 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community matters here. And we are back. Welcome to the Prince of Investing Show. I'm your host, Prince Dice, coming all the way from the beautiful state of Hualulua, Hawaii. So, as you guys can see, this is Episode 5, and we still haven't gotten cancer. That's crazy, right? Man, we're just trucking right along. But thank you guys for all you guys that have supported the show so far. We've got tremendous feedback. We love what you guys had to say. And we're going to keep it going. But as always, I don't have a lot of time, and I definitely know you guys don't have a lot of time, so we're going to jump straight into it. So, as you guys can see into the, as you guys can see in the title, in the description box, we're going to be talking about real estate, and real estate investing, and a lot of people ask, hey, should I get into real estate, or how can I get into real estate, and all the great stuff like that. But as always, you know I'm going to bring an expert, right? Today with me here live, calling in front of Bahamas, we've got Mr. Michael B. Roberts. So, for you guys who don't know who Mr. Michael B. Roberts is, Mr. Michael B. Roberts is a notorious in real estate. Right now, he's calling in front of Bahamas. He's the largest African-American developer, real estate developer in the Bahamas. He has purchased television stations, malls, theaters, all type of great stuff, all across the world, hotels, you know, hotels, all type of great stuff. So, he immersed into the game of real estate, and he's also a lawyer by trade. And I'm honored to have him here today, but enough of hearing me talk, and hearing me talk about him. Mr. Michael B. Roberts, how are you doing today? Hello, how are you? I'm doing pretty good, I'm doing pretty good. I'm glad to have you here today, and to stop by and to join us today, and to talk to us about real estate. Now, you're locally there in Bahamas. How is everything going in the Bahamas right now? Watching the weather forecast, you know that we have Hurricane Irma heading this way. We think that it's going to stay a little south of the Nassau area, but it could hit the southwest portion of the Bahamas, because it has 700 items, and it's spread out pretty far. But it's, you know, this is Hurricane Alley. It's that time of the year, the trade winds bring them. And what can I say? You know, you enjoy the beauty and the comfort, but you also have to, time to time, put up with the challenges. But isn't that how life is? You know, so frequently, you know, life relates primarily to your, and your choices in life. And, you know, building a business is like building your life. Well, life can be basically a do-it-yourself kit, only you can build your life. But like a contractor in the real estate business, you know, a contractor builds a building, building one nail at a time, one board at a time. And, you know, it's your attitude and choices that help you build your life for tomorrow. And, you know, therefore, it is important for you to not make, you know, foolish decisions. You know, remember, you know, you can't exactly go back to the beginning, that's past, but you can affect today, you know, how things may end up for you. So in my book, Action Has No Season, you know, I speak so frequently about people going into life and business opportunities, fulfilling their dreams in real estate. I always ask the first question, if you have a dream in real estate, what's the first thing you have to do? Well, that is when you have to wake up. And then you need to stand up and you need to sit up and just think about what you're going to do and then pursue it. And don't let too many people, you know, hold you back. As I said, you know, you wake up, you sit up and you stand up and then you get busy going after the business and sometimes you have to tell those friends and family members who are reluctant to go into business because they saw some other person or some other family member possibly who didn't make it. You know, they try to dissuade you. They'd rather for you to get a job working for somebody versus building your own business and setting a course that will change the outcome of your life. And that is through entrepreneurship. So I tell people all the time, sometimes you have to wake up, sit up, stand up, and then you have to tell some of those folks in your way just to shut up and get out of your way. That is very true. And one of the things that you said, right, well, my first time meeting you in person was back in Miami, right? And I grabbed the book that you're talking about that I have right here live with me in the studio. Action has no season, right? And I was on a flight to Tokyo and I read the whole book. And when I read the whole book, I was just thrown back like, wow, I didn't know you had done all of this stuff in the real estate industry, you know, becoming a lawyer, buying your first property, buying your neighborhood, then turning it into malls and TV stations and cell phone towers and the story about going to New Jersey and all of this stuff that you had done in the real estate. And you put a lot of, you know, the thing I like about your book is a lot of people, like you said, a lot of people become rich from writing a book about telling people how to become rich. You and your brothers built a billion-dollar empire, right? And once you did it, then you wrote the book about it, telling people, hey, this is what I've done and this is how I did it. And a lot of people today, a lot of millennials that are tuning in today, they got the question, you know, should I even get involved in real estate right now? Or if I want to get into real estate, where do I start? What do you have to say to them? I say to them that real estate is probably and always has been the safest project to take on as the emerging entrepreneur, notwithstanding the tech industry and a variety of other new emerging businesses that maybe we can talk to just near the end of the show. I started with real estate. Yes, when I finished law school, I moved two blocks from the projects in St. Louis where I'm from, where I live. And, you know, I started looking around and there was property that people had basically abandoned that you can get for a little of no money, and I had no money at the time. So you buy it, you put in some sweat equity, meaning you work on it yourself and you find people who can help you on the heavy lifting, you know, like electrical and plumbing and things like that. The hanging draw wall or even the demolishing part of it. You know, you have to get in there and do it yourself. It's better for you to learn it. And once you've learned it, as you have become more successful and you add more properties to your portfolio and you have others doing the work of these, when you walk in and look at it, you can determine whether or not the work is being done correctly or not. So, you know, one must take on their opportunities as a millennial as it comes forward. For example, a few years ago, I looked into Detroit, Michigan, and everybody was turning their backs on Detroit in 2010. There was a hotel there that I thought was in a great location. It's on the Detroit River. It was an Omni hotel, and Omni decided they were going to leave Detroit. They were fed up with the political corruption and all of the other considerations that were going on in Detroit. You know, the auto industry was at a low. It was still, you know, involved with the great recession. But I was able to see beyond, you know, what was the apparent present scenario and, as a future, sort of look into where this is going to be. And at a great discount, I bought the hotel. I renovated, reopened it because it had actually been boarded up. And now it does very well. But it's really, it's not just a hotel deal. It's really a real estate deal. Buying choice property in the right location can draw great benefits, but you have to stay with it and grow with it and help others within the community grow so that it's the proverbial, you know, rising tide lifts our ships. So I think that real estate is a very important play. Start simple with one or two homes that maybe you could buy for back taxes. There's a number of ways to approach that. And you can get it for a little nothing. And then you have to be creative in your financing. You know, you can borrow money against it to a degree, which you may have to look at the angel investors and family of friends who might be able to team up with you for those first couple of properties. And once you do that, you begin to build your, you know, your financial statement because you will show a stronger asset than zero, which is surely what you have, especially if you just have a simple job. So what I did was I started buying properties in the neighborhood and then eventually I moved more into the commercial space. In this case, it was back in the day when Sears was moving out of black communities all over the country. And I stepped in. My brother and I, we bought the old building and we turned those Sears building into an enclosed mall. We segmented the floor into sections and hallways and ended up with about 50 tenants in there. So, and we've done that also with schools. A lot of public schools have closed in a conceal. We took on a very interesting project where we took a school which has high ceilings, a lot of windows, and usually plenty of parking, which would one time have been a playground. So those are the bases by which the property, I mean, it was their solid buildings, most of these schools. So then, you know, you just sort of creatively look at how can you convert those into loft departments and condos. So there's a lot of creative ways to take on the real estate business venture. And, you know, if it's commercial, if it's retail, I mean, even people are like, one of the things I did was we bought some buildings in downtown St. Louis. We went to almost three city blocks and sold off a lot. We built a tall, high-rise, beautiful, all-glass building. Sold it. Kept a couple of buildings that were, you know, multi-level, warehouse-type buildings that are now loft departments that I rent out. So, you know, it's a stable and a stabilizing approach to one's business portfolio. So I encourage folks to really consider looking at the low-hanging fruit, especially in the cities that are working to recover it. Baltimore is a good one. St. Louis is one. Detroit's good. But I think you'll find in most urban areas that there's locations and pockets that can still be acquired before a re-justification takes place. Wow. Okay. Now, you said a lot there. From buying old schools, that's a, I've never heard anybody do that, but hey, that's real estate, right? So from buying old schools to buying, you know, buying up, you know, blocks and city blocks and stuff like that, you made a very crucial point there. You said, hey, you know, because a lot of people, they look around, they say, well, is this a good time to get in real estate? Should I get it now or should I wait? But you made a very crucial point where you said, maybe I was leaving Detroit, I went to Detroit, you know, and you said, hey, Baltimore, you know, where things are not looking too good, then you can go in there and possibly get a low-hanging fruit. But one, you touch bases on one of the key pieces that I said a lot of people have a problem with, right? You said, hey, you know, first, you get your first piece of property, maybe a house or two, right? And you maybe look at family members or maybe some angel investors that would maybe help you into getting that security and that first property. But what do you have to say to the person that says, you know, my network, I don't qualify for a bank loan, you know, my credit is not the best, you know, my friends and family don't believe in me, but I really want to do this, I really have the drive to do this, where do I go? What would you tell that person? They need to build a better relationship with the friends and family. If they have bad credit, it's probably their fault. I'm not saying they should hold you back because we've all had those problems. But, you know, there are situations when you can buy something for a little of nothing. It's choices. I mean, I've seen people go out to fancy dinners and have drinks and waste an awful lot of money partying when, in fact, you know, they can spend a little more time besides the money and get into some investments. So, you know, one has to correct, you know, some of the challenges. And I'm not one that tells anyone to look backwards. You know, I think you should always look forward and learn from those experiences that may have put you in a bad position, but don't be, you know, shackled by those experiences, what money means. You know, find a way to get the financing or to build it out yourself. You know, like, honestly, there are some buildings you can buy for a dollar in some cities at a less, but you also have to get busy doing something in there. So, you have to find a way to get in and, again, sweat equity, get some friends together, maybe two or three people together who have the same interests, but not a lot of money, but combine you have enough money and try to bring on the partnership and work it that way. That would be my recommendation. All right. Guys, right here, we're going to take a quick commercial break and you guys stay tuned right here to the Prince of Investing right here on Think Tech Hawaii. After this quick commercial break, you guys don't move muscle. We've got more with real estate and Mr. Michael V. Roberts. Aloha. I'm Tim Appachaw, host for Moving Hawaii Forward, a show dedicated to transportation issues and traffic. We identify those areas where we do have problems in the state, but also the show is dedicated to trying to find solutions, not just detail our problems. So, join me every other Tuesday on Moving Hawaii Forward. I'm Tim Appachaw. Thank you. Ted Rawson here, folks. You're a host on Where the Drone Leads, our weekly show at noon on Thursdays here on Think Tech, where we talk about drones, something to do about drones, remotely piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, whatever you want to call them, emerging into Hawaii's economy, educational framework, and our public life. We talk about things associated with the use, the misuse, technology, engineering, legislation with local experts as well as people from across the country. Please join us noon on Thursdays and catch the latest on what's taking place in the world of drones that might affect you. Welcome back, guys, to the Prince of Investing. Right here live was Mr. Michael V. Roberts, the American entrepreneur that has gone around and built a billion-dollar empire off of real estate and a number of other things. If you guys just tune it in, you guys miss what he's talked about, a lot of crucial points that he hit on in his books, Action Has No Season, and he spoke about all the great things of how he started from little to nothing and slowly built his empire in ways that you should do things that's kind of starting from nothing. Now, going forward in the future, a lot of us today, we say, we know there's times of changes. Let's say, for a prime example, a lot of you guys who have found me or discovered me from my podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, those things wasn't here 15, 20 years ago, but they're here now. How am I able to do this today and get around the globe? It's technology. It's new emerging markets. When we look at the game of real estate, when we look at people, when we look at people move throughout the park, everybody's looking down on their phones. Everybody is on social media these days, not everybody, but a good bit of people. So we know that we live in an evolving and a changing world. So one thing I want to ask yourself is, Mr. Roberts is outside of real estate, we know you've been extremely successful at that. Listening to any millennials out there, what do you think about these new things or things that aren't arising, things like your Bitcoin, things like your marijuana, things like your artificial intelligence, things like that, what do you think about that and what would be your advice to a new... If you was looking back and you was a 24-year-old, Mr. Michael B. Roberts at that time, what would you do? Well, I think that's a good question and as a futurist, you know, what I did, for example, was once I was in the TV business and owned about 12, I sold some when I saw that they were moving us from analog to digital, and as a result, I jumped into what's called the PCS, which is what we now know as digital phones. I built a phone company, it was the only African-American I ever built one, took it public, and ultimately sold it to spread, kept the towers because I realized the towers are vertical real estate and all they wanted was spectrum. So I would sell the spectrum, keep the stores and the real estate and the towers, and then ultimately tell those to American towers in that business. So frequently, when you have assets, you have to, and people buying them, look at what they really want to buy and not necessarily sell everything because you may not have to, and still receive the same money. Speaking of money, I think we have to look at what is the future form of currency that will be existing at some point in the not-too-distant future. Well, let's first define currency. What is currency? Originally currency may have been when I had a barrel of corn and you had three chickens, and we exchanged it. It was a border, but it was also our currency, that eventually we decided that something that we would choose, these rocks, and these rocks became our currency. Now, most people call these rocks gold, silver, rubies, and diamonds, but they're basically rocks, right? So what am I saying? When currency becomes a state of mind, it became an accepted concept. Eventually it turned to actual money, metal coins, and today it's fiat money, which is paper money, which doesn't even, you know, operate on the gold standard per se anymore. In other words, there's not much you could do with a dollar bill other than try to buy something where people will accept a dollar bill as a form of currency. Well, in the future, you know, if the whole concept of banking, lawyers, and when keeping data, will all take place across something called the blockchain, and the blockchain is basically an electricity on every transaction in the world that will become the, actually will eventually replace the internet as we know it today. I'm going to start blowing some minds. Now, the currency is called cryptocurrency. There's about a thousand different cryptocurrency coins that are out here. People know the Bitcoin, they may know Ethereum, the Litecoin, Ripple, and some of the other different coins that are out here. One of the things that I'm doing is I'm going to create a coin to allow for those who are listening now to have a special entry-level price. It's like a, instead of an initial coin offering, ICO will call it. It's like an IPO, which is what companies use to raise money, but an ICO is used to raise money in order to build the protocol. And when my coin is complete pretty soon, it's going to be called the Action Coin. And the Action Coin, where if you buy in at the very low entry-level price, you'll receive what's called tokens. And after the protocol is established and put in place, then it will convert to coin. Now, coin in this term isn't a real metal thing. It's a digital number with a key or a lock. And in the future, your phone will be your wallet. All your transactions will take place through your wallet. And you'll buy and sell as a result of that using the blockchain as the verification of the transaction, which will allow me to buy something there in Hawaii or in Singapore through the blockchain because it is impervious to hackers. It allows those transactions to be monitored by hundreds if not thousands of computers all over the world monitoring each transaction in the world. And that will be the future. And eventually, those of us who understand how these coins are working will make millions of dollars. For example, the Bitcoin started at less than a penny. And when it started in 2009, there's only 21 million of those that are created and there won't be any more. And they're released periodically for sale. They were originally used in what we call the dark debt. A lot of the illegals were using this as their form of currency. That began to shut down and became more mainstream. In fact, you can go to Amazon and buy items with Bitcoins today. But let's look at the rise of the value of Bitcoin. Bitcoin started at less than a penny. In January of this year, it was around $800. By March, it had exceeded an ounce of gold valuation over $1,200. Just a few weeks after that, about a month after that, it went to $2,600 and $36. And anybody who wants to look at it very quickly, you can see it's right at $4,000 or maybe $4,200 for a coin. In fact, there was a student who, when the first Bitcoin and the blockchain piece came out, he had $100 and he bought a whole lot of these coins. Years later, he didn't realize that he had forgotten when he wrote his paper and he bought the coins. And when he evaluated how many he had, that $100 was worth, now, $870,000. Wow. Now, the thing I have about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, I definitely think society in the world would kind of move it into that direction as far as direct deposits and the money and stuff like that. We're slowly getting away from our current way of exchanging money. So, now, when you look at it going forward, it's a ton of coins out there, like you said. It's a ton of coins and you've got regulations, you've got government that has to play a role in it. How does one, for example, say, hey, how do I get involved with this or how do I know which one is the right one and it's a good one? All these coins are going to be around two to five years from now? Or what? How do I get started? Should I just wait? What would you say to that person? Well, let's go this way. First of all, it's non-regulated. There is no regulations on it at this point. There may be some day, but because it's a global currency and not a, you know, if you could buy a Bitcoin and use it in Japan, you can use it in the United States, it doesn't matter. There may be some restrictions eventually, but it doesn't restrict the value. Let me give a quick comparison. If you had $100 and you could buy, you know, a share of General Motors or a Bitcoin and the General Motors stock has been moving at its old pace, but it's steady in the sense that it's a solid company. But what do you really have when you buy a share of General Motors? You don't even get a certificate anymore. It's just a statistical number that your broker holds. And when you ask them to sell it, they have to find a buyer. Same thing is true in the cryptocurrency world space. Frankly, everybody listening, just go and learn about it. Yes, my mission here is is a convention to do anything other than become educated and recognize at least that I am going to put out a coin that if you contact and send your emails to Prince, you know, he will be able to get you on the list as an early preferred purchaser. Okay. It will have your email in the new room. You'll see a web page and a white paper on it. And Prince, it's like any other investment. Do not put a penny in that you can't afford to lose. You have to understand disclaimers mean just that. If you buy a share of stock and the market drops again, like it did in 0809 and it just sunk, it could happen. And there's nothing you can do about it. Regulations can't do anything about it. It's just evaluation just drops. If there's a report that a company has done something that may affect its stock value, it's just going to happen. The thing is true with the risk of a coin. Ultimately, like I said, the Bitcoin started in less than a penny. Now it's one of them, just one is worth over $4,000. Wow. And there are those that believe it will go to $10,000 within the next few years. And there are those who have even made incredibly large comments like over a million for one coin. Wow. That's just predictions. But what's real is the fact that the thing is rising. Now, could it drop? Yes, of course it could drop. And everybody's probably saying, well, I wish I knew about this when it was at $800. Well, at $800 you were probably saying, would you just say, I don't know. Where is this going to go? Well, there are several coins that are out there that are at a couple of hundred or less. They just haven't been as well known as the Bitcoin. But like Ethereum is another, they're either coin, it does okay, it's about $300. Some of the other ones are like $25. But $25 may not be so bad if you only pay $0.50 for it. You follow me? Mr. Roberts? Because we got to get out of here shortly, you know. But everybody out there, you hit a lot on Bitcoin, you hit a lot on real estate, and people want to get in contact with you. Because, you know, I love every time I speak with you and you give so much knowledge, but you know, we'll have so much time here on the show currently. How would you tell everybody out there, how could they get in contact with you? Well, if they go to ActionAres.com, that's, as you know, ActionAres is the word that I coined in my book. It's one who takes their ideas, their dreams, their vision, their perspective, their passion, and they pursue them with courage and confidence and with bravado. But if you look up ActionAres on Facebook or you look up ActionAres.com, and that's ActionAres A-C-T-I-O-N A-I-R-E-S like Action on the front end and me and Aaron on the back end, ActionAres. There's locations for them to be into their their information preferably their email address so that if they want to get notices from us on our Facebook page ultimately once we kick this off then they could be included. Otherwise they should just contact you and eventually what we'll do is take your database and then send out the information through you and that way you can stay in the mix and your listeners and viewers can be loyal to you which is important. Thank you for plugging me in like that. I definitely appreciate looking out for a little old me. I try to make it so I definitely appreciate it. Guys, as you guys already know this is the Prince of Investor. We got Mr. Michael B. Roberts. He gave you the contact information. Thank you. Don't forget every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Hawaii time 5 p.m. Eastern right here on Think Tech Hawaii until the next week. Peace. Be safe. I'm out and thank you.