This is a KUNV studios original program The content of this program does not reflect the views or

opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board

of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education Good morning and welcome to the grind

I'm your host extraordinaire Mr Eric James The grind Simply put the grind is a half

hour conversation that speaks to local business entrepreneurs and explores their take on where our local economy is

heading and asks them to tell us their own story of the sacrifices and work ethic that it takes

to have a successful business Good morning good morning good morning I'm your host extraordinaire Eric

James and again we've got a jam packed line up for you this morning I've got 3

fabulous guests that hopefully they're gonna blow your your pants off or wake you up

if nothing else get you up out of bed get that coffee get some tea

get some donuts or whatever you need get something so you can listen to some of these

gentlemen's information and so you can Take it in breathe it in and swallow it

down and get a little something out of your Sunday morning I have 3 special guests

for you I'm gonna start from my left to right I have Mr Quan Owens in the middle I

have Chris Monger and on my on my right I have Stephen Thompson each one in

their own individual fields expertise and we're gonna find out about their story their history and

their grind a little bit about What got them here and how they stay relevant and on top in their

industry and what they do well or maybe not so well but they hide it

well enough to make you think that they're balling out doing it at the top level of

what we need here in Nevada So let's start with our gentleman Mr Owens Mr Owens good morning to

you sir How you feeling Feeling real good real good How's everybody out there Everybody in the

studio Nice people Nice people All right sir So you know I got a couple questions

for you but tell people a little bit about what you do and I'm gonna hit you with some of

these questions that I got on my notes here but tell folks a little bit about

what you do So I am a retired IT person recently going into real estate as well as a serial

entrepreneur to say the least everything from print to uh logistics companies as well as uh

auto spas things of that nature It tends to go into like an ecosystem of uh all the

businesses kind of feeding off each other All right so looking at your notes looks like you're a New York

boy Is that correct Absolutely Brooklyn Brooklyn stand up All right Brooklyn stand up But we got

a military family here I mean that means you moved around a little bit I know that for

myself My father was an air Force and me being in the army um you know I had

I didn't have to move around so much fortunately but this is how my family

got from the west uh from the East Coast to the west coast my mother being from Montreal and my

father being from New York as well So tell me where are some of the

places you've lived or traveled to uh along your journey Uh so pretty much every continent except for Antarctica uh

when I was younger it was uh pretty much you know As far as traveling with my

mom she was in the Marines but as I got older you know I tend to see the

world a little bit different visiting some of the same places uh a lot in Korea Busan

South Korea uh you know um Seoul uh in in Europe everywhere from Romania to

Britain and South America Uh pretty much everything from Mexico down to Argentina so a

lot of traveling Now my understanding it's personal business but I don't think we we've known each other hopefully long

enough I don't mind Your father is Korean correct That is correct So has his viewpoint

on the world or his heritage or background Made you colored uh in any way

or shaped in any way how you view the world along with your travel because I I've done

a lot of traveling myself and I I the same thing different people from different parts of the

world see us as Americans and people in different aspects of light so I I'm wondering if some of that

cultural heritage has affected how you view work your work ethic or other parts of your personal life Uh pretty

much it's it's been the the foundational staple um as far as everything is concerned with the

culture on both my mom and my dad's side but also just being able to get that global experience uh

because it's one thing when you know you hear about it but it's another thing when you tend

to experience and and all the experiences that have went on has actually been going a

lot deeper than just doing just the touristic things Uh actually going to see a

lot of the places that are more off the beaten path and really aligning with the

culture to see how they see things different because of course you have your own perspective and

It's just an eye opener when you can see others' perspectives as well Now it also tells me

that you've done a little uh martial arts a little kimpo and taekwondo Absolutely I'd say probably a

lot more than a little uh pretty much from the time I was 3 until 15 um My mom

pretty much kept me pretty busy to make sure I don't get in trouble So when your mom to

that but I mean you know we all we're all old enough that we still

they believed in whoopings back then when your mom your mom did you give her

that that wax on wax off move to keep that belt or that that that

uh that shoe that slipper from hitting the backside No I was able to stay pretty conscious to not

do that or otherwise I'd be Sure All right well I'm gonna come back to you I

got a few more questions for you but I'm gonna move to my next guest to keep it balanced

here make sure everybody gets some time in what they do Now this gentleman here he's out of the

three gentlemen he he's fairly new to me but I've grown to have a great deal of respect

for what he does his background and definitely his work ethic So I'm gonna call him my sensei

for my new business which is my veteran's NextGen home inspection So Chris has become or is our mentor

and guiding us through our internships He's been taking us out showing us his techniques and what

he does and how he meticulous he is and about what he does to show us the proper way

to learn for my new endeavor So Chris please introduce yourself and tell people a

little bit about your business and I'm gonna ask you a few questions about your past because I've

got some great notes here and I want to get to him and and really explore

some of this Well thank you Eric and uh good morning everyone hopefully everyone's having a nice Sunday morning here

in beautiful Las Vegas so as Eric said I do property inspections here in Las Vegas so I essentially

work in real estate um I work with buyers and sellers mostly buyers are looking to buy property

here whenever you wanna buy a piece of real estate surely you wanna get inspected

You wanna know what you're getting into and that's where I come in Um I've been a property

inspector now for 16 years 8000 inspections under my belt Prior to my inspection career I worked

as a civil structural engineer so I am a graduate of UNLV way back in 2002 civil

engineering Um prior to that I grew up in the construction industry Um I would go to work with

my dad all the time when I was a kid and so from an early age I was exposed to

the building industry so For 10 years I worked building homes Another 10 years being a structural and civil

engineer and now I'm into my 16th year of being a property inspector here See now

I've got a note So this tells you that Chris has been a hard worker from from a very young

age and he said my notes tell me that when you were young you used

to scrap copper Is that correct Yeah so if anyone is aware of Los Prados north side of town So

when I was 10 years old in the 1980s and uh my dad took me to

work with him that would be completely unheard of today of course So a 10 year old running around

a job site 1988 or so Um so when I wasn't building forts with leftover pieces

of wood I would go scrap copper so I'd wait for electricians to get through the house grab my bucket

take it with me and pick up every piece of copper I could find take

it home strip off the insulation After a month I've had a whole bucket full of copper and

then A 10 year old in 1988 that was a good deal of money back

then So that was really exciting So those were some of the things I did

was scrap copper make forts in those job sites help my dad where I could Um I wouldn't

trade that experience for for anything so I met all kinds of crazy and interesting

people and had a really good time doing it But wait Chris you know uh I did

a Google search so I don't know how accurate the number is but Google says that we

only have about 80 years of worldwide left of copper in on our planet So copper is

a valuable uh uh uh mineral Commodity you had to be making $100 or more dollars a month

Were you making it rain at school with you know in front of the girls you know with

all that all your pockets just bulging out with all that copper money was walking around with just blinging at

that's where it went So I probably just had a a good time with it So uh

you know what could you do back then as a 10 year old So definitely bought toys Other stuff like

that Now uh uh I know you have two kids uh an 18 year old and a

one of your kids interested in the uh what you do or taking over your business uh when as you

get older So like I'm doing with you Eric I would take my kids on ride alongs

um with the point being I want to teach them something I want to show them what

they do They can learn a skill And so early on I would take him to

my inspections and we would teach them like I've been teaching you we'd go over the

water heater HVAC we'd go over how to inspect a kitchen a bathroom Uh luckily though

they're blazing their own path and I couldn't be prouder of that So my son works at Federal Express My

daughter wants to go to college so they're not gonna follow in my footsteps which

is fine um but my goal of showing them something teaching them something that's what I wanted to get across

them that was most important to me Yeah either one of them because I know

your wife is a school teacher which is an incredible profession hard working so I

give her nothing but respect and love for what she does super hard profession Either one of the

kids thinking about following in her footsteps My daughter kindly uh again my wife's mother she was a teacher

my wife's a teacher and so there's probably a good possibility my my daughter follows in those footsteps

and I'm completely fine with that Um she is excellent with people She likes going to my

Um my wife's school and helping her out so I perhaps see Anna Lee that's my daughter's name going into

the teaching profession That's pretty cool All right well I know the last one I wanna ask you

is and then I'm gonna move to our third guest again keep it kind of bouncing I'm

gonna come back to all three of you with questions throughout um but you were you were an athlete in

high school and uh I know you're a big sports fan and Part of your vacation that you

said you're going on to California here uh in the next in the next few days

you're going to watch a couple of baseball games and and you know attend some sports You were a baseball

player in high school What what drew you to baseball What is it about baseball that really

you know fascinates you or build you part of your drive My dad was a baseball lover um so

That just came to me um naturally um just loved baseball loved the sport Um and I was

really good at it So my senior year I think I was uh 2nd team all

city Um I also played a couple years of college baseball after high school I went to

College of the desert Southern California did 2 years there and realized I wasn't gonna

be a rich and famous baseball player and that using my brain was the best

way to go So I came home and finished up my degree at UNLV So uh

I just love the game of baseball It's America's pastime for a reason And most importantly I'm so thrilled that

When I'm gonna go to San Diego we're gonna be there on Jackie Robinson Day Cubs versus Padres

I'm so looking forward to celebrating that day because of what that man did not only for our

country but for the sport It's pretty cool Much respect on that And what position do you play though

Uh I was an outfielder or DH OK designated here All right Well you know you wanna give us

some of your stats where we batting Ah so my senior year I was the only one that

hit 400 on our team I was offensive player of the year so uh I had a great senior

year OK OK knock the hustle OK knock the hustle All right I'm gonna switch to my third guest

uh Mr Stephen Thompson Tell me a little bit something about yourself sir and I know I'm gonna get this

out of the way now He was a Marine I was Army so we're gonna

get this out of the way now Not everybody can be army material Some people have to do the

grunt work and you know do the do the the grudge and the sludge So we leave it to to

gentlemen like this but we still want to give him his respect Thank you for your service sir Tell me

a little something about yourself Well thank you for your service as well Eric Uh my name is Steve

Thompson I am a Marine Corps combat veteran Um I'm also a mortgage lender out here

in uh Las Vegas Nevada Uh so definitely wanted to tell everybody hope you're having a

wonderful Sunday morning um and a little bit about myself You know I did choose the

Marine Corps because you know somebody's gotta protect my brother over here because you know it is what it is

um they say that we uh are uh what is uh bullet shields but I just say well you know

it's kind of difficult to be a shield when you're too busy firing at the

enemy Um so a little bit of history about me uh born in LA um Inglewood

up to no good is what I'm hearing Yep uh Inglewood California in the 80s um moved

around quite a bit and uh came out here um you know and I've been grinding ever since

I was really a kid Well well from what I know here you were you were

a sports athlete as well when you were younger 6 ft tall uh uh uh and and

how old were you at 6 ft tall I was 12 years old Good lord good lord Yeah I was

uh uh I was literally dunking in middle school Mm what happened to the NBA Where where where's the

contract now because nowadays at at that age you should have had an NIL contract you know you you could

have had a new car and everything already paid up You were just born a little too late too

soon I think so I think so uh you you know Uh growing up I wanted to

support myself so um you know my uh junior and senior year I went to work

Uh I had had to get myself in my own car um was supporting myself

financially taking the burden off my parents a little bit making sure that I had uh you know

a nice little work ethic for myself I wanted to have some money you know I I I couldn't make

it rain like my buddy over here but I did drizzle a little bit And you know I

took care of myself and uh you know right out of high school I went to the Marine

Corps I like that Now I did do my homework because I do my homework on

all my guests just to make sure I know where it come from You went to

Winchester High School Westchester Westchester High School Yeah you guys had the worst mascot He's a

comet man Tell me what Comet Man is I looked at that and I was

like he looks deformed or deranged or something I'm not sure if that's a good mascot

for young youth of America but tell me what Comet Man is Uh I was

only there for a year so I'm not really going to own that one All

right well we will hold you to that one The other day I liked that I saw

that you've been a you've been an entrepreneur or a businessman or hustler for for since you

were really young One thing I I I don't know whether or not you're a natural born business person Or

you could never hold on to a job because what I've seen on on your background

is you worked in high school you worked at Foot Action Burger King Taco Bell Kenny Rogers

roasters You were all over the place that they you just didn't like them or they didn't like you

What what was that about Well that was mostly about um You know like I said I wanted to make

money and if it was slow in one industry I went somewhere where I could make some money

at you know if they couldn't give me the hours that I wanted I went somewhere where I could

get the hours to where I could make the money to support myself Yeah now see

I can see that because it looks like you progressed as you got older we all mature and you

leave the fast food and the the early jobs behind You had a property preservation business and

an online store Tell me a little bit about that Um back in 2008 right before the uh market took

a turn we'll say um The banks were foreclosing on properties There were people that were leaving

their homes Uh it was a really rough time to be a homeowner um but

there was also a need to uh secure these homes make them um livable again and to make them and

keep neighborhoods safe So we started a property preservation business where We would uh be subcontractors for the banks We

would go into the properties or secure these properties we would remove all the debris

um maintain those properties and get those properties to be resold again uh trying to

keep the neighborhoods as safe as possible because we all know when Um there's nobody in the home Somebody

will find a way to move into that home Now some I I tell some of my story as

the shows go along I was also a real estate agent for several years back in the 200 uh from

uh and until dual licensing laws made it difficult for me to have my insurance licenses

and my real estate licenses I saw some unique things and and Kuan you can uh attest to

this Saw some copper ripped out of walls wiring ripped out of walls feces on walls telling the bank

off to FU bank for foreclosures other things saw some really crazy stuff even concrete in the in the toilets

concrete so all of Us I think gentlemen we're all old enough to have lived through some ups

and downs of the uh uh of the cycle of the economy So how is that I'm gonna

start with uh with Steven since we were on you how have you seen the industry and the market

changed over the course of your career and where do you think we're going I've seen the industry change quite

a bit uh through my career Uh like I said I was in property preservation um then

legislation was passed where the banks had to prove that they owned the title to

the property and we went from maintaining around say around 1000 houses a month to 20 uh so it was

a massive massive hit That's where we uh opened up an online store where we were selling The

uh preservation products to other contractors I figured well I mean if we're not gonna

be able to maintain um with our normal inventory we'll let's sell some inventory to other people Um And

then I noticed that that also took a hit because um you know the preservation industry kind of died

down quite a bit The banks were no longer uh maintaining and foreclosed properties the way that they were before

So you went from having uh an industry where you had I would say REO agents

Uh to not having any more REO agents You went from an industry where there

was a foreclosed properties everywhere to now they're sold on note tapes Now they're not sold

the way that they used to be Good luck finding a foreclosed property You won't find nearly as many

as you did before so You know home prices have been more stable or you know it went from

being at the bottom of the market to you know a 4% I would say on an annual increase

over the past 10-15 years um so we're seeing you know the market change and uh I would say

Pretty good direction OK now you folks of course can't see it but Chris is over here

uh as Stephen was talking Chris was nodding his head in agreement to a lot of different things Part

of his backstory is you actually changed your pro your profession In the 2010 mortgage crisis is when

you transitioned to becoming a home inspector So again you've seen the industry and the market and

the economy change throughout How how has it affected your career and where do you think it's

going So when I broke in in '09 Half of every foreclosed out house out there was a short

sell So it was a very very different market we see today versus back then Um say that one

more time Eric So the the transition of the market or the evolution of the markets up and down has

evolved over the last 10 to 12 years What is how has it affected you

and what you do today and where do you think it's going So back then I was in my engineering

career and prior to our great recession boy our economy was on fire We were busy busy busy

but when that happened Home building just shut down The need for engineers and architects literally

went away overnight Uh combined with the fact I'd bought a house in late '08 when the

market was down it was a good time to buy had a home inspection watched what he did asked him

some questions realized hey I think I could do that Combined with the fact there were

was ready for a change opened up something called a phone book Who now don't

don't let the millennials and the Zs talk because they're gonna be called Google in that right now trying

to figure out what that is And luckily I found this company um Told that inspector who

would eventually become my mentor what my resume was and he welcomed me with open arms when

he found out I came from the construction industry I have a degree and I come from

the engineering world um so to me the writing was on the wall This was

a perfect opportunity for me to transition out of this engineering career become an entrepreneur go

into business for myself and I got lucky I'm the first one to admit it Lightning struck

my brain when I figured out what that home inspector was doing I could do and I

could do it 10 times better That's a good thing All right Mr Owens what what what's your perspective

on this So perspective on this would basically be in I guess the easiest way to sum it up is

You know I've been investing for a while and just recently came over into doing

um real estate full time uh for about the last 2.5 years One thing that I can say because I

actually came out to Vegas uh 090909 is when I stepped off the plane right Um

of course the the uh market was uh a little bit more in this way like you said a lot

of short sales or um uh a lot of homes that were vacant you know uh the market was

completely different There wasn't uh they were a little bit more stricter they started getting more stricter

on the uh on the loans and things of that nature but there were deals

to be made right Um just in going back not too far 2017 um To now and

I think it was kind of due to like the perfect storm of like COVID uh the printing

of money etc etc but I see things from like 2017 until now uh Home prices of roughly

as far as the interest rates because the thing is is when I retired in 2022 and that's

when I came over to real estate interest rates were pretty low they're 3% And then I get

into the business and they spike up to 8% Now historically is that high Not historically no but I think

the difference is the cost of the home coupled with that Makes it a little bit different right So

those things have been different for me and of course a lot of uh the buyers are still into like

the inventory a lot a lot of buyers got spoiled thinking those were normal interest

rates I don't know interest rates at one time in the 80s were in the 10s you know

double digits and they forget about that Now you own or co-own a real estate company is that correct uh

Team Emanuel Real Estate at Simply Vegas That's correct So give give the folks the rest of your information Where

can they contact you if they want to get a hold of you So they can contact me

at Kwan Sells Vegas that's K W O N Sells Vegas That's pretty much on all platforms That's also

my email at gmail.com You can also reach me by phone 702-518-2596 Give that to him again because I'm always

that person that's searching for a pen or said it too fast and I miss a number Give give

them that number again No problem Phone number is 702-518-2596 And the handle or email is quan

sells Vegas across all platforms Quan sells Vegas I like that It's catchy easy to remember has

a hook to it All right uh Chris can tell people where they can find it and and

and get a hold of you so you can help them out and get this home inspected

properly Well I go by the moniker of Chris the Inspector Um you can check me out

on my Facebook business page Just go on the Facebook and just put in Chris the inspector

You'll find me My I can be reached at 702-375-9809 and my email address is Christ the

inspector LV for Las Vegas@gmail.com So one more time Eric 702-375-9809 and my email is chris the inspector LV@gmail.com See

how see how natural Chris was taking this He he repeated it he picked up on that right

away He was smooth with the presentation I think he's got a career coming in this one

he's ready for his next his next uh career change And I do know that You are working on doing

some YouTube and some other things or at least you're a fan of some home inspectors that

are on YouTube that have some fairly big followings that most folks wouldn't know about So you're gonna be

the next YouTube sensation that we should be looking for I don't know about that but you know as

they say a picture speaks 1000 words well a video speaks a lot more so Um for some

of my foreign investors that never see the house they like me to do a walkthrough

video of the house where I go through it and show everything So on my page I'm up

to hundreds and hundreds of those videos So it's more for informational purposes so that the people that are buying

properties that don't see them in person can see them in person I should say more on the video screen

All right Mr Thompson give me your info Where can folks find you I need a mortgage

tomorrow I got a FICO of 560 What can you do for me Oh you gonna really hit me like

that Everybody's laughing man I can't I can't get my credit score up What can you do for me There's

a lot that we can do for you Um uh you know Steve Thompson with

USA Homeownership uh loans uh we are a nonprofit We also have a credit counseling program that we

put people into 100% free And so you can reach me at 702 321-1706 Again that is 702-321-1706

My email is sthompson T H O M as in Mary P as in Paul S O N at USA

home MTg.com and you can also catch me on Instagram at the Thompsons LV on Instagram

Alright uh the light is blinking That means we have about 1 minute left gentlemen The half an

hour goes by very fast but I wanted to make sure I got each uh a piece of

each one of your stories You'll have to come back on the show another time

and we'll talk about the rest of this stuff like the fact that Steven has 5 kids so

I know he has to keep a job every day of his life and and you know

Chris got college payments to take care of Juan He's just a fancy brother so I know he's

he's gotta keep paid so I wanna thank each one of you guys for coming on my show

again my my name is Eric James I'm your host of hashtag the grind just something a

little bit about uh what's going on in our industry our community and the people that are making

it click and their grind how they got to where they're at how they're staying

there and what the future is that they're holding You can reach me at 702-836-0953702-836-0953 Uh that's for

my insurance agency but of course I have other hustles and part of my grind but you can

reach me there and get a hold of me gentlemen thank you very much I

hope you enjoyed uh the conversation as much as I did and hopefully you guys will come

back again next time and help us out Have a great Sunday morning Thanks for

listening to the grind Again my name is Eric James We hope that today's show was two parts entertaining

with a dash of education Feel free to reach out to me at my office

at 702-836-0953 and remember to always stay on your grind