SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Purpose-Driven Investor, where we build more than portfolios, we build communities. I'm your host, Robert Howell, a real estate investor and founder of Define Communities. Each week we'll explore how purpose and profit connect through affordable housing, land home packages, and impact-driven investing. If you're a lender, land seller, or a partner who believes money should move with meaning, you're in the right place. All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Purpose-Driven Investor Podcast. Today's conversation is going to hit home for a lot of people because we're talking something bigger about real estate than real estate deals. We're talking about freedom, family, and intentionally building the life you want to live around real estate. So today I've got Brian. Brian is with VK Away, and alongside his wife, Sarah, they've been building a life centered around faith, family, and taking back control of their time through real estate investing. They're raising four boys while building a business and lifestyle around freedom instead of burnout. So welcome to the show, Brian. Appreciate you coming on today.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, thanks. I'm excited about being on. Robert, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

All right. Well, good deal. Well, let's start with, you know, probably a lot of people here don't know who Brian is, don't know the background. So why don't we start there? Um who is Brian? Tell us a bit about your background and how you got into real estate.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Well, I'm uh I live up in the mountains of Virginia, so we're we're into the ski slopes and the and fishing and all that stuff. But I I went to James Madison University and uh we I was a finance major actually wanted to get into um the the financial planning and all that kind of fell into real estate through a through a course that I took at James Madison and it just clicked and I liked it and and that that's started into new construction. So that's how it all that's how it all started. But we do live in the valley. Uh my wife was a JMU alum as well. We have four boys uh that were that were raising here in in the Shenandoah Valley and uh hoping they can get them into real estate too. Let's go. How old are your boys? Uh 16, uh 14, 12, and just turned six.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

All boys, all full energy.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So running wild, huh? I've got two boys. Uh they're gonna be uh sophomore in high school and then gonna be uh senior in high school. So I know the feeling I don't have four, so I I don't have double the energy, but I know it's busy for sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

It is absolutely but we love it. We're trying to soak up as much of it as we can because it's gonna go fast.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

That's great. Are they uh are they showing interest in real estate already?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

My oldest is for sure. He's he actually comes into the office uh and we talk a lot about real estate. He's very creative, and he he he seems to get it as well. Um, you know, he talks about different uses for buildings and what he thinks the town needs, and he's thinking on a lot bigger scale. My other boys are just too young and not interested, but but yeah, I I think it'll I think they'll come around.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

That's great. That's great. So tell us about your real estate business. What what type of assets are you investing in? Are you only investing in short-term rentals or are you investing in other assets also?

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Short-term rentals uh takes up the majority of our time, I would say. I my personal favorite other than the construction and the short-term rentals is multifamily. So I've been able to acquire a lot of multifamily larger complexes and buildings over the years. And I I like I like that model. Uh the new construction I love. And um yeah, so that's that's the main that's the main things that we do. I've done some spec building, but uh, you know, market shift, so whatever's popular is what we're trying to get into.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

That's great. And uh you started right out of school, or uh did you have a career before real estate?

SPEAKER_02 4:12

I started out in um working with my grandfather in a in a company here locally and quickly learned that that wasn't my passion and got right back got right back into real estate uh pretty quickly after that. So just a short stint. Uh but yeah, pretty much right pretty much right out of college I started building new construction.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Um so in your bio, you had included a bit about freedom through real estate. Can you can you talk about what that means to y'all personally?

SPEAKER_02 4:45

My slogan is take back your time, because time is that asset that we all want more of, more of, more of, and it's it's gonna go fast. And so that's been my my fight, I guess, in real estate is to figure out how can I do this, how can I generate cash flow, how can I have appreciating assets and do all the things without having to actually do it myself. And so uh that's that's been our plan and and we're watching it unfold. And so it's just that's probably the most important thing to me because I don't want to, it doesn't really matter how much I'm worth or how much how many assets I have or cash flow, all that's important. But if I have to sacrifice my time with my boys, then I can't put a price tag on any of that stuff because if the family is our most important thing. So being able to try to find that common ground is is our has been our plan from the beginning. And it's super important.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

That's great. Have you read the book from Dan Martell to buy back your time?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

I haven't. No, I've uh I have not read that book yet. I've heard of it. Um, but right now I'm to the point where I'm trying to get my boys to understand um what it means to work for yourself and kind of set your own path, your own course, and and not be locked into a job. So I'm paying them now to read, starting with Kiyosaki's book, uh Rich Dad Porter, and write a report, and I'm giving them 500 bucks and they love it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

That's awesome. You should uh have them check out Dan Martell with Buy Back Your Time. He's he's got some great concepts in there. Um and uh he he's got a pretty large social following too and has some some good content around buying back your time, but he's also pretty far advanced in the AI side of the world too, which is interesting and how it applies to real estate and business.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Um that's great. Yeah, yeah, Dan Martel. I'll I'll send it to you after. But um, yeah, that's great to get your boys doing that. Our our our boys, they started with me like two or three years ago cold calling. And uh very first cold call they made uh to mobile home park owners. The guy was just mean to my youngest. He was real mean to him, and my youngest comes up and he's crying and he says, I can't do this anymore. I'm not gonna do it. I said, Well, hey, listen, that's life. You gotta keep moving, you gotta keep pushing. And they you know, continue to call for the rest of the summer and got a couple deals together, which is really cool to see. Um it's a lot of fun to work to have that opportunity to work with your kids and show them, show them the path.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

And um well, they they want to they they want to go, and that's the that's the cool thing to me is they they want to go to the houses, they want to see so you know we have certain things going on, we've knocking down a house or to rebuild or something like that. They they're they wanna they're they're genuinely very interested in it, and so I I love that I love seeing that passion to to to do it at an early age. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

That's cool. Our boys just launched, and we'll have to get our boys connected together. Um, they just launched something called the early birds, and it's all about like kids, entrepreneurs, or it doesn't necessarily have to be kids, it it's adults too that started young and kind of that path of like, hey, get started young, make mistakes, learn, and uh it's gonna be huge for your your career and your growth long term.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

They just actually kicked it off yesterday. So we told them they had to work at least three hours a day, and um and they started cold calling last week and they didn't like it anymore. So we said, okay, well look, that's fine. You can decide what you like and what you don't like, but you still gotta work. And so uh they've launched this and they they're really enjoying it so far. So this is something that you're doing? No, it's something they're doing. So they're doing they've got a podcast, they've got social content, they'll have a community of uh kids, kid, early, early bird kids that are starting. But I'll I'll shoot it to you so we can get the kids connected. That's great. Um all right, cool. So let's let's keep moving here around um around the uh freedom idea. And as you think about kind of you you talked a bit about real estate and really creating that that freedom. How has that changed your family's lifestyle in terms of of having the opportunity to invest in real estate, which then created a bit of of freedom and the impact on your lifestyle?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Um it's well, it's huge.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

I mean, we you know, it's we're big in the travel ball circuit, we're big in the travel, we like lifestyle assets, we like to buy at the beach, we like to buy at the lake, we like to go to these houses and boats and all the things. And we're able to do that. Uh, we're able to do that through real estate because my my wife doesn't have a job. I don't really consider myself, I'm the contractor with no tools. So uh, you know, we we we have that freedom now, and it's it's definitely a life changer. You know, we can go wherever we want, whenever we want, for however long we want, and don't have to worry about uh reporting anywhere. And it's a powerful, powerful way to live. Uh, and so it's real estate has absolutely been that game changer that's allowed us to do that. And I would love for everybody to be able to do some of that. And so that's a lot of what I'm doing through through through these podcasts and through a lot of social media stuff that I'm doing is offering to to help with that and and and kind of show the ropes on how to get involved in real estate to take back your time ultimately.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Yeah. Yeah, love that. Talk about that a bit more. How do you how do you help people?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Well, I have uh a lot of so there's a lot of social media stuff that I'm doing here locally, but just uh meeting with meeting with local people, uh answering questions, taking calls, helping them get into mainly the financing and funding part of it, because there's a lot of people that have that that can find a good asset. We confirm that that's a good asset, but then getting the funding for it can be different. They don't know about private lending, they don't know about you know DSCR loans, they don't know about credit own equity and being your general contractor, all the different ways to finance uh the these types of things. So helping them out with that, getting connected with with private lenders and and just helping them you know underwrite the asset and make sure that it makes sense. And I'm willing to do that. Uh if if anybody that uh that has a has a property to look at, I want to help them.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I love that. And I I think that's powerful too, as you think about the opportunity to help other people and that even a single meeting with somebody, what kind of impact that can have on their life, right? I think about all the people that were willing to have conversations with me. And if I would have had those conversations, I might not be where I am today.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

I know I met with a guy for coffee the other day that reached out to me about getting into short-term rentals. And come to find out he had a family member that is trying to sell a house in a great market at a great price with the perfect bedroom count. You can see the ocean. And this, you know, he understands financing and his father-in-law, I mean, the situation is perfect for him to take this asset and run with it to get into short term. And he didn't even realize, I guess he it wasn't he was concerned about it, and he just needed, I guess, just a little bit more of a hey, this is a great opportunity, in my opinion. I think it's gonna work. I hope it's gonna work. I have to follow up with him. But situations like that, I'm hoping got him into the into the into the world of real estate, because I think this house is gonna perform amazing. Uh, and and it'll open his eyes to what he can do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

That's huge. That's great. What are the as you think about real estate, what are the markets or the opportunities that are exciting you right now?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Anywhere I can build. Anywhere I can build and be the GC and be the general contractor. There's a lot of lakes here in Virginia that are close proximity to big metropolitan areas that uh you can just see. There's kind of a magical space where hospitality meets new construction because most of your big construction operators don't understand hospitality and short-term rentals, and most of your short-term rental operators don't understand the construction process. So anywhere I can build uh is is where I'm looking now. So mainly in Virginia. Uh, but I have been looking in the Florida markets quite a bit too, the Panhandle of Florida. There's some really good opportunities down there. Um, but I like the tertiary markets, I like the smaller markets right outside of big metropolitan areas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

That's great. And what are you building? Are you building single family, luxury single family or multifamily?

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Right now I'm doing mainly, well, I just finished uh 18 unit, 17 unit townhouse development, getting ready to start another townhouse development. I actually have two of those in the pipeline, but building short-term rental, higher-end vacation rental properties is is our main focus.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

So a little bit of production. Yeah. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

All right, let's let's let's transition over into the faith and family and entrepreneurship. Uh, and you've talked about this a little bit, but how do you balance your business and all your sounds like you're pretty busy, um, your obligations to that business, and then also being present with your family. Project coordinators.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

That's the that's the key word. You know, when you're building enough of these things and you're building in that, there's an additional margin and being your own GC. If you have several of them going, you can you can uh it can make sense to to have a project coordinator who does the day-to-day and runs those projects. Now they have to be, you know, it takes a certain person um and they've they've got to be very detailed and very good. But you find that person, it allows your freedom to come back and you're you're not handling that date, the day-to-day transactional stuff. So we've been fortunate to be able to do that. And so it's more of an oversight position now, which allows me to go and come and do the things I need to do with the family.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

That's great. And what's your as you think about your priorities um in your business or in your life?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

How's that changed over time from the time that you started in real estate to today?

SPEAKER_02 15:30

When I started in real estate, it was a grind. Everything was on my wife and I, and we did we did all the calls, we did all the bookings, we met all the tenants, we took all the money, we sent all the deposits back, we took care of the maintenance, we did all the management, we we we we we ran all the applications. There's nothing that we didn't do. And and so it was very challenging and got to the point, you know, where we were questioning whether this is really all worth it, you know. But then as you as you move through it and and uh make some strategic decisions, uh it's really opened up to be the most powerful thing we've ever done. So uh I think your initial question was how did that how did that come to fruition? Just staying in the grind and and and making it work and it gets easier.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Yeah.

unknown 16:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Yeah, I think you've got to make some of those sacrifices early on, right? To then set yourself up, the process systems in place for the future, I imagine. You do, yep.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah, a lot of it's just figuring out you know what works for us, may not work for someone else. This market may be different than another market, but just it is a grind at first, but you figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

All right, so let's talk about purpose, legacy, impact. Uh, the the title of this podcast is the purpose-driven investor. So, first question uh in this area really is about purpose. And tell us about what does purpose or being purpose-driven mean to you.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Well, obviously, I want to secure my own financial freedom and those types of things, but you know, just having having the four boys in the world that we're growing up in right now, I don't know that they're gonna have you know, you wonder if they're gonna have the same opportunities that that we had in that uh with with AI and all the all those types of tools, anybody can have the most amazing resume in the world with with the click of a few buttons. So how how are they gonna manage their careers? And so the purpose for me is to, I want to build something that they can be involved in if they if they choose to to do that. I'm looking at a real estate family fund where they can come in and be be involved in in that as a family, all for the boys and my wife and I to just invest in real estate cash flow and syndication type of deals. So that's my ultimate goal. But but I just, you know, I I want to I want them to understand that they can chart their own course, they can chart their own path, and they don't have to get caught up in obviously if there's a passion that they want to do, that's fine. But I want them to know that they can get that freedom at a young age. It doesn't have to come when you're 45 or 50 years old. Or later.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

That you can have that freedom when you're 25.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Uh and that's for them.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yeah, I think that's the craziest thing about today's world, right? Is uh there's more and more opportunities and a a lot more, I mean a hundred, thousand times more than me and you had, but to to have that success and have that freedom even in your early 20s. I know guys that I work with that do land home packages with mobile homes, and guys 25 years old. And I mean there's there's a real chance that by 30 he could retire himself if he wanted to, right? Which is just wild.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't want to give I I don't want to give my kids a big inheritance. I want to give them a system. Right? I want to get I wanna I want them to have the knowledge to go out and and do those types of things and build their own freedom. And it's you know with the with that right knowledge, you can you can go you can go do that at an early age, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

That's cool. Yeah, knowledge is power. Um, so as you think about legacy, let's say, you know, you're sitting back, you're 70, 80 years old, and you think, man, I create a great legacy. What's that legacy that you want to create?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Just being able to chart your own course. I want my kids to look back and say, you know, dad didn't just go work his butt off 50, 60, 70 hours a week at a W-2 job. He taught us how the power of money and how to put that to work for you and and build our own freedom. I think if I can I think if I can instill that in our family and in my boys, then I've built that I've built that legacy that that I that I wanted. That's way more powerful than than just money is understanding how it all works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah. I like that. And that's uh, I mean, you think about the legacy that could create, right? Not just in your four boys, but in their families and generations to come, right? And then you also think about the people that they could impact and starts to be be a pretty big legacy, which is cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Yeah. Yeah, generation generational wealth has to start somewhere. I didn't come from any kind of major major wealth, you know. It's it, but I feel like if I can start that cre creating that for my kids and their kids and their kids, then that's that's the coolest thing ever.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Well, cool. All right. Well, let's uh conclude here with some rapid fire questions. We'll we'll go through three or four questions um and uh we'll just do rapid fire here. You talked a bit about reading and having your kids uh read. What's your favorite business or real estate book?

SPEAKER_02 21:20

That's always stuck with me called Know Your Strengths. I think it's important to understand what what God, what your God-given power is and not try to improve something that's not.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Got it. Alright. What's one daily habit that helps you stay grounded? Exercise. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

I started this morning at 5 a.m. exercise, and this week our guy I trained with. He um coaching at Dabos football camp uh for two. days starts at 6 30 so he's like hey we gotta meet at 5 a.m. this week all right set an alarm at 4 15 and get going right I just feel different if I don't do it yeah doesn't have to be over the top you just gotta get in there and do it and gives me time to like get my mind right for the day yeah that's that's great favorite uh favorite family activity boating at the lake we all love getting out on the boat and running around and going to different places and tubing and all the water sports we I think we all love that as a family yeah that's great which lake do you all visit up there uh lake Anna is our is our favorite lake uh up in Louisa County Virginia yeah nice we're praying for rain down here our our lakes are pretty low right now but uh it's rained last week it's starting to look good for us well we get rain for like four straight days so our rivers are up um and uh so we're in good shape now how long it'll last that's good that's good all right last question what are you most excited about right now this new house that I'm getting ready to break ground on this 10 bedrooms with an indoor cruise that's that I'm I'm real excited about that house um but you know just uh everything with the family that we have going on too besides business we're moving into our travel ball season and we'll travel a lot and uh just the kids are getting out of school so this summer being able to spend a lot of time with them at the lake and traveling is is what I'm looking forward to right now. That's good. It's good season right coming up. Baseball the lake can't beat it.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Yeah yeah so we're move we're moving into that now then they have four maybe five days of school left and then that'll all open up and uh my oldest is really getting into golf so I'm going to get I'm going to get set um fitted for clubs tomorrow and so him and I are going to start trying to play golf at least once a week uh through the summer with my dad also which is going to be awesome because I'm just spend time with both of them.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah. Yeah that's huge. Our boys got into golf and uh during COVID and um have continued they haven't played as much because just they're they're busy with other sports but it's a great time to get out there and have four hours of undistracted time right yeah yeah if you're gonna spend time in Hilton Head you can't go out on those golf courses and look like a look like a fool.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

You gotta look at what you're doing a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Right right well cool well uh Brian I really appreciate you joining today um really great great conversation if people want to reach out to you how can they reach you um the best way is an email um it's it's a long email but well um yeah it's Shenandoah Valley that's the market that I'm in Shenandoah Valley and I'm into real estate so Shenandoah Valley Real Estate at Outlook.com they can send me emails all day long I'd love to hear from people yeah that's great well appreciate everybody listening we'll see see you on the next episode of the Purpose Driven Investor Podcast thanks again Brian yeah thanks Robert take care thanks for listening to the purpose driven investor if today's episode sparked an idea or inspired you to make an impact connect with me at howellandsons.com join our community of purpose driven investors who are helping families find stable homes while building real returns because when we invest with purpose everyone wins