022 - Politics + The Note Industry

2 Wealth Show S2 Ep22 - Politics + The Note Industry

Justin Bogard and Super E interview Czarina Harris on episode 22 of the 2 Wealth Show.

Key Takeaways:  

1. Landlords undergoing what government should really be doing
2. Stipulations on sellar financing
3. Opportunity Zone Fairness and Inclusion Act

 Resources and links discussed  

• Videocast on BrightPath Notes YouTube Channel 
• Videocast on Elizabeth Maora YouTube Channel 
• BrightPath Notes Website - https://brightpathnotes.com 
• Elizabeth Maora LLC Website - https://elizabethmaorallc.com 
• Czarina Harris Website - https://noteinc.com

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About the Hosts 

Justin Bogard – Note Investor specializing in performing Residential Real Estate Debt. He finds deals and acquires them for his own portfolio as well as educates investors while walking them through the process of owning a Real Estate Note!  

Super E – Real Estate Investor specializing in short-term rentals and the management of them. She connects investors with short-term tenants and manages everything in-between.

Connect with the Hosts: 

• @2wealthshow – Facebook/Instagram 
• @wealth_show - Twitter 

Transcript

Justin Bogard: 0:04

[inaudible] Welcome to the, 2 wealth show a show that shares how you can create real wealth for you and your family. I'm one of your hosts, Justin Bogard. And my co-host is Elizabeth Sickles, AKA super E I am a real estate note investor specializing in performing residential real estate debt. I find the deals acquire them for my own portfolio, as well as educate investors while walking them through the process of owning a real estate note. My co-host super E, a real estate investor specializing in short-term rentals and the management of them. She connects investors with short-term tenants and manages everything in between. Our show was sponsored by bright notes and Elizabeth Maora. You can find out more information by visiting our websites at brightpathnotes.com and elizabethmaora.com.

Elizabeth Maora: 1:05

All right, everybody. I am Elizabeth with Elizabeth Maora, and we are so happy to be doing episode number 22 of the 2 wealth. It's hard to do with the camera's backwards. There we go. Two and 2.2. Hi everybody. I'm Justin Bogard with a bright path notes and I am so excited today to have our guest, miss Czarina Harris, thank you so much for being on today's episode. We so appreciate it. Yeah. I've known Czarina for a few years. She's actually one of my mentors in the note business. Believe it or not, Elizabeth. Wow. She's the reason why I'm so successful in my own mind.

Justin Bogard: 1:57

So yeah, those Czarina, um, you used to live near me now. You've moved way further away. Yeah. And I really didn't know about this Elizabeth. I was talking to this arena the other day. I was like, yeah, blah, blah, blah. About Ohio. She's like Ohio dude. I've been down in Florida for a while. I was like what? She's smart. Yeah. It's 73 degrees outside right now. So this is not going to be a fun conversation now I'm having a great time. We're in Florida. Are you in Orlando? Okay. Okay. Excellent. I love your governor by the way. Let's not get into that, but we are going to talk politics. He's special kind of stupid. So, uh, Czarina you have a podcast it's called the note inc podcast. I believe you've completed two seasons on it and you're working on a third season, right?

Czarina Harris: 3:01

Yep. So noting is, uh, this idea that you have and you're just like, Oh, let's just see what happens. Right. They kind of caught on and got this really cool following. It's a fictional spy theme, note, investing podcasts, one of a kind. And I started it just because a company I was working at previously, the only people who knew me were the people who joined that training program. And so there were thousands of other people in the note industry who was like, who's Czarina who's Czarina. They still say that now. But like, when I tell them about the podcast, they're like, Oh, um, so I started the podcast really just to kind of say, Hey, I'm here. And I have something to offer. And a friend of mine was like, Hey, you know, just put the podcast out there. And if it doesn't do well, at least, you know, you tried and in my brain that was like, Oh, do whatever the heck you want. And so, um, I made it to where, like, there's some fictional characters who come in and I'm a spy. Who's learning to become a note investor. Um, and you know, I get sent missions and things like that. It's really fun educational stuff. Um, and it, it really caught on. And so I do seasons cause I wasn't planning on doing it forever. And so season three is going to be interesting. It's like one of my most exciting seasons I think to write and it'll be coming out soon. So it should be fun.

Justin Bogard: 4:20

So people can check that out on all the traditional podcast directories. I assume.

Czarina Harris: 4:24

I don't think I'm on all of them. I'm on Spotify, Google play iTunes and Stitcher. So I'm only on four. Okay. But those are like the major ones. Um, and then you can just check it out at the website noteinc.com

Speaker 4: 4:37

That's not E inc com, right? Correct. And testing. Yeah. We've, we've gotta, we gotta step up our game. Elizabeth with Czarina's podcast heard this it's so I'm so like proud of you for what you've done and you don't ask for anything for it. It's, it's very professionally done. Now, if you listened to everything, if you'd done a podcast before those of you that are listening right now are watching you understand what it takes to, to do a podcast and set things up. But when Czarina takes everything to the next level, like she's writing a script, she has voiceovers. She has probably has actors on the, on call for this stuff. Yeah, she does. And she gets you all, it all ties in together with also also educating you. Like she said, with a note theme. It's really cool. It's really well done. Czarina thank you.

Czarina Harris: 5:24

So that's that, um, what ended up happening with that, which was really cool was, uh, it opened up a lot of doors. So we're going to talk about politics today. Part of, part of, you know, what kind of went into the podcast was some of my experience when I, uh, so I'm a member of the seller finance coalition, which sent me to Capitol Hill to kind of lobby because many of you guys know politicians, right. Laws. They don't understand. And it affects us in our industry. Right. And so like a lot of landlords right now understand like right, controls are coming down, right. Especially what is it? Washington state or Oregon, which one of those it's Oregon, Washington state state. Oregon's probably not far behind anyway, but the landlords are really feeling it with, with this rent control that's coming down, they actually anticipate maybe four or five more States are going to be putting that into play. And it's kind of like, have you asked the landlords, you know, how this would affect them or, or why the rental environment is the way that it is? Uh, no, we're just going to ride a long. It's kind of like, all right. And just like, they're making landlords right now kind of bear the brunt of this pandemic. Right? So like, you guys hold off collecting rent or we're not gonna pay you anything, but just you hold off on it. And so it's like, landlords are sort of forced to be the undergirding of what government should really be doing. Um, and so being part of the note industry, they wrote a lot of laws called Dodd-Frank and that kind of like trickled down into what became the CFPB. And they put a whole bunch of stipulations on our industry, especially down here in the seller finance world or the small note investor world that don't make a lot of sense. And they don't really, um, benefit our industry in any way. Um, but they just thought it was a good idea. And so that's kind of how I eventually had to get involved, uh, on the political side of things because, um, I got tired of complaining and that's usually what we do is kind of like they write a law, we gripe about it and complain and like try to figure it out. And it's like, no, I don't want them writing those laws in the first place. So.

Elizabeth Maora: 7:30

And

Czarina Harris: 7:31

How long have you been involved in the political scene? I think I lobbied in 2017, so what's that for years. Okay. So it was interesting because I went there thinking like, yeah, these people are the decision makers. They actually don't, they follow the crowd. Like there's only a few Congress people who you get to say yes. And then they bring like 15 people with them. The other, if you talk to all 14, they'll be like, what did, so-and-so say what its own. So say, and you're like, aren't you a decision maker? If so-and-so's not on the bill, we won't get on it. And so like, that's really how it works. Um, they're very clicky. I was, I was surprised. I was like, you asked people to vote you in for you not to make decisions. So, um, went there and learned a lot about politicians and bills and all this other stuff that really affect us. And literally I'm talking to people who have, have been involved in writing, like some of the CFPB laws and bills and stuff that affect us. Right. And then you ask them like, what's seller financing. They're like, I don't know, but they really don't know because they're 20 year-olds and you have 20 year olds riding these bills, they rent, they don't know anything about home ownership or whatever. And yet these are the people writing the bills. So it's kind of like, you understand how backwards this really is,

Justin Bogard: 8:48

Right? Yeah. Yeah. I guess, I guess it'd be interesting to see if my own eyes, how it works. I mean, I know you've mentioned that in some other people that have been on Capitol Hill for us when seller finance coalition, I've mentioned that as well. It's just like, wow.

Czarina Harris: 9:01

Yeah, it's amazing. I was shocked. I was like, wow, this is really, you want me to vote for you again, really? You mentioned an acronym, C F P D. Is that right? Uh, yes. The consumer finance protection Bureau, it's a, it's sort of an entity that was created from a law called the Dodd-Frank wall street reform act. And that was instead of sending people to jail for fraud, they decided to create a law that says, well, you shouldn't do that again. And, um, out of that came this, this new Bureau called, uh, consumer finance protection CFPB, and, uh, they're in charge of all financial everything. So anything that has a loan on it from student loans to mortgages, to car loans, they pretty much oversee and try to make sure that, um, predatory lending isn't going on. And so you had a lot of lobbyists for instance, who were in the payday loan industry. They were cracking down on. Cause as you know, payday loans are like 500%. Right. And yeah, we can have this, we get a lot of lobbyists come in and say, no, like we're really doing good. And that's really amazing how, you know, how all this stuff works. Interesting. Yeah.

Justin Bogard: 10:20

So Czarina, you kind of have with, with what you're doing today and what you've been doing, you've also kind of fell into some different type of politics as well. Um, well, not different, but I'd say just a slight,

Czarina Harris: 10:34

Like adjacent yeah. Like an adjacent street. Yeah. Yeah. So in, in sort of learning about, uh, you know, politics and how it affects the note industry and stuff like that, I kind of fell into learning a little bit more about like opportunity zones and how that was going to affect everyday people. And so you just, like one thing leads to another and what ended up happening was there was a online show on YouTube. That's a political show. And I called in and I was like, Hey guys. I was like, if you live in one of these opportunities zones, here's what you really need to know about it. Um, and the truth of the matter is the people who live in these areas are not going to be positively affected by its own. It's really one sided to the investors, which are like Serena, you're an investor. I'm like, yeah, but I'm a human being too. So you have to kind of think on both levels. So for an investor to come in and have like, you know, free capital gains, right. For investing in this, in this area, of course, they're going to dump a bunch of money there, but how it affects the people who live there now, their rent goes up, it might triple right. Um, or they get shoved out. And so they kind of receive like almost the like gentrification of sorts. Right. And they're shoved out of these areas only because a law was written that says, yeah, if you put your money here, we'll, we'll give you like a tax break. Right. Of course money wants a return. And in order to do that, you end up pricing. The people who live there locally out. And so I, uh, I actually wrote a bill, believe it or not. I don't know if you knew this, Justin, but I really feel it's called the, I forget it's HR 49, 99 of the hundred 16th Congress. It's called the opportunity zone, fairness and inclusion act. And basically it just says like, you have to get the local, um, the local people involved, uh, in, in some way. So like the local municipality kind of has to approve certain projects. Um, you can't just go there and like build a parking lot over somebody's neighborhood or something. Right. Um, so it's, it's getting re-introduced by Hank Johnson out of Georgia. He won his race. I'm not in Georgia, but I wanted him to win so I could respond to my bill, but that's just sort of a way. Um, and it was really cool because like I met the person who helped me write the bill when I was lobbying. So a lot of this stuff is relationship. And he was like, I called him one day because I was like, I was really concerned. I was like, what are these opportunities zones going to do for these poor people who live in these areas? And investors just come dumping in money. I was like, where are they going to go? Like, this is, this is the cheap area. And, uh, he was like, yeah, there's a ring. You should just write a bill. And I was like, Oh no, the first thing are you serious? I'm a note investor. Like, I'm just, I'll call you to ask you a question. And, uh, he was like, no, I can get it done. And he just, he literally just got it done. He called me one day. He was like, Hey, your bill is in Congress. I was like, what? It was, it was nuts. He's like, he's awesome. He's great. He's um, his name is Kevin spelt like Kevin though. But, um, but he's really, he's really magnificent. And he really is about the people and, and trying to help. So he actually was one of the people I was lobbying with for seller financing, trying to get, you know, get these congresspeople to kind of let seller financing have a little bit more breathing room. Um, and especially now, you know, three years later after having done that, it's, it's so needed because banks are not, you guys know like banks, aren't financing$50,000 mortgages anymore. Like that's just, that's over with, they don't care. If you have an 800 credit score, it's just not enough money for them. And so seller financing is really the only thing that's going to open up that space. Um, so yeah, you just like, you start on one lane and you kind of get shoved over here and you're a sponsor or, you know, you write a bill. My mom was proud. Like I got a bill, like bill that very paying that bill girl, um, just the bill. I was like conjunction junction. It really does work for Nicole's brand. The kids that's like better

Justin Bogard: 14:39

Than a Nobel peace prize. Like you wrote a bill. I

Czarina Harris: 14:41

Mean, like if it passes, it be even greater, but, uh, we'll see, got it. We got to get there and get some people to sign onto it. But so what's that process

Justin Bogard: 14:49

Like? So you wrote a bill, your representative, Turn

Czarina Harris: 14:52

It in to get somebody to sponsor it. Um, so my sponsors, Hank Johnson, he's at a Georgia is Democrat. And, um, you have to literally like go and explain it to all these other Congress people so that they understand it. And they say yes or no. Now most of the time they're going to say no, because they don't understand it. And like, so-and-so's not on the bill yet. And so you have to kind of go to the key, the key people and say like, Hey, would you sign on to this? And then you can go back to the other person who said no and say, Oh, so-and-so is on this bill. Oh, okay. And then they'll jump on it. And so what you really need in order to get your bill, your bill up to the next level is you need 218 votes in Congress. And then once it gets to the Senate, you need the majority. So there's a hundred senators. You need the majority in order to get it up to the president. And then he signs it into law. So it's a whole process, a very slow process at that, but it was kind of designed that way. So we're not creating a bunch of laws in the country that don't necessarily benefit us. So it's slow on purpose. And that's how they built. Yeah.

Justin Bogard: 15:58

Well, it takes time. It goes through the house. And then from the house, it goes to the Senate and send it to the president's desk. See, at the past you have to play three games, really. He had to win.

Czarina Harris: 16:06

So the money is in the, in the, uh, lobbying. No, cause you have to get it around to so many different people. Yeah.

Justin Bogard: 16:12

I can imagine spreading the word about that just by, by yourself is hard enough alone. Let alone having probably 20 to 25 people helping you promote it. So

Czarina Harris: 16:21

Exactly. Yeah. The best way actually is to have like a grassroots effort to literally just go knock on their offices. Cause they're never, they're never in DC, they're always home. So you go knock on their office door and be like, Hey, I'm one of your constituents. I live literally up the street. So you better say yes. You know, like, like show them the bill and stuff like that. That's actually the best way to do it. But like, then you have to think about, well, who do I know in Alaska who can go knock off? You know? So it's a, it's a huge effort, but it's, it's kind of fun too. When you think about how involved regular people and especially like I never, ever got, I skipped my politics class in high school. Okay. Like just full disclosure. But I do care. I do care about my industry, you know, and I care about people. And you know, when you do a lot of seller financing is just an as, you know, these are regular people who just want to own a home and they want to get out of renting and stuff like that. So you kind of see like the heart of the matter is like, these people want to build something that they can pass on to their kids. They're just regular people. And you have an industry that's systematically locking them out, right. Because they're not riding small mortgages. The starter home is over, you know, like a starter home now is like a$200,000 mortgage. Just like that's not starter for anybody coming into college with$50,000. That's just ridiculous. Not affordable. No, absolutely not. And then nobody really told these kids like, Hey, guess what? That student loan is going to mean. You're going to be a renter for the next 40 years, you know, because your debt to income is so crazy that they won't give you a loan. And so, um, you know, I see, I see kind of the possibilities with seller financing, but you have to kind of start at the top and get involved with your local people too. Um, but also like in my case, you have to kind of go to the top and go to Congress and say, Hey, we need some changes here. So

Justin Bogard: 18:12

That's really cool. Czarina Harris, the difference maker

Czarina Harris: 18:17

I'm trying.

Justin Bogard: 18:20

Right. We appreciate all your efforts for sure. Yeah, definitely.

Elizabeth Maora: 18:24

Do you see yourself moving more into the political side or is the note side still? Are you having passions now? No, I don't see myself moving into a political side unless I have to do something with notes. Um, I'm a note investor, you know, that's what I do. That's what I like this what I love, but you can't honestly do business in this country without looking at how laws and how things are going to affect your industry. Especially when you're moving into sort of a political environment that doesn't favor business. Let's just put it that way. Right. Um, and so as much as I need to be involved in politics, I will be, but I'm a note investor. Like this is what I love to do. So I just kind of, I approach it at a different angle than, than some people, but it does give you a lot of social capital and a lot of connections, which is really cool. So, you know, for me, it's fun. I think once you get in, it's kind of like working at your favorite restaurant or your favorite company. Once you get a job there, you don't like it anymore. You know? So I think it, I think it will be that way for me in politics. I'm just going to stay a note investor who can dabble dabble. But, uh, but no, but getting involved in policy. No, no, no.

Justin Bogard: 19:37

Right on, well, I'm glad to hear that because I like having you in the note industry full time,

Czarina Harris: 19:42

Podcasts to run, you know, like I got a whole season, you have people that

Justin Bogard: 19:45

Are waiting for the season three to finish.

Czarina Harris: 19:48

Oh my gosh, you won't believe how many emails and stuff I get. I'm like, Hey. And I'm like, it's coming. Like I got to think of it. Like these things don't come easy. You know, I need my creative juices.

Justin Bogard: 20:00

There's genius behind this. Okay guys, there's genius behind this.

Czarina Harris: 20:05

I do have one of the reasons I'm excited about season three is because it's sort of like, uh, I don't know, I've, I've done like maybe two episodes this whole 2020. And so people are like, okay, is she really coming back? And so it's kind of be like, Oh, she is back. And then on top of that, there's some surprises, uh, in season three. So it's kind of like, I don't know. It's it's the podcast at this point is sort of a thank you to everyone. Who's, who's enjoyed it and shared it. I've never once like marketed the podcast, except for like, if people ask me questions about it, but it just grew like gangbusters. And I was like, okay, well, that's cool. And they're like, when's the next episode you did one like two years ago. And I'm like, I don't know. So now I get to like give them a date, like yeah, season three is coming on December such-and-such or whatever. No, no spoilers, but it's coming. So yeah. I'm excited. Thank you. I'm excited. So if I'm excited. Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's just a way to, um, like what you guys are doing. It's just bringing in. Sometimes you need to hear a different perspective right. Of, of what it is that you're doing just a different angle. Maybe somebody thinks of things differently. And I like to talk myself as a note nerd. So I kinda think, you know, Nope, nerd here she is, I think a bit differently. And um, sometimes that's just what you need, you know, you just need an outside perspective. So I appreciate you. guys' podcasts kind of making aware that there is you guys kind of represent sort of emerging right. Of real estate and notes and like how those things can work together and what they have in common and what they don't and what are, what are those differences? So I'm glad to be a guest.

Justin Bogard: 21:49

We're glad to have you. Thank you very much. That's exactly why we got together to do a podcast. Cause we're always Elizabeth and I used to meet like once a month just to catch up and be like, how are things going over there? What are you doing? What? What's good. What's bad. Oh, that's so funny. You wouldn't leave what happened to me with this borrower or this tenant. And they're just like, people need to be a fly on the wall for this. And then just kind of

Czarina Harris: 22:12

When y'all are drinking, but fly on the wall. Right.

Justin Bogard: 22:20

Czarina. So, um, you have some Jamaican heritage in you, is that right? There's a fun fact.

Czarina Harris: 22:28

Yeah. Little, little sidebar. My, um, my mother was born in England, but she's uh, my mother's half Jamaican, half Irish and my father was born in Jamaica and they both, uh, so my mom moved to Jamaica when she was eight. And then she went from Jamaica to New York when she was 14. And that's where she met my father when she was about 17 or 18. They were all kind of like in a little click together. And I guess that's how cliques work is. Like they end up marrying each other or whatever. So my mom got with my dad, um, and uh, dad joined the army and got stationed in nowhere, Arizona. So I was born in Arizona, but yeah, I am Jamaican on both sides. So I've only been to the Island once though. I'm pretty American.

Justin Bogard: 23:15

Your dad's full Jamaican. I say full Jamaican. I don't know, a hundred percent Jamaican. And then your mom is half Jamaican, half Irish, correct? Yup. Oh, that's interesting.

Elizabeth Maora: 23:24

I wouldn't want to make her mad. You know, what's funny is like they say like, uh, so Jamaicans have rum in the Irish have Guinness, so I should be a drunk. I don't drink at all whatsoever. So I was like, I'm ashamed to the family

Justin Bogard: 23:44

Outcast here.

Czarina Harris: 23:46

Yeah, it happens though. Like the, the Irish, they, um, because they were kind of like the downcast over there in Europe. Like they don't believe in slavery and all that stuff. So it's really interesting. Kind of looking at how these two cultures ended up making my mother is really fun. So I appreciate it.

Justin Bogard: 24:04

I didn't know that I knew we had talked before. And you said you had some Jamaican heritage and stuff. I didn't realize that your mom was half Irish, half Jamaican. That's interesting.

Czarina Harris: 24:14

Yep. Born in England and all that stuff. She lost her accent when she came stateside. So you won't hear it anymore. She lost it. She got made fun of were like, you talk her. And she she's like, well, all right, I gotta get rid of this. Yeah.

Justin Bogard: 24:30

So she, she talked with more English accent than Jamaican accent. Is that what you're saying?

Czarina Harris: 24:34

She uses the, like some of the vernacular that they use, but she says it in an American accent. So, um, you know, like we'll say, Oh, this is really cool. Or this is really fun or whatever, she'll say, Oh, this is really splendid. But like splendid is more like in like in like a UK, right? Like, Oh, this is splendid. We don't say splendid here. But you know,

Justin Bogard: 24:58

That sounds a little more polite. I don't know. It came across as being really polite. I don't know.

Czarina Harris: 25:03

I'm like her mom more now. Yeah. So, um, my family actually came here, um, because my great, yeah, this is my great-grandfather was involved in construction and he was actually the developer for the Pegasus hotel, which is a very famous hotel in Jamaica. However, he didn't finish it. So he started, uh, you know, the foundation, he got up to the sixth floor and he actually started getting death threats from Chinese investors coming in, um, because they wanted the contract. And so what ended up happening was they put like a coffin in his office and he knew like, okay, they're serious. And so he packed up the whole family and that's why my family is even in America is because like he was fleeing for his life. And so it's kind of funny how, you know, two generations later, like I'm involved in real estate and politics and all this other weird stuff, just like, it's just really coincidental. Like really your grandfather was like a, a developer now you're like a note investor, you know? I don't know. It's just funny. So that's how my family ended up here.

Justin Bogard: 26:11

That's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing that. So synchronicity there. So I'll come back all looping around. Well, hopefully you don't get the death threats. I don't wish that on anybody.

Czarina Harris: 26:24

Just trying to help people get in the house, make some loans and help people and keep them in their houses and not get run over by rent. That's all I'm trying to do. That's all I'm trying to do

Justin Bogard: 26:45

Czarina. Thank you so much for being on our episode today. This is episode number 22 with our special guests and super friend Czarina Harris. All right. So I'm Justin Bogard with bright path notes and I'm Elizabeth with Elizabeth Maora. And I hope that this will, um, persuade some of you. If you've not gotten involved politically to get involved politically, at least to meet your new representatives. Um, let them know that you're a real estate investor or housing provider, so they know who their constituents are. So thank you for your story, do it. So I'm not the only one. Please thank you

Speaker 2: 27:30

2 wealth show is produced by Justin Bogard and super E sponsored by Brightpath notes. And Elizabeth Maora. Thanks for listening and watching for our show.