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Todd Pultz: How Quick Decisions Build Wealth Fast! | DSH #1502

20 Aug 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What inspired Todd Pultz to transition from police work to real estate?

0.031 - 17.076 Todd Pultz

All the people that work in my offices, they just stay with me forever, you know, because I treat them right. I believe in treating people fairly and treating people right and giving them the respect and giving them the power and feeling empowered to make decisions without, you know, having to worry about, am I going to get in trouble? Does he like me? Does he not like me?

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17.236 - 21.482 Todd Pultz

I promise my employees, they know how I feel about them every second of the day.

0

30.338 - 45.076 Sean Kelly

Okay, guys, from Dayton, Ohio. First guest from there, former police officer, now real estate expert. Thanks for coming on, Todd. Man, I'm glad to be here, dude. Yeah, I'm excited. You got a lot of property, so there's some stuff people can learn from you. Yeah, we got a couple. Was it immediate success when you got into real estate? Did you have a mentor?

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46.077 - 63.688 Todd Pultz

Man, you know, I didn't have a mentor in real estate, but I had a business mentor. So I was fortunate in that way, but I jumped into a zero financial literacy, no background. Actually, probably a couple months after my first house was foreclosed on and my car was repossessed. I didn't have shit, man. Like I didn't, you know, it was rough. But that was about the only thing I understood.

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63.828 - 79.455 Todd Pultz

Like I knew I couldn't be a doctor. I knew I couldn't be an engineer. But I figured if I bought a house for a buck and I sold it for 10, maybe I'd make somewhere in between. So, you know. It was all right. It wasn't immediate success, but it was a little bit of both. All right. First one was a killer. And then the second deal, uh, two days after we bought it, it burned down.

79.475 - 80.256 Todd Pultz

We didn't have any insurance.

Chapter 2: How did Todd overcome his initial financial struggles in real estate?

80.276 - 93.411 Todd Pultz

So we lost, right? So we, we, we win, we lose. And you know, then you got to figure out what you do from there. And it was like, let's just keep rocking forward. It's not in Cali that it burned down. Nah, it was, uh, it was in Dayton, Ohio. Like that's, that's where all of our properties are at. Holy crap. Yeah. Some of our house fire.

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93.431 - 111.562 Todd Pultz

No, it was like, so we, we bought this and this was a different market. So the, um, C class, right? It's like, it's a more challenging neighborhood. And that's where we bought at. Cause that's all we could afford. And we, we bought a six unit building that a, that a dope dealer had been killed in one of the units while he's fixing it up. And so we got a good deal.

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111.582 - 127.12 Todd Pultz

I mean, it was like 21,000 for six units and we're gonna have to stick like 50 K into it. And then two days after we bought it, somebody threw a multi cocktail through the unit that he was, that he was killed in. So I'm assuming it was family. They didn't want to see the building anymore or whatever. And at that point I didn't know shit. So I was too dumb to have insurance on it.

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127.538 - 144.591 Todd Pultz

Uh, so, you know, I still pay taxes on that property like 15, 16 years later. Damn. It's just a piece of grass in the hood, uh, 1700 bucks a year, but it's my reminder not to be a dumb ass and have, you know, not take insurance on our properties anymore. And that was your first intro to real estate. That was my second property. Yeah. The first one was great.

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144.712 - 158.514 Todd Pultz

You know, I bought and sold that one like four times while I had it, but, uh, That was the second one. Wow. And that didn't steer you away from pursuing it further? I had nothing to fall back on, man. You know, like, yeah, I had the law enforcement. I had some other things that I could do. But, you know, I wanted to change my lifestyle.

158.534 - 177.301 Todd Pultz

I wanted to be able to provide a different type of life for my family. And I was either at the point where I had to admit to my wife who let me use like my last $10,000 on the first property. I either had to admit to her that, hey, I failed. where I had to figure out a way to go all in and really make something of it. So the latter was a decision that I knew I had to make. I hate failure.

177.561 - 196.903 Todd Pultz

You're an athlete. You play ball. I don't know if you're any good. I'm decent. How tall are you? 6'6". I can take you. But you have a competitive nature. You don't want to fail. You want to win. And I was an athlete all through school. And the worst thing in my mind that I could do was have to admit failure. So I had to find a way to make it right, man. And that's what I did. I love that.

Chapter 3: What challenges does Todd face with squatters in his properties?

196.923 - 209.987 Todd Pultz

Yeah, I'd imagine police officer, the money wasn't crazy. It wasn't crazy, but you know, I grew up in a trailer court, right? So like I grew up poor, I started the projects and then the trailer courts of Riverside, Ohio, you know, no financial literacy, nothing whatsoever. Right.

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210.488 - 224.066 Todd Pultz

So when I got on the police department, it was like, man, I made it, you know, like I think I was making like $37,000 a year. And, and that was great. I had like, I thought this is the life. I went out and bought a new truck. Like every police officer does. Hmm. Um, but it's because I didn't understand what else was out there.

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224.246 - 240.071 Todd Pultz

I never had anybody in my younger life teach me what else was out there. I didn't know what was possible. You know, I thought working for somebody, getting a check every single week, I thought that was the way to live life because that's what society teaches us. That's what my parents had taught me. Um, very few things they taught me, but you know, my dad worked three jobs growing up.

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240.131 - 249.446 Todd Pultz

So I thought that's what you had to do. I didn't know that there was a different type of lifestyle, that there was wealth. I didn't even know how many pizza places were out there growing up, you know, because we didn't, we weren't fortunate enough to be able to experience those things.

0

249.566 - 249.666

Yeah.

249.646 - 262.12 Sean Kelly

Yeah. Yeah. I was, uh, I grew up middle class. So for me, it was like making six figures a year was crazy. Like that was unreal. Like you could save up and become a millionaire that way. And then you realize there's much bigger goals as you like get an entrepreneurship.

262.76 - 274.959 Todd Pultz

Well, you get, you know, you, you see little things, right? Like people you hang out with or like your first time you go out of state or like, you know, being that you're in Vegas. Right. So first time I came to Vegas, I'm like, Oh shit. Like there's a whole nother life out here. Right. or anything that you do.

275.159 - 292.585 Todd Pultz

And I think the more that you get that, the more that you experience that, the more that you want it, right? Especially if you grew up without it. And a lot of people say, look, money doesn't buy happiness and all that shit. Like you heard what I said, the only people that say that are people that have never had money, right? Because can you go to a store and take happiness off a shelf?

292.605 - 308.423 Todd Pultz

Fuck no, you can't, right? But at the end of the day, you can buy everything else in life and all of those things, whatever it is. are the things that are going to allow you to be happier in life if you use them the right way. So for me, that's what it was. I don't care about stuff for myself. I don't care about the small things for myself. I don't need fancy cars, although I like them.

Chapter 4: What is the eviction process like in Ohio compared to other states?

372.899 - 375.401 Todd Pultz

And that's, you know, it's frustrating sometimes, but you know, that's what you do.

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375.702 - 381.469 Sean Kelly

A hundred percent. That's why I have so much respect for successful entrepreneurs because I know what it took to get there. It wasn't easy.

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381.489 - 399.027 Todd Pultz

No, not everybody's like that. But I would say the one thing that most people in common, even the big influencers out there right now, the one thing that most of us have in common is we all have a story. And I imagine even you, if we were to dive into your story, you have some type of story, right? And most entrepreneurs have

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399.395 - 420.61 Todd Pultz

a grind, a period in their life where they went through pain and hardship and sacrifices to get them where they're at today. And, you know, you have what, 60 seconds, a minute 30 on reels, maybe some long form on YouTube. That's not enough time to really share your entire story with everybody that's out there. So all they see is what you are now. They don't see all of the stuff.

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420.59 - 437.488 Sean Kelly

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437.528 - 449.601 Sean Kelly

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449.581 - 462.154 Todd Pultz

And if you do put it out there, most people don't want to watch it. They don't care. They don't care. They want the drama. They want the controversy. They want to see the, like when I put out a video of me going into an apartment and kicking a squatter out or a crackhead out, like they love that shit. They tear it up. Right.

462.534 - 473.966 Todd Pultz

But I could put a V, I could put a whole hour video out and say, look, here is step-by-step how I created my millions. Here's how I created my wealth. Like I can teach you right now, free of charge, how to be a millionaire. Yup. Nobody watches the shit.

474.446 - 479.792 Sean Kelly

It's so ironic because I have on billionaires on this show and they get the least views. Out of all my guests.

Chapter 5: How does Todd manage risks associated with overleveraging in real estate?

504.39 - 505.692 Todd Pultz

But yeah. It's the world we live in.

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505.892 - 514.482 Sean Kelly

That just shows you the state of our society where like this whole week I've been hearing about that dating show, I forget, Love Island or something. Yeah, yeah. And people care more about that than making money.

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515.943 - 516.304 Todd Pultz

For sure.

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516.604 - 519.147 Sean Kelly

Like this whole week, I can't go anywhere without someone talking about it.

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519.387 - 534.364 Todd Pultz

No, but like when was it? When do you think that our world changed, right? Like I remember the first reality show that I watched. I mean, I started with MTV. Actually, Vegas was one of the first ones I watched with MTV and they were at the Palms. But I remember from that time on, it seemed like every year just...

534.344 - 562.107 Todd Pultz

reality tv grew and grew and grew you had the bachelor bachelorette and people like it consumed in their lives like their whole day is built around the whole like i'm off at five i'm not sure if i'm gonna have time to stop and get dinner because bachelor comes on at six or whatever it is there's so many people out there that get consumed with that instead of being consumed with making their life the way that they want their life you know i think it happened i saw an interview about this actually when netflix came out because they pretty much invented binge watching so back in the day you you couldn't really binge watch because there was commercials and stuff you couldn't fast forward

562.542 - 579.027 Sean Kelly

So I saw the Walter White, I forget his real name. He was talking about this. But when Breaking Bad came out, people would watch the whole thing in a day, the whole season. So you think Netflix is what changed it? I think they contributed plus social media, plus the instant gratification apps, you know, a combination. I don't think it's one thing. Yeah.

579.548 - 587.941 Todd Pultz

And do you think that was all like just fueled by COVID when everybody was stuck in? That definitely amplified it. I mean, at least TikTok was, right? Yeah.

588.121 - 603.353 Sean Kelly

TikTok grew up during COVID, yeah. Yeah, who knows? But at this point, you got to be aware of it and kind of control your urges, I feel like. Yeah, for sure. I don't like when people make excuses. Like we all have the same distractions, you and I, but we just choose to focus on what we focus.

Chapter 6: What role does mental health play in Todd's real estate business?

683.093 - 697.663 Todd Pultz

Just say yes. Just say this. Like, just do this. I don't want to talk about it again. Like, once I make the decision, I'm done. And we'll figure, you know, something happens from it. We'll figure it out. But just make quick, decisive actions. And that's the biggest difference between people that are successful and those that are not, in my mind.

0

697.643 - 704.637 Sean Kelly

No, I love that. That's phenomenal advice. But yeah, I feel like all the top CEOs or whatever, they make decisions quick and then deal with the consequences later, right?

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704.657 - 720.789 Todd Pultz

Yeah, that's it. You can always clean it up, right? Like you're never going to make a decision that is going to be too detrimental to your company or your business or your life that you can't recover from. And if you're confident in the fact that you can pretty much fix anything that you get yourself into, yeah. then you can make those decisions, you know?

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720.869 - 736.209 Todd Pultz

And if you surround yourself with an, you know, incredible people and people that are loyal and, um, and those that you trust to make decisions and you give enough rope to make decisions, you gotta be the same way with them. You have to allow them to make decisions within your company, within your organizations. Um, give them the rope to do that.

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736.83 - 751.084 Todd Pultz

Knowing that you've taught them well enough, you've trained them well enough that they're not going to make any decision that's going to be too crazy for you. Not always the case, right? Like some employees do some crazy stuff. But I think we have to live like that as CEOs. We have to live like that as business leaders.

751.866 - 759.18 Todd Pultz

And we have to allow our people, our high ups, our executives, we have to give them the rope and give them the freedom to make those decisions for us in our companies too. Yeah.

759.621 - 761.765 Sean Kelly

When it comes to leading employees, are you pretty hands on?

761.825 - 777.688 Todd Pultz

What's your style? man, I'm a little bit different. I'm, I would say I'm super easy to work with. Um, my employees are all kind of the same, right? When I bring them in, I tell them the same thing, no matter what role they are. Um, if you want a boss, it's going to pat you on the ass, tell you a great job.

778.349 - 794.544 Todd Pultz

Uh, if you want me to buy you gifts and extra little things and, and do all that for you, like I'm not the guy. If you want somebody that will have your back, that will be loyal to you, that's going to tell you the truth every single day. Uh, somebody that when you fuck up, I'm going to tell you and I might bark at you five minutes later. I forgot about that conversation and we're moving on.

Chapter 7: How does Todd advocate for communities facing inner-city issues?

854.507 - 863.637 Todd Pultz

The day that I started, he's been with me since then. Wow. Almost 15 years. All the people that work in my offices, they just stay with me forever, you know, because I treat them right.

0

863.657 - 880.594 Todd Pultz

I believe in treating people fairly and treating people right and giving them the respect and giving them the power and feeling empowered to make decisions without, you know, having to worry about, am I going to get in trouble? Or does he like me? Does he not like me? I promise my employees, they know how I feel about them every second of the day. whether it's good or bad.

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880.975 - 886.26 Sean Kelly

That's good though. I value honesty too. Yeah. Because I started creating scenarios in my head if I don't know what's going on.

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887.001 - 899.733 Todd Pultz

Well, our world is built on paranoia, right? Like everybody's paranoid. I remember back at the police department when you would walk in for roll call and the chief or captain's doors were shut. That's all you did. You're like, oh shit, who's in trouble, right?

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899.753 - 906.46 Sean Kelly

Like, I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

906.48 - 925.591 Todd Pultz

Who got the complaint? Who, you know, who are they investigating? You were always paranoid. Like, you never knew what was going to happen. And it was, like, just a constant, like, turmoil of drama in my mind, wondering if the arrest I made the night before or, you know, the fight that you got into or the pursuit that you got into, am I in trouble for that now? Or what was it?

925.611 - 931.56 Todd Pultz

Like, it was always paranoia. Like, and that drove me nuts about the police department. And that's why it was easy for me to walk away from full-time police work when I did.

931.6 - 932.461 Sean Kelly

Yeah.

932.541 - 946.593 Todd Pultz

Once I found real estate because I just... Once you get out of it and you realize how different the world can be and how different the world can be when you're an entrepreneur and you're running your own stuff, there's just such a relief that you feel like come across your body. I can't even describe it, right?

Chapter 8: What actionable advice does Todd provide for aspiring real estate investors?

1021.036 - 1036.055 Todd Pultz

Well, you don't know in that video if you see that guy that has his hand on his gun that's trying to yank it from his holster. The video might not show that. And you might not see that that officer in his mind is thinking, all right, I'm not going to make it home tonight unless I do something drastic and has to take a serious, aggressive posture in that situation.

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1036.075 - 1045.486 Todd Pultz

So there's lots of things that you can't see. And our cops today have such a hard job, man. They're Monday morning quarterbacked on absolutely everything. I wouldn't want to do it. I wouldn't either.

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1045.506 - 1050.132 Sean Kelly

It's a tough job. Hats off to them because as soon as they pull someone over, they know they're being recorded now on the iPhone.

0

1050.112 - 1063.232 Todd Pultz

And look at the disrespect that they get, right? Like when I got out of the academy, nobody was throwing water on us or throwing eggs at us or, you know, screaming at us or kicking our cruisers. Because I'll tell you what, at that time, if they did, we were going to get out of cruising. We're going to, we're going to beat their ass. Like that's how it was.

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1063.532 - 1077.013 Todd Pultz

And people still feared that a little bit. And criminals still feared that a little bit. Criminals, they have no fear, man. They don't care. Like they, they, they know they're protected by something, you know, whether it be cameras or a society that, that wants police officers to fail. It's just a different world today. And I'm,

1077.263 - 1086.272 Todd Pultz

I'm glad I got out when I did, and I would probably last a month if I was still in police work at this point, you know, before I was fired. That's just the truth. Plus, there's more crime now than ever, I feel like, too. Oh, for sure.

1086.312 - 1103.109 Todd Pultz

You know, especially in states like California and New York and places that have taken a very soft stance against criminals and allowed them the freedom to, you know, do stuff that would never, ever went on. You know, like, it's just... I mean, seeing a mob shut down a highway? Yeah. That shit didn't happen in 2000. Like, did you have some riots?

1103.129 - 1119.477 Todd Pultz

Sure, you had riots, but those were, like, one-offs. Now it's like... You know, like, hey, we're mad that the egg prices are up. We're going to shut down the freeway. And governments are okay with this shit. And they wonder why things are happening. They wonder why businesses are closing down. They wonder why businesses can't stay in a great place of their town, right?

1119.597 - 1134.861 Todd Pultz

Or even in, you know, areas that might be considered like food deserts, right? And we deal with this in real estate too, where you have like food desert areas where certain neighborhoods are more challenged or impoverished and they don't have a grocery store or they don't have somewhere they can go to get, you know, their essential items that they have and they have to travel outside of that.

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