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1031 Exchange Into a DST: How to Stop Being a Landlord w/ Ashley Romiti · Real Estate Investing with RealDealCrew

• 0:00
  Investors spend a lot of time building their wealth and building their
• 0:03
  portfolio. And then often they get a call.
• 0:06
  And I'm guilty. I used to be a real estate agent.
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  Hey, your property's worth this much.
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  Do you want to sell?
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  I advise I tell investors, you spend so much time, energy, you know, sweat,
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  tears, building this portfolio, put the same effort into the exit.
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  Don't just sell because of value, because that's where we see a lot of
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  investors lose m their position is because they don't plan on the exit.
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  Most investors spend decades building a portfolio, then sell the day
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  someone calls with a good price.
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  Ashley Romiti says that's exactly where they lose.
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  She underwrote over $500 million of real estate as a commercial broker
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  before she ever sold a DST, and today she helps 1031 investors
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  stop being landlords without giving up the tax deferral.
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  In this episode you'll learn how a Delaware Statutory Trust gets you past
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  the 45-day scramble, why some deals carry a 30% fee
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  load and the question to ask before you hand anyone your exchange.
• 1:08
  If this helps, hit that subscribe button.
• 1:11
  Let's get started.
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  Ashley Romiti joins me here today, and you can learn what she can help you
• 1:19
  with by heading over to GCA1031.com.
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  That probably kind of spoiler alert kind of details a little bit of what
• 1:28
  we're going to be talking about today.
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  1031 Exchanges. You mentioned something about Delaware, so we're gonna
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  we're gonna dive deep into this over the next 30 minutes or so.
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  I really appreciate your time here today, Ashley.
• 1:41
  Yes, thank you for having me, Jack.
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  So let's start things off.
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  You've underwrote over five million dollars in real estate before you ever
• 1:48
  sold a DST. What did the job actually look like day to day?
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  Well that is five hundred million.
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  But so prior to working as DST broker, I was a
• 2:00
  commercial real estate agent.
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  So I worked helping real estate investors understand the value of their re
• 2:06
  real estate and explaining to them and talking to them about what their
• 2:09
  options are for after they sell.
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  I've always worked with 1031 investors, but
• 2:14
  Back in the brokerage days, it was really about underwriting those
• 2:17
  properties and
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  looking through the what's the value and what's your exchange options.
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  What is something you learned underwriting deals that you would never have
• 2:27
  learned from the brokerage side?
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  Well, I'd say I would say actually so underwriting deals on the brokerage
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  side is what helped me in the role that I'm in today in the
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  Delaware Statutory Trust.
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  When you're investing in these institutional funds, which we'll get into a
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  little bit further, you learned about really what to look for in the deal
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  and how in the acquisition and the market trends that I think a lot of
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  advisors in the DST space don't aren't privy to and understanding why, you
• 2:54
  know, it's so important to understand what the acquisition cost was, what
• 2:59
  the appraisal value is, what the price per door is.
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  And so it gives me the Kind of the eye to look at it the
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  metrics of a deal and say, oh, this is a red flag.
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  Let's look further into that.
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  So that's where I'd say actually it was it was opposite.
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  That brokerage pulled into where I sit today on the DST side and giving me
• 3:19
  that understanding of the broader real estate market trends to look for.
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  Again, not only in the real estate, but also just saying asset classes in
• 3:27
  different markets and
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  taxes, you know, what's income tax, what kind of legislation is each state.
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  So it's given me a more of an attention to detail on all of the deals that
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  I look at. You've mentioned the Delaware Statutory Trust a couple of times
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  here now. Like let's maybe we should do more of a high level, if you
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  wouldn't mind spending a little time talking about what you do, what that
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  means, and maybe even giving a general 101 around
• 3:56
  1031 exchanges.
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  Great starting point.
• 4:00
  So I'll actually go with the 1031 exchange first, because that's the first
• 4:04
  stepping stone on, you know, where I work with investors.
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  So 1031 exchange, for those who are unfamiliar, it's a tax deferred
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  exchange, which means under IRS code 1031, you can buy and sell
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  real estate within the United States, all on a tax deferred basis.
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  Meaning if you own a duplex, maybe you own it in California, and either you
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  want to trade up to a four unit or you want to trade out a state, you can
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  use this 1031 exchange to sell your duplex and buy a new property.
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  And through the 1031, you get to defer taxes.
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  That's very important because there's different levels of taxes.
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  You get to defer capital gains both on a state and federal level.
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  You get to defer depreciation recapture.
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  You get to defer what's known as net investment income tax.
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  For and for some investors, especially those like in high income tax
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  states, that's upwards of 40% that you're able to defer.
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  So that's the 1031 exchange.
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  Has a lot of benefits, lets you trade up, trade out of state, build your
• 5:07
  portfolio, make it helps you make changes within your real estate
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  portfolio.
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  Without having the big tax hit upon the sale.
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  And the 1031 exchange can be used for investment properties or properties
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  for business use. Meaning like if you own a manufacturing company and you
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  operate out of industrial building, you could sell that.
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  Historically or traditionally, what people know about the 1031 exchange is
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  that you're gonna buy and sell more direct asset, meaning you're gonna, you
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  know, sell that five unit, buy a 10 unit, or sell that land and buy an
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  apartment. Something that you can go and you personally own.
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  Well, there's a few other structures, entities that qualify for the 1031
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  exchange. And they're the two are known as tenant in common or tick, and
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  DST or Delaware Statutory Trust.
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  Tick kind of fell out of favor in like the 2008, 2009 recession.
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  And so what we've really seen is an is increased popularity in this
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  DST structure. And what the DST is, it's a trust that
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  owns real estate. Typically, it's what we would call institutional quality
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  real estate. So it's 2,025 newly built
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  apart, 300 unit apartment building in Atlanta, Georgia, right?
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  Something that we TC typically see in like pension funds or REITs.
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  Well, what happens is within this DST, it owns this real estate.
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  And the IRS has allowed this particular structure to qualify for a
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  1031 exchange. And so what retail investors or you know
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  everyday investors like you and I can do is we can sell our direct
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  property, and through the 1031 exchange, we can reinvest into the DST or
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  the Delaware Statutory Trust.
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  Why investors, why it's really growing is that it helped it's helping real
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  estate investors, right?
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  So today a lot of real estate is held by the aging population or baby
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  boomers, specifically those who don't want to manage their real estate
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  anymore. So it's giving them a strategy where they can sell their real
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  estate, defer taxes, and reinvest into a what I'd call, you know, a fund
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  that's 100% passive.
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  So the DST, it's a trust.
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  It owns real estate.
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  It's managed by what's known as a sponsor.
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  The sponsor is going to be the company that buys, acquires, and manages the
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  real estate. Some big names, Blue Rock, Canter Fitzgerald, Pasco,
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  Inland, those are the some big names in the industry.
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  So you can come in, own fractional ownership, and transition out of that
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  active ownership and get typically monthly income from these institutional
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  assets. Two other things to note on why they're so popular today is one,
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  it helps investors stay diversified, right?
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  The minimum is 100,000.
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  So you can come in, you sell a property for a million, you can divest into
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  four DSTs, 250,000 each.
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  You can spread your right, spread your money out.
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  We call it, you know, we're mitigating risk.
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  We're trying to make it so that there's less uncertainty in your income.
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  And then once you're invested, you're we can talk about exit strategies,
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  but you're usually in it for about five to seven years before you can do
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  another exchange. But another big benefit is that the DST can help with
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  debt assignment in an exchange.
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  So for those who are in exchange, there's certain rules that you have to
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  abide by. Meaning you have to the property you sell, you have to buy a new
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  property of equal or greater value, regardless of if there's debt.
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  So there's debt replacement in a 1031 exchange, and that plays into the
• 8:46
  DSTs. But from kind of broadly speaking, from a high level, what the DST
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  is, institutional real estate that everyday investors or accredited
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  investors, right? You have to be accredited, can trade into and get out of
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  actively managing their real estate.
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  That's the
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  True structural.
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  I'd like to get into this a little bit more because
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  this kind of help with the pressure on finding a another
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  building to a certain extent.
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  Like I know we a lot of have run into a few investors that they do the 1031
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  exchange or they want to, but now they're under a timeline and pressure to
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  find that next opportunity or biz or property to do the 1031
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  exchange. And then you know, frankly, I can kind of see how it could even
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  lead to bad decisions just because they're just frantic in trying to find
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  that next replacement deal.
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  Yeah, without a doubt.
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  So when you do it, I'll give a quick overview, but when you do the
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  exchange, right? From the day you sell your property under the code, you
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  have 45 days to identify your new property.
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  It's such a tight timeline, right?
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  Especially as we get into holidays, right?
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  The IRS is not forgiving because it's a holiday or a weekend or your
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  birthday. So that timeline's very quick.
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  So in a traditional exchange, you're doing a lot in that 45 days.
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  Well, what's nice about the DST structure is the way that it works is the
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  sponsor goes out, they buy the property, they put it in the trust
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  structure. We have what's known as a private placement memorandum or a PPM
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  that has all of the due diligence on the deal.
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  So what the timing looks like for an investor is they could sell their
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  investment property and on the day that they close, already start the
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  reinvestment into the DSTs.
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  They can be closed within, you know, five, 10 business days, depending on
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  timing. So with the DST, you don't need to worry about the 45 days.
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  You can close far like pretty much immediately, start earning your income
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  right away and not have to worry about vetting new properties or
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  identifying, or you know.
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  Any of the other nuances that come with the exchange.
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  Talk a little bit about who this is a good fit for, because you mentioned
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  that there's these outliers that this may not be a great strategy.
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  So you likely run into it on occasion.
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  Yeah. So the DST structure, right?
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  When you're investing, these are not value add, they're not, you know,
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  they're very
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  like I'd call them core assets and strong markets.
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  The way that they're designed, they're made for capital preservation,
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  meaning investors who have owned real estate for some time, they've built a
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  lot of equity in it, but they just don't want to be a landlord anymore.
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  That is who's who this is a good goal for, because the structure of the DST
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  is for capital preservation and what I would call more predictable income,
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  right? Not guaranteed, but more predictable based on the underwriting.
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  So most of the clients who are going into these structures already have
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  built the equity that they want, and now they just want to live off of
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  Everything they built.
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  So for investors who are younger, more aggressive, they're really trying to
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  grow that portfolio, the DST is not a good fit.
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  And I will always tell them if you're targeting growth, you need to go buy
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  a property and do it yourself, because no one's gonna work harder at
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  building that real estate portfolio than yourself.
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  But if you're on the other end, you've you're already done it and you're
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  ready to just enjoy the fruits of your labor, that's where the DST
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  structure really comes in.
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  You know, you want passive income, you're focused on estate planning, going
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  into retirement, you want free time.
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  That's how we that's who I would recommend the deal for.
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  So this almost sounds like so when you when you put it into this
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  Delaware Statutory Trust, do you then select
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  that REIT or whatever organization to where that
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  money's gonna be invested?
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  How does how does that piece work?
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  Yeah, so you brought up
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  so there's two different exit strategies.
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  And so first what I'll cover is kind of how the investment into the DST
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  works. Right now in the market, there's a hundred different deals.
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  And so investors have the option to invest in any of those.
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  But what my job is to help investors navigate this market, right?
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  I would not put my money into any of these deals.
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  We want to look at the sponsor.
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  We want to look at the real estate.
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  We want to look at the trust structure.
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  So that's where I step in and I help them understand.
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  But when an investor picks, let's say four DSTs, they already know the real
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  estate that they're investing in, right?
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  It's a tangible asset.
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  They own a fraction of it.
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  So if it's a million dollar equity raise and they invest a million dollars,
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  they are one per. So they already know what they're investing in.
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  In a traditional DST, the way it works is you invest, you're gonna be in
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  the deal for about five to seven years, and then the deal is gonna sell,
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  meaning the sponsor is gonna sell it and you're gonna be positioned for
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  your next 1031 exchange.
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  There's another avenue called the 721 DST, whereas the ultimate
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  end game is to end in a REIT, a real estate investment trust.
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  We usually know which REIT you're going to end up in.
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  If you take that route, we're not only analyzing the DST, but you're in
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  that read indefinitely.
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  So we're taking a really close look at the REIT.
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  Now I'm starting to get a clearer picture.
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  So basically what you're saying is that the DSTs there's
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  properties that are affiliated with this product class, and you're kind
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  of selecting out of the 100 plus deals that are that are available in the
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  DST world.
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  So you can look at
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  Yeah, there's I mean, and it depends, right?
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  It depends on every investor's flavor, but there's multifamily, there's
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  commercial, which includes self-storage, industrial manufacturing, there's
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  senior housing, student housing, oil and gas.
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  So there's a lot of different opportunity out there.
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  So just to remind everybody, we're talking to Ashley Romiti, and you can
• 14:47
  learn more at
• 14:49
  GCA1031.com. I'm going to have that as a clickable link in the show notes
• 14:54
  if you found some value in what we're chatting about so far.
• 14:56
  Do us a favor, share this with one of your friends.
• 14:58
  If you're watching us on YouTube, give us a like and subscribe.
• 15:02
  So, Ashley,
• 15:04
  talk a little bit about the process.
• 15:07
  Like somebody reach out to you.
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  What's the first things that they have to go through?
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  Maybe there's some things they should get ducks in a row, they should get
• 15:16
  in line before they even reach out.
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  What would be beneficial on that end?
• 15:21
  Anyone who owns real estate is someone that I like to talk to help them
• 15:25
  understand. And this just comes because I've spent a long, you know, 15
• 15:28
  years as more on the advisory consultant side, but to help them understand,
• 15:32
  I'm always happy to have a conversation, but really when you get into the
• 15:36
  DSTs, what it looks like is first tip is you still need to sell your
• 15:40
  property, right? There is a misconception that you either do a 1031
• 15:45
  exchange or you do a DST.
• 15:46
  But the reality is you do a 1031 exchange into a DST.
• 15:51
  So what you want set up before, I mean, we can always look at DSTs.
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  I tell clients, let's get you comfortable with the market.
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  Let's get you comfortable with sponsors.
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  But first up is that exchange.
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  And so you need to have that account set up with a qualified intermediary.
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  That is 101 for a 1031 exchange.
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  If you don't have that, you and you take receipt of the funds, you know, we
• 16:14
  can't help you. But essentially, you know, when they reach out to me, what
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  I do is I get to know them, get to know what their investment goals are,
• 16:22
  identify if this is a good fit for them.
• 16:25
  If it is, I want to know, you know, what your portfolio consists of.
• 16:29
  I want to get to know the client so that I can make good recommendations on
• 16:34
  which DSTs to invest in.
• 16:36
  Because there's different strategies you can look at within the DSTs.
• 16:40
  Some people say it's oh, it's a DST, it's just for tax referral.
• 16:43
  That's step one. But step two is do you want an appreciating asset?
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  Do you live off of the income?
• 16:48
  Do you have any tax strategies we want to explore?
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  So after getting to know them, then I can make recommendations on the
• 16:54
  portfolio. But the overall process is if you've done an exchange, it's the
• 16:58
  same. You sell your property, funds go to the qualified intermediary.
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  From the qualified intermediary, they go to the sponsor.
• 17:05
  And that's where it differentiates from the direct con direct ownership.
• 17:09
  And then once they go to the sponsor, the investor is passive, meaning they
• 17:13
  have no voting rights.
• 17:14
  They can't say, Hey, I want you to do this or this, right?
• 17:17
  You're investing with the sponsor.
• 17:20
  So once you're investing, you can expect monthly distributions.
• 17:24
  Again, typically the hold period's gonna be five to seven years.
• 17:28
  When the sponsor decides to sell it, they'll notify you, and then you'll be
• 17:32
  in your next exchange.
• 17:33
  Or if you go the REIT direction, you get notified of the REIT, you move
• 17:38
  into the REIT.
• 17:39
  When you go into the RE, it's the last stop, right?
• 17:42
  You can't exchange out of the REA.
• 17:44
  So that's important to know.
• 17:46
  But that's kind of the overall process of what investors can expect.
• 17:51
  Most of the heavy lifting is typically on the front end on the education
• 17:55
  front, right? Most investors don't know what a DST is.
• 17:59
  So it's getting them comfortable.
• 18:00
  I always tell clients I don't want you investing until you're 100%
• 18:03
  comfortable because these are a liquid.
• 18:06
  So we do a lot of education up front.
• 18:08
  A lot of, well, why this deal versus this deal?
• 18:11
  What's this mean? Answering those questions.
• 18:14
  I would imagine there is a lot of education and possibly a bit of emotional
• 18:19
  baggage that you're dealing with, too, because some of these individuals
• 18:22
  are building a portfolio for 30 years.
• 18:32
  You know, every client's different, but I personally I get to know my
• 18:35
  clients, especially those who.
• 18:38
  Especially some who are a little bit more tied to the real estate.
• 18:42
  You know, every everyone's different.
• 18:44
  But I honestly don't ever close with the client until they're comfortable
• 18:48
  with that illiquidity, because
• 18:51
  unless we can get over that hurdle, it's really not a good fit.
• 18:54
  But I the nice thing is I don't typically get calls saying, hey, I hate
• 19:00
  this passive income.
• 19:01
  I wish I had tenant calls again.
• 19:03
  So once we get past the education, we're usually in a good spot.
• 19:06
  What are some of the additional misconception people might have about this?
• 19:10
  I mean there's a lot.
• 19:12
  I think there, you know, like a lot of people be like, Well, I heard you
• 19:15
  know, DSTs are really risky, the fees are really high.
• 19:18
  They are risky, right?
• 19:19
  In regards to their
• 19:22
  securities, right?
• 19:23
  You're not owning the real estate.
• 19:24
  You're investing in the sponsor who owns the real estate.
• 19:28
  So I wouldn't necessarily say they're risky, but there's risk that you do
• 19:32
  need to understand.
• 19:33
  And as long as you're comfortable and we're making good, you know, having
• 19:38
  good communication on what are those risks, but and weighing it against,
• 19:42
  you know, what are the benefits of the investment?
• 19:44
  That's a very important conversation to have.
• 19:47
  And then the fees.
• 19:48
  Everyone says, Oh, I hear the fees are too high.
• 19:51
  They are relatively higher, right?
• 19:53
  But the major well, first of all, on the fees, if you're
• 19:58
  considering a DST, understand the fees because there is no
• 20:04
  kind of under there's no way that these sponsors have to do these deals.
• 20:08
  They can put a 30% fee load on.
• 20:11
  There's nothing stopping them.
• 20:12
  So as an and I see those deals.
• 20:14
  So as an investor, make sure you know that.
• 20:17
  What I want to look for in a deal is, okay, what's the upfront fee load?
• 20:21
  And then what's the real estate strategy, right?
• 20:23
  What did they buy it at?
• 20:25
  What's the growth strategy?
• 20:26
  What's the exit opportunity?
• 20:28
  What's the cost savings through the hold period?
• 20:31
  And so there's when someone comes to me and says, Oh, well, the fees, we're
• 20:35
  not we can't only look at the upfront fees, we have to look at the fees
• 20:39
  through the whole thing and what how at the end of the day, how much are
• 20:42
  you saving? That so that's a conversation that I always have, but it's easy
• 20:47
  to find the
• 20:49
  well
• 20:49
  you can find the fee loads in the PPMs and your advice whoever you're
• 20:54
  working with should be talking to you about those.
• 20:57
  That is a very important aspect.
• 20:59
  Those are I mean, those are probably the two biggest misconceptions.
• 21:04
  Outside of that, it's just, you know, really know the pros and cons.
• 21:07
  If you come to me and you've own the real estate for two years, and you
• 21:12
  have a small gain, I shouldn't be recommending these deals to you, but if
• 21:16
  you've owned the property for 40 years, we're talking about tax deferral of
• 21:21
  upwards of 40%. So that's where this c the conversation really starts to
• 21:26
  drive value. You mentioned that your advisor should be bringing a lot of
• 21:30
  this up. Like are there any questions or things that we should be aware of
• 21:34
  when we're engaging an advisor?
• 21:37
  Like what type of questions should we be asking to ensure Well, frankly,
• 21:42
  what they know what they're doing.
• 21:44
  Yeah, and always ask these questions.
• 21:46
  I mean, I'll say some of the biggest questions I ask and then I want to
• 21:49
  answer is, you know, what kind of due diligence are you doing then on the
• 21:53
  sponsors? What kind of due diligence are you doing on the deals?
• 21:57
  Get a sense of how well they know their real estate and the investment
• 22:01
  opportunities, that they're not just picking one and saying this is a DST.
• 22:06
  It's a big sponsor, so it's a good fit for you.
• 22:09
  Right. We want to understand and ask about the fee loads, right?
• 22:13
  Like how much are the fees when you're going into the 721?
• 22:16
  What is there a trail?
• 22:18
  You know, what are the ongoing fees?
• 22:20
  Those are very important questions to ask.
• 22:23
  And pretty much anything to make sure that you're confident that they know
• 22:28
  what these deals are.
• 22:29
  You know, ask how is debt assigned?
• 22:31
  How does that play into my tax strategy?
• 22:35
  Ask everything. Because they should be able to, I say they should be able
• 22:38
  to answer it pretty confidently and without having to go back and look.
• 22:43
  To me, when I'm interviewing advisors like for myself or attorneys or
• 22:47
  CPAs, I want someone who knows the industry, not who's gonna have to go
• 22:52
  look for it. I mean, that's just my personal preference.
• 22:56
  This is like a really fascinating topic.
• 22:59
  Like to be honest with you, the whole DST strategy is kind of really new
• 23:04
  to, I think, to my audience.
• 23:06
  Is there anything else we should have like make sure we hit on here before
• 23:10
  we transition and start closing out the episode?
• 23:13
  I mean, we covered kind of the process, what to ask your advisor, the exit
• 23:17
  strategy, I'll just kind of highlight, right?
• 23:19
  There's The 721 strategy, it gets pushed a lot.
• 23:23
  What I tell clients is the 721 is a great strategy for investor.
• 23:27
  And this is usually where I'll tie people into the 721.
• 23:31
  You're really focused on estate planning.
• 23:34
  You never want to do an exchange again, right?
• 23:36
  Some people just want out of real estate.
• 23:38
  Or if you need liquidity, right?
• 23:41
  So
• 23:42
  when you're constructing a portfolio of DSTs, there's different, if you're
• 23:47
  exchanging a million dollars, right, we can take 250 for this strategy or
• 23:52
  250 for this strategy.
• 23:53
  And that's one of the major benefits.
• 23:56
  So just don't, you know, just like you diversify any other portfolio, make
• 24:00
  sure you're finding the proper diversification within these portfolios.
• 24:05
  They're a great strategy, right?
• 24:07
  I don't put all my clients, I wouldn't recommend everyone cash flow, right?
• 24:11
  We're not getting 10% returns.
• 24:13
  We're going with where the market is.
• 24:15
  We're getting a little bit of appreciation.
• 24:18
  But if you're really focused on capital preservation, this is a good option
• 24:23
  to review.
• 24:25
  And then one other thing I always say is don't just rely on AI.
• 24:28
  I get a lot of questions from ChatGPT and Claude, and I think AI plays a
• 24:32
  lot. But talk to the whoever you're working with, ask these questions.
• 24:36
  Don't just trust what you research, because there's a lot of wrong
• 24:39
  information. DSTs only became eligible for exchanges in 2004.
• 24:44
  And there's a I read articles that are just blatantly wrong.
• 24:47
  So just make sure you're talking to someone, you're working with someone
• 24:50
  who specializes in this, just like you would with real estate agent.
• 24:55
  Yeah, if you want to know more, like, for example, on my website, I have an
• 24:58
  ebook. It's pretty basic.
• 25:00
  It outlines it. Yeah.
• 25:02
  That's pretty much what I would tell any of us for thinking about DST.
• 25:05
  So if you want to take a look at that ebook, head over to GCA1031.com.
• 25:10
  I'm going to have again that is a clickable link in the show notes.
• 25:13
  We'll dive into the rapid fire and start closing out this episode if you're
• 25:16
  ready, Ashley. Yes.
• 25:17
  Can I throw in one last comment?
• 25:20
  Absolutely.
• 25:22
  Investors spend a lot of time building their wealth and building their
• 25:26
  portfolio. And then often they get a call.
• 25:28
  And I'm guilty. I used to be a real estate agent.
• 25:31
  Hey, your property's worth this much.
• 25:32
  Do you want to sell?
• 25:33
  I advise I tell investors, you spend so much time, energy, you know, sweat,
• 25:38
  tears, building this portfolio, put the same effort into the exit.
• 25:43
  Understand the tax strategies.
• 25:45
  Don't just sell because you're getting a price.
• 25:47
  Know what you're gonna do when you sell, know what opportunity.
• 25:50
  Like just talk to your CPA.
• 25:52
  Don't just sell because of value, because that's where we see a lot of
• 25:55
  investors lose m their position is because they don't plan on the exit.
• 26:00
  So that's my key takeaway for any investor upload.
• 26:03
  Really appreciate you adding that additional insight.
• 26:05
  That was likely the worth the admission to this episode in
• 26:10
  itself. So if you're ready, we'll dive in and close out this episode.
• 26:15
  Let's do it. What lie do real estate investors often tell themselves?
• 26:21
  I want to be a landlord.
• 26:23
  If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of
• 26:26
  advice, what would it be?
• 26:27
  It'll all work out.
• 26:29
  Don't stress the no one can plan for their future the way that we think we
• 26:33
  can. I need you to look back
• 26:35
  As you were scaling your business.
• 26:37
  What was the first position you hired for, and would you hire that
• 26:42
  same position again?
• 26:44
  Yeah, I mean it's always kind of the answer is yes.
• 26:48
  Right? We always need help with the anal analysis.
• 26:51
  Marketing operations.
• 26:53
  So someone who's really able to do all that.
• 26:56
  Without a doubt, it helps run a business smoothly.
• 26:59
  It helps clients feel confident in your business.
• 27:03
  So there's a lot of value in that.
• 27:04
  I think having a
• 27:06
  solid team that you can trust, who your clients can trust is very
• 27:09
  important. And finally, what single process or tool have you implemented
• 27:13
  that has had the biggest time saving impact?
• 27:16
  Hate to admit it, but it is AI and ChatGPT and Claude.
• 27:19
  I do a lot of
• 27:22
  writing through it where I speak to it and I tell it, you know, this is
• 27:26
  what I think, and then it puts it in a coherent message for me.
• 27:29
  And it's very valuable if you don't do that today, whether in your business
• 27:35
  or I do it in my personal life.
• 27:37
  Just helps get the clear message to
• 27:40
  investors or referral partners or anyone you're speaking with.
• 27:44
  Well, Ashley, I really appreciate the time.
• 27:47
  One more time, it is GCA1031.com.
• 27:51
  Clickable link in the show notes.
• 27:53
  But I hope you'll consider coming back again sometime.
• 27:55
  It was great to meet ya.
• 27:56
  Thank you so much, Jack.