Epic Real Estate Investing - Why They NEED You to Believe Floridas Housing Market Is Crashing | 1507

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

In this episode, Matt dives deep into the current state of the housing market, focusing on Florida as a case study. He challenges the prevailing narrative of an impending housing crash, arguing that the real crisis is not in home prices, but in public confidence and sentiment—engineered and amplified by social media and YouTube creators. Matt explains how fear-based content is shaping economic behavior, keeping regular people from buying homes while benefiting institutions, builders, and politicians. BUT BEFORE THAT, learn more about Musk’s boring real estate hack (40x ROI), and hear what China is doing right now! Useful links: https://myescapebook.com/escape-2?video=0KDH7rzZZWk https://epicearnwhileyoulearn.com/yfd?video=0KDH7rzZZWk https://intensive2025.com/?video=0KDH7rzZZWk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Hey, strap in. It's time for the epic real estate investing show. We'll be your guides as we navigate the housing market, the landscape of creative financing strategies, and everything you need to swap that office chair for a beach chair. If you're looking for some one-on-one help, meet us at rei-aise.com. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Let's go. What if I told you that while you've been saving up, for a down payment on your first rental property, Elon Musk just figured out how to control 68 miles of prime Las Vegas real estate without buying a single square foot. And what's worse? What he did is 100% legal, and the exact same strategy is now being used

by hundreds of investors, while most people have no idea it even exists. But before I show you how it works, let me explain the loophole he just bored through Vegas and why cities are begging him to do it again. Now, obviously, you are not gonna dig tunnels under your city. And that's not what this is about. Because the strategy that Musk used here, it works at every level. And I'm going to show you how it applies to normal people. Without billions, without rockets, and without a single shovel, I'll get to it in a second. But first, you've got to

see how he pulled this off. Because once you understand it, you'll start spotting this loophole everywhere. I mean, because I know you've been told the only way to win in real estate is to save, grind, and buy. Own the property, own the doors, own the dirt. But Musk just prove that's outdated thinking. Ownership is optional. Control is everything. And the way he pulled it off? It's been hiding in plain sight for over 100 years. In 2021, Las Vegas gave Musk's boring company a 50-year franchise agreement, the same kind used by telecoms or public transit. It gave him the right to dig tunnels under city streets and private property without buying the land above. No negotiations, no bidding wars, no billion dollar real estate deals, just a legal permission slip,

that lets him tunnel through the strip. For almost nothing, the window? It's closing faster than anyone expected. Now here's the real play. Elon didn't try to buy up the city. He just bought the small, overlooked pieces that gave him access. At 1.3 acre lot here, a back alley restaurant there. His total land spend, less than $50 million.

But because those tiny lots became tunnel stations, they're now the connection points for an entire transportation grid. And the value of controlling that corridor, Insiders estimate it could exceed $2 billion in economic impact. That's not a 10x return. That's a 40x value lift from being boring. Now, I probably shouldn't even be saying this because the real estate industry wants this buried. You see, they make money when you buy.

They make money when you sell. But when you control without owning, they make nothing. And you keep everything. That's why this stays quiet. You see, your real estate agent won't tell you this exists. Your mortgage broker won't either because they get paid when you borrow. Even your CPA benefits when you buy and hold. Everyone around you is financially invested in keeping you inside of the traditional game.

Because confused investors pay the highest fees. But Musk just proved you don't have to play by those rules anymore. This is why your neighbor who got lucky with that property wasn't lucky. They just understood something you didn't. It's not about owning everything. It's about controlling the choke points. That's what Elon bought. not land, leverage.

Here's what those worthless lots became. Loop stations, entry points, on ramps to a private underground highway. Now, Boring Company is building housing on top of those stations. Because when you control the access point, you control the traffic. And when you control the traffic, you named the price. This strategy worked in Vegas because it was ignored. They had over 200 parcels perfect for it just a few years ago. Now, less than 30.

And once institutional money figures out how to replicate this in other cities, it's game over for regular investors. And this isn't even new. I mean, Rockefeller built 22 skyscrapers on land he didn't own, just leased. Tokyo's subway system profits by controlling the shops above its stations. Railroads in the 1800s made their fortune not from tickets, but from selling the land next to the tracks. The pattern is always the same. Control beats ownership every time. And remember what I said earlier, this is 100% legal. The agreement Elon signed functions kind of like a utility easement. He doesn't need to own the strip.

He just gets to run a system through it because he filed the right paperwork before anyone else did. That's how Elon got Vegas without buying Vegas. But there's one piece of this puzzle I haven't told you yet. The part that makes or breaks this strategy. And it's not what you think. This exact same principle works at any scale. I've used it with as little as 10,000.

I've used it with creative financing. I've partnered with people and did it with nothing but credit. Right now, investors are using lease options, land trusts, even easements to control income producing property without ever holding the title. I mean, if you're familiar with subject to, novation, short-term rental arbitrage, then you know about some of these strategies that use these different tools. Same principle. Control beats ownership. And right now, over 847 investors across the U.S. are using this exact concept to build passive income without owning the buildings outright. They lease, they partner, they structure smart deals that put them in control without the liabilities of ownership. You'll never see them on TikTok. They're not flashy.

They're boring and they're rich. So here's the move. You can keep trying to buy your way to financial freedom, hoping for a miracle flip or a crash. Or I'll walk you through how real investors are using this exact strategy to build income without becoming landlords. No hammer, no tenants, no burnout. Just boring, repeatable leverage. Hope is not a financial strategy. Let's get back to work. You thought Black Rock was bad.

Wait till you see what China's doing. While you were sleeping last night, China bought 32 more American homes, cash. No questions asked. And tomorrow, they'll buy 32 more. At this rate, by Christmas, they'll own more of your neighborhood than your neighbors do. They've already bought 11,700 homes this year alone, $13.7 billion in U.S. real estate, all while your mortgage application sits pending for the fourth week in a row. And here's where things get even more complicated. Some are trying to stop it, but it might already be too late. Florida, Texas, and more than a dozen other states have passed laws restricting land sales to Chinese nationals near military bases and infrastructure.

But those laws are controversial, and enforcement, it's all over the place. At the federal level, CFIUS has expanded authority to review deals near over 100 military installations. Trump's team is drafting new executive orders. I mean, the race is on. But while lawmakers argue over who gets to buy what, the deals keep closing, quietly, legally, relentlessly. One Chinese investor even bought an entire college campus in New Hampshire and just left it, overgrown, boarded up, forgotten.

You thought Black Rock was bad? That was just the warm-up act. While the media was yelling about hedge funds, foreign buyers were quietly buying America. One house, one acre, one loophole at a time. How bad is it really? How deep does it go? And what can you do before it's too late? Well, let's dig in. Chinese buyers spent $13.7 billion on American homes last year, up 83% from the year before. And that's just what we know about. Industry insiders estimate it could be closer to $40 billion. But most of it's hidden behind shell companies that would make a drug cartel jealous. Nearly half of these homes were purchased all cash. No loan, no inspections, no competition.

The hotspots? California, Florida, New York, Texas, and Arizona. If you live in one of those states, you've already competed against Chinese money and probably lost. And if you lost that deal, it probably wasn't because your offer was weak. It was because the game was already over before you played. And it gets worse. Some of these homes, they're not even getting lived in. They're being parked, held as assets, hidden in trusts, forgotten by design.

Others are strategic, like the time a Chinese company tried to buy land next to a U.S. Air force base in North Dakota, or the 54-acre college campus in New Hampshire, bought by a Chinese businessman, then left to rot. Why would anyone buy a campus just to let it die? Well, I found three possible explanations. Two of them are disturbing. The third one, it kept me awake for three nights. Number one, tax loopholes. Some of these purchases are part of global tax avoidance schemes. They park money in U.S. real estate to shift assets, reduce liability, and store. value, even if the property sits empty. It's not about the building. It's about what it protects. Number two, immigration incentives. Through programs like EB-5, buying U.S. real estate can help

secure green cards for foreign investors. Sometimes the property is just the packaging. The real goal is access. And once the immigration box is checked, the house no longer matters. And then number three, strategic positioning. Now, this one's harder to prove, but it's happening. Land, and near military bases, infrastructure corridors, resource hubs. Some experts believe these purchases are geopolitical chess moves, with real estate used as quiet leverage. One intelligence analysts put it this way. You don't need missiles to destabilize a region.

Sometimes you just need a deed. None of these explanations are comforting, but all of them are in play, and they're unfolding in plain sight. Now let's talk about the villain that everyone knows, BlackRock. And to be clear, BlackRock doesn't. buy individual homes. That's a common misconception. The confusion often comes from Black Stone, which does own companies that buy thousands and thousands of single-family homes. But Black Rock

still plays a role. They've built and backed the system that does buy homes, funding the institutions, shaping the indexes, and influencing the very mechanisms that turn neighborhoods into rental portfolios. Algorithms now outbid families by milliseconds. In some markets, up to 25% of homes are being scooped up by institutional buyers. Many backed by the very funds inside your 401k. So while most Americans blame BlackRock for distorting the housing market, the truth is they didn't just buy homes. They bought the machine that buys homes. And while you were watching them, China made its move. The terrifying part? The government knew about the Air Force Base deal. They had 90 days to review it, and they chose to do nothing, which means either they don't care,

or they can't stop it. Which scenario scares you more? And here's the part no one's saying out loud. Once that land changes hands, it doesn't change back. Ownership sticks, influence spreads, and it doesn't knock on your door to ask permission. BlackRock plays the market. They want rent checks, ROI, shareholder returns. China?

China plays the long game. They want position, control, influence. Black Rock buys to earn. China buys to own. And they're not flipping properties. They're anchoring themselves deep into American soil. Even former CIA director John Brennan called this Economic Warfare disguised as investment.

When the CIA is worried about real estate purchases, maybe we should be too. So how are they doing it? Why is it invisible? Well, they're using LLCs, trusts, and EB-5 visa programs, loopholes that allow foreign nationals to buy a green card by buying a building, which means your tax dollars are. are literally subsidizing this.

Most of these purchases aren't traceable. No flag on the deed, no foreign buyer alert, just another transaction buried in the county record. And our kids? They'll inherit a country they can't afford to live in. Your vote? It won't mean much if your lawmakers won't even admit this is happening. So here's why this is happening now.

China's economy is wobbling. Capital flight is accelerating. Wealthy Chinese elites want their money out. And U.S. real estate, still seen as the safest asset in the world. So they're moving fast while you wait for interest rates to come down. And here's where it speeds up. Trump's team is already drafting executive orders to limit foreign real estate purchases, which means Chinese buyers might have 60 days left to make their final moves.

So guess what they're doing? Accelerating, hard. In 2021, a military housing development in California suddenly changed ownership. The locals didn't know it at the time, but the buyer had direct ties to a Chinese real estate investment group. The location? Just 15 miles from a U.S. naval installation. And while technically legal, the transaction raised red flags inside the Pentagon, not because of what was being built, but because of what wasn't.

Months and months went by. No construction, no renovation, no listings. It just sat there, dormant, quiet, owned. By the time the public found out, There were eight more similar purchases across the state, each near critical infrastructure, and each veiled behind corporate layers. So while Americans were competing to buy townhomes, China was playing a completely different game, one that had nothing to do with flipping houses and everything to do with control.

And here's what nobody told those homeowners. The value of your home doesn't just come from what it is, but from who surrounds it, who owns next door, and who dictates what your neighborhood becomes. Now, here's where it gets real. One couple excited about becoming passive landlords bought a property right next to one of these dormant acquisitions. The deal looked good on paper, but within a year, values in the area started to dip. Tenants moved out. Vacancy spiked.

Because no one wants to live in a ghost zone owned by someone you'll never meet, who never plans to show up. The couple said, we didn't lose money because we bought the wrong house. We lost because we didn't know what was happening around it. That's the danger of playing retail in a market that's being shaped by strategy. So while they're buying everything in sight with cash, here's how you can still win. You can't out-cash them, but you can't outsmart them. But you don't need to quit your job, flip houses, or gamble on sketchy gurus to do it. Because there's one strategy that smart professionals are using right now,

one that quietly generates income without becoming a landlord, without going full time and without trading your evenings for tenant phone calls. But not every option you have here is legit. I'm referring to turnkey real estate providers. Some will show you glossy numbers and leave you with a property that bleeds cash from day one. So I'm going to show you how to spot the difference between a real deal and a real disaster. You'll learn the red flags, the due diligence traps, and the exact questions that expose the scammers before you ever send a wire.

Ever hear someone say, I have too much money? Me neither. Let's get you some more. Back to the show. Normal people with normal jobs no longer believe they can win in this system. And no one even stops to ask what the hell is going on. So that is a national emergency. They've been calling for a housing crash in Florida since 2019.

It hasn't happened, but what has happened is the number of people too scared to ever buy. So the real crash, it's not in prices, it's in confidence. And that's how they're stealing your home before you ever own it. But what if I told you your eyes, your ears, and every housing crash YouTuber is lying to you? Not necessarily on purpose. I doubt that most of them even know that they're doing it, but it isn't random, it's engineered, and it's working. Tucker Carlson recently warned that home ownership itself is collapsing. The basic economics really matter, and they matter because not that it's bad that rich people

are getting richer, it's bad that everyone else is getting poorer. And it's especially bad the young people can't afford homes. Let me just put a very precise point on this. He's right, but not because the market is crashing, because the public belief in home ownership is crashing. And YouTube is one of the biggest culprits that's feeding it. I mean, every week, a new video goes viral. Florida housing market is collapsing.

Condo nightmare. Everyone leaving Florida. Get out now. And yet, prices hold. Inventory stays tight. Investors keep buying. But regular people, they freeze. They wait.

They miss it. Because fear isn't just a feeling anymore. It's a business model. And YouTube, it's the most powerful fear-mongering machine on earth. This isn't content. It's sentiment manufacturing. at scale. And this has real world consequences. Here's what I mean. Harvard and Yale researchers have shown that public sentiment directly extends recessions. The book, Animal Spirits, lays out how

economic behavior is driven more by emotion than math. Socionomic theory shows that market mood leads market movement, not the other way around. Brookings called it a vibe session. The Fed calls it a feedback loop. When people feel poor, they act poor. When they feel. scared, they delay. When they delay, the slowdown becomes real. So what happens when YouTube tells millions of people every day that the housing market is doomed? What happens when the biggest creators repeat it for years with no accountability? You get what we have now. A housing market that won't crash, but a generation too afraid to ever buy. Let's take Florida, everyone's favorite crash target. You've heard the headlines, 2008 all over. The collapse has begun. Florida

housing is about to crash. But let's look at the data. Florida's population is up, 8.24% since 2020. Over 467,000 new residents moved in last year alone, and the state is projected to add $1.4 million by 2030. Orlando's job base is diversifying. It's not just tourism anymore. Engineering, aerospace, and medical are all expanding. And speaking of tourism, Disney alone contributes $40 billion to Florida's economy, and Orlando's airport traffic? Only down 0.9%, not the 6% fear stats you've heard. Disney is investing $30 billion through 2003. This is not a state people are fleeing.

It's a state people are betting on. Now, what about supply? YouTubers love to scream that inventory is surging. But Orlando has just 5.49 months of supply. That's still below a balanced market. Meanwhile, construction costs are up 20 plus percent, and build timelines have stretched. Builders can't drop prices much further.

though, because they'd be building at a loss. The ceiling may have softened, but the floor has risen, and it's not going back down. And I know, what about the Airbnb collapse? Well, they said there were 46,000 short-term rentals in Orlando. Overall, data from Air DNA shows that there's around 46,000 short-term rental units on the market in the Orlando Metro. Actual number? About 16,800 per Air DNA. Occupancy rates are stable. Revenue is up three percent. That's not collapse. That's correction. And still think we're in 2008? We're not. Today, homeowners have record equity. Loans are solid. Lending is tight. That is not a precondition for a crash. The opposite, actually. If anything, the market is bifurcated. And here's what I mean. It's like a split highway. One lanes moving slow. The other one's flying past at full speed. Same market, two completely different experiences, depending on where you're driving. Lower, Income areas? Slowing.

Higher income areas? Holding. That's normal. That's healthy. Winter Garden, for example. Barely affected. Why? Low investor saturation.

High ownership stability. This isn't a crash. It's a market sorting itself out. So, who benefits when you believe that the sky is falling? The YouTubers. They get clicks on fear. The institutions. They buy while you wait.

The builders. They keep margins high while buyers hesitant. the politicians, they spin it into power. And you, you sit, you wait, you scroll, you get mad, but you don't move. And that's the plan, because if you're scared to buy, you'll never become an owner. If people don't own things, they don't feel ownership of the country they're in. And if you never become an owner, guess who owns you? And if you're wondering why this even matters, I mean, who needs a house, right?

Let alone multiples. Well, here's the truth. Ownership changes everything. When you own real estate, you control your housing cost. You build equity, not just expenses. You gain leverage, options, exit strategies. You stop reacting to the market and start using the market. You don't have to live in the property.

You don't even have to like real estate. But if you want to stop trading time for money, real estate isn't just one option. It's the most accessible, repeatable, and proven option available to your average Joe. And fear is the only thing keeping most people from it. So if you're guilty of sitting in the comments and complaining that the game is rigged, that life is unfair, that Wall Street bought it all up, that you don't have any money, then you should also know this, real estate. It's the final frontier where the average person

still has a legitimate shot at pulling themselves out of the hole, let alone build wealth. If you don't like your situation and you don't have anything to show for all your hard work, it's probably because you're still trying to outwork the system. But most people don't make enough to save enough to do that. And they sure don't have enough hours in the day to grind their way out. You don't beat the system with hustle. You beat it by owning assets that benefit from what the system does. You see, this isn't a real estate conversation.

It's a money conversation disguised as one. It's your future disguised as real estate. And if you miss that, you stay stuck, not because the system is too strong, but because you played by the wrong rules. Now, I know what you may be on the verge of saying. Easy for you to say, Matt, you're already rich. I wasn't always. I didn't grow up with money, that's for sure.

And you don't need to be rich to start. You only need the desire. And if you have that, there's a way. Homes are overpriced. Nobody can afford $600,000. Well, then don't buy a $600,000 house. Buy smart. Buy small.

Buy creatively. think stepping stone, not dream home. You're not locked out. You're locked in by belief. Well, Wall Street already owns everything. The game is rigged. Well, Wall Street owns less than 1% of the housing market. You're not being shut out by institutions. You're being manipulated by a fear script that keeps you stuck. Well, I'm just going to wait for the crash. Well, cool. I mean, people said that in 2019, and since then, prices have gone up 60%. Rents exploded. Rates doubled. Well, even if I wanted to buy, qualify. Well, good. When I got started, I couldn't either. Traditional financing isn't the only path. There's seller financing, there's partnerships, there's creative deals. You don't need perfect

credit. You need a better strategy. Zerodownkit.com has 10 different ways for the qualification challenged person. If you have the desire, you have a way. The truth is, the crash already happened, but not in the market. It happened in the mindset, and it was engineered. So what do you do now? You learn how to buy without fear. You learn how to structure deals, not chase perfect timing. You learn how to win with what you have right now. If I had to start from scratch today, I wouldn't wait. I'll see you next time or hopefully I'll see you over there. Take care. And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too? There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind,

please share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great care of them. God loves you, and so do I. Health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio. Living the dream. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home, boy, we got the cash flow. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. This podcast is a part of the C-suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.