[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 to Deeds in the Desert.
Well, you've heard me say it a few times.
My son always mentions that I'm a loan shark. This is how he describes me to individuals. So we thought we'd bring him in so we can really understand what he means by this comment.
Because as the president of Ignite Funding, I'm really not that mean, as long as you're making your interest payments. So, Hunter, welcome.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: How are you?
[00:00:36] Speaker C: Good. You're not a loan shark.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: I mean, maybe, kind of. What is the definition of a loan shark mean to you exactly?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
[00:00:46] Speaker C: Get your money back.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: You need to get your money back, right?
Okay, so where did you come up with this title for me? Did this happen at work? Like, why did. Where did you manifest that your mother is a loan shark?
[00:01:02] Speaker C: I don't exactly know.
I just. Like, maybe when I was younger, I just imagined you go out and beat people up and, you know, get mad at all your employees all the time, and you're just all. All mad at everyone.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: I don't get that impression from you.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Well, you're. You're kind of right. Yeah. You know, because Pat and I. I mean, here's the reality. Here's the reality of you.
When I first started working at Ignite Funding, it was in 2005.
I believe it was September of 2005. So here we are, 20 years in.
How old are you, Hunter?
[00:01:42] Speaker C: I'm 19.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: 19. When will you turn 20?
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Turn 20 in June.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Interesting. So, effectively, when I started working here, unbeknownst to. To me, I was pregnant with you.
Think about this for just a second. My entire career, I have been here, right? This is all, you know, you grew up here. The people around here, some of many of them remember you as an infant. Think about how crazy this is.
And so through all of this time, you start working.
You're working at a. You were working at the time at a bike shop in Boulder City. You want to give a little shout out? Yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: All Mountain Cyclery, Greatest bike shop in the world.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: That is awesome.
And at some point, they asked you what your mom does for a living.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: That is right. That is right. Instantly told them, loan shark. Legal loan shark.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Legal loan shark.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: That's right. Oh, that makes sense. Yes.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: That makes it more official. Okay. Okay. So I'm not in an orange jumpsuit, dude. I'm legally a loan shark sometimes. So what does a loan shark Mean, I mean, what do you think Ignite Funding does?
What is your impression?
[00:02:56] Speaker C: Yeah. So I know that you guys offer certain real estate investments for clients to invest in and you manage them and you make sure that your partners pay their interest payments and everything.
And you offer another way for people to invest in real estate.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:14] Speaker C: And you manage all the people that.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: Are here and you manage the people.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: That make sure they're doing their job.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Oh, make sure they're doing their job. Okay. So that we can provide a quality real estate investment service. The loans collect on if we need to. All of those things. Okay.
Have you seen the place grow?
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely. It has grown exponentially.
I don't exactly remember the first office, but I remember you were in a building with a life insurance company. It was outside. It was like right on the top. I think American family insurance or something. But I know that you were in that building. I remember that building a little bit. And then I believe you moved to building off a Galleria, I think. Or maybe that was just preferred.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Keep going.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: You're right. Yeah. Moved to another place off of pebble and not sure the cross street, that's what you to get.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: And then you're here. Yeah.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: And then this one's the coolest one yet. I really like this one.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So we've definitely. You said the growth.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Yeah, you've definitely seen the growth year over year. Year over year over year.
Fun fact. The first year that Ignite Funding was in business was from our commercial side was 2011. And that total that year we funded $29 million.
That is about what we average every month. Month in fundings.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Now that is so cool.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: And so it. It really ha. I mean, the growth has been incredible over that period of time.
What has that experience been like for you?
[00:04:48] Speaker C: Like the change?
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Well, yeah, like how was mom around? Was she not around? Like what. What has that been like for you being a.
A child of an individual that's running a company like this?
[00:05:02] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's always been from 6 to 6pm Typically it's always, you know, early morning, pretty late at night, and thankfully father was at home. Or actually we got to a point where you were able to take care of business. Right. We didn't need two incomes and we made the decision to have my father stay at home and he was able to take care of me and get me to and from school and whatever.
So you were not as home as much. And then on the weekends we just made sure to spend as much time as possible together.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: And you know, we, we've only been in two houses.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: I mean, here in Vegas. Yeah, we were in North Las Vegas for a long time.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: And what was it, seven or eight years ago, we moved out here to Henderson.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. And that's it. That's. That's how the story goes. And during that period of time, an introduction to Ignite Funding came your way. And I don't, I don't even know if you know how it became. Let me, let me back up a little bit because I might be giving you information that you maybe didn't know, but there was about eight years ago, there was a moment in your life, you probably remember, where your grandmother had passed away and each of the grandchildren received a $10,000 gift.
And when you received it, you were a minor.
And so what I did with it was I didn't put in a savings account to earn 0.01%.
I took the funds and I opened up a guardian account here at Ignite Funding and I decided to invest the funds on your behalf as your parent, as your guardian. But that was the first year that Hunter Hicks.
We needed to contribute on the tax side. And that's where I learned because again, you know, I'm, I'm learning as others are. You know, I'm always learning, you know, different things, different ways, different whatever.
And obviously you weren't working at the time. You were, you know, whopping 11 years old. Right.
But that's the first time I had to ask my tax accountant whether or not you would have to pay taxes because I was going to start investing funds for you and you were going to start earning interest.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: 12 year old, paying taxes on investments.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Investments. But I had to ask the question because I didn't know. I didn't know.
But that's where it started.
And I took that $10,000 and I invested it, spread it out in a couple different loans and I invested it at night funding. And it started to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow.
And, and then somehow, some way, your dad and I were able to get you to 18.
You lived through, you know, all the crazy.
I mean, because there were some crazy moments out of that, that track.
You know, you race, go karts, you do all kinds of crazy things. I think you were getting it out of your system very young, you know, started driving at 5, right? That's, that's kind of when the driving started.
So at 11, I'm like, I mean, this is a risk taking child. I'm not going to take this $10,000 and go buy a Gerber insurance policy. Right. It's a little late for that. You're 11 at this point. Point.
So I decided, hey, you know what? How would Hunter feel about this? I'm going to take the risk.
Because with investing, there is risk, obviously. But, you know, I worked here. I ran the place. I had a pretty good idea of.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: Where things were going.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah. The risk mitigation that we were putting in place, so I felt comfortable doing that.
But then you turned 18.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: I turned 18.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: And I was like, well, guess what, kid?
Time to fly the nest, right? No, not really. But it was. It was time. I. I could no longer hold that account any longer.
But during that period of time, that account doubled.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Over. Doubled.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
And that's pretty incredible, you know, because I. I don't know if we could say the same thing about your. Your cousins and, and what they did with the funds or whatever. And whatever they did with them, fine. But here's what I know about yours.
A prudent parent taking on anything that is gifted to a child from the unfortunate passing of somebody else, what you do with it matters. And so want to just kind of talk to you a little bit about finances because I think it's kind of interesting.
At Ignite Funding, Our youngest client, two months old. Our oldest client, 99 years old.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: So really thinking about that in that sense, you got a two month old, so you have a parent or a grandparent or somebody who's thinking about that child's Future.
Obviously, at 11, I don't want to say I started thinking about your future, but I think I started thinking about your financial future, and I started thinking about, you know, where did I want to position you in the future, what conversations did I want to start having with you? Because I felt at that age, you're a little bit more mature than others. You're an only child, so you've been given a lot of adult attention, let's just say. Right. I mean, we really focused on, you know, raising you to be a responsible individual starting at a very young age.
So I was okay at 11 putting that money into that.
And that's really where our conversations started about finances. Probably some of them scare the crap out of you. But at that age, I also started to accumulate more and more wealth, and it became more and more important for me to tell you about, about that and about what that meant, because, you know, money is great, but it comes with an extraordinary burden of responsibility.
And I know sometimes I might scare you when I have those conversations. Where I'm like, no, this is here, this is here, this is here. And if something happens, call this number. Yeah, right. And here's where you find this and here's where you find that. And we've had those conversations for years.
Has that scared you?
[00:11:14] Speaker C: I think the first time it did because I thought I was younger, so I thought it was implying something like, you know, that, that scared me a little bit. But I gave it some thought and I was like, you know what? That's just. This is life, this is reality. And, you know, kind of a shame that I had a feeling of just fear. Right. Like that's a whole, that's a whole issue when talking about money with many people, there's like that fear aspect, which that could be taken away.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And now what do you think of it?
[00:11:44] Speaker C: It's just normal.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: It's normal, right?
[00:11:46] Speaker C: It's normal, but it's not. Right. Like it's. It's the abnormal for some, but for me it's normal.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah. How did it become normal for you?
[00:11:54] Speaker C: Just beginning to accept what, what we have and the blessing, you know, that we've created and everything that you've created here at Ignite and Preferred and. Yeah, I think that's when I was really able to sink in and understand what was going on.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah. So what if. What is financing or finances mean to you? Like if you, if you take a financial scope of yourself. Yeah. You're 19 years old.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: Where are you at? Do you feel financially secure?
[00:12:23] Speaker C: I do. I obviously, I always wish I could have more, but I have my, my checking account that has my funds to go through for all the things I need and groceries and whatnot. And I've got my rainy day fund, so all of my. Or my savings that I've accumulated for a good two to three months of, you know, rent, food, stuff like that, if something goes wrong. And then I have my investments at Ignite, so I've got some real estate investments and projects that I'm on. And then I also have a Roth IRA at JP Morgan Chase.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: All right.
That's kind of impressive for a 19 year old. Do you recognize that that is something that maybe many others of your age are not at that place?
[00:13:06] Speaker C: I would say I used to think that, but at the, at the business school that I'm at currently, you'd be surprised how many people do think about that stuff and do have investments. At least I say they do.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:17] Speaker C: You know.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:18] Speaker C: When you raise your hand in class and the teacher asks if you have a Roth, IRA or whatnot. A lot of people do. So I'm around a lot of similar people that do that, but a lot of my friends here in Vegas from high school are not. I can only think of one. And my close knit friend group in Colorado, I can also only think of one. So. Total of two?
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep. Do you find yourself ready for the future?
[00:13:41] Speaker C: I believe so. I think thinking about it really young is very important, and it prepares me for that.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Ready for the future. I think I'm ready in the sense that I'm ready to grow and I can, you know, understand the expansion, but currently I'm not ready for it. You know, I'm always ready for the next thing and open to new experiences and everything that's to come.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Okay, so at 18, I got to turn over this UGMA account to you.
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Do you remember that day, the phone call?
[00:14:11] Speaker C: I believe so, yeah. It's like, hey, you got to take this over.
But no, it is, it is great. It's very interesting to learn about. I do really like investing in the real estate projects that we have here, and it's very interesting.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: What kind of projects are you invested in? Are you diversified? Are you not? How do you pick them? What's the process like? You're 19. Is it, is it burdensome? Are you happy to do it? Is it like, what are your thoughts?
[00:14:37] Speaker C: I'm always happy to do it. I always think it's interesting and it's. It's a lot of fun to me to see what's going on. And I, I'm on 11 different projects from 10 different borrowers.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: And from varying states. Most is here. There's some in Montana and Utah.
And it's very interesting. It's fun to see the projects and view the descriptions on the, on the, the loan documents that just show everything. And it's always fun. I always think it's fun to see the, the, the sheets that you send before you begin to invest. And I think it's always a fun thing and it needs to be a.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Fun thing for people.
Do you get my advice on these investments?
[00:15:18] Speaker C: The last one's. No. I, I will typically give you, like, hey, is this one good?
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
But no response.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: Yeah, sure.
Right.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: I'm completely. I'm unbiased because there's not an investment that we put out that I would myself.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I love that you stand behind it.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: I, I like, I like you to pick it because, you know, ultimately that shows, that shows interest with the investor. We're not here to pick the investments for them. And I know sometimes our investors will even say to our client service representatives, well, what do you think? What do you think? What do you think? You know, and the reality is, is it's just that we wouldn't put out one investment that we weren't willing to go on ourselves.
And so the beauty of it is, as I always say to you, well, what do you. Why do you like that one? Why do you not like I start getting you talking about and getting you to narrow down to what you're really excited about and what you really feel comfortable investing in. So what did you say? You said 11. 11 investments.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: I'm on 11 investments from 10 different borrowers.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: 10 different borrowers.
Three, four different states.
Like, is that what diversification means to you?
Why not just put it in one? Right. All the dice.
[00:16:30] Speaker C: Yeah. So diversification is multiple things. So I also have different portfolios. Right. I have the Roth and then I have the cash account. So that's diversification in itself.
In my Roth, I'm on a multitude of investments in stocks and mutual funds, that sort. And then on the real estate side here at Ignite, I am just on many different loans. So if anything goes wrong, you know, it's okay.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: And you'll be all right. And that's the key to diversification and keeping yourself safe.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah. What does going wrong mean to you?
[00:17:00] Speaker C: Going wrong to me, my closest experience is investing in a stock that has just gone wrong.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: I currently have one that's probably down 20%, which doesn't feel great, but you always know it. Typically in the long run, things will smooth out and it'll be okay.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Yeah. And it swings back around. Exactly. And the same ignite, you know, borrowers from time to time don't make payments. And, you know, that's the inherent risk of investing in real estate. If you're going to be a direct investor with somebody. There may come times where, excuse me, borrowers are not making their payments or they can't make their payments or, I don't know, the capital's run out. There's so many reasons. You know, maybe it's a market cycle, maybe it's a market or a real estate type that is just taking it right now and the values, you know, going down to the point where it just doesn't make economic sense for them to continue making their payments and it's easier for them to just turn over the asset. But, you know, that's why Ignite Funding does A to Z. That's why we originate. That's why we service, that's why we collect.
Because if we just left the investors out to dry to figure it out on their own, there's a high probability that those investments, when they have a lack of borrower payment, will be resolved in a positive manner. You just talked about market goes down by 20%.
At Ignite funding, we try to have a loan to value where if it's a million dollar loan and we lend $700,000, we have a 30% equity cushion. If a borrower doesn't make a payment to take back the property and sell that property and return as much capital as possible to the investors, that is part of the risk mitigation. So yes, it may take time. And I think you've been on loans before where you, you called me and you're like, hey, my interest has gone down a little bit. What's going on? Right. And those are the same calls that the CSRs take out here. I get to take the call for my son. That's fun, right?
Mom, Wait a second. It's down like what's going on kind of thing or something's wrong. I didn't get the right amount.
And we've had those conversations before, you know, because you've had a portfolio here for nine years.
[00:19:13] Speaker C: In nine years experience all of it.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: You have experienced all of those things, but you've also experienced your capital coming back up for you to be able to reinvest into projects again.
And what do you do with those interest payments? Do you spend those? Do you keep those? Like what. Where's the mindset of a 19 year old when it comes to the Ignite funding investments?
[00:19:37] Speaker C: It's, it's a little bit of both, at least for me. So the interest payments, probably for the last six months I've been taking, being like, nice, that is an extra to my, you know, monthly allowance, right?
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: And I will take that. But before that I would take it and just instantly put it back. And that's what I do with all of my stuff on my Roth as well. I just take it, put it back. So everything's. Yeah, everything's on rollback. So it goes back in.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: But currently at Ignite, I am, if I, and especially if I had more invested, I could just live off of that.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: And that's great. Like I, I get enough now that I can live off of that for food for like a month.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: It's great.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: And I get to save the rest of it.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And you're 19 using these investments, these passive Income investments for food at 19, it doesn't matter if you're 65 or 19 years old, the reality is still the same. It's a passive investment.
You have an opportunity to use it to build more retirement, or you have the opportunity to use it as needed. But the beauty is, is that your capital is still the same.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Right. So although you're receiving this interest and you may be spending it, you know, the money that you have invested at ignite is remaining the same.
So, yeah, it's. It's moments in time. It's how you need to utilize the funds, for sure.
And kind of a. Kind of a fun. Fun experience.
Interesting. Use it for. For food. You know what this means? People. I'm not giving them enough money to eat.
No, that's not the case.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: Get just enough.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Yeah. What's going on in your life right now? Where. Where are you at? What are you doing?
[00:21:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm currently mostly in Colorado. Right now I'm on winter break.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:16] Speaker C: But I'm in Colorado, Boulder, going to school, specifically at the Leeds School of Business. And I want to study finance and real estate.
I've been living out there. I'm on my second year. So did my freshman year out there. Now I'm on my second.
And. Yeah, just enjoying life. Trying to snowboard and have fun.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Living it up as much as you possibly can. All right. Get a good education, being financially sound.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: That's.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: That's a positive.
[00:21:41] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: Have you ever talked to your college buddies about your investments that Ignite?
[00:21:48] Speaker C: I have.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Has that ever come up? I mean, I know. You know, we can go to the. The bike shop. The bike shop is like, okay. That my mom's a loan shark do. Is that how you describe me for. To your college friends?
[00:21:59] Speaker C: Sure, everyone. Oh, that's the first thing I say for everyone. And then I'll, you know, be like, okay.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Do they laugh or do they look at you like, what does she do that.
[00:22:06] Speaker C: That's. That varies from person to person.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Okay. All right.
[00:22:10] Speaker C: Some people be like, oh, that's cool. Or you'll get like a what? Or, you know, what does she actually do? So. Yeah.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: Okay, so what. What do you do? You talk about these types of investments with your. Your friends at college. What do they say? Are they interested in it? Like Roth IRAs and market stuff. That's maybe a little bit more interesting maybe to the younger generation than a real estate investment.
Sort of.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: I get a lot of interest in it because it's different.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: And it's not like, you know, completely unheard of. But most people don't know how to get into real estate investments. And when people think of that, they might just think, oh, it's like Airbnb or you gotta own a house or manage a house, be a landlord. But it's not always that. And it can be stuff like ignite where you just put yourself on different loans and, you know, it's very similar to just investing in any other stock or mutual fund.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is. And it is that simple. And we try to make it as simple as we can.
Do you ever think you'll have a rental property? Because a lot of our clients, you know, we go through a period in life with real estate, I think. Right. We're in our 20s and we're like, oh, we can do this ourselves. This is easy. I'm going to go buy a property, I'm going to fix and flip it and you know, all this stuff. And then we get into our 30s and now we have a career and maybe married, maybe a small family, and we're like, oh my gosh, I don't have time for this fix and flip. So for the time being, I'm just going to, you know, focus on my 401k plan. And then there comes a moment in time where you start thinking about this passive income and this need for income because you're nearing retirement, so you're in this. You're almost in the 20 stage, unfortunately. So do you ever. Because you kind of started a little bit backwards, you're on the passive side first.
[00:23:49] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: Do you think you'll go to fix and flip? Do you think that that will be of interest to you and why potentially?
[00:23:56] Speaker C: You know, I've always had interest in all investments and in real estate.
What I go to that I'm not sure.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: I mean, have you had a chance to experience it at all?
[00:24:11] Speaker C: I mean, I have seen what you've done with your places. Right. And currently renovating our house here in Vegas.
So I have experienced it a little bit and I always find it interesting. I think it's fun.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: But I really, I don't know yet. I need to see how my career goes and see how my finances go outside of just investing and saving.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:32] Speaker C: And might be something I do.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: Yeah. You've kind of been around it as well with, with Fox Homes, right?
[00:24:38] Speaker C: That's right, yes.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: And so, you know, you have a friend here locally and it's okay to give shout outs to different companies. We love that. We love that around here, especially when they're homebuilders or in the real estate sector, that sort of thing.
It's kind of cool because you have had an opportunity to experience, you know, kind of what that lifestyle is like too. And it's not easy.
It's not easy, you know, and it's a constant chase, making sure that you have, you know, buyers lined up and, you know, projects on the horizon. And it is a very difficult goes from fix and flip time, it takes it to the next level of being a home builder and especially when you're a custom home builder. Right?
[00:25:17] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Whole nother level of oversight and management and everything. Oh, it's, it's a lot. It definitely is a process. It is, it really is a neat process. And you've been able to see some of that through, you know, just having, having a good friend here in town and being able to see how his family experiences, you know, kind of running that type of business as well. So that's why I was just curious to see, you know, do you think at some point, you know, you get out of college, you might want to, you know, acquire a real estate property and fix it up and maybe rent it and have passive income in that way? Because, let's just be honest, that's what the 20s are doing. Yeah, that's what, you know, there's people in 30s and 40s that do that, and some people do that for a career. But that's where I think, you know, real estate investing typically starts where you started the exact opposite. Maybe not, maybe not because you wanted to, but at 11, you got thrown into it and then you inherited it at 18, and, and now it's yours. Now it's yours to take and so screw it up or keep it or put it in your Roth or whatever you're going to do with it. You know, it's, it's yours to do. But are you glad you were given that opportunity to kind of experience real estate? And do you think that's why you're looking at it as a potential career?
[00:26:31] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I think on the career side, it's always interested me and I've seen what you've done with the company and I just love it. I think it's so cool. Yeah, it's just, I just have an interest in it and I think the mix of finance and real estate, which is what I'm trying to study at school, is just very interesting. And they play hand in hand.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:52] Speaker C: And it's always fun to kind of see what's going on. And I think the people who you do borrowings with and everything, it's really cool. Yeah, they all want to do their own thing. Like, we got the Evel Knievel project down here at the arts district. That is so cool. Yeah, it's really cool.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: So you got to see it the other day.
[00:27:06] Speaker C: Did get to see it.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: What were you out doing?
[00:27:08] Speaker C: What were you doing out and about? Hanging banners or hanging banners? Hanging banners. Yes. There's a beautiful one on Charles, and I believe 95 or 215. There's big ones in between some palm trees. It's quite nice.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: So supporting. Supporting the initiative here.
I mean, why not?
[00:27:25] Speaker C: Why not?
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Why not? You know, it's something from a local side that we're. That we're looking to improve from the marketing standpoint is really kind of putting a footprint down in this community.
Do you know how much we have. And you might not know the answer to this question. That's okay.
Do you know how much Ignite funding has contributed to the Las Vegas community?
[00:27:47] Speaker C: I don't. You don't. But I have seen the investments that go through on the client portal and what's available, and a lot of it is Vegas. So I have to assume that you guys have helped fund many projects here in Vegas. And majority of my investments here at Ignite are in Vegas locally.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Do you do that because you can see them, touch them, feel them, have an association with them? Is it. Does it make it easier when you're picking them? Yeah.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: And I might even pick more in Vegas if I lived here. But since I'm in Colorado most of the time, I'm just. I like to be diverse.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: I believe I have one up there. You do, so, yeah.
It is very interesting, and I love to. I love to see it and feel them.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: It's so cool. It's so cool to see what's happening in real time and to watch things grow. Yeah, it's really cool.
[00:28:34] Speaker B: So you're out the other day banners in the local community. I think we have about 20 banners or so out here in Las Vegas, which is kind of fun. That's kind of neat. I think the marketing department is trying to get me to do another commercial, too, which, you know, I love that there's.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: Love that.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So now we won't be able to watch Instagram Reels, TikTok Reels, Facebook.
We're not going to be able to tune into Fox 5 anymore at our house. Like, those things are all right. Because we don't want to scan and see mom's face popping up over and over and over again. Yeah, it is probably me, but I get it. You know, it is. It is what it is.
We all have to find our space, our. Our zone in life to be able to do. But you got to get out in the community. You got to see it all.
And so that's kind of fun too, you know, and some things hopefully, you know, we have a decent chunk of investors here in Las Vegas, so maybe when they start to see those banners.
Yeah, I know some investors are like, let's keep this a secret. Let's keep this Ignite funding thing a secret, because every time a loan comes out, it goes so fast. Like, I would take your banners down, Hunter. Take your banners down. Right.
But. But no, we have the capacity to grow, and we have year over year, you know, we grow by about 30% a year. Somewhere between 20 and 30% a year.
And so, you know, we'll keep growing at that capacity because it's sustainable.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: Right.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: We wouldn't want to grow 100% in one year because, you know, that adds risk, and we don't want to add risk to. To our portfolio. We want to mitigate that risk as much as we possibly can. So we'll continue to grow. You think you'll continue to invest here?
[00:30:08] Speaker C: I believe so. Yeah. Yeah, I believe so. I love investing in real estate, and again, I love the feel it and see it aspect.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:15] Speaker C: It is super cool. And that you have it in many states that people can check out. Not just here in Vegas, but the local aspect is super cool.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
All right. If you had to compare.
[00:30:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: And it's okay if you say the other. If you had to compare your real estate investment portfolio with your Roth IRA or what I would consider your market portfolio.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: What do you enjoy more and why?
[00:30:41] Speaker C: I would say I absolutely enjoy the stuff at Ignite more. Just because I can see what's happening. I think that is so cool. I enjoy the market side that I can watch everything happen, but those are all just big corporations that I'm never gonna see. And majority of them I use, but some of them I don't. So I feel like it's fun to watch it go up and down, but it's also not. When it goes down, it's not very fun.
But the real estate stuff is cool. You can see what's going. You can look up the companies and they're usually not just like Google or Meta. Right. They're not just a huge company. It's like whatever. They own everything.
It's these. Not smaller, but more local borrowers. And I think it's really interesting school.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it really kind of brings it home. We are approaching about $800 million in the Las Vegas market that we have contributed. And that could be museums, that could be single family homes that individuals probably live in and don't even recognize. The fact that Ignite Funding investors have contributed to their ability to home ownership.
You know, it could be industrial commercial land deals, master plan, community developments. There are so many things that Ignite Funding has contributed here to the local valley. And, you know, really, this six to six, like you talked about at the beginning, the 12 hours a day, all of that is to.
There's a lot that comes out of that. You know, it's not just about the money. It's not about the funness of, you know, having fun games with the employees. But, you know, I love that.
And that's really. That brings me back a lot of days because there are some rough. There are some rough days and there. And, you know, you feel those rough days. Sometimes I come home and I'm like, I am just beat, you know, for sure. Having to communicate to investors that there's a potential loss on anything beats you up. You know, having to, you know, deal with the owners of the company, you know, on me about, you know, wanting certain expectations. It's hard having employees come and go that maybe you don't expect. Coming and going. Tough, hard employee situations. Tough.
You ever want to run this place?
[00:32:53] Speaker C: I mean, I would love to run any place that's similar to what Ignite does, but what you do is very special, and only a subsect of people have the skill set that you have.
I definitely do not have that skill set yet.
I would love to, but. Yeah, I need to go through my course of education and see what kind of field I exactly want to be in or what subsect of what you do that I want to do.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
So you say you're gunning for Pat's job, so you're not gunning for mine.
[00:33:25] Speaker C: Yet for Pat's job.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: Are you going for Pat's job?
[00:33:27] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Pat, do you hear this?
He's coming for you, baby.
You're gonna have to get in line because TJ's there first. You know that, right? Yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
[00:33:40] Speaker C: Maybe he'll get Pats and I'll get TJ's. Oh, so you're gonna move up, so I'll come? Yeah.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: All right. Any interest in the marketing department, we need to let Ron know.
[00:33:50] Speaker C: I'll do it all.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Oh, you'll do it all.
What does this sound like, people?
[00:33:55] Speaker C: If.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: If employees are watching this right now, they're like, oh, here he comes. Here he comes.
Does he have that hidden talent that he can, you know, sprinkle some magic dust and just make it grow?
Yeah, maybe. You never know. See, it's always good. Always, always interesting.
[00:34:13] Speaker C: May. I'll be in your seat doing the podcast.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: You are in my seat doing a podcast.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: I'm on that seat.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: Oh, we can change.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: Change.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: You want to change seats?
[00:34:23] Speaker C: No, stay.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: Why don't we change seats for just a second and you ask me three questions?
[00:34:28] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Are you ready?
[00:34:29] Speaker C: Let's try.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: All right, come on.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: We have to switch seats.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Come on. Let's see. Let's see what happens here.
All right, here we go.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: Okay, so welcome to Deeds in the Desert. Today I have my mother here with me, and I'm going to ask you three questions.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: Because what should my first question be?
How.
How do you deal with the day to day of running this place? How do you emotionally handle it and how do you keep all these people, like, in check? How do you do it?
[00:34:59] Speaker B: How do I keep them in check and emotionally handle it?
Well, that is a loaded question for sure.
[00:35:06] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Because there's really only two people in my life that get to see the hard part, and that would be you and your father. Is that true statement? Yeah. Okay.
Everybody else at Ignite Funding gets to see the tough exterior, the loan shark, as you would call me.
But you know, my office door is closed a lot because that helps me cope with all of the pressures that I am dealing with on a day to day basis.
I try to take as much pressure off of others as I can, but I am learning throughout my career that I need to let them take some of those pressures off of me.
So it's not easy running a company and keeping it at a high standard. That's probably my biggest weakness is that my expectations of myself are so extraordinarily high, it's hard to continue to live at that standard.
As the company's growing bigger and bigger and bigger, I'm having to depend more and more on the people around me.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: All right. I like that.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:36:22] Speaker C: The second thing I want to ask you were asking me a lot about my investments and what I have at Ignite and my Roth ira. What. What do you have and what's your favorite? What do you enjoy?
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Oh, geez.
Okay. I.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: Maybe you can only name me a few because I know you have a lot.
Name me Your. Your favorite, I don't know, three.
[00:36:41] Speaker B: Favorite three investments.
I like investing in your future.
You weren't expecting that, were you?
[00:36:51] Speaker C: That's the good answer.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: I like investing in making sure that you will be financially sound. Without my money?
[00:37:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: Okay. That. That would be my first. Like, what brings me pride. That brings me pride.
But then also having you say to me, I want to make it on my own.
I don't. I don't want your money.
Well, that's comforting to know, because I think most individuals of your age would be like Cha Ching, at some point, I'm going to rock me.
You know, something?
Real estate is really all I know. You know, if you really think about it, real estate is something that I love, that I enjoy, that I eat, breathe, sleep, whatever the case may be.
So, obviously, I do have a fair share of real estate investments here at Ignite. All right.
I also have a fair share of real estate investments in our portfolio. Right. So just having real estate as a staple is important to me because it's something nobody can ever take away from me. Yeah, right. It's mine. I own it.
There is no big company that's going to come in and take it. There is. Nobody can take that from me. And so having real estate and owning it, not having a loan on it, but owning it is very important to me.
You know, oil and gas is a very interesting investment for me because of the tax advantage that it brings. I can invest in it towards the end of the year.
It allows me to not pay as much to the irs, and it allows me an opportunity to earn on top of that.
So those are probably my three, you know, favorite. I didn't put the market on there. And, you know, I do have a fair chunk of change, as you know, in the market, but it's.
It's not interesting to me. It's actually the scariest part of my investment portfolio because of the volatility of it. And so I didn't mention it as part of the three because of that. Although, you know, I. I obviously, you know, do have a lot there. Some of it, I don't have a choice.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: And I'm going to say why I don't have. Do you realize why I'm saying I don't have a choice?
[00:39:06] Speaker C: Well, because you have a.
You have an advisor to do it for you. Not an advisor, but you have a.
I don't know the name of it, but you have someone that puts, you know, your money.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: Financial advisor. You're correct. I, you know, I do have a Financial advisor, and he has given me advice on things because that's. That's not my cup of tea.
So I have to go to somebody else to get advice on other types of investments that I'm not familiar with, which we all should be doing. Right.
But when I say I'm kind of forced, like a 401k plan, you know, there's not a whole lot of options inside of a plan. Right. So you're like, do you want to be in the 2040 Fund or the 2050 Fund or. Or you have to take a very active role. And I just don't have time to take a very active role. So that's why I use a financial advisor for my market investments.
All right, third question.
This is going to be a tough one.
It can't be what you know, what child do you like better? Because you're my only one.
[00:40:01] Speaker C: I wish I could ask something like that.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: I don't know. What do you think?
[00:40:08] Speaker C: Gotta think about this one. Would you. Would you see me as someone who could find to be in a position that you are managing people and just being able to do stuff like you do?
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Well, I mean, you. You came out of my womb.
And I always used to. I always used to joke with your father that you're renting that because that'll never happen again, and it never did.
But the only thing you know is that hard work pays off. Yes, that's what you know, because that's all you've seen, Right.
And you've seen also us make sacrifices. You mentioned it earlier in the podcast. You know, we had to make a sacrifice. Dad stayed at home with you. It was that or a nanny. And we chose that. You know, we felt that we could raise you better if it was us doing it. And so I think you understand sacrifice. I think you understand what it takes to put forth a lot of effort to get good results. If you're going to put forth a little bit of effort, you're going to get a little bit of results.
If you give it everything you have every single day, then you will be successful at whatever you do.
So do you have the capabilities of doing all of the things that I do? There's some people call me a unicorn.
Everybody does.
It's just how much effort are you willing to put forth? So here's what I would say to anybody. If you want to be sitting in this chair and you want to be interviewed by somebody else or be the interviewer of a podcast, then you have to have the willingness to dig into every single department and understand what every single job does at that place of business. If you're not willing to sit in that chair and do every single job, and I mean every goddamn one of them, then how are you going to lead a team to success? Yeah, you can't.
So keep your mind open to all of the different things. Marketing, underwriting, client services, retention, every single department.
Don't be narrow minded. Work in all of them and then move up to that next level.
Once you do that and you master that, then nobody can feed you a line of because you know the job. You know what it takes to do the job. They cannot say to you, well, you don't know.
Guess what I do know because I have done it. So my expectation of you is higher because I know what it takes. So I want more from you. And that's how you get more and more out of people, is you build that respect. So can you? Absolutely you can. Will you work here?
I don't know. I'm not really sure, to be honest. I think you will find something outside of here to start with through an internship. You know, I think there's a lot of opportunities that you'll have going through the business school, but I do think you'll probably land in real estate somewhere.
[00:43:11] Speaker C: I would like to. Yeah.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: And maybe here. You never know.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: Turn it to inspirational podcast for a little bit there.
I know it could be.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: But you know what, I think that's what the younger generation needs.
[00:43:23] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:43:23] Speaker B: You know, that is exactly what they need. All right, well, do you want to tell them thank you for joining us for Deeds in the Desert. You just got to look into this camera over here.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: Okay, well.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: And we'll see you next time.
[00:43:34] Speaker C: Yeah. Thanks for joining us at Deeds in the Desert. And she will see you next time.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Bye bye.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us this week on Deeds in the Desert, where short term investments meet long term investors. We hope to 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
[email protected] or if you're ready to take the leap and start investing, give us a call at 702-761-0000 and Schedule A free investor consultation.
