The BetterLife Podcast

Two of the biggest names in real estate just announced they're quitting.

Ryan Pineda is shutting down his flipping and wholesaling business. Graham Stephan is selling his Los Angeles rental portfolio.

So... do they know something the rest of us don't?

I got Cam Cathcart, Ben Humble, and Michael Miller together to talk about what's REALLY happening in real estate right now. And then, in the middle of the conversation, I decided to call Ryan Pineda himself.

And he actually picked up.

In this episode:

- Why Ryan Pineda is walking away from flipping and wholesaling after nearly 1,000 deals

- What Graham Stephan's decision to sell his rentals says about today's market

- How real estate teaches you skills that can make you successful in almost ANY business

- Why hiring cheap talent could be costing you millions

- The difference between making active income and building long-term wealth

- Who should (and shouldn't) be getting into real estate right now

Drop a comment: Are Ryan and Graham making the right move, or would you be buying MORE real estate right now?

Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔 for more conversations about real estate investing, financial freedom, and building a BetterLife.

00:00 – A $12,000 Rental Car Deposit?!

03:20 – Ryan Pineda and Graham Stephan Are Quitting Real Estate?

06:02 – Why Ryan Is Walking Away From Flipping

11:26 – Is Real Estate the Best Way to Learn Business?

16:35 – The Hiring Mistake That Could Cost You Millions

20:39 – Why Graham Stephan Is Selling His Rentals

23:04 – Ryan Pineda Calls Into the Podcast!

29:17 – Inside Ryan's $10 Million Golf Mastermind

35:36 – Ryan's Advice for New Real Estate Investors

41:25 – Why Now Might Be the Best Time to Start Investing

50:00 – Should You Chase Cash Flow or Long-Term Wealth?

01:05:59 – Who Should NOT Invest in Real Estate Right Now?

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial or investment decisions.

Networking sucks.

At least, that's what my buddy Omni Casey and I think. But here's the problem... some of the biggest opportunities I've ever had in real estate came from the PEOPLE I knew.

Not the properties. Not the money. The relationships.

So I brought Omni on the podcast to talk about how to actually build a network of successful investors, mentors, and friends WITHOUT being that weird guy handing out business cards and asking to "pick your brain."

In this episode:

🞄 How Omni went from selling surfboards to building a massive real estate portfolio

🞄 The right (and wrong) way to approach successful people for mentorship

🞄 8 strategies for building relationships that can change your business

🞄 Why the people you surround yourself with determine how far you'll go

🞄 How to turn a room full of strangers into actual friendships and opportunities

🞄 Why Omni and I are teaming up to bring free real estate investing communities across America

Here's the thing: you don't need to know a thousand people.

You need to build genuine relationships with the RIGHT people. And sometimes, one conversation can change the entire direction of your life.

Drop a comment: What's the most valuable relationship you've built through real estate investing?

🏠 FIND A LOCAL REAL ESTATE INVESTING COMMUNITY:

Omni and I are teaming up to expand the Cash Flow Breakfast Club! These are FREE local meetups designed to help investors learn, connect, and actually build relationships.

Want to attend a club or help launch one in your area?

https://beardybrandon.com/launch

Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔 for more conversations about real estate, business, financial freedom, and building a BetterLife.

00:00 – Why Networking Actually Matters

02:18 – From Selling Surfboards to Real Estate

06:29 – How to Find a Mentor (Without Being Weird)

08:56 – Is Paying to Get in the Room Worth It?

12:38 – Strategy #1

15:31 – Introducing the Cash Flow Breakfast Club

25:41 – Strategy #2

29:42 – Strategy #3

34:04 – Strategy #4

39:44 – Strategy #5

43:11 – Strategy #6

47:11 – Strategy #7

49:50 – Strategy #8

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial or investment decisions.

Real estate has changed.

Strategies that felt almost impossible to screw up five years ago are getting investors crushed today... while other corners of the market are quietly producing some incredible opportunities.

So Cam, Ben, Michael, and I sat down and asked a simple question:

What real estate strategies would we ACTUALLY bet on going into 2026 and 2027?

In this episode:

🞄 The real estate strategies we're actively avoiding right now

🞄 Why simply buying a rental and waiting might not cut it anymore

🞄 10 strategies we believe can still work extremely well in today's market

🞄 Why operations are becoming more important than the asset itself

🞄 The strategies we're personally buying, watching, and staying away from

🞄 Why the “best” strategy still comes with problems you'll have to solve

Here's the biggest takeaway: there is no easy strategy.

Every one of these has problems. The opportunity is finding a problem YOU are willing to become world-class at solving.

Pick your thing. Go all in. Get good at it.

Drop a comment: Which strategy would YOU bet on for 2026-2027?

Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔 for more conversations about real estate, business, financial freedom, and building a BetterLife.

00:00 – The Strategies We're AVOIDING

11:03 – The Problem With Subject To

26:05 – Our Top 10 Strategies for 2026

26:17 – Strategy #10

29:15 – Strategy #9

31:09 – Strategy #8

38:04 – Strategy #7

41:08 – Strategy #6

48:47 – Strategy #5

1:10:53 – Strategy #4

1:11:56 – Strategy #3

1:15:19 – Strategy #2

1:17:31 – Strategy #1

🏠 WANT TO FIND THE BEST REAL ESTATE DEAL OF YOUR LIFE?

Ben and I are hosting a 75-day challenge to help you find, negotiate, and buy an incredible real estate deal.

Join us here for just $13:

https://beardybrandon.com/bestever

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial or investment decisions.

Things got a little heated on this one.

And the funny part is... this wasn't even supposed to be a podcast.

We were hanging out with Ben Humble after last week's episode when Cam started pressing him on his system for finding real estate deals - and the debate took off from there.

The conversation was too good NOT to share, so... here's the accidental podcast.

In this episode:

🞄 Ben and Cam debate what it ACTUALLY takes to consistently find great deals

🞄 Why your market might be the problem - not your acquisition system

🞄 The difference between being a real estate investor and building a real estate business

🞄 Why success online doesn't always mean someone is great at what they teach

🞄 The surprisingly complicated ethics of wholesaling real estate

Nobody really backed away from disagreement on this one.

We got into everything from acquisition systems and scaling into new markets to authenticity, wholesaling, and whether the industry needs more regulation.

And somewhere in the middle... Cam attempted a handstand.

Drop a comment: Where do YOU draw the ethical line with wholesaling?

And the more important question: Can Cam do handstands, or is it all just talk?

Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔 for more conversations about real estate, business, financial freedom, and building a BetterLife.

00:00 – Things Got a Little Heated...

07:32 – Ben's 5 Filters for Finding Better Deals

16:09 – The Real Advantage: Collaboration & Leverage

24:11 – Real Estate Investors vs. Real Estate Business Owners

31:36 – Why This Debate Got Personal

38:22 – Is Wholesaling Real Estate Unethical?

48:32 – Should Wholesalers Be Regulated?

57:09 – Where Does the Ethical Line Actually Sit?

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial or investment decisions.

Ben Humble escaped communist Romania as a kid, lived in a refugee camp, moved to Canada, failed math twice, started a cleaning business... and somehow ended up doing hundreds of real estate deals.

So yeah, we had a lot to talk about.

Ben joins Cam and me for a conversation about his journey into real estate, the lessons he learned after trying just about every strategy in the book, and the framework that eventually changed the way he looks at buying properties entirely.

We also get into a surprisingly deep conversation about ego, humility, social media, and whether successful people have a responsibility to share what they've learned.

In this episode:

🞄 Ben's wild story of escaping communism and eventually finding real estate

🞄 Why humility might actually be a business superpower

🞄 The problem with treating real estate like “passive income”

🞄 Ben's “Four Exits” framework for buying deals with multiple options

🞄 Why serious investors should be making WAY more offers

🞄 The debate over cash flow, equity, and what actually makes a good deal

One of my biggest takeaways from this conversation:

Most investors spend all their energy trying to decide whether they should flip, wholesale, BRRRR, or hold rentals.

Ben uses a framework that looks at it differently.

It's a framework Ben and I actually disagreed about at first... until I eventually had to admit his system was better than mine.

You'll be seeing a lot more of Ben around here (and inside First Deal!) going forward.

Drop a comment: What's more important to you when buying a rental - cash flow or equity?

Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔 for more conversations about real estate, business, financial freedom, and building a BetterLife.

00:00 – We're Back in the Interview Seat

07:08 – Ben's Escape From Communist Romania

17:08 – Humility, Ego & the Problem With Perfection

29:09 – From Cleaning Business to 300 Real Estate Deals

36:49 – The Four Exits Framework

46:00 – Why Most Investors Aren't Making Enough Offers

55:30 – Finding Great Deals Is a Numbers Game

01:01:02 – Should Your Rentals Even Cash Flow?

01:07:32 – What's Next for Ben & First Deal

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial or investment decisions.

We're back.

After taking the entire summer off, Cam and I finally sat down for another episode of The Better Life Podcast - and a LOT has changed.

Cam moved his family back from Maui to Missouri.

His flipping business has had one of its roughest years yet.

I've had a difficult year in real estate too.

So this episode is a pretty honest conversation about what happens when business doesn't keep going up and to the right - and how that changes the way you think about money, lifestyle, and financial freedom.

In this episode:

🞄 Why Cam moved his family back from Maui

🞄 What's happening in the house flipping market right now

🞄 The 4 levels of financial freedom

🞄 Why high income doesn't always equal real freedom

🞄 Why we're both paying attention to assisted living

🞄 How AI and robotics could change real estate and senior care

Financial freedom isn't just about making more money.

It's about building a life that still works when the market changes.

Drop a comment: What does financial freedom look like to YOU?

Want more honest conversations about money, business, real estate, and building a BetterLife? Subscribe and hit the bell 🔔

00:00 – We're Back

15:00 – Why Cam Moved Back From Maui

26:45 – The 4 Levels of Financial Freedom

37:18 – Is House Flipping Still Worth It?

46:01 – Why Assisted Living Has Our Attention

56:40 – Will AI & Robots Change Everything?

1:05:50 – What We're Excited About Next

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I?

My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

💰 NEED TO REFINANCE OR GET A LOAN?

https://betterliferef.com/

✉️ JOIN MY NEWSLETTER

https://www.beardybrandon.com/

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/beardybrandon/

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

http://bit.ly/4wJyPwc

❌ DISCLAIMER

This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, legal, tax, investment, or medical advice. Real estate investing involves risk, and results are not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making financial, investment, or health decisions.

Every investor has these. The deal they knew was sketchy, and bought anyway. The one where they ignored the red flags. The one where they just flat out didn't know what they were doing yet.

In this episode, Cam Cathcart and I each share our three worst deals. What we paid. What went wrong. What it cost us. And what we'd do differently.

Cam took an $80,000 loss on a house where the previous flippers hadn't pulled a single permit, meaning he had to gut the entire thing twice. I worked 12 months straight on a duplex, lost $15,000, and then watched that same property hit half a million dollars years later after I'd already sold it at 120.

We also talk about what happens when you stop paying attention to a property that's been running fine, why turning down that first weekend offer is almost always a mistake, and why all three of Cam's bad deals were outside his buy box.

We don't share these to scare you off. Deals go bad. That's part of it. The goal is just that when yours does, it's not one of these.

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I? My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

1️⃣ WANT TO GET YOUR FIRST DEAL?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/fd_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📈 WANT TO SCALE YOUR EXISTING PORTFOLIO?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/blt_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_storefront⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

❌ DISCLAIMER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_disclaimer⁠

I’ve unfortunately committed every single one of these…

The bad deal I knew was bad, but bought anyway. The strategy I abandoned three months in because something shinier came along. The numbers I cooked because I didn't want my mentor to tell me I was wrong.

In this episode, Cam Cathcart and I go through the 7 Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing. These are the mistakes that kill portfolios, waste years, and keep people broke even when the market is working in their favor.

Sin 1: Lusting after shiny strategies

Sin 2: Gluttony for education

Sin 3: Greed for impossible returns

Sin 4: Sloth in deal flow

Sin 5: Wrath towards the market

Sin 6: Envy of other investors

Sin 7: Pride in your bad math

Go to my Instagram @BeardyBrandon and DM me, TRACKER for the exact habit tracker I use every day, or DM me 3DC to get into my free three-day deal analysis challenge. Both are free and hit your inbox automatically.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss → https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I? My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

1️⃣ WANT TO GET YOUR FIRST DEAL?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/fd_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📈 WANT TO SCALE YOUR EXISTING PORTFOLIO?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/blt_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_storefront⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

❌ DISCLAIMER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_disclaimer⁠

My very first employee had never used a computer.

I hired her to be my digital assistant. Day one, I said, "Go to your desktop," and she asked what that was.

That was hire number one. It got more complicated from there.

I've read a lot about hiring. Talked to a lot of people about it. But mostly I've just done it wrong enough times to figure out what actually works. And in this episode, I'm laying out the whole thing: the 10 Commandments of Hiring and Managing a Rockstar Team.

We talk about why your first hire is probably not who you think it is. How to run candidates through a process that filters out the wrong people before you're three months in and miserable. What real onboarding looks like versus what most people do, which is basically nothing. And why recruiting is something you should be doing all the time, not just when you're desperate and stressed and need someone yesterday.

Hiring is leverage. Get it right, and it compounds. Get it wrong, and you'll feel it for a long time.

📚 Book mentioned: 

• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell → https://www.amazon.com/Buy-Back-Your-Time-Entrepreneurial/dp/0593539257
• Traction by Gino Wickman →  https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I? My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

1️⃣ WANT TO GET YOUR FIRST DEAL?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/fd_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📈 WANT TO SCALE YOUR EXISTING PORTFOLIO?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/blt_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_storefront⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

❌ DISCLAIMER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_disclaimer⁠

You built the business. Good. Now get out of the way.

This is the final episode of the 7-Figure Business Blueprint series, and it's about the one thing most people skip mentally, even when they're watching it. Because delegation sounds easy until you're the person who thinks nobody else can do it right.

• The difference between owning a business and being owned by one.
• The delegation ladder from automation to full-time hires.
• How to run a hiring funnel that filters out duds before you ever waste an hour on an interview.
• SOPs and why building them is the most productive thing you can do, even when it feels like the opposite.
• The 10-80-10 rule for managing without turning into a micromanager.
• The operating system that holds your company together when you're not in the room.

That's the goal. A business that makes money without requiring your presence every single day.

Want the full PDF summary of this entire series? DM me the word "7blueprint" on Instagram: https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_instagram

🧔‍♂️ WHO AM I? My name is Brandon Turner! I teach people how to BUILD WEALTH WITHOUT LOSING THEIR SOUL through real estate investing!

1️⃣ WANT TO GET YOUR FIRST DEAL?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/fd_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📈 WANT TO SCALE YOUR EXISTING PORTFOLIO?

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/blt_yt_landing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

🤝 CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

📚 READ ONE OF MY BOOKS

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_storefront⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

❌ DISCLAIMER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://go.abetterlife.com/bb_yt_disclaimer⁠