What was your vision when you decided to start
this? I started the vision of... I started to
do it locally. Okay. And when we started to do
it locally, we got great ground. And then what
happened is I'm involved in a lot of mastermind
groups. Yeah. And there was a lot of... hey,
what else, you know, how are you getting, you
know, what's the main source of listings and
how are you meeting homeowners? And I said, you
know, it's funny. I'm doing workshops to educate
people on how to do estate planning. And there
are other real estate agents like, really, is
there any? And I said, yeah, you'll be surprised
how many people own multiple homes. They're not
protected. And then when they put them into the
estate plan, they. Um, they say, you know what,
I want to, I want to sell one or I want to be
able to, I want to be able to acquire another
one, or I want to move this property because
they're the tenants from hell. How do I get rid
of them? But, but, and then, so that's, that's
how we actually started to do that. And then
real estate agents started saying, Hey, can you
get that software approved in my state? And then
before you knew it. we got the software compliant
from all 50 states. Then we came back and get
into, you know, then they started saying, well,
how do we market it? And then that's, it just
started to go on. And I got into this crusade
to bring awareness nationwide for the simple
fact that 68 % of homeowners do not have an estate
plan and they're going to go to probate. So probate
is something of one of the most awful things
that you could do because or go through because
of all the things that happen. I mean, there's
five things. I mean, there's probably, you know,
I always tell people when they come to the workshop
that I want to think about it. I give them a
home homework assignment. The homework assignment
I give them is go talk to your friends, families
and loved ones about. If they know anybody that
went through probate and then call me back, let
me know what they say. And then they come back
like, man, I need one of those. I need an estate
plan. I need a living trust to protect my family.
I don't want my family to go through that. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, it's a challenge.
It's such a challenge and it just pops up. Right.
And most of the time, if you, and then correct
me if I'm wrong, most of the time, you don't
know what you don't know until something happens.
Right. And that's what makes it even more troubling.
Like, I'll give you an example. I'll give you
a couple of things of what happens in probate
in California. Every state is different. But
in California, the first thing that as an agent,
the last thing you want to hear is one that your
customer, one of your customers passed, but their
kids come to you and they say, hey, you know
what, you're my, you're the fam, you know, they
always hear your name or whatever. calling you
know talking about that i'm the guy to go to
and they come they say you know what we wanted
to refinance the house we couldn't refinance
because we don't have title they want us to go
to probate we talked to an attorney and the attorney
says oscar it's fifty thousand dollars but don't
worry you don't have to pay me right now you
can pay me when you sell the house like we don't
want to sell the house this is where this is
our family home You know, how do we get around
that? And I said, well, one, you have to agree
to it. Two, we have to ask them for six to 12
months to pay them so that way we can try to
refinance or we're going to have to sell the
house. That's the first thing that your kids
may be forced. If you don't have a living trust
or an estate, a comprehensive estate plan, they
may have to sell the house to pay for probate.
That's the first thing. The second thing that
happens is that in probate. They publish, it
becomes public record. And that is prone to scammers.
That means, because it basically says this, if
you think that Oscar owes you money and he just
passed, here's all of his assets, here's his
house, here's how much he had in equity. If you
think he owes you money, come forward. And if
you think you deserve part of his inheritance,
come forward and file a claim. Now, that's something
that can happen in courts. Now, that's just the
second thing. The third thing that happens in
probate is that the court, which is a judge,
which is human, which makes the final decision
on your assets. So the government has, and I
call the government our court system. It's there
to protect us. However, they are human and they
make the final decision on your assets. So imagine
that. Not only, one, they have to pay an absorbent
amount of fees. Two, it becomes public, so they're
prone. Like, I don't know about everybody else's
kids, but my kids are a little naive on what
happens in this world. They believe everything
on TikTok. No, just kidding. I always give them,
like, I saw it on TikTok, so that means it's
true. But anyways, you know, they're naive, so
they're prone to scammers. Yes. And then the
third thing is that the judge makes the final
decision on what happens to your asset. But wait,
it gets even worse. They have to wait anywhere
from 18 to 24 months to get their money or to
get access to settle the estate. And then on
top of that, they may be prone to tax consequences.
So those are just the top five things that can
happen if you don't have an estate plan. So that
is just amazing that. 68 % of people. And it
came to me as, as a, as I say, you know, I got
to do, how do I, how do I bring awareness? And
I said, you know, I'm going to get on podcasts.
I'm going to see if who would participate on
bringing awareness to protect people's homes
from, from scammers and, and high cost of legal
fees. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's it's happening.
It's so interesting that you say this, Oscar,
because I just had to let I wouldn't say myself
and my client had to part because they later
found out that they weren't on the deed after
their loved one passed away. And I was like,
oh, my goodness. So, of course, now they're having
to go on a probate. But. The challenge is when
this does happen, that family has a likelihood
of losing that home by it going into foreclosure
because they're not knowing all these things.
And so as I had this discussion with this individual,
it's sad because of the simple fact, as I mentioned
earlier, you don't know what you don't know.
So what's one of the biggest misconceptions that
people have about estate planning? I can tell
you, there's several of them, and one of the
biggest misconceptions is that they have to...
Give me one second. The biggest misconception
that people have of... estate planning is i think
there's three okay one one is one is that they
are they think they have to be wealthy and the
misconception of saying because estate planning
is always like oh trust fund babies and this
but i here we're here to tell people that if
you own a home you're considered wealthy in this
country Because of that, that's the first misconception
that you have to be wealthy. Everybody has an
estate plan. Everybody has an estate plan. And
that means that when we're in an estate, when
we have everybody has an estate plan because
we all own things and we all have that. That's
the first misconception. The second misconception
that people have is that a will. is enough and
that's mostly on the east coast by the way um
people in california we're we know because we
communicate with each other quite a bit um and
it's and it's impossible to not tell people or
not like when somebody knows they're gonna do
something they know that They tell people right
here and we communicate and the word goes by
really fast about what happened at court and
all these things. So the word goes like, wow,
we really need one. But even then, I think those
are probably the two biggest misconceptions that
a living trust does protect it and that it's
for the wealthy and it wills enough. Okay. And
with those two misconceptions, as you mentioned,
you stated that people often believe that they
have to be wealthy and then that a will is enough.
What's the most common mistakes that they make
when they actually begin this process? The most
common mistake that they do is they don't take
advantage of all the things that a will or a
living trust has to offer. In our workshops,
everybody's most aha moments is that the understanding
of a living trust is a contract or an agreement
between the kids or the parent, which is the
grantor, and the beneficiary, the kids. And it's
a general agreement. And the agreement basically
is the instructions you leave your kids for when
you pass. And the mistake that most people make
is that they don't make it comprehensive. And
what I mean by that is they just say, we give
you everything. And they just transfer it. Now,
I think that there's things that you can put
on there. I'll give you an example. If you know
that they're married to a toxic wife or a...
good -looking, non -hardworking husband. I always
say that because I always tell my wife, aren't
you glad you got married to an ugly, hardworking
guy? I think that's a mistake because I think
that you can leave it in the trust. That's one.
The second thing I think that they do is they
don't educate. the beneficiaries on the trust
because they don't tell them, hey, listen, don't
take the house out of the trust. There could
be reassessments. There could be taxes. There
could be a lot of things that could happen. Leave
it in the trust because if it's in the trust
and your child or your now young adult or adult
gets a divorce, they don't get access to it because
you don't own it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
that's that's a big that's a huge mistake. So
when you mentioned they don't make it comprehensive
enough, what that brings to my mind is they're
not very specific about what they're giving.
All doesn't necessarily mean everything. So are
you saying to mention the house on, you know,
Turkey Circle Way or the house, you know, in
California, the house in Texas? So are you saying
that? more specific enough about what they're
giving to the children? No, I was thinking about
the instructions because the limitations of the
instructions that you can leave your kids in
your living trust are only limited to the imagination
of the instructions you're willing to give. And
what I mean by that is, you know what, if you
sell the house, Leave a portion, you know, leave
some of the proceeds in the trust for your kids
so they can have some type of inheritance. Okay.
Just because the money is tax -free, don't spend
it all. Yeah. Right? Leave some for a rainy day.
Put some of that away. You know, don't use that.
And I think that, and it's just my thought, but
most people, like, When we talk to people that
have a living trust, one of the things that they
don't do is update it quite often because the
average attorney charges $2 ,000 to do an update.
It costs $6 ,000 to create it, and then it costs
$2 ,000 to update it. With our software, you
have unlimited updates for the rest of your life.
All you got to do is pay the $129 a year the
year that you update. If you don't, you just
cancel and then you just don't pay it. And then
when you want an update, then you can reassign
it, right? Yes. And that makes a lot of sense.
And it not being updated and the will being outdated
when something happens 20 to 30 years later.
So that makes a, you know, it just helps people
that are listening to this, that it does change.
One day things may be the same. Also, not to
mention, if you get divorced, it's going to need
to change. You know what I mean? There's so many
things in life that has to happen, but a lot
of people don't realize that. Yeah. And one of
the things that most people and I always tell
them, just put it in there now. And once she
gets married, we'll see what happens. And I say,
you know, one of the things that most people
don't realize that you could exclude your son
in law or your daughter in law from from the
inheritance and have it go straight to your grandkids.
And in case your child surpasses you, goes to
heaven before you, I mean, we all hope we go
there, but if he passes before you, he doesn't
get all of your assets if you die. They stay
in the trust and then they surpass him or her
and go to your grandkids. And that is probably,
and most people don't realize that when they're
creating their trust. So that's what I mean by
comprehensive, a really thought out trust. And
then I always tell people, and here's the thing
that I tell people, with our software, because
you know it does all these things, one of the
things that is super impressive is that most
people get updates and they say, oh, she just
reviewed it once every two years, every three
years. But we're finding that more people are
updating it yearly and they're adding provisions
and they say, hey, I want this to happen. I want
this. They're making it such a comprehensive
trust where it's going to affect the legacy for
generations to come. And that is what the trust
should be for, is to protect your family. And
to be able to affect the legacy. Because, you
know, there's a saying that says, you know, we're
sitting in the shade today because somebody planted
a tree yesterday. Yes. Right? Or many, many,
many, many yesterdays ago. Right? A hundred years
ago. But we're still benefiting from that tree
today. Absolutely. And that's the same way that
I feel that a living trust should be. on there.
And I think that's probably, I don't think it's
a mistake. I just think they don't know. Right.
It's like the homeowner that don't have a trust.
It just, they don't know. I mean, when I was
really, I mean, I would say 95 % of my current
real estate clients have a trust. They don't
get it today because they're not there economically.
I mean, our retail costs, our living trust for
lifetime access is only $24 .97. But we give
our clients a discount, and we give them discounts
to be able to make it more affordable. We give
them payments plans. But some of them, they just,
you know, I deal a lot with educators. I remember
Ms. Sharon. Ms. Sharon says, them damn kids,
they don't even visit me. I'm going to make them
pay for probate so they can remember me. I'm
like, well, that's a good way to think about
it. So visit your mother. Visit your mother.
She's going to make you go to probate. Absolutely.
And, you know, it's so. It's so good to have
this conversation and allow the audience to hear
this. As I mentioned, I hear it a lot. You've
heard it a lot. And even though I must say, Oscar,
even though you might have a home now and you
never thought about it, it's now time to think
about it because time is just passing by so fast
and tomorrow isn't promised. You either want
to leave your children and your family with a
debt or you want to leave them with an asset
that they could choose to grow on. Oscar, I truly
appreciate this. And you did say this was in
all 50 states. Is that correct? In all 50 states,
yeah. We work with a lot. And I want to mention
one more thing. A living trust is also known
to help business owners create the legacy so
they're not forced to sell their business. Because
when you have a living trust, you could literally...
When you start to think about standard operating
procedures, you start to think about what's going
to happen when I pass. What do I want to have
happen with the business? And most people, and
I like using the bakery story of Mr. Pedro. He
had a bakery. He started to write SOPs. He couldn't
write them. So I told him, just put a camera
up and talk to the kids through the camera and
they'll get it. And they're like, they're never
going to do nothing. Check this out. He left
them. So he ended up wanting, he said, well,
I want to be able to, how do I protect the kids?
Because I know they're not going to want to do
the business, but I want the bakery to continue
to provide for them. So we got what's called
key person insurance for him and his business.
It was about 1 .5 million. He did all these SOPs
and he started to, he did, I don't know. I think
it was, I think it was a total like of. 300 videos
over two years or something like that of instructions
to the kids. When they got the insurance policy,
the trust said this money was only to be used
for the business, either to hire somebody, to
hire somebody, or to keep the business running.
That's it. They couldn't benefit personally from
it. They now have a factory bakery and they have
about 17 delivery trucks throughout Los Angeles
because of the money. They all decided that,
you know what, this is what Grandpa, because
they started to see the videos of how passionate
he was, what he did, how he really liked it.
and i i i haven't seen all the videos but they
could say that you know what that really inspired
them they really didn't see that poor that part
of the business yeah and in his memory they they
grew the bakery to where it's at today yeah you
know Which is amazing. Imagine having your business.
You have a small business you're working at.
And then all of a sudden your kids come in. They
pour some water on it. They use social media.
They blow it up. And then you're in the grave
going, why didn't you do that when I was alive?
Yes. And I love that. I've never even thought
about anything like that. And so this is not
just for homeowners. This is for business owners.
Anybody that has an asset, I would say in the
simplest terms, a living trust is the only document
that is the easiest way to transfer assets and
leave specific detailed instructions on what
you want to have done with those assets. Makes
all the sense in the world. In lieu of your time
or respect of your time, please do me a favor.
Let everyone know, the audience that will be
watching, where they can go to find this information
at, even though it's there. Also, any social
media handles or any podcasts. Yeah, I'm going
to give you estate .prep .com forward slash guide.
I want everybody to download this guide. Estate
.prep .guide is a... is a comprehensive guide
that eliminates the human element of delay before
you create your trust, because there is a human
element of delay. The second thing that we have
is we also have a discount code for the first
10 listeners that use Vision. as use vision as
your discount code and you'll save one thousand
dollars off of the estate planning software for
life by using vision pro so um and that'll give
you that and that'll give you a checkout at 14
.95 that gives it to them at cost for the first
10 customers we'll be able to provide that so
And with that said, you can just visit us at
estate .prep. There's also a phone number. We
have an artificial intelligence in the artificial
intelligence phone number. If people have it,
let me get that for you. It's 805 -909 -4689.
Her name is Lisa, and she... Always picks up,
never takes breaks. And she's there to answer
any and all questions that you have about estate
planning. And at the end, she'll ask you if you
want to book a call with a human or if you want
to speak to a human. So no pressure. Get the
information. Get educated. And remember that
tomorrow's not promised. Yesterday's too late.
And today is the day to protect your family because.
If you knew for sure that probate cost was going
to be higher tomorrow and creating an estate
plan will also be higher. 10 years ago was $600.
Now it's $6 ,000. So take action. Thank you for
being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned
in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to
seeing your reactions as these episodes continue
to move forward. This is going to get more and
more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.