Direct Mail Marketing: Who to Target & How To Monetize Return Senders w/ Mason Bridges

Mike DeHaan: [0:00] Really quick before the show starts, in case you haven't heard, we have a growing community of investors called the scale community, which is full of people learning to make massive income with their real estate businesses so they can reach financial freedom a little bit faster than building a rental portfolio solely over time, because honestly, that takes decades and who has time for that? So if you're an investor who is serious about growing and creating a scalable business without needing to be a slave to it twenty four seven, then go to collectingkeys.com/scale and apply. And if you're a good fit, we would love to have you join the community. So, again, collectingkeys.com/scale. Go ahead and apply, and we'll see if you're a good fit.

Mason Bridges: [0:38] I'm, like, 20 plus deals, and I don't think I've actually ever used a hard money loan. What

Mike DeHaan: [0:44] is going on, guys? Welcome to today's episode of the collecting keys real estate investing podcast. We are here today with Mason Bridges for this episode of the scale show. If this is your first time to one of these Monday episodes, we interview people that are, like, really in the weeds of their business and are working to grow. And so a lot of these people are scale community members. A lot of them are people that maybe have only been in real estate for a couple of years. And Mason here is one of our shining stars in the community because he has been grinding for just over a year and started to put up some really awesome numbers on some of the different deals he's doing. And, yeah, dude, I'm super excited to have you on the show today. So I really appreciate you taking the time to, you know, take a break from all the seller calls that I know you're getting on a very regular basis and come and waste forty five minutes with me. But, man, to kick us off, give us a quick three minute rundown, who you are, where you're based, and what your team slash business currently looks like.

Mason Bridges: [1:45] Yeah. Thanks for the invite. I figured it had been in the mail. Maybe it got lost. But Yeah. Happy to finally be here.

Mike DeHaan: [1:51] You know how the how the postal service goes. Right? It's just like 14% margin of error, so they tell us. That's why that's why when the mail doesn't hit generate leads, it's the post post service fault.

Mason Bridges: [2:01] I know. And there's a deal in that 14% error. But Every time. Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for having me in. Yeah. I mean, just quick intro. Anytime I ever introduce myself, I always introduce myself as a good time because that is what I am. And, past that, I'm a family man. I'm born and raised in, Thomaston, Georgia, which is actually currently where I operate my business out of. You know, it's kind of in the heart of, in Georgia kind of between Columbus, Macon, Atlanta, three biggest hubs here and come from about a pretty big family. My dad's a real estate attorney. My mom works at school as a parapro and, you know, have, had bounced around a little bit over the last decade. After college, I lived in Atlanta for a little while. And really kind of got my first gig in the real estate space, took a job in acquisitions early on at Opendoor. And, that really opened my eyes to a lot of things, you know, and ended up moving out to Phoenix running the acquisitions team. And I will tell you in that time, I found out how fickle your importance at a larger organization can be. You know, I had rose colored glasses on, was dedicated to that company. And then, you know, things happen and businesses have to make decisions.

Mason Bridges: [3:06] So left that company on pretty good terms, but was out in Phoenix with my wife and started working in the SFR space. So selling deals over to funds, working with retail investors, selling off portfolio deals, and really heavily involved in the networking scene there. Huge, SFR, like networking scene in Phoenix. And that's really where I started to get kind of put on to a lot of this. Right? And ended up walking in one day. My wife told me she was pregnant, and we decided to move back to Thomaston to be about a mile from both the grandparents. And, that is where we are now. And springboarded, you know, kind of launched my business here and just living the dream.

Mike DeHaan: [3:48] Yeah. Absolutely. And you have one of the most intriguing markets to me, and we regularly are discussing on our scale community calls some of the situations to deal with, man. It just feels like it's like the Netflix show, the Ozarks, with some of just like the drama and, like, the unforeseen things that seem to arise so regularly with the random deals. So it's definitely an interesting market. How big is is your target area?

Mason Bridges: [4:15] Yeah. So I'm in three counties right now, but my main target area is county population somewhere around like 25 to 27,000.

Mike DeHaan: [4:24] Really small. Dang.

Mason Bridges: [4:25] But, yeah, well, neighboring counties that I'm also in, you know, it's even less than that, like half of that. So, yeah, definitely really small. A lot of weird stuff happens with these markets, and then you see these folks in church and you have to act like you like them. So Yeah.

Mike DeHaan: [4:38] Yeah. That see, that's crazy small because we had Kyle and Emma on the show a few weeks ago, And, like, their market's small up in rural Idaho. But I think the thing that's different with where they're at is a lot of those people are kinda like loners, whereas yours is small, but it's also very community driven. And so you always seem to have this extra, I don't say, like, potential for drama. Like, said, you're seeing people at church or at the grocery store. Someone's dad knows somebody else's dad, and it becomes a whole thing. And it's led to a lot of interesting conversations because I don't know if I've ever, you know, met or worked with other operators that have it quite like that. So so that's cool though. I mean, you're still making it work regardless. So what's your current asset class and exit strategy that you're pursuing down there?

Mason Bridges: [5:22] Yeah. So primary asset class is single family, and we sprinkle in some raw land. Land's a big play down here. So and then we're not too far outside of Atlanta, so a lot of, development happening. Exit strategy, wholesale and flipping, you know, primarily trying to dial in the flipping operations and then really, really picky on rentals. You know, we'll take them down from time to time when we can pull money out or we can get good terms, but mainly wholesale and flipping.

Mike DeHaan: [5:50] Do you have ambition to get more into rentals as like interest rates and stuff come down, or are you just trying to do the transactional thing?

Mason Bridges: [5:56] No. We talk about it in the group all the time, making a massive income. I think when I get my business to a a place where I have predictable recurring revenue and I have a little bit more play money, yeah, absolutely. But I found that they are a a huge money suck

Mike DeHaan: [6:11] They are.

Mason Bridges: [6:12] Depending on where you're at in your, you know, in your phase.

Mike DeHaan: [6:15] Totally. And also too, here's the thing. Like, if, like, cash flow is the real reason, and Dan and I were just talking about this yesterday, Like, the hard money lending, when you have, like, a little bit of change, right, is where it's at, dude. Like, we can make 20% on that if we turn it twice a year. Yeah. It's if literally cat if you want, like, wealth generation and leverage debt, rental properties, you can't beat that for sure. But if you just want cash flow, debt is 100% the play. Awesome. And so within your business, do you have any staff yet? I don't even know if I know that. Are you kind of, like, doing everything?

Mason Bridges: [6:49] Man, name the hat, and I'm wearing it.

Mike DeHaan: [6:51] Yeah. Right. Doing all of it. I thought you had, like, someone that was doing TC or a little bit for one one period of time or another.

Mason Bridges: [6:59] No. No. I I wish because I would say the the only person I have on my team is like an unofficial partner. It's my father. He's my attorney. I think I've done 20 plus transactions. He's closed every single one of them. So he's a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. I would love to have transaction coordination if, anybody listening call me. But no, past that, I have a guy we might be bringing on to do some cold calling so that we can try and monetize the return senders. I mean, I'll put my dirty laundry out there. We were gonna start it, and RE simply won't let you do a monthly cadence on your dialer cost. I didn't wanna spend a thousand dollars and then this guy suck. So just me, man. Just me right now.

Mike DeHaan: [7:40] Yeah. They don't let you do monthly on RE simply for the dialer anymore?

Mason Bridges: [7:43] Not if you have a yearly subscription, which I just switched to.

Mike DeHaan: [7:47] Yeah. Well, that's what you get for trying to save $65. Right? Like, honestly.

Mason Bridges: [7:53] I mean, you know, hey. Gotta be frugal in certain areas.

Mike DeHaan: [7:57] Totally. Yeah. So you said you're working your turn as vendors. Is direct mail your your main deal source so far?

Mason Bridges: [8:04] Yeah. Yeah. We've actually kind of honed it in a little bit. Right? So I'm in three different markets now. So I do like a broader direct mail on a monthly basis, which is just like, what I call the core four list. Absentee liens, bankruptcies, and vacants. That goes out every month. Really nothing sexy to that at all. But I do a little bit more targeted direct mail. You know, here in Georgia, foreclosures drop on the first Tuesday of every month, so you can't really, like, target those on a weekly basis without pretty heavy lift. I mean, you could do it. But I bought pre probate divorce leads and inherited leads, which I'm actually a test case for this company on these inherited leads. And that's all automated, you know? Yeah. I got a great company that pulls that data weekly, and then I send it over to a company out of Tampa that does the handwriting, and I've got that on like a

Mike DeHaan: [8:52] four month cadence. Nice. So you say say you bought that, like, from is it, like, a list provider that goes and, like, has it? Like, it's, a list source, or is it, like, especially one that's just for your area?

Mason Bridges: [9:03] Yeah. No. So it's a company. They mainly focus on foreclosures. They're based out of Florida, but you can essentially buy like, an annual premium. Don't know. I think I paid like $1,800. And that gets me access to the data and they pull it weekly, send it over to the handwritten mail folks. So that's been awesome. I've got to the point where I do get some referrals, and then I have like a heavy realtor network. Get some stuff through that as well.

Mike DeHaan: [9:29] Nice. How many deals a month are you doing about right now?

Mason Bridges: [9:32] I calculated it. Right now it's about two, you know, two a month, but it's coming much as there was a a couple of really weird low periods this year.

Mike DeHaan: [9:41] Sure. Is that two since you started? So, like, basically, you calculated out from your first period? Because it took you a little bit to get your first one, or is that basically from when you got your first deal to now?

Mason Bridges: [9:50] No. That's from January this year through now. There's, like, four deals I did in q four of last year that I didn't count.

Mike DeHaan: [9:56] Nice. Okay. Sweet. I mean, that's a pretty good clip though. Like, honestly, for a year to get up to to do deals two deals a month as, a one person operator in a very tricky market, I mean, that's you should definitely be giving yourself some kudos on that. And so as at that sole operator role, what does, like, your sales pipeline look like? Like, the intake process and all that? Are you like, you have a lot of different hats that you have to juggle.

Mason Bridges: [10:22] Well, I will say the sales pipeline piece is like the most natural part of this business for me. Sure. I other than my first job out of college, which I recruited for a landscape company.

Mike DeHaan: [10:33] Mhmm.

Mason Bridges: [10:33] I have always had a pipeline or book a business. I joke and tell folks like I make money by talking on the phone and, I have for a decade now. So that piece is a lot more manageable for me. So you get the systems in place, right? And we use most folks in our group use already simply, but you set up the campaigns, lead comes in, you know, it's a pretty straightforward process. I do discovery. I think I might be a little bit different than most folks. I will have like a discovery call and build good rapport and everything. I like to hop off the call and do like a first layer of due diligence before I call back and kind of send a follow-up appointment. If I feel like there's a little bit of weirdness and they might not answer or it needs to act faster, like I will, but I do a level, you know, a layer of due diligence and call, get the appointment, go out on appointments. I am in three different counties, so like I spend a ton of time on the road. And then from there, you know, make offers. I've got a process in place to start transaction coordination and then dispo. So pretty straightforward.

Mike DeHaan: [11:36] Nice. I mean, it's a little bit different what you do there, but it fits the seller expectations. Right? Like, I know we've talked about this before, but it's like a a handshake kind of market. Right? Very much so. It's not like you're in some of these massive areas where the seller's calling, like, six different people, and it literally becomes like a race who's gonna be there first a lot of the time. I mean, some of the places that you've told us about on the calls, it's the most, like, obvious motivated seller that you've ever heard, but they're still gonna just sell when they're ready.

Mason Bridges: [12:08] 100%.

Mike DeHaan: [12:09] And there's nothing you can do about that except, like, make them like you more. Right? So in that market, you know, you obviously are from there. Your family's from there. What are, like, the biggest challenges that you face besides, you know, just, like, seeing people in church and different things? Like, the Ozark mentality, I wanna go back to that because, like, you have people, like, stabbing you in the back down there. You have, like, people that are, like, family friends that start talking trash. Like, you have all kinds of weird stuff. How do you overcome that? You know? Or, like, what are, like, some of the ways that you found to kinda get past just the drama that seems to be impossible to escape for you?

Mason Bridges: [12:46] Yeah. It's a timely question.

Mike DeHaan: [12:49] Because there's no one. Yeah.

Mason Bridges: [12:51] Very timely. Yeah. No. I mean, it's a challenge. It's like a it's a pending challenge. Still something that I deal with. Right? And to the point even in our group call, you know, I was talking about maybe stopping more of the broader marketing here in just my direct market because I went into a larger market that's been pretty fruitful and you just don't have to deal with some of this stuff. You know, like my capital partners are good friends of mine that work at the bank. That can cause some relationship weirdness. My dad's an attorney and he doesn't want me pissing people off. So, it's been probably the most difficult thing to kind of figure out, right, as I build a business. I don't want to get too philosophical here, but kind of where I'm leaning towards, right, is like I know who I am, right, and I know the morals and the values and what I'm trying to do and the fact that I do want to help people out and be extremely honest. And just really trying to like attach to those things when, you know, weird stuff starts to happen or you get screwed over by somebody. So that piece from a personal perspective helps, right, center while you're building a business. But it's hard, like, you know, from a tactical standpoint, like I have to be really careful with who I talk to about certain deals. Right? You really, there is no like pre wholesaling stuff. I know we talk about that. I tried, got deals swept out from under me.

Mason Bridges: [14:14] So you have to be really careful about those things. Like funny enough, you have to be really careful about dispo in general, because I have dispoed properties where the buyer ended up being related to the person selling, and that made a lot of people mad. So, yeah, it's really interesting. And I think the solve might be to do a little bit more targeted marketing in my area where I can, like, help people through probate and title issues and kinda do the more broader marketing and wholesale in some of these larger markets outside of me, like where I'm at.

Mike DeHaan: [14:47] Yeah. I mean, I don't hate that that situation though. Right? Because ultimately, this should be a solutions based business. Right. You know? And it just forces you to do that. Like, wholesale real estate in general always is kind of a bad rap because they say we're, like, stealing equity or doing different things. But my view on it is it always revolves around intent and is the person that you're working with actually ending up in a better place. Yeah. Based on the situation, are you actually providing them a solution, or are you being a dirtbag? And you always know. Right? Like, honestly, like, anyone that says, oh, I didn't know this was a that person definitely screwed that person over. They're a liar. Right? But I think it it's a weird business where you get in these funny sort of situations. So, like, on that dispo piece, what is your strategy then? If you can't pre dispo it, have to be really careful with the dispo. You just have, like, a giant, like, family tree built out for your whole town where, like, you kinda see who's connected to who so that you don't accidentally, like, connect the wrong people?

Mason Bridges: [15:44] You know, it's funny, actually. I could maybe do this massive ancestry.com thing and like build out a buyer's list that way. Yeah. Or know who to avoid. But no, I will be honest. I have to take chances. Right? That's the biggest thing is like I have to feel pretty confident in my numbers, which I will say, you know, find you an agent or two that does volume and knows the business that you can trust. Because that is really helpful to kind of springboard or bounce ideas off of or to get into their network. So but really at the end of the day, have to take chances. You know? I have to put stuff under contract that I don't know if I'm gonna be able to move. And a pretty good rule of thumb for me is like, I try and run numbers. In the event that worst case scenario I can't wholesale it, I don't necessarily want the deal, that I can take it down because the numbers make sense, like if I absolutely have to. And I have done that. And I've been able to turn around and like make money off of it or get rid of it. So but at the of the day, it's taking chances. And I can't tell you, I mean, the last like six, seven wholesale deals I've done, I mean, I ended up like getting them assigned four or five days before closing, way past due diligence.

Mike DeHaan: [16:58] Dang.

Mason Bridges: [16:59] Yeah. I mean, it's stressful. I think that, this is the biggest piece of my business that I could dial in. And when we do the KeyesCon thing next week, I'm gonna be asking a ton of questions on dispo because it's the hardest part of the business to me. So but, yeah, I think I I do, you know, I do have a couple of folks that I've done repeat business with that helps. But just getting really kind of creative, when you start to find these folks is is key.

Mike DeHaan: [17:24] Yeah. And then once you have those relationships, just nurturing them. Like, that's that is the For sure. I would say dispo is one of the hardest parts when you're starting out. But once you kinda have, like, your little Rolodex of really good people, it becomes so easy. You know? And and that's one of the challenges that we have when we, like, work with you guys on dispo is we were honestly, like, pretty fortunate that we made those connections really, really early on when Dan and I started. And so we never quite had to go through a lot of the pains that a lot of you guys seem to go through. Mhmm. Because, like, our main buyer that we sold so many of our deals to over the years, he called us off of our website because off of a mailer that we'd sent one of his rental properties. And then he was like, hey. We're interested to buy anything that you have. And so we just started selling everything to them right away. So, you know but I understand that's not how it goes for everybody. So you said that always trying to get things that you've been wanting to take down. You have a great relationship with that bank, that local bank that you said your buddies work at. You get, like, basically hard money style loans from them. I've never heard that from coming from a local bank.

Mason Bridges: [18:23] Yeah. It's pretty sweet. You know, I'm like 20 plus deals in. I don't think I've actually ever used a hard money loan. See, that's awesome.

Mike DeHaan: [18:31] So, like, did they offer that to you, or did you ask for that? Do you mind going into that financing? Because I think it's a great thing for people to try and get if they can.

Mason Bridges: [18:38] Well, let me tell you. I mean, literally the two guys are my best friends. But Okay. They are I mean, they're bankers, like through and through. So they're not just like giving me money and they're like pretty skeptical of most of the deals that I bring them. So I'm having to sell those guys. But, you know, really what that looks like is I came in and I got laid off from my company and I got some severance. And I had a hell of a year in 2023, made some good money actually. So I had some money put back. And then when I moved back to Thomaston, I was fortunate to where my father had pulled like a line of credit on their primary home. And, it was about $200,000 And, he let me tap into that a couple of times. So within the first like three to four months, you know, I hit like a $29,000 wholesale fee, hit some smaller ones and did a pretty lucrative, like, quick flip using that line of credit because I did have to double close that first deal. And that got me at least to like a base point to where I could took out like a business credit card and really just worked through it. But really with the bank, if it's a property that I'm not going to be holding onto that we're going to be flipping, or I just need like transactional funding or something, they do like twelve month interest only that floats with the prime rate. That's sick.

Mason Bridges: [19:56] Yeah. And if it's a good enough deal, they'll finance the whole thing. Like I'm closing one on Monday, ARV $2.25. I'm buying it for 97. It needs $3 worth of termite work immediately, but they're gonna roll my closing cost and like $3 into it to do that work. So every now and then I'll get some of those. Sometimes I have to come 10% out of pocket for those, but on a flip, you're gonna recoup that hopefully. And then the longer term stuff is just like an in house like commercial loan almost. It's a twenty year AM rate, you know, depends on the deal, but usually prime at about five to 10% down.

Mike DeHaan: [20:38] Nice. And then are they putting balloons and stuff on that, like typical commercial loans?

Mason Bridges: [20:41] Yeah. It's got a three year Yeah. Cycle on it. You know? So I actually have bought some properties this year on guys that did the same exact home type three years ago. And then Yeah. You know, went up and property taxes went up.

Mike DeHaan: [20:54] They're getting bit.

Mason Bridges: [20:56] That's it really. I mean, that is those are the two loan products I use alongside my own capital and a line of credit. And I'm gonna do that again this year and hopefully double top line revenue and then like have tax returns to show people like, I know what I'm doing, and hopefully, you know, maybe get some private investors at that point.

Mike DeHaan: [21:14] Yeah. I mean, that hard money style loan they give you though is awesome. I've like I said, I've never

Mason Bridges: [21:18] heard

Mike DeHaan: [21:19] of that from a bank before. And so I guess to give context to people who might have not followed that completely, you get a 100% financing. Right now, they're probably what, like, or 9% with no point.

Mason Bridges: [21:30] Yeah. It's dropped down to about eight. Yeah.

Mike DeHaan: [21:32] 8%. And they're with no points on that either. They just, like, basically give you an interest only loan at 8%, or they have, like, maybe one one or two processes.

Mason Bridges: [21:39] Yeah. They've got an origination, like, percent and then, a $200 desk appraisal fee.

Mike DeHaan: [21:45] Either way, that's for that's nuts, dude. Like like, you say you wanna go and get private lenders. Private lenders are gonna want more money than that. I would just Yeah. Nurse the hell out of that.

Mason Bridges: [21:52] Bills gotta be good, though. That's the caveat.

Mike DeHaan: [21:54] Well, this this should always be good regardless. You don't wanna be locking up shitty deals with private investors' money. You're just gonna lose someone's $40.01 k. Right. Right? So yeah. That's awesome, though, dude. So that I mean, that's huge. And that gives you such an advantage in the market, especially when dispo is tricky because you don't have to be playing the cash flow game quite as challenging. Like, it's challenging of a fashion where it's like you're putting in 15% and you're going to get a hard money loan, and now you're having to carry 12% interest, you know, on all these properties. And that's like all of a sudden equal to your marketing costs. Right? Right. That is what usually sinks people when they're starting out is is when they start playing that game, and you've been able to avoid that. So that's awesome. And then one last question for you before we kinda go into the end of show. Know you're also a family man. You had a child somewhat recently, but in the last year. Right?

Mason Bridges: [22:45] Yeah. He's fifteen fifteen months old. I think that's how they calculate their age. Yeah. Right.

Mike DeHaan: [22:51] How have you balanced all of that with, you know, running a solopreneur business that's, you know, doing quite well? Is it keeping you busy?

Mason Bridges: [22:58] Not well.

Mike DeHaan: [22:59] Not well.

Mason Bridges: [23:00] I don't manage it well. You know? And the people that do, I envy them. Yeah. I think this has probably been the biggest struggle for me personally. I mean, dating back to, like, 2016, '17 with, like, high demand w twos, even pre baby. You know, I think, over the years, I've gotten better with time management and learning how to, like, prioritize task appropriately. But man, it's really, really hard and it's even harder with the baby. I think a big thing that kind of consumes a lot of my brain waves is getting my family into a favorable financial position. I know co host Dylan had a child recently and he made a comment about just how good it felt to like go through that process and not stress about money. It's huge. Like money is not everything, but it makes things a lot easier. So I have over the years dealt with a ton of guilt when I hit like inevitable, you know, burnout periods, and I'm not operating at a 100%, right? You don't feel like you're putting your best foot forward for your family. So it's really hard. And then also I'm a huge family man, and I like a good time, and I like my hobbies. So like I make time for those things, but it's really tough to like be in the moment when you're doing those things and not thinking about your next step or especially if money gets tight. So for anybody listening, right, like if you feel that way, very normal, and it is it is a difficult thing to manage.

Mike DeHaan: [24:27] Yeah. Yo. If you don't follow me on Instagram, which is at mike underscore invests by the way, then you might not know that we officially have a new mission as a brand, and that is to help 2,000 real estate investors build million dollar businesses. Obviously, to do that, we need to get in front of as many people as possible. So quick little ask to help us reach that goal. First, shoot me a follow on Instagram at mike underscore invests. Second, follow collecting keys podcast on Instagram. That's at collecting keys podcast all written out. And third, every time the algorithm is kind enough to show you a post from either of us, share it on your story or in your post and tag us. If you do that, I'll DM you and we can have a little DM conversation about what is preventing you from having that million dollar business that everyone is seeking. And we can see if we can come up with a plan to help you make that massive income, not just passive income. So again, if you see any of our posts, just go ahead, reshare them, tag us, and let everyone know that you enjoy the content we produce. It will help us a ton, and then I'll be happy to help you as well. Well, let me ask you this. If you fast forward eighteen months, right, from now, let's say you have a business that's spitting off $50.60 grand a month.

Mike DeHaan: [25:41] You have maybe a million dollars plus in the bank. You potentially own a couple, you know, really solid rental properties. Do you think that would be worth it?

Mason Bridges: [25:51] Oh, yeah. I mean, totally. I think it'll be worth it. Right? And and I don't know what that number is or or what, you know, how you laid that out. I don't I don't know what it's gonna look like to get to a point to where I feel a little bit better. But this is like, again, not to get too woo woo, again, it's like this is something you've got to figure out for yourself, right? Like you've got to figure out how to be ambitious while also being comfortable with where you're at the trials and tribulations that you have to go through. So I think having actionable goals, right, and having a sense of direction on where you're going and why is really helpful for a long period of time there. I did not know those things. I just knew that I like didn't like what I was doing. But you don't wanna get caught wandering around and operating without a without a purpose. So but, yeah, I think next year or two, get to a place where you feel a lot better about the money piece, and then it allows you to work on yourself a little bit more. So that's my TED Talk and five minutes of therapy, and that'll be $500.

Mike DeHaan: [26:52] No. I appreciate you sharing that because I feel I always feel like that's something that isn't talked about honestly enough on a lot of different platforms because everyone the people that generally dive into that, right, they're usually already very, very successful. And they're like, well, my nonnegotiables are I go to I'm I'm present with my kids every single day for x amount of hours, and I go to everything. I'm like, yeah. You can say that because you have a, you know, like a web presence that prints you off $5,000,000 a year. Like, I fucking hope you're like that. Otherwise, you're a dirtbag.

Mason Bridges: [27:20] Right.

Mike DeHaan: [27:21] Right? But, like, for those of us that are in that grind phase, there is a level of sacrifice that you have to understand. You know? And something that I always I don't have kids, so people tell me I don't have the right to talk about this, whatever. I could tell you that if I did have kids and it meant that I was going to have to, you know, be less present for two or three years, but that means that I get to be more present for, like, the following decade or longer, I would do that every single time. Right? It's an asymmetrical upside, especially during the baby phase as a guy. Like, I don't know. It's a little bit different. Right? You don't wanna be missing, like, when they're they're nine, 10, 11 years old, and it's very important that you're around them. But even then, like, if you're able to do that and then the rest of their livelihood is better, they're able to go to college without having to take on debt, they're able you're able to enjoy, like, them becoming a young adult, I think that that's worth it for the vast majority of people. Sure. And if not, that's okay too. You just kinda need to realize that for yourself and not try to, you know, fit yourself into the same box.

Mike DeHaan: [28:17] But that's awesome, man. It'll be worth it. It'll pay off. Like, you know, the the handful of folks that we have in the group that are, like, I would say, like, a decent amount ahead of you, but are kind of gone through that same sort of timeline, I don't think any of them would change anything.

Mason Bridges: [28:32] Yeah. No. It's it's great perspective, and, there's no, you know, there's no magic answer. It's just, you have to be in it, and you had to find ways to fill your cup back up when when it inevitably runs dry.

Mike DeHaan: [28:45] Mhmm. And that's life. Right? There's nothing you can do about it.

Mason Bridges: [28:47] That is life, man. It's hard, but it's fun.

Mike DeHaan: [28:51] Yeah. Absolutely, dude. I would say, like, the nirvana piece comes when your business life and the rest of your life all kinda just merges into one, and it no longer feels like you have to do, like, a give and take on either side. That's where stuff gets really fun.

Mason Bridges: [29:03] Yeah. Absolutely.

Mike DeHaan: [29:04] So cool, man. Well, I appreciate you sharing all that. Right on. Alright. We are going to dive into our end of show questions here. First one, which is always the group favorite. What is your craziest real estate investing story?

Mason Bridges: [29:19] I honestly, at all the stories we have that we talk about, I don't really have anything wild. I mean, couple of things came to mind. There

Mike DeHaan: [29:27] is See, I'm gonna respectfully disagree with you. You have some really wild ones. The problem is you're just so jaded because they're all freaking pandas that they just feel normal. Yeah.

Mason Bridges: [29:36] Yeah. For sure. I would encourage everybody to come to Thomaston, Georgia. You know? We need the tourism dollars. You know, I think there was one that was kind of cool actually. I've got a buddy here in town that, bought this old historic, like, transfer station. It's like one of the older buildings in Thomaston, and they're kind of decking it out. He's got like a blacksmith shop in the back and they're doing like some video production. Super kind of quirky creative guy. But I was working on a house or actually it was a lot. I bought a lot that had the biggest, like, I mean, I swear to God, it was like a 40 foot high pile of beer cans, like Bud Light cans. And this guy was just kind of living out there in the squalor and it was the last piece of his family's land and we worked out a deal. But I called my buddy Rick that owns the transfer station, said I need a scrapper. He sent this guy named Lou over and, Lou, cool dude, came and cleared the whole lot for me. It was ridiculous for like a thousand dollars and found out that, and I told you I'm a big music junkie. So like, we're just I'm talking to Lou about some country music and find out that he had been in a traveling band with his brother. Call Rick. Rick sets his scalp on a microphone and, just absolutely like Fergie Jesus voice. Guy was just heavenly like Waylon Jennings reincarnated.

Mason Bridges: [30:57] And you would've never known it. This guy runs around town, scrapping, making $20 here or there, and it's pretty funny. So they, Rick is like professionally recording this guy and making a little EP out of it. Lou, the scrapper and Thomaston. The Instagram handle will be there at some point.

Mike DeHaan: [31:12] Local legend. There you

Mason Bridges: [31:13] go. Local legend Lou. But other than that, you know, walk a lot of drunk houses and you never know what you're gonna see. Like saw a guy cooking beanie weenies on a in a can, like, in a little, like, open flame fire in in the living room. Yeah. Dude was he was, like, playing one stream guitar. This one house had, like, plumbing canal systems. Like, they had half some PVC pipe that was like running the water to different parts of the house.

Mike DeHaan: [31:40] Like an aqueduct from like ancient Rome, but like white trash.

Mason Bridges: [31:44] Exactly. And it's like you think it's like, okay, this actually required some level of sophistication and and, you know, intelligence. Yeah. Like, where could this go if there weren't drugs involved? You

Mike DeHaan: [31:55] know? So Alright. That's so funny. They're like doing little duck races around their house, dude.

Mason Bridges: [32:00] They're Yeah. Weird stuff like that all the time, and it's just normal. I'm like, yeah. Cool. I was thinking about buying the house and alright.

Mike DeHaan: [32:08] Yeah. I mean, every every house you go to, you're you're one closer to being, like, discovering, like, deliverance, like, real life, dude. I sense an edge in everywhere you're going, it's like, you know?

Mason Bridges: [32:19] No. If it starts getting if it starts getting weird and ghosty like that, I'm out. Because I'm scared of the dark, and I'm not I'm not about that life. Yeah.

Mike DeHaan: [32:27] That's so funny. But that's awesome. It's a good stuff. Alright. Second question. If you could go back to the very beginning, what's the one thing that you would have done differently?

Mason Bridges: [32:35] Man, tough, tough question here. So, I mean, I got in a really, really kind of bad patch when I was out in Phoenix after I left Opendoor where like sense of purpose, didn't really know what was going on. And I mean, I'm reading every single book, listening to every single podcast. I was going to like five meetups a week. And I will tell you that there isn't a way to over consume, and it put me in an even worse headspace, right? And I kind of got burned out before I ever even started anything. Yeah. So finding y'all's podcasts in this group was really beneficial, but, you know, I knew a ton before I even joined. I just didn't do anything, because I had just overconsumed. So I would encourage anybody that's thinking about doing anything, right? Like find what really intrigues you and do your due diligence, but, you know, find maybe one or two people that really kind of encourage you to jump in and just go for it. Like, know your risk, but, you know, look for red flags, look for green flags, and just, just go for it because you you can can definitely, like, prevent yourself from doing anything by just over consuming.

Mike DeHaan: [33:47] Such an underrated statement. I'm so glad that you shared that, Mason, because, like, there's this really weird culture with entrepreneurs right now where they're like, I need to be reading, like, 50 books a year. Like, I listen to all these podcasts. I listen to, like, you know, All In and, like, all these things all the time. And after a while, it honestly turns into not that different from just, like, scrolling social media or watching Netflix. Yeah. Like, it just it's like that mental masturbation where they're like, well, we're learning, and so we're so much better than everyone that's, like, playing video games. It's like, are you really though? Because you're still doing the same amount of actual output as the person that's playing video game. Except, honestly, they're having way more fun, and they don't hate themselves nearly as much as you do, because they're not comparing themselves to very successful people constantly.

Mason Bridges: [34:33] Right? And when you find that one person that's just like crushing it and you ask them if they've read these books and they go like, what are you talking about? And you're like, god bless. They just like, you know, went for it. So one little snippet here is, and this is what's gotten me to where I am in life. You know, good people skills and just high morals will get you just about out of anything. That's been a crucial piece for me to understand over the years.

Mike DeHaan: [35:00] There we go. Treat people well and hustle. Right? It's

Mason Bridges: [35:02] like a

Mike DeHaan: [35:03] no giver mentality. If you put yourself out there, people will bring it back. Very, very good advice there. Alright. Where can people find you, follow you, and reach out to you?

Mason Bridges: [35:11] I am on Instagram. I'm trying to get better at that, but, like, my personal Instagram is just Mason T Bridges. Lots of baby pictures. Just a heads up. Facebook, the Byronette store. And yes, I own that LLC.

Mike DeHaan: [35:25] That's a great business name, by the way.

Mason Bridges: [35:27] It's fantastic. I'll sell it for $200 or Mason at thebuyernextdoor.com.

Mike DeHaan: [35:33] Perfect. Awesome, guys. Well, don't be afraid to hit up Mason. If you want to hear more stories about what happens down in Bumfuck, Georgia or wherever it is Mason lives. But no. Just kidding. But seriously, you live in the middle of nowhere. It's wild. Awesome, dude. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. I really enjoyed getting a chat with you, and thanks so much for all the great knowledge that you dropped for our audience today. Everybody, go give Mason a follow. And if you got any value from this show, make sure that you follow the podcast as well. If you didn't get any value, then I don't know. Go read more books. I bet you probably only need, like, 10 more to get your 50 for the year, and you're still wondering why you're sitting in the same fucking place that you were. So I don't know. That's on you. If you wanna actually take action, subscribe to the show, share it with your friends, and encourage them to actually do something with all the information they pick up off these things. So thanks for listening everybody, and we'll talk to you guys next week.