[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome, listeners. You're listening to the deeds in the desert, where real estate investors tune in for the latest news.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome back to another episode of deeds in the desert. I'm your host, Izzy Urizari. Today we have Greg Yang, business development executive over here at Ignite funding. Thanks for joining us today. So today's episode we're going to go over, as we're back in the office, all about the Limitless expo that we went to in Dallas, Texas, at the Gaylord Convention center. So let's get right into it, Greg. So, first time at Limitless, right? Yep. We found this event, actually, from a few of the companies that we work with, and they had mentioned to us that we really needed to go there. We did our research, seen how many people had been going. This wasn't their first time doing the event. There were definitely not new kids on the block, which is what we look for in events. They also utilize an event app, which is huge for us. That's how we engage with the various attendees, as well as some sponsors as well, wanting more information. So we did all of that. We decided that we were gonna go, and I'm pretty excited that we did go. You know, it's been a while since we've hit a new event, and being able to go to an event that had that sheer amount of attendees, I wanna say there was over 1800 people there, at least, registered attendees, and I think it was a great opportunity for us to be in Texas. It's been a while since I've done some events in Texas, so I was really excited to be out there to a new market, but just to see all the potential investors. So let's get into it. I know you have a bunch of notes down. So what do you want to talk about as far as people who stopped by the booth?
[00:01:29] Speaker C: Well, I mean, first of all, I was excited because, again, our partner companies were giving us calls telling us to go to this event, and I was wondering why. And we obviously got the answers when we got there. And, you know, and just to kind of start it off, I'm glad we went because there were so many different types of people. Yeah, right. And whenever we go to a place with different types of options for people, I keep asking, how unique are we going to be in?
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I did hear you say that quite a few times.
[00:02:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Because we're typically in these nice events where we know all the partners, and we know that we're the only ones that do trust deed investing. But guess what? Limitless 2024, there still wasn't anyone like us. So we offered again my hope of that flight to quality that we've been talking about in the past couple of weeks. And we hit the nail on the head.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: I agree with that.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: Different nails for different investors.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: I didn't know what was gonna come up to this booth, honestly. It was like, I would feel like a typical event. You would know what people were going to ask you, and every five minutes it was something different. It was something different. I think that was super refreshing from an event aspect of things. But I loved that we weren't bombarded all day. We were getting one to two, three people consistently, which is what I like. Cause that allows us that intimate moment to be able to actually converse with them and actually go over their specific questions. But I love the fact that we were going over things all throughout the day with different questions. I mean, you did talk a little bit about it. I wanted to cover over who was really there. You had everything from some self directed custodians. You had funds there. You had oil and energy investments, tons of those. You had Texas. Makes sense, right? You had some syndicators there. But like you said, there wasn't anybody who did what we do there, you know, and I, I find it really hard for people, for us to find people who do exactly what we do. And even if we did find anybody doing trustee, it's always usually on the mortgage side, whereas, you know, we're on more strictly on the trusteed side of things. So it's one thing that I think is really beneficial to us when we attend the events.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Yeah. And you know what? For those who haven't seen us at an event, we should probably tell them that we're big on advertising, how we differentiate ourselves from syndications these days.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Yeah, we had the two big old pop ups around the side of the.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: Booth, and we say it loud and clear, not a syndication. So we had a lot of folks who have been involved with syndications coming to the booth asking how we're different. And I think that was from the standpoint of a real estate investor who was looking for something new. A lot of that chatter came from the syndication folks, and we are happy to tell them.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: I agree with that. I do, because we did a really good job of marketing ourselves out there and putting us out there right before this event, because we had just shot the three ways that trusteeds are different than syndications. We had a blog. We shot, obviously, the podcast, but we had a lot of material out there, and it seems like it was pretty good and eyed on point because of how many people came up to us. You know, it's not that we're necessarily basking syndications. It's that I think, just people just don't understand what they were, and it rang true. You know, some of the people that stopped by the booth, I don't know if you remember the one lady that had stopped by who actually gave us some great feedback. She told us all a little bit about more of some of the syndications she was in. But the one thing that made me, like, just want to, like, keel over is when she said, you know, I'm going to lose $700,000 this year. Syndications.
[00:05:11] Speaker C: You know, these folks had two main points that they were driving as to why they went to syndications in the first place. First was equity upside.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Yeah, they did that.
[00:05:23] Speaker C: Second was cash flow. Now, we know we can't do anything about equity upsides. We're strictly a debt on the debt side. But these folks were so desperate to regain that monthly cash flow. Yeah. That, you know, our double digit returns that are fixed and predictable brought much value to.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: I like using that term, you know, searching for yield in all the wrong places. You know, people get desperate. They're looking for the cash flow, they're looking for the deal flow of any kind. And it's like, you know, this sounds great until it's not, you know, that's good. With every investment, though, it's just that I've heard and what I've had listened to at this specific event, it just seemed like a lot of people put all their money in these syndications, they didn't go and do anything else with it. And that was another thing that was an issue that I was hearing from some of the attendees.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, I guess people go to conferences when they're running away from things that are.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: That's a good way to look at it.
[00:06:22] Speaker C: Right.
Aside from the fact that, you know, they're going there for education, but, I mean, that's what all the speakers are for, right? They're going to our booths to find something new.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: And another, another group of folks that we met were stock bond typical investors that were specifically looking for something more tangible, more reliable. And they love the fact that we're collateralized by real estate with the rates that don't move with the market. That's another thing that we really were able to push and elaborate on with these types of investors, which to them, surprisingly, was extremely eye opening.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: I think that was the one thing, too, is that, you know, a lot of people were really starstruck by some of the names that were there at the event. You know, I know everybody was really excited to see Robert Kiyosaki. They were really excited to see Brandon Turner, a few of the other big names. You know, I think the topics they talked about were very good, but I also think that some people didn't really take enough time to stop the first or second day at the booth. So that's why I think the third day, we got some people we hadn't even seen yet, you know, but I think that's great about the event. And, you know, I want to talk a little bit more about limitless itself, is that they did a good job on the education. From what I saw. They made sure that there were several sessions going on, but they had so many people there that if somebody didn't like the session, they were able to come over to the booth. So I think that's what was helpful for us, too. They really allowed to the attendees to pick and choose what they wanted to do. And I think that's really important, because if you have so much going on on the education side, but you also have a really good exhibit hall, I think that helps out a lot with the overall experience for the investor or for the attendee itself. So that goes back to the reason why I think we had so many different people stopping by the booth. It was just wild hearing the different questions. I remember one gentleman came up to us and he was like, oh, is this a fund? Nope, not a fund, not a reit, not a syndication, you know, and he's like, well, how is that? And I remember hearing you speak several times, you know, your name's on the deed of trust. That's when, like, the light bulb went off. When people saw that, I think it helped or heard that, I think it helped so much that they right away understood, oh, gosh, this is different than what I'm currently invested in.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: I'm expounding on that. I'd like to classify my last two group of people into one bucket. You know, real estate investors. Anything from rental properties to actual note investors themselves, with dealing with the fix and flippers, the moms and pops, three to note and all that.
People love the fact that they could put their hard earned money into an investment vehicle, like ignite funding, getting the same amount of protection that they currently do. Right, still real estate, but really just be relieved of all the legwork they're currently doing dealing with moms and pops who are defaulting in mortgage states, having to go through the whole judicial system.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that was another education part.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: We had rental properties that are 30, 40 years old needing tens of thousands of dollars in maintenance every single year. So when we told them about what we do, again, light bulb moment, same protection, about the same yield with really so much less legwork, I think there was that group of people that went to limitless, kind of trying to relieve themselves of the hard work they've been doing for decades.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: I agree. I think to even go off of that, too. I think we did a really good job of some of the people that at first were like, no, this isn't for me. But the minute we told them, because I like to call them doers, the people who want to do all the hands on everything with their rental properties and buying and. And some of them even being, like, very close with the gcs that are working on their projects. I think the one thing we did well, though, was like, well, what are you doing with that 40 or $50,000 you have sitting right now? Well, that's not going to get you your next fourplex. That's not going to get you your next fix and flip, you know, and they didn't have anything to say and.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: Let us help you get there.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Exactly. You know, stop your money from just sitting for XYZ amount of time. That's not doing anything for you. So I think that was how we did a good job. It's like, I kind of locked in with you, and I was like, oh, yeah, I like the way he's saying that because it made sense, and it was getting us some people, I think, that wouldn't have wanted to originally stop by, because the minute we said how much it was, because for some of these people acquiring a piece of property, 200, 300,000 in some areas, yes, you can get it for less. But at what, at what risk? And what's the like you just said? What. What is it sitting at right now? Do you need a new roof? Do you need all new flooring? What do you have going on? Is the foundation good? Those are all things they didn't have to worry about, you know? And I can tell when we said that number of 30 to 50,000 people were like, yeah, that's what I have sitting right now. Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker C: The. The biggest barrier was probably the fact that a lot of people were there looking for a leak. Liquidity, liquid assets, liquid investments. But even for that, we said time and time again, these are short term notes, nine to 18 months. And if you need to go to our other podcast episode talking about tranche, loans to know that we're funding loans continuously throughout the 18 months, hence having even shorter term deals for them. That kind of rounds out being able to have an answer to every single investor who came our way.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: It really does. Yeah, I did forget about a lot of the people that did stop by. They did mention that. How long is this? A lot of the syndication investors were stuck in theirs for three, four, five years. And so when we did see that, I do remember the, like, they don't want it again. No, they don't want to do that. They like the fact, I think the other things, too, is the typical things that we had talked about. They like the fact that they pick them. They were really shocked by that. They like the fact that it was short term. They did that. The name on the deed of trust is huge for them. But I think the one thing, too, is that you hit it a little bit earlier, is that ten to 12%, that's what they're getting. Well, that's about what they're getting right now and their other deals, you know, and I think the other thing, too, is when they do talk about getting even more interest than that, or more income than that, at what risk? You know, that's the one thing that we always try to put at them. And what did we learn? I mean, it was, at what risk? You know, there was a session that was going on that that lady had came by and she had spoke to us and said that there was a guy who had just raised his hand and said he was losing upwards of close to a million dollars this year.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Syndication guru was speaking on yeah.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Wireless syndication. Yes, yes, yes. That's just wild. Once again, I'm not downplaying it. It's just that, know what you're investing in and do your due diligence. That's, that's all we can do. Yes, we're just another booth at an event. We paid just as much as everybody else did, but at the same time, know what you're getting yourself into. You know, I think the other cool part, too, is that with us being here in Las Vegas, is that we did tell people, hey, come by. Remember, we just had some people who were like, I was just in Las Vegas, and I was like, oh, you should have stopped by. We're right off sunset. Come visit the office, see how we do everything. I think that was really telling because I was kind of listening to some of the other booths, and I didn't hear anybody doing that. You know, for the most part, some of the booths are pretty chill. You know, they're not out there, you know, really talking with people like we are, because what we have to do is we have to educate people. You know, there was so many different types of investments that were there, but they're more common. So there's not as much of a learning curve versus what we're doing on the trustee side.
[00:14:03] Speaker C: And within this whole study of figuring out what type of investment we are, how we play out in the industry, you know, I just found that, you know, this is the first time I'm gonna say it, but I like to think of us as that Zen investment. Zen. You know, just that balance of risk and returns. And I think I. I've said it before, I think it's something that every single investor can use in their portfolios.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: I agree. Passive fixed income, whether it's in real estate or another alternative investment, is something that everybody should look for. I do completely agree with you that this investment should be in everybody's portfolio, even if it's only 5%. It really should be, just because of the sheer mitigated risk, the passive fixed income side of it.
[00:14:51] Speaker C: Double digits.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Double digit. Who doesn't like double digit returns? You deserve double digit returns.
But jumping into the next fact, let's talk a little. Let's go back to more about limitless. It was a three day event. We were there. We got in on Wednesday night, set up and everything. The event was full day Thursday, full day Friday, full day Saturday. I would completely agree with that. That was interesting. If people haven't ever been to the Gaylord Convention center, it's ginormous. It's beautiful on the Inside.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: It's Vegas without the Vegas.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And I love the Enclosed. I didn't have to deal with the Elements. You know, it was humid. Obviously, it's Dallas, but I thought that was really good. And I think the best part was they did a really good job of capturing us. You were. There was nowhere to go. You went from the convention center to the hotel. But the hotel in of Itself, I think I mentioned to you it smelled like Disneyland. That's exactly what it felt like with.
[00:15:41] Speaker C: All the water going.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: That's what I heard. Yeah. And it was just so interesting, like, how the whole setup was, because, like, every time we went to dinner or we went to lunch or anything, we were seeing people from the event. We were seeing everybody, and it's like, wow. They did a very good job of keeping us captured, and that's something not a lot of events do. You know, people go off and frolic and go do all these different things and all these other networking opportunities. But here they were on point with.
[00:16:05] Speaker C: What they were doing, and I think it works because everybody's there to learn, everybody's there to interact, and you're doing it in and out of the sessions. It worked perfectly.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: So what do you think of, once again, let's talk about the event app. They use the Wova or Hoover or however everybody likes to pronounce it.
[00:16:24] Speaker C: People, when a single app has different pronunciations.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm just like, okay, we're using the app that we're using. Right. I thought it was really good. I know the marketing team really assisted out on helping us make sure that we were sharing, engaging, commenting, liking, connecting, doing all that good stuff. But I think it was really good in the sense of not just the amount of attendees, but I did see they did a great job of asking questions. There was a ton of questions, and I loved answering those. And the one thing I noticed is that there was a little bit more heavier on the real estate side. Really did like that they were focused more on that, because most of our events are not always specifically real estate. It's a little bit of a mixed bag, whereas here, I expected that, but I got more real estate investors. I really think that's what we got more of stopping by.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: I think the good thing about Wova is that even before someone steps in your booth, they kind of know what to expect.
You're able to hit a lady who.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Was like, hey, you connected with me.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: You're able to, you know, get that barrier.
Well, break down that first barrier even before day one of the event. And Vova also lets you interact with attendees after the event. Yeah, after they absorb the hundred pieces of information they're getting from all the booths, you can reconnect, reevaluate, and, you know, it's just a great way to organize the information you're getting for both the exhibitor side and the attendee side.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: I agree. Cause, I mean, that's the hardest thing on. On the marketing front is, you know, breaking through the noise. There's so much going on. Like, how are we supposed to compete with something like that? So we have to try to not only be rememberable, but we have to try to offer them something that's different. And I think we did do that. I think we did a very good job of doing that throughout the entire event, the whole time that we were there. But I think the one takeaway that I do want to. Want to give back to the listeners out there is that if you go to an event, try to go to every session that you can stop by every booth, even if you think it's something you don't want to hear about. Stop by your. You paid good money. You are spending your time. You're away from either your family or your job. Stop by the booths, get the education that you can. They always have these really big, you know, bags. Put all the crap in there that you can and collect it. You know? I'm not talking about just the tchotchkes either. Like, make sure you get the actual information. Yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker C: Because you don't know what you don't know.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And some of the information that we're giving out is only secluded to that event, you know, so you. In some cases, some of the people that are stopping by the booths, they're getting exclusive content that's not being provided on mainstream. So that's another big thing that I think people really should do when they're attending the events. You have anything else on your notes over there?
[00:19:12] Speaker C: No. I think the one thing we've never done in the past is telling people who come to our podcast because they know we're talking about the event that they just attended.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: I would like to tell everybody to go and check out all the other episodes because we maybe only had 1015 minutes to talk at the booth. This podcast is the way you can get all the information you need before the next time you and I talk.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: I mean, I'll end it right there. I mean, that's pretty good advice because that's actually what we do with all of our employees, new employees. That's how we utilize it for training purposes. It's about 40% to 50% of how they train because they get to hear it not just from us, but from other members of management. They get to hear from Pat and under any and compliance, they get to hear from Kerry, president of the company. They get to hear that first hand knowledge straight from them, but they get to hear how they sell the company. They get to hear how we sell the investment. And I think that's so important. And it's not just good for the investors. It's good for the employees. It's good for our borrowers. It's good for anybody out there who's just looking for the knowledge, whether they're investing with us or not.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: Nothing more to say.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Welcome. My TED talk right there. Right. All right, so that's. That wraps it up for today. Just want to say thank you all for joining us again on deeds in the desert. Another good educational back in the office visit with Grant gang, business development executive here at Ignite funding. Want to say thank you guys again. Make sure you like subscribe, comment below wherever you're at listening to this. Make sure you're sharing it with all those people, people who don't know about trust deeds, who don't know about ignite funding. Thank you again for joining us. And we'll catch you guys again on deeds in the desert.
[00:20:46] Speaker C: See you guys.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us this week on deeds in the desert, where short term investments meet long term investors. We hope you enjoyed the content so much that you share it with all your friends. Who doesn't like learning about passive fixed income, right? Still hungry for more education? Visit our
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