Joe Jensen sits down with Mark Simpson, founder of Boostly, to break down how short-term rental hosts can reduce their dependence on Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and other OTAs by building a stronger direct booking strategy. Mark shares how he grew up in hospitality on a 200-acre farmstay in the UK, long before Airbnb existed, and explains how the industry shifted from upfront marketing costs to commission-based OTA bookings. While platforms like Airbnb can be a great way to get started, Mark warns that relying on one platform too heavily leaves hosts exposed to rising fees, algorithm changes, guest complaints, and sudden account suspensions.

The conversation dives into practical strategies for getting more direct bookings without leaving Airbnb entirely. Mark explains the "billboard effect," where hosts use Airbnb for visibility while making their brand, property name, Google presence, website, and social profiles easy for guests to find directly. He also shares why professional hosts should aim for a healthier mix of bookings, with direct bookings forming the backbone of the business and OTAs acting as extra lead sources. The episode is a reminder that platforms are useful, but real business control comes from owning your audience, your brand, and your booking process.

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Joe Jensen sits down with Steve Luther, founder of Cord Real Estate and leader of Cord International, to unpack why Panama has become a serious option for American investors looking at international real estate, lifestyle, healthcare, and residency opportunities. Steve shares how his life-threatening COVID battle, which left him hospitalized for four and a half months, made healthcare access a major factor in his family's search for a second home abroad. That journey eventually led them to Panama, where they found strong healthcare infrastructure, a dollarized economy, proximity to the U.S., and real estate opportunities that could also support residency.

The conversation covers the practical side of buying internationally, including local financing options, tax write-offs, property management, foreign-earned income considerations, Panama's low property taxes, and the limitations around 1031 exchanges and cost segregation. Steve also explains Panama's residency-by-investment pathway, where a $300,000 real estate purchase can qualify buyers for permanent residency, along with the importance of using vetted local agents, attorneys, developers, and property managers. The episode closes with Steve's reminder that real estate remains one of the best investments available, especially when investors start thinking beyond U.S. borders.

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Joe Jensen sits down with Major Hillard IV, a self-made mobile home park investor who started with just $1,500 and no connections before growing into more than 1,000 lots, 500+ homes sold, and over $70 million in real estate transactions. Major shares how reading Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs changed his life, pushing him from working three jobs and living with his parents into flipping mobile homes, buying parks, and eventually choosing mobile home communities over multifamily because of the lower overhead, stronger cash flow, and simpler maintenance model.

Major breaks down why mobile home parks can be one of the most powerful affordable housing plays in real estate, especially when tenants own the homes and investors own the land. He explains how he turns around struggling communities through strong management, cleaner operations, better tenant standards, lights, cameras, and clear rules. The episode also covers the pros and cons of the asset class, including financing challenges, DMV/title issues, infrastructure concerns, tax advantages, and why institutional buyers are increasingly paying big money for stabilized parks.

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Website: mhestates.com YouTube: major.hillard Social: majorhillard or major.hillard

Joe Jensen sits down with Jonathan Berryhill, a North Alabama broker, land investor, and author of Warrior to Wealth, to unpack a story built from pressure, discipline, and reinvention. Jonathan shares how he went from military and law enforcement into entrepreneurship, rebuilding his marriage, mindset, and identity brick by brick. The conversation centers on his "warrior" framework, not as hype, but as a practical approach to creating structure, vision, and balance across faith, family, health, and finances, and how those principles became the foundation for his upcoming book.

On the investing side, Jonathan breaks down why he prefers land over houses: fewer headaches, no structures deteriorating while you wait, and strong upside when you buy larger tracts and subdivide into smaller lots buyers can actually afford. He explains the basics of getting started, why road frontage matters, how county restrictions affect parceling, and why partnering with a strong land-focused agent can accelerate deal flow. The episode closes with Jonathan's emphasis on financial freedom, intentional living, and his reminder that changing your life starts with changing your mindset and taking action.

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Website: johnberryhill.com Facebook: Jonathan Berryhill Instagram: john.berryhill

Joe Jensen sits down with real estate investor and REVA Global founder Bob Lachance to unpack Bob's path from professional hockey into building a high-volume real estate business. Bob shares how he built his portfolio primarily through wholesales and flips, why he's refocusing on his "backyard" market in Connecticut, and how market shifts are pushing him to adjust strategies and stay flexible. He also breaks down the reality of buy-and-hold ownership in tougher landlord environments and why, for him, rentals eventually became more headache than opportunity.

The conversation dives into the operational side of scaling: how Bob uses virtual assistants, systems, and repeatable processes to keep lead flow consistent and create leverage without burning out. Bob emphasizes the importance of narrowing focus, tracking the numbers, and building a team structure that supports acquisitions and follow-up so deals don't die in the pipeline. The episode is a practical look at building real estate momentum through execution, not hype.

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Niyi Adewole joins host Joe Jensen to share how obsession level focus and simplicity helped him go from learning real estate through podcasts and books to landing his first 3 unit house hack in Louisville, then scaling to 30 small multifamily units, and later pivoting into ground up self storage development. Niyi breaks down why real estate finally clicked for him compared to stocks because he wanted more control, and he emphasizes narrowing your strategy, focusing on the next deal only, and using house hacking as a low down payment path to build wealth while reducing your own housing cost.

The conversation also hits the lifestyle side: Niyi shares how setting boundaries, building teams, and traveling consistently helped him avoid getting trapped in nonstop work, especially after seeing a mentor figure lose health shortly after retiring. He and Joe discuss why todays market can favor buyers through negotiations, appraisal leverage, and seller credits, plus the importance of systems like property management to break through the growth ceiling. Niyi closes with hard lessons learned from hiring the wrong property manager and lending without using title to secure a lien, and he frames his why as financial freedom rooted in childhood financial instability.

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Jordan Blanchard joins host Joe Jensen to break down government guaranteed lending and why programs like SBA and USDA can be major leverage tools in today's market. Jordan explains the core advantages: higher leverage than conventional loans (often 80 to 90%), the ability to lend on projected income (not just historical cash flow), and fully amortizing terms that can stretch to 25 years for USDA deals. He also clarifies a key distinction: SBA is generally owner occupied (51% occupancy rules), while USDA can be used for non owner occupied income producing projects, as long as the deal is in an eligible "rural" area based on USDA mapping and population rules.

The conversation gets practical with examples and requirements, including why USDA timelines are longer (often 4 to 6 months), why many borrowers buy or control land early, and why lenders typically want a signed tenant LOI rather than building on pure speculation. Jordan also introduces Commercial PACE as a way to stack capital for energy efficient construction and improve overall leverage. He closes with lessons learned from a failed multifamily investment, plus his personal mantra "seek discomfort" and a book recommendation, The Almanac of Naval Ravikant.

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Ryan Barone, CEO and co-founder of Rent Ready, joins Joe Jensen to break down how he accidentally stumbled into building one of the most practical landlord tools on the market. What started as Ryan trying to solve his own problem as a first-time renter in NYC (missing out on an apartment because he was unprepared) turned into a much bigger idea once independent landlords told him the tenant side was only "the tip of the iceberg." That insight shaped Rent Ready into a platform designed to make things smoother for both landlords and tenants, creating better experiences while reducing turnover and vacancy.

Joe and Ryan dig into what actually drives landlord stress at scale, with Ryan sharing insights from surveying landlords across all 50 states. The biggest worry: on-time rent payments. Ryan explains how Rent Ready tackles that with automated reminders, streamlined rent collection, and automatic deposits into the right accounts, which becomes especially helpful once landlords scale into multiple properties and LLCs. The episode centers on reducing the repetitive, mentally draining tasks that slow landlords down, so owners can manage their portfolio with more predictability and far less follow-up.

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Steve Luther, founder of Chord Real Estate and CHORD International, shares how a life-threatening COVID battle reshaped his priorities and ultimately led him and his wife to Panama. What began as a search for a Caribbean lifestyle shifted into a deeper focus on world-class healthcare, safety, and long-term optionality. Steve explains why Panama stood out, including its strong medical infrastructure, relative ease of doing business from the US time zone, and a dollar-pegged currency system that reduces currency risk.

The conversation breaks down what investing in Panama can look like for Americans, including local financing options, typical deal sizes tied to residency-by-investment thresholds, and realistic return expectations. Steve also clarifies tax considerations, such as Panama's territorial tax structure, low property taxes, and key limitations like not being able to use a 1031 exchange on foreign real estate. The episode closes with practical ways to get started, including Steve's Invest Panama Summit experience designed to tour projects, meet vetted local partners, and evaluate opportunities firsthand.

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Jeremy Beland joins Joe Jensen to share how getting crushed in the 2007–2009 recession, nearly facing foreclosure, and joining the Air Force at 33 reset his life and ultimately set the stage for his real estate comeback. At 40, he made a bold move selling his townhouse, downsizing hard, and investing in coaching to start wholesaling in 2017, landing his first deal within 90 days and building momentum from there. His story highlights how fast life can change, and how real estate became the vehicle that gave him stability, options, and long-term control.

The conversation dives into Jeremy's real strategy today: mastering off market acquisitions first, then choosing the best exit per deal including wholetails, flips, burrs, novations, and wholesales. He explains why wholetailing is one of his favorite plays, using true private lenders to buy deals, clean them out, and list them with minimal rehab, and why having multiple exit strategies helps him pivot through shifting markets. Jeremy also breaks down novations as a legal way to pre-market a deal for a retail buyer when an assignment won't work, and closes with a simple reminder: build a life you never want to retire from, and develop the acquisition and negotiation skills that turn leads into real closings.