in a couple of years, when you go public with this one, it'll it'll feel like and then now you can you can do the thing with just the family. I'd like to have you back in 3 years and and see if that's the case. And then we'll see.
But the but the reality of it is is that even through your story and then the way that you summarize everything here, it's exactly how you let us off which, as an entrepreneur myself, who's been on the up and down as well, I can see it. And I go, okay. We ended exactly how we started, and therefore, I know what this guy's saying is real. So from from a listener perspective, how can they find you? How can they connect with you?
Maybe they wanna I mean, we'll put your link to the book and those show notes, but kinda just give us a quick blurb on how they can find you and, and connect. Sure. So for real estate investors, I think the most interesting company for you would be prere0.comprere0.com And, also, you can contact me The. Also, AHP servicing. And, those are the best. I'm on, you know, the social media, all the the major social media platforms as well.
But Kings of prereo.com, and that's where we probably on do our most ramp each to real real estate investors. So take a look at what we're doing. Connect with me. I I I like to talk to people. I like to share my stories. And and and and and and help others, whatever their goal is. I I I'm hopefully today's what we shared today will be helpful towards reaching whatever goals you have. Yeah. You've been absolutely incredible. George, I just I can't tell you how much.
I appreciate your time and and the story. I've I've been blessed. Today, listening. I've had the front row seats. So thank you for that. We wish you absolutely nothing but success and blessing in this IPO adventure that you have. And we'll talk here, hopefully, soon, but but at least in a couple of years to see see when you hit See what happens. Absolutely. Thanks for being here. Alright. Thanks for having me on. Thanks, Jess. Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today.
I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple business in multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 The very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you, and you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to Gathering The Kings dot com.
Want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.