Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Real Estate Profits. I'm Griselda and today we're taking your business from busy to brilliant. You're watching now Media Television.
Hello and welcome to Real Estate Profits where we unpack the truth about building wealth through property. I'm your host, Griselda and today's guest is a powerhouse in real estate investment and development, Dennis Burke.
With over three decades of experience, Dennis has helped others learn the ropes and succeed through both challenges and through many triumphs. In the first segment, we're going to be diving into the reality behind the so called passive income.
Is it really passive or is that just a myth?
So. Hello Dennis, how are you?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: I'm great.
Sorry for my cough today, but I appreciate, I'm glad to be on the show. I'll do my best to answer your questions and share good information with the audience.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Wonderful. And it's wonderful to have you back. So, so on this passive income notion, everyone talks about passive income and just go ahead and have a 9 to 5 job and you can just let your real estate be passive. What would you say is the truth about passive income in real estate?
[00:01:21] Speaker B: There is such thing as passive experience. In real estate, however, you have to set the initial framework up, such as you've got to go and buy value based properties and possibly improve them.
In many cases that would be doing some renovations and then you have to put in quality tenants and if you manage to do that, then you have a great chance of being able to earn a monthly rental income passively.
Now, depending on the size of your business, you may end up wanting to hire a management company.
But I would say that initially for many investors, small investors new to the industry, they actually manage their own properties in the early years and then later as they become more expensive, experienced and grow more rapidly, they actually hire management companies to handle all the management detail day to day for them, including the leasing part and the collection of rents. And when you get to that stage and let's say you have a couple of hundred apartments or what they call doors is the organ they use, then you, you have a sufficient cash flow to cover the cost of a management crew. And, and this enables you to move away from being more hands on operationally to being more passive and enjoying the result of your efforts.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: So now that's a critical decision, right? When to outsource property management because like you say, it's not free, right? Obviously you have to pay some amount.
So when is the right time you think to outsource property management? Because it is going to bite into your Profits, extent.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Well, I don't know if there's such a thing as a right time because for instance, you could be a small investor living in California and own property in Florida, or you could be living in New York like many people do and own property in Florida and they, they kind of need to hire a management company because it can't be present all the time.
People doing that also make money and management fees aren't that crazy. You know, generally it's about 10% of the collected rents every month and even in some cases, maybe in many cases, an override of 10% on many of the improvements and renovations that are made as a cost of doing business.
But I would say in general, if you get into a major real estate portfolio of 10 or 20 million dollars at that level, you really are probably in, in the in with a management company. Hired a management company and have it have them do most of the work. And what you're doing is you're finding your next deals and doing the analysis on deals on a regular basis to keep growing the business so that you can actually become more passive as time goes by.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Excellent. So focus on the strategic growth for your business.
Now. Another thing that really helps entrepreneurs and business partners is systems. Having the right system so that you're not stuck in the day to day of running the business. How do you build these systems so you're not stuck in that rut routine?
[00:04:34] Speaker B: In property management there are many different softwares that you can subscribe to, some you can purchase, but nowadays many of them they're subscription based. You pay by the month or pay by the year. And I wouldn't want to mention one management company software over another because I don't have any alliance with anybody. And most of our experience in our portfolio was my family's in the business with me. My wife has been the leasing director of leasing for many, many years. And we have found that managing our own properties has been the most viable way to go.
But there again, we no longer do residential real estate, multifamily real estate. We strictly do commercial real estate. And many of our tenants are corporate tenants. They are not individuals per se at all. They like an eyewear store, or maybe it's a law firm, or maybe it's a transportation company.
The list is long of all the different possible corporate type tenants you could have. And under those conditions you need minimal management because they don't need for you to do anything for them. And many of those leases at that level are what we call triple net leases, which means you get Net rent every month, and the tenant pays the pass throughs in the form of cam, which is common area maintenance.
So it's a very different business model from residential real estate. There's a lot more handholding and engagement and participation and involvement with tenants on the residential side and multifamily side. Whereas we don't experience that much on the commercial side. We just by design don't.
In our earlier years, in the first 15 years, we were in multifamily residential apartments and homes, but we recognized that that wasn't ideally suited for us.
So we switched entirely after the crash of 2008 and 2009 into commercial real estate. And that's where we've been ever since, for the last 15, 16 years.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Oh, I see. Wonderful. Now, now, in terms of tracking metric performance to make sure that you're maximizing your profit, what would you recommend investors to track on a month to month basis? To remain profitable?
[00:07:03] Speaker B: They need to manage their, their rent collections. You know, the ratio of total rents to the collection, like who's late all the time, who defaults and who, who needs to be eventually, you know, eliminated.
Though in, in this case in Florida, it can take a lot of months, like up to three to four months to evict somebody. So you have to take a position.
At what level or what point do you want to evict somebody?
Sometimes it's better to try to work with them if you can. But back to your question.
I think the, the rent collection is one part.
The other part is your, your vacancy. You have to manage your vacancy because that can be your greatest loss at the end. You know, uncollected money is always uncollected money. So you have to make decisions such as, should I just lower the rent? Should I do a move in special? Should I give free rent for a few months?
How do we need to proceed? And there's no, no magic bullet on a lot of this because some marketplaces are, in some types of real estate, individual prospects will respond to free rent better than they might.
Some other type of promotion that you might offer, like concessions against for the improvements on the space might be another incentive you can give people.
So these are all the variables that you kind of have to consider to balance out your profitability in the long run.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Now, in terms of all of these deals, obviously you have multiple deals and now focus on commercial. Like you say, how do you know when a deal is working well for you as opposed to you working day to day every day in that deal?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: So we tend to Buy what we call add value real estate. We're in the space where we, we buy the ugly, nasty, random looking one. And we're not talking about fix and flip houses in this case. We're talking about ugly, ran down dated properties, commercial properties from maybe the 50s, the 60s, the 70s and the 80s. And in many cases they have high vacancy.
Maybe they're in the 40, 50, 60% vacancy range. And the tenants that are there are paying rents from 10 years ago. They had no escalations whatsoever. So the rent split, they are stagnated.
They're almost in a negative rent position.
So we take on those properties knowing that we're going to have to make capital investments to improve the property. And from that we're going to be able to eventually raise the rents and attract higher paying tenants who want to be in a nicer environment.
They just love our location because we pick locations that are in high density, high traffic areas, often at traffic light intersections, and that have off street parking. So we figured out over, over time what some of the key ingredients are to have a successful location and therefore have a successful, profitable piece of real estate.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Okay, wonderful. So now everyone talks about location being prime. And I know you're in the Sarasota, Florida area, but you probably have properties all over the place. What would you say? What would you recommend for someone to look for? What is, what is critical? You said being by an interstate, what other factors would you look for to make it a prime location?
[00:10:34] Speaker B: High traffic at minimum, 30,000 to 50,000 cars a day.
At a major intersection, maybe there's at least two to three lanes of traffic on each side of the road.
You know, these concrete dividers in the road where the state put them in maybe in the past with the good intention of saving lives in the event of accidents.
So if you, if you want to succeed, you, you can't have a situation or buy a property, in my opinion, where the person has to drive like 500 yards down the road to get to the next traffic, like turn around and come back. It's not a winner. You know, we, we need to buy properties that are again, in my opinion, in downtown districts that are nearby post office, banks, courthouse, major public, public buildings, maybe chamber of commerce. And if you're not in a downtown district, you still need to be somewhere that's major intersection, major traffic right off a freeway.
It just has traffic and high visibility. That's the key.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Wonderful. Okay, well, Dennis, thank you so much for that insightful breakdown of information. Now for our viewers that would like to get a hold of you? How can they get a hold of you?
[00:11:53] Speaker B: They can get a hold of me right here at Property Wise Guys. I mean, I'm blocking my own phone number, but it's there you go, right there, 941444.
That didn't work out very well. But 944-0454 is a number. And we're in we're actually in a city called Bradenton, Florida, and that's right next door to Sarasota, Florida. We're right by the beaches and major thoroughfares.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Well, perfect.
Thank you so much. And we'll be back with more insightful on Real Estate Profits with Dennis Burke.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yes, thank you very much.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: We'll be right back with more ways to optimize, scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Griselda, and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television.
Let's keep building smarter together.
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welcome back to Real Estate Profits. And we're continuing our conversation with real estate investor and entrepreneur, lifelong entrepreneur, I will say, Dennis Burke. So in this segment, we're tackling the mental hurdles, especially that first deal fear that holds so many people back from taking that leap forward. Hello, Dennis. How are you?
[00:13:44] Speaker B: I'm great. Thank you for having me.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: O absolutely love having you on the show. You always have a lot of great insights to share with your wealth of experience from brokerage, investments, properties, just about everything. And you've done both, right, commercial and real residential.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: We've done just about everything.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you for being on the show. And we're going to start with the fears that many people have. So what fears did you have before you did your first deal?
[00:14:17] Speaker B: I mean, it's such a long time ago now. Honestly, I don't remember having a lot of fear. What I do remember, however, is that when I first came to America, which will be 40 years next March, I knew I was motivated and driven to achieve and to do do different things with life. And at the time, sometimes being green is a good thing because you don't have any Bad assumptions, even, Even good assumptions about things. You just go at it. And so we just went at it. Didn't think about what was.
What failure meant, whether we'd be successful or not successful. We just did it. And when you just do it, sometimes they say you fake it a little bit till you make it and your hurdles and your fears that way. And you find as time goes by, you become a bit more knowledgeable, a bit more comfortable doing whatever it is that you're setting out to do, in this case, buying real estate, owning real estate, renovating real estate. And you end up reckoning or recognizing that, hey, you know, this is not so complicated now. It's just a piece of real estate, and anybody could do it. It's just that I think what happens to people in general is they become heavily conditioned by their environment, by the people in their lives, by the surroundings they have. Maybe schools, colleges, universities don't even give good input either. And people learn to believe that it's not for them, it's not possible, that they wouldn't be the right fit for doing it. But from. From my vantage point that none of any of that is true. I think everybody could do it.
Everybody. Really?
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Do it. You know what's going to be the worst thing that happens?
[00:16:01] Speaker A: You know, you make a little bit of money on the deal, or you make a lot of money on the deal. But I totally agree with you. Right. We've been dabbling in real estate ourselves for about 18 years now. And you're right, at first a little scary, but once you get past the first deal, second deal, you learn a lot after every single one of them. I will say, yeah, now acknowledging the fear. So, like I hear you say, just own the fear. We're all going to have it initially at least. But what's something that helped you take action despite the fear in those first one or two rounds?
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Let's say I believe that, you know, again, I listened. I did listen to a lot of people, and they said, you know, real estate is a great way to make money.
And I read the book also back many years ago, Think and Grow Rich. You may be familiar with Think and Grow Rich, and it described 14 different steps to building financial independence in America. And I read that extensively and studied that. And I started to believe in the principles and philosophies and things that Napoleon Hill spoke about. And I recognize that if you applied what he was talking about to real estate, there was no reason to be fearful of anything because he gave you the roadmap. He Gave you the steps, and so why couldn't you do it? And so I believe we. We used to live in East Atlanta, in a city called Covington, Georgia.
And then there's a lake called Jackson Lake. And at one point in our lives, we owned a few houses on the waterfront there. Back in those times, These were maybe 80 to $150,000 for the houses.
They needed work, but we bought them, rented them, and then that was our learning curve, so to speak, to get into a much grander level of real estate over time, over 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years.
So we overcame different things at different stages. And because we did, our confidence level arose. And as our confidence level rose, we.
We looked at the possibility of taking on even bigger challenges.
This is how it works for people in all aspects of life. You try little steps first, then you run a little bit, and then next thing is you're sprinting, and the next thing you do entire marathons. And this applies, like I said, you could be a business, it can be real estate, it can be being an Indy 500 car racer or whatever it is you decide you'd like to do in your life. It's all possible for us.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I know earlier in the show you mentioned of how you got started and now doing big commercial deals, Right. So you've learned and you've grown. Now, how do you separate the smart caution from potentially self sabotaging? There's a lot of things that could go wrong. How do you apply that smart caution concept?
[00:18:54] Speaker B: I don't think about any of that because, like, during COVID we bought about $10 million worth of real estate, for instance, and everybody else was scared of buying real estate.
So, you know, I recognize that, for instance, in that case, Covid was a temporary environment that the government would step in like they did in 2008, and they bail out the public, and they'd bail out in 2008 the banks, or during COVID that they'd put a lot of money into a pharma industry, promote the idea of getting the drugs, and they'd buy a lot of drugs through the government, such as the shots that many, many people in public, in the public places got.
And I didn't see that that was a fear there was anything to fear.
And sometimes you have to be going in the reverse order of people, and everybody's running for the hills and scared. You have to be doing the most wild and crazy thing. You have to be buying larger, large pieces of real estate because we were buying it at 50 cents on the dollar at the time and increase in value along the way. But we is also a function of being a stable steward of real estate.
Knowing when to hold, knowing when to fold, knowing when to walk and when to run. And we, we've been there and done that. Now, I assembled a whole city block, two and a half acres, for instance. It was one project I did, but I knew I, you know, had done that in a west Georgia town called Lagrange, Georgia.
I had a similar whole city block downtown Lagrange back in 2004 and 5. So I knew how to do all that already. I wasn't. There was no reason for me to be afraid. Other people might have been afraid, had reason, good reason to be afraid, but I wasn't because I didn't see any reason to. And since I'm a human with a large imagination, the big picture vision and large risk tolerance, I just needed to move ahead. We need to push forward rapidly and aggressively. And that's what we did. We've done this for years.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Wonderful. And like I say, every once in a while there's that. I'm not going to call it a mess up, but a lesson learned, or I wish I had held it a little longer, or I wish I had done something differently.
But sometimes those are learning moments that are the best teachers, right? And so can you give us an example of one of those where maybe you would have done something different?
[00:21:25] Speaker B: Perhaps during COVID maybe we did recognize that there was change coming, maybe in 2007 and we started selling properties. But I really should have sold more of the properties to get out from underneath the big avalanche of difficulties that came in 2009.
It just didn't work out entirely. Because if you're a classic entrepreneurial real estate guy, you tend to have different buckets of real estate. You tend to have your operating fixed up and renovated and leased properties. You tend to be in the negotiation phase of buying older properties. And then you tend to have just bought maybe six months or a year or two ago, properties that you have housed and that you're working to get your designs, your permits, they're almost permit and construction ready, but they're not yet. And so you're in different categories. And if the wrong economic conditions come around, you can really get trapped in the middle of all of that. Because it's not like you have everything, triple net lease and you have 50 properties and they're all cash flowing every month. Because what happens a lot of the time is 50 or 60% of your performing property is sustaining the properties that are not performing yet.
It's an ongoing evolution. I think this is how real real estate works.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Now there's many people out there that have a little bit to invest.
What advice would you give someone that was getting ready to invest in real estate but is still holding out or afraid for some reason and hasn't taken that leap forward? What advice would you have for them?
[00:23:12] Speaker B: I would say that they need to decide whether they want to be in commercial or residential. Residential is a lot more, a lot more human elements involved. Like especially if you have vacation rentals, there's a lot of turning of doors, people coming and going, a lot of cleanup behind people. I believe a lot more risk even for owners that damages happen to their properties.
And so it just depends if that's what you want to do or that's what you like or if you have a larger capital amount of capital, then I recommend you buy a small commercial buildings anywhere from three or four hundred, five hundred thousand to a million dollars and circumvent the whole residential side. Because if you get into commercial real estate and you get corporate tenants, corporate long term corporate leases, you probably won't go back to residential ever.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: That's true. Right. It's very profitable when you do that. Corporate side.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much. That's powerful insight, Dennis. And for anyone looking to connect with you, maybe get some advice or is ready to face their fears and move forward, how can they follow your work or connect with you?
[00:24:27] Speaker B: So the best way to get a hold of us, we're in a city called Bradenton, Florida, next to Sarasota. We're near all the beaches in Anna Marie island and St. Pete, Florida.
Our office is downtown Bradenton on 9th street and the phone number is 941-444-0454. You can see the information, the website and everything right there on the screen.
And thank you very much.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: Wonderful. Well, thank you. And now we're off to a commercial break. I'm your host Griselda, and this is Real Estate Insights on NOW Media Television. We'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Griselda and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
Hello. And we're back with Dennis Burke. And now we're moving beyond income and getting into impact. So in this segment we're going to be discussing how to create wealth that not only serves you but also builds A long lasting legacy well beyond your years.
So tune in for this fantastic segment with Dennis Burke. Hello, Dennis. How are you?
[00:25:48] Speaker B: I'm great, Griselda. How are you?
[00:25:50] Speaker A: I'm wonderful, thank you. And I know you've dabbled into, you know, being a developer, real estate broker, and obviously you and your family have been building your own legacy.
What does that legacy mean to you, Dennis?
[00:26:07] Speaker B: So when we started out, we didn't have anything. I mean, we came to New York in 1986 and we, we just didn't, we didn't have anything.
But we did have something that you can't buy. And that is we had dreams, a vision and a will to succeed. And so long as you have enough will and perseverance and you have a vision of where you could be caught, what you can become and where you can go in your life, then the money comes into the picture along the way.
So I guess over my life, I've always imagined myself because becoming successful, I never ever thought of myself not being successful, you know, being, I believe that being rich or being poor is a function of one's own thinking.
And I, I chose to think more like a wealthy person than a poor person, even when I was, when I was broke and didn't have any money. So along the way, we just happened to get lucky enough to get into real estate. We figured out how the model of real estate worked. And to be honest, there's multiple formats to it. So our path initially though, it was in residential, real estate and multifamily. We eventually figured out that commercial was much, much more viable and more lucrative. And as we evolved and built our knowledge, built our experience, and we invested in real estate, started commercial real estate. It takes a lot more capital to get into that side of the business. But also commercial real estate produces a lot more profit than residential. And for that reason, we were able to grow substantially over time. And so where I'm at now in my life is there's a 40 year gap between my adult son and I. So when he was born, I was 40 years old, let's put it to you that way. And I'm now teaching him and his mother too.
Well, we know about business and real estate. And so when you talk legacy, we're trying to build a real estate and business portfolio that is a legacy to pass on to the next generation.
And so in 25 or 30 years from now, Griselda, when Dennis Burke is no longer on the planet, his adult children, grandchildren and other family members will be able to look at these videos and hear this crazy man talk about real estate and that'll be part of the legacy that'll be the reason that I'm here now doing these shows and also to be able to pass on my knowledge to other people in any walk of life that want to learn. Because, you know, a lot of our wisdom dies with us when we die. And why not leave it behind, leave it to the next generation? It makes more sense.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. I myself actually have a 23 year old daughter, let's say, that is much younger than me. I'm, I take her by 30 years. So not 40, but close. But now one thing that I've always, you know, had a challenge with is teaching our kids. So your kids, our viewers kids, how do you teach them about money and getting started in real estate so they can continue your legacy?
[00:29:22] Speaker B: I think the answer to that is by example because I've told my all my children know about what we do and they've even visited the properties that we own and they have seen the renovations that we do.
But for the most part they are not in a place in their lives yet where that matters too much to them to want to spend the time to learn.
However, our son who graduated from ucf, you know, which is a University of Central Florida in 2023, he did get his real estate sales license in 2024 and he has joined us and he is part, he's one of the property wise guys even at a young age. And so the idea is to teach him, as I said earlier, what we know and what we believe is a good philosophy for owning, managing and growing a real estate enterprise. And it's up to him when he gets on down the road five, ten years from now if he wants to continue that legacy or not.
Otherwise, when you have a real estate broker license, you could be working if you're 100 years old, you know, there's no, there's no exit time per se. You know, it's just you have to keep up with your continuing ed in your real estate brokering and you keep your license indefinitely. And so who knows, might still be moving a big deal when I'm 80, you know.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: Absolutely. And really that's the essence of it, right? Just full immersion, just dive right into it. Obviously, when they have someone like you by their side, you know, maybe there's a little lesson learned or two to make here, but they're not going to go wrong, right? You're not going to let them fail.
Now this notion of mindset is really critical and you mentioned now you're doing a lot more commercial real estate, and that's more profitable.
But why would you say mindset is what I would say, more important than money itself in the real estate world?
[00:31:15] Speaker B: Well, I think you're inviting me into the world of speaking about state of mind, thought and law of attraction. And so the fact of the matter is that as we think social, it be everything that goes on between your eyes dominantly, in terms of your thoughts, becomes that which is the outcome eventually. And people don't believe that and don't recognize that it's a large mistake. So the, the moral of the story is you got to think positively. You got to think positively about your environment, your surroundings and, and about yourself. You as a human, a unique human on this planet. You are different from everybody else and you bring great value to this world. You just have to exercise that, that ability that you have to come convert your value into the reality that you want.
It's purely amazing all the things that can happen in your life positively if you take the right decision and the right mindset to achieve the things that you want. There's no.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Absolutely, yeah, I totally agree. Right. That it's really. You can achieve anything you set your mind to. It's not cliche. I have experienced it personally. Right. Like you, like yourself, right, saying, hey, who were broke at one point or lived in poverty and no longer. And through real estate and other activities, you're building that wealth. Now let's talk about that. Let's talk about generational wealth. So many families out there aspire to build their generational wealth. How can real estate help create the generational wealth that they're looking for?
[00:32:49] Speaker B: So real estate happens to be a commodity that that value shifts over time. And, and if you think about inflation, there's like a connectivity between inflation in our society and the goods and services that we purchase. And real estate is exactly one of those things.
Not only is real estate something that businesses use, but people use to live in apartments, homes and such like that. But as the, as the value of our currency tied to tight inflation shifts, so does the value of our assets are, in this case, our real estate. And so on the average, real estate values double about every 12 to 14 years. And so, for instance, I explained that I'm 40 years ahead of my son because I'm in a different. I'm at the end of the journey, coming to the end of the work cycle, and he's at the beginning of the work cycle. But if, say, he inherited the properties that we passed on to him, he has 40 years to enjoy the value that they will increase by, due to the, the future value of money and the connectivity to inflation. And this is well known fact, you know, because back in the 1950s, for instance, I believe a pack of cigarettes was like 57 cents for a pack of cigarettes. And today a pack of cigarettes is something like 8 US dollars.
And you could, you could compare the same thing to the price of a car back in the 1950s or 60s with the price of a car today, and it's easily 10x, you know, 5,000 back then and 50,000 today, you know. So think about the same thing in real estate.
I have an example of somebody that I bought a piece of real estate from and then they paid 18,000 for it in 1979 and they, they put it on the market for a million 590 for instance.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. Wow. Amazing, right?
[00:34:59] Speaker B: That's after 50, 50 years.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: So yeah, absolutely. It's time value of money. And also properties and real estate appreciate for the most part. Right. Obviously there's some waves here.
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Commercial real estate, unlike residential real estate, residential real estate doesn't have naturally automatically built in escalations in the annualized rent, whereas commercial real estate typically does have escalations and therefore value rises proportional to the increase in rent every year by escalation.
Therefore, it's the most amazing thing ever. You know, it has like the equivalent to a dividend tied into its growth and gives you that as well as the positive cash flow that you earn off the real estate.
It's unbelievable.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: Unbelievable. Absolutely. And that is how you can create the generational wealth. Now what's one small habit families can start doing today, Dennis?
[00:36:01] Speaker B: I mean, each person's situation is different.
I don't want to tell people quit their jobs. But like your job is probably your, not your greatest asset in this life. It's your greatest burden.
I would say you have to, you need to figure out a way to transition out of having a job working 9 to 5 to get into self employment. Because once you become self employed, then you can increase the amount of money you make and therefore you can eventually buy some small property and you can increase the value of that property to improving the rents or improving the property structure, the aesthetics of the property, and then eventually you can sell that. It just so happens that in America we have something unique called a 1031 tax deferred exchange. And people can sell that property that they bought and improved.
They paid 500,000, now it's worth 800,000 because they improve the value of it.
Now they can sell. They can, they can move all their their gains in that property, that 300, call it 300,000 and upgrade to a now a million five property and so on and so on. They can do that for to infinity, so long as they keep doing that 1031 deferred exchange. It's amazing.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: It's amazing, right? You get to keep your gains.
Absolutely. Well, Dennis, thank you so much. These are very meaningful and impactful conversations about wealth and values. And for those people out there that want to dive a little deeper and contact you, how can they follow your work?
[00:37:32] Speaker B: The phone number is 941-444-0454. And we're based in West Florida in a city called Lagrange Floor sorry, in Bradenton, Florida.
And just call me and I'm happy to talk to people all the time, you know, no problem.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Dennis, for sharing your insights. I'm Griselda, your host. And this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. We'll be right back with more ways to optimize, scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Griselda, and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television.
Let's keep building smarter together.
Hello and welcome back to our final segment with Dennis Burke. I'm Griselda, your host. And this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. So now we're going from property to purpose. And this part of the conversation is for anyone who's realized that money alone isn't the goal. They want their business to mean something. And like we talked in our last segment, for leaving behind a legacy, right, Dennis?
[00:38:44] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. So welcome back, Dennis. Always wonderful to have you on our show.
Now, why did you build your brand around wisdom and faith and not just money?
[00:38:59] Speaker B: See, at some point you make more money than you need that you can spend. And real estate absolutely, truly is a vehicle that can enable you to make millions and millions and millions of dollars. But at some point, you can't spend all that money. And, you know, yes, you can leave a legacy, leave your kids money, but that might not solve their entire life problems either because as we exist and coexist in our society, money is a solution, but only up to a point. And unless people know how to manage money and use money wisely, it can be more to their demise than their betterment.
So what happens, I believe, is that you need purpose in your life beyond just making money all the time. You, you need A reason to get up every day and get out and about and. And have something to do, because I believe that gives meaning to people. And you need goals, you need a direction, and you need a vision of what it is that you want to accomplish. Otherwise, you know, it gets very boring just doing nothing. That. That's just my experience.
[00:40:05] Speaker A: I totally agree with you, absolutely. But just Shane, you know, chasing that shiny penny, that gold coin, after a while, once you catch it, because you will, especially in real estate, then what?
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Right?
[00:40:16] Speaker A: I think there's a lot of truth behind money doesn't buy happiness. Now, how do you stay grounded in your values as your business grows and as you grow?
[00:40:28] Speaker B: I believe I got great grounding myself as a kid. You know, I didn't grow up with anything, and I just had an imagination that, you know, one day I could become something or somebody. And I knew that if I came to America, and that was a goal, a serious goal when I was in my late teens and early mid-20s, then I eventually achieved that goal. And like I said, by March of next year, I'll be in America 40 years. But I've managed to accomplish things here. Like, we're just beyond my wireless dreams, you know, like, for instance, becoming a naturalized United states citizen in 2000 was a huge goal and a big dream, and it has enabled us to do some extraordinary things in America.
When I was 56 years of age, I went back to school, got my mba, that was a life goal, something I wanted, and then subsequently decided to go back and get a doctorate, and only after doing that for about a year. I wonder what on earth did I get myself into doing this doctor thing? And now it was too late to get back out, you know, so I stayed with it.
And as a younger man, I used to think about.
I think I'd be good on television. You know, I had a big imagination. I could talk to people. I wasn't afraid, speak my mind, so to speak. So I used to imagine the. I could be a TV host one day, or I could be on tv. And, you know, how on earth did I end up being here, where I am now? You know, like, there you are, you're thinking, your imagination, your belief all become real with the right mindset and the right motives.
And so here I am. And just a stroke of look, I believe I interacted with Juan, the CEO of the company, with NOW Media, and then because of that, I end up doing these interviews.
And there's just been many, many, many different things.
I would. I would have to acknowledge, however, that My greatest success and achievement is by far marrying the right lady in life 37 years ago and making three amazing babies. And now not babies anymore, but growing, grew up, I've grown up, become amazing young adults.
And they in their own lives have to have accomplished things.
One daughter is a pediatric nurse in Vanderbilt in Nashville. Another daughter is a. Is a vet in her final year of vet school. And our son works in the real estate business with us. And so if you're gonna have great kids and give them good grinding and you can enable them to become. Become successful and prosperous in their own lives, then that's the greatest wealth of all, I believe.
And money is just a means to an end. It's a function to help you get the things you need in your life. But it's not forever, the infinite infinity.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: To everything absolutely wholeheartedly agree. Couldn't agree with you more.
But now, obviously you've lived a life of purpose and you pass that on to your children to make sure that they continue the legacy.
What would you say happens when someone chases only the money and not that purpose in their heart?
[00:43:45] Speaker B: I believe that they may end up not being so happy at the end and they may find a huge void in their lives that leads to a depression, poor health.
You know, a lack of purpose is just a lack of direction. And people, you know, people just lose their identity and who they are, what they're about.
They just don't have a good sense of what it is that they're where they're going and that's not beneficial. And maybe that's the reason why many people end up in moderate health, have health issues, they have some kind of problems, they end up getting on unprescribed medications and things and things. You know, who knows? But the end of the day, a more purposeful, driven person, I think, that has. Has an agenda to accomplish good and to help others is a far more upbeat and more positive and more.
More has a greater contribution to make than the person that is not.
But to each their own situation.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. It's what people make of their lives, right? But I have seen that actually where people are, are chasing through real estate, you know, that deal, the next deal, the next deal, and really end up chasing only the money without that true purpose and core values behind everything. And I've seen them, like you say, right, Fall into sometimes maybe too depressed, extremely lonely. And I've actually even seen, and it's sad to say, but you know, a beautiful yacht, and they're on the yacht all alone, all on Their own. Right, so, so, absolutely. It's nice to have that, you know, passionate purpose I call it. I actually wrote a book of how do we go from poverty to passionate purpose?
How do you encourage others to lead with purpose in a business?
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Could you repeat the question?
[00:45:34] Speaker A: How do you encourage others to lead with purpose in a business?
[00:45:39] Speaker B: I think you lead by example. You people see what you do, they see what you're doing is noble. And then more people want to align with you in accomplishing things like you've done or like you're doing because they see that you followed a careful path and you've done good for a lot of. Not only for yourself, but for other people. So I, I do feel like that, you know, following, getting people to follow by example is the greatest way to inspire people to do good for themselves.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. And like yourself, right. You've been very, very successful and it seems that you like to educate. Obviously you're a doctor in business administration.
So by being on our show, you're educating our audience.
And so thank you for that.
[00:46:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Thank you for sharing your nuggets of wisdom with our audience. Now, what's your message for people out there that are chasing both profit and peace, or let's say purpose?
[00:46:39] Speaker B: I think that, you know, you, you have to just wake up and kick some, some, you know, go at it every day and just make something great work. And is there any real message? I don't know because there are a lot of variables. You know, where we live, there are people that are 25 years older than us that are still doing great things. You know, they're out at the, the dances and the area. They're, they're playing blackjack and they're, they're playing checkers.
They're out at events and they're singing. And there's people that are 25 years younger than us that are still working because they have little kids and they have to make a living to pay their bills. And so people are in different places and different, at different stages of their life. And so there are just so many variables. In Florida being the state that it is, we have 23 million people. We have the largest amount of migration from other states. There's such diversity here, both from Europe, Canada and South America. Different cultures, different people and different points of view. And it's just an amazing experience because we live this tropical in island style life almost all the time. People are down home friendly and everyone is trying to get along and it's amazing. So how, how do you not have purpose living is, is a joy and can be amazing when you get out and do things and engage with other people and do fun stuff.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. And I've heard many people kind of chasing the success and when I get there, I will be happy. And when I get there and they keep chasing that forever, never ending search for success. What would you say to people out there that are just chasing the shiny coin or chasing the path to success and are they really achieving it?
[00:48:36] Speaker B: I think that the success can be on some levels, habit forming and that people get a buzz. They don't take illegal drugs, but they take the path of success and achievement and it can become somewhat addictive to them. And they keep doing more and more and they buy more real estate or they make more money or they sell real estate and profit from, from that. And they do it more because it's. It fills a void in them that they have accomplished something and it reinforces something upon them about their identity and who they are as a human. And maybe also gives them joy because when they were younger they were doing that at one level or another. But now they have achieved the highest level and there's just a lot of variables to it and different people may view it differently. And so what I could say is that I do what I do now, what I'm doing, because I enjoy doing it. I don't do what I'm doing necessarily because I need a whole lot more money.
I have more than adequate to live. But at the same time, I don't mind selling more real estate and make more money. It's just because that's been what I've done for a long, long time. And I enjoy the process and I like helping the people.
It just so happens you get something in compensation for that just for doing that.
But it's not necessarily because it's about feeding kids and send them to school and putting shoes on their feet and clothes on them and sending them to college.
That doesn't exist for us anymore because we went. We've gone way past all of that.
But I do think that a lot has to do with where people are in their lives.
So if you're 25 or 35, you're in a different place with someone who's 50 or 60 or 70. And so it's all, I suppose you might say it's age appropriate.
Okay. And absolutely. Yeah.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: Well, Dennis, thank you for sharing not just business wisdom, but heart and purpose. So from facing fear to finding purpose, Dennisburg has shown us that real estate isn't just about profit. It's about people, principles and having that long term impact. So whether you're new to investing or looking to align your work with your values, today's conversation proves that your journey can be both profitable and purposeful.
Thank you for watching Real Estate Profits. Until next time, Keep building something that matters.
[00:51:06] Speaker B: And thank you for having me and allowing me share my points of view because you know, there are little extreme now and again. What I'm thinking about is right out there from my lips and glad you you let me share it with the audience. Okay. Appreciate it.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: Absolutely. Always, always excited to have you on the show, Dennis. Thank you.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: Thank you.
