Taylor Avakian
from C to owner of a weed company. I became a school teacher and I worked for the Los Angeles Unified. I realized we were not making any money so that they cut my pay 11%.
July 23, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
Cops, Cannabis & 13,000 Units: Kyle Kazan’s Unfiltered Journey
With Kyle Kazan — CEO, Beach Front Property Management
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What this conversation gets into
How does someone go from being a school teacher and police officer to running one of the West Coast’s largest property management firms and the largest cannabis producer in the world?
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Episode show notes
How does someone go from being a school teacher and police officer to running one of the West Coast’s largest property management firms and the largest cannabis producer in the world? In this episode of No Vacancy with Taylor Avakian, guest Kyle Kazan walks through his remarkable journey. From buying distressed properties in Compton to launching Beachfront Property Management and eventually co-founding Glass House Brands, Kyle shares battle-tested lessons on: - Buying during recessions & repositioning C-class assets - Transitioning from teaching to law enforcement to real estate - Bootstrapping his first property management company - Leading the charge on cannabis legalization in California - Building a business culture that actually retains great talent It’s a masterclass in grit, vision, and execution — from a guy who truly built it all from scratch. Subscribe and Stay Ahead! Stay informed and empowered in the multifamily real estate market. Subscribe to the channel for exclusive insights, rental updates, and expert analyses on the Los Angeles market. 🔔 Don’t miss out on the latest trends and tips to maximize your property's potential: https://www.youtube.com/c/TaylorAvakian 📈 Connect with me: Website: https://www.thegroupcre.com/ Email: taylor@thegroupcre.com X: https://x.com/TAYVAY_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayloravakian/ #TheGroupCREEp #RealEstatePodcast #KyleKazan #PropertyManagement #CannabisBusiness #BeachfrontPM #GlassHouseBrands #CaliforniaRealEstate #CannabisCEO #TaylorAvakianPodcast #SPACs #RealEstateGrowth
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Episode transcript
This 11,651-word transcript is matched to English (Original) automatic captions. Timestamps seek the episode player to the matching passage.
0:00–10:00
Kyle Kazan
You need to buy some houses, Kyle.
Taylor Avakian
I knew how much a vacancy per day was costing me. If I were rented, I was break even. I did a lot of the work myself. What if you got bigger buildings? Would you get an economy of scale? You'll have never have gotten an email that says, "I'm out of the office. Contact so that's just not how you can really roll in
Kyle Kazan
this business."
Taylor Avakian
Can you explain to me how all this then transitions to you being the number one grower of marijuana in the world? Kyle, welcome to the podcast. This is I've been very much looking forward to this because not only have we been communicating for eight years or something like that, but your story is so fascinating to me. um from cop to owner of a weed company or a marijuana company to one of the largest property management companies in the West Coast and specifically California. You have a ton of apartments that you own as well with partnerships and and all
Kyle Kazan
this stuff.
Taylor Avakian
You're really like an an autodidac when it comes to all everything real estate. So before can you just walk me back and like tell me how this happened?
Kyle Kazan
Wow. So, number one, thank you for having having me on. I will tell you, um, you know, when I was young, the group of brokers that I was working with, the young guys, we're now like like sharks teeth. We've sort of moved. So, to see you and um, you know, see you move into the breach as we get older.
Taylor Avakian
You're one of the young guns out here.
Kyle Kazan
So, I appreciate that. I sincerely appreciate um our conversations and always appreciate your insights in the market. You're an expert clearly. Um, you know, I'm not even going to talk about age and all that, but let's just say after college. Um, I graduated in 1990 and I had the illusion, delusion, I'm not sure, of being a professional basketball player.
Taylor Avakian
Three of my teammates in college went to the NBA.
Kyle Kazan
My shooting partner won two slam dunk contests. So, I was so close. You felt it. I was close to greatness. Yeah. Uh, and then I would get to go. One of my my best friends got drafted by the Lakers. So, I was so happy for them, but I needed to figure something out.
Taylor Avakian
And so, I became a school teacher and because they'd pay me an extra 50 bucks a day, I decided I'll take hazard pay and I'll
Kyle Kazan
go to South Central Los Angeles and I worked for Los the Los Angeles Unified School District as a special ed teacher. And my girlfriend, uh, now wife is an occupational therapist. So, we're out there just young people beginning our careers. I realized we were not making any money. The um California was in a recession and people, you know, a lot of times there was an emotional feeling of there was at the time white flight in the early 90s to Oregon and Washington and people were riding off LA. Different problems than today, but but significant problems. A lot of unemployment, cuts in defense, things like that. And uh and so much so that they cut my pay 11% as a school teacher, not making much money. So you realize how much money you're not making when you lose 11% of it. Uh and that wasn't just me.
Kyle Kazan
It wasn't like Kyle, it was the entire LA Unified School District. Um and I was like, you know, my dad had bought some real estate on the side and I didn't know much about it and I just um I said, I'm going to go take a seminar. There's foreclosures everywhere. You have to go to a time, you know, when when the cycle is down and it happens, you know, we we we're in a cyclical business and I I went to a a woman named Cleo Katz and her her uh seminar and it was all about UDs and things like that and I you know I'm one of those per people that will do the investigation then feel like at some point no analysis paralysis like nothing ventured nothing gained. So, you know, if you're going to get in at some point once
Kyle Kazan
you've educated yourself, if you think this risk is for you, go for it. I didn't know anything about property management. I didn't know anything about much of anything. I mean, I just sort of dove in, bought a house, got my buddies, we fixed it up.
Taylor Avakian
It was the gritty story. Let me pause it there real quick because this is going to A lot of my audience
Kyle Kazan
is young. You were on a teacher salary and you bought a house in Southern California. I did. Now, they're gonna what you're going to do is go, "Well, wait a minute. The house cost X, but I would tell you my pay was Y, which was also, you know, commensurate."
Taylor Avakian
So, that was a risk at the time for you. Did it feel like a risk or you like, "Okay, I can cover my mortgage payments because I feel like right now, this is completely sepic, but it's it's relevant." I think in today's market, if I want to go buy a house where I want to live, it's a million million two. you got to have $250,000 plus your payment is going to be 10 grand a month, 11 grand a month. That seems crazy, but back in the day it was more
Kyle Kazan
achievable. Um, in a down cycle, yeah, things become more affordable because you have more sellers than buyers. And that's that dynamic when things get hot and they get they can get stupid. Yeah. What I would tell you that I think is vital. Um, the reason I was able to save up money is one, I chose the right partner. You know, my girlfriend back then, uh, you know, now wife, so that was one of my best acquisitions.
Taylor Avakian
I want to sound I don't want to sound mad. Well, you're choosing for life, right? You know, and it was a mutual acquisition.
Kyle Kazan
Anybody like, what the hell does that mean? Um, but we we didn't go on trips. Yeah. I mean, I would do stupid stuff like I would call my younger brother and say, "Hey, where are mom and dad eating?" "Oh, they're at the usual Italian place in Torrance and I would just take my, you know, take Diane." And we would just like show up. My parents like, "Hey, come on over." Well, now I'm eating for free. Y and then I'm worked as a teacher day school in South Central and night school in um in San Pedro. I was teaching ESL to adults. And so we were just trying to grind out and save every penny. And so the question is,
Taylor Avakian
what are your priorities? Are you trying to build wealth?
Kyle Kazan
To me, it was I don't want to live on a teacher's retirement. I I just know that's not going to get it done. But the one story that I love to tell, and I tell it to NYU grad students, I I teach one class a year to second year MBAs. Uh what really got me when I'm out there in South Central think the Rodney King riots was just really blighted. It was tough. It's a different again situation but equally as bad. Mhm. And I see this woman named Mr. Mrs. Beachch. Mrs. Beachch. And you you may have to look this up and Google it, but she would drive a 450 SL Mercedes into the hood. She was an older black lady that had taught. She was one of the best teachers I've ever met. and she just had a an air of confidence and positivity surrounded juxtaposed with holy
Kyle Kazan
crap Jordan downs housing projects is a block away everything's gotten burned out and politicians are simply just doing plecation so one day I go hey Mrs. teach.
Taylor Avakian
How are you so positive? What what pill do you take?
Kyle Kazan
She's like, "Kyle, come into my classroom." So, I walk on in and she I sit down, a little third grade seat.
Taylor Avakian
So, I'm just like sitting there like one of her students.
Kyle Kazan
I'm like telling Mrs. Beach, "What is it?" She goes, "My husband was a postman. He just retired. This is my last year. Then I'm going to retire. We own 10 houses around inner city LA. They're all paid off. our two kids, they're through college, they're done, no debt, we're gonna travel the rest of our lives. You need to buy some houses, Kyle. And I was like, that's how I got into houses. Cuz then I was like, okay, how do I do it? Well, I didn't really think Mrs. Beach wanted to take me around with her. They were they were already getting ready to get on the cruises and all the other stuff. Um, but that really inspired me where I was like, this woman working in South Central LA, her husband was a postman, my wife's an
Kyle Kazan
occupational therapist, and they're set up to go live the rest of their lives and she wasn't that old of a woman, you know, she'd done her 30 years and and so I was so impressed and there was no my retirement. It was all about she'd invest in real estate and I think that opportunity exists today. Yeah. And so, um, yeah, so I got into houses. I I'll just say one more is so now I've got when you say could I afford it at one point I owned three houses one I lived in one I rented and I uh foreclosed in Roondo Beach. So I was upgrading and my wife said okay so we have to say goodbye to our tenant. Yeah. I go we have to sell that one. We're going to uh move to Redondo and then upgrade our rental from Lomita to Torrance.
Kyle Kazan
And she's like can we afford to do this? I go as long as we get it all done in three months. That's how much money we have. cuz at one point I'm going to have three houses, mortgage payments, t you know, PIT, yeah, principal, interest, tax, insurance, 3 months. That's all we got. And and so I didn't digest a meal properly probably for 90 days. But again, when when you have nothing, you sort of had nothing to lose. Yeah. By then I have a little something, so I want my chip in the game. And we were able to work it out. But, you know, I I I would just tell you fear is a good
Taylor Avakian
motivator.
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. Yeah.
Taylor Avakian
you get things done when you the pressure pressure creates diamonds, right? So, that's incredible.
Kyle Kazan
Okay.
Taylor Avakian
And and now walk me through you have these houses, you're doing you're being a teacher, how does the transition to be a cop happen?
Kyle Kazan
So, that that's a good question. You know, so after four years as a special ed teacher, um you know, when you're in the middle of a very uh distressed
10:00–20:00
Kyle Kazan
situation, meaning the economy's down, uh people weren't dying to go work in South Central Los Angeles. It And so, um, I became the behavior specialist at the school. And what, uh, our principal would say is, "Hey, man, we're getting these Teach for America kids." Uh, and they don't really know. All they know is they're going to a bad area, but they don't know. He's like, "Would you do me a favor? Would you like get them all in a room and like wake them up?" I'm like, "Yeah." So, I was that guy. So, you'd have like I'm like, "Where'd you go to school?" I went to Davidson College in North Carolina. I'm like, okay. And so you have these true believer young like we're gonna save the world. And I'm like, hey, and I don't want to take any excitement away because that's,
Kyle Kazan
you know, when you don't really know how to teach, the excitement sort of bridges it. Yeah. And uh at the end of the day, I would just say, hey, listen, we don't do back to school nights. We do back to school days. Hey, this is what you you know, try not to wear red or blue. Try, you know, also orange and brown are and and purple for grape street. So be careful of that.
Taylor Avakian
This is the way in, this is the way out.
Kyle Kazan
And so I just sort of gave him the, you know, hey, let's try not to get killed. Yeah. Uh but so you know, I would I missed being part of a team. I really liked being a a basketball player through college and uh always just enjoyed like the offthe-court moments. I just I enjoyed that. And um so I looked and I and I realized they paid police officers almost double what they paid teachers at the time. And I could also be closer to home because at that time now I'm living in Ronda Beach. And so I put an application in and I kind of felt I'm not the right guy. I don't follow rules that easily. I'm you know and uh it just turned out that uh yeah uh Torrance PD hired me. They did a list of 780 or something like that.
Taylor Avakian
Um, civil service, background, all that.
Kyle Kazan
And I ended up, uh, top of their list.
Taylor Avakian
And so they hired me, you know, started paying me. I left teaching in June and I started the academy in July.
Kyle Kazan
Wow. Jeez. Okay.
Taylor Avakian
So, you transition to being a cop. And, uh, you do that for how many years? And I assume at the same time, you have these houses already. So, are you continuing to buy real estate or what is the transition from what is that accumulation of these properties look like with the cop salary? Cuz I actually I know a few cops who own quite a few buildings. Um so it's it's seems like it's a a good path to be able to
Kyle Kazan
create the wealth there.
Taylor Avakian
What what did that transition look like?
Kyle Kazan
So, um, you know, just prior, right around the time I was leaving teaching, becoming getting into law enforcement. Um, I went to watch a USC football game with one of my buddies and his dad had gone to SC and been a teacher and he got heavy into apartments and and so he started just asking me a question about my little house portfolio and I was super happy and learning so much. Um, and he was like, "Why don't you buy apartments?"
Taylor Avakian
And I'm like, why would I buy an apartment?
Kyle Kazan
It's like, well, your cost per door and cap rate and things I didn't really know much about. I mean, when I tell you I was super green. I mean, I was super green. I, you know, you don't know what you don't know yet. And so, at the end of the day, I was like, okay. And then I I bought a uh
Taylor Avakian
7-unit building uh from the RTC.
Kyle Kazan
Again, really distressed times. And then uh we were forced to order to buy the next door building because it was in foreclosure. It was so bad. But to give you a feel of how bad it was, I called the broker and they'd write an offer for me and I was like, "Nah."
Taylor Avakian
They're like, "Well, they're not really coming down."
Kyle Kazan
Nobody else would write an offer. Like two weeks later, they're calling me.
Taylor Avakian
Are you sure you don't want to do this?
Kyle Kazan
Like nobody was writing offers on some of the stuff. And I realized that a lot of this was kind of criminals things, meaning you'd have a drug house. And, you know, I'm against the war on drugs, but it's very hard for just normal people to live in a house that just has folks that are addicted to methamphetamine coming and going at all hours. Yeah. It's a it's a it's a hard situation.
Taylor Avakian
And so, um, one of the skills I have is I think I'm a pretty affable guy.
Kyle Kazan
I can talk to people. And then uh once I got to law enforcement, they were very generous with training. So the best gang training is in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County. We are the gang capital of the world. Um and so you can learn a lot about about gangs and the history and how to read tag and all that. And then also when it comes to drugs, uh the CHP uh puts on courses on being drug recognition evaluators. So, I availed myself to that training and really and truly what I would tell you in repositioning these assets, yes, it can absolutely be uh financially rewarding because you're basically taking an asset that's valued here and through hard work um you can um and and hopefully being, you know, smart about how you spend your money on these buildings um you can
Kyle Kazan
completely reposition it. And then the typical way that people have made a fortune in this business is after you turn it around, you refinance the property or you sell it and do a 1031 exchange. So there's different ways to to basically take that new equity and and buy more. So um I love the idea. Uh I got into C properties C A, B, and C. A might be Newport Beach. B might be, you know, Torrance. Yeah. C might be Compton.
Taylor Avakian
So, you were buying that seven unit. What What market was that in San Pedro?
Kyle Kazan
That was in Pedro. With San Pedro down by the harbor and it was bad. It was just really bad. Yeah.
Taylor Avakian
And the cops, you know, I'd see an LAPD guy.
Kyle Kazan
I'm like, "What are you seeing in this neighborhood?" And they would just give me all kinds of like, you
Taylor Avakian
know, how how bad it is and and and all
Kyle Kazan
that. So again, it um um it's so that's so interesting
Taylor Avakian
because I'm I'm seeing like this story be written and basically the way that I'm thinking about it, it's like the schooling that when you were a teacher, right, you had to be able to talk and and teach and tell stories because storytelling is so much important of
Kyle Kazan
how people learn.
Taylor Avakian
So you got this skill set of being able to tell these stories. Um then the cop aspect of it, you learn how to deal with tough situations, which then behooves you when you're trying to go and reposition these assets that are in tough situations. So it's like you can tell stories, which means you can resonate with the residents there. You um understand the drugs and the war and the gangs and all that stuff. And so you can recognize and understand what they care about and their ins and outs and their psychology. And like this combination of these two skills really can propel you to to turn an asset that someone else has no idea or or does doesn't even want to handle and you can feel confident with your skill set to be able to do that.
Taylor Avakian
So you were taking on these rough projects because those skill sets allowed you to do that when
Kyle Kazan
other people were saying hell no. Well, you know, you ask a good question. you know, a lot of young people and like Sharks Teeth, there's gonna a new generation behind you and someday be me. Yeah. And and it's Yeah. Um and so you you you hear people say, "I want to build wealth." You are not going to build wealth 8 to 5. That just not going to happen. Um you're going to have to go and find a way to generate it yourself. And so for me, you know, I had to have a job to pay my bills. So, how do you get wealthy? Okay, so I worked graveyard as a police officer and then, you know, I would bake in maybe five hours of sleep somewhere, but then I'd be talking to, you
Taylor Avakian
know, the John Walsh or some of the the the guys way back in the day and um and then I'm out there looking at properties
Kyle Kazan
and I'm trying to manage my properties. And so, um what I would tell anybody that's that's thinking about becoming wealthy is one, make your priority Is your priority to go travel?
Taylor Avakian
Is your priority to go, you know, get bottle service at a club? Is your priority to show out? Do you want to have, you know, do you want to have a real fancy car?
Kyle Kazan
I had a Honda for 15 years from when I was 16 years old. And so, and I got made fun of by a lot of the police. Those guys like big trucks and boats and stuff. Those toys, those are depreciating assets. So, it depends on how you look at the world. Now, if you want to go play, you certainly deserve. And you may say, "Hey, that's what I want to do." But don't get like ah, you know, the world's not fair. Yeah. It just doesn't work that way. And then you say, okay, you know, if I buy an a property, um, I'm going to pay more. My return on capital will be less, at least out of the gate. Uh, if you find one that needs fixing up and you find opportunity to raise rents and all that, yeah, you you can make something something great.
Kyle Kazan
For me, I just looked at it as the highest rate of return would be the tougher properties because less people really want to do it and they're always valued at a better cash on cash return. So, um I mean, don't get me wrong, I do happily own some really nice properties, but I didn't then.
Taylor Avakian
And it was you you stepped your way up, right? You start and you grow. And like that's the natural progression of of any business really because these these properties are a business which transitions me into then I know I knew of you as someone who owns Beachfront Property Management which is this massive property management company. How many units do you guys manage now? About 13,000 13,000 county which is a lot that that's a lot of properties. Can you explain to me how Beachfront or when Beachfront started and what that transition like? You were managing your own buildings and then you said, "I do this better than other people.
Kyle Kazan
Let me start a management business." Actually,
20:00–30:00
Kyle Kazan
no. Uh I I appreciate that question. You know, Taylor, um 96 is when I became partners with my my partner. He was doing hedge funds and stuff. And that's when between 96 and the very beginning of 99, we acquired 250 units. Average building is 40 to 50 units probably. A little some bigger, some smaller.
Taylor Avakian
Were you syndicating these?
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. Okay. He taught me how to syndicate. Okay. Again, he came to me and and the story of my life has always been [bleep] it. Let's give it a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gain would be that would be more Yes. of a but he I like [bleep] it. Yeah. Well, because he came to me and he said listen um you know how do you know what's your cash on cash return? I didn't calculate things like a fund manager. I but I knew what everything cost, I knew how much a vacancy per day was costing me. I I I understood the basic math and I think when I had 14 units, if uh five were rented, I was break even. And um and I did a lot of the work myself, uh my wife, and I'm not really good with my hand. My wife's actually better than I am at that.
Kyle Kazan
Um and so um he came to me and he he was saying, you know, what if you got bigger buildings?
Taylor Avakian
Would you get an economy of scale?
Kyle Kazan
I'm like, I think so. That's logical. And um so he said, why don't we just do something together?
Taylor Avakian
And if you said, why how did Beachfront Properties that name he likes his name on his stuff? And so, you know, things like that.
Kyle Kazan
I said, you know, in 1993, I wanted to buy a beachfront foreclosed house. It was a million dollars. I could afford 300K. And I said, so I'm willing to work extra hard. I would like someday to own a beachfront property. So, I'm going to put that in the name so I never forget why when I'm dragging myself out of bed and I'm not getting sleep and I'm pushing up a police car around. This is what why I'm doing it. And that's where Beachfront Pro so we had 250 units. I I couldn't and we were using a a property management company and I said if I just charge what they're charging, it'll get me to about when I hire a few people it'll get me to about 66% of my police salary. and I said, "Let's go. I'm just going to go manage our stuff."
Taylor Avakian
I didn't want to manage for anybody else.
Kyle Kazan
It was not the goal. It was I just felt like at this point my focus was much more towards my passion, which I really like the real estate business. And um you know, I appreciate the the men and women out there that are answering 911 calls and risking their lives for strangers.
Taylor Avakian
Um I also became completely anti-drug war.
Kyle Kazan
I was heavy in it speaking out about that. I I'm not in favor of what we see in San Francisco and downtown LA. I think that's ridiculous. But I think we should be legalizing and regulating and um but
Taylor Avakian
not letting people drink out in public and do their needles out. I think that's we we have to find a happy medium that we can all just, you know, treat everything more like like alcohol. But I won't go down that that road
Kyle Kazan
anymore. But what I would say is um almost immediately I I my gritty nature I took a store room at a 51 unit building we had in Lomita and I turned it in for less than 10 grand into a studio apartment.
Taylor Avakian
Again, dollar adjusted. It'd be more than that today.
Kyle Kazan
Um and I hired like a receptionist and um an accountant to work with me. So, there's three of us in this little room and that was the corporate headqu the worldwide headquarters of Beachfront Property Management. And so, we're sitting in this apartment building and um and I hired somebody to um manage one of my buildings out in Anah Anaheim. And the guy, one of the guys who was young like you, he's buying forplexes everywhere. And he liked her.
Taylor Avakian
So, he asked for a meeting with me.
Kyle Kazan
He's a young guy. He's killing it. And I'm like, okay, what can I do for you? He's like, I want you to manage my stuff. I'm like, no. As you you know, just like when my partner's like, you know, you want to do no. So, except for Mrs. Beach where I said, yes. And the bottom line is I said, I think I need a broker's license for that. And I don't even know if I want a broker's license. He's like, look, I see what you're doing. Nicole likes you. She says you're a smart guy. You're a cop. kind of cool. And I go, "So, you just want me to manage your stuff and I've never managed any any He's like, "Yeah." And I go, "Well, how do I do it without a broken? Use mine." So, he literally like just No way. I'm like, "What do you want?"
Kyle Kazan
Like, so I think it took me three months back then.
Taylor Avakian
You just I just took a quick one day class and and got the license,
Kyle Kazan
got my license, passed the test, and uh he and I are still friends to this day.
Taylor Avakian
Wow. Like, we're now not the young guy, got a massive portfolio.
Kyle Kazan
He still loves the forplexes. Um he has some bigger stuff, but he just is addicted to forplexes. Yeah. Uh but at the end of the day, um that was really um that was really good. And and the thing is from January 99 to today, so we're in 2025, there's not been one day, and I mean one day, Saturday, Sunday included, that I haven't haven't responded in some way to a client. And I'm talking about in Iceland where I'm with a bunch of real estate guys and we're camping out in the middle of Iceland. Um, and I literally on my Blackberry at the time, I couldn't get a signal. So, I had to walk up a hill. We're all in our yurts after a 26 mile hike of the day. And I was I'm like, "Okay."
Kyle Kazan
It's like [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] And then I go down to my little yurt and they're like, "You're [bleep] crazy. You're an idiot." I'm like, "You know what? You don't have clients." Yeah, things don't get better. And so I'm like answering all my emails and I walk back up now. It's like night time and I'm like watching all the emails. So it's just one of those things where if you're going to take on people's trust, you you know, brokerage is a different kind of trust. Yeah. And it's it's more transactional. So you have to continue just go go. Property management is an annuity business. It's a long-term as long as a person theoretically owns their property if you keep them happy. And the big deal is they trust you. And a lot of our clients live on this income. So, you know, they're letting you manage their business and their livelihood.
Kyle Kazan
So, it's really important that you, you know, you respond.
Taylor Avakian
And so, all my clients have my cell phone number. And there's never, you'll have never have gotten an email that says, "I'm out of the office.
Kyle Kazan
Contact so and so." Yeah. That's just not how you can really roll in this business.
Taylor Avakian
It's it's interesting when you look at the successful people who've grown like these these substantial businesses, these businesses that can stand on their own and uh you technically if you wanted to, right, you could probably hire a CEO or hire someone and you could take a step back if you wanted to, but there's the there's the the threads of you in this company that I think that
Kyle Kazan
founderled spirit when when that goes, it's very hard
Taylor Avakian
to keep that together, right? And you've been able to grow and and get this to 13,000 units like that. It's almost like if you weren't involved in the company, it wouldn't be beachfront, it'd
Kyle Kazan
be something else.
Taylor Avakian
And I think that's what you've taken on with a lot of your businesses and it you seem like the type of person who really puts yourself like you said 100% [bleep] it like I'm going to go in and and figure it out which uh explains a lot of the success you've had which I also want to transition to this this glass house your company. Can you explain to me how all this then transitions to you being the number one grower of marijuana in California? Is that fair? The world.
Kyle Kazan
The world.
Taylor Avakian
You're the number one grower of marijuana in the world. Can you please explain to me how that happened?
Kyle Kazan
So, you know, nice of what you know, I appreciate what you said. I, you know, everybody has a few talents. Happily for me, um I'm pretty good at connecting with people and trying to get to the bottom of what is it that is going to make you happy? And if there's times where I'm talking to somebody who says, "I need to get out of property management." I talk to him, I'm like, "No, you don't. Like, you will not be happy. You've been doing this for 50 years.
Taylor Avakian
We're not a match."
Kyle Kazan
It's like, "I understand you're tired. You're having some issues. If you actually want to get out of match, you talk to me. But I just I've been doing this too long." And so the same as you know when I what I'm pretty good at is finding the same when people I want to work with as my teammates and um and finding out what is it that you're looking for and as the companies have grown I found man the level of talent that I can afford really makes my life easier so that I have really good teammates and this goes back to my basketball you know, you give me a good some good rebounders, you give me a couple of good shooters, you give me guys that are willing to lock down and play defense and that when I need help because someone beats me off
Kyle Kazan
the dribble, they're going to step up and they know I'm going to cut down and and you know, so being part of that team really is is key. And I grew up as a point guard since I'm height challenged.
Taylor Avakian
So I got to I got to lead that way.
Kyle Kazan
So, when it came down to running businesses, I think it's really important that you, whether you're buying an apartment building, a house that you want to rent, it always comes down to watching your pennies, being smart with your investment. Don't let vanity get in the way. Don't let ego get in the way.
Taylor Avakian
What is the goal?
Kyle Kazan
And so if you are actually the point guard of a of a small organization and you have other people that are depending on
30:00–40:00
Kyle Kazan
you on on that check cashing every two weeks, you've taken a responsibility and a commitment to that person that they have said, I'm going to choose to work with you as my teammate. And I to me it's like the one of the proudest things is every single company when I opened the doors in January of 99 I had a couple of team members with me and we have never had a payroll check bounce and that first year there were two times that I couldn't take a payroll check so we could meet payroll because at the end of the day you build trust build trust with your teammates you build trust with your clients and and then if you watch your pennies in the so that you're you're smart and you don't I say smart I guess that's relative when you're you're focused and on
Kyle Kazan
the prize don't spend money that's not going to help get you there I'm not always saying be pennywise pound but don't too too often if I walk into you know I'm I'm looking at buying something um right now another business and I went to the person's office or manufacturing facility and it wasn't fancy and the guy was embarrassed I'm like this is what I'm looking for. If I come in here, it's goldplated, I'm out. Like, you're not focused. Yeah. You're You're thinking of the wrong thing. You're thinking of your ego and I've got to be this and that. I mean, I I think if you come to our offices, they're nice offices, but they're not fancy. Yeah. Um they're comfortable for the good. So, um, so Glass House, you know, people have been kind enough, my investors, they've they've followed me outside
Kyle Kazan
of a bike ride from my house when I first that's what I first started to an hour drive to an hour flight to Asia to Europe and happily we've gotten good results because the fundamentals that you learn really help you. But then you have to realize if I'm going to leave Calabasas or I'm going to leave I have to know local and and everything is is you know so you have to really get down in the weeds and then uh we bought we bought some distressed peon farms down in Georgia and investors we we syndicated in the day and and the letter was like I don't know anything about peacons or farming but this was a farm that turned into a home development site that went bust in the great recession. session. We can land bank it because they didn't take out the peon farm.
Kyle Kazan
Someday they probably want to do this, but you can own a peon farm. We have a management company. They know what they're doing. We've done our due diligence and my partner and I are going to lead. We're going to put the most money in.
Taylor Avakian
Do you want in?
Kyle Kazan
Yep. So, all of a sudden, I'm like, "Okay, God, these folks are willing to follow us and yeah, the trust." And so, then um cannabis because I was speaking out against the war on drugs in 2011. and we had Prop 19 and I became one of the leading voices for Prop 19 in Southern California. There's I mean I can send you some photos and stuff, but uh I I was the former law enforcement officer because current law enforcement was trying to scare everybody that you can't legalize marijuana. And I'm like, wait a minute. Anybody that grew up in California knows that marijuana is much more benign than alcohol. You just know it. And also, every police officer out there, almost every everyone had to admit, "Yeah, I smoked cop. I've smoked pot." If they didn't, I wouldn't have been a cop if they didn't accept that. They'd have no cops.
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. So, so the bottom line is I just looked at it as this is stupid by then. I'm anti-war on drugs. And there was enough um stuff out there on CNN, Fox, all that where I was speaking out against it that then people were calling me that they were in the then illicit market and they're like, "Hey, you raised money. We saw you on. We know you're they they trust me by what I was saying." And I was like, "The cops hate me." Like there was a period where the police did not like me and they looked at me as a Benedict Arnold. Like, how dare you go on Fox? How dare you go on CNN and say the drug war is wrong because look anything anytime something's new Yeah. always get bloody. The first going through the wall gets bloody. Yeah.
Kyle Kazan
And uh and I told my wife and I called the chief at the time and I said look this is my my stance.
Taylor Avakian
My wife was like I completely agree.
Kyle Kazan
I knew how frustrated you got on the war on drugs towards the end of your career. And the chief was like, "Look, do you know, good guys, like do what you got to do, man. It's all good. I I still wy I still respect you and may disagree. All good." Um, and long story short, went to Colorado when it passed. Prop 19 failed. Went to Colorado in 2014 when it rolled out the legal market and I just wanted to understand what does the legal marijuana market look like? They had Washington, Colorado had been the they they went we were 1996 on um Prop 215 which was medicinal. So we had we had some framework and the bottom line is I couldn't I couldn't make it work in
Taylor Avakian
Colorado because they had residency requirements and I I like Southern California. So I came I said guys let's come back.
Kyle Kazan
We know we know Southern California. We know real estate. We saw what's happening there in Colorado and the mis the imbalances with rent and everything else. And so we used our real estate skills and we used the way that we run the the way I run tight companies. So think about for a second, Taylor. Today you call me up and say, "Hey, I got a 50-unit building. It's very distressed. Um, let's put something together. We have some investors. Let's do it. Let's put a budget together and we'll put probably put a 10% um you know buffer. Yeah. But the bottom line is we can't go back and ask for money. Yeah. Later. If you do that's a huge fail. Yeah. You better have a good reason that's outside of your own incompetency. And so that's the world I was living in.
Kyle Kazan
whether it was in Europe, whether it was in China, like I raise the amount of money I need and I live within those means and I execute to plan and the team, whoever I'm working with, whether it's it's in China, whether we're in Germany, we all get on board that same. We all look at the vision, we all agree to it, and then we go cannabis. A lot of folks that got into this looked at this as the green rush and and I just couldn't get my head around uh what some of the companies were doing and then they like Medman went public and they were worth two billion at one point but and and nothing against Adam and the folks that founded the company, you know, they they went after it, but when I looked at the rent they were paying and I looked I looked at
Kyle Kazan
the margins that you were selling a plant and I'm like this is now a legalized business. The margin that you would get for risking prison is now gone. Mhm. And that margin that you also you got to pay the government. So it's a your government is is a partner. And if you've ever seen the movie Good Fellas, [bleep] you pay me. Yeah. That's the government's take. Yeah. So um so I would get investors calling me cuz we started we we started with 150,000 foot greenhouse in Carperia. I walked that. I thought it was the biggest thing I've ever seen when it was I'm like this is and they would been growing cut flowers and I'm like how are we gonna sell if we fill this up with marijuana?
Taylor Avakian
How are we gonna sell it? And also how do we make it legal here?
Kyle Kazan
And so the grit from real estate, the ability to budget and then finding good smart people that saw the same vision and said, "Let's let's work together. Let's be teammates here." And um and so we basically went from that in one store to uh that was 150,000 square feet. We then bought a 355,000 square footer uh which I then was walking and that's what people would say these most of my investors with my same real estate. Yeah. And they'd walk like what the hell there's six big green houses here. And I'm like right. I go I I don't like can you sell it all? I'm like I think so. And then ultimately just up the road from here, we bought a 5.5 million square foot greenhouse facility, second largest greenhouse facility in America.
Kyle Kazan
And um we didn't know like we saw it in October of 2018. At that point, we're still bringing online the 355. So between the two first ones, it was half a million square feet. This is 11x those two. Crap. And that was exactly my response. And my wife was like, because you just they were growing tomatoes and cucumbers and the guy who built it out, cool, gritty entrepreneur guy. Yeah. Uh with like a intermediate school education. I mean, dude's like insane. Like you don't need to be Harvard MBA to to be successful in this world. No. Uh and and he wanted like I $250 million. I'm like I don't even know how wrestle that in cannabis and you know. So the bottom line is uh we had an opportunity. He end up I didn't realize he was actually overlevered. He basically lost it in a short sale to
Kyle Kazan
a large private equity company, a real estate company out of Portland, but he had struck almost like on a cocktail napkin uh a right an option to buy it back. So we we got together in 2021 and he's like, I can buy it back for 118 million. I'm like, all right, but I got to pay him. Yeah, but I'm going. So I go, okay, I'm going to go find a way to make find a way to finance this. And so one of the things that if you say, hey, what's a good lesson? If you find a good deal, Taylor brings you a deal.
40:00–50:00
Taylor Avakian
There's money out there.
Kyle Kazan
Mhm. Now, you may have to turn over 20 times more stones, but people want to be part of a good deal. And if you can tell a good story, build their trust, be worthy of their trust, you can the sky is the limit. You could just go. So when it came to this, it was like um I had been going up to Canada for the they'd been inviting us up because we were big enough that we're on the radar screen. Um Medman was the toast, Harborside, both California companies were the toast of the the bell of the ball. We were like the the kid in the corner that nobody wants to dance with. Uh but they still would bring us up. Well, I developed relationships and we continued to grow and just kind of grind it out and stay focused. Don't do anything stupid.
Kyle Kazan
And at that point, I called and I said, "Okay, I have an opportunity. I need 118 million plus. I need more than 118 million. These are the assets I have. What can we do?" And they're like, "Well, if we take you public on an IPO, we can get you 100 million, but they have these spacks." And I go, "Yeah, I've rejected so far." But they go, "There is one that's running out of time. It's a two-year window." And they have theoretically 400 million, but you might be able to keep 200 in. I'm like, "Okay." So before when the Spaxs came, I said, "Fuck it." No. Or I said, "No." This time I'm like, "Fuck it. Let's go." So, I was able to work with my team and we were able to go public via a spa. Those are called special purpose acquisition companies.
Kyle Kazan
At the end of the day, once you're public, you're public. Yeah. It's just you were birthed through in vitro. Yeah. Versus not. Yeah. But once you're born, you're born.
Taylor Avakian
And so, uh, we're on the public market.
Kyle Kazan
A lot of the spaxs just had dubious endings and they blew up. We were very, very calculating. And also we have team members that are really good at growing. They will forget more about growing than I'll ever know. And that was key because they could evaluate what we have and do something sort of dream something that had never been done. But we could sort of we we could calculate how much money do we need? And at the end of the day, Taylor, my background to be able to go up to Portland and sit down with a private equity company and sit down with a farmer who doesn't have a high school education and cut deals. Mhm. And say look across table and say, "Okay, you know, you know, I may negotiate hard, but it's straightforward. Once we have a deal, we have a deal."
Kyle Kazan
And ultimately, we were able to buy that farm. Um the guy who had the um who had the option actually is our largest shareholder more than me. Wow. I wanted it that bad. I said crap. Well, and here's the thing. I when I saw that farm, I said, you know, this will bring the highest quality cannabis at the lowest at the lowest costs. That means we can get it out to people because I really believe cannabis is a super value ad for society. Yeah. Medically. Yeah. um it's it's just it's a really wonderful plant that we're only scratching the surface. And so to me, I thought whoever gets that farm is really going to be in a great position. And so um and so it was worth it to me and to our investors to do that. And now, you know, we're trading on a stock market.
Kyle Kazan
If we get some legalization, I think we're going to look back and say, man, I can't. Yeah. But again, when does that happen?
Taylor Avakian
I don't know. I mean, it's it feels inevitable to me. Like truthfully, it feels enough. It's crazy to me that it's not like nationally legal. Genuinely blow kind of blows my mind when you think about it. Just I guess California, you know, we're exposed to that kind of stuff. But I think you're going to look back on that deal and realize that that might have been the deal of a century because it's the stepping stone for if you're already the number one producer in the country and then when it becomes legal, like that's just going to be an incredible story. I hope they make a documentary honestly because that would
Kyle Kazan
be you know we we have so many great teammates Sanjay Gupta wanted to come on out and visit the farm with CNN. Yeah. And um we asked Mama Sue who's one of my teammates uh and she's a woman in her I don't want to say her age but she's she's an older woman. uh she's utterly fantastic and she talks about the medicine for older folks people and so to have these kind of teammates and you know if someone looked up Sanjay Gupta and Mama Sue you'd see a really cool it's only you know it's a few minutes that in there but it's phenomenal and so I look at it as um like if if someone goes why would you you know give up so many shares to this person and I'm just like the opportunity that I really see with
Kyle Kazan
glass house one, it is inevitable it'll be legalized, but if you're a stock investor, timing does matter. Like when does that happen?
Taylor Avakian
I don't have a good answer to that.
Kyle Kazan
So, um I believe in it. I I've only the only selling I've ever done is for taxes when I get a new if I get a new grant, you know, a lot of times I'll write a check because I hate to give up any shares. I believe in the long Yeah. But one of the best things about this versus any other company I've been with is many people in our company get shares and you know people became delionaires. They became Microsoft millionaires. And so if if things go well and blast house and and look anything can happen. I can't give advice but if it does what I believe it can do um a lot of people will will significantly benefit from it and that's a huge win. Yeah.
Taylor Avakian
Do I need to have the most shares to get that kind of gratification?
Kyle Kazan
Absolutely not. Yeah.
Taylor Avakian
Um, you know, as greedy as the next person, I think so.
Kyle Kazan
But I also think that, you know, um, you know, I'm not growing the plants. I'm not doing the social media. I'm not coming up with the the brands. We have such a talented group of people that my success is dependent on my teammates. Yeah.
Taylor Avakian
I I never won a basketball game by myself. So, that that's a great point. And um I'm actually curious to know because you've grown a bunch of really big companies, what does it take to build a company that actually can last and that can can stand on its own? Like what's the process of growing a people business? How do you become good at that?
Kyle Kazan
Oh boy, that that's a really good question. You know, there there are some there are some businesses out there that I see that they don't value people. They don't mind just going through. They just see people as just a means to an end. Um, and I'm not saying that you can't run a successful business that
Taylor Avakian
way. Success meaning that you'll make money.
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. But it just depends on how do I define success. I like stability in my life. And so, uh, one of the great honors that Glass House got was we were voted um like one of the best places for people to work. Um, I forgot which was it Inc. Magazine or one of those. We have a plaque in our office. It's one of the things I'm most proud of. But for me, that means I can focus in on my clients. I can focus in on the business because I'm not having to replace somebody that left. You know, hopefully we're we're generous in the pay. More importantly, I think for people, pay is important obviously, but also, you know, if you have your child is doing something at uh their school event, you don't want to miss that. And so we always do what we can to just be flexible
Kyle Kazan
and try and be good humans. Um and also uh at both companies we instituted something a while ago um where if this is not the right place for you, we'll pay you two weeks. Yeah. Like we'll pay you two weeks because I want to make sure that you are happy here. If you'd be happier somewhere else, we'd rather have you go there. And so just having that policy in place I think is a way of saying we want you but if you're not here we don't want an an antagonistic relationship or where you start getting better if we don't have a good fit. Um and look I will tell you we ask a lot of our team members. Uh it's not easy. We have high standards but I think we hire the right team that that sees the vision and rallies around it together and contributes.
Kyle Kazan
So, like I said, I'm one person and let's say between everything, we probably have 500 people at Glass House. We And we have hundreds of people that work at Beachfront as well. And so, you know, someone's right now at one of our 10 stores, they're they're um helping our our clients. Yeah. And the folks up there at the farm right now are are working with the plants and solving problems and things like that. and uh our media team is is trying to get the word out and everything else. So, we've got and the accounting team dealing with the auditors and all that. So, we have so many moving pieces. I guess at the end of the day, it's it's try and find the right people. Um you know, the benefit to growth is you can afford, you know, talent. Yeah. Yeah. Pay for talent.
Taylor Avakian
That is one thing that I've seen a lot from very successful people and I'm obsessed with studying like there's this podcast that I listen to obsessively.
Kyle Kazan
It's called Founders.
Taylor Avakian
Okay. And uh basically he dissects these very well-known business people and just very successful people. And it's funny that there's this through line. They always say hire talent overpay for talent because it's not a 1x, 2x, 3x. It's a 10, 20, 100x when you get someone who's really, really skilled. And it just that is like the spark to take a company from, you know, zero to the next level and grow that. So, it sounds like you've been able to figure that out um throughout your company growth and and
50:00–1:00:00
Taylor Avakian
hire really really talented people, which what is the future for you in terms of not only the real estate stuff, like what what are your what are you focusing on right now? Obviously, you're growing the businesses, but you're doing some real estate stuff, too. What's your your thoughts on California and the regulations and policies? It's changing a ton. Every conversation I have with an owner is like, man, you know, they're they're trying to lower our rent increases. They're they're putting regulations. I can't renovate my properties anymore because, you know, substantial renovation is not
Kyle Kazan
there anymore.
Taylor Avakian
How are you looking at the future of the portfolios of your businesses? What is that looking like for you, K?
Kyle Kazan
So, good question. Um, you know, the more obstacles that come your way, the more opportunity. Now, sometimes the obstacles can be a block for a while. Um, I think, you know, I know a lot of the politicians here in California. Truth be told, I've been a registered libertarian my whole life, but I spend more
Taylor Avakian
time with Democrats because they run California.
Kyle Kazan
There's a super majority uh in most cities as well. Yeah. And so, I think a lot of the folks are well-meaning. Um, I mean, I don't think there's like an evil to it.
Taylor Avakian
I know a lot of my friends that own properties and run businesses in California think that
Kyle Kazan
way and but I the problem is a lot of the folks don't have any kind of background in finance in making a payroll or doing something like that. So, at least right now in California where we've gone pretty socialist actually, um, where there's a feeling that the government can do better than private enterprise. And so, they'll pass laws like, let's say, ULA, which was a a mansion tax. Well, it really wasn't a mansion tax. It was a tax to feed the homeless industrial complex, which I'm part of, too. I mean, I'm managing stuff in, you know, Yeah. the homeless the homeless um and and tax credit housing. But I I I will tell you it's like, okay, so we passed this.
Taylor Avakian
What happens?
Kyle Kazan
They didn't get the money they thought they would because sales went way down. And the difficulty is with Prop 13, it works very well for the government and for California. People were losing their homes in when it came around 79. That's why it passed. But if properties don't sell, they don't re-evaluate. Yeah. And and typically in California, every five years properties sell. That's the average. So when you upset that apple cart and let's just look at the city of Los Angeles and you say, "Okay, what are the hindrances to the money they need for tax money to run a proper city?" And we all just we all just tiptoe around the fact that LA is a broken city.
Taylor Avakian
billion dollar deficit.
Kyle Kazan
Well, it's not just that, but let me just tell you why it's a broken city because we manage in pretty much every city in LA and Orange County. Yeah. And LA is is the worst. And I love LA. Went to USC. You know, I spent a lot of my time in the city of Los Angeles. It should be the greatest city in the world, if not for the government. And where I would tell you is everything comes at a cost. If you want rent control, fine. They've had rent control since 79. You want to make it steeper, fine, you can do that.
Taylor Avakian
What happens?
Kyle Kazan
Well, that means that your property tax, it's going to be it's it's going to be under what it could be. So, not only does the owner lose value, but the city loses value. And because they say, "Hey, we want very low rents." Okay, you're going to get low taxes. That's hard. If I'm a city council person, I'm like, "All right, what do we need?" Well, there are streets that'll have no no light bulbs like all of Alvarado from Langers for several blocks by Wilshire Boulevard. No lights. Yeah. You walk along and sidewalks are all over the place. Trip and fall hazards. If you're if you're disabled, really tough. Yeah. The worst part to me is emergency services, particularly the police, people in in Los Angeles,
Kyle Kazan
except the very nicest areas have just realized if I call 911, nobody may come. Mhm. During one of we have a dispensary in LA during the riots, the during the George Floyd uh kind of a weekend riots, our our place was getting overrun in the middle of the night and our security guards were calling 911. Nobody answered. There's just not enough. They They can't get enough people. And if you go to South Central, I I used to work. You better off just cutting deals with gangs. There's not enough police. And so people have just accepted the quality of life. You know, homeless everywhere, things like that. And they don't have the money. Fire trucks. Mhm.
Taylor Avakian
Do you know there's like hundreds of fire hydrants that are missing that people have taken?
Kyle Kazan
I don't know if you can weld down those things. So, when you actually and and I have to try and help with quality of life issues. Luckily, I can call the police, speak to a watch commander, and typically get a response that otherwise people can't get. So, when you have a building owner, it's like, Kyle, this really nice building in Korea Town or there's a really nice building in the valley or, you know, name the place in LA. And I'm having a real problem. There's a homeless guy who bathes in our laundry room and he's scaring people with um a shank. Mhm. And I didn't want to go out there and the police are like, "We we can't just handle this. We you know Mhm." And so it's like often times I'll have to go talk to the person um you know, lead from the front um
Kyle Kazan
and I'll talk to the police and say, "Hey, listen. This is what we're doing. Can you help us uh with this situation?" and just like I'm not going to solve the situation for that human being. That person needs serious help. But for the tenants that are under our management, I can I can help in that way. And so and then in the cannabis industry, it's like the state of California and the city of LA can't get out of its own way to properly regulate the business. And so we pay these very high taxes. I want to say if if you go to our store, the taxes only in could be 40%. Think I mean, think about that for a second. and and twothirds of the of the industry is still, you know, approximated to be twothirds illicit. Yeah. The illicit, they don't have to pay workers comp.
Kyle Kazan
They don't, you know, there's Yeah. They don't have to take care of their teams. They can spray whatever they want. And so, the more I've learned about, you know, I appreciate that we, you know, we sell tested product. We have product liability insurance. We run it like a normal business. and the state of California has um has been an abject failure in um in managing this industry. And that's really a sad thing. I've I've watched so many people get a social equity license, the promises uh of social equity, fine. But when I talk to some of these folks and they desperately are they're so excited to get this this license for a retail store and then they realize, but wait a minute, people that don't have a license are just selling on the street corner. They just opened up a a store.
Taylor Avakian
How am I supposed to survive?
Kyle Kazan
And the the sad reality is you can't. You can't. And you know, I'm not arguing for jail and all that, but what I am arguing for is regulation because or don't give people false dreams. I mean, it's almost cruel to what they're doing. And I've talked to people in the city of Los Angeles and said, you know, you can't just virtue signal because this hurts people's lives. And I've had many people come in that got a social equity license and I want to help them open up a store, but it's like it doesn't make sense for them and it doesn't make sense for me. So, um, so California there there's just a I think folks like to the people in government want to feel good about themselves and make virtuous decisions, but they don't think
Taylor Avakian
about the unintended consequences.
Kyle Kazan
And for the voter out there, I think the voter should ask, if you live in the city of LA, what is it that you want as a citizen of this city? And as a business owner, do you want to invest in this city knowing you're going to have to deal with it? prices of of real estate in the city of LA have gone down and including my holdings and I can't argue. Yeah. So, yeah, but but I would tell you again that sounded pretty negative. There's a great book called The Obstacle is the Way and some of your biggest opportunities are dealing with the most difficult situations. If you can do that, you're going to come out really strong. And I will say this about Glass House. If I look at all the states that have some sort of legalized uh cannabis, and it's by far the majority, just a
Kyle Kazan
handful that doesn't have that, either medicinal or recreational or both. By far the hardest, the biggest is California. The biggest cannabis market in the world is California. Um the state, the cities, they just can't get out of their own way to properly handle this. But if you can win here through that and then we get to compete with states where they don't have to deal with all the craziness. My team that I that I work with every day, they're phenomenal. And the same thing with property management. Property managing in South Carolina. I mean, I've I've managed in Florida. I managed in Washington. I've managed in Wyoming, Colorado.
Taylor Avakian
There is nothing like the city of LA.
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. You know, when I hear people complaining, I'm like, you have no idea. you know, gang problem in um southern Georgia.
1:00:00–1:10:00
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. I don't think you really totally understand. Yeah. So, but I would say again, it's good for my business that it's gotten so complex. Yeah. In Englewood does it this way and LA does it this way and Culver City does it this way and you have to serve this notice and this with the security deposit and if you don't do it right, you don't post this notice. So, to be an expert on that has actually been good for my business. I if I could get rid of it all tomorrow, I would. Yeah. Because it's most of it's just nonsensical. But um and then the fact that the police are just over burdened. They don't want to make arrests. They don't want the liability. They don't want to be caught on camera with using force, meaning they just would rather not use force. Yeah. And not be there.
Kyle Kazan
That has provided a really interesting opportunity where you know most management companies if you think about it you know a lot of a lot of our friends do they really want to go out to Compton and sit down with gang members? No. Gang members are business people and humans like we are and they they have their wants and needs. Um but they'll also look at you and if they think you're scared it's not good for you. Yeah. And so if you can just sit down and work things through, um that is an advantage that that I think we have at Beachfront. But it's, you know, look, it's it's never been harder to manage property than it is today. Yeah. Um and um but I'm still seriously optimistic and I would tell everybody that watches um to learn from you
Kyle Kazan
and to, you know, find that first property if it's a forplex or a 3plex and
Taylor Avakian
then just build it up.
Kyle Kazan
Yeah. And keep it going
Taylor Avakian
100%.
Kyle Kazan
Kyle, this is incredible.
Taylor Avakian
I love this. There's we could probably talk for hours about story. There's so many stories we didn't even get into on our prep call. We talked about uh the your experiences with these properties and but I know we're we're wrapping up. So, thank you very much for being here.
Kyle Kazan
I appreciate this, Kyle.
Taylor Avakian
And uh we'll have to do round two soon.
Kyle Kazan
Taylor, thank you. Really appreciate it. And hey, man, just keep keep chugging and doing all the good great stuff you're
Taylor Avakian
doing.
Kyle Kazan
Thanks, Kyle. Appreciate it.