Insider Secrets Podcast Episode #46

Featuring guest: Brian Mitchell

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Guest Bio:

Episode 46 guest Brian Mitchell

Brian graduated college with a Bachelor’s of Science in 2008 from the University of Southern Maine. After working in finance, Brian decided to take a role in the Insurance industry in 2010. His focus is writing insurance programs for one owner landlords to large national syndications companies. In his personal time, he focuses on growing his own real estate portfolio and also hosts a local real estate meet-up group where he lives with his wife and children in Brunswick, Maine. Brian is a strong believer that an investment is only as good as the team managing it and the right insurance program backing it.

Shownotes:

Standout Quotes:

“You have to sit down and ask yourself, what am I good at? What am I passionate about?” – [Mike]

“Siding with somebody that has experience in your field is crucial to building your team” – [Brian]

“Every good investor knows their numbers” – [Mike]

“Any market’s going to provide opportunities… so get out there, meet people, and Network” – [Brian]

“Try to surround yourself with experts, people that are smarter than you in various areas that can really get you to the next level, create a well-rounded team” – [Brian]

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Brian describes himself as ‘Determined’ as it is a key attribute to have in Real Estate, one he applies in his day-to-day life.
  • The great thing about insurance is that you’re transferring risk, and you often can’t transfer risk in a lot of other investments.
  • Brian shares that Real Estate investing, especially multi-family has many aspects to it and is quite a secure form of investment.
  • Interviewing Insurance agents: How long has the insurance agent been in the business? What are the coverages you should look for as a landlord? It is necessary to do some personal research so you can evaluate the kind of answers you’re getting.
  • Coverages that a property owner should have include Property Coverage, Liability Coverage, and Loss of Rental Coverage.
  • There have been no claims being paid for loss of income due to Covid19, as it is not a covered cause of loss spelled out in the policy, and hence is not a viable claim.
  • Brian recommends that investors meet a trusted agent to get an estimate for insurance costs on their property.
  • The 3 elements of Coverage to a Renters’ Policy: Liability, Loss of Use Coverage, and the coverage by the renters for their property.
  • Brian’s view on making high stakes decisions: It’s a gut decision based on experience. Know your numbers, know your area the more, and the more you can trust your gut response.
  • Insider secrets from Brian: Try to surround yourself with experts, people that are smarter than you in various areas that can get you to the next level, create a well-rounded team.
  • Brian expects the market to tighten in 2021, with insurance rates going up.

 

Episode Timeline:

[02:23] About today’s guest ‘Brian Mitchell’, who reviews Real Estate Investing Coverage and how the insurance policy responds, and also Risk transfer.

[03:47] In one word, describe who you are personally and professionally.

[04:36] How did you get involved in the Insurance business?

[06:17] Why are you passionate about Real Estate?

[11:30] Brian describes the importance of his field to a Real Estate investor.

[12:48] What are some of the coverages that a small multi-family owner or syndicator should have?

[17:00] With an LLC agreement, is it still necessary to get Liability Insurance?

[18:18] With the Covid19 pandemic, are people claiming Loss of Rental Insurance, and is it a viable claim?

[19:15] How can an investor price in their minds, a standard insurance policy?

[22:54] Brian’s opinion on making high stake decisions

[23:46] What should an investor be looking out for in today’s market?

[25:00] Brian’s Insider Secret.

[25:49] What’s the insurance market forecast like for the upcoming year?

[27:47] With an insurance policy in place, how often should I expect some kind of insurance inspection of my property?

[32:12] What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

[33:15] How to contact Brian

Phone – 207-841-7371

Email – themitchell@crosagency.com

Transcript:

[00:00:06]Mike: Hey everybody, it’s Mike with insider secrets brought to you by My Core Intentions. It’s Tuesday afternoon. And I am joined today by my guest, Brian Mitchell. Hey Brian, what can the listeners know that they’re going to hear today?

[00:00:21] Brian: Hey guys, you’re going to hear a lot about real estate investing, coverage and how the insurance policy responds as well as transferring risk.

[00:00:30] Mike: Great. Excellent to hear the rest of this show. You’re going to have to tune in, look forward to seeing you soon.

[00:00:36]Kristen: Welcome to this week’s edition of insider secrets. The show that turns multifamily investing into reality. Each show we interview guests who are seasoned professionals, actively closing and managing real estate deals. Your host Mike Morawski has more than 30 years of multifamily real estate investing and property management experience.

[00:00:59] Mike is the founder of my core intentions. And he’s been involved in over $285 million of transactions. Focuses on helping you create short term cashflow and long-term wealth. Here’s your host, Mike.

[00:01:14]Mike: Hey, good afternoon. It’s Mike, your host of insider secrets. And insider secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. I always ask, but Ireally want to know, how are your intentions, have you been thinking about them? Do you know what you really want? Are you crystal clear on it? What’s your why and why does it matter in your life?

[00:01:36]I really want to discover with you your purpose, your WHY. You have to sit down and ask yourself, what am I good at? What am I passionate about? If you took out a piece of paper and wrote those two questions down right now, what answers would you come up with? See at MCI, we invest in our client’s future through an educational and training platform to help you create short-term cashflow and long-term wealth to leave a legacy.

[00:02:04]Empowering you to execute sound real estate investing in property management principles while living a balanced life. For me, I see so many real estate professionals’ life get out of balance because we’re dictated by so many other issues around us. How do we live a more balanced lifestyle?

[00:02:24]Listen, today I’m joined by a guest, Brian Mitchell. Brian, you want to say hi to everybody?

[00:02:29] Brian: Hey, everyone.

[00:02:30]Mike:  I’m glad you’re here today. And I know that we’re going to get into some details of some of the things I just talked about. But listen everybody, here’s a little bit about Brian. Brian graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree of science in 2008 from the university of Southern Maine.

[00:02:47] After working in finance, Brian decided to take a role in the insurance industry in 2010. His focus is writing insurance programs for one owner landlord, to the largest national syndication companies. In his personal time, he focuses on growing his own real estate portfolio and also hosts a local real estate meetup group, where he lives with his wife and children in Brunswick, Maine.

[00:03:14] Brian’s a strong believer that an investment is only as good as the team managing it and the right insurance program backing it. Hey, Brian, I know that some of the things that we talked about there in your bio are so critical. And what I like about having you on the show today is the fact that not only you just sell insurance, but you’re an investor too.

[00:03:38] And I really know that you come from having experience with boots on the ground and knowing what it’s like for the investor. And hopefully we’re going to be able to convey some of that information today. So in one word Brian, here’s what I’d like you to do. Describe who you are personally and professionally?

[00:03:57] Brian: I would say I’m determined. I’m not one that sits still in determination in real estate investing and in my own work on the insurance side of things. Getting out there, meeting people, networking, podcasting, listening to podcasts that best describes who I am.

[00:04:16] Mike: Yeah. And we talked before the show a little bit about you really got to make things happen.

[00:04:21] I think that attitude of being determined is one of the elements, key elements that we need internally to make us go and be able to do that. I liked that about you and others that I have on the show is that passion or desire to move forward. Hey, tell us your backstory a little bit, go into some detail, I kinda covered some things, but how’d you wind up in, sometimes I think this is a crazy business, but how’d you find up here?

[00:04:48] Brian: Yeah. I think that the great thing about insurance is that you’re transferring risk and you often can’t transfer risk and a lot of other investments, your IRA or 401k. You can help mitigate some of the risks by investing in bonds and more secured assets.

[00:05:03] But I really enjoy insurance because, I’m working with my clients and developing a book of business and working with prospective clients in determining what they need for coverage and what they need to do to help shed as much risk as possible. And just like anything you can buy. You can buy anything and everything of whatever program you’re getting yourself into.

[00:05:25] And that’s the same as insurance, you can buy the insurance program that has the most bells and whistles and endorsements that give you coverages for a myriad of things. Or you can strip it down a little bit more and just go with a standard property policy and liability coverages.

[00:05:40]There are a lot of things to talk about in the insurance side of things and it’s an exciting industry to be in. And it’s an industry that allows you to prospect insurance that you’re looking to work with based on your interests. So if I had an interest in CrossFit, I would ensure every CrossFit from here to California.

[00:06:02]My interests are in real estate. So I’ve tried to focus on the real estate sector. And although my book of business is comprised of many different sectors. Real estate is a focus of mine and I believe I can speak well to it.

[00:06:14]Mike: Thanks. And I’m glad that you’re here. With your knowledge and experience about real estate and what you have experienced in the real estate business and insurance. I have a sense that you’re very passionate about it. And why is that?

[00:06:29]Brian: Owning tangible assets it’s just something that I genuinely, I invest in the stock market and I don’t understand it. There’s a lot to it. My financial advisor does a really good job in breaking things down, and I think I’ll still have a stake in the stock markets.

[00:06:43] I think it’s important. Owning cash flow in tangible properties is just exciting to me. I like property. I like owning buildings and understanding the history of buildings and filling it with occupants that are well-vetted and generally good citizens. And I like forming relationships with area plumbers and heating techs and other advisors in this space. And there’s a lot to it and it can be hands-on if you’d like it to.

[00:07:09]I run mine is I manage my own properties myself. But if that isn’t of interest to you, then you can hire a property manager. So there are definitely many ways you can do it. And it’s just so secure. Multifamily in particular is a secure investment. And in my area, there’s housing needs all over and there’s a lot of growth in multifamily.

[00:07:30]For new properties coming up. It’s a secure investment. And for those that like tangible assets, it’s a wonderful thing to invest in.

[00:07:37] Mike: Yeah, it’s certainly the sexiest thing out there right now in real estate investing. Because you’re going to get killed in office or retail or some of the other sectors right now.

[00:07:47] Hey, you said a couple of really important things. Networking, I am a relationship builder and I know you are too. We’ve talked about that and it’s so critical. And what both of us do, I think in the multi-family space, you talked about contractors and having those relationships.

[00:08:03] What are the key components that I teach people in my coaching program is to build relationships and to make sure you have enough people on your team. Who do you think in your space, in what you do both on the real estate and in the insurance side is important to be on your team and in your network?

[00:08:23] Brian: Yeah, I think anybody that can bring a skill set that you don’t have is important to bring on. Bring on an advisor that really knows the legal field. That’s a field that I just don’t know. I didn’t go to law school. But bring somebody that’s well-versed in the legal aspects of a real estate deal that can work as your advisor in law or that can work as a consultant between in work with your attorney that you’ve hired. So anybody that can just strengthen your team in no dead weight, somebody that can come in and offer a service that that you can’t offer. And that to me is how you build a really good team.

[00:09:01] Mike: Yeah. And you said something alluded to something that I think is really important for people to understand is multiple people on the team. And when I just look at the legal field I always have three or four attorneys around me who have different skill sets. So I have that attorney, who’s got a business mind, right? And his business skillset can help you draw up a LLC agreement. And then that attorney who is on the security side, and if you’re doing a syndication or public offering, they can help you drop those PPMS or those private placement memorandum. But then there’s things like taxes. Attorneys that’ll fight your property taxes for you. And then there’s other attorneys that you need to have in your court for the hard things that might come up, any type of a lawsuit or things like that.

[00:09:48] So I think that when we look at building a network and building a team, it’s really important to have different skill sets. And that’s the word that you said that really caught my attention, around you in those fields. Hey, I have to tell a quick story. So you said something about the stock market and, I always have a little bit of money in the stock market.

[00:10:11] And my 15 year old son comes to me and he says, Hey I want to open a trading account. So we talk about it and I tell him, Hey, go do the research and come back, tell me why, sell me on it. And he does. So we wind up opening a trading account. We put some money in a couple of stocks and the stock goes up.

[00:10:30] It goes way up. So we pull the money out. The stock goes down and our ingenious self think that the stocks going to go back up and there’s no rationale explanation for why it doesn’t. But we put money back in and it crashes. So we lose everything that we got and put in not everything, but we took a bath.

[00:10:56] Here’s the lesson in it. I said to my son, what’d you learn? He goes not to be greedy. I thought, wow, what a great lesson. So it was well worth the little bit of money that we lost for him to learn that lesson. So I thought that was, when you said that though, I just felt like I wanted to tell that story because I think it was just really important.

[00:11:17] Hey, let’s get into some meat about your industry and you. A real estate investor, either buying a small multifamily, single family house, or a syndicator doing hundreds of deals. Why is somebody in your industry so important to them?

[00:11:36] Brian: It’s important to side with somebody that can put together a well tailored insurance program because your lender is going to require it.

[00:11:43] Your lender is going to require that the properties are going to be insured to value. Your lenders are going to require some endorsements that will protect them and will protect you as an owner or investor. So it’s important to side with somebody that has experience in real estate in whatever field you’re buying in.

[00:12:00] If you’re buying a laboratory, somebody that has a book of business and is well-versed and ensuring science programs. What you should ask for interviewing agents is, what is your book of business comprised of? How long have you been in the business?

[00:12:15] And what are some of the coverages that I should look for as a landlord. And maybe before you have that conversation, do some research on your own, just to make sure that they’re passing the tests. So starting with somebody that has experience in your field is crucial to building your team and crucial to getting the best bang for your buck.

[00:12:34]Mike: What are some of the coverages that a property owner should have a multifamily owner, let’s specifically. And I think that there’s two sides of that aisle, right? There’s the small multi-family operator. And then there is the large syndicator. What types of coverages should they have? And are they the same?

[00:12:53] Brian: Boy, that’s a good question. Going from a five unit complex to a 500 unit complex, there’s going to be a lot of similarities.  The investor will really want to make sure that they’re working with the agent in developing true replacement cost estimates for the property.

[00:13:10]And this can be done in a myriad of different ways. The MLS listing will likely have some information on the buildings. But what you’ll want to do is go to the town assessor or measure the properties yourself and make sure that the properties you’re reporting the correct square footage. And that agent should have a replacement cost building software, where they could took the square footage.

[00:13:30] They could take the square footage in the characteristics of the property. So it doesn’t have an asphalt roof or is it a slate roof? Does it have masonry siding or is it a collaborative siding? Is it a wood-frame structure? Or is there a non-combustible? And then at that point, the agent can then develop a true replacement cost assessment for your property that they can use on the quote.

[00:13:51] So property coverage is huge because that’s why you’re buying property, and you want to make sure it’s insured correctly. Liability coverage is big too. To protect you from the slips, trips and falls, you will never probably get while owning a property. And making sure you have correct liability limits. Standard general liability limits are typically $1 million per occurrence, but you can buy an umbrella that will go over that $1 million to give you more liability coverage.

[00:14:17] And what I’m seeing a lot from the syndicators that I’m working with is we’ll do the 1 million underlying general liability policy as well as a $5 million umbrella to give them basically 6 million for liability. Business interruption coverage is typically offered with most commercial policies that are out there for restaurants and for movie theaters and for multi-family. In this case it would be loss of rental coverage, where in the event of Sapphire and one of your properties, the tenants had to get displaced because the building was damaged during the period of restoration. The policy will cover you for any loss rents that you would have received. It’s the net income that you would have received had no loss occurred.

[00:15:02] So that is crucial and an important piece to really hone in on. Typically a policy we’ll rate it two different ways at actual loss sustained. So there’s no limitation on the declaration page of the policy. It’s just an ALS actual loss sustained. Or there’s a number that you need to work out with your agent application that you would have to fill out.

[00:15:23]Mike: I have a ton of questions and I hope my listeners today are gaining some insight from this. Cause I think you really have touched on a lot of valuable things. I’ve a couple of questions that are probably quick answer. When you talk about square footage, do you talk about usable square footage, livable or overall square footage?

[00:15:42]A lot of cases you say that buildings a thousand square feet, but you only use 885,000.

[00:15:49] Brian: Right.

[00:15:50] Mike: Which square footage is it?

[00:15:51] Brian: Yeah. So when I do a replacement cost estimate, I use livable square footage. Now every building is different. So some buildings are going to have really cool porches and some areas that aren’t considered livable square footage that you really need to account for in the replacement cost estimate.

[00:16:09]So we start the conversation up. What do you got for livable square footage and then what’s the rest comprise of? Cause we want to make sure that even though we’re classifying the livable square footage at $175 a square foot for replacement costs. We wouldn’t want to necessarily rate the other portion for that, because it likely only has a replacement cost of 110, or maybe even 85 a square foot. But we want to incorporate that other side and then get you a number that will correctly ensure your property to value.

[00:16:40]Mike: The next question is the liability insurance. I think a lot of people think, Hey, I have an LLC agreement in place. That’ll cover me if somebody knocked somebody down a flight of stairs, or somebody tries to come after me. Is that not true? Do I need more than just an LLC agreement?

[00:16:59]Brian: The cheapest way to do it is just getting the proper liability coverage in. An umbrella for a multifamily standard Mark and umbrella at $5 million probably be a premium of 2,500 to maybe 4,000 a year. So that’s fairly inexpensive for an additional $5 million in liability coverage.

[00:17:19]And then obviously you’ve got your $1 million on your general liability. Often times if you went from 1 million, so it’s $1 million per occurrence, 2 million would be your annual aggregate. Often times if you asked your agent to endorse the policy or quote the policy at a limit of 2 million per occurrence with a $4 million aggregate.

[00:17:40] The additional cost for that is minimum. It’s going to be like $500 or $600. So it’s worth going that 2 million, 4 million versus the 1 million, 2 million in an umbrella is going to be invaluable to protect you the LLC and your investors of the LLC.

[00:17:56] Mike: Okay, great. And then the loss of rent is an interesting thing. Our people today in today’s environment with COVID claiming on their insurance loss of rents loss of a business operation. And is it a viable claim?

[00:18:13] Brian: It’s not. There haven’t been any claims being paid for loss of income due to COVID. It’s gotta be a covered cause of loss. And your policy spells out what a covered cause of loss is. Fire, lightning, vandalism, civil riots. So a covered cause of loss is going to be a coverage covered trigger, which will then cover the property for damage as well as any loss of income that you have on your policy.

[00:18:40] Mike: And a good investor friend of mine say one time that the best investment he ever made was the one that burned down.

[00:18:47] Hey, how about pricing? How can a investor who’s doing a pro forma putting together a valuation, doing their due diligence on a property. How can they price in their own mind a standard insurance policy?

[00:19:06]Brian: The old days going by door, a $300 a door, $400 a door. They say the old days, like two years ago, this is before the market started to harden.

[00:19:15]We’re not seeing $400 a door anymore. Even with the most aggressively priced carriers, if it’s insured correctly. It’s maybe high 400 a door,  500 a door or 600. So if you go to your trusted agent that has experience in writing multi-family. They should be able to get you an estimate an off the cuff estimate that is subject to underwriting within a few days.

[00:19:38] So I recommend going that route. Hey, Brian, we have this opportunity on the line and we just need to know what should we expect for insurance costs here. And in a couple of days, Max, I’ll give you a number that obviously I’ll have to state to you that it will need to be underwritten by a carrier. But this is what you should look to get for premium.

[00:19:59] Mike: And you’re talking four or 500 a door and then gone. Geez, that seems high to me. I remember having a policy in place that we’re paying 195 to 225, a door. And then there was some add on, if there was a deep swimming pool or a diving board or tennis court or things like that would add on, but it’s interesting how that’s changed.

[00:20:21] Hey, what about renters insurance? If I own a property and my tenants have renter’s insurance, is there a cost is there a reduction in my premium. I’m the property insurance for that?

[00:20:37] Brian: Yeah, that’s a good question. So typically the carrier that’s going to write the coverage for your investment will require you to make sure your tenants have their own insurance.

[00:20:50]There won’t be any premium reduction because the tenants aren’t covering any of your building. They’re only going to cover their contents. So there are three really elements to a renter’s policy. Elements of coverage is liability. So liability in case somebody were to get injured in their unit, liability that the tenant’s policy would cover for the bodily injury, obviously up to the limit of liability on the policy. Loss of use coverage.

[00:21:17] So in the event that the unit sustained fire damage and they had to relocate someplace else during the period of restoration like hotel, they would get lost of use coverage. They would have that loss of use coverage on the policy that they would then benefit from. And then they would be able to go someplace else again during the period of restoration. And then their own contents coverage, which is something that it’s really up to them. They know what they own for contents. They know what their couch is worth and their TV is worth and their dog bed is worth.

[00:21:48] So it’s important that for them that they hone in on what they own and make sure it’s insured correctly. Tenants policies are typically quite inexpensive. Under a thousand dollars a year, for sure. Depending on what year, what you’re covering for your own contents. If you have a lot of jewelry, that’s scheduled, certainly increase the premium. But $50,000 in contents with $500,000 in liability and some loss of use coverage, should be well under a thousand dollars a year.

[00:22:17] Mike: Okay, great.  One question I always like to ask my guests is how do you make high stakes decisions?

[00:22:22] Brian: I think it’s a gut decision based on experience. It probably would have been a different answer 15 years ago when I didn’t have much experience. High stakes decisions, typically you’re not given a month to decide. Here’s what you have for an opportunity, what are you going to do? Know your numbers. If you have an investment coming up and you’re faced with the decision. Are you going to go with it or not? Know your numbers, know your area? The more you can really trust your gut response.

[00:22:49] Mike: What a critical thing you just said, know your numbers. I always teach my investor clients and coaching clients that every good business owner knows their numbers. Your KPIs, those indicators that are gonna cause your business to grow or slow. What should an investor be watching out for today or looking for in today’s market? Is there opportunity or is there challenges that we should watch out for ?

[00:23:15] Brian: I think there’s opportunity in every market. I started investing in multifamily in this market.

[00:23:21]And I found opportunity and I’m under contract on 12 more and there’s still opportunity in this crazy sellers market. So I can only imagine how much more opportunity there would be in the other markets.

[00:23:31] Mike: Yeah.

[00:23:32]Brian: But I think any markets can provide opportunity, just get out there and get in front of those that are in this space.

[00:23:39] And network, cause you never know when a realtor is going to have a pocket listing that will be intriguing to you. Or you never know if there’s a seller financing deal that you’re not going to find on realtor.com. So get out there, meet people and network and it’s fun too.

[00:23:58] Mike: Yeah, it sure is, that’s for sure. Hey, this show is called insider secrets. So what strategy or secret would you share today that you think an investor should have?

[00:24:10] Brian: I think it’s important. And we talked about this earlier, when you’re developing your team really develop it with the thought in mind of getting people in that can really compliment each aspect of what you’re looking to do. And, try to surround yourselves with experts.

[00:24:26]There are a lot of people that really specialize in things that you don’t, that’s the insider secret that I have. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you in various areas that can really get you to the next level, get you to the next deal and just create a well-rounded team.

[00:24:41] Mike: Yeah, that’s good. What’s the insurance market forecast for the upcoming year?

[00:24:49] Brian: Yeah, 2021 we’re seven days into her right now, time of recording. We’re just getting off an interesting year of 2020 and then. 2019 that’s when we started seeing the market starting to change. There was a soft market for about the first three quarters of 2019, and then the previous 10 years before then.

[00:25:08]We were in a nice market where rates were fairly low. Underwriting guidelines were such that a lot of carriers were interested in running more things that they otherwise wouldn’t be in a hardening market. But storms and wildfires and civil unrest and the rising tide floats all boats, and COVID certainly threw a wrench in the plans at some of the carriers.

[00:25:30]Where the market is tightening and things are starting to change. You’re looking at your insurance renewals now and to get a flat renewal is really a thing in the past. The carriers are really looking at, what are the buildings insured for? Are they under-insured, they’re trying to get their book insure to value.

[00:25:47] They’re trying to get their insurance to insure their properties of value. So they’re doing individual replacement costs on their end that they otherwise weren’t doing before. And zeroing in on the address, zeroing in on the buildings that make up the buildings. They probably had an inspection by the carrier, so they have some detailed photos and they’re doing detailed replacement cost estimates, and requiring that the buildings are insured to value.

[00:26:09] So 2021 expect rate increases, expect markets that were customarily willing to write your multifamily or your real estate property that you had in another city or another state, they’re probably not going to be doing it easily or if at all on a new body that you’re doing.

[00:26:28]But there are some carriers that are still very hungry for this type of business. And I would love to talk to anybody that has an interest in getting in front of those carriers.

[00:26:37] Mike: Sure. Hey, you brought interesting thing up inspection. If I have an insurance policy in place, how often should I expect some kind of insurance inspection on my property?

[00:26:48] Brian: Boy that really does vary from carrier to carrier. I just wrote a large deal earlier last year, 300 units. And I thought for sure they would send an inspector 45 days out, but there hasn’t been any word of an inspection yet. When some of the smaller stuff, I would expect it once every five years or so.

[00:27:06]But it really is carrier specific. Plan for it once every five years. And in plan to get an inspector calling you after you’ve signed with a new carrier within the first 45 to 60 days cause that’s typically when the carrier would like to send out inspector. They’ve bound coverage, they’ve underwritten it from their desk and they’ve taken agent photos in the agent applications. And they believe they have a real good understanding as to what they’ve just found and they’re comfortable with it. But they need an inspector to go in and check the boiler, check tags to make sure that systems are maintained, that the electrical looks in good order and there’s no maybe knob-and-tube wiring on older properties or aluminum wiring that wasn’t uncovered in the initial underwriting process.

[00:27:50] Mike: Yeah. Interesting. I’d bet a lot of our listeners have no idea what knob-and-tue is. Never forget the first time I discovered that behind a wall, how they got electric on them, that stuff.

[00:28:03] Brian: It is amazing. Yeah, it is. Yeah.

[00:28:06]Mike: Hey a little bit lighter note, let’s lighten things up a little bit.

[00:28:10] I was like to ask the fun questions at the end. You’re up in the Northeast. And what’s your favorite tourist attraction?

[00:28:20] Brian: Yeah Maine is called a vacation land. It used to be on our license plates and I think it truly is. It’s a beautiful place to visit year round. A lot of people come up here in the summertime and that’s my favorite time of year.

[00:28:34] Winter is an interesting time where I find a lot of beauty in it, but I don’t necessarily like the four or five months that we get out of it. So coast of Maine, it’s absolutely beautiful. And some attractions here include just some great amusement parks. And we have a national park up here called Acadia national park that I think everybody should go to. And it’s one of the most visited national parks in the US. It’s really where the mountains meet the sea and every trail just has some true beauty to it. And the park itself has a lot to offer.

[00:29:05] Mike: Yeah. Interesting. Hey, a real quick question. Can you write in all 50 States?

[00:29:10] Brian: Yes. Yep.

[00:29:12]Mike:  All right. Good yeah. I think that’s good for people to know, and that’s why I wanted to be clear on that. So your favorite restaurant?

[00:29:20] Brian: Yeah, favorite restaurant. Up here, there’s a bunch of seafood restaurants and there’s one local to where I live called cooks lobster house.

[00:29:27] And it actually made the visa commercial. So if you Google visa cooks lobster house Harpswell Maine, you’ll see that commercial. I think that was done in maybe the eighties or nineties. But it’s just a wonderful restaurant and it has a great views for the ocean and really good owners and in seafood, which is a really good thing.

[00:29:47] If you come to Maine and you like seafood I think you’ll find a restaurant just about any town. They’ll have some really good seafood.

[00:29:54] Mike: Blue crab with a mallet.

[00:29:55]Brian:  Yeah, lots of lobster.

[00:29:59] Mike: Yeah, I bet. Hey listen, I thought for sure you were going to say the big maple tree in the backyard though.

[00:30:06]Brian: I should have, it’s always nicer and maple season to see the tap trees and I’ve never boiled maple. I’ve never made maple syrup, but it’s quite the process. When you see how it’s done from start to finish and all the labor that goes into employee, you have some real respect for the craft and those that are doing it.

[00:30:25] Mike: I told you about that friend of mine in Vermont. Every year, she would send out everybody in our mastermind group, the gallon of maple syrup that she took out of her tree in her backyard and cooked it and processed it, did everything to it. I swear today that’s why I have this tire around my midsection.

[00:30:46] Brian: Yeah. That goes right to the gut.

[00:30:49]Mike: Hey best book you’ve ever read?

[00:30:53]Brian: I just read the best ever book by, I think it was Matt Faircloth on real estate syndications. If you’re looking again to real estate syndications or, for my line of work, I’m looking to really understand our real estate syndication, because I think it makes me a better insurance agent.

[00:31:09]It’s a great book to pick up and Matt does a really good job start to finish. Of all the details that go into a real estate syndications and what to look for, so I suggest picking that up. Prior to that, I think it’s a non real estate book, but Dale Carnegie’s how to win friends and influence people is great.

[00:31:26]It’s wonderful. It talks about that personal pronoun that we all use. I, me, and it’s just a really good book that I recommend to anybody. And I think it helps us communicate better and it helps us just become genuinely interested in other people.

[00:31:41] Mike: Yeah, definitely one of the all time, best classic. How to win friends and influence people.

[00:31:48]Brian:  I agree.

[00:31:49] Mike: Hey Brian, if people want to get ahold of you, how do they reach out to you to find out more information about how you could help them with their insurance needs? And if they maybe just have questions about the insurance space?

[00:32:03] Brian: Yeah. I encourage you to give me a call at my cell phone is (207) 841-7371. You could shoot me an email, so just give me a call or should be a text. If email is, your thing B Mitchell, bmitchell@crossagency.com. That’s C R O S agency.com. And yeah, we write in all 50 States and I’d be happy to look at a whatever deal you’re working on.

[00:32:29] I’m working on a five unit right now in Cleveland and a 293 unit outside of Atlanta. And we have a bunch of stuff going on in Wyoming and Louisiana and all over. We write in every state and happy to talk to you and answer any questions you might have.

[00:32:46] Mike: Awesome. Thanks. I appreciate that.

[00:32:48] And I hope people blow your phone up now for giving out your phone number, personal cell phone number. I hope everybody texts you now. Hey Brian, thanks for being here today. And I want to thank my listeners for listening in. Remember we’re on Apple, Spotify, go like us. Love us. Go to YouTube and subscribe.

[00:33:08] Subscribe to this. Help us grow. Brian, thanks for being here. And certainly look forward to continuing the conversation with you. See everybody next week.

[00:33:17] Brian: Thank you, Michael.

[00:33:19]Kristen:  Thank you, Mike, and thank you for joining us for another great episode of insider secrets. As always, Insider Secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. Join us on social media and visit my core intentions.com where you can get expert coaching on all things multifamily investing and property management.

[00:33:37] We’re looking forward to having you back again next week for more insider secrets.