From Childhood Abandonment to Sales Leadership: Merriah Harkins on Emotional Resilience, Private Credit, and Earning Investor Trust
Episode Details
Transcript
In this episode of From Adversity to Abundance, host Jamie Bateman speaks with Merriah Harkins, Senior Sales Officer at Lukrom, a private investment firm with a focus on private credit. While Merriah has built a powerhouse career in sales and investor relations—with over 25 years of experience driving revenue and client retention—her professional strength is rooted in deeply personal adversity.
At just four years old, Merriah’s mother abandoned her family, leading to an unconventional upbringing in a boarding school without the traditional presence of either parent. This early trauma shaped her worldview, her emotional resilience, and her unique approach to risk, relationships, and leadership.
Merriah isn’t your typical entrepreneur. In fact, she openly shares about a failed business venture and how it redirected her path toward her true zone of genius: connecting with people and helping them make confident investment decisions—whether they're active or passive investors.
In this candid conversation, Jamie and Merriah explore not only her personal story, but also practical insights on capital raising, relationship-driven sales, and the mindset needed to thrive in real estate and private credit markets. This episode will resonate with anyone who has faced rejection, abandonment, or career pivots—and come out stronger on the other side.
Guest Introduction: Merriah Harkins
Merriah Harkins is the Senior Sales Officer at Lukrom, a private investment firm focused on private credit. With over 25 years of experience in sales strategy, client relations, and capital raising, Merriah brings deep industry expertise and human connection to every investor conversation. Her personal story of resilience and growth informs her no-fluff, heart-centered approach to investor education and relationship management.
Episode Highlights:
- Abandonment to Empowerment – Merriah opens up about her mother leaving at age four and being raised in a boarding school, and how those early wounds shaped her strength.
- Sales as Service – Merriah explains her approach to building trust and loyalty with both active and passive investors.
- Lessons for Active Investors – How real estate and mortgage note investors can elevate their capital-raising strategy.
- Smart Moves for Passive Investors – How to think through investment decisions with clarity and confidence (not financial advice).
Key Takeaways:
- Personal adversity, especially early in life, can develop core strengths that fuel long-term success.
- Failure in business doesn’t mean failure in life—it can be a redirection to your true calling.
- Building authentic relationships is the cornerstone of successful sales and capital raising.
- Whether you’re an active or passive investor, understanding your risk tolerance and emotional drivers can help guide better decisions.
Learn More about Merriah Harkins:
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/merriah-harkins-1080294/
Website:https://www.lukrom.com/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LukromCap/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/lukrom/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/lukrom.cap
Integrity Income Fund:
https://labradorlending.com/investors/passive-investors/
Labrador Mentorship:
labradorlending.com/investors/active-investors/
—
Haven Financial Services:
Learn more: jamie.myfinancialhaven.com/
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Purchase Jamie’s Book: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGTWJY1D?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
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Connect with Jamie
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Speaker 0
Today, we get a chance to hear from Mariah Harkins. She is a sales officer. In fact, the senior sales sales officer at Locrom. They are a private investment firm, and they have a private credit fund, and we'll get into more details about that in the episode. Personally, she's overcome a ton of adversity, and we get right into that in the beginning of the episode. And, you'll hear a lot about that. Her mother left her and her brother and her father at age four, and then her father put, Mariah and her brother into a a school to be raised. And so they they did not really have parents in the traditional way. And so I think there are some abandonment issues that we talk she she talks about, and that's created some both some challenges and some strengths, for her along the way. And she talks a lot about how that shaped her career path and her decision making and maybe some of the ways that she approaches risk and diversification with investing and even even relationships. But, it this is a really fantastic episode. Mariah is not really an entrepreneur. She does mention how she started a business and that didn't go well. She's a sales expert, a man management expert that has twenty five years plus of success in driving sales growth and securing customer loyalty, etcetera. We talked to both the active and passive real estate investor in this episode. We talked about raising capital and a couple of the key points there, some of the lessons that you can take, and and put into your business if you're an active real estate or active mortgage note investor, how you can focus on raising more capital. And, also, we speak to the passive investor in how to make decisions. It's not financial advice, but how to make decisions as far as where to place your capital. So this episode is all about sales. It's all about, passive investing as well as active investing in the alternative space. And it's all about overcoming personal adversity and how that can shape your career and your life. You do not wanna miss this episode. Speaker 1
From adversity to abundance, hosted by entrepreneur and seasoned real estate investor, Jamie Bateman, is the ultimate guide for active and passive investors seeking clarity, mental fitness, and the confidence to make inspired decisions in the world of real estate. With a decade plus of investing experience across various niches and a background as a combat veteran, former army officer, and multimillion dollar mortgage note company owner, Jamie brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiring stories to each episode. Through weekly episodes featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders and solo explorations of mindset and strategy, listeners will uncover actionable advice and tips to overcome challenges and build lasting financial success. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting, from adversity to abundance is your road map to turning obstacles into opportunities and achieving financial freedom. Speaker 0
Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the From Adversity to Abundance podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Bateman. And today, we have with us Mariah Harkins. She is the chief sales officer at Locrom. We're gonna get into what she does specifically. Mariah, how are you doing today? Speaker 2
I'm great. How are you, Jamie? Speaker 0
I'm doing well. Yeah. As a friend of mine says, the sun is shining. Birds are chirping. Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 1
What could Speaker 0
I ask for? Yeah. Exactly. So it's a good day. It's a good day to be a real estate investor, mortgage note investor, a capital raiser, a sales team leader. Speaker 2
Yep. Speaker 0
And, let's dive into it. I know we were chatting a little bit beforehand. I'm excited about, to hear both your story and then also about what you're up to today, with raising capital and leading a sales team. Let's dive right into your backstory, Mariah. What what you mentioned to me something about age four. Let's let's go there. Speaker 2
Yeah. So, you know, going way back, my parents got pregnant in high school with my brother. They had me the year after. So they were very young. My mom decided to leave when I was four years old. My brother was five. Wow. And it was, you know, something that was a major turning point in our life. I think my dad wasn't really in a position where he could raise kids alone. And so he put us into a school. For those on the East Coast, I don't know if you've ever heard of Milton Hershey School. So my brother and I entered the school. I was in second grade. He was in third grade. We graduated from there. It was a different upbringing because, obviously, you're being brought up by different people, not your parents. So that has provided some challenges, you know, in my life in regard to the closeness of relationships in regard to that. Mhmm. But my brother and I put ourselves through college. You know, we had some really good role models in our family, and so there really was not a question that we were going to go to college. So I feel really blessed that I had some good, you know, folks that were successful in business and inspired me to want more, you know, and position myself in the best possible way for that. I went to school at University of Georgia. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
I had some family down there, which that was really nice, experience to move from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Quite a difference culturally. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Then moved out to Arizona after college. I lived in San Francisco for a little while, got transferred back to Hartford, Connecticut, then back to Arizona. I'm in Seattle now, and I also have a place in Palm Springs, California. So, you know, I I feel like my background shaped me to want to go into business, specifically in finance. I really, at that point in time, it's a long time ago, really wanted to enter into a career space where I didn't really have a glass ceiling, which is it's real today. It was it was definitely real then. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And so, you know, I I started working with companies like Vanguard, you know, on the mutual fund sales desk. That was my first job. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
Then you went to Charles Schwab. I went to Aetna for a little while. So I started my career with some very big companies, and I quickly understood that the way in which to really achieve and be able to experience abundance was to get into sales. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
Because if you're a woman or you're a man or you're a minority, typically, your sales compensation is based on a salary, but most of it's commission. Speaker 0
Sure. And so Speaker 2
there is no you know, it just whoever's the best at the job Right. Is able to, you know, achieve the goals and exceed the goals. There is no holding you back from success that you can have there. Speaker 0
Absolutely. Speaker 2
So, you know, I entered sales probably in the early two thousands. I got promoted to manage a sales organization in two thousand two, and I've been doing that since. And it's really been all on the alternative investment space, passive investments with hard assets backing the investments, and lots of different asset classes. So I've got a lot of experience for folks that really believe that diversifying your assets across across lots of different asset classes, provides protection because different asset classes go through different periods of ups and downs. And the having some hard assets backing your investment, particularly real estate, is a really great strategy. And some people, you know, have dove in and they've done it themselves in regard to flipping properties or buying into retail or office buildings. Yeah. You know, I congratulate those folks. Speaker 0
I think Speaker 2
there's others that, you know, want to be able to experience the stability of the hard asset backed investments, but really just are not in a position yet or may never be where they wanna go out and do it on their own, but they want exposure to it. And there's lots of different ways to do that through funds and different structures that are out there for the investor. Speaker 0
Absolutely. No. And we I, I run a small fund, a mortgage note fund. Hopefully, it it will it does continue to grow. It's small currently, and we're hoping for it to be larger as as things move forward. But, and I find and I also do mentorship for more of the active investors. So to your point, there are many ways to skin the cat in real estate investing or just alternative investing in general. And what I found is sometimes I'll I'll mentor people, and then they realize, like, this is a lot of work. This takes a lot of time. And then it's like, hey. Can you just they'll they'll essentially say, can you take my money and and make me more of it? Right. You know, obviously typically, for the passive investor, they're gonna get a little bit of a lower return, you know, all things other other things being, you know, equal. But, there are many ways to make money in real estate investing and alternative investing and and, but I do find that many people end up, you know what? Let's just just go make me some money. And and, that that works out well for for all parties involved. Not always, and a big a key there is who is the operator, what's their track record, things like that, and we can get into all that. But let's start just briefly back on your story, and then we'll get more into, you know, what you're doing today. But, you know, this really comes down to how vulnerable you wanna be, but what type of I mean, your mother left and your father put you into a school, you and your brother into a school, and so you're essentially raised not by your parents. Speaker 2
Yeah. I Speaker 0
mean, I I honestly can't even fathom that. I mean, it's just, very outside of of how I was raised and how, you know, most people were raised even Yeah. Those raised by a single parent. So what what type of pain were you feeling at that time, and what lessons came out of that for you? Speaker 2
Well, I think, you know, if you you put vulnerable children in a situation like that, you know, it does strain your relationship. I I don't have a relationship with my mom. She left and never came back. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
You know, my relationship is strained with my father because I think he was young, and he wanted his freedom. Speaker 0
Gotcha. But Speaker 2
I had relatives that could and wanted to take care of us, and he did not want that to happen because he wanted his freedom. Speaker 0
I see. Speaker 2
And so, you know, I think what I have learned from that is that I have, you know, I think any child in this situation, my brother and I, and all of the kids in that school have some level of abandonment issues. Yeah. And so I think the way that that translated into my future job Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Choices Yeah. As well as the fact that I'm more of a passive investor in real estate. I I have dabbled into, and we can talk about it Mhmm. With my house in Palm Springs. But I, you know, I seek I I take risks, but they're very calculated. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
I admire people tremendously that are really entrepreneurial. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
But I think based on the fact that I had to fend for myself for so long thank God I have my brother because we're very, very close. Mhmm. And I don't know how my life would look without having him. Here, we went through everything together. But, you know, it is one of these things where as you as you as you get older and you have family members that you're close to Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Or really good friends that become your family. You know, you create your own family. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And so you can go through life in regard to a lot of people that went to that school. They never went to college. Mhmm. You know, they really struggle. There's a lot of people that really struggled. And there's probably, I would say, five to ten percent that have done really well for themselves. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
So in in that case, you can either take a victim mentality Speaker 0
Yeah. Sure. You Speaker 2
know, and you can blame all of life's challenges Right. On that Yeah. Your childhood Speaker 0
For sure. Speaker 2
You know, where you had disadvantages, or you can make it your superpower Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Because you are a survivor and you become very resilient. And when you're thrown challenges in life, which I have been thrown some challenges in life, that others may crumble Mhmm. You know, I just view it as I am always going to be okay. And and from personal relationship standpoints Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Somebody that is fiercely independent Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Really never feels like I know I can depend on people, but I don't want to depend on people. I wanna make sure I'm always in a position to take care of myself. Got it. So there's good and bad to that. You know? It's, it's you have to be a really great communicator in relationships because Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
You need other people, but maybe not in a way that they are fulfilled to feel needed. Mhmm. So, you know, it's it's it's an interesting journey, but I have been incredibly blessed. I've gone through some rough patches in my career through different market cycles. You know, I just I'm proud of myself that I always typically lean on my feet because I approach the business with a lot of integrity. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And sometimes you can't always control the outcome of certain things based on, concentrations, market cycles. Sure. You learn tough lessons. Speaker 0
Absolutely. Speaker 2
You know, the longer you're in this business, you go through cycles and you really do learn some tough lessons. But it just makes you stronger and Right. Have, you know, a a more balanced approach as you go in life into the future. Speaker 0
Absolutely. And the thing is and I'm not putting down any of the other challenges you've ever faced or or that you may face in the future or that anyone else has faced. But having been through that in your childhood, I can imagine that if you lose, you know, if you don't get someone to sign up for an investment, like, if you you don't get a family office to sign up that you were looking to to sign up, you'd that's not quite as, you know, as challenging as what you've already been through. Right? Speaker 2
So it's Speaker 0
like, okay. Big deal. Speaker 2
Yeah. I'm just moving on. Speaker 0
Moving on. So I Speaker 2
mean someone else. Speaker 0
Yeah. I mean and and so and and I love the fact that you said you really can I mean, the the truth is you would be warranted at, looking at your your past through a victim mindset? I mean, because you were you weren't you were a victim. You know? It's like you weren't it wasn't something you chose to have happen to you, the abandonment and and whatnot. So but is that helpful to continue looking at it that way? Is that gonna help you in your own, you know, your own journey? What would you say to that? Speaker 2
Yeah. I just feel like if you have the mindset that if you allow what others did to you Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
To impact your future, you're giving them too much power. Speaker 0
Mhmm. I love that. That's really Speaker 2
And it it you're just living within that Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Negativity where you can turn it around to say, I learned from the mistakes of others. I won't make those mistakes myself. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
But, you know, I'm gonna live the best life that I can live because that empowers me to say, regardless Mhmm. You know, I made this great life for myself. If you wanna be a part of it Mhmm. We have some things to work through or you're just not a part of it. That's been the hardest part. You know, with some therapy and everything Mhmm. The hardest part is I am very I think one of the things about me that is great is I'm very generous and compassionate and forgiving Mhmm. Almost to a fault, though. I give people a lot of chances. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
You know? And there's been times where you have to recognize if you're giving people chances, but it's it's leading to a toxic relationship and that it's hard sometimes with close family members that sometimes you have to let it go and create your own family. And that that's a really, really hard thing. I think for abandoned children, especially Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
They always seek that level of approval from their parents. And you go through life expecting that this time, it's gonna be different. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
It never is. And so you keep going through that, you know, and you experience a lot of heartache from that to the point where you finally reach a point where you're like, okay. This is toxic. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
So I've created my own family through great family members and friends. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And you have to be okay with that. Speaker 0
Mhmm. That's really good. Thank you for walking us through that and talking about that. And before we dive into more specifics about what you do today, talk about some of the abundance. I mean, you've touched on it a little bit, but some of the abundance that you're living in, you know, you've you mentioned you've created your own family, through friends and other Yeah. More extended family members, but maybe that's financial abundance, relationship abundance. Talk about some of the abundance that you've been able to experience even though some of that is is has been outside of your control. But talk about some of the abundance that you're living in today. Speaker 2
I think, you know, it's really interesting, like, in your in your early career. You know? Like, I'm so happy that I had inspiration from family to, like, want a better life, and that meant going to college. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Mhmm. Speaker 2
And then to try to choose a career where I would have more opportunities and not be held back because of gender or whatever. Mhmm. It's gotten a lot better. I think back then, it was a serious concern. You sort of had to really think about which career path do I wanna take here. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And I'm just incredibly fortunate that, you know, my dad ended up being pretty successful in life. He was in sales. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Okay. Speaker 2
You know? And I recognized pretty early on that I, you know, I started my career in service and operations, and I managed big teams. And then I was dating a guy at the time, and he was a financial products wholesaler. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
And I looked at him, and I go, you know, I can do that. And so it went from, like, he was making a lot of money a lot more than I was. I was working working equally as hard. Mhmm. So then you just decide, okay. If I have these skills if you don't have sales skills Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
It's the hardest job in the world. Mhmm. You know, like you were saying, like, if you get rejected from a family office that doesn't wanna do business with you, like me, you know, you just move on and Yeah. You're gonna you know, as long as you got a lot of firms in the pipeline, some are gonna say yes, some are gonna say no. Right. But, like, you know, you if you're if you've got the skills, sales is typically something where you have no no limits in regard to what you can make of your life. And, you know, I I again, I I admire people greatly that are entrepreneurs. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Because the entrepreneurs are the ones that end up making billions. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
You know? But but most of those people there are self made people, but most of those people actually grew up in well connected wealthy families, so they actually got a really good start. Speaker 0
That's true. Speaker 2
You know, like, if you're Speaker 0
I don't really believe in the self made thing, to be honest with you. But, I mean, it it happens, I guess. I mean but but even those people had some type of advantage or something. Speaker 2
Totally. Like, you look at Bill Gates' daughter who's starting, you know, some clothing online search tool. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
You know, and his dad's going in, and he's gonna do some customer service work. He's gonna sit on the desk. Mhmm. Speaker 0
You know, Speaker 2
it's just like you've got this mentor, and then you probably have ten million dollars to get you started kind of thing. You know? Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
But, you know, I do. I admire people greatly that have the ability to, like, you know, be entrepreneurial. Unfortunately, for me, there I have chosen the right career path. It's been really lucrative for me, and I've been able to have an abundant life because I don't have to worry about money in the same way that others do. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
But I also I also am really honest about the fact that I have tried at one point in my career Mhmm. To start my own business. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And I just felt like I am so much more comfortable Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
With less anxiety Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
When I'm working for somebody else. Speaker 0
Yeah. There's it's not easy, and there's I mean, most businesses fail. I mean, for sure, not it's not even close to fifty fifty. Yeah. And, you know, there's I I there's no one size fits all to real estate investing or investing in general. There's no one size fits all to you know, as far as the path to financial success Yeah. At all. And, you know, we do have a lot of entrepreneurs who are success Yeah. At all. And, you know, we do have a lot of entrepreneurs who listen to the show, but this is not I I, in many ways, try, you know, tell people not to do not to be an entrepreneur because it is not for the faint of heart. And, also, there are seasons in life, and it's not you don't have to decide at age twenty that I'm gonna be an entrepreneur for the rest of my life. Speaker 2
I know. Speaker 0
You know? It's like you can change paths, and that's okay, along the way. So, I mean, again, there are many, many paths to success. So as far as our listener goes, we do have both active and passive real estate and mortgage note investors. One thing I like to reiterate to people is that so I'm a mortgage note investor primarily, and, you know, this can apply to other other real estate investing and even other business models for sure. But there's essentially three legs to the stool that we kind of focus on, and that's, finding deals. So finding notes to buy. That's one of them, buying the the notes themselves, buying the assets. And the second one is raising capital or finding money, right, to to go buy those notes. And then the third piece is managing those really two other legs of the stool. There are other other ways you could frame that, of course. And I like to just call that asset management or, you know, capital and asset management. But, I mean, one of the big legs is is raising capital. And so whether you're even if you're more of an active investor and you just wanna do this whether you wanna do this at scale or not, you're gonna run out of your own money that you have allocated to invest. And so you're gonna need access to other people's money, whether that's bank money or private capital and whatnot. So, you know, it's a it's a very limp can be a very limiting factor if you're trying to scale your business. So as a speak to the mortgage note investor or the private lender out there who wants to scale, and wants to raise capital. I know you've been successful at, you know, leading sales teams and raising capital yourself. What are, you know, just one or two things pieces of advice that you would give to the the active investor who wants to raise capital? Speaker 2
Yeah. So at Luke Graham, so Thomas McPherson, he started you know, it's interesting. He came out of, the military, and he wanted to get rich quick. And so he took out margin accounts Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Started investing in the stock market, started doing pretty well until the market crashed. And then, you know, he was making twenty thousand dollars a year, and he was seventy thousand dollars in debt. Wow. So he made a decision really early on that that level of risk taking, which is gambling Yeah. In a lot of ways, you know, that that he he wanted to do he wanted to get into real estate. He thought the stability of real estate Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
The fact that over the long run, the returns are really good. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
If you diversify, if you have the ability to diversify Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
You can really withstand almost any, you know, up and down. Yeah. I would always say just because I'm from financial services and I've I've learned about so many different types of asset classes Speaker 0
Sure. And it Speaker 2
would be the the the hard asset backed investments like a real estate fund Yep. Investing in real estate as an individual. Speaker 0
Mhmm. You Speaker 2
know, there's some oil and gas investment, land investments. You can go into private equity where they're investing in companies. Like, lots of different ways that you can invest. Diversification is critical. If you're in real estate and you decide that you are a real estate flipper in Phoenix, Arizona Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And that's all you do is residential in one market. The chances are if there is a really challenging market cycle where interest rates go up like they are right now, and it's really tough to get acquired debt at a decent rate. Speaker 0
Right. So it Speaker 2
shrinks, you know, your ability because also home sales are slower because people are stuck in two percent, three percent mortgages, and they don't wanna sell their homes even if they aspire to, like, buy a new home Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And move. So, you know, that's that's one thing Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Where I just feel like investments in general, having a diver diversified mix across different asset classes, but then even if you're in real estate, considering diversification across different types of real estate Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Or different markets. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Because, you know, one metro market might get hit for different reasons. Others are more resilient. Like Phoenix, when it got hit in, you know, o eight and at different periods Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
You know, they have really, really strong focus in their commerce departments of bringing global businesses into Phoenix. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Okay. Speaker 2
And there's a housing shortage. So, like, if you're in a really, really pro business metro market Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
We're resilient to market downturns because there's not there's a there's a continuous need for residential real estate. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Don't don't have the ability as an individual investor. Like, if you flip houses and that's your skill Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And you're like, I'm just not, like, expert enough in Speaker 0
commercial, you Speaker 2
know, retail, office buildings. Like, this is what I know. Really focusing on metro markets that have continued growth and are attracting businesses from all over the world, I think it's critical. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
As far as raising money, you know, Thomas went into real estate. He he became a broker, I believe, when he was pretty young. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Then he decided he's very entrepreneurial, so then he went into distressed debt. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Okay. Speaker 2
So he developed a couple of distressed debt funds and, you know, made a killing. Like, he did really, really well in regard to that. Speaker 0
Right. And to Speaker 2
the listeners He mentors a lot of people too that do that. Speaker 0
Okay. Just very quickly because it's, you know, we buy distressed debt firstly. No. It's nonperforming. Just to the listener who may not be familiar with that, distressed debt generally is, where you're buying the debt, you're becoming the the lender of the bank that on already originated notes where, the borrower is not paying, or if they are, they're way behind. So, that's a whole, whole separate discussion. So what around when was that? Do you do you know when that was? Speaker 2
So I think he went into it probably, like, right around, you know, o eight. Speaker 0
Yeah. Gotcha. Speaker 2
You know, which was really tough time, but really lucrative if you're in that distressed debt, you know, running funds. Like, I mean, you get it. I think for him, you know, he started Lucrum almost three years ago. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
And, you know, we'll get back to this money raising thing. But Yeah. He I think because he went through a market where he had to be that guy because you're stepping in, you know, and people aren't paying your mortgage their mortgages, you know, in relation to the real estate. And I I think he made the decision that even though he made a lot of money in it, he really wanted to go more the private credit route. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
So he started to start a private credit fund where you are we do short term loans, so six to twelve months. Not much can go wrong in six to twelve months. Speaker 0
Yeah. True. Speaker 2
And it's typically a bridge where someone's got a short term real estate project. They wanna flip a home. It's gonna be a six to twelve month project. Or they're bridging because they really want to get a piece of real estate. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Bank financing takes longer. So, you know, that and and only lending to high credit quality businesses, you're in a first lien position. But, typically, we have repeat borrowers. And even if they ran into an issue Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Because we're in a first lien and we keep our loan to values in the fifties Speaker 0
Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2
We can take that real estate, but we really wanna work with them. You know, we have we've run into very few situations, but it's really wanting to work with Mhmm. The borrower so that they get to keep the real estate and we get, you know, our loan paid off. So, you know, he made that decision to go that route. And so, you know, for the first it took probably a year to establish a company, hire people. And then they started raising money about two years ago and and raised probably about eleven million dollars to friends and family and then referrals of friends and family. And so, you know, what I would say for those that are wanting to seek investments Right. They're gonna go to their friends and family, and they're gonna trust you. So you better do a darn good job, and you better have tremendous confidence in yourself and your business strategy before you go out to your friends and your family. Because they may not look super deeply, and they trust you. So that trust is is critical. So until you feel really confident Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
In what you've started as far as your real estate business Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
You have to be careful about going to friends and family. If you're super confident, you know, and you've got a lot of your own money in it Right. Speaker 0
Then go Speaker 2
out to your friends and family, and then they'll give you referrals. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
And that's how our company started raising money. Speaker 0
That's really good. And just to piggyback on that, and and ours is a smaller fund, but, I found the same thing to be true. Well, first off, I couldn't agree more that you should put your own capital at play in some way, shape, or form, or whether that's or at least have years of experience, before you start asking for money from other investors. Even if it's not friends and family, even if it's all accredited investors that you don't have a relationship with, I still recommend people have their own skin in the game, have experience, and Oh, yeah. You know, for sure. And build those put in the reps to build the the competence to to then produce that confidence that you were just talking about to go out and raise capital. You know, and that's what that's what I did, and that's what we continue to do. And the other point I wanted to make is I found that as much as we market and and try to put things out there and all that and and and, you know, as far as for our fund and that kind of thing, by far, the most fruitful, path to new capital for us has been repeat investors. Yeah. No question about it. And that's because Speaker 2
And referrals. Speaker 0
And referrals. People that they know for sure. It's word-of-mouth and sales, which is your area of expertise. But they've been happy with the results, and so they put more capital in or they Yeah. They tell a friend about it. Right? And they put capital, and it's somebody I didn't I didn't market to. It's somebody that they told. And so for sure, I think that's really, really powerful. And then so you came on board in January, you said? Speaker 2
I did. Speaker 0
How has it gone since then? Speaker 2
Well, so so, you know, they successfully raised money through friends and family Yeah. And referrals of friends and family. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
They did some high net worth lead generation through companies that promise you that they're gonna get you high net worth investors by advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And we found that that isn't a successful way Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
In which to get leads. And we probably spent the company probably spent a decent amount of money that was wasted money because the leads that we got you know, you just people click on stuff, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're interested. So we got to a point where they made a decision. You know, my expertise is helping companies raise money by networking and educating financial advisors. So whether they're a registered investment adviser or work for a broker dealer Yeah. We're educating them. Because if I educate them and they say, oh, this is great, they can sell it to twenty of their clients. Speaker 0
Right. That's super cool. Speaker 2
Get a thousand of them, and they're selling it to twenty of their clients. You can imagine how that takes time to build that, and it's it's more expensive much more expensive than going direct. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
Try to get my network individuals to come directly to you. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
But it's when you you know, our funds at two hundred fifty million dollar fund. There's no way you're getting to that typically with referrals from your high net worth, you know, friends and family. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And so, you know, they hired me for my expertise because that's what I do. You know? It's my Rolodex. It's the firm level broker dealer or RIA that's got, you know, fifty people working for them or a broker dealer that might have five hundred people under that umbrella. So the broker dealer agrees. I like the product. They've done due diligence. We're gonna put it in our platform. Then you start to wholesale, which you're going out with your sales team to educate then the advisers underneath the firms that have blessed it. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
So, you know, I for us, there's no way that we would get to scale without doing that. And so we're building that, and that takes time to build it. It's Sure. We are competing against private credit funds that do a similar business as we do. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
I've been in business for twenty years that have billions of dollars under management. And so how do you differentiate yourself Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
From all the other competition? And that's you know, it's it's been a learning experience for sure. The one thing that does that I think is unique, and I've never seen it before Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Is we have four classes of shares. Okay. And they're based on certain minimums. Like class a is fifty thousand. Class b is five hundred thousand. Class c is a million, and they pay different preferred return rates. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Then we have class d, and that's only for our advisory board, our executives, and our employees. And we have about a little over three point five million dollars invested in that. So almost all of our employees are, you know, a a good portion of our employees, all of our executives are invested in our fund. In class d, class d is subordinate to class a, b, and c, which means we take the first loss. Speaker 0
Mhmm. I see. Speaker 2
Yeah. Three point five million is at risk that if there's ever a situation where we can't pay our fixed preferred return Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Or the client wants their money out and their principal that they invested is not the same. You know, it's gone down. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
We make that up so the investor doesn't experience a loss until we've gone through that three point five million. Speaker 0
I see. Speaker 2
And our goal is to keep that it's it's a lot more than ten percent right now. But even as we grow, it will always be our targets at least ten percent of the fund. So you see, you know, what's really critical for those that wanna be passive investors. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Look. We talked about skin in the game. Right. Where you're gonna go out and raise money, you better have your own skin in the game. Right. You know, ask, you know, when you're talking to principals, how much money do you have invested in your own deal? Speaker 0
Sure. Yeah. Speaker 2
Absolutely. It's like, if you're talking to my world, if my salespeople are going out and they're trying to get you as a financial adviser to sell this to fifty of your clients, my question to them are, are you invested in the deal? Speaker 0
Right. Absolutely. Speaker 2
Because if if you're even if they're you know, we would allow an employee to invest ten thousand dollars. If they're invested in the deal and they're investing what they want to invest in it, it shows a level of confidence and belief in the company and the longevity of the company. Speaker 0
Right. You know, Speaker 2
it's really critical when you get to know principles of firms. Are they resilient? Are they survivors? Are they persistent? Like, if things go bad Right. Can they, you know, are they gonna give up? Speaker 0
Yeah. Have they weathered storms before? Speaker 2
Right. Speaker 0
Like, I know you haven't Yeah. Your personal and professional life. And, yeah, that just aligns interest for sure, because the storms are gonna come, you know, as far as investing or or personal or whatever. But, I couldn't agree more. I mean, that's why I mean, the the truth is if you're going from, you know, I guess one of the you could say it's one of the downsides or one of the things you're giving up if you're going from being an active investor to be be more of a passive investor. You're giving up a lot of control. You're giving up a lot of you know, you're putting a lot of faith into those principles, those operators. Right? So they just and it makes sense. I mean, you can't have everything. Right? Right. You can't have all the control, but also not do any work and make all the the high returns. So there's a that that's a critical piece. So talk to the the more passive investor who is, you know, I guess, they have capital. They I I've got, just say, a hundred grand I wanna put to work, and I I like the idea of a private credit fund or a mortgage note fund, but I don't really know where to start. Maybe I I Google and there's, like, ten companies that come up. How do I start evaluating these these companies? Speaker 2
Yeah. So, I mean, it's a little easier if you've got a financial adviser. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Because they're doing the research for you and they're educating you on the options that are out there. You know, I I would I think diversification is so important. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
You know, most people have and you have to look at your entire portfolio, your four zero one k, if you've got an IRA, your investable assets that you've got outside of your retirement accounts. And you have to really look at, okay. How have I spread that around into stocks and bonds? Now I want some hard assets to diversify, which is critical because you can go into a traded REIT. It's gonna move with the big fluctuations and volatility in the stock market. It's not going to act like a real estate investment. It's gonna act like a stock. And so when you see major market volatility, everything moves with that. So there's some major advantages to, non traded private investments, like your fund Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Like our fund. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
The other critical thing for anybody that is a real estate investor, really understanding DSTs and ten thirty one exchanges. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
You know? And and it's just something if you are a rental real estate owner. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Right. Speaker 2
Like, you need to talk to someone to provide education or you can get, you know, use chat GPT. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
Just getting Speaker 0
Thinking about it. Speaker 2
Education for that because a ten thirty one is you've got very really tight timelines. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Right. Speaker 2
And there are a lot of ten thirty one product sponsors that are out there Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Where you need to have lots of choice. Speaker 0
Got it. Speaker 2
So before you decide that you're going to sell it to real estate to buy something else, or you've just decided, I don't like the tenants, the trash Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
Having to manage this. And so now I wanna go into a ten thirty one exchange that is managed by a professional company Yeah. That might a DST that might have sixteen properties in it so you get diversification. So Right. To anyone, you know, whether you go into your own property, you wanna continue to manage, and you trade into another property to defer your taxes, or you've decided, I'm just done with this, and I want to just go into a fund. Right. I just would say for any real estate investor, you have to know what a DST is, and you've gotta know what a ten thirty one exchange is. Speaker 0
Good. That's good. Speaker 2
And then when it comes down to, you know, I think you've got a financial adviser that can teach you about all the different options that are out there for you to go into these types of things. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
You know, the Internet today and AI, you know, if you're looking for something in a certain metro market Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
You know, there's just something that you're looking for in a passive investment. You can usually go in and prompt AI to say this is what I'm looking for. Send me the ten best funds that are focused on residential real estate in the Phoenix metro market, you know, and and and learn how to prompt AI. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Because it's amazing what it will spit out in relation to you having to try to figure it out on your own. Let AI gather all of that information based on the criteria of what you're looking for. Yeah. Speaker 0
It's really good. For some reason, I I took a break from using AI for a little bit there, and I I all of a sudden, it was twice as good as it as it was as as it had been. And, yeah, I just didn't quite appreciate the skill set that the value of the skill set of of prompt writing and and really telling ChatGPT or whichever platform you're using, okay. This is who you are. This is the perspective I want you to Yeah. You know, answer this from. And it's just been really, really helpful in our business and in my own personal life, but, that's really good. So, okay. So diversification is something I I keep hearing from you and and, you know, I guess, having experience and just, also seeking the advice of experts. I mean, you mentioned financial advisers. Anything else you wanna add to, you know, as far as advice for either the capital raiser out there or the passive investor who's trying Speaker 2
to raise capital. So if you feel like you have good diversification in your overall portfolio, your retirement accounts, your nonrecruit retirement accounts, and you've got a hundred thousand dollars to invest Speaker 0
Mhmm. And Speaker 2
you are not yet a passive investor Mhmm. Spread that out. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Invest in three different funds. Yeah. Don't put it all in one because, you know, there is there's safety in that. You know, you are insulating yourself by investing in lots of different asset classes to protect yourself. So if you really like private credit, look at three different funds. Narrow it down to three and invest in each of those. Because then you're if one of them goes bad, you've invested thirty thousand in it, not a hundred thousand dollars in Speaker 0
it. Makes sense. Speaker 2
I I think that diversification is really important. And if you feel like you're really diversified and you've got a hundred thousand dollars and it's just a piece of your diversification strategy, going into one is fine. But I'm a true believer that diversification protects you from unexpected, market movements. Speaker 0
Yeah. Which will occur. Right? Nobody does a crystal ball. So before we hit some rapid fire questions, your private credit fund at Locum, is that can you talk a little bit more about the types of deals that you have in that fund? Yeah. Is that what what type what what does that mean? Like, what's a bridge loan? What are the what's private Yeah. Speaker 2
Sure. So, you know, private credit, it's really interesting. It can mean so many different things. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
So private credit can mean that a company is investing in companies that are private that can't get bank financing. You know? Or it can mean that private credit is, companies like ours making loans out to businesses focused on real estate. So they're either purchasing real estate, they're developing real estate, or they're improving real estate. And so our focus is a bridge loan just means you've acquired you you found a piece of real estate. You love it. If you wanna go out and get bank financing, it could take a couple of months, and you'll lose that property. Speaker 0
True. Speaker 2
So you might go to a private lender, and they might be able to close that deal in days. And so you're gonna pay more interest than you would on your your bank loan. Speaker 0
Right. But you get the If you've Speaker 2
got a short term project Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
You might, you know, wanna just do that if you've got enough of a spread of what you think you can earn on it versus what you're putting into it, and you factor the interest from a from a private lender. You know, for short term projects, it makes a lot of sense. But for a lot of people, it's they they locate and really need this real estate for something in their business or their life. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And they will take a loan from Lucra maybe for six months. Speaker 0
Mhmm. And then Speaker 2
they'll put permanent financing in. They'll pay off the loan, and then they've got a lower cost, source of financing. So that bridging is a big part of private lending because Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Private lenders typically, can do their due diligence quickly, and they might be able to close a deal in three days. Mhmm. Where you might go to a bank and it could take three months, and you've lost that piece of real estate. Speaker 0
Sure. Makes sense. Speaker 2
So, you know, our what we're doing is we're going out and, doing tons of research mostly in the Phoenix metro market. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
We're based in Phoenix. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
We're in other high growth metro markets, but we're experts. We've got repeat borrowers. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
We work with brokers so that if we don't have money to fund a loan, but it's a really great loan, we'll broker it and get a brokerage fee Speaker 0
Got it. Speaker 2
By, you know, having locating somebody else to do the loan. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And so we focus on LTVs that are somewhere in, like, the mid fifties. So, like, right now, I think our average is fifty three percent. And what that means for a novice in real estate is that if you are lending somebody a million dollars or no. You're lending somebody money to purchase a million dollar property. Speaker 0
Right. We're Speaker 2
going to give them five hundred and thirty thousand dollars It's going to be a six to twelve month loan. We're going to average about twelve, twelve percent on that loan. We're going to get some fees associated with doing the loan. But, you know, they're gonna pay that loan. It's gonna be paid off in, six to twelve months. If something were to happen and they just stopped paying their loan payments Yeah. We have a first lien on that million dollar comp. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
So you can imagine if you have low LTVs Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
The chances of that business not doing everything possible in their power to make sure that loan's paid off Right. And someone doesn't take my million dollar property for a five hundred thirty thousand dollar loan. So, you know, in private credit, it's really important to look at the longer term the loans, the more risk there is. Mhmm. Sure. The higher the loan to value, the more risk there is. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Because there's there's more risk long term that things could go wrong. The higher the LTV, even if you acquired that property back at a ninety percent LTV, all the fees associated and that lag of trying to do something with that property Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
We're going to put you underwater as a lender. Speaker 0
Now I imagine too Speaker 2
So just it's it's, feeling really comfortable with the principles Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Making sure they have their own skin in the game. If they're in a first loss position, that's even better. Right. But, like, making sure you just really understand what private credit means in regard to what type of fund that you're looking at. Speaker 0
Makes sense. And I I know oftentimes there are extension fees. Like, if they haven't paid off the loan in the twelve months, they can possibly extend for another six months. Exactly. The borrower is probably paying two or three percent to LUCROM in this example. Yes. And then that only helps protect the passive investor as well. You know, and and other other fees along the way, there's probably a much higher default interest rate if the if the borrower does fall behind as well. So Yes. There's always risk in all of these asset classes that will we we never say there's, you know, a risk free investment or anything, but but relatively speaking, the first lien debt space tends to be certainly on the the lower risk, end of the spectrum. Would you agree with that? Speaker 2
I totally agree. And I think the shorter term the loans are, that's protective as well. You know? But if you're looking at, you know, a company that focuses on high quality lenders Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Short term, first lien position, low LTVs, you're gonna be on the lower end of the spectrum, and you may wanna take more risk. If you see somebody that's paying, like, our rates are between eight and nine Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Depending on how much you invest, there's some tax advantages because we have a a reach structure that underlies it. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
And you can reinvest so that can Speaker 0
up your Compound your interest. Speaker 2
To about ten point five percent. Speaker 0
Okay. Yeah. Speaker 2
But if you if someone comes to you and says, we have a private credit fund that pays you twelve percent, you better look deeply into the level of risk. And it's fine if you wanna have low risk and high risk, but do two funds. Balance that out a bit. You know? Because the risk reward spectrum is wide. Speaker 0
Yeah. I couldn't agree more. It's it's something that just unfortunately, it's very easy for operators and fund managers to throw up whatever they want to on a pro form a and say, hey. We're we're targeting, you know, twenty one percent ROI for you, and it's, like, it's very easy to put that on a piece of paper. But why is that? I mean, I I think in our space, we're not competing ultimately, you know, with the the oil and gas or the potentially more speculative higher end, higher yield producing asset classes. And that's just not that's not where we are, but there are many advantages to what the the asset class that we're in Speaker 2
Yes. Speaker 0
That that they can't offer. So and there's no right or wrong. To your point, there's no right or wrong. It's like everyone's in a different position. You may have different goals, different experiences Speaker 2
Absolutely. Speaker 0
Amount of capital to invest, and this may not be the right investment for you at this that sort of thing. So awesome. We've got some rapid fire questions, and we gotta wrap up and get out of here. This has been really good. Mariah, if you could have coffee or or a drink with any historical figure, whom would you choose? Speaker 2
Queen Elizabeth. Speaker 0
Okay. Why is that? Speaker 2
I just think it would be, like, so you know, I'm really into historical fiction, especially in the royal periods. I've learned a lot about I just think historical fiction is great because it's so entertaining. But, like, I just feel like the whole just the royals, the how they live in a world that we don't even understand. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
I mean, I'm sure it would be incredibly formal. Speaker 0
Right. And, you Speaker 2
know, all kinds of rules I have to learn before I sit down there and have tea with her, but I just think Speaker 0
it would Speaker 2
be fascinating because she ruled for so long. Speaker 0
For sure. If if you could go back and give your eighteen year old self some advice, what would that be? Speaker 2
My advice would have been to find a way to live overseas for a couple of years. You know? Speaker 0
I've never heard that. Speaker 2
Had that opportunity, and I just feel like if you can position yourself in a company that provides international opportunity Yeah. Do it once in your lifetime. Speaker 0
That's cool. I haven't gotten that answer yet. That's a good one. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, just personally, no strings attached, what would you do with it? Speaker 2
I would I would probably purchase some real estate to rent it out. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
I would diversify it. I would invest it all. I would invest it all, and I would live off the income that I create from it. And then I would really focus on, you know, what's my you know, after I love my job. I really do. But, like, what what am I going to be passionate about when I retire? Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And then I would, you know, start building that business. You know? And it's probably gonna be something travel related for me. But, like, start to really put together a plan and put a pool of money aside to start building on that plan. So ten years from now, you know, I can launch into something that would be really fun for me. Speaker 0
Nice. Speaker 2
Oh, and I would travel a lot. Like, I would have a pool of that to, like, I've been to, like, forty countries. Speaker 0
Oh, wow. Speaker 2
I'm a huge believer that you should travel somewhere you've never been. I use points and miles from travel credit cards and, you know, I've got I'm loyal to one airline and one two hotel chains, and I've got credit cards associated with it. So I can travel really, really well economically. Nice. You know? So you kinda make your business travel work for you, and you gather those points and miles, which is really cool thing too. Speaker 0
What's a challenge that you're facing in your your your, professional role right now? Speaker 2
So the challenge is we are in a really crowded space with Sure. Entrepreneurs that have been out there longer Speaker 0
and Speaker 2
that have more assets under management. So what how do you differentiate yourself? Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
How do you you know, when you're dealing with an RIA that gets fifty phone calls from different sponsors every week Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And they just ignore all of them, your emails, your how do you create a personal connection? Speaker 0
Sure. But we're Speaker 2
trying to get really creative about breaking out into that Mhmm. And then making sure we have things like our first loss protection that that make us unique. Speaker 0
Sure. You know, Speaker 2
it's really like that's the thing with money raising is if you're in a sea of similar funds Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
With others that have longer track records, more assets under management. How do you set yourself apart? Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
That's a big challenge, you know, and we're we think about it every day. Speaker 0
Got it. I I typically lead with this question, but I skipped it. But I'll ask it now. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you personally? Speaker 2
I think that people look at my life, and they think she must have been raised in a really great you know, she must have had a really great childhood with a lot of advantages that were given to her. I I think if they don't know my story, I think think people don't make any assumptions that that's not the life that I had Speaker 0
Mhmm. Mhmm. Speaker 2
And that I gotta start not based on really hard work for me Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Because I'm seeing myself very carefully, but that that life was easier for me, and that's why I'm where I am today. Speaker 0
Right. Got it. If you could try any any career that's not related to what anything you've done, what would that be? Speaker 2
It would be travel related. I I really, so many people come to me. They're they're like, I've got a million American Express miles. Like, what do I where points? What do I do with these? Because they just don't know how to use them. So, like, I've helped so many people plan amazing trips. So I don't know. That's fun for me because it adds value. Like, travel to me is so important. So it's like Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
If people can have these memorable trips, you know, once in a lifetime trips that become every couple of years where you think it's once in a lifetime, but if you learn how to use the currency Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
You can travel a lot more. Speaker 0
Yeah. It's really good. Back to professional your professional world. You mentioned how you like to operate with integrity. What's something that you've seen in the the real estate space specifically that's controversial and, you know, where people maybe aren't operating with integrity? Speaker 2
Well, I think that all the advertisements that you see, especially on social media Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
That are promising these crazy returns. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
You know? And then there's also, I think, a lack of integrity when people are advertising gross returns. Speaker 0
Mhmm. I Speaker 2
like that. Not building in anything in relation to what do you actually get from the investment, and they're hooking people in. Speaker 0
Mhmm. And Speaker 2
there's too many people that are out there that are just in this whole mindset of get rich quick, and they make really poor decisions. And there's always going to peep be people out there wanting to take advantage of people like that. Speaker 0
That's a that's a great answer. Looking forward, what are some emerging challenges that you think real estate investors should be on the lookout for, whether they're passive or active investors? Speaker 2
I think that diversification again is key because, like, did anyone expect the tariff threat, the extreme tariffs pulling it back, threatening it, pulling it back, market volatility. Speaker 0
Or or or Speaker 2
Political challenges. We just don't know. You know? What can come out of the woodwork that could imp COVID office buildings. You know, a really great example who expected a pandemic and who expected everyone to have to work from home and then the office buildings sit there empty. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
So, you know, it's diversification is key across lots of different asset classes of real estate. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
Just because you cannot predict. Even nobody has a crystal ball, but it's even, like, more we're we're more at risk of political changes than we probably have ever been before. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And that can definitely impact certain sectors of real estate. Speaker 0
For sure. Alright, Mariah. What is one question that you wish I'd asked that I have not asked? Speaker 2
I think you did a great job. I can't think of when. Speaker 0
I asked that one just so that I get a a compliment of Speaker 2
Yeah. See. Speaker 0
Just kidding. Just kidding. Where can our listeners find you online? Speaker 2
So, the best way to find the company is lukerum dot com. So it's l u k r o m dot com. K. And then I my name's kind of a different spelling, but you can reach me by email. It's m e r r I a h at lukewarm dot com. Or you can just go on our website, and my email's on there. Speaker 0
Fantastic. Anything else you wanna mention, before we wrap up? Speaker 2
No. This was fun. I really appreciate you inviting me. Speaker 0
Thank you for joining us. I really appreciate your time. I know it's valuable, and we appreciate the listener for spending your time with us. And please head over to our website. It's adversity to abundance, the number two, adversity to abundance dot com, and, check out other episodes as well. And please share this episode with a friend. We appreciate it. Thank you all. Take care. Thank you. Thank you for joining us Speaker 1
on from adversity to abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey. For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w dot adversity to abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire. 
