Day 2 opened with one of the most compelling presentations of the event: Paul Castillo, a Utah-based CAHP who conducts 100% of his investing business in Michigan. Paul didn’t come to MDM as a theory person — he came as someone the 2008 financial crisis nearly destroyed, and who rebuilt everything using the Street Smart system.

His story: in 2008, his business collapsed, he lost his home to foreclosure, and went through divorce and bankruptcy — all at once. In 2011, he borrowed $35,000 from his mother and started buying affordable housing in Indianapolis. By 2016 he had 15 deals done, discovered Lou’s system, became a CAHP, and shifted his focus to Michigan. He now manages his entire portfolio from a home office in Utah.

The deal that crystallized the entire concept: Paul sold his mother’s Utah property for $235,000 and used those proceeds to buy three Michigan properties for a combined $146,000. The result was a 16% cap rate on the Michigan portfolio — compared to the 5.8% cap rate she would have earned keeping the Utah property as a rental. The math made the case for market selection better than any lecture could.

Day 2 was an especially proud moment as Lou welcomed five new Certified Affordable Housing Providers into the Street Smart family. Each shared why they chose to take this step:

Chaz & Cia (Colorado) — attracted to the system and the credibility that comes with the credential. Martha & Rogelio Martinez (Georgia) — focused on early retirement and helping their community, with Martha joining even while under the weather. Michael Ramkissoon (Georgia) — glad to finally be in the system. Derrick & Felicia Cox (North Carolina) — motivated by the mission of reducing homelessness in their community while building their future.

New CAHPs receive a physical package: brochures, balloons, a cap, keyring, glass, pen with stylus and light, t-shirt, tri-fold brochures for placement in restaurants and stores, and a copy of Never Pay Rent Again. There is also an opportunity to purchase a chapter in Lou’s Doing Good While Doing Well book as a credibility and positioning tool.

Lou spent significant time on what he calls the most powerful sentence in the seller interview: “What is your situation?” Once you ask it, stop talking. Let the seller fill the silence. The information they volunteer is the raw material you need to structure a deal that works for both parties.

As the chat confirmed immediately after this segment, the AHA hit hard: “The money is in the box!!” was the very first message in the afternoon session. This is one of those lines that lands differently once you understand the seller questionnaire.

Lou walked through the full property valuation methodology, anchored in the Property Valuation Worksheet and Calculator inside the system. The core principle: square footage is the common denominator for all comparisons.

The process: find sold comparables (up to five within one mile, from the last year), tier them by similarity to your subject property, calculate the dollars per square foot for each, and multiply by your subject property’s square footage. Separately, review active listings to understand whether the neighborhood is trending up or down — if similar listed properties are selling below their list price, you’re in a declining micro-market.

Research sources mentioned: PropWiz, WebWiz, Realtor.com, Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, AAPraisal, Rent-O-Meter, and county market value records. All calculators are activated in the website back office, can be stored with individual deals in the CRM, and are accessible from your phone — including when you’re sitting with a seller.

Three numbers come out of the valuation process: the cash sale price (what a buyer who can qualify for a bank loan would pay), the finance sale price (a premium you charge when you’re being the bank, because you’re taking on the risk a lender normally would), and the rental monthly price. Cynthia Shriver clarified in the chat: these are prices you’ll sell for — not what you pay. And a 5–20% desirability boost applies for features like a fenced yard, ranch style, extra rooms, fireplace, great schools, or exceptional lot.

The event manual is available at millionairedealmaker.com/forms/MDM_Manual.pdf. The Property Valuation Worksheet is on page 23. The deal submission form is at Millionairedealmaker.com/forms/105/MDM-Deal.pdf.

Lou gave attendees a full overview of the 37 Ways to Buy Real Estate system — 17 volumes covering every stage and strategy of the business. A few highlights that drew strong reactions from the room:

Volume 7 (Private Money): Kevin Shriver has raised $2 million from nine private lenders — no banks, no points, no credit applications. Volume 9 (Property Management): Recently updated, and Kevin reported earning $209,000 last year in profit centers alone from his managed portfolio. Volume 16 ($10 House Profits): An advanced Subject-To strategy that includes assignment of litigation rights, with no payments required during the settlement period. Volume 17 (Long Distance Profits): Paul Castillo’s system — includes live recordings of his conversations with agents, contractors, and buyers so you can model exactly how he runs the business remotely.

Additional tools mentioned: the Collections & Evictions kit, the Work for Equity Profits kit (buyer does repairs in exchange for a promissory note toward their down payment), the Negotiations kit (covers personality types, includes five audio recordings), and the House Monster system for finding a buyer before you’ve even secured the property.

The afternoon session produced one of the most memorable teaching moments of the entire event. Lou ran a live cost-to-sell worksheet with attendee Rod Yarger playing the role of a motivated seller — a house valued at $200,000 with a $115,000 existing mortgage. The exercise was done in real time with the full group calculating along.

The point of the cost-to-sell worksheet is to educate the seller on what it actually costs you to buy, hold, and resell a property — and to arrive at an offer number transparently, together. You do the math at home before you visit, so you already know where the numbers land. But at the seller’s kitchen table, you hand them the blank worksheet and go through it together, asking them to read each line while you calculate.

Using the $200,000 example, the group worked through every line: 3% buyer discount ($6,000), 6% real estate commission ($12,000), 3% closing costs ($6,000), 5 points plus 15% annual interest on hard money ($25,000 for 6 months’ hold), property taxes (6-month prorated), utilities ($1,200 for 6 months), yard maintenance ($900 for 18 cuts), survey, appraisal, and miscellaneous costs. The group landed on a total cost-to-sell of $68,500. Added to the $115,000 mortgage payoff and $20,000 profit margin (suggested by Rod himself), the total came to $203,500 — which means a straight cash deal was slightly underwater.

This is where the real lesson landed: once the seller saw the numbers were tight, Lou introduced the pivot — instead of borrowing hard money at 15%, what if you simply took over the seller’s existing $800/month mortgage payments? That eliminated $20,200 from the cost column and turned a negative deal into a workable one. The seller as bank. The system in action.

Lou also walked through the benefits presentation he uses with sellers — fast closing (7 days or less once title comes back), no repairs required, take it as-is, fair price arrived at together, flexible timeline. The framing: “We can buy your house today, let’s work together to find a solution that’s right for you.”

Lou covered the full document checklist that should be collected from every seller before you proceed. This is not optional — and several items on the list are things most investors never think to ask for.

The checklist includes: warranty deed, existing loan details and all mortgage documents, current mortgage statements (specifically to check for modifications, suspense funds, escrow shortages, and whether property taxes and insurance are current), irrevocable authorization to release information from the lender or servicer, any plats or surveys, radon and lead paint reports, tax records, and insurance information including full claims history.

On the mortgage side: understand the distinction between the mortgage servicer (who collects payments) and the original lender (who may no longer hold the note). Any modification history — especially COVID forbearance amounts that were added to the back end of the loan — is critical and will affect your actual payoff number.

The Total Package document reference is available at MillionaireDealMaker.com/forms/TotalPackage-Pg4.pdf. The Success Guide is at MillionaireDealMaker.com/forms/Success_Guide_2026.pdf.

The evening session put the system to the ultimate test: attendees who had submitted real deals were split into four breakout groups, each with a Street Smart licensee facilitating (Kevin Shriver, Cynthia Shriver, Bruce Beasley, Paul Castillo, and Tim). Two deals were selected from the four submitted for full group analysis when everyone reassembled.

Deal 1 — Rod Yarger’s Military Couple (Florida/California): A Navy couple transferred to San Diego, leaving behind a Jacksonville, Florida home with a $3,000/month mortgage. The property is worth approximately $343,000 — but the loan balance is significantly higher, making them $125,772 upside down. They were ready to sign a Subject-To agreement, then went silent after being sent contracts through Dotloop.

Bruce Beasley’s guidance: take the deal Subject-To, stay in the middle of it as the investor, place a qualified buyer via Agreement for Deed at 9–10% (versus the 5% loan in place), and cash flow at least $1,000/month on the spread. Get 10% down from the buyer to protect yourself given Florida’s foreclosure-only framework for contract-for-deed situations. Re-engage the sellers by mailing a physical copy of Never Pay Rent Again to reestablish credibility before asking for the signature again. And rather than making the upside-down balance their problem, offer to accept $1,000/month from them (what amounts to your commission paid over 18–20 months) in exchange for getting them completely out from under the $3,000/month payment.

Deal 2 — Stacey Yarger’s Condo Package (two units): One seller owns two identical condos in the same complex and wants to sell them as a package. Lou’s guidance: with condos, have your renter-buyer pay the condo fee on top of rent — since the buyer gets all the amenities (pool, water, tennis), they should bear that cost. Open the door to all possibilities: a buyer with 10% down for seller financing, a rent-to-own candidate, or a straight rental with a move-in fee. Don’t pre-select the buyer type — see who shows up first.

At the start of the afternoon session, Lou asked a simple question: how many of you are thinking differently than when you arrived? The chat flooded with affirmatives. By the close of the evening, he asked it again — and challenged the room to be a different person than they were just two days ago.

He also used the afternoon’s AHA check-in to revisit one of the most important reframings from the event: time. He challenged everyone to audit their calendar — write down what you’re actually doing every hour of the day for a week. Kevin Shriver did it early in his career and found the TV hours he was spending. He reallocated those hours to building his business. Millions of dollars in equity later, that reallocation changed everything.

Lou also briefly addressed the real estate market outlook. He noted that President Trump has ordered the Treasury to use $200 billion in tariff proceeds to buy bonds — which drives down mortgage interest rates, opening the door to more buyers, lower rates on future Subject-To deals, and broader market activity. He called this good news for the strategy.

Looking ahead to Day 3: the Shrivers will open with a bonus session at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, pulling back the curtain on their business operations and answering questions. Lou will then take over to walk through creative deal structures — the 37 ways — along with website surprises, and the AI session with Richard Roop.