Understanding The Real Estate Market with Brady McDonald and Casey Quinn

This is Wake Up To Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham.
We are back today with another episode of Wealth, and I am super fortunate because I got two of my homies, two of the smartest dudes I know in the real estate space, Brady McDonald and Casey Quinn. And we were at an event today together that we all spoke at.
So I get the privilege of having both of them here at the same time. We're having a threesome.
Welcome, Jeff. Same damn time.
Nothing better than a threesome with you fellas, boys. Were you going to talk about horses or what?

I would say I would use smartest guys very loosely when you've got me in the group. Right.
Yeah. So people who don't know who you guys are, who are you? Good.
Go ahead. There you go.
All right. Brady McDonald from Canada, but live in Florida.
So I cut my teeth in real estate, doing multifamily developments in Canada, and then came down to the U.S. in 2022.
We do storage and car wash, land development, land flipping, and do hard shit. That's Michael's notes.
I love that. Production-wise, this might be a little difficult since we didn't really prepare to be on the same side of the mic here.
But Casey, accounting nerd from Pittsburgh, PA, built a pretty big portfolio in a short period of time, but taking massive action using numbers and back office to be able to leverage real estate from a debt perspective to scale a portfolio and begin to get myself around the right people to learn and educate myself on how to scale. So one of the things we can talk about is like the struggle always seems to find a way to show up no matter where you're at in your life.
And you guys both recently, you know, great operators run great businesses, but you guys found your both you guys found yourself on on the side of shit being fucked up.

And you guys were in not great spots and you had to make very quick decisions.

And I mean, we're talking about on the brink of shit being really bad to millions of dollars in profit in a short period of time.

Right. Just, you know, I'd love for both of you to take, just walk us through that mindset of where you were at and how you overcame it.
Yeah, absolutely. I can start to, right? So, you know, about a year, year and a half ago, you know, we were in a situation where we were continuing to build wealth by investing in long-term real estate assets.
And so as we continue to do that, we continue to build equity, but cashflow was always one of the struggle points. We're continuing to be able to scale the company because the market was so hot and so good.
And so we're able to scale cashflow wise, enterprise value wise, portfolio wise. All of a sudden, right, the market took a deep turn and we were not able to cash flow.
And so our model, which was building long term equity and wealth in real estate, flipped itself on the head overnight.

All of a sudden, we were going into the whole $150,000 every single month.

The ego side of me said, no problem.

We can outgrow this thing.

We've just got to pivot and scale revenue.

And at the end of the day, getting myself in the right room really allowed me to kind of drop the ego and understand you can't outgrow that. You have to know and understand the game that you're playing, the inning that you're in today, what is happening in a market today, and you've got to pivot.
So for us, again, it was not we can't outgrow this thing. We can't outgrow revenue.
So how can we figure out on the cost side in order to be able to get to the margin? The really nice thing for us was we had built such a nice piece of equity on our real estate through building the wealth through investing in that real estate. And we were able to take a quick massive pivot, obviously unleash some of that equity before the market got too bad to make it hard, as well as make some hard decisions internally to cut costs to right size our P&L.
Again, luckily for me, getting around the right people that had an outsider's view and outsider's perspective to be able to look in and say, hey, dude, you're not going to outgrow this thing in revenue. Changed my life.
I had to make the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my entire life, which ultimately was best for our company and for everybody involved on both sides of it. But we did have to make several layoffs within the organization.
Again, hardest thing that I've ever had to do in my life to this day in business, but it turns out it was the greatest thing that we were able to do, really able to right-size, and everybody's better off. We've been able to scale back since.
Yeah. And what about you? Yeah.
So we were in a situation that similar, obviously similar times that caused it. And we were very fortunate that we also had a large portfolio.
So at this point, we had about an $80 million portfolio. And, and part of the challenge, I guess that I got in was, you know, I'm just a massive action taker.
And it's probably one of the things that got us to where we are, obviously, from winning perspective, but it also can be the thing that keeps the blinders on when problems are real, right? And so I went to the U.S., made massive, you know, invested a ton of money, bought a pile of real estate at the peak. I didn't do as much due diligence probably as I should.
And then the market in Canada turned real fast and it went from like sub two interest rates to seven. And the portfolio was bleeding.
We had about 15 million dollars in new construction

developments in the pipeline and there was 800 000 months lots of 300 000 and losses and losses per month and then everything in the u.s wasn't selling you know and it was you know the part of my problem i think was also that i was just you know i was using alcohol to mask the fear and mask the real situation

and like

and eventually I Also, that I was just, you know, I was using alcohol to mask the fear and mask the real situation.

And like, and eventually I just made an internal decision.

I could see within myself I had to make a change.

Yeah.

And it was all kind of came to a head when I knew I had an opportunity that I'd never had before.

And that was a meeting with Ken where I just believed if I was vulnerable and I was real with the situation with him when I walked into that meeting and I made some life choices, like cutting out the booze, that we could fix this. And that's what it was.
So I stopped drinking. I went and saw Kent and came up with a very clear action plan.
And, you know, same with Casey. It's really super important to have, be around the right people and be vulnerable, you know, and be honest and and and just listen and then obviously take massive action.
And the thing about it was that, you know, we couldn't I couldn't see the solution. You know what I thought was the solution was actually creating more problems.
Yeah. Right.
I was trying to create other ways to create businesses and more noise, right. To create more money where, you know, Ken's like, dude, you're, you've got like, you've got a million dollar solutions for a hundred thousand dollar problems.
And the growth of your business is inside of your business. I say all the time.
A hundred percent. Yeah.
You know, just two quick points out of that, right. To his exact point, similar situation for me when I went to Ken.
Ken really helped. Ken and Ken's team really helped.

And by the way, we're talking about Ken Clothier, who coaches all three of us. Yeah.
Right. And so the really cool thing that I'm learning around getting myself in the right rooms, getting around guys like you, is we all face similar problems.
but the really cool thing that we all do is want to take massive action whatever that is that needs

to happen and so we don't know everything. One of the most massive actions we could possibly take is learning and understanding, eliminating ego, like I talked about and saying, hey, I don't know what I don't know.
Right. Let's get the education, whatever that is.
Let's find people that have been there and done that and ask for help. Stick up your hand and say, hey, I need help.
And so I think the problem that you face with some folks that run into chapter 11s and run into bankruptcy or don't actually scale their businesses the right way, we're all going to run into those problems and challenges at some point. We're all going to have to scale back to scale back up at some point.
The people that make those pivots are the people that are realizing they don't know what they don't know and getting the help. The people that don't do that is what really run into the ultimate problems because they let their ego get in the way or they think they know more than they know.

And it just continues to bury them and they're not able to really dig out of that.

Yeah. And, you know, that, you know, you bring up a really good point is so when times get lean, a lot of times where people stop investing is in their self.

Right. They stop coaching or they stop education or they stop going to masterminds or whatever.
And in my opinion, that's actually where you should be doubling down because the lid of your organization is always tied to your own personal development, right? And what happens is you guys did the opposite, right? When time for rough, he said, I'm going to pay a very expensive coach because he knows more than I do. And, but what it did is it compressed time where maybe the fee seems expensive to the outsider, but to you guys, it was a bargain.
Yeah. Let me, let me, let me add to that point really, really quick, because I think I'm a very good example of someone that didn't necessarily believe that for a long period of my life.
I always equated that back to college. You know, I played football at college, and then it was, you know, massive fraternity sorority world on campus.
And I used to always say, dude, I can make my own friends. I don't need to pay for for this shit and so then when i kind of got in this entrepreneurial world and we're scaling a company and like you know the ego started growing we're starting to do okay early on the concept was someone like keep my head down keep focused i'm not gonna i don't need to you know the mastermind comments and things are coming i don't need to pay for my friends well i don't need to join a call i don't need to do those things you know and i realized at one point no i need help right like I just don't know what I don't need to pay for my friends.
Well, I don't need to join a cult. I don't need to do those things.
You know, and I realized at one point, no, I need help, right? Like, I just don't know what I don't know. And then I joined because I knew I needed help.
And then the world opened, right? Then it's like, holy shit, this isn't just, this has nothing to do with paying for friends. I'm paying for education, but I'm also getting opportunities, getting all of these different things.
And it's literally changed my life, changed my life completely. completely yeah so the other thing i said i i like to say this a lot and i believe it i think a lot of things are energy and energy is transformed transferred and i think what happens too is when you get in these rooms you meet your frequency we us three even three, even though you're a nerd, we still have a similar frequency, right? So at its core, your frequency and my frequency are the same.
We may go about it, same with you. We may go about it differently, like you're a Steelers fan as an example, but it is a frequency that is the same and then what happens when you get around your frequency and i've i've believed this you you get around another one that's your frequency someone else and then it doubles and then and then it magnifies and then you magnify each other one plus one is four fucking right yeah and then all of a sudden you're doing really cool shit because it's like, you know, this frequency that you've met is doubling and tripling your own frequency and it just becomes a game changer.
And I think that's one of the things that people underestimate sometimes is, you know, you can be one mastermind, one phone call, one coaching call away from completely changing your life, but you're scared to take that risk or you're scared to spend the money or whatever, especially when your back's against the wall. But man, I've met almost every single one of my business partners or where I've gotten to the next level was getting in a room where I met that person that was my frequency, right? Yeah.
Can I comment to that too? Because I think it's not just, can I spend the money? I think we and myself and probably you and you at some point, right? Like all of us, it's also an imposter syndrome thought process of like, if I pay that money, can I execute to get the value out of that spend? It's the same when I buy real estate, I always call it, I have a perfect standard deviation right when i invest in people the sky's the limit or it's gonna be a dud and the same thing goes for ourself i'm making this massive investment myself am i going to be able to get the return out of that and so i question myself there right and i've got to get over that hump yeah see for me i just know that i'm such a high action taker that I'm willing to do the work regardless. And we all are.
Right. And so what I love about having a coach and being around other people is like if somebody just gives me the guidance and sees what I don't see, but just tells me what they think I should do.
Like I'll get it done faster than anybody else. Yeah.
And in that, that's what I believe. I know that in me and I just need to be around the right people did you always have that mentality did you always think i was terrified the very first time that i ever paid twenty thousand dollars for my high ticket coach but that was the that was the outcome because he's just like fuck you are like there's not nothing i won't do there's nothing i won't get done twice as fast as most and almost to a detriment like you can kind of get sidetracked too so now knowing that you got to stay focused well you're going to move fast and break shit yeah and you can kind of go sidetrack too if it's like of course right object yeah but i learned at that time and once you're working with high ticket coaches or high performing coaches and they give you that feedback i'm like fuck i'll invest 100 grand get good advice because I know I'm going to pull $10 million of value out of it.
100%. So here's a good example of that, is getting in the rooms of being intentional, is us three is an example, right? I'm working with you on some cool stuff, which is going to lead to a lot of shit i already know that but um it wasn't it wasn't just that you know like one of the things that i took from you was the um the pie stuff you had on everyone's doors um i fucking love that so we're doing that at our company because i'm a big believer in communication and everybody communicates differently and hey if you can before you walk in someone's, if you can understand how they communicate, you're going to be able to communicate better with them.
Right. So I showed up to your place to help you with something, but I took away massive value, right? You and I got to hang out in Yellowstone.
You came and spoke on, both of you guys came and spoke on a stage for me today. So, I mean, that's, that's the example of what can happen and how fast fast shit can change when you get in the right room you get around the right people yeah i think you mentioned a good point there the one word intention yeah right like i i said this on stage uh earlier today that i intentionally you guys invited me to stay in yellowstone i call my wife and i'm like listen you know and she's cool about it but you know i'm like i listen like i said the reason i'm staying is because i want to be around brandon and obviously the gear hearts are my friends yeah but you know i love them to pieces but i wanted to be around you right and it's just that intention that time we spent together created that that trust and that bond that you know again to like three weeks later you know we're on stage together and, just deepening that relationship, who knows where it's going to go, right? But its intention is a huge fucking thing.
Yeah, 100%. Another thing that's really cool that you just did that a lot of human beings aren't going to do, and now you got him fucking climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest.
But you ran a 100 mile in 22 hours, right? Yeah. A hundred mile marathon.
Yeah. Like what the fuck? Yeah, man.
I mean, it wasn't really, I would never have fucking thought I was going to do this six months ago. Yeah.
You know? Um, but you know, it all started about a year ago when I saw Jesse Itzler do Ultraman, which is this crazy three day thing. And I thought, fuck, if he could do it, I can do it.
And because I just, I knew he's super successful and I wanted to know how he got the brain. Right.
And I started making the connections to doing really hard shit to the success. And so I started going down that path and I was super intentional about getting close to him.
And then I hired his coach because I'm like, whoever got him to do that is what it's going to help fix me too right and i had my own issues and stuff and drinking and things right and i saw the connection to becoming a better human by doing these hard things i became a better dad a better communicator a better husband a better better business and i was just showing better showing up better for the community and myself too and uh so you know we started training for a 50 mile back in may uh actually march and i did 50 miles in may may 20th ended up three days in the hospital but i realized in that after 48 000 bill my wife said you could never run again like you're fucking done i'm like yeah whatever you know i'm talking to my coach and uh you know within um uh two weeks of that did the mount ever simulation climb and right after that we decided that we're gonna do 100 miles to raise 100 grand for charity and and my coach was all in and you know and it was three months of training and it was by far the hardest fucking thing i've ever done it was spiritual i've kind of talked to you about this offline like which i really dig that yeah dude it was out of body experience really separating your mind from your body and like it was weird like i was running you know mile 70 to 100 took seven and a half hours seven hours probably still but i just feel remember just kind of like hovering over my body and watching all these guys and girls running with me there with my crew and just feeling the love yeah and let me add something to that too right because you you mentioned that he you know inspired me and now i'm going to be climbing the equivalent of mount everest with him in this coming summer which you know for me i'm not i don't like running i don't like that kind of stuff but what really resonated with me and you know you didn't say today but you said it in the past which was i don't like running and so because for me when like i found out you're going to do that and heard about all that i'm like oh this is probably run or whatever and i kind of rushed it off 100 miles is insane for sure but like it's probably a runner right like it's not as hard for a runner to do that and so to me what that was was justification or rationalization in my head and once i realized and heard him say you know I don't like running you know it's something bigger than me I want to do hard shit that's what inspired me to say you know what like I need to do some hard shit mentally there's nothing to do with anything other than really putting myself in a situation to do hard shit yeah it's about becoming the best version of us right or for me it is that's what it's about and i just running is a very easy thing to do anywhere right so and it puts you into such a hard position constantly that you can only become better if you're going to continue to put one step in front of the other yeah so two things you guys just said and i can't take credit for this because my performance coach, John Cheplak, I've coached with him for 10 years. And one of the things that he programmed me early about doing hard shit, right? So John is almost 60, and he looks like he's 30.
And one of the things that – and John talks about how he hates going to the gym. I don't particularly like going to the gym either.
I like the result. I remember a long time ago, he said, here's what I want you to program you to do mentally.
When you pull up to the gym, you don't feel like it, or you got to make the next call or, you know, whatever it is, it's like, man, it's, it's, it's gut wrenching fear. And you just hard as fucking.
fucking you just don't want to do it he said uh you've got to call me and tell me what's going through your head from a standpoint of i'm not going to do it right because he knows he's gonna tear my ass and he said not only that you gotta your your significant other the people you lead whatever you got to stand up in front of them this is the mental exercise and what you're thinking in your head you have to say it out loud to them and uh like i don't feel like going to the gym or i don't feel like making this sales call or i'm afraid that i'm going to get rejected in this deal or whatever. And he said, anytime you get that negative thought,

I want you to place that thought into your head that you have to say that in front of the people that you lead and the people that you love.

It's one of the most powerful things he ever taught me.

And so people underestimate the power of consistency.

It's like.

You don't quit,

right?

Yeah.

You think,

you think the fucking magic pill is some,

you know,

me,

Brady and Casey are in the fucking Illuminati and we got the fucking secret that y'all don't have no i literally just gave it to you that's the secret yeah and it doesn't have to be like this consistency people like i talked about this on stage but like you know a lot of people focus on the deal and the money and like the consistency really just needs to be coming within like focus on your fucking body 100 if you can just wake up every fucking day go to the gym five days a week if that the one skill that teaches you consistency that's what's going to teach you how to win in business 100 because it's going to make you overcome so much hard shit by just having that routine because i don't particularly know that many people that are like i want to get up and go to the gym yeah let's fucking go do you know what i mean like it's like fuck i just gotta go yeah yeah um so one of the things that i always ask everybody and i'd like both of your versions of this is we call this show wake up to wealth and we call it wake up to wealth for a reason, but I'd like you both to give me your version of what is waking up to wealth being to you. Yeah.
For me, I mean, I'm just discovering this and I think that's part of this 100, like 100 mile journey and all this hard shit, but it's ultimately, you know, becoming the best version of me. Because once I know that, once I do that, and as I continually become the best version, then I can pour in to my kids, to my wife, to my peers, to my community, you know, and really create impact.
And for me, that's what's waking up to the best version of me. You know, I realized that, you to you know win for this person first so i can just pour out to the fucking world like become the best savage person for everybody else and that's that's what it means to me i love that what i would say for me it's you know it might sound a little cliche but at the end of the day it's about chasing happiness what are the point what's the point of living right If we're not happy at the end of the day, we're all going to die.
We all only have 24 hours. At the end of the day, we're all the same.
And so how can you go about chasing your happiness? Literally the wake up to wealth, right? Wealth is a vehicle to be able to provide opportunities for yourself and for others. And so certainly I'm very interested in attacking that in order to be able to provide myself additional happiness.

And I would be kidding you if I didn't tell you

that I know what that is for me.

What I've learned, you know, because people say,

hey, you know, I want to retire and be on the beach.

You know, I know for a fact I'd be bored after three days.

So that's not it for me.

No doubt.

What it is for me is really waking up

and being on the journey of chasing happiness.

I want to win.

I want to learn.

I want to develop. And it changes.
It's a moving target forever for me. And I think that's what I'm realizing and learning.
And that's my happiness. Because in a year from now, I'm going to be willing to bet you when I wake up to wealth, whatever my answer would be, would be totally different in a year from now.
because the journey over these next 12 months is going to continue to develop me

and continue to allow me to chase whatever that happiness ultimately is for me. And so to me, that's what wake up to wealth means.
Wake up to what it is that you want to do on a daily basis that makes you happy. And by the way, it's incredibly different.
Like my idea of happiness is probably very different than yours and very different than yours. What the word wealth and rich and money does is allow us a little bit of freedom and opportunity to continue to go after that a bit easier as well as help other people.
Right. Help other people find that, which at the end of the day, I think is mostly everybody's dream is to allow other people to have that opportunity.
Maximum fulfillment for us is seeing other people win. And I think that goes, like, nobody likes to see other people.
Very rarely is someone happy seeing other people lose. 100%.
Right, so. Powerful, powerful answers.
Guys, man, it's been a long fucking day, but it's been a great day. It's been a great day.
We've been at an event all day together and we're still hopping on the podcast.

But man, it's been, it's been phenomenal. I appreciate you guys today.

I appreciate you guys coming on the show and you know,

thank you guys for, for doing life with me. This has been, it's been awesome.

Hell yeah, brother. Thank you for having me, man.

Yeah. Glad to be part of, part of your circle, dude.

I echo, I echo the comments for both of you guys. It's an incredible journey we're on together.
I'm so excited. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth.
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