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In Episode 32 of the Hustle & Heat Podcast, we sit down with Daniel Hughes of BayPort Lending to discuss The Next Frontier of Real Estate. From changing market trends and financing strategies to what buyers, investors, and real estate professionals should be paying attention to next, this conversation dives into where the industry is headed and how to stay ahead of the curve.
Whether you’re a homebuyer, Realtor, investor, or simply interested in the future of real estate, this episode is packed with valuable insights.
Recorded at Dubz BBQ in North Port, Florida.
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations with local business leaders and industry experts.
Transcript from the YouTube captions, with names and places corrected. It may contain errors.
0:00 What’s up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Hustle and Heat Podcast. My name is George, your host, and welcome to episode 32. Today, we have a special
0:07 guest. His name is Daniel Hughes. Daniel is a mortgage broker. He owns BayPort Lending. And without further ado, I’d
0:15 like to welcome Dan Dan, Daniel, to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast, man.
0:19 Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do and why you do it.
0:22 Hey, how’s it going, everybody? My name is Daniel Hughes. Um, I am a mortgage broker here, born and raised right here in Charlotte County in Englewood,
0:30 Florida. Um, I’ve been doing mortgages for I think I’m going on my 14th year total. Um, in the real estate and
0:37 lending world and so yeah, we uh we’re a small little mortgage brokerage, boutique shop. I’ve been in existence for about 5 years with BayPort. I
0:46 started that about 5 years ago. Um, but again, I worked for Family Business all the way throughout up until up until now. So nice. How did you get started in this industry?
0:56 So 2005 when I graduated high school, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do and I worked for the family business. I went right to them. Um started
1:03 processing mortgages, kind of doing like office work. Um 2007, right before the 2008 crash happened, um I decided I was
1:12 like, I’m going to go do this college thing. Did that was not really doing much for 10 years of my life. Um and
1:19 then came back and worked for my mom as what we call a processor. Um, and so I did that for about five years before I
1:26 actually um got into the sales side of the mortgage business.
1:30 So were you taken up in college? [sighs] So it took me 10 years to get a two-year degree for it. So you hated it.
1:37 I hated school so bad. I was a guy I’ll be I’m a very transparent person.
1:42 So I was listen I failed biology one three times at UCF, but I got I passed organic chemistry
1:49 too. So I I ain’t judging you. I was taking freshman math senior year to graduate high school or they told me I wasn’t going to walk and I was like,
1:57 “Yeah, college should probably be for me. I could probably figure this out.” And then I’m like barely making it in college. And um I just kept going on and
2:05 off. So that’s why it took me so long. I was just kind of, you know, hopping around towns, doing jobs, you know, kind of chasing work. I was in the construction world for quite some time.
2:14 And um and then I was like, you know what? And I sat down for about two years and finished my IT degree. I worked corporate hospital world and I was like
2:21 this isn’t for me. So I decided to come back and work for the family. My mom needed help so let me try this out and then just sucked me in ever since. But I
2:29 was never that school kid. That was for sure. School’s not for me.
2:32 So then you what? You went into mortgage sales after that?
2:35 Yeah. So I processed for about five years. Um and then what I did was I saw where the money was being made. Um the
2:43 people behind the scenes don’t make as much money. Um, and so I was like, “Let me get a dollar.” Huh?
2:48 What? [laughter] So I was like, “Let me get my uh loan originator license.” I did that. Um,
2:55 sold with my aunt and uncle who own a company. I did that for about two or three years and then I had bigger ambitions and decided to open up my own shop.
3:05 Nice. What’s the process of licensing look like to open your own shop?
3:10 It’s not Florida’s actually really easy to do it. Um, you have to take 20 hours pre-licicensing. Um, make sure you’ve
3:18 had to have your loan originator license for a year. Take 20 hours, file an LLC, file with your state licensing fees for
3:25 the mortgage side, and you have a mortgage brokerage. It’s very What state is the hardest state to do this in?
3:30 There’s a lot of states that require like audited financials and a lot of like rigor. New York is really hard. New York is one of the hardest states right now to get licensed in. So when you look
3:38 at mortgage companies, they don’t a lot of them aren’t licensed in New York because of how rigorous it is to get licensed there. Um and you know, so
3:47 every state has their own parameters actually getting licensed in.
3:49 Nice. Are you licensed in any other state other than Florida? Florida and Texas. Texas. Do you do sales in Texas?
3:55 Yep. So I have two people out in Texas right now. So how’s that going? Um he’s actually one of my top people. So he’s out in Houston. Yep. Houston.
4:02 A lot of over overseeing or they just do their own thing? A lot of it’s they’re on their own little planet, but I do a lot of we we have touch points two or
4:10 three times a week and those people I probably talk to three or four times a week on different deal scenarios. Um, but for whatever reason, Houston is
4:17 blowing up. So, Houston out there is doing a lot of good business and so I have a guy Enrique out there who’s who’s crushing it for us out there.
4:24 And, uh, are you always hiring or do you just are you stuck with your team now? You’re good with them. You’re content.
4:29 We have people come and go. you know, I’m I’m always looking to bring people in, but um I’ve made a different shift in my business. So, I opened a real
4:37 estate brokerage. I’ve had my real estate license for a while, but I opened a real estate brokerage in March. So, BayPort Property Group, I decided to
4:43 open that up and um I started niching to specific people that are dually licensed. So, they have their loan officer license and their realer
4:51 license. Um and so, I niched to that and starting to niche that. So, as I bring new people in, I’m really focusing on people who maybe have both or are
5:00 ambitious to get both and run the transactions on both sides. How’s that going for you?
5:05 It’s going really well. We have a girl here uh locally who’s doing very very well with it. Um we’ve done four or five transactions where we’re on both sides.
5:12 Basically, you come to BayPort Lending or Real Estate Group and it’s just a one-stop shop. Yep. And that’s how I grew up.
5:17 You come, you ask for a real estate agent and then you’re like, “Hey, we can do your mortgage, too.” Yeah. So there’s I mean I could go on
5:25 few stories. One that stands out is I had a guy call me that wanted to get pre-approved, found me online and said, “Hey, I can only come in Saturday at
5:32 like 9:00 because I have to be at work by 1 and I want to look at homes between 9 and 1. I need pre-approved immediately.” I was like, “Okay, well,
5:40 we can do that, but how about this? We can preapprove you with one of our agents, one of our loan officers, excuse me, and that same person can take you
5:48 and show you homes immediately right after.” and he was all about it, right?
5:52 And so nice. And so, same thing like if we go on a listing appointment on the real estate side, I can actually now pre-approve that buyer because that person listing their home is most likely
6:01 going to buy a home, right? So, now I’m pre-approving that person. I’m getting their listing, pre-approving for their next home, and probably the one showing them or shopping them for homes as well.
6:10 So, it maximizes the number of transactions, but a lot of consumers like dealing with one person. Um 32% of
6:18 real estate agents got their loan officer license last year. So it’s a massive number of grow the the business is shifting. So I’m just kind of starting to take
6:25 So you see that business going into allin-one shop condensed models for sure.
6:30 Yep. You know you have big companies like Rocket bought Redfin. Um they partnered up. You got Zillow Zillow Home Loans. You got Compass and Anywhere
6:38 Real Estate doing stuff. You got um RE/MAX being bought out by Real. I mean, you got a lot of this mergers happening and
6:45 a lot of that’s coming into like mortgage, real estate. They’re taking title companies, insurance companies, and they’re just coming under one big umbrella.
6:53 Do you ever see it being mortgage, real estate, title allin one?
6:57 That’s I grew up in that business. So, my aunt owned a mortgage shop, a real estate shop, and a title company. All in one. She held all three licenses.
7:04 How big of a headache was that?
7:06 It was a big headache for her. Um, but it was very, you know, successful for her. But then the crash happened and that, you know, reset a lot of things.
7:14 But you’re you’re seeing that condensed model with a lot of our bigger players start to take place. Um, and so the landscape of the industry is just
7:23 changing. And so what’s different for me is I’m not fragmenting that industry.
7:28 I’m trying to bring it under. Daniel’s the broker of everything. Like I’m the one who makes all the decisions. I’m not owned by separate entities making decisions if that makes sense.
7:38 Nice.
7:38 Yeah. That’s my goal. So other than that one-stop shop, what separates BayPort Lending from the rest? The biggest people come see you?
7:46 I mean, when it’s local, so I’m very very local. Hyper local is my mentality.
7:51 You know, I really serve the, you know, North Port, Port Charlotte, Charlotte County. I love the hyper local for me personally. Um, what it is is we are
7:59 very handholding. So a lot of people say, “Oh, we’ll we’ll guide you through the process. We’ll guide you through if you’re not ready for a year, six
8:07 months.” Um, and another big thing is as a broker, we shop for you. So, my biggest goal is to make sure you get the
8:15 best rate or the best terms or whatever we’re after for your scenario. And that’s because I’m not bound to one bank, right? We’re partnered with about
8:23 30, 40 different banks where I can shop those different scenarios, different loan products, and so forth. So, we’re not just, hey, we a sheet of paper,
8:32 here’s what we can lend on. I can lend to you on nice anything.
8:36 Nice. And for you those of you who don’t know, I actually used BayPort Lending to pull a mortgage for my house about a year ago and they did a phenomenal job. Shout out to your agent, Glenn.
8:45 Glenn. Glenn’s the man. Is he still working for you? He is. So Glenn’s still around.
8:49 It was It was really nice working with him.
8:51 Glenn’s a good guy. And you know, those type of people are who I look for where they care about the person more than the transaction. You know, this business can
8:58 become very transactional. Um, everybody on my team came to my closing, drove to my house, grabbed all my [ __ ] and helped me move all in one day.
9:07 Yeah, he’s that he’s that guy. He’s that. And you don’t find too many people like that in this business.
9:12 And he didn’t even ask for a dollar after.
9:14 Yeah. Not one bit. And you know, it’s funny you say go to closings. A lot of people don’t even go to their own closings. It’s you should interview a
9:22 title company like how many loan officers show up to the closing?
9:25 No. The title agent was surprised. She’s like, “Who are you?” Yeah. Because they never do it. and she’s like, “I think this is the first for me.” Yeah, it’s very rare. And I when I first
9:33 started, I went to every even drove to Tallahassee in Miami for closings. Really? Yeah. I went to every single I made it.
9:39 What is the benefit of doing that? Just customer service or is there could go wrong during the closing that you can prevent? Yeah. Yeah.
9:46 Yeah. So, like, hey, documents are wrong. I got to get someone to send over new documents, fix something, a number’s off, right? There’s those type of
9:52 scenarios. For me, it was I started and I want a finisher with that person. I want to be at the finish line when they cross that race, right? Like I want to
10:00 be there cheering them on, celebrating them because we started it. I don’t want to just be like, well, finish it on your own, right? So, that was always a
10:07 personal thing. Um, but I think loan officers should show up because there can be problems. There’s also that photo opportunity for marketing. There’s a lot
10:16 of reasons why you should show up. Um, but for me, it was always I just wanted to be there till the end no matter what. All right. What else is that all you do?
10:25 Just real estate mortgage. You don’t got no side gigs.
10:28 So, I just came from side chicks.
10:30 I mean, I’m the You don’t know about?
10:32 No, no, no. Cut that part out. Cut that part out. [laughter] My wife will come in here and take this place down if she saw that. Um, so
10:39 insurance, [laughter] my wife’s from Jacksonville, so she’ll she’ll scream Duval all the way in here. [laughter]
10:48 So, um, yeah, man. I do a lot. I do a lot. I do a lot of, um, you know, nonprofit work. So, I’m the secretary of
10:55 our state mortgage association here in Florida. Um, about to be, you know, vote for me. I’m going to be the treasurer hopefully if you guys vote for me. Any
11:03 mortgage people out there? Um, so I do a lot of that on the state level and local level. I sit on the Charlotte County affordable housing committee. Um, that’s
11:11 where I just came from before this this interview. I was there um talking about different housing strategies.
11:17 um you know, making sure we have our finger on the pulse, what’s going on in our communities, what’s being built, what kind of developers are coming in, and you know, just at the end of the day
11:26 though, how can I help homeowners get into home ownership, you know, and so I serve the industry and then I serve my local community. Um, you know,
11:34 especially helping people get into housing that might not ever thought they could. They’re low income, low housing, about to face homelessness. Those types of things we can help out with. Um, not
11:43 maybe directly, but I have resources to send people to. Nice. So, um I know no one knows, but what do you think the housing market’s going to look like within 5 years in this area?
11:52 It’s going to blow up. Um North Port specifically, um new construction and multif family is taking off. I think
12:00 North Port was like one of the fastest growing multifamily per capita in the nation. So, a lot of our area, if you’ve ever noticed, if you’ve been here for a
12:08 while, like we didn’t have multif family. And I know people don’t really want multif family. like, hey, I don’t want this big apartment complex in my
12:16 backyard, but we’re short on housing. I don’t care how anybody slices it, we are short housing. We have more people.
12:22 There’s three new houses in my neighborhood that’s been on sale for like five months.
12:26 Well, that’s we’re talking affordability. So, first, let me start with supply. The next thing is, is it affordable? And it’s not. And that’s the
12:33 problem that we face. We need supply, but builders can’t build it at an affordable level, right? And that’s the disconnect here.
12:41 So, what’s got to give? prices have to give. Um, but builders for a builder, there’s no incentive.
12:47 There’s not, right? So, they can’t they can’t build low income or lower housing because of their margins they need to to operate, right? That’s where like, you
12:56 know, you can have county and governments come in to kind of assist on some of this. Um, but only to so so much extent. Um, interest rates do need to
13:05 come down. I do agree with our current administration, but will they? I don’t think for the next year, you know, I think we have too much on our plate
13:14 right now to see interest rates move anywhere. I mean, there’s already signals that they could possibly raise the Fed rate and that would, you know,
13:21 hurt our interest rates. But at the end of the day, it’s all about affordability of price. And how we
13:28 change that is through lowering rates, making things cost less so builders could build at less cost to make it more affordable for people. Interest rate
13:36 wise though, I mean, we were the lowest at the beginning of this year that we’ve seen in few years, but right now we’re still at this point lower than we were July of
13:45 last year. So July of last year, you were at like 6.7. Today you’re like six and a half, 6.6. So you’re you’re in
13:52 that range today. So we’re still lower, but at the end of the day, affordability is the word that you’re going to hear the most. People can’t afford
14:01 interest rates are going to go back to threes.
14:03 Never unless we have co or another big breakout. I don’t think I don’t think we will see interest rates
14:11 at that level again unless we have a huge pandemic again, we have something that really forces what happened at the Fed level really forces that.
14:20 Um I think we see rates in the coming years like I’d be happy high fours, mid fours.
14:27 Yeah, that’s a stable market that that’s stable for banks to make and operate. um and then also not have a huge run on our on our housing.
14:36 So right now, why are rates so high?
14:38 So your Fed rate, so you have your Fed rate, right? So you hear everyone says, “Hey, the Fed’s raising or lowering the rates.” So do you want me to give an
14:46 education lesson real quick on that or Yeah. Okay. That’s what we’re here for.
14:49 So all right. So educa education.
14:52 So the Fed rate is what we call the overnight Fed’s fund rate. What that means is let’s take um Bank X, right? So
15:02 bank says, “Hey, I need to borrow a billion dollars, right? They go to the Fed. Fed says, “Okay, here’s a billion dollars and we’re going to give it to
15:10 you at a three and a half% interest rate.” Right? That’s the Fed rate that you see today. Then they go, “George, you want to buy a boat?” You’re like, “Sure, I want to buy a boat.” And
15:19 they’re going to say, “Well, George, pay 6% for that boat loan.” Well, they got to make their money.
15:23 They make that margin from three and a half, right? So that’s that’s the basic fundamentals.
15:27 So why does the Fed keep lowering and raising? What’s the purpose for them?
15:30 all about inflation, jobs, how’s our unemployment rates doing. So, the biggest factors are like inflation, jobs
15:38 reports, data currently, what’s going on in Iran and other areas, you know, economic pressures, um are they printing
15:46 money, are they not printing money, are they buying bond, I mean, there’s a lot that goes into it. Um, but what makes up
15:53 housing makes up about 30% of the Fed’s economic rate and decisions. So you have a big portion, housing is a big portion of this. So how are rent markets doing?
16:04 How is lending doing? All those things are how is affordability? Like those things come into play when the Fed’s looking at lowering or raising their
16:11 rates. So we’re not directly correlated to the Fed, but that kind of give you a glimpse of when they make decisions and changes. It does affect our rates, but
16:20 it’s not a direct correlation. You know, if the Fed says, “Hey, we’re decreasing the rate.” Doesn’t mean mortgage rates are exactly coming down. That doesn’t
16:28 it’s not a oneto one. It’s not how it operates.
16:30 Understood. Do you think our economy is going to get worse before it gets better?
16:35 I’m not an economist. Um I just I will say it this way, George. I think what we’re currently in just needs to until
16:43 that ends. Until we see what happens with Iran and all these deals to also what happens with tariffs, I I there’s
16:51 too much on the plate for I think anybody to really make a true decision.
16:54 Do you think tariffs help or or or hurt us?
17:00 Personally, I think it will help us. I don’t want to pay the IRS any more money than I need to. Um, so if that leads us to those type of plans, then I’m I’m all for it.
17:11 But at the end of the day, I think it will help us with our economy as a whole.
17:16 Why do you think people are freaking out about tariffs?
17:19 Well, has it changed your business any bit? Do you think has tariffs made any impact on the restaurant market?
17:25 I think the war made more impact on the restaurant market than the tariffs and I agree with that.
17:28 So a lot of people are like tariffs increased housing costs for different supplies and materials and it did but I also think that opens up the door for
17:37 people to find opportunities here to start creating those opportunities to make it cheaper.
17:42 Yeah, I think a plan like that takes like 10 years.
17:44 It does take a while, but if we don’t start, we’ll just keep kicking the can. We’ll never do it. So, I’m all for tariffs because I think it’s just the road map like you said that
17:53 sets us up for the future of bringing those costs back down. No, I understand. So, but yeah, it’s uh it’s interesting.
18:00 Every day for us is uh it’s a new story. Every day I wake up and I’m like that’s going to that’s
18:07 going to be hard to overcome. And you know, biggest fear for people is interest rates. That’s the number one thing they look at when they’re buying a home. Um my opinion is look at the price of the home, not the interest rate.
18:19 Yeah. Yeah. Why do you say that?
18:21 You can never change the price of the home once you pay for it.
18:26 So, if you paid 300,000 for a home, your equity is built off of that number. So, you know, investors do this very well.
18:34 The cheaper they they make their money on the buy, not on holding it for so long.
18:39 You can always refinance. So, what does the refinance process look like? Refinancing.
18:44 And when do you think when would you advise someone to refinance? It’s like one point down, two points down. Like what’s your what’s your like ideal number?
18:51 General rule of thumb, a lot of people are going to say drop it. If your rate’s dropping by 1%, do it right. It’s it’s a
18:58 smart move because the offset meaning refies cost money. You have title fees, you have taxes. What’s your average cost?
19:04 Um give yourself about 2% I would say probably two two and a half% on fees. A lot of it’s taxes and title fees. So
19:14 you’re going to have those costs. Let’s say you’re it’s going to cost you five grand to refi your home, but you’re going to save $200.
19:22 You have to be able to hold that new mortgage out for 25 months before you recoup the 5,000
19:31 you spent on the refi. Does that make sense? Yeah.
19:33 So, there’s a recoupment period. If you’re not going to meet that recoupment period, don’t refi.
19:38 So, if you’re basically looking to sell within like two years and a half, don’t do it.
19:42 Don’t don’t refi. So, I tell people if you can drop a point in interest rate, that’s good, but then what’s your recoupment period? If your recruitment
19:49 period is like four years, then you’re paying way too much for that refi and it’s not worth it. Um, other scenarios could be you have a 30-year mortgage and
19:58 you go to a 15-year mortgage because it’s the 15-year interest rates less, so your payment’s roughly the same, right?
20:05 But you just saved, you know, how many years of interest? 15 years of interest on it. So it it every scenario is going to be different. Every situation is
20:14 going to be different. But general rule of thumb, a point is a good savings. 1%’s a good savings.
20:19 But like you said, having that game plan matters, knowing how long am I going to hold it? What’s my goal with it? Things like that. So
20:27 let me ask you a question. What made you get into the restaurant business?
20:33 Many of your interviews don’t switch on you.
20:36 Um, they don’t. I know a little bit about your background but what made you you know about my background I just I know you started in the family
20:43 business and you know one of the things I face I don’t think a lot of people talk about this um you know one of my
20:50 best dynamics is family business and you know it’s it’s a different dynamic I don’t care what anybody says I still work with my mom and my wife they
20:59 process our mortgages but I work with my aunt and uncle who I love my great aunt uncle who I love dearly um but I I left
21:06 the family business to become their competitor. That’s what I did.
21:09 I know. I tell you. I know a little bit about your about your story.
21:12 I’ve been working I’m 29. I’ll be 30 in October.
21:16 Um [laughter] I’ll be 40 this September.
21:20 I’ve been working in a restaurant since I was 12. And in that time period, there was four years where I never where I didn’t work in the restaurant. Uh when I
21:29 went to UCF, I was working at MetroPCS selling phones. I was I was part-time and people were doing it for a living full-time overtime and I was always top
21:38 three salesperson every month. And then um some [ __ ] happened there that that was unethical for me and wasn’t really
21:46 like something that like I felt comfortable being there with anymore. So I left and then I started working at a hookah
21:53 lounge. So, I worked two years and two years and then I came back here and I started working for my uncle Wally
22:00 again because in high school I was working for Soup Jungle. Then I went to Nikki D’s in the mall and then I went to Wally’s. All right. And I worked for
22:08 Wally and even in college I would come back like 10 days out of the summer to give them a vacation kind of thing every summer. And um what happened was I was
22:18 working for Wally’s for so long. I was going to FGCU and I came back took up finance. I loved it more than premed at UCF. I hated it so much. I hate science.
22:26 You were going to be a doctor? Yeah. Nice. I was thinking about it. All right.
22:29 I [ __ ] hated it. [laughter] Like I said, I biology and all that. That stuff’s hard, man.
22:34 Meiosis. Mitosis. I still don’t know what the [ __ ] that means. All right.
22:38 Um and um it came to a point where I was like, “All right, maybe I can do this for the rest of my life cuz I like what I do.” Yep.
22:45 So, I I went to my uncle. I said, “Let’s open a second Wally.” Cuz I wasn’t going to do Dubz. I didn’t I didn’t really think about it to do my own thing
22:54 and um he was in and then we found location after location after location.
22:58 I got him the numbers he wanted time after time again and he just would back out every time and then we saw original
23:06 Dubz and we were going to make that a second wall to go kind of thing and he backed out again last minute and he said
23:14 uh just do it yourself and I don’t think he thought that I was going to do it myself. I think he thought that I just killed my dreams. Yep.
23:21 And that’s what I did. And And now look at it. And he got mad.
23:26 It’s uh he got he got really upset and um he never like said anything to me, but like you could tell he was mad.
23:35 Is there still like family like events like he was that tension’s there, right?
23:39 I don’t know if it’s there anymore cuz he sold Yeah.
23:42 Um and he moved to uh Parrish and he’s doing like a breakfast place out in Parrish, but he wasn’t happy about it.
23:49 Yeah. It’s tough. I mean, when you leave the family business and Well, it’s like I didn’t do it behind his back. So, that’s why like I’m don’t understand.
23:58 Same thing. I I asked my aunt. I was like, “Hey, do I have any future in this business? Do you I want to take this bigger. I want to take it from right
24:06 here in Venice, Florida to let’s go multi-state. I want to bring in people.
24:10 I want to grow. I want to grow. I’m 20ome years old. 30 something years old.
24:14 I have this energy. Let me do it.” and she’s been in business for 35 years, 40 years, right? So, she’s got this massive database, great connections. She paved
24:23 my path to where I’m at today. So, I’m like, I want to take this on and take this over for you and keep growing it, right? And that just that ambition
24:32 wasn’t there. And the same thing, it was like, all right, well, I I have to go figure this out and do it for myself.
24:36 And so, yeah, that family dynamic, I have someone that would say that to me.
24:40 Yeah, it’s [laughter] it’s but it’s different. I don’t think people understand like working for family and doing that and then breaking out and doing your own thing and directly.
24:48 I think it hurt his ego a little bit.
24:50 Yeah, it it’s it definitely makes things a little bit different. Today we’re good, right? Every I don’t think there was ever a bad piece of blood.
24:58 Today we’re good, but there’s been times where he like p***** me off.
25:01 Yeah, it’s it’s talked about this on camera. I don’t know. [laughter] Hey, I told you I was going to interview you, man.
25:07 I think it’s those type of things that, you know, people are probably going through or have. They work for family and they are like they feel they’re stuck working for family.
25:15 I didn’t feel like I was stuck. I actually really enjoyed working for Wally.
25:19 I um I wanted to be the best person I could be for him. Yeah.
25:22 And he relied on me a lot. I I never hated it. I still miss it. Yeah.
25:26 If you ask me, those were the most fun times of my career. More than any time at Dubz.
25:30 A lot less worries, bro. The best time [laughter] in my career. Like I miss it [clears throat] sometimes. I won’t lie to you. I enjoyed it. I I don’t know.
25:37 The I I’m similar. It’s it’s you know you reflect on it but I just wanted to you know just ask you you know what your
25:45 path was and knowing that we had a similar family dynamic. Yeah. Very cool.
25:50 That’s how it went. I never expected it to be real.
25:52 But look at when’s Dubz 2 going to open up.
25:55 Make it live right now after after a war [laughter] and prices go down because I’ll tell you what it’s a struggle right now. It’s it’s hard. It’s hard.
26:03 It’s so hard and it’s just a constant battle of do I raise my prices or do I lose money all the time. Yeah. Know what’s your um what made you choose
26:13 North Port? Like what is is North Huh? Growing. Yeah.
26:17 And it was far enough away from Wally that it wouldn’t hurt him. Gotcha. Yep.
26:20 Cuz that was a big factor for me. I didn’t want to hurt him. Same. You know what I mean? Yep. That’s why I’m in Pun.
26:26 I know. I had a lot of respect for Wally. I still do. Yeah.
26:28 Um it’s family. Family’s family always.
26:31 So I wasn’t going to be like his competitor competitor cuz if I was in Port Charlotte, it would have it probably would have hurt him more than it did. And it’s a good location.
26:39 You don’t have a lot of competitors in your direct area right here. Bunch of food trucks.
26:42 Yeah. I mean, so you’re you got a good location. Barbecue. They try. They try.
26:47 They try hard. [laughter] We’ll have to do a taste test like completely. No. Go right now.
26:54 Completely like separate outside. [laughter] Bring it back.
26:58 Bring it back. The cameras will still be here.
27:01 I ain’t worried, you guys. Nice. So, yeah, man.
27:08 Yeah, that’s it. That’s it for me. You got any other questions, Mr. Interviewer?
27:12 Hey, I I just want to bring people the most, right? I’ I’ve watched a lot of your podcast, a lot of your interviews, but you know, a lot of the the
27:20 interviewers don’t get to They don’t ask. They don’t ask a question. You’re always open to ask. I don’t care.
27:25 Yeah. I mean, but that that brings a lot of insight to what you’re doing here.
27:28 You know, you’ve you’ve built a great business and, you know, kudos to you because, you know, I saw what you started with into what you’re at now.
27:36 Yeah. You came to Little Dubz? Yeah. Really?
27:38 Yeah. I mean, I’ve 2 minutes 2 minutes down the road here. So, and I miss it, baby.
27:43 Like I said, been around here for a while. Days, too. It’s fun right now, too. Yeah. We’re going to do a food truck.
27:48 I thought about it. I thought about um buying one recently doing events and stuff like that and just No, just go see where the next
27:56 Dubz is going to be. Oh, okay. [laughter] Some market research.
28:00 Okay. Do some research. Plant it out there. All right. All right. Does that make sense?
28:04 Yeah, it does. It’s a good business move and make money in the in the meantime and give people more salaries to be able to, you know, cuz people don’t look at it
28:12 that way. I have what, 28 employees, that’s 28 families that are feeding off one vision. You know what I mean?
28:18 So, if I can employ more people and be able to afford more people, that’s even better because it’s not just about me. It’s about who works for you and are
28:25 being able to pay their bills because of it.
28:28 And don’t get me wrong, they can get a job anywhere, right? It’s not I’m not the reason they’re making their bills, but it’s still But yeah, you’re a big reason. I mean, people work for people.
28:36 Yeah, that’s that’s number one thing. You know, when when I hire people on, it’s I tell them all the time, my brand doesn’t mean anything.
28:42 My brand is I’ll do what BayPort’s going to do, and BayPort’s just a name. You work for the person.
28:47 Is just a name. I believe in myself. I can leave this tomorrow and do whatever I want after that. Humility, right? Yeah. So, one last question.
28:55 Jesus Christ. [laughter] Who’s been your favorite interview so far?
29:00 Oh, this is this is payback for Mike Morales that you just told me about. It wasn’t Mike.
29:05 I’m just No, no. For for Corner him who was his favorite kid.
29:08 D***. I could [laughter] use the same I love them all the same just differently.
29:13 That’s why he told me that’s it. [laughter] We’re ending the podcast right there.
29:21 Awesome. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate it.
29:24 [laughter]
29:26 Anything else?
29:27 No, man. I I’ll let you go. I know you got some meat to cook back there. So, man, to rub and cook. Yeah. Yeah.
29:32 One day I’m going to have to You should bring in guests into the kitchen. Let’s do it right now.
29:37 Right now. I smoke I got I got some smoke. I did bring uh Jeffrey in.
29:43 That’d be a fun. We’re trying to do a bar video. Do you drink?
29:47 Seldomly, huh? Seldomly. How about seldomly right now?
29:51 No, no, not right now. It’s I’m going to Miami on Sunday. I need to I need I have some appointments after this. I got to show up. [laughter]
29:58 Listen, we’re trying to get the new bar menu out there and I’m trying to do a video of like taste testings. Okay.
30:04 So, line up an Uber. Yeah, we’ll line one up for you. All right.
30:10 Yeah, let’s do it.
30:11 Maybe we’ll do like a two person. Him and Nick. Yeah. We’ll all get drunk together.
30:19 If you’re a kid watching this, please please stop watching. 21 and older. Christian can cut that out. Yeah. [laughter] Sure.
30:28 Anything else you want to say?
30:30 No, man. I appreciate you giving yourself, your family. Just check us out. Bayporting.com.
30:35 Um, I mean, again, we’re I just want to help local people, but even if you don’t, just you need a resource. You need questions answered. Just reach out.
30:44 I love just helping people find their their journeys and find their path and help them get there. So, nice.
30:50 Well, I appreciate you coming on, Daniel. It was really nice talking to you and learning more about mortgages and how rates work and stuff like that.
30:56 Very informative. So, if you guys are watching this, please go follow BayPort Lending and if you guys need a mortgage, go see them. We appreciate you and we’ll see you on episode 33.
Hustle & Heat is brought to you by Dubz BBQ, named Best BBQ Joint in Florida in 2026. Catch the next episode over smoked brisket and ribs, or stop by for happy hour, daily 2–6 PM and all day Thursday & Sunday.