Foreign.

You're listening to the Master Passive Income Podcast Network.

Welcome to the Master Passive Income Show.

My name is Dustin Heiner and I'm here to help you get financial independence.

Afford anything you want in life by investing in real estate.

And in today's show, I am super pumped to bring on some fantastic real estate investing experts who are in the hospitality niche where they build up luxury tree houses.

I kid you not.

Luxury.

And these are awesome tree houses.

Beautiful views and people pay a lot of money to stay there.

And they have a fantastic investing business where they have short term rentals in their luxury tree houses and they're going to show us how they did it and how you can do it as well.

All right, let's start the show.

Welcome to the Master Passive Income podcast.

Where we talk about investing in real.

Estate with a special focus on on making enough money so you can quit your job and live the dream life.

And now, here is your host, Dustin Heiner.

What's up?

What's up?

Super blessed as always to have you here with me on the show.

Now, I love that right now this market is hard for other investors who don't know what they're doing to, to invest in real estate because they see prices are so high.

How do I buy properties?

Interest rates are so high.

How do I buy properties?

A couple of things that I'm working on right now.

Well, number one, I just refinanced my primary residence.

If you guys remember, if you've been listening to me for a while, last year I bought a house in Tennessee and I had it as an Airbnb.

Eventually we moved into the property, but when I bought it, it was an investment loan.

8% interest rate.

So high, 30 are fixed.

I just refinanced because people maybe are telling me and you might be thinking interest rates are still high.

No, I refinanced my primary residence because I'm living in it now with a 4 1/2 percent, 15 year loan.

Can you believe that?

And so my payments are basically the same and I'm going to pay it off in 15 years instead of 30 years because of this refinance.

Now, it did cost me about $10,000 to do the refinance, but in the end I'm going to be saving like 150, $200,000 in interest.

So there are ways to actually get good and low interest rates.

In fact, I refinanced five of my properties, five or six properties, and I took out $500,000 at a six and a half percent interest rate and my payments about $3,000, but all six of those properties, I bring in like seven grand.

And so the mortgage is so low, if you're thinking that interest rates are stopping you, well, they shouldn't be.

Because I know many different brokers that I currently use and in fact I just give them to my students.

I say, hey, use this company.

This is the company that I used.

And so any of my students, I give them all that information.

And at the same time, I'm currently developing a brand new course because I'm seeing this as I invest, I share with all my students how I'm investing, what I'm doing.

Well, I'm currently doing subject to where I buy a house, take over the mortgage.

Hopefully they have, when you take over a mortgage, hopefully have a low interest rate, they have probably a higher balance.

It's hard for them to sell.

And with that, you take over without having the mortgage in your name.

So you can get these properties with literally no money down.

And you might be thinking, well, Dustin, how in the world would somebody want to give you their property and take over their mortgage?

Well, we're not the first option.

In fact, when I'm calling these people and offering to buy their home, more than likely they have already come off the mls, which means they went on the multiple listing service to try to sell their home.

They didn't have enough equity in the property so they couldn't sell it.

And when you can't sell it, then it comes off.

Well, they still need to sell the property.

We are a niche, niche, niche.

I don't know if that's the best way to say it.

We're a niche buyer.

We're looking for the right property, the right seller.

Maybe they're getting a divorce, maybe they got a job that they're moving out of the state or they work in the military or they just lost their job.

You never know what situation they have.

But they have this mortgage and, and they want to get rid of this property, but they can't sell it because they don't have enough equity.

Well, you might be thinking, well, what if they have 20 or $30,000 in equity?

Well, when you have a house and you try to sell it, it's probably about 10% is the cost to sell the house.

From paying the realtors to any title, closing fees and all that, it's about 10%.

So if you're selling it for 350,000, that's $35,000 that's going to come out of your pocket.

People who are hurting, where they don't have much equity, but they need to sell, they would actually have to come out of pocket in order to sell the property.

If we find the right sellers, educate them on the process to actually take over their mortgage, where if we are a great fit for them, if we help them out of a bind, then it's going to be a great fit for us as long as it fits our numbers.

Well right now I'm currently doing that subject to purchasing and I thought, you know what, I need to teach you guys how to do it.

So that's not this episode, but watch an episode in the future.

But I'm also creating a brand new course, a creative financing course because I'm seeing so many amazing opportunities for us as real estate investors to take over properties.

It could be seller financing, it could be subject to, it could be a lease option.

Lease option is where you lease the property with an option to buy it.

There are great ways to buy properties off of people.

Number one, you just need to know how to find these properties.

Well, check in my course I'm figuring out or showing and everybody how to figure out to find these sellers from lists, reach out to them, talk to them and actually go through the process and how to get all the paperwork right, how to make sure you, the title company knows what they're doing.

So there's a good amount of steps.

But in the end a lot of people come to me and say, hey Dustin, I have very little money.

Or if they have scaled their business now, if they have very little money to start, well, this is one way.

But let's say they've scaled their business where they have multiple mortgages and now with these multiple mortgages it's hard for them to get more mortgages.

Well, why not keep the mortgage in the seller's name and then put the property, your name and you make the money and you own the property.

That is what we're going to do.

A scale.

Now, you know, you need to start thinking as a business owner where you're now a scaler.

We need to get out of the mom and pop phase where we're just at one or two, three, four properties.

I want you to get into the scaler phase.

If you've been listening to me most a lot of people that listen to the show have been listening to me for years.

Hopefully you got a few properties, now it's time for you to scale.

And that's what we do at Master Passive Income.

We now scale.

And this creative financing course is another fantastic way to find properties.

In fact, Charles Rose Jr.

I'm working with him, helping him to buy hopefully his next primary residence with subject to.

Because it is rather difficult to always raise up a brand new amount of down payment to pay off or not pay off to put as a down payment to get a mortgage.

Well, what if somebody already had the mortgage and you just take over the loan?

So this is exactly where I see the market going.

If there is ever a crash or a correction in the market, you can get some people that have a hard time and let's say, sadly if people start losing their job, I mean, it could happen.

If that does happen, you need to be ready to jump on these properties to help these people out of a bind.

You're helping them.

In fact, a lot of people that we get subject to properties, they're thankful that we are taking over these properties for them because they can't do what we're going to be doing.

They need to move on.

Well, we come in and we help them out.

So be watching out for that creative financing course.

I want you to be able to not even use any of your own money to buy real estate as well as to be able to scale your business.

And this is what our experts have done.

Our experts have come on.

Are coming on the show to share with us how they started and scaled their service or hospitality based Airbnb company.

How'd you guys first come up with this idea to do tree houses?

What I think is really cool and unique about our story is we didn't just say, hey, let's start this business.

The whole thing was inspired by, by love.

Seth and his dad built a treehouse by hand.

His dad works in construction.

So Seth grew up learning all of that and they started doing that together on Father's Day.

This is at Seth's family farm in South Carolina.

And we met in the process.

And so he says that inspired by love, he decided to really elevate the treehouse and not just make it like an adventurous Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, but a romantic, luxurious treehouse that'd be worthy of our wedding day.

And so he pitched me on the idea of having our wedding there and honeymooning there.

And I was thrilled.

I mean, who gets to do that?

Who, like, who has somebody build you a tree house for your wedding?

That's crazy.

And so we, we, we did that and it was so magical.

And what's really cool is that we just got to experience it firsthand.

The power of environments and the environment really, it encouraged us to put our phones down, disconnect from the busyness of life, be together and as a new couple, just start.

We had so much to think and dream about our lives, what we wanted to look like, how we wanted to spend our time.

We knew that having jobs in totally different industries with different schedules was not sustainable.

And we're both entrepreneurial and wanted to do something together that had a lasting impact.

And everything was pointing to tree houses and making more environments like we were sitting in in that moment for couples.

And so that was like the light bulb moment.

And very soon after that I quit my job and we went all in.

Haven't looked back since that.

Well, because Seth, I want you to jump in too.

And I, when you and I were chatting, Tori, we were chatting about just investing in real estate and we were.

It was just terrific meeting another real estate investor.

It's always great chatting and seeing how other people are investing.

And then one thing I just have to share.

So when you told me you're a social media handle for on Instagram and I was okay, let me look it up.

And I looked at you have like 500 plus thousand followers or you know, I was like, but that's not easy.

Like that is amazingly hard to do that.

That is so.

So if you guys.

You'd have to check out their social media on Instagram, especially on Instagram.

So many great videos of showing how amazing this can be, how luxurious a quote unquote tree house.

But it's so much better than that.

And so it's so it's bolt farm treehouses.

So just look them up.

All one word.

You'll see all the amazing stuff.

But okay.

So Seth, how'd you come up with doing a honeymoon in a treehouse?

And I want to pause for just a quick second and say thank you so much for listening to the show.

If you've gotten anything out of the show, I would appreciate it if you went to anywhere that you listen to say Apple or Spotify or wherever and leave a five star review.

Honestly, I really appreciate you leaving an honest review.

I just love giving all this information out and I want to see you succeed.

Also send this to one person.

Just tell one person and say, hey, Dustin wants to help a million people to invest in real estate.

You need to listen to this because it's going to change your life.

Lastly, get my real estate investment course completely for free.

Text the word rental R E N T A L rental to 33777 rental to 33777.

I'll literally give you my course showing you everything in the business so that you can become financially independent.

I mean, I really did.

I grew up on a farm in South Carolina and like, I watched my grandpa build dup apartments and create passive income that way.

My dad's had a construction company now for 40 years.

My mom's one of the top realtors in the state of South Carolina.

So, like, it was like a really humble beginnings, like, bootstrap story of a family that like, applied the powerful mindsets and money principles to life and just, you know, met that with, like, consistency and hard work.

And it was a very rich upbringing and maybe a rare one.

Like, I mean, how many 41 year olds can say that they, like, you know, went logging with their grandpa and took the logs to the sawmill and then built duplex apartments out of it and, you know, watched, you know, watch like great men, you know, take, you know, a mess and make magic out of it that, like, created generational prosperity for their family.

And so just growing up, watching people build stuff and being creative, you know, you mentioned my music.

Like, I've.

I've been in the music industry for 23 years with my band need to Breathe.

And it's.

So I've got this creative side, but then my dad's an engineer and he thinks that way.

So I've kind of got both, both of those minds and ultimately just have a.

Have a, you know, just like this strong drive to.

To do as much as I can with the time that I have on earth to help people and to create a legacy for our family.

And I know tree houses are probably a weird thing to kind of land on, but I, I've always just believed that if you play by your own rules, it's a lot easier to win the game.

And, you know, I knew that we were onto something because of, you know, the.

Let's go back in time, right?

So this is about 2013 when I've got this idea, like Treehouse Masters is the most popular show on tv.

So there's an educated market, but they're underserved because most of these were like, built for celebrities and they weren't, you know, rentals.

Airbnb is emerging, so now there's a platform you can connect with people and sell.

And Instagram was also coming on the scene, and so I was like, okay, that can be how I can market this.

So now it's irrelevant that, that the farm I grew up on is in a small town called Walhalla, S.C.

and like, no one goes there for tourists, tourism, but, like, I can actually inform the audience have a way to get their money and, you know, show them how magical it can be.

And we experienced it for ourselves.

And so that was.

That was really.

That was the.

That was the first olive out of the jar and.

And the test case to see, like, okay, is there anything to this?

And literally within the first year, we.

We were.

We were fully sold out, like, beyond six months.

Stayed that way, got 10,000 saves on Airbnb, and just started collecting hundreds of email addresses.

And then the stories we got from people were such that they're like, I rediscovered my best friend in this treehouse.

And this might have added 25 years to our marriage.

So we're like, wow, so check so many boxes for us.

Because not only is a great business, but wanted to recreate, like, construction and development.

You know, it.

It's.

It's hard work, but it's a great.

I think it's a great thing for kids to grow up in.

Like, it.

It teaches you a lot of values, like growing up on a farm kind of.

And great way to combat entitlement and.

And also, like, build.

Build things that are.

That will endure the test of time so that, you know, our grandkids can think.

Like, thank God my grandpa, you know, decided to work really hard and buy these mountains and, like, build all these amazing luxury tree houses on them.

That kind of thing, you know, I.

Love it, and I completely agree.

In fact, my kids, number one, teaching them how to build a fence, you know, change, do electrical work, like, basically working around the house.

Because I've remodeled my house, actually multiple houses now, whenever we move, I usually remodel it.

And recently, my kids have gotten older.

My boys have.

My wife said, hey, why don't you start teaching your boys how to do all this stuff instead of you doing it, like, teach them how to do it.

And I said, that sounds like a great idea, because we homeschool, or at least let me take that back.

My wife has a hard job of homeschooling the kids.

I had the easy job making money.

So she said, hey, this will be a good homeschool project.

I said, that's great.

Let's go and do it.

So we remodeled my master bathroom.

Like, ripped out everything, remodeled it.

And they were with me all.

But I did most of the work.

Then once they got the experience, they saw how it was done.

Then I went, and it was like, three months later.

I said, hey, boys, see their hallway bathroom.

Have at it.

You guys are remodeling it.

They're like, are you sure, dad?

I'll be yes, go ahead and do it now.

It's not perfect at all.

I mean, I think at the time they were 13 and 15.

And so it's not perfect, but it looks so much better.

But it's what they're learning now that they might not remember every little bit, but the fact that they were able to do it number one and then push through, maybe I can't figure.

Well, let me figure it out.

And then now taking that to where now they're buying their own real estate.

My oldest daughter just bought her first rental property about a month ago.

She's 16 years old, so she's so excited.

She's making cash flow.

So I love that you guys have that now with the, the tree house idea.

Now, how many total units do you guys have?

Because you still have the one in South Carolina and you have the ones now in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

That's right.

Yeah.

There's the one on the family farm still.

But, you know, I asked my parents, I'm like, hey, we got a line out the door.

You want to build some more?

And they're like, no, this is like our family farm.

I think we'll just keep it at the 1.

This was special thing for your wedding.

And so.

But no, we.

We own a mountaintop property, 55 acres right outside Chattanooga.

I mean, we can see three states from here.

And we've got a mile of cliffside mountaintop.

So the views are unobstructed.

And, you know, the shortest, the shortest distance you can see is like a six miles.

And then you can obviously see into Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee.

So I mean, it's.

It's epic.

Like, in terms of real estate locations, like, we, you know, we probably say no to a thousand properties for everyone that we, you know, agree to is probably even higher than that.

But there's.

You just can't beat it.

And then early on, I was just like, you know what?

I, you know, like, remember glamping?

When, like, glamping first showed up on the scene, I was like, okay, this is, this is going to get really competitive.

I'm just going to go ahead and create the penthouse suite of glamping.

And now I think glamping the glamping work doesn't even fit what we do because we're like heated marble floors and, and toilet like bidets and all the things like, you know, motorized shades and like, it's like, it's like being in a super luxury.

Everybody is listening on the podcast.

You're not seeing this on YouTube.

So if you're on YouTube.

You could see the background.

They're inside one of their luxury tree houses right now.

Looks awesome.

Is that a copper hot tub or like bathtub behind you?

Hand hammered copper tub for two people.

Crazy.

And so, and so again, you have to go to their Instagram Bolt Farm Treehouse check out because you can see the view.

I mean, it is spectacular.

They're on this plateau that overlooks everything and it like just drops off.

It's so cool.

But then also you have bolt farm treehouse.com which then you also show people how to do this.

You know that that's, that is super neat because you know when you look at, okay, let me buy a single family home and then put a tenant in there, short term, midterm, whatever it might be.

It's not as hard as, like, I'm going to buy land and then build a tree house and make it so that people want to stay there.

But now you coach people, you just have a workshop.

Just, just had a workshop, got people that came in and learned all about this.

If somebody wants to get started in doing the treehouse, they have to start with land.

Do I mean, they pro.

Should they rent land?

How does that work if somebody wants to get started doing something like this?

Yeah, I mean, so I'll just use real examples from the people that we just helped.

You know, some of them, like, they're looking to acquire a property where they can expand and others are in the, in the discovery stage for land.

And I guess a lot of times, like, because this is such a new frontier, right?

All the development has been pretty much in cities for hotels, but now this like, outdoor hotel concept has emerged.

Kind of amazing that it took this long, you know, for it to become a thing, but, but here we are.

And so a lot of, a lot of, a lot of people don't know what they don't know.

And there's a lot of ways you can mess up.

And, and we learn that the hard way.

Like we look back at the last 10 years, we were crashing into walls like crazy our first six because we were trying to go at it alone.

We thought we couldn't afford mentorship.

And my goodness, like, we were so wrong.

Right?

Once we flipped our mindset, invested in ourselves, brought coaches and mentors in our lives, you surrounded ourselves with other successful people in mastermind groups.

Our success has taken off and we're like, why did we not start this sooner?

And so we made so many costly mistakes.

I mean, we bought land in, outside of Charleston, South Carolina with this concept, but it was the wrong place.

We missed one thing on a checklist that we didn't have at the time and it was a huge failure earlier.

And so we want to help people from making that mistake.

And I love the people who haven't even started yet because buying property is what is so critical.

Finding that right property.

I think you and your, your, you and your audience will get a kick out of this.

So the property where we are right now on Whitwell Mountain outside of Chattanooga, we bought 18 acres to start with.

Since then, we've expanded.

We paid less than 250k for those 18 acres.

And now what was the latest valuation.

With 32 million appraisal?

Yeah.

What in the world?

Well, I mean, you look at the views too.

I mean, that's just stunning and spectacular.

But you said 32 million.

Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

We've, we've already built 23 units on here.

23 units now.

So I'm thinking like an investor.

How do you tap into that equity so you can do it more?

Yeah, well, I mean, the, we've got great relationships with lenders now.

Lenders are sending us, the people who are using our, our company and their pitch decks, you know, to, to raise 20, 30 million dollars.

Because I had like one of the largest lenders in the, in North America called me the other day and he was like, hey, I got, I just saw your brand on another pitch deck and like, he's flown here and he's, he's seen our place and he's like, he's like, I just don't.

He's like, I just, I don't know if they're you, you know, he's like, you gu.

Michael Jordan of glamping and like, you've been doing this for a decade and I just feel better about it if, if they had, you know, had more experience or could spend time with you.

And I was like, well, I got news for you.

We got a workshop and a mastermind now, so send them our way.

So now, like, I think we're, he kind of use us as an insurance plan, you know, because like, you know, a master.

The cost of a mastermind, while it's not cheap, is like still a rounding error on a $20 million loan.

And like, you can, you can make half million dollar mistakes in a heartbeat when you're spending that kind of money on construction, especially if it's a, you know, like we're on top of a mountain.

You know, there's bedrock like running utilities and like, there's a lot of things That a lot of surprises that you get with any, any kind of ground up construction project.

It sounds like you had some, some headaches or you learned from experience that there are things that most people wouldn't even think about.

Yeah.

And, and the truth is like, man, if we could go, like, we've been doing it for 10 years and we didn't have mentorship, like, and part of that was like a mindset thing because, like, growing up, growing up in like a, you know, on a farm, it was like you do everything yourself and if somebody gives you a, you know, a big price for something, you're like, no, we're definitely doing it ourselves, you know, so, like, it took me a while to shake that to where, you know, now, you know, I will gladly exchange money for years of my life back.

And I think we were just, we were very, very new on the scene, you know, for, for outdoor hospitality, and it just didn't exist.

Like, coaching wasn't really a thing like it is today back then.

So for us, like, if we can save people from pain, number one, because, like, I wouldn't want anyone to relive some of the trials and tribulations we've gone through.

And then number two, you know, it's like, we want to grow through acquisition because we've built this big brand.

We've got trust, we've got traffic, we have like.

And I, these, this, I took this to a mastermind group we're in.

I was like, okay, we have two and a half million dollars in abandoned carts on a weekly basis.

That's, that's like $125 million a year, you know, because we can't build fast enough.

And also with all the success metrics, like selling direct, 100% direct to customer, $800 ADR, 93% occupancy.

You know, the response I got from the group because I told him, I was like, look, we want to grow through acquisition, but most of the places that have been built are unbiable because they're not professionally built.

It was just like somebody with a piece of land, an idea to do a few cabins or something.

And like, they've already used up the best part of the land.

We'd be fixing a bad haircut.

But, like, I'd rather buy properties that are turnkey because that's such a faster way to grow.

And he's like, well, why don't you just, you know, coach people to your standard, tell them how you would do it and then you could partner with them, buy those properties in the future, help them flip them, you know, or sell rooms for them because you've got a big brand, like have them be, you know, affiliate properties of ours.

And so, I mean, as you know, with real estate, like there's just a ton of different ways that you can, you can do deals with people that make sense and grow much faster than like literally starting from scratch each time.

So doing the workshops in the Mastermind really give us a chance to meet the all stars in this area who are going to go the distance and we can help them get there faster.

And we can probably partner with them or buy their place one day if they just want to, if they want to sell it.

And I like the idea that as you're helping out your students, number one, they're doing it right, which is they need to know how to do it right.

But that is a brilliant idea where people go to Bolt Farm tree houses and then they have a whole bunch of different cities and states that they can go to because you've like, you've already done all the work curating, helping these people to build these up.

And then the owners over there, let's say you either partner or you just get like, let's say commission for sending them traffic.

That is just another way to help everybody out.

And that's something that I try.

It took me a while because I'm very similar.

So when I first started investing, I did it all myself.

I didn't want coaching, or I wanted coaching, but I didn't want to pay for it.

Like, I could figure this out, but then now I'm realizing how much money I spent doing it wrong and then how much money I spent to then redo it and do it right.

It's like, oh my goodness, it would have been so much better.

But now I will say, like you were saying like 10 years ago.

I started back 20 years ago.

There wasn't really any good coaching then.

In fact, they were like $80,000 and they delivered like $2,000 worth of value.

Was horrible.

So, you know, it's just, it's a mindset that people have to get over and realize, okay, you go to college, if you go to college and spend 50, 60, 80 grand to get a piece of paper, then you could spend a little bit of money to help you to become hopefully financially independent if you're doing it right.

So what are some.

So we gotta, we gotta find the land now.

Is building a treehouse.

Do they literally need like a, like a 2000 year old oak or is it, you know, to Build in as like a tree house or like, what is, what is the idea of a tree house compared to what I personally think?

Go to my backyard, build a treehouse room on my kids.

Yeah, great question.

So, you know, we first started looking for land that would have the mature trees.

They've got to be spaced so far apart.

And like, we looked and looked and looked.

And Pete Nelson, the, you know, the treehouse master, he, he's a friend of ours and I called him and I was like, man, I am striking out.

And he was like, don't feel bad about supporting these things from, from the earth.

Like, you know, the, it helps the trees, it puts less stress on the trees.

And so that, that's the, that's the model that we do.

So it's a treehouse style cabin.

And it like, I'm looking out outside, like, and this, there's a tree coming through the deck.

There's a, there's a big tree right outside the kitchen window.

So you're, you're really like nestled in the trees.

But you know that we're, we're supported from the ground because otherwise like, you just, you couldn't, you couldn't get a highest and best use on a piece of, you know, real estate.

Yeah, this really opens you up and it reduces the liability because if the tree dies or something happens, I mean, you're, you're, you know, out of commission right there.

I like it.

I like it.

Okay, so is it, it sounds like building something.

Does it have, is it should be like a studio?

Should it be like multiple rooms?

Like, how does that play into the business model?

So we are like, we set out to build like the perfect space that was, that felt really grand.

But it wasn't, but not too big.

But I was like, I want people to be like, wow, I could really live here, you know.

So like behind us there's a, I call it a dream closet with like hand carved furniture and just like, you know, the, the dreamiest of spaces.

And then an indoor bathroom.

There's also an outdoor shower for two, a large stone circle hot tub, a fire table where, you know, you literally push a button.

You can get, get a nice propane fire and have a, a nice stone table to, to eat on, pizza oven outside.

You name it.

Like it like everything, everything you, everything you need and nothing that you don't.

All the, all the amenities.

That's, I love it.

Now if somebody were to get started, do they need a lot of capital in order to do something like this?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of capital, I guess is, is relative.

Relative.

I mean, we spend a lot.

I mean, this is a $400,000 treehouse, you know, and we've, we've, we've, we've got it to where, you know, it's a kit, you know, I've engineered it to where we can literally assemble one of these in a week's time once we have the deck.

And so I enjoy the sport of speed and seeing how fast we can get heads in bed.

So, you know, when we go to our next property, it's literally going to be lightning speed of development to where we can build out the entire retreat.

Have you guys found the next spot?

We're looking.

And we've, we've got a, we've got a website or on our website it's called Gotland.

I kind of using the Got Milk kind of, kind of slogan where people can, can like, literally send us properties that they think would be great for our business.

So, like, a lot of times, you know, realtors will hit us up and be like, I've got a place that'd be great for you just to, just to make that easy and bring that, bring that traffic to us.

Like, we, we want to be, you know, the magnetic epicenter of outdoor hospitality where, like, all, all the best talent is coming to us, the deals are coming to us through, through the workshops.

We are, you know, for 10 years, we've kind of been building in silence and we've honestly been, you know, apprehensive to like, share our secret sauce for while this is working.

And then through talking to coaches and mentors, they're like, now's the time.

Like, just tell everyone everything.

Everyone will come to you.

And it's going to actually make growth and scale a lot easier.

So that's what we're doing.

And you guys haven't or have you raised money for any, any deals?

Is that something that you're looking to do?

We are like, we've, you know, we've got the paperwork and everything ready for a fund we're not actively raising, but like, we get emails and probably on probably a weekly basis and financial toy.

I was like, we just need to start taking a list of names.

Like, like, yes, we're going to do a big raise.

We've been able to do this with, with cheap money from regional banks, you know, 4 and 5%.

So, you know, it's, it's kind of hard to beat that.

But.

And, and now we have, you know, the biggest banks in, in the U.S.

sending U.S.

customers and like, I'm going to speak at one of their summits.

So I'm like, I think we're good on being able to get money at a pretty, pretty low rate and most, most investors want a lot more.

But we'll see.

I mean, there's no ceiling on, on our drive and ambition.

And I do like to go faster than those banks can go.

So I think, I think at the right price, we, we would love to.

We are going to have a fund and open that up.

So that's great.

So, Tori, with the social media aspect of, I mean, does that.

It seems like that would really help to get people to really know about you, number one, sharing it out to other people.

But you've also had some, I, I may be some fairly famous people, but like that you utilize social media to really help you so that, you know, they share it out and all that sort of stuff.

Talk to me about how that has helped.

Yeah, it's helped immensely.

People, they care about your story.

They don't buy what you have.

They, they buy who you are and why you exist.

And so we use social media to tell that story, you know, what it's done for us in our lives, what it's done for our guests.

And those testimonials, we actually offer our guests free mini photo shoots when they arrive, which is like a nice little, you know, surprise and delight for them.

But it's also constant flow of marketing material for us that we can now show.

Instead of them always just seeing us or the rooms, they see people enjoying and experiencing it.

So it's huge because social media is the top of funnel.

That's how you're always just growing your audience.

And I always say it's, you know, it's incredible to see that we've grown such a huge audience of almost 600,000.

But it's not for ego or for a flex like those are eyeballs.

And people that can enter our funnel, join our email list, come stay, you know, and so it really is important to keep that top of mind.

I think a lot of people, they have a presence on, on social, but they're not fully utilizing it as they should.

A lot of it's a volume game just showing up consistently.

You want to be the loudest voice in the room.

I definitely agree with that, especially seeing how social media at first, I mean, I shied away from it.

I ran away from it for a very, very long time.

I just didn't enjoy it.

I was just like, man, I just want to do my work or, you know, help People.

And.

And I didn't think social media was actually that big of a need necessity for number one, real estate investors, but number two, me helping people how to invest in real estate.

But then I really saw as people reaching out to me because they found me on social media or something like that.

And for me, I started my podcast.

I think it was like 2016 ish, 2017.

And the podcast is by far one of the best ways that people find me.

Because you, as we shared when we hung out a couple months about a month ago, I am so blessed that I'm number one in real estate.

If you look up real estate and Apple.

Yeah.

I was just like, this is so awesome.

It's just more people to serve.

And then I'm like, oh, man, I got to up my game.

Tori and Seth, they're at 500,000 in Instagram.

I'm only like, what, 30 something, 35,000 or something like that.

I got to work harder.

But in the end, it's all about helping people.

That's why I love chatting with you guys.

You guys help people with a retreat that they can go to, like, personally get away and really make themselves better.

But at the same time, you're also helping coaching people as well.

So definitely everybody, you need to check out everything they're doing.

Bolt Farm treehouses.

How else can they find you?

Other than we talked about social media, how else can they connect with you?

And especially if they want to learn how to do this, how do they make sure that they start working with you?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Our website's the best place.

Boltfarmtriost.com you'll see on the homepage there's a tab for our STR workshop, and that's where they can see if they qualify.

We're qualifying people because we keep it a really intimate group.

That's how we can really add the most value to people in the room and go deep.

And so we're very selective of people who come because we want to make sure that they're in it for the right reasons and that they have potential to be someone that we want to work with on an ongoing basis.

And like what Seth was saying earlier, maybe partner with.

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's.

Sometimes you hear people say, like, it's lonely at the top, but it's like, it's only lonely until you're finding your.

Your people, you know, because when you do, you're like, oh, my gosh, I get so much life every time we're around each other.

And like, we Don't, I don't need anything from you, Dustin.

In between the times we see each other, but when we do, we're like, what's going on?

What have you bought?

Let's go, let's talk about it.

And that's, we're looking for that community because honestly like, you know, we're, we're, we're on a mountaintop and I, I don't like, I don't like to leave.

So it's awesome.

I mean one of the things we knew about this business that would be so life giving is that if you, if you, you got a place like this, like people want to be there and like I, I love it when the world comes to me.

So whether it's, you know, people coming to, to learn from us about the, you know, short term rental industry or people just looking to, to, to go like refocus, you know, zoom out so you know where to zoom back in.

We're big on helping people like invest in their relationships because obviously we have a lot of high, high output business owners and leaders and you know, they're doing so much stuff that you know, if they're not careful, their relationship can be neglected.

And we are like the, I don't know the way to kind of get like you know, a week long vacation or it probably feels like a month of quality time, you know, in three days, you know, in a weekend.

So that's, that gives us life and it allows us to meet a lot of really cool people.

I love it and you, you briefly shared it.

But I want everybody to know and I'm curious transitioning from being in a band so need to Breathe is a, is a really fun, great band to listen to.

I, I definitely listen to it to, to you guys.

So going from that, do you still do things with the band or is it like I'm gung ho with my bolt farm treehouses?

And how was that transition going from band to this?

Yeah, I mean over that 23 years like we built an amazing team.

And so let's see, 2024, we basically toured all year, toured Europe, Canada, the US for a second time.

And that was like the end of an album cycle.

And so now 2025, we've got lots of time off and, and we have a 15 month year old daughter and it's awesome to you know, be home for that.

Like I've, you sacrifice a lot when you're on the road for a long time.

So it's great to, to have a place that you love to be and with the people you love and being able to build your dreams every day.

And.

So because being a musician you have to be creative.

It seems like the tree houses and everything you've done, that's, that's.

Is that, I guess, spring on your creativity, is that helping fuel that fire?

It is and it does.

I mean like we're, we've created some things that like, you just, you can't get anywhere else.

Like, we just finished building this wellness haven and it's basically, it's a multi acre spa.

You know, cliffside mountaintop.

There's all these beautiful rocks and boulders everywhere.

View of three states.

It's you know, like mirrored sauna, hot springs, pools, steam room and treatment rooms, and like a rooftop yoga deck with a view of three states.

So like, honestly like what we're doing, like when we, you know, in the treehouse, we go all the way back to day one for the honeymoon, we just journaled about all these dreams and things we wanted to accomplish and we created this 25 year plan for our lives and we have almost all of it and you know, nine years and we, we made it come true through the business.

And, and so it's, I'm, I'm honestly like building things that just absolutely thrill me.

And I learned that through music.

Like when you, if you want to make a great album or you want to make a great song, like do something that just lights your heart on fire, that you love it so much regardless of what you think, other people are gonna like it.

Because when you start making things specifically with like an something else in mind, like, okay, well, needs to be this way for this person.

It needs to be this way for this.

And whatever you get too calculated, like, it's easy to just get lost in the middle, you know, but, but do do something unique.

Play your own game, play by heart.

You know that I think you have the ability to, to land on something that's like a.

One of a kind and truly unique.

And that's a, you know, much easier way to stand out from.

I definitely, I 100 agree with that.

I like.

Well, I've always been the type of person where, you know, I marched to the beat of my own drummer.

Like, I, I don't like following rules, but other people impose on me.

I just like, you know what, I'm gonna do it my own way.

So.

But I gotta ask a question.

I probably should have looked this up.

I don't know what music or what musical instrument you play.

Like, what, what do you play inside the, the band, the bass Guitar, basically.

Foundation guitar.

You bring.

Yeah, you bring the presence.

You make sure that everybody feels everything there.

That's right.

Love it.

So what is.

I.

I got.

I gotta know.

What is your favorite song that you guys have made?

Maybe I might not have heard it, but, like, do you have a favorite song that you guys that you've made?

Man, that's hard because we're talking about so many 23 years and 10 albums and.

And all that kind of depends on the mood I'm in.

And we're the kind of band that, like, we've got.

There's so many different types of songs across the board.

Like, you know, it's a rock and roll show live, but then we've got some.

Some beautiful songs that have also been used in weddings and, you know, the.

The birth of child.

Like, there's a song called Banks, and, you know, it says, I'll be the banks of your river, meaning, like, I'm going to be here to support you, you know, not control you, just here to support you.

And it's like, relational.

But, you know, some people think about their kids when they hear that song because, like, I'm gonna be the banks of your river as you.

As you go through life and you can crash into me and all that.

And I'm just going to be here to support you.

And Jordan Davis, the country artist, he used that for.

For, like the.

For the birthing song for, I think, his most recent son.

And then he.

He and I, we got a chance to.

He covered the song and we performed it together on.

On one of the.

One of the.

One of the TV shows, Austin City Limits or something like that.

And it was awesome, man.

It's been a rich thing to be able to see the world that way.

And, you know, I would not have the perspective that I do.

Have I not seen so much and experience, you know, the best and the worst of.

Of hospitality and hotels and penthouse suites and all that stuff.

So I'm definitely drawing from a deep well in terms of what I can create here.

And we found a spot where we can literally build anything we want.

Like, it's hard in a lot of states in America.

I won't necessarily specify the color of those states, but I think, you know, where.

It's just too many stupid rules and like, there's.

There's no room for creativity and architecture, real estate.

So it's just like, very basic and boring.

And I just think, like, you know, I don't know why, why.

Why not take the opportunity in a beautiful country to Harness the creativity, the talent of people with fresh ideas about what it can look like to go on vacation.

You know, like keep, keep all that vacation talent here or that money here in America instead of having to go to Bali or Tulum, Mexico or wherever.

Because, like, they actually get it and will allow people to be creative and create one of a kind experiences.

Like we found that place.

They're hard to find, but I mean, building things on, on cliffsides and doing just incredibly creative stuff.

Like right now we're building.

This is a, this is a.

You heard it first.

This mirrored cube that it will be floating.

It'll look like it's floating between two boulders suspended in the air.

And like, that sounds amazing.

Yeah, right?

I mean, you just can't do that everywhere.

Well, being creative, like you're saying, like you, you know.

Yeah.

You say in other states, you know, let's say, for instance, like, it has to be X, Y and Z.

You have to go through all these permits and all that sort of stuff, which is rather bummer.

But that's, that's super.

I can't wait to see it.

So I'm, I'm assuming, Tori, you're going to make sure that it gets on social media now you were, you're in news like we on the news and doing like a news anchor.

Is that what you were?

And does that help to transition to help you guys build up the bolt farm Treehouse?

I was, yeah.

I mean, I produced the early morning news and I did some entertainment reporting.

The best thing that happened during that career was meeting Seth.

I interviewed the band and that's how we met, which is pretty wild.

And I, I would say it still helps me in some ways today with just the skills that have translated.

Knowing how to produce an event or a deadline or a project and, you know, communicate effectively and clearly with the people involved.

It's really helped me with the team that we're growing here.

And I'd add to that, like, and building a big brand that's opened all kinds of doors for us.

Yeah.

You know, like, I mean, she got.

Got a text message from Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, just being like, hey, I'm such a fan of your treehouse.

Like, can we zoom?

And we're like, sure.

And so like, you know, and of course I'm like, you know, just jotting down questions and things I want to ask him.

But one specifically about investing, I would offer, you know, because this is straight from Brian, you know, I was just saying, hey, you know, we want to grow Fast.

We want to raise money.

And, you know, you have any advice on that?

And he just said, yeah.

He's like, you know, when we were coming up with Airbnb, like, you know, the.

The sentiment at the time was like, get as much money as you can from whoever you can.

Like, it doesn't matter.

He's like.

But I had a mentor who said, like, actually, you know, only, only, only, only raise what you need and get it from really great sources of people that can advise you and, and speak life and to you and.

And, you know, that kind of thing.

So I think that that is the, you know, I took that to heart and, and that's why, really, like, I think our investors aren't people who just want to get, like, the most money, the highest return.

Like, will the returns be great?

Absolutely.

Like, our margins are incredible.

But I think more than.

More than.

More than the mercenary side of it, it's the missional mindset.

Like, I want to work with people who actually can get what we're doing, which is, like, having an impact on relationships.

Like, yes, we're revolutionary, revolutionizing hospitality.

We're also, you know, providing a space where people can reconnect and, like, leave with a stronger relationship, and that can have generational impacts.

Like, there's.

We've heard back that, like, the.

Their people's kids have said, like, you guys are different since going to the treehouse.

And they called it the treehouse effect.

So, you know, that.

That means.

That means more to me than the gobs of money that we can make.

You know, I just, you know, money's.

Money's a tool.

Money's a resource.

But it's.

It's not why I wake up in the morning.

I love it.

I love it.

I think that's why we say eye to eye so well, it's because the same thing, like, I make my money through real estate.

Everything that I do is like, how many people can I serve?

I want to serve more and more people because I realized the more people I serve, the better my life gets and the better their life gets and everybody wins.

And so that's just the best, best way to go.

If you start thinking in abundance, as opposed to scarcity, like, hey, there's some limited everything.

No, if you think more abundantly, like, instead of the world's out to get, you think maybe the world might be willing to help you.

So if you just have that mindset by you giving, in fact, you know, the Lord says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

And so if you start taking that really living it out, everything just gets better and better.

Now, Tori said I could chat with you guys forever, but I want to keep everybody I want again one more time, everybody.

You guys, check out bolt farm tree houses on social media as well as their website, bolt farm treehouse.com.

but thank you so much, you guys, for being here.

I hope everybody got.

I know I got a ton out of it.

I know my listeners will, too.

But I hope you guys do tremendous success in all your guys's success, you know, endeavors with all these tree houses and helping people.

Thank you, Justin.

Yeah.

Appreciate you, man.

Great to see you.

And that is it for today.

Go ahead and get my free real estate investing course, Texas word rental, the 33777.

R E N T A L to 33777.

You can also join my real estate wealth builders group coaching.

Get all my courses.

All right, guys, we'll see you in the next show.

See ya.