The 6 Ways He Gets Paid on Every Deal (No Capital Required)

Speaker 3 (00:00) everybody, welcome to this episode of Sugar Spice and Spirits podcast. I am Natalie Pilkington, along with my beautiful co-host, Speaker 1 (00:08) Mindy Price and Kelly Williams. Speaker 3 (00:11) And we also are doing a special episode on our first guest episode. have a special guest happy hour. Thank you, Mindy. And you are? Foster, we are so excited to have you here. Wes is a special and dear friend to us. He's been around. We've known him for Speaker 2 (00:23) I'm Wes Foster. Speaker 1 (00:24) What? Speaker 3 (00:33) for a little while and we're super excited to have him in our presence and actually get to hear about his business, what he's doing and what he is up to. And why should you even care, right? Because I think that's important. Today we've got, you know, we're welcoming Wes Foster. He's a pastor, investor, foster parent, community builder, and now officially stepping into the wild, weird and profitable world of real estate. Profitable world say that like that's kind like that Sally Shelley she sells something Speaker 1 (01:05) If you do it the way he does it, it's not a tongue twister. It's actually something to pay attention to and you want to be able to say it over and over and over again. Speaker 3 (01:16) So Wes is one of those rare humans who manages to live out generosity in all sorts of ways. Like it is a sport. He's raised kids that weren't his, mentored people who needed a hand and apparently still has the energy to show up with kindness and a killer intro voice for our show. And also our disclaimer. So the guy that you hear on the intro and the exit, the disclaimer is this fellow here. That's our guy. So grab your drink. and grab your notebook and let's go from foster parenting to fate and first deals. This is going to be so good. And for the drink of the day, which I thought is fitting, lavender herb from the good Lord. You know, I use lavender essential oils in a lot of ways, and this is a lavender martini. We are actually at the Texas Hideout, which is a new location on it's, it's always been some sort of recreational place but this is a sports bar facility that you can come and watch the game. Kids can play outside, they do a lot of charity events, they have stages. We're on one of the stages now so I like this venue. It's a lot of fun and they offer, they actually just opened so within the past month. Speaker 1 (02:29) I if they've under different owners, but it's... Speaker 3 (02:32) No, this Texas head out is new, however this location is... Speaker 1 (02:35) The location was different. Speaker 3 (02:38) So this is a lavender martini. So this is the sip of the day. So let's go ahead and give it a shot and y'all let me know what you think. Cheers. Speaker 1 (02:46) Cheers! Cheers, everybody. Let's see. Speaker 3 (02:50) Smells good. Speaker 1 (02:52) that's that's really good. It's a little sweet for me. It is nice, but it's a little sweet. I'm always the one that's like... Speaker 2 (03:02) What makes it sweet though? What they put in it for sweetness? Speaker 1 (03:06) Sugar. Sugar and the lavender. Wes doesn't drink a lot. Speaker 2 (03:10) My diabetes, perfect. Speaker 1 (03:11) It's not then. Oh Lord. I mean I'm not a bartender. For people that like it, it's great. No, it's really good. I like the sweetness. I like a dirty martini, but I don't typically like the strong stoutness of a dirty martini. So if I do a martini, it has to be like the sweet ones. So this and lemon drop, this is really good. Speaker 3 (03:15) trying to kill you, wetter. Speaker 2 (03:19) I slap your t- What makes a dirty martini? Speaker 1 (03:35) There's not a sweetness it. It's really... Yeah. But I can't have it too soon. Speaker 2 (03:39) gotcha. Speaker 3 (03:41) So I don't feel like this is too sweet. Like I know there's a lot of sweet, sweet drinks. I like a little hint of sweetness. So for me, it works. I like it too. What did you think, Wes? Speaker 1 (03:49) That was good. Speaker 2 (03:51) I liked it. I'm all surprised how much lavender came through. Speaker 1 (03:55) Yeah, that's good. Good choice. Speaker 2 (03:57) My wife was really like this. She loves lavender. Speaker 3 (04:00) I use lavender essential oils on all boo-boos, owies, if you have skin irritations, if you've got like fair skin and you get the rash. Speaker 1 (04:08) In care too. in general. And now you get the internal bit of oh do we let me just try the sweet drink again. So, okay. Speaker 3 (04:13) Look at the internal benefits. I don't know about the medicinal purposes of lavender in this form, however. So Wes, you've worn many hats, like more hats than the Kentucky Derby Spectator. That's true. Pastor, foster parent, investor, show intro guy. Which role came first and which one surprised you the most? Speaker 1 (04:23) This show makes you happy though. Speaker 2 (04:42) Pastoring kind of came first. Before pastoring I studied to be a doctor. I know if you all know that. I did pre-med for three and a half years and then was going to go into that field whenever it kind of switched and turned into more of a spiritual thing. Speaker 1 (04:46) No, did not know that. Speaker 2 (04:58) But yes, so I did a lot of education before that, but then ministry came first. I was married and had a couple of small kids when actually we went to school. Don't recommend that path. That's kind of a challenge. yeah, we stepped into ministry and we were youth pastors. We were there for like 15 years total. Speaker 3 (05:19) Yeah, it's usually where it has to start. They gotta go up through the ranks and start with the kids, start with the youth. Pour in. Speaker 2 (05:26) And that's, being in the youth world, is what led us into foster parenting. And that was the connection there when we started seeing the kids in our own youth group that were just in terrible situations, and that we were able to help out and to love on in the ways that they needed to be loved on. Speaker 1 (05:43) That's so selfish. I love that. Speaker 3 (05:46) So what's one of the things people assume about pastors that is absolutely not true? Go ahead and clear it up for us. Speaker 2 (05:54) boy. I think one of the main assumptions about pastoring is that there's really no work involved. You only work one day a week. I think that's a big thing about pastoring is, wow. You only work on Sunday. Yeah, you only work on Sunday. must be good to be you. But the reality is, is you're on call 24-7. You never have any vacation time. You always have to answer the call. You always are showing up. And that's part of the gift of pastoring is that you get to be in everybody's troubling situations. everybody's sickness, everybody's hospital visits, everybody's birth, everybody's death, you're a part of all of that. so pastoring is not easy. It's a very difficult thing and you definitely need to have a calling and a strength to do that. Or it will just absolutely I mean imagine how much it is just dealing with your own personal things now add two to three hundred people that you're Processing all their things as well. And so you definitely don't work just one day a week. You're on call 24-7 And if you're not you're not paying attention, you'll definitely get burned out fast and you'll lose sleep And I've experienced all those things because I didn't have the right structure at times. But yeah, I think that's the one thing that you look at pastoring That must be a dream job. And for many it is. it's also, it's extremely rewarding and challenging at the same time. You just have to have the right structures in place to be able to get through it. Speaker 1 (07:20) So Natalie, that hit me right in the gut when you said that because... losing a mom, losing a dad, losing family members throughout time, young family members through my extended family. And the coping mechanism actually was faith in our pastor. going through with our family, that pastor being the same person I'm thinking about my family and everything that he was dealing with, it It did, it just kind of, it wasn't a gut punch, but it was just one of those things. Like it just hit me more than anything when you say it's your, you know, you're on on Sunday. You're not thinking about Wednesday or whatever your schedule is for your church. The things you've had to deal with and go through. And I'm one person and I'm clearly talking about a different pastor because we live so far away. That's huge, Wes. Like, it's really different. the heart that you have and the way that you give, and then I know we're going to go through this in a minute, and Kelly wants to say something like, always caring for others and then also listening and figuring out you're still always going to be there for others. But there are ways to make sure, and if you hear God saying, you've been so good, you can do these things, X, Y, and Z. And I know that we'll talk about it, but for whatever reason, I didn't think I was going to. you know, talk about it, but just dealing with so many losses and knowing that was our comfort. That was our humanly comfort. So you've done that for a lot of people. And that doesn't take away from the things that you've also had to deal with. And I know there have been many. So I know that was a bit of a tangent on that moment. We're not going to take a tangent tax drink because it's a little awkward. There is. Speaker 2 (09:11) That's a thing, tangent text. Speaker 3 (09:16) I don't think it really is a tangent because it ties into the question. People don't think about that. Everybody's quick to judge a pastor. I think there's more stones thrown at a pastor than somebody that's in a higher leadership role than there are for other people. And I see it even with my pastor at church. I see the weight of the world that he carries on his shoulder from the deaths and from the plane crash and the different things that happen. And people don't think about the weight of the world because energy vampires, you have to be on for your parishioners and for the widow or for the person that has the child that's going through, you know, like you have to pour in and it's so draining for somebody because you're pouring in and you do it with love because it's what you need. But it's people don't take it from that pastor perspective. They take it from me, me, me, me, me, me. And so I know it's a whole different ballgame. Kelly, what were your Speaker 1 (10:09) I was going to elaborate on what you said Natalie, is that when we all had the opportunity to work together, I'd first met you in a professional sense. And you would come to work and you were always so jovial and happy and always just on top of the world. But there were times that you and I had the chance to sit down and talk and I could tell behind closed doors, I said, how was your day? And you were exhausted because you'd been that person who was at the hospital dealing with a loved one who is about to pass or the birth of a new one coming into the world. And just like Natalie said, a lot of us are part of the me generation. And it's not so much that we're narcissistic. It's just when we have issues, I think everyone deals with what's going on in their own world. And as a pastor, people forget that you're dealing with that person's me and that person's me and that person's me. But yet, you still have to deal with your family, you have to deal with your professional world, you deal with your church family, during the whole process, mean, remember you had a car wreck while you were with us and you had to deal with all of that. So you're multi-faceted with other pastors and stuff, but yet you still have to stand up and deliver the positivity and the message and provide for your family. It's just a, it's a huge world that you and other pastors live in, but still be able to wake up every day and smile and just think, I got this. You and think that's one of things that's been so awesome. And that's why we wanted you to be the one that did our introduction because you just have that, I mean, people would just sense that positive aspect about you. And that's why I think people are just gravitate to you. So it's been awesome. And not so much just in the pastoral world, but you know, now in your professional world as well. And you felt the guidance to go into real estate too, and you've been successful. So I do want to take a moment and say all the things, cheers to you, Wes, and your successes. Thank you. all the things you've done. Yes. Speaker 2 (12:17) missed it, sorry. Speaker 1 (12:19) Couldn't happen to a better person. Speaker 3 (12:22) So we're getting ahead of the things, but we're talking about the pastoral voice. And we're not talking pastoral, we're talking pastoral. So, pastors have pastoral Pastors have that tone where even a normal sentence sounds like it should end with an amen and imagine Wes at Starbucks. Can I get a Vente cold brew in Jesus name? Speaker 4 (12:41) In Jesus' name, amen. Speaker 3 (12:43) That's one of the jokes that I have. So we'll go ahead and get on to the next. So most people say they're generous. You've literally lived it. So what pulled you into foster care and the giving spirit that you have? Like what has led you to go on that journey? Speaker 2 (13:02) Yeah, good question. First, I'd like to say what we did is not for everybody. We felt it more as a calling. And you really have to be dialed in in what you want to do. But what happened was I had a huge problem with a lot of hypocrites that I saw in the pulpit. They would say one thing. Speaker 1 (13:23) you Speaker 2 (13:29) to an audience and they'd live a different way outside. And I did not want to have any part of that. And so I prayed a very dangerous prayer. I don't recommend you praying it. It did not go well for the guy in the Bible that prayed it and it's been a lot of fun for us. I simply prayed, Lord, how best could I live my life for you? I know that Corinthian says it's moreover required that a steward be found faithful. Speaker 3 (13:43) Yeah, I'm just waiting. Speaker 2 (13:58) And so how can I be looked at through your eyes as one found faithful? I don't just want to hear, well done my good and faithful servant, but I want to have a life that's well pleasing to him. And I said, I don't care about anybody else. I don't care about anybody else, how they want to live out their faith. I said, what can I do, my family do? And to my shock and awe, he actually said something to me. I heard it louder than audible. He said, for the next 20 years, I want you to give everything away. And I was like, Speaker 1 (14:22) you Speaker 2 (14:27) Okay, I have no idea what that means, but I knew that my wife needed to be on board. She was at a ladies retreat, so I called her. I said, hey, sweetie, I kind heard something about our life today. I need you to kind of pray and be ready for a good conversation when you get home. And she goes, actually, this morning, I heard something about our life, and I need you to pray and be ready for a conversation. said, yes, ma'am. I said, write it down. Don't tell me when you get home we'll compare notes, and we'll see. So the next night she got home, she opens her notebook, and right there at the top of the page it says, for the next 20 years, give everything away. And so we were like, okay, what does this look like for us? What do we do? We didn't have any other instructions. So what we decided to do as a family was every month to take our bank accounts to zero. We would just zero out everything, no investments, no 401ks, no Roths, no nothing. If it came in, it would go back out. Now you all are familiar in the church world of the tithe, where when you have income come in, you give 10 % to the Lord. We basically, we didn't plan it like this, but the way that it kind of worked out was we lived off of a reverse tithe. We would live on about 10%, we'd give 90 % away, is what kind of what it has ended up being over the years. And so with that, everything that we have is an element for use in the kingdom. Our car, our houses, anything that we have would be used for him. So as we had a house, it was a modest house, it was nice, but we filled every bedroom. That's what we did. And I do want to say that we didn't adopt children in the traditional sense. Like we didn't go through the agencies. We never had the money for that. We would give it all away. So we didn't have, you know, however many tens of thousands to drop. and all the timelines. what would happen is we would see teenagers come through our youth program that were in very difficult and terrible situations. Some were being abused, neglected, all kinds of bad things. Enough to where police could be involved, they could go to jail. And so we would approach the parents and say you have two options. Number one, you can lose your children to CPS. and you guys can spend time in jail or you can give us power of attorney over their health and their school and they can come stay with us. We'll get them through high school. We'll put them through college. And so that's what we did. And every parent said yes. Some we still press charges on because they're just wicked people and that's what you do. But all 13, we have 13 of 13 with us now. She's 24. She's getting her English degree. She wants to go to China, teach English as a second language. But we put them all through a trade school or college, whatever was best fit for them. It was easy to empty the accounts. We had a lot of going out. And so yeah, that's what led us to the whole thing. So ministry led us into the foster care stuff. Speaker 4 (17:18) I wouldn't Speaker 1 (17:26) So what's Speaker 3 (17:27) foster parenting taught you that you think everyone should absolutely learn before the age of 30. Speaker 2 (17:35) Your life is best spent pouring into others. Whenever you can pour into others, there's no greater gift than to see a heart that's broken become whole, to see a spirit that's been broken that thinks that they're a nobody, that they're a loser, just to pour joy into them, peace into them, and let them just have a spirit that knows they'll always be accepted, that they'll always have a place to come back to rest. that'll love on them, support them. Your life, there's no greater way to spend it. Our entire world is all about relationships. It's all about people. And of course we will have great experiences in ourself and when we do things and we have, you know, fun things to do, vacations and toys and all that stuff. But the real element of, the real thing about life is all about people. And if you can just impact one person, just help one, and Sometimes I hear a philosophy of, know, if I do it for one, then I have to do it for all. And our heart has always been, do it for the one, like you can do it for the all. And that is kind of our philosophy and the way that we do it. And so that's what I would say, is just pour into others. You'll have your life, it's a zig-zag as well, right? If you help enough other people get what they want, and you'll get what you want. And so I've found that to be true, for sure. Speaker 3 (19:02) So the multitasking gift pastors are like counselors, life coaches, accountants, therapists, plumbers, volunteer coordinator, referee, and part-time IT support. Okay and that is before lunch. Yeah, I feel that. see that with our pastor, The Way to the World, the fact that pastors are the CEO of their church. They are the ones that are running their church. And they really do because there's nobody more cynical or more judgmental than some of the church people. And I really hope that if you are one of those that you reflect, or even just see how your thoughts of me can implement or not implement, but you've impacted your church with your thoughts. and things you can do to implement to make things better, even if it's not in your church, if it's in your group, where you do your hobbies. However, how can you implement things to be better in the sense that don't come with your parameters and your expectations? Because I think that's where people go south on pastors and then within the churches. My expectation and belief is this. And if you're in the church, you have a simple rule. It's the Bible. What does the Bible say? and how do you go from there? that's the difference there. But I think so many times it's like our interpretation of one scripture is this, and a lot of people like to hang up on one scripture, but they don't take, they take Saul as this person, but they don't take Saul as the full person at the end as Paul. So I think there's a lot to that to be said and to be delved into as a Christian, but even as a person in general and overall. And I know this isn't just a Christian perspective show, however, we have a pastor. I think legacy, and we did a podcast on birth and wanting to have a birth and we discussed legacy, I think it's where your impact is. I think it's so much more, and I said selfishness to not have kids, but if it's not your calling to have kids, where can you pour into kids or where can you pour into society? Because we also talked about the adulting. podcast and that's part of your giving back and if you have kids that are very selfish or kids that need some understanding Get them to go on a ministry trip get them to go and volunteer at the food bank Get them to give back at the United Way. There are so many different things that you can do I've volunteered growing up I was part of the AmeriCorps, which I don't know if you guys know that but that's the Bill Clinton's Peace Corps for the United States so I volunteered at the Chicano Family Center and I was down there and worked in the middle schools with communities and schools CCIS and gave back a lot in that space. And when you give back, it's not about you and you're not focusing. if you're a depressed person, if you have a lot going on and like you can still mentally function obviously, go and give back because it really kind of recenters and refocuses you and gives you kind of a purpose. Speaker 1 (22:08) It gives you such a positive feedback for yourself because like you said if you are down and sometimes giving back and stepping up your focus gives you those few steps to make you feel better and sometimes that's what giving back sometimes is what pulls you out of that self-depression and that self-deprivation of what you feel like you deserve when you give to others and you feel like sometimes you put them before you. it puts you in a whole different light. mean, because when you say that you're the CEO of a company, you're the CEO of a lot of souls. And that's a huge, huge, not burden, but responsibility to carry. And, you know, on top of being the CEO of your family and your home and your kids that you're responsible for, you have a huge church congregation, too. I can certainly see where, you know, pastors are still human. I mean, if you feel like you're not... on one occasion you're not reaching someone. What a huge burden that might be and that could be definitely a deterrent to you feeling like that positive role that you always want to be in. And so like you said, the joy and the satisfaction that you get from giving back and knowing that you are making someone's life even just that much better. What a great feeling that is. That's awesome. Or challenging them. And so I want to take a couple steps back because I'd be super curious to know Wes, in the conversations you've had and the messages you've given, I have had conversations with my pastor. And I walked up to him and said, oh my gosh, your message resonated with me so well in X, Y, Z. And he's like, That's not what I said, Mindy. But I'm glad you heard that. And so something you said made me think about that. Like your message is one that you have a calling on your heart and you were giving and then everybody receives it based on where they're at in a different way. It has to be very interesting for you when somebody says blah blah blah and you're like, even think about it from that perspective. Speaker 4 (24:25) Speaker 2 (24:25) The scriptures say the Holy Spirit will lead and guide you into all truth. And so whenever a pastor is preaching a message from the scriptures, the Holy Spirit has full right to interpret that into your spirit as it needs be. And so my responsibility is not to speak to every individual or try to address every situation in the crowd. The times I've done that, that people leave the church. It's like, called me out. And it's like, well, I didn't know you were dealing with that. But. Speaker 4 (24:51) Speaker 3 (24:52) Maybe you needed it. Speaker 2 (24:55) But, when you're given a biblical message, the Holy Spirit will put that on your heart. Remember, Jesus gave a parable and said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a sower sowing seed. He's just throwing it out there. And there's all these different levels. There's one stony ground that it falls on. There's one that's got some thorns. There's one that's got a little bit of soil. And there's one that's got real good soil. And he says, you know... On the first set of soil, the birds come down, swoop it up. On the second set of soil, says that the thorns will choke it out. The other one says that it'll come up a little bit, then the sun will scorch it. And the final, it takes root. Later on, the guy said, what does all that mean? He says, well, the seed is the word of God. And the different soils are the different hearts. And so in any congregation, there are all these different hearts. And my responsibility, any pastor or any teacher's responsibility, is to just give the seed. I can't. cultivate and determine what heart it lands on. And so Jesus went through and said that first heart, that's, you know, he said the demons will come down and take that seed. One falls on that heart. The second heart, he said it's just choked out. it just, stuff's gonna happen. And then he says that the third heart, said, it had some good little soul on there and then it kind of sprung up a little bit. But then the son is the trials of life. I like that heart because that tells me that there's not a demon behind every bush. The devil's not always trying to trip you up. That sometimes life is just hard and you can't blame it on the devil. It's just life. And then the final heart is a heart that's got good soil and he says that one will grow fruit 30, 60, even 100 fold. So yes, you'll have different hearts come up to you after each message. and say different things about the message and some is like, I know it was not even in my, I have no clue where you were, brother, you know? But like, I'm glad you heard that, you know? What are you gonna do about that? Yeah, it's good. Speaker 1 (26:56) The time that that meant the most to me, I walked up to my pastor and I said something. It was about my husband and I and having another kiddo and the next thing we know we're pregnant. And like, I still remember that. Like, was like, I love you so much. But I'm glad the Lord put that on you. Speaker 2 (27:13) Not a fertility prophecy in my sermon today. Speaker 3 (27:16) thing is when the pastor looked over to our side of the rows and said run for school board, there was nobody else he was talking to. That's the only thing I know. So you're new to real estate. What pushed you into the game? Was it a calling, a deal, or did someone finally convince you it's better than a 403B? Speaker 2 (27:33) Definitely better than the 403B for sure. Speaker 1 (27:36) So for those that are listening and don't know what a 403B is, PS by the way, you can't be like, blah. Speaker 3 (27:43) So what is it Mindy? it's a retirement plan. Speaker 1 (27:45) I asked wrong. Speaker 2 (27:47) Instead of a 401k, that's for public, 401b is specifically for ministers. Speaker 4 (27:53) you're quite, quite Speaker 1 (27:54) would have no clue I'm not a minister. Speaker 3 (27:56) So dang straight about that. Speaker 2 (27:59) And I think you are a minister in many ways. We'll talk about that later on. I'll give an altar call, pass the plate, but anyway. Speaker 1 (28:06) You get a private session. Speaker 2 (28:09) It was understanding that we needed to retire, that there was retirement, and we were at the time 49, and I'm like, okay, I would like to retire at 60 with time freedom. Doesn't mean I'll stop working, but I want time freedom at 60 where I can go where I want, do what I want, with who I want, however long I want. And so, Speaker 4 (28:17) And Speaker 2 (28:37) The same voice that I heard back in 2001 spoke to me again, said, now it's time to start investing. And I said, in what? And he goes, pick anything you want. Whatever your hands touch is going to be blessed. I'm like, OK. We had forgot about our 20-year commitment. We just had been living. And once you live that way for so long, even now, I still give everything away. I still give everything away. I've got to be better at not giving everything away. Speaker 4 (28:56) I mean. Speaker 2 (29:05) But it's been a joy because we've been able to give more I can We we literally But yeah, that's what we wanted to retire and so we we picked real estate we thought you know It's number one asset class build of all time, you Speaker 1 (29:10) I'm that was terrible. Speaker 4 (29:13) But Speaker 1 (29:16) Terrible, I apologize. Speaker 2 (29:34) We know some millionaires in real estate that I don't even know how they tie their own shoes So I'm like if they can do it, I'm pretty sure we can have a good shot at it, too And so that's what we decided to do we're like, okay. Well, don't we need money to invest in real estate? Like I don't know Maybe maybe not we had no clue at anything at all the very next day After we decided that we're gonna do real estate, which was just the night before Speaker 3 (29:41) someone like that. Speaker 4 (29:50) Speaker 2 (30:02) I had two former students, youth students, call me. Brothers, one is a business litigation lawyer and one is a contractor. And they said, hey, we want to start a real estate investing company. And we've been looking for properties for about five months. We can't find any. And last night we were praying. Well, not both brothers, but one of the brothers said he was praying. And he felt, Lord, want to call me and say, we want you to be the face of the franchise. We've got about $200,000 to invest. Speaker 4 (30:23) and Speaker 2 (30:32) And we need you to go find us properties. I'm like, what kind of properties? He said, off market deals. I said, what's an off market deal? I didn't even know anything about that. He said, well, it's distressed property. They need to sell it. They don't know they need to sell it. And you've got to find them. How do you find a property that's not listed? They go, oh, we can't. We don't know. That's a good You figure it out. Speaker 1 (30:48) No, that's why we're calling you. Drive by and look at the ugly ones. It's called distress. Speaker 2 (30:53) There you go. So that's what started the journey and they paid for me to go to real estate school and get my license. I found them a couple of deals and so those deals are still working and in process. got one is up for sale for Flip and one has a renter in it. Awesome. So that's really good. But that started me on the journey was that that particular thing and that it was definitely a calling. But the main thing is we want to retire and so we want to build wealth in a way that is scalable, that we can do very quickly, and accomplish in 10 years what most people need 30 or 40 to do. So real estate was it. Speaker 1 (31:31) Okay. Speaker 3 (31:35) I love how you listen to the Lord because that's walking in faith and a lot of times we don't have the answers and we try and force things to go. Like my idea is this but the Lord's trying to call you here and you can fight the Lord all you want but I can guarantee the Lord you don't want to fight. So what's been your biggest oh dang they didn't tell me that in the course like moments so far through your learning and investing? Speaker 1 (31:47) He's gonna win. Speaker 2 (31:58) Oh wow. One of it is that you don't need money to invest in real estate. So it's not like a shocker, like a negative, but I wish I would have known this principle many years earlier, because it has changed my business model just to know that I don't need $50,000 or $100,000 to go invest, that there's ways that you can invest. just by partnering with people and adding value to the deal, which is what we specialize in. And so that's been incredible. Speaker 3 (32:30) So you specialize in what type of deals because you're not only a realtor but you partner with people and you also, our private capital comes to you and you invest private capital. So what type of deals are you looking for? You're looking for flips, rentals, buy and hold, and how does all of that work? Speaker 2 (32:50) Yep, good question. I specialize in sourcing high equity off-market deals for investors. That's what I do. I try to bring them value. in every step of their deal. I like working with new investors because they're learning. love to teach. That's my gifting. So I love to coach. I love to help them and to bring a confidence to their deal. Most of them are young families that are stretching out themselves for the first time. And so I really like to bring a confidence to them that the deal is going to work, that it's going to be successful. Right, the market, this pasture has been more flips. Definitely more flips, but now we're seeing more buy and hold come back into the market because interest rates are coming down and the price of houses are coming down. And so more buy and holds are coming back into the market, which I like the buy and holds, especially with deals because they can offer more aggressively on properties because they can wait for their equity to come rather than a flip. You need the equity now. So have to buy, you know, at a deeper discount. And so you get more deals with buy and hold investors. So I love, I love my buy and hold. guys and girls those are my favorites. But what we do is real simple. You may have another question about a system or anything I don't feel like going to that. Speaker 3 (34:03) Go with it. Speaker 2 (34:04) Good. Just kidding. So I like doing off-market deals. The on-market stuff is good, but remember, I need to scale and I need to build wealth quickly. So off-market is my honey hole. It's my bread and butter. I really love it because the deals, the front side of the deal is closed in three to five business days, typically. And what we do is, and if you're a real estate agent out there and you're struggling in your traditional real estate role with, you know, cold calling fizz bows and expired listings and Speaker 3 (34:05) Go. Speaker 2 (34:33) trying to work the standard system I understand there's a major problem with traditional realty I don't know if y'all know the latest that but 76 % of real estate agents in the United States have not done one deal one transaction in the last 18 months Speaker 1 (34:46) No, didn't know that stat. At all. That's That's crazy, Wes. Speaker 3 (34:49) It's like the 80-20 rule. Yes. Speaker 2 (34:54) And that's why 80 % of realtors quit their first year because they're not making any money. And what we do is we change that and we focus on working with investors instead of working on a traditional retail market. Investors are much more valuable because they will buy five to seven properties per year. So if you just have one investor that because you're the source agent, you're the buyer rep for that property and then you're also the listing agent when they flip. And so just that one agent can literally change your entire financial future. You can do 10 to 15 deals with that one investor, one transactions in one year. So our goal, we get our agents, five investors, load it up real quick. We found them five investors literally in the first day or two. It's super easy to, investors are everywhere. I picked up literally seven investors last week. My trouble is finding the deals. I got to find them more deals. Speaker 1 (35:41) Dang! Speaker 4 (35:50) Mm-hmm. Speaker 2 (35:51) But that's why I'm training my agents to do that now. But so what we do is when we work with investors on off-market deals, we normally when you work with a real estate agent, there's a 3 % buyer rep fee. But what we say is that's too expensive for an investor. We think that that's just too much money on taking too much equity out of the deal. And because I want to be with that investor on all their deals, I want them to use me as their source agent on all their deals. I just charge a flat 5,000 finders fee. And that finders fee doesn't change if I bring them a million dollar deal or a hundred thousand dollar deal. It's the same. I want them to know that... Speaker 1 (36:28) a little more when you bring up a million dollar deal. I'm just saying. Speaker 2 (36:32) A little bit more, but I'm going to be the list agent on the back end. Speaker 1 (36:36) That helps. there you go. But like you said, there's little incentive because you're the listing agent on the back end. Speaker 3 (36:38) like I Speaker 2 (36:42) There's incentive and some of the, and you'll see there's six different potential ways you can make money that I've structured into the deals. The finest fee is one. And the finest fee does a couple things for me. Number one, it lets the investor know that I'm not bringing a deal because I'm gonna get more commission. That I'm concerned about bringing them the very best deal. And so that sets that in motion. And they tend to like that and they have no problem bringing that extra cash to close to pay me. So that commission comes from the buyer. on the deal, okay? Now when I connect them to funding, that's another value that we bring. Most of them don't have funding, so I connect them to one of our preferred lenders. And because this is hard money, this is private companies, they can give you referrals. This isn't a respa violation or whatever. It's none of that stuff because a Rico, I don't get a Rico case on me, whatever that is, I think that's bad. Way too pretty for prison, but okay. Speaker 4 (37:38) Outfit Outfit Speaker 2 (37:39) I'd become a girlfriend real quick. I'm just saying. don't want that to happen. Okay, bring it back in. So when we connect them to a lender, we will get a referral fee on the lender and that's usually $500 and the lenders I've structured deals with that they give me $500 for life. What that means is anytime that the investor goes back for another deal, whether I'm a part of it or not, they kick me another referral. Speaker 4 (37:42) Hello! Speaker 1 (38:02) hello, passive income. okay. Speaker 2 (38:06) So my first year I was able to do 29 deals I got 37 referrals from lenders and So this year it's gonna be even more than that, but that's a nice little passive income stream that yeah most agents don't It's nice and I get random deposits in the month. They don't even tell me I just get random deposits in my account And then see you fill out a W9 with them And then they just send you the tax stuff at the end of the year because you become like a little employee of them So it works Speaker 1 (38:20) That's a little something something. Speaker 2 (38:36) And so then, the third way that you get paid on the deal is a acquisition fee on the property. And so I will negotiate if it's a really good deal for the investor, I'll negotiate a markup on the property between the contract price of the wholesaler or seller to the investor. And that can be anywhere from five to 10,000. I've had as much as 40,000 markup on some properties. And all of this will get paid at the first, when the property funds on the front end in three to five business days. So gone are the days of being a buyer rep agent or a listing agent and having to wait three to four months for a 3%. I'm getting 15 to 20K in the first three to five days working the deals that way. So that's the first three ways that we get paid. And remember, this is my model to scale and I can source the deals. I just go through wholesalers. They've got deals out there and I... I have a system where we evaluate the deals very quickly and I can determine a 65 or 70 % deal real fast and I can pitch that with a lot of the values that we add to the investor and they jump on the same day. So all that's paid in the first week. Then there's a back three ways that you can get paid and this is great. Many times when they go get a rehab estimate on their project, they get from retail Speaker 4 (39:44) you Speaker 2 (39:57) and their prices are way high. Most retail contractors are starting at $30 to $35 a square foot. We have contractors on our team that are investor friendly and they start at about $20 a square foot. So they undercut the market quite a bit. Well what happens is, is when they get their original retail bid, it's like a hundred grand or a hundred and twenty grand and then our team will come in and be like at 60 or 70 grand. And so to work with our guys, Speaker 1 (40:23) no-brainer. Speaker 2 (40:26) I'll cut an equity play into the deal. And I say, listen, you're going to lose money on this property if you go with this contractor. I said, you will make about 40 grand going with this other contractor. For that, give me a 10 % equity play. So you'll pay me 10,000. And I will be the project manager for you. I'll overtake the project, and I'll coach you on how to do it. And let's agree to do this on three deals. And then by the time we're done with three deals together, you'll be fully turnkey to manage your own projects, ready to go. and everybody says, love that, let's do it, I'm for that, I'm not gonna make any money if I don't. And so, I have that structured into the deal, so equity play is the fourth way. The contractor we bring in gives me a 2 % referral, so the contractor comes in gives me 2 % and 1 % for life, so anytime that investor comes back and does another project with them, I get a 1 % from them for life. And then of course, I'm the listing agent on the back end, so that's the sixth way that I get paid. And now with listing agent, because depends on how I've been paid throughout the deal, I will often counsel the investor to not do a 6 % total commission, 3 % to buyer rep, 3 % to listing. I'll say, listen, let's do 5%. That'll save you about four, five, six grand off the top. And only give me 1%. And let's give the buyer rep four. So this will, when they hear that, and when we market that in strategic ways, there will work harder to close that deal. And you won't have a lot of this goofy stuff happen and go on. That extra 1 % to a buyer rep means a lot. And they work harder. And so that leaves a very good taste in the investor's mouth. Like, man, you'll do that for me? I'll do it for you, sure. And I say it doesn't make any sense since I have equity. Just to pour more out on a commission on the back end, I'll just get it in the equity anyway. And so it's a great marketing plan for the investor. And we end up selling the houses faster than the average days on market. Speaker 1 (42:20) So voila. Wow. And there you have it folks. And so many things change. Like we know so many different sides of real estate and just hearing this other side of it is, and I'm not dealing with real estate and investing anymore in what I'm doing, but I think that the niche and what you're focused on is pretty incredible. Well, I think what's exciting too is that when you take someone who Speaker 4 (42:24) haha Speaker 1 (42:49) did not have a real estate entrepreneurial background like you. And it's just a true testament that when you decide what your avenue is for retirement or whatever, what have you, when you put your mind to it, you can certainly excel in it. And I think you're a testament that when you do focus and put your faith in it, that you can definitely profit from it and for good reason. But it's also for those of us who have, I mean I'm an investor, certainly at this point not as seasoned as you, but I think if you put your mind to it, real estate is definitely a route and avenue for anyone who's never been into it to get into and change their life. Speaker 2 (43:36) And the blessing working with this is five investors, if they do five deals a year, if you just work, if you don't want to do all the middle stuff, you just work the front and the back, that's 50 transactions a year, just with five people. And so my first year I did 29 deals, transactions, I averaged 30 to 35,000 per transaction. And I did that with eight people. And so every transaction is not a new person. you get a listing or you get a buyer rep, you have these personalities and you get these different stuff you have to work through. And that's the main challenge of real estate really is trying to get the deal across the finish line with all the different personalities. But here, become, the investors see you like family. Because you're bringing them tons of value, you're bringing them lots of money. Speaker 4 (44:10) you Speaker 2 (44:31) The investors, I've only had one loss of $14,000 on one flip. Then there was one that was right at break even. But everyone else has done very well and the average return for investors has been about 40 grand. Except for the two out of the 29 in my first year. Speaker 1 (44:51) I've been doing real estate a long time and I've lost a lot of money and I've made a lot of money. And you know what Wes is talking about, I think it is amazing and you know the things you're doing because I'm not in that world and you my thing is like you want passive income. We know a dude if you want to buy big properties and invest we can introduce you to him. But that's so different than like what you're doing and how you're doing it. it's such a short period of time. I mean it's different than anything I've ever thought of. I'm literally seeing, bing, bing, bing, light bulbs go off. So that's really cool. Speaker 2 (45:24) Well, so, this is pretty neat. So, I have no money to invest. Even I've been doing this for years, I still have no money, I give it all away. And that's okay, we love it. But so think of this, so just in the fourth way that I get paid, equity. And from June of 24 to June of 25, 29 deals, I was able to capture 517,000 in equity. Speaker 4 (45:36) Yes. Speaker 3 (45:49) a million. Sounds better. Speaker 2 (45:52) just partnering with others, just bringing value, just because they would have lost money on the deal if I hadn't been in it. And so just getting a piece of their equity, just 25 % is normally what I start with. I've got as much as 49 % in some deals depending on the way it all works out, but just that part alone, I'm able to have equity in other people's deals without any credit or money of my own. And that, to me, is mind-blowing. Speaker 3 (46:18) So there's a myth that pastors shouldn't talk money. You're breaking that mold. How do you view money as a tool instead of a taboo? Because like the love of money is evil or you know, like Speaker 2 (46:30) The root of all evil is? Yeah, the love of it. Money's a tool, money's a moral. It's like fire. You can do with it what you want. You can cook with it or can burn something to the ground. It's what you do with it, that's the problem. It's what eats you with it. 90 % of Jesus' parables were about money. So pastors not talking about money is more about the people in the pews getting frustrated because they're not doing what they're supposed to do. If the people in the pews were do what they're supposed to do, They give the most applause when you talk about money. It's the people that don't do what they're supposed to do. They're the ones that get mad. They're the ones that write the letters. money is just a tool. Speaker 3 (47:10) It's like paying taxes, right? The ones that are not really paying and that are collecting it, on benefits and subsidies, like they get upset when. Speaker 1 (47:19) But let's face it also, you've always been in a position of service in whatever, whether it's spiritually or whatever, and although you are benefiting from, you you're working toward you and your family's retirement, look at, if you'll stop giving it away, put something back for you, that's why, but at the end of the day, Speaker 3 (47:34) It feels start saving. Speaker 1 (47:43) Look how many people you're bringing joy and happiness to. And whether it's because they have their first home, you're getting them in investing, you're educating them, you're still serving. And you may be the difference between whether someone is on their last dime and down and out, and you educate them and teach them, this is how you can provide for your family. Now whether they do it for the pastoral reasons and they give back, whatever, you are still allowing them the opportunity to learn. and make something for themselves and for their family. And whether or not you choose to give all your stuff away, it's up to you. But at the end of the day, when you lay your head on your pillow, what great joy you have knowing that you're doing right. And your wife is on board. mean, and let's face it, there's a lot She's amazing. We all know her, she's amazing. But that's huge. That's huge. At the end of the day, whatever you decide to do, whether you give 90, 80, 50, 25 % of it back, and you live in a shoebox underneath the bridge, that is up to you. But when you go to sleep at night and you look up there and you think, look how I served the Lord, look how I served my community, look how I made other people who otherwise did not have the opportunity of a trade or an education, and they don't have a dime, and you're saying, hey, let me show you how you can do it, and you can get off the streets, and you can provide for your family, and whatever. mean, what a great service that is on so many levels, because they trust you. first and foremost, maybe as your pastor, but now, I we've seen you out there on your TikToks and your Instagrams and everything. It's so good, y'all. It's so You're not following him. It's so good. Where can they find you, by the way? He's a hoot. He's a hoot. And first and foremost, you're genuine. You are talking the talk and you're walking the walk. And I think that's what people want to see. Speaker 3 (49:30) So where can they can where can they find you on YouTube, TikTok? Speaker 2 (49:33) Yeah, the Property Kings, that's my YouTube, I think, PropertyKings.co on Instagram. But if you click on one, you'll find them on the others. Or you can just Google Mr. Amazing. It'll pop up. All the socials will happen that way. Speaker 1 (49:47) He is also so He's so funny. He's so modest. They'll pop up and I see something. I'm like, my gosh, and I text him. I'm like, wow, that was really good. And then I'm like, my gosh, how do you come up with these ideas? Speaker 2 (49:59) Chat GPT is my friend. It does it all for me really. Speaker 1 (50:03) Well, it takes a lot of talent and it takes like, you learn so much stuff. You've dealt with a lot and you put it out there and I think you, people can resonate with you on the side of the real estate side and on the side of the pastorial and the message that you give Wes. It's just, it's, it's a privilege to, and I know you shouldn't say it's a privilege to be your friend. I'm blessed to be your friend and I'm thankful for it. So privilege. I don't know, man. We're darn lucky to have met you and have you our life. I mean, it's it's huge. Speaker 3 (50:33) So we've got a few more questions. You've led churches, household teams. What's the most valuable leadership lesson real estate people need right now? And also if you could teach your younger self one thing about adulthood, what would that be? Speaker 2 (50:47) Man, that's a... That's a zinger. That's a good one. Number one leadership lesson. be honest with you, it's what I think the real estate world needs to know is this concept that God will feed the birds every morning, but he doesn't drop the worms in the nest. Speaker 1 (51:09) Okay. I think that's in life. That's not just in real estate. Yeah. I was actually super excited. was like, she framed it as real estate. Like, what lesson? Like, that's a lesson in life. That's a life lesson. Speaker 2 (51:22) Just do the work. If you want to be wildly successful, do the things that the 90 % don't do. Speaker 3 (51:29) We were at lunch and he's sitting there analyzing a deal, sent it out and got it, I think he probably got it under contract by the time we left from lunch. Speaker 2 (51:37) Yeah, so I like that concept that the scripture said that he will bless the works of your hands, but your hands gotta work. You don't get the blessing if you're not gonna work. And I know a lot of people that just expect God to do something and they don't give him anything to work with. Speaker 1 (51:53) God wants you to be successful, but by golly, you got to put the work in. So this is terrible, and I want to see your face. Because I have a better joke. But Natalie told this one, and I first didn't understand it. Like I had to listen to it again on one of our podcasts, and this lady was like, I just want to the lotto, dear Lord. I just wanted to win the lotto. And God was like, you kind of got to buy a ticket. He got to help me out somewhere. Speaker 3 (52:12) She was a blonde lady. Speaker 1 (52:22) Yeah, that's so many jokes. I talk about the one and I am going to say it because I think it makes so much sense. So the flood. So it's flooding and the police car comes by. Come on, it's flooding. Let's rescue. No, I'm for a sign from the Lord. So then they go to the second floor. Fire truck comes by. Come on, let's go. No, I'm waiting for a sign from the Lord. So then they're on the roof. and the helicopter comes by and they're like, come on, we gotta go, we gotta get you out of here. And they're like, no, I'm waiting for a sign from the Lord. Well then they die. And they're at the pearly gates. And they're like, what happened, Lord? And he was like, I gave you three signs. So you think about working, you think about doing all of this stuff. It's like, you you can have faith and, you know, we all are Christians. You can be your own person. We hope that you're a Christian, but it's not just going to come to you. And then Kelly and I were joking around about buying a lotto ticket after we leave here, because there's a big jackpot. How many people have won the lotto and lost everything? So it's like all these things that you want and you wish for, it's hard work. Wes, like having a congregation of people and being in real estate and coming up with new things. Everything that you do is, I mean, if you want to be good at it, it's hard work. Can you put systems in place? Can AI help you? And I'm on that tangent. Can't wait to share that with y'all. But all of these things, it's still going to be a thing. You have to put the work in. It's not a magic. I want to win the lotto and God's going, well you got a bad ticket if I can help you out. Not that he would do that and gambling and whatever. just maybe. But all the things. And you've put in the work and you're doing so much stuff and you're being faithful. And I know we're about to wrap up, but you've seen also people who are working-ish, talk-ish. They're not all in. They're like, why am I not successful? Speaker 3 (54:03) It's hard work. Speaker 1 (54:21) Well, there are things you can put in, like for you being here today, you're really busy. You were able to schedule it because you understand how to schedule your time to be here with us, to have an impact. Those things, you have to be purposeful. If you're not purposeful, if you don't understand your why, if you don't get why you're doing certain things, it's really different. And I think as a pastor, as a real estate investor, as a business person, and just as a human, These are things people forget. They want easy right now. And there's a lot of work that goes into it. Well, a recent study came out and said that a lot of the young people today are thinking about planning for their retirement instead of buying their first home. And the first thing I thought of was, well, who are they going to buy a home from? Me. So if I'm the investor and I have all these homes, you know, guess what? Right, so if you're that person and you're out there and you're not that young person that's trying to decide what you want to do with your life, but you're that older person that says, know what, gosh, how can I really build my income and prepare for my retirement and leave a legacy for my children or whatever? Wes is the ideal candidate to sit there and show you this is how you do it because I started from like you said zero money and Look what you've done and like I said whether or not you you put in the bank all of your profits Whatever you choose what you want to do But you've proven that there are ways to do it and it takes a lot of hard work education and just diligence and faith in yourself and and and your congregation and and you can get it done Speaker 3 (56:01) So I have a real estate fits pastors perfectly. They're used to taking something broken, neglected, and abandoned and turning it into a miracle. about a miracle, but turning it into something, you know, something nice. So as we close out, Wes, what's your next, like what's up next for you? Deals ministry, world domination? What's your roadmap? What does that look like? Speaker 1 (56:11) Yes, very good. Speaker 2 (56:29) One is to get on the podcast more often. So that's one of the goals for 2026. Speaker 1 (56:35) You're on it every day. You're just like the disclaimer. Speaker 2 (56:38) Okay, perfect. You know, my focus is I really want to teach the system the six ways you can potentially make money on off-market deals. I really want to help real estate agents have a natural heart for people and they want to help people and they also see how beneficial and lucrative real estate can be. but they're struggling. So I want to reach out to agents who are struggling and show them the system and say, your life can be different. so agent attraction is going to be a big push for me in 2026. I'm going to put some effort, some money into that. I've been blessed. My first year is able to get 40 agents on the team. My goal by the end of next year, this time is to have 150. And so that's a big thing because in our company, which is EXP, they have a rev share model. Speaker 4 (57:11) I'm Speaker 2 (57:28) That is very powerful and I'm going to be leveraging that. And I've also found out, this is just another blessing, one agent on our team has 350 agents. Okay, he averages only $15 per agent in his rev share. The average nationally for rev shares is $43 an agent. And so you can take these numbers and you can decide how much money you want to make a month and if you get that many agents then you can have passive income. Speaker 4 (57:34) and Speaker 2 (57:54) With the 40 that I have, I'm averaging $70 per agent. Because this system produces more. Speaker 3 (58:02) repeat business from the investors. Speaker 2 (58:04) Yes, and so it's doubling the national average. Speaker 1 (58:07) and he still goes down to zero every month because you're giving it away. So at some point we got to go to retirement. Yes. Speaker 2 (58:13) I'll switch gears, I'll switch modes and that, the beautiful part is that I can have that push with agent attraction, build passive income, and build that retirement. That's like my real, I mean eventually I want to get away from transactional real estate. Everybody does, and so the passive income model is, love it. I love everything passive. Speaker 1 (58:37) yeah. Speaker 3 (58:37) Well, we certainly appreciate you being here for the guest happy hour for our inaugural sugar spice and spirits. Love it. So we appreciate it. How can we help you? What information do you need? What topic should we cover? We want to be better for you. We appreciate your feedback. We appreciate you listening and we obviously appreciate Wes for being here. That's Wes Foster. We'll put his socials in the comments so you can find him. And don't forget to like and subscribe and wherever you get your podcasts, we want to hear from