Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Grind, hosted by business entrepreneur Eric James, is a talk show about local business professionals, entrepreneurs, politicians & people of interest, that chose to bet on themselves & embraced the daily hustle that we call the Grind.
#TheGrind, channels the stories behind successful individuals by exploring their ideology of what it takes to manifest a successful business in an ever changing economic, pollical and social media environment.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning
Eric James 0:15
and welcome to the grind. I'm your host extraordinaire. Mr. Eric James, what is the grind. Simply put, the grind is a half hour conversation that speaks to local business entrepreneurs and explores their take on where our local economy is heading, and asks them to tell us their own story of the sacrifices and work ethic that it takes to have a successful business. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I'm your host extraordinaire, Eric James, and again, we've got a jam packed lineup for you this morning. I've got three fabulous guests that hopefully they're going to blow your pants off or wake you up, if nothing else, get you up out of bed. Get that coffee, get some tea, get some donuts or whatever you need. Get something so you can listen to some of these gentlemen's information, and so you can take it in, breathe it in, and swallow it down and get a little something out of your Sunday morning, I have three special guests for you. I'm gonna start from my left to right. I have Mr. Quan Owens in the middle. I have Chris monger and on my on my right, I have Stephen Thompson, each one in their own individual fields expertise, and we're gonna find out about their story, their history and their grind, a little bit about what got them here, and how they stay relevant and on top in their industry, and what they do well, or maybe not so well, but they hide it well enough to make you think that they're balling out, doing it at the top level of what we need here in Nevada. So let's start with our gentlemen, Mr. Owens. Mr. Owens, good morning to you, sir. How you feeling? Feeling
Kwon Owens 1:43
real good, real good. How's everybody out there? Everybody in the studio, nice people.
Eric James 1:48
Nice people. All right, sir. So you know, I got a couple questions for you, but tell people a little bit about what you do, and I'm gonna hit you with some of these questions that I got on my notes here. But tell folks a little bit about what you do? So
Kwon Owens 2:01
I am a retired IT person recently going into real estate as well as a serial entrepreneur, to say the least, everything from print to logistics companies as well as auto spas, things of that nature. It tends to go into like an ecosystem of all the businesses kind of feeding off each other.
Eric James 2:23
All right, so looking at your notes, looks like you a New York boy. Is
Kwon Owens 2:28
that correct? Absolutely, Brooklyn. Brooklyn, stand up. All right, Brooklyn, stand
Eric James 2:33
up. But got a military family here. I mean, that means you moved around a little bit. I know that for myself, that my father was in the Air Force and me being in the Army, you know, I had, I didn't have to move around so much, fortunately. But this is how my family got from the west coast, from the East Coast to the West Coast. My mother being from Montreal, and my father being from New York as well. So tell me where some of the places you've lived or traveled to along your journey.
Kwon Owens 3:00
So pretty much every continent, except for Antarctica. When I was younger, it was pretty much, you know, as far as traveling with my mom, she was in the Marines. But as I got older, you know, I tend to see the world a little bit different, visiting some of the same places a lot. In Korea, Busan, South Korea, you know. So in Europe, everywhere from Romania to Britain and South America, pretty much everything from Mexico down to Argentina. So a lot of traveling
Eric James 3:36
now, my understanding, it's personal business, but I don't think we've known each other, hopefully long enough, I don't mind, your father is Korean, correct, that is correct. So has his viewpoint on the world, or his heritage or background made, colored in any way or shaped in any way, how you view the world along with your travel? Because I've done a lot of traveling myself and I the same thing. Different people from different parts of world see us as Americans and people in different aspects alike. So I'm wondering if some of that cultural heritage has affected how you view work, your work ethic, or other parts of your personal life.
Kwon Owens 4:13
Pretty much it's has been the foundational staple as far as everything is concerned, with the culture on both my mom and my dad's side, but also just being able to get that global experience. Because it's one thing when you know you hear about it, but it's another thing when you tend to experience in it, and all the experiences that went on has actually been going a lot deeper than just doing just the touristic things actually going to see a lot of the places that are more off the beaten path and really aligning with the culture, to see how they see things different. Because, of course, you have your own perspective, and it's just an eye opener when you can see others perspectives. Oh, wow.
Eric James 4:57
Now it also says, tells me that you. Done a little martial arts, little Kenpo and Taekwondo,
Kwon Owens 5:04
absolutely, I say probably a lot more than a little. Pretty much, from the time I was three until 15, my mom pretty much kept me pretty busy to make sure I don't get in
Eric James 5:16
trouble when your mom tried to whoop that button. I mean, because, you know, we was all, we're all old enough that we still they believed in weapons back then, when you still does, when your mom did you give her that wax on, wax off, move to keep that Belter, that shoe, that slipper, from hitting the backside. No, I was able
Kwon Owens 5:32
to stay pretty conscious, to not do that, or otherwise I'd be
Eric James 5:36
unconscious. My mom said, I'll wax your back. All right, Juan, I'ma come back to you. I got a few more questions for you, but I'm gonna move to my next guest to keep it balanced here, make sure everybody gets some time in what they do. Now this gentleman here, he's out of the three gentlemen. He's fairly new to me, but I've grown to have a great deal of respect for what he does, his background and definitely his work ethic. So I'm going to call him my sensei for my new business, which is my veterans next gen home inspection. So Chris has become, or is our mentor and guidance. Through our internships, he's been taking us out, showing us his techniques and what he does and how he meticulous he is and about what he does, to show us the proper way to learn for my new endeavor. So Chris, please introduce yourself and tell people a little bit about your business. And I'm going to ask you a few questions about your past, because I've got some great notes here, and I want to get to them and really explore some of this. Well, thank
Chris Mounger 6:33
you, Eric, and good morning everyone. Hopefully everyone's having a nice Sunday morning here in beautiful Las Vegas. So as Eric said, I do property inspections here in Las Vegas. So I essentially work in real estate. I work with buyers and sellers. Mostly buyers are looking to buy property here. Whenever you want to buy a piece of real estate, surely you want to get inspected. You want to know what you're getting into. And that's where I come in. I've been a property inspector now for 16 years, 8000 inspections under my belt. Prior to my inspection career, I worked as a civil structural engineer. So I am a graduate of UNLV, way back in 2000 to civil engineering. Prior to that, I grew up in the construction industry. I would go to work with my dad all the time when I was a kid, and so from an early age, I was exposed to the building industry, so for 10 years, I worked building homes, another 10 years being a structural and civil engineer, and now I'm into my 16th year of being a property inspector. Here see
Eric James 7:31
now I've got a note. This tells you that Chris has been a hard worker from from a very young age. And my notes tell me that when you were young, used to scrap copper, is that correct? Yeah. So
Chris Mounger 7:44
if anyone is aware of lost Prados North side of town, so when I was 10 years old in the 1980s and my dad took me to work with him, that would be completely unheard of today, of course. So a 10 year old running around a job site 1988 or so. So when I wasn't building forts with leftover pieces of wood, I would go scrap copper. So I'd wait for electricians to get through the house. Grab my bucket, take it with me and pick up every piece of copper I could find. Take it home, strip off the insulation. After a month, I've had a whole bucket full of copper and a 10 year old in 1988 that was a good deal of money back then. So that was really exciting. So those were some of the things I did. Was scrap copper, make forts in those job sites, help my dad where I could. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. So I met all kinds of crazy and interesting people and had a really good time doing it.
Eric James 8:41
But wait, Chris, you know, I did a Google search. I don't know how accurate the number is, but Google says that we only have about 80 years worldwide left of copper in on our planet. So copper is a valuable mineral or commodity. You had to be making 100 or more dollars a month. Were you making it rain at school with, you know, in front of the girls, you know, what? All that, all your pockets just bulging out with all that copper money was walking around with just blinging at 10 years old? Gee, I
Chris Mounger 9:11
wish. I'm pretty sure I just blew it on toys, and that's where it went. So I probably just had a good time with it. So, you know, what could you do back then as a 10 year old? So, definitely, bought toys, other stuff like that. Now,
Eric James 9:26
I know you have two kids, an 18 year old and a 13 year old, and as a father and going through growing up here in Las Vegas, in the industry, either one of your kids interested in the what you do, or taking over your business when as you get older. So
Chris Mounger 9:43
like I'm doing with you, Eric, I would take my kids on ride alongs with the point being, I want to teach them something. I want to show them what they do. They can learn a skill. And so early on, I would take them to my inspections, and we would teach them like I've been teaching you. We'd go over the water heater, HVAC. We'd go over how to inspect a kitchen, a bathroom. Luckily, though they're blazing their own path, and I couldn't be prouder of that. So my son works at Federal Express. My daughter wants to go to college, so they're not going to follow in my footsteps, which is fine, but my goal of showing them something, teaching them something, that's what I wanted to get across them that was most important to me now,
Eric James 10:21
either one of them, because I know your wife is a school teacher, which is an incredible profession, hard working. So I give her nothing but respect and love for what she does, super hard profession. Either one of the kids thinking about following in her footsteps?
Chris Mounger 10:34
My daughter kindly, I get my wife's mother, she was a teacher. My wife's a teacher. And so there's probably a good possibility my my daughter, follows in those footsteps, and I'm completely fine with that. She is excellent with people. She likes going to my my wife's school and helping her out. So I perhaps see Anna Lee. That's my daughter's name going into the teaching profession. That's
Eric James 10:55
pretty cool. All right. Well, I know the last one I want to ask you, and then I'm going to move to our third guest again, keep it kind of balanced, and I'm gonna come back to all three of you what questions throughout. But you were an athlete in high school, and I know you're a big sports fan, and part of your vacation that you said you're going on to California, here in the next in the next few days, you're going to watch a couple baseball games, and, you know, attend some sports. You were a baseball player in high school. What made what drew you to baseball? What is it about baseball that really, you know, fascinates you or builds you part of your
Chris Mounger 11:29
drive? My dad was a baseball lover, so that just came to me, naturally, just loved baseball, loved the sport, and I was really good at it. So my senior year, I think I was second team all city. I also played a couple years of college baseball. After high school, I went to College of the Desert Southern California. Did two years there, and realized I wasn't going to be a rich and famous baseball player, and that using my brain was the best way to go. So came home and finished up my degree at UNLV. So I just love the game of baseball. It's America's pastime for a reason. And most importantly, I'm so thrilled that when I'm going to go to San Diego, we're going to be there on Jackie Robinson day, cubs versus padres. I'm so looking forward to celebrating that day because of what that man did, not only for our country, but for the sport.
Eric James 12:19
It's pretty cool. Much respect on that. Now, what position do you play? Though I was an outfielder or a DH, okay, designated here. All right. Well, you know, you want to give us some of your stats, where we betting?
Chris Mounger 12:31
Ah, so my senior year, I was the only one that hit 400 on our team. I was offensive player the year, so I had a great senior year. Okay, okay,
Eric James 12:39
Knock the Hustle. Okay, Knock the Hustle. All right, I'm gonna switch to my third guest, Mr. Steven Thompson, tell me a little bit something about yourself, sir, and I know I'm gonna get this out of the way. Now, he was a Marine, I was Army, so we're gonna get this out of the way. Now, not everybody can be army material. Some people have to do the grunt work, and you know, do the do the grudge and the sludge? So we leave it to gentlemen like this, but we still want to give him his respect. Thank you for your service, sir. Tell me a little something about yourself.
Steven Thompson 13:11
Well, thank you for your service as well. Eric. My name is Steve Thompson. I am a Marine Corps combat veteran. I'm also a mortgage lender out here in Las Vegas, Nevada. So definitely wanted to tell everybody, hope you having a wonderful Sunday morning. And little bit about myself, you know, I did choose the Marine Corps because, you know, somebody's got to protect my brother over here. Because, you know, it is what it is. They say that we are, what is bullet shields? But I just say, Well, you know, it's kind of difficult to be a shield when you're too busy firing at the end. So little bit of history got me born in LA
Eric James 13:55
Inglewood up to no good, is what I'm hearing. Yep, Inglewood, California
Steven Thompson 13:59
and the 80s moved around quite a bit and came out here, you know, and I've been grinding ever since I was literally a kid.
Eric James 14:11
Well, from what I know here you were, you were a sports athlete as well. When you were younger, six foot tall. And how old were you? At six foot tall, I was 12 years old, Lord, good lord.
Steven Thompson 14:23
Yeah, I was a, I was literally dunking in middle school.
Eric James 14:26
What happened to the NBA? Where's the contract now? Because nowadays, at that age, you should have had an N i l contract, you know, you you could have had a new car and everything already paid up. You were just born, a little too late, too soon. I
Steven Thompson 14:39
think so. I think so. Yeah, you know, growing up, I wanted to support myself so, you know, my junior and senior year, I went to work, had to get myself in my own car. Was supporting myself financially, taking the burden off my parents a little bit, making sure that I had a, you know, a nice little. Work ethic for myself. I want to have some money, you know, I couldn't make it rain, like my buddy over here, but I did drizzle a little bit. You know, I took care of myself. And you know, right out of high school, I went to the Marine
Eric James 15:12
Corps. I like that. Now, I did do my homework, because I do my homework on all my guests to make sure I know what come from you. Went to Winchester High School, West Chester. West Chester High School. You guys had the worst, worst mascot. What is a comet man? Tell me what comet man is. I looked at that. I was like, he looks deformed or deranged or something. I'm not sure if that's a good mascot for young youth of America. But tell me what comet man is.
Steven Thompson 15:39
I was only there for a year, so I'm not really gonna own that
Eric James 15:46
one, all right. Well, we will hold you to that one. The other day, I like that. I saw that you've been a you've been an entrepreneur or a businessman or hustler for since you were really young. One thing I don't know whether or not you're a natural born business person, or you could never hold on to a job, because what I've seen on your background is you worked in high school. You worked at foot action, Burger King, Taco Bell, Kenny Rogers, roasters. You were all over the place that they you just didn't like them, or they didn't like you. What was that about?
Steven Thompson 16:19
Well, that was mostly about, you know, like I said, I wanted to make money, and if it was slow in one industry, I went somewhere where I could make some money at, you know, if they couldn't give me the hours that I wanted, I went somewhere where I could get the hours to where I could make the money to support myself.
Eric James 16:35
Yeah, now see, I can see that because it looks like you progressed as you got older. We all mature, and you leave the fast food and the early jobs behind you had a Property Preservation business and an online store. Tell me a little bit about
Steven Thompson 16:50
that. Back in 2008 right before the market took a turn, we'll say the banks were foreclosing on properties. There are people that were leaving their homes. It was a really rough time to be a homeowner, but there was also a need to secure these homes, make them livable again, and to make them and keep neighborhoods safe. So we started a Property Preservation business where we would be subcontractors for the banks. We would go into the properties or secure these properties. We would remove all the debris, maintain those properties, and get those properties to be resold again, trying to keep the neighborhoods as safe as possible, because we all know when there's nobody in the home, somebody will find a way to move into that home.
Eric James 17:44
Now, somebody I tell some of my story as the shows go along. I was also a real estate agent for several years back in the 2000 and teens FROM and UNTIL dual licensing laws made it difficult for me to have my insurance licenses and my real estate licenses, I saw some unique things. And Quan you can attest to this. Saw some copper ripped out of walls, wiring ripped out of walls, feces on walls, telling the bank off to FU bank for foreclosures. Other things. Saw some really crazy stuff, even concrete in the toilets, concrete. So all of us, I think, gentlemen, we're all old enough to have lived through some ups and downs of the cycle of the economy. So how is that I'm going to start with Steven. Since we were on you, how have you seen the industry in the market changed over the course of your career, and where do you think we're going?
Steven Thompson 18:42
I've seen the industry change quite a bit through my career. Like I said, I was in Property Preservation. Then legislation was passed where the banks had to prove that they owned the title to the property, and we went from maintaining around 1000 houses a month to 20. So it was a massive, massive hit. That's where we opened up a online store where we were selling the preservation products to other contractors. I figured, well, I mean, if we're not going to be able to maintain with our normal inventory will, let's sell some inventory to other people. And then I noticed that that also took a hit. Because, you know, the preservation industry kind of died down quite a bit. The banks were no longer maintaining the foreclosed properties the way that they were before. So you went from having an industry where you had, I would say, REO agents, to not having any more REO agents. You went from industry where there was a foreclosed properties everywhere, to now they're sold on note tapes. Now they're not sold the way that they used to be. Good luck finding a foreclosed property. You won't find nearly as many as you did before. So, you know, home prices have been more stable. You know, it went from being at the bottom of the market to. You know, a 4% I would say, on an annual increase over the past 1015, years. So we're seeing, you know, the market change in A, I would say, a pretty good direction. Okay,
Eric James 20:10
now you folks, of course, can't see it, but Chris is over here. As Steve was talking, Chris was nodding his head in agreement to a lot of different things. Part of his story, back story is you actually changed your your profession in the 2010 mortgage crisis is when you transition to becoming in a home inspector. So again, you've seen the industry in the market and the economy change throughout how, how has it affected your career? And where do you think it's going? So
Chris Mounger 20:40
when I broke in and oh nine, half of every foreclosed out there house out there was a short sale. So it was a very, very different market we see today versus back then. Say that one more time, Eric,
Eric James 20:56
so the the transition of the market, or the evolution of the markets up and down has evolved over the last 10 to 12 years. What is, how has it affected you, and what you do today, and where do you think it's going? So back
Chris Mounger 21:10
then, I was in my engineering career, and prior to our great recession, boy, our economy was on fire. We were busy, busy, busy. But when that happened, home building just shut down. The need for engineers and architects literally went away overnight, combined with the fact I bought a house in late, oh, eight, when the market was down, it was a good time to buy. Had a home inspection, watched what he did, asked him some questions, realized, Hey, I think I could do that. Combined with the fact there were 30 to 40,000 foreclosures sitting in the home market at the time, my job was drying up. I was ready for a change. Opened up something called a phone book.
Eric James 21:52
Don't let the millennials and these talk, because they're gonna be called googling that right now, trying to figure out what that is. And
Chris Mounger 21:59
luckily, I found this company, told that inspector, who would eventually become my mentor, what my resume was, and he welcomed me with open arms when he found out I came from the construction industry, I have a degree, and I come from the engineering world. So to me, the writing was on the wall. This was a perfect opportunity for me to transition out of this engineering career, become an entrepreneur, go into business for myself. And I got lucky. I'm the first one the minute lightning struck my brain when I figured out what that home inspector was doing, I could do and I could do it 10 times better.
Eric James 22:36
That's a good thing. All right. Mr. Owens, what's your perspective on this.
Kwon Owens 22:42
So perspective on this would basically be, and I guess the easiest way to sum it up is, you know, I've been investing for a while, and just recently came over into doing real estate full time for about the last two and a half years. One thing that I can say, because I actually came out to Vegas, oh 90909, is when I stepped off the plane, right? Of course, the the market was a little bit more in this race. Like I said, a lot of short sales, or a lot of homes that were vacant. You know, the market was completely different. There wasn't they were a little bit more stricter. They started getting more stricter on the on the loans and things of that nature. But there were deals to be made, right? Just in going back not too far, 2017, to now. And I think it was kind of due to, like the perfect storm of like, COVID, the printing of money, etc, etc. But I see things from like 2017 until now. Home prices of roughly two to 3x from about that time, right? Houses that were 400 or 490 are like 1.5 million. Now, as far as the interest rates, because the thing is, is when I retired in 2022 and that's when I came over to Real Estate, interest rates were pretty low. They were 3% and then I get into the business and they spike up to eight Now, historically, is that high? Not historically? No, but I think the difference is the cost of the home, coupled with that makes it a little bit different, right? So those things have been different for me, and of course, a lot of the buyers are still into like, 2% 3% they're not, pretty much coming off their homes. So that pretty much makes a lot of money. A lot of buyers
Eric James 24:47
got spoiled thinking those were normal interest rates. I don't know interest rates at one time in 80s were in the 10s, you know, double digits, and they forget about that. Now you own, or CO own, a real estate company. That correct? Yep,
Kwon Owens 25:00
Team Emmanuel real estate at simply Vegas,
Eric James 25:04
that's correct. So give, give the folks the rest of your information. Where can they contact you if they wanted to get a hold of you, so they can
Kwon Owens 25:10
contact me at Quan sales Vegas. That's K, w o n sales Vegas. That's pretty much on all platforms. That's also my email@gmail.com you can also reach me by phone, 702-518-2596,
Eric James 25:24
give that to him again, because I'm always that person that's searching for a pin or said it too fast and I miss a number. Give them. Give them that number again. No problem.
Kwon Owens 25:31
Phone number is 702-518-2596, and the handle or email is Quan sales Vegas, across all platforms,
Eric James 25:43
Quan sales Vegas, I like that. It's catchy, easy to remember, has a hook to it, all right, Chris, tell people where they can find it and get a hold of you so you can help them out and get this home inspected properly. Well,
Chris Mounger 25:56
I go by the moniker of Chris the inspector. You can check me out on my Facebook business page. Just go on the Facebook and just put in Chris the inspector. You'll find me. My I can be reached at 702-375-9809 and my email address is Chris the inspector, LV for Las vegas@gmail.com, so one more time, Eric, 702-375-9809 and my email is Chris the inspector, lv@gmail.com
Eric James 26:25
see how, see how natural Chris was taken to this. He He repeated it. He picked up on that right away. He was smooth with the presentation. I think he's got a career coming in this when he's ready for his next, his next career change. And I do know that you are working on, doing some YouTube and some other things. Or at least, you're a fan of some home inspectors that are on YouTube that have some fairly big followings that most folks wouldn't know about. So you're going to be the next YouTube sensation that we should be looking for.
Chris Mounger 26:53
I don't know about that, but you know, as they say, a picture speaks 1000 words, well, a video speaks a lot more. So for some of my foreign investors that never see the house, they like me to do a walk through video of the house, where I go through it and show everything. So on my page, I'm up to hundreds and hundreds of those videos, so it's more for informational purposes, so that the people that are buying properties that don't see them in person can see them in person. I should say more on the video screen.
Eric James 27:20
All right, Mr. Thompson, give me your info. Where can folks find you? I need a mortgage tomorrow. I got a FICO of 560 what can you do for me? Everybody's laughing, man, I can't I can't get my credit score. What can you do for me?
Steven Thompson 27:39
There's a lot that we can do for you. Steve Thompson with USA home ownership loans. We are a nonprofit. We also have a credit counseling program that we put people into 400% free and so you can reach me at 702-321-1706 again, that is 702-321-1706, my email is S Thompson t h o m, as in Mary, P as in Paul S O N, at USA, home, M, T, g.com, and you can also catch me on Instagram at the Thompsons LV, on Instagram.
Eric James 28:24
All right, the light is blinking. That means we have about a minute left, gentlemen. The half an hour goes by very fast, but I wanted to make sure I got each a piece of each one of your stories. You'll have to come back on the show another time, and we'll talk about the rest of this stuff, like the fact that Steven has five kids, so I know he has to keep a job every day of his life and and, you know, Chris got college payments to take care of Quan. He's just a fancy brother, so I know he's he's got to keep paid. So I want to thank each one of you guys for coming on my show again, my whole My name is Eric James. I'm your host of hashtag, the grind. Just something a little bit about what's going on in our industry, our community, and the people that are making it click and their grind, how they got to where they're at, how they're staying there, and what the future is that they're holding. You can reach me at 70283609537028360953
that's for my insurance agency. But of course, I have other hustles and part of my grind, but you can reach me there and get a hold of me. Gentlemen, thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did, and hopefully you guys will come back again next time and help us out. Have a great Sunday morning. Thanks for listening to the grind again. My name is Eric James. We hope that today's show was two parts entertaining with a dash of education. Feel free to reach out to me at my office at 702-836-0953, and remember to always stay on your grind. You.