and welcome to episode 34 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Zaman Tomu Kumalo. Of course, a lot of people say that, you know, crisis, you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Now, is this something that is applicable to property or not? That's exactly what we're going to be discussing this evening. If you're wondering whether or not to invest or not invest during the season, particularly in the property industry, this is a show you do not want to miss. And I've got a panel this evening. I know usually we have one guest, but we thought let's bring in a few power players who can help us better understand whether we should or shouldn't be, you know, investing. And if we're looking at investing, what are some of the opportunities and some of the risks we're investing during a global crisis? Troubles better understand and unpack this issue. I'm joined by Slindi Lisiane. I know, so that's why I'm even got a tongue twister of a surname. Slindi Lisiane, who is the founder and chairperson of Saki Seeswear Property Stockfile. Of course, we've spoken to her before in one of our previous episodes, and you can go back and watch that one where we look at some of the opportunities that you can take advantage of when you invest as a property stockfile. I'm also joined by Tatora Musoha, who is the founder of Wealth Creation and Robin Booth, who's the founder of the Property Booth. Good evening, lady and gents. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. I think I'm going to start with you, Slindi. I mean, you hit up a property stockfile and a lot of us are very aware of how stockfiles work. There's an increasing number of people who are looking at the stockfile model to invest in property because we understand the power of pulling together and putting our money together. And I've seen that as a stockfile, you're also looking at different opportunities that you can take advantages of. Perhaps let's look at some of the risks before we even look at the opportunities because I'm sure they're there. Some people are talking about them. Let's perhaps unpack some of the risks with investing during a global crisis. And some of the things we should probably be asking ourselves before we walk down that path. So some of the risks are that you don't know where the market is going to go, where the property prices are going to go. We don't know where the interest rates are going to go. We don't know what's going to happen with the rental market. There's a high risk of default. So if you're in the short-term space where Robin Booth is, for example, there might be a case of tourism is going to be constrained. So there might not be a lot of travel. People are going to be constrained in a lot of instances. So the real risk here is having high vacancy rates or your tenants actually defaulting. So I think those would be the biggest stress that as a property investor, you'd need to just be aware of and make sure that you manage and also just your property prices so that you don't overpay for a property because as the market will be constrained in the coming months, you wouldn't want to overpay for property. So making sure that you're actually purchasing at the right purchase point. Nantata, I actually want to bring you in here. I mean, Stimula has actually pointed out that one of the issues or one of the risks that you want to avoid is overpaying for a property. Oftentimes, a lot of property investors say that when it comes to real estate, you typically make money when you buy. So really wanting to look at some of the good opportunities where properties are priced well, but unfortunately, a lot of people watching at home might not know how to find out whether their property is well priced. And you're already seeing, as much as we're seeing a lot of properties, even on the private property website, for example, going down, we're also seeing a lot of people posting ads that have been up for months and hiking up those prices. So how do we then discern between whether or not that's the right price point and the price point that makes sense given where we are currently finding ourselves within the property sector? Well, I guess the first thing that one would have to look at is just ensure that you enlist the services of a bias agent. Bias agent is an agent that represents the interests of a buyer. So they have a few dictionary responsibility to you. So that would help you because in terms of purchasing property, they would then have to assist you to find it. And then afterwards, they would advise very well, whether it's overpriced or underpriced, and they will actually assist you to negotiate for the price.  It's a tool that is used widely to determine the price of a property. And with regards to what is happening now, it's a global pandemic. And unfortunately, you have so many millennials. I read a report that said 60% of millennials are actually renting and they're looking to get into the property space. But property has been overpriced for a long time and the market must correct. However, the market has not corrected yet. We are still waiting for it to happen. There are a lot of factors that influence that. I mean, we had the lockdown. Then we also had the three month payment breaks. That actually delayed that process because you have people who would have easily been distressed sellers, but that process has been delayed by three months. So whatever had to happen has not happened yet. And if you're coming into the market now, I look into prices, they haven't changed that much if you're gonna segment them. I mean, 70% of the properties that are sold in South Africa are less than 1.5 million. So the ones that are over 1.5 million, they've been distressed for quite some time a number of years now. The prices are actually free falling. So when you look into the concentration of segments, you then realize that the more cheaper properties, there's higher competition for them and millennials are waiting for these houses as soon as others come in the market. I mean, for example, there's a house that we sold in eight days just this week because it came in very cheap. I had over 50 people who wanted it. We had multiple offers on it. So people are waiting for prices to fall. They are ready for them. You know, Robin, I actually want to bring you in here. Before we even look at some of the free falling prices, because I think, you know, I've seen different people and even myself, you know, a number of properties that have gotten very heavily discounted, which is of course great for people who want to buy. But before we even look at some of the discounted properties, perhaps let's look at some of the people who have bought and now we're finding ourselves in this economic crisis where perhaps, I mean, I know one of the sessions that you had run was around the strategies that you used to fill in your Airbnb vacancies. So then how do you look at filling in those particular vacancies when you've invested? Because we're telling people that let's suppose the one argument is definitely invest. This is a good time to invest. However, as Cindy has pointed out, there are certain factors that you actually need to consider before you make that jump.  And some of them actually do have that cash, but the reality is perhaps they might not be able to, they might not be able to address some of the challenges that they find when an economic crisis like this comes on. So what are some of the strategies that, you know, we should essentially consider when we are buying right now, especially because we don't know how long COVID is going to last. So suppose we do get to, you know, level one and you're able to buy property in its entirety. I know today the level three regulations were updated by the minister of cocktail. And one of them was that, you know, estate agents are now able to work freely. When level four, they weren't able to work, which is of course great for the industry. But this does come with its own set of packages. How do we navigate buying during an economic crisis knowing that yes, there's rental demand, but those rental prices are heavily stressed. They're very likely going to go down because the reality is that's where the market is right now. A lot of people have lost their jobs and a lot of people are still going to be losing their jobs because we haven't quite felt the full effect of this COVID-19 crisis. So in the event where you do buy now, what are some of those strategies that you can use to make sure that you don't necessarily bankrupt yourself because you were chasing this easy buy and waiting for the markets to, you know, self-correct at some point? So what I really like is that we open up the conversation of what makes a successful real estate investor or a real estate investing portfolio is first and foremost understanding success, which is the skills that you've learned are coming up with the opportunities that are around and together those things really create a successful real estate investor. So for me, always the first thing we want to invest in is ourselves, right? Our education, our skill set so that we can answer those questions you're actually asking which are one of the strategies due to the circumstances that we've got at the moment that we can take advantage of that will actually still not mean that we're putting ourselves at risk. And I think that's really what you're alluding to is how can we manage all these different curve balls which the government's throwing us, COVID's throwing us and that is going to really, I think, unlock and pave the way for what we're looking at. And you're 100% right that for me and my business I'm always looking to see, you know, where can I position myself such that I actually can be in that space to take advantage of the kind of deals that are coming down the line. And I think, you know, at this point I want to really make it clear because even though we're on this panel at the moment we're talking about investing, we're talking about the challenges of what's going on around the world. For me and my business, I'm always investing from the space of how can I provide a solution to the seller who is needing to sell quickly? So I'm not taking advantage of them because for me that's unethical.  I don't want someone to feel that I'm taking advantage of their dire situation. So if I'm thinking about that, I'm saying what is the biggest challenge that investors are having at the moment or just someone who owns a home that has to sell their house very quickly or over a short period of time. And I'm saying if I can provide a solution to them where I benefit and they're also benefiting then we're going to have incredible deals coming down the line. And those kind of deals just off the top of my mind are going to be around the creative financing deals because people are saying I've lost my job, how can I buy a property? The banks are going to be more strict on their lending, how can I buy without banks? So things like installment sales, set of financing deals, lease option deals where I can basically rent and then buy in a year's time like a rent to buy. All those kind of models, those strategies are going to be great opportunities for people to lock in the prices of today but not necessarily have to deposit all the money. And of course there's less risk in that. So I'm a great fan of all those strategies. I'm teaching all my students those strategies. And in that way I think we're going to actually come out of this together both in connection with the people who are struggling, the seller, as well as the tenants, as well as obviously us as the purchase. And I think you've hit the nail on the head. We need to run the numbers. We need to know what we're getting into because any risk that you can manage means that everything else is a bonus in the upside. So manage your risk and then you're free. And I actually want to pick up on this concept of running the numbers. It's one of those terms that we use quite a lot, said the on the show, a lot of guests who come on the show reiterate that a lot. I even say to myself, Ntata, I want to bring you in here. So when we look at viewers at home who are considering property, perhaps they've been on the fence for the past couple of months, they might be in their own residential property so they've already got a home that they're living in and really exploring, investing in property or adding property as an asset class. What are some of the numbers that they should be looking at? Because I think certainly the considerations are obviously different when you are buying to live in a particular property and then when you're looking at investing in a property. So what are some of these numbers that we keep telling people that they need to run? And how should they almost best try to figure out if this is the right investment? If you can perhaps share an example of how they should be thinking around a property investment. Yeah, well, definitely. I mean, the easiest numbers that almost all property investors use is your return on investments and your yield and calculating your cash flow projections, the taxes that are payable there. However, you can just wake up today and decide to want to invest in property and run those numbers by yourself. There are professionals, there are people who've been doing it for a while in our company, that's what we do. We offer bespoke services where we help people to run these numbers and calculate them for them because what you've done is we've created an Excel model that actually models all scenarios in terms of the taxes that you paid. For example, when you invest in property using the strategy of Gary, that's taking a bond from a bank investing in one townhouse or two or three. Basically, how it helps you is that because in the first five or seven years, the majority of your repayments are actually interest and not capital. So what that means is that you don't pay taxes on the interest in itself. So it reduces your tax liabilities to the state. However, there's another concept we call OPM, that's other people's money. I think Sarkis user uses the same concept as us, we do court funding day to stock fair, basically the same thing is instead of borrowing from the bank at an interest, you then have to borrow from each other interest free. And that helps you because at the end, for example, if each of us say 5,000 for 10 months and there's 10 of us, it's 50,000 each end of the year, there's 500,000, we actually purchase a townhouse. We own it from year one. We do that for the next two, three, four years by end of five years, we own five properties in our name. However, if you use the concept of Gary and you lock down yourself in an interest payment for the next 20 years, in five years time you still don't own the property. So what that means is if you lose your job, you lose the property and it's gone. So those are some of the things that people should actually look into and try to understand. So one, the first thing to do is just invest in yourself, invest in the education.  And you know, before we go on a break and look at some of the opportunities, I actually want to ask you, what reason would you give viewers at home to not invest during this period? I'm going to ask all three of you this particular question because I think a lot of us certainly on this call are quite big in property. We know different and creative ways to raise funding. We know how to take advantage of a market, particularly the credit market that we're finding in. We certainly say on this show that it's a biased market and it has been even pre-COVID. And we're predicting that we'll probably stay a biased market for the next three to five years with of course those first sort of two to three years being sort of the good ground for bias to buy. So we can come up with a lot of reasons why people should potentially look at property as an asset class. But what reason would you give viewers at home to not buy? So under what circumstances? Should they perhaps pause and not buy at this current moment? And yeah, so I'll start with you, Stindily, because after the break, we're going to look at the opportunities and how to take advantage of the opportunities and the different opportunities that are out there that viewers at home can take advantage of. Srin? I think most sectors are impacted with the lockdown. So there's still a lot of uncertainty in the market around whether we're going to still have jobs, what that looks like, whether we might have seller cuts and all of that. So if you are in a particularly vulnerable sector, it might not really make the most sense for you to start looking for a property right now. So maybe wait a bit and see what happens, because I'm even seeing what some of my tenants are now starting to get them saying, we've been told that it must take a 20% cut or 10% cut or whatever the case is. So if you are not yet sure where you stand and you don't have any reserves available, rather not get yourself in a tight spot where now you might actually end up damaging your credit record or losing your property. So you need to understand where your finances are. Maybe just rather wait it out for a couple of months until you know where you stand. So that's the one thing that I would advise you not to get started with property. If you're looking at investment, like Ezen Tatru said, if you don't know what you're doing, you don't wanna be making mistakes right now and buying a property that's going to actually cost you money where you need to pay in money, which means that now you're actually losing money every month. So should you actually lose your job? You're actually going to lose the property as well. So all your efforts has been wasted. So if you are going to look at getting an investment property, you need to make sure that you're buying it right and that it makes money for you so that even if you lose your job, you don't lose the property because it pays for itself. So that, and even then you still need to be sure what's gonna happen with the markets and all of that and make sure that when you purchase your buying, like at a heavy discount to the market value so that the rent should comfortably be able to cover all your expenses. So I think just be cautious and do your research and maybe wait it out for the next month or two until you know what's your situation. So don't rush into it, especially if you don't know what you're doing or you're like a first-time investor or first-time buyer or rather wait out of bed because I think the banks are gonna start getting very strict as well with regards to lending. So those are some of the things that I would say you must consider. Robin, any additions then? No, actually I think it's, for me it's really around running your numbers, know what you're actually getting into. And if you don't feel confident about it, then reach out to someone that can help you. There's just so much information around actually how to run a number, what are the basics to understand. And the more you can just put that in place, the more you're actually going to feel the confidence and actually then make sure you're making the right decision. We either have the pain of regret or we have the pain of self-discipline and successful real estate investors understand that the self-discipline of finding out what ROI is and what are the different costs involved are the ones that are gonna create success. And I think that's certainly what this lockdown has provided for many people is actually an opportunity to upskill themselves. Tatu, any addition on your side? Hi, yeah, definitely. On the reasons not to buy, I'd say the major one for me would be interest rates, especially for first-time home buyers. Just to be honest with you, interest rates are at their lowest they've been in South Africa in just over 50 years. What that means is that it gives the purchase a false affordability. If you afford to purchase for 5,000, before COVID, you'd probably buy a house of 500,000. But now because interest rates are so low, you can actually, you think you afford a house of 650,000 or 700,000. What you don't know is that there's a flip side to this. Look at what happened in 1998, repo rate was up 23.99%. In 2008, repo rate was over 15%. Now it's sitting on just under 4%. So imagine if you purchase a property now and the repo rate actually goes up to 23%. I cannot show you it's going to be a bloodbath. So do not make your purchasing decision solely based on the interest rates. It's a trap. Don't do it. And we're going to go for that quick break. Of course, if you've got any questions or comments, do send them through. We're still talking about to invest or not to invest, buying a property during a global crisis. We'll be back just after this. Welcome back to episode 34 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Zamantunga Kumala. Tonight, of course, we're looking at to invest or not to invest, buying a property during a global crisis. Got a panel for us helping us better understand that it's a good time to buy or not. And we're putting some of the opportunities and risks of looking into investing in real estate. That panel is Uslindi Lele Sian, who's the founder and chairperson of Saki Sees, where property stock fell. We've also got Ntato Ramoshoch, who's the founder of wealth creation, as well as Robin Booth, who's the founder of the property booth. Before the break, we looked at some of the risks involved and I asked the panel, there are reasons for not buying during this crisis. And I think a very important one that Ntato actually highlighted was that interest rates are at an all-time high or at a 50-year high, I mean, 50-year low, rather. And a lot of people are probably thinking, well, I can now afford that half a million Rand or 700,000 Rand property, but in reality, it's a fault affordability. We already know we're going to see interest rates going higher. They've gone historically low because of the crisis that we find ourselves. Thinking that you can afford a 700,000 Rand or one million Rand house is actually false. So you really do want to be careful that in the event where you get enough affordability, that says X, when you do buy, you essentially factor that in and don't max out that amount, unless you've adequately calculated for it and are still going to afford to service that home loan should interest rates or rather, when interest rates go high. Now, of course, I also want to look at the opportunities. I mean, a lot of our viewers at home either first-time home buyers or already property investors themselves, and they're always keen to look at some of the opportunities that they can take advantage of certainly during this crisis. One of the things that you mentioned, Robin, was this idea of financial creative deals or creative financial deals. And a lot of people, I mean, I think typically tend to think if you want to buy a home loan or you want to buy a particular property rather, you have to approach the banks because people don't have a million Rand lying around. If they do, please do contact us. We can find different ways to maximize your money. But a lot of South Africans just don't have that kind of money running around. So different property investors try to find different ways to raise capital and to raise that money. Perhaps it'd like us to explore some of those different ways. And we'll also look at what Saki Seesway is doing and the different ways that they're raising capital to ensure that it benefits their members. But Robin, what are some of those creative financial deals or ways that investors can explore? Particularly given that a lot of people right now, their income is affected. So if you're trying to reach out to friends and family, friends and family likely will not have that money. So how do we creatively essentially raise that capital? So one of the ways that we're preparing for at this moment is the installment sale, which is really saying to the person who is selling the property, if they'd be willing to be our bank. In other words, they are actually going to kind of lend us the money. In other words, instead of going to a bank and saying, can I please get money to go pay the purchase of the seller to actually buy this property? I'm saying, can you please sell me the bank in install me the property in installments over a set period of time according to an agreement. And in that way, it actually frees me up from having to go to the bank to go to the traditional credit checks, but it still is a legal process. So it's still registered. This is still protecting both the seller and the buyer, but it's an agreement that we are into such that we can actually buy this property over a certain period of time.  And for me, that's what's really gonna be really exciting. I've got a lot of students who are really doing that all over. And those properties can be anywhere between 400,000 rounds to as much as 3.5 million rounds. It's not that this is just for a specific niche market. It's actually really an appropriate way for you to say, I can't afford to pay everything right now, in other words, a full purchase price. But if we say I'll pay you the purchase price in five years time, in between now and then, I'll pay you in installments that thing which can actually, I'm quite a bit in South Africa, a lot overseas. And of course, as I said, it's not just an under the counter kind of deal. This is actually a legitimate legal process. And I think for those people who are saying, what else can I do? That's my first go-to. And I suppose one of the reasons, Rowan White may not be used as much in South Africa is because we tend to find that sellers essentially need that cash, right? So you're trying to find a seller that isn't cash-strapped or trying to let go of that asset so that they purchase another asset. And if they're heavily bonded and really the money from the sale of that property is going to be used to free up their own cash flow, then of course an installment sale deal is not going to work. So it really is about identifying a seller who isn't cash-strapped, probably has a number of properties and they are more than happy to let go of some of the properties in a slower fashion as opposed to needing that cash instantly. Patience and comments from viewers at home. And we've got one from Bruno Santos who says, this might sound bad, but should we not wait three to 18 months as more people struggle and continue to use jobs and more properties come into the market? The market floods and the prices drop even further. Let me point that one to you in title. So instead of, for example, taking advantage of the property market right now or looking at buying at this moment, perhaps wait three even up to 18 months to assess how the situation is going to go and then make that purchase. Yeah, definitely, I fully agree. There's no advantage to be taken right now to be fair. As we said that the interventions that came into play, they actually delayed the effects of COVID and also we're looking into the effects of the recession that we are in. We're looking at the 6% GDP question. We're looking into a lot of factors that all of them are coming together so fast and by the time they collide, we are envisaging that the economy first has to fall. Once it has fallen, then the property market will fall. It doesn't fall on its own. So as things than the property market, it's still standing, it's fine all is well, we wait for it to fall fast because now there are not much distressed sellers. The people whom I have picked up who are selling and I've actually called to find out the reasons why they're selling, most of them are panicking. So they're selling out of panic. There's really not a reason for them to say, I want to sell, I'm distressed. They are not yet distressed, they're thinking, let me sell now before the market flats. But again, it's just a matter of trying to be safe. What I'm saying is property prices have not fallen yet en masse. So if you are looking at distressed sellers, if you are looking at property prices falling and falling hard, it has not yet happened. So hold on to your money. Properties should fall, properties will fall. You know, when you talk of falling in the economy, falling, I thought that came to mind was the Reserve Bank Governor, Elisa Jackanyahu. Definitely should not hear you talking about economy falling because they're working very hard, of course, to make sure that that doesn't happen. I think South Africa's got sufficient systems to ensure that we don't suffer the same effects, for example, that we saw in the US during the 2008 crisis, if anything. If you look at a lot of the briefings that the Reserve Bank has essentially done, we see that we're so quite fine. I think there was a webinar I was watching where the Standard Bank CEO was actually speaking about how for the most part, banks right now are their balance sheets are healthy. So South African banks balance sheets are quite healthy. We're not going to see them panicking at all at this moment. So I think for years at home, maybe it's not going to completely fall. You will certainly see distressed sellers in the coming months, but I don't think you should expect a one million rent property to go for a hundred thousand rents. It's not going to happen. It's simply not going to happen. So even understanding that I think is quite crucial because a lot of people are going to say, you'll get properties dirt cheap, but understand what that dirt cheap is. It's really is in relative terms. So maybe that one million rent property might go for a 600,000 rents and it's been sitting at one million rents. That's quite a significant discount, but you're certainly not going to get it for a hundred thousand rents. So I think when we also need to manage our expectations when we're looking for those property discounts, we've got a lot of questions and comments that are actually around the low interest rates and approaching our banks for a fixed interest rates. So earlier in Taddu was saying how when we look at these low interest rates and people who are going to afford to get their foot in the property letter, the figure, the affordability figure that you're essentially going to be given right now is a false positive in the context that interest rates are going to climb. They may obviously not climb to 23%. We certainly doubt we're going to see that there's nothing in the market that indicates that they're going to be that high, but perhaps I'll go back to where they were in January this year. People are wondering how to go about getting a fixed interest rate on their home loans, whether they should consider it. A lot of home loans typically aren't fixed for that 20-year period. Some banks will fix it maybe for three years or up to five years. So is that something that they should consider right now? And then this is of course a question even asked the banks when we have them on around whether or not they have an appetite to get into fixed interest rates for home loans at this particular point and relatively where they're picking it at considering that we are at such a low because we know that those fixed interest rates typically are slightly higher than the actual interest rate because they are locking you in. So the banks are of course a business so they also try to insulate themselves. So Romana, I'll give that question to you. How do people navigate trying to get a fixed interest rate to take advantage of these low interest rates at this moment? So what I love about real estate investing is you can actually go and ask the people who are doing the kind of deal successfully what they're doing and what they're thinking, right? Because it's picking out of them. We don't have to figure that out. So in a lot of the circles that in the groups that I've been in and that we're talking about the general sense at the moment is not to peg your interest rate. But firstly, because as you said, banks are very cautious about it at the moment because they so low they themselves don't want to lock themselves into something which later on they can't change. And of course they might then be saying, well, we'll give you a fixed interest rate but only for the first three years and for the first four years. And you think, okay, that's fine. I'm going to sort that out. And then when your four or your five comes in where suddenly it repivots back then your numbers just never worked because they were based on the initial period. And I think in Tato mentioned that we need to really be careful of not understanding what those clauses and terms and conditions are when we're taking out a home loan. And that could really lead us into a very tricky situation where you're celebrating. I got such a great deal. And then four years later suddenly the numbers changed and now you're a motivated seller that has to flog your property. Otherwise you're in trouble. So my advice is go and do the research but what I can share with you is in the level of the experts out there they're saying do not and take your interest rate. Stendile, we've got a question here from Zola K. Sibanda who asks are we likely to see developers drop their prices on new developments? The new developments is an interesting one because they usually like the there's usually like a standard price for building per square meter whatever the case might be. So and usually it's a bit higher than for example buying an existing property because obviously you're buying a new stock and all of that. So I think in the upcoming months they might battle to sell some units they might discount them a little but I don't think so though. So you just really need to be careful when you're buying a new development and make sure that the number still makes sense for you and that the purchase actually is going to give you the returns that you're expecting. So in terms of where that's going to go it really is going to have to be a case of let's wait and see because development has been so they've had that all those holding costs are they going to add them back again? What's going to happen? So it really is going to be a matter of just make sure that you do your numbers and you make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into. And usually those prices are usually not negotiable. So when a particular, for example a one bedroom you're selling for 500,000 rent that's what you pay. So yeah, so just be very careful and make sure that you do your numbers and you do your research properly as well in terms of what the expected rentals are going to be and that whether you're still going to be able to make a profit when you buy now from an off-plan development. To viewers at home, we are still taking your questions and comments on whether or not to invest during this global crisis. We've got a question here from Miguel Martins who asks what are the expectations for rents? Will they decrease? Are we expecting a decrease in rental prices? Let me give it to you in Tato. Tato, can you just unmute your mic there? I've just unmuted. Are you referring to the interest rates or the rates for the rental market is in the house? So this is our rental market, so for rent? Yeah, well, they should decrease but I don't think they will decrease that much because there are a lot of factors that are coming into play and they're actually seeming as though they're balancing themselves out. Like I said, there are certain factors against people selling and the factors pro-selling and so in terms of the housing market it was put on a standstill for quite some time and also considering that people who'll be losing their houses would most probably go to rent. So there will be some slight demand but that was expected for the past two years and that never happened because the economy was so bad it was in research that the rental market would actually boom but it didn't boom and you have a few people who actually are reducing prices. So it's a bit balanced out. It depends mainly on the suburb that you are in and the demand for it.  There the demand is so high that you can actually get away with increasing prices even at a time like this but then if you're at a different location it's actually a different ball game altogether. And I think when it comes to rental prices I saw TPN releasing data earlier today where they were showing the top 21 performing suburbs in the country during lockdown and they found that the top performing suburbs surprisingly or perhaps not surprisingly was Stellenbosch that had I think a 92% in good standing rental during lockdown and going into lockdown I think it was at about 95 or if it wasn't 97%. So you begin to understand when you look at data like that it was also able to help you determine which place is relatively safe to invest in because people who typically rent in those areas tend to pay their rent on time every month. So we really do want to use different resources to help you navigate whether or not to buy particularly certain areas. I think the low interest rate has just given us an opportunity to enter into the property market especially if you are an investor or buying to rent and I agree that one should not solely look at or solely look at a decision based on low interest rates and of course that is something we've been echoing here. Before we wrap up this evening's show I think I want to get around Robin from our guests around some of the reasons why we should consider going into or investing in real estate during this crisis and perhaps what to think about before we actually sign that OTP I'm going to start with you again, Cindy Le. Yeah, let me just make myself clear. So property is a long term game so there's going to be ups and downs there's going to be cycles where you feel like maybe now I should enter maybe now I shouldn't enter. So if you're thinking for short term games maybe you shouldn't do this but I mean if you're thinking the long term you should look at getting into property and make sure that you're buying when the time is right and that you do your numbers and you do your research like you've mentioned using tools like TPN and all of that. So do your research properly and understand that property is a foundation or building block for wealth. So if you're looking at long term wealth you should definitely consider property as part of your wealth creation strategy. Thank you and let's hear from yourself and Tatto. Well I would say part of the reasons one could actually consider buying now is certainly because of the up sellers who are selling their prices now and they actually panicking for whatever reasons and their properties are actually coming in quite cheap into the market. So if you had determined that you want to buy before even COVID you know that you want to buy because we know that property investors it's not just for to have a tenant sometimes it's for your primary residence that you want to live in and you've been tracking that suburb for a while. So I'd say you can buy for that reason. Also I'd advise people to turn on the alets you know on private property it has that functionality of alets turn your alets on and they will alert you when prices are actually going down they will alert you when a new property is coming into the market track them for some time and then once you've tracked it you'll see the prices dwindling a bit and changing and then do your numbers and know that the value of the property in itself and that if it's selling for a cheap you can take it now or if it's selling at a price that you are comfortable with because remember that not all properties are going to fall.  So again it depends on your personal reasons we don't just go as a mop when it comes to investing in property it's up to you and your needs. Thank you very much and Tartor Robin. So I think you know, Céline Delier and Tartor have mentioned some really important points you know on the one hand if you're going to look at buying a property that's got a low price so that you can flip it well you're not really gonna be able to flip it in a market which is decreasing because people are struggling to sell so you're gonna have to know your job to be able to buy to hold it for a year or two till the prices come up and then sell so that could be your strategy but what we haven't really chatted about is that AB&B market right because that's just totally been obliterated in South Africa and we're going to see coming down the line a lot of apartments in beautiful places which people bought for AB&B which they can't manage and run at the moment and they're gonna be selling them and that is very different this is a different opportunity than what we've seen before and we're gonna see quite a few of those coming down the line and the best thing about them is they're gonna be rent ready. In other words these hosts these landlords have already got fully furnished properties beautiful and they're gonna need to let them go because they just never factored in such a pandemic and we're gonna see a lot of those coming down and if you can just target those, find them then you can rent them out in the short term AB&B will come back and it's my AB&B units are still full even with level five and level four criteria being met and they still are full so it's not like this is never gonna happen it's a great opportunity and I think that that's a target if you're interested in that kind of model definitely look out for that. And I think Robin that's certainly a topic that we're going to explore right here on the private property podcast. Thank you so much to my panel this evening we've been speaking to Slindi Lelysiana who's the founder and chairperson of Sarkisizia property in Stockville and Tato Rabushakha who is the founder of wealth creation and Robin Booth who's the founder of the property booth. I think a very big takeaway for this one is understand what you're going into it's not as simple as interest rates I don't know at a 50 year low therefore it means it's a good time to buy right now you want to educate yourself as much as possible and you can use resources just like the private property podcast but also use the services of a professional because you want to make sure that when you sign that offer to purchase you understand all the numbers that go into that particular deal so make sure that you run the numbers speak to professionals and of course continue watching the private property show of course we're back again tomorrow evening with more insightful property content helping each other better understand this property market and exploring the different opportunities and risks in property and so tomorrow evening I'll be back tomorrow Hi, I'm Brandon Rubin the suburbs of Brea and Morningside which is that over the sharks and most of the tablets it's got an incredible living in Morningside makes so much sense to us because everything is so central anything that we choose to do is a couple of kilometres away or a couple hundred metres away restaurants, coffee shops it's all here on our doorstep you know we've got great schools here the girls schools just close by our Maristella and Durban Girls College and then fantastic boys schools Durban Preparatory, High School, DPHS one of the top primary schools in the country and then Tifton which now goes all the way to High School it's so convenient to be in this area where everything is close by some of our closest friends stay just across the Ungani River in Durban North Durban North is very family-orientated with some great schools some excellent restaurants and some small commercial centres the promenade along Durban's beachfront also known as the Golden Mile got an incredible facelift for the 2010 World Cup and today is used by all of Durban's population we as a family love the Durban Beachfront if we're not in the water you'll find us on our bicycles along the promenade being a World Cattle Board Champion I travel to some of the most amazing beaches around the world but nothing comes close to what we have here in Durban Durban has great weather and great conditions all year round for surfing and for training and just being in the ocean and that's why it's known as the warmest place to be we've lived here our whole lives and there's no place we'd rather be and this is our neighbourhood I'm Brian Kappa I'm a 10 times South African Motorcycling Champion my family and I have chosen to live in four ways there's some really great suburbs in our neighbourhood there's a lot of families living in the surrounding areas in places like Lonehill and Cedar Lakes what draws people to Cedar Lakes is that it's so close to the Broadacre Shopping Centre Cedar Square and Four Ways Life Hospital Lonehill is a major draw card for many families it's got some great smaller commercial centres and some fantastic schools like Crawford College from an entertainment point of view Montecassino really comes alive at night there's so much on the go and there's an incredible energy in the area our family just loves the fast paced lifestyle that Four Ways brings but honestly, the thing that attracted us most to this area was the active lifestyle that it offers as a family we've chosen to live in Four Ways because of the lifestyle and convenience and this is our neighbourhood


What is up everybody, welcome to conference championship week in the Fandall hurry up. I am Brandon Gadoula, managing editor at numberfire.com and I'll be breaking down my favorite stud mid-range in value play for the Rams 49ers game this weekend. The stud I'll be targeting mostly is Cooper Cup. A receiver has actually been the MVP in the optimal lineup in both of the games between the Rams and 49ers so far this season, but both times it's actually been Debo Samuel who's averaged more than 27 Fandall points against the Rams. Cup though has averaged more than 20 himself against the 49ers and actually outperformed Samuel and my expected Fandall points model in these matchups. Cup has carved out a 27% target share in those two games against the Niners and in the playoffs he's averaged 9 targets for 122 yards and a 33% target share. He's getting downfield work, he's getting red zone work, he shouldn't be overlooked just the gym and the quarterbacks into our MVP spot in this matchup. My mid-range play for this game is Elijah Mitchell at a salary of 12,000. We've seen the 49ers really commit to the run all season but especially lately. Their non-garbage time pass rate, the past three games with Jimmy Garoppolo and Elijah Mitchell back has been under 44%. In week 10 and 18 against the Rams, if you combine those two games, their pass rate was 14 percentage points below expectation based on game conditions. They're going to want to run the ball with Mitchell, they're going to want to run the ball in general, that's going to lead through Mitchell. We should take notice of that. Mitchell in the playoffs has averaged 16.6 expected Fandall points but just 11.8 actual Fandall points under 22 carries and 3 targets per game. It's just a really good workload. With Debo, Samuel practicing in full but probably realistically not 100% healthy, Mitchell's workload seems to be as safe as could be. And for a value play, I'm looking at tight end Tyler Higbee at a salary of 8,500 for the single game slate. I've been tracking Higbee's role pretty closely and in five games since returning, he's played at least 91% of the snaps in each of these games for the Rams. He's had at least a 16% target share in each of those as well. And in the playoffs, he's averaged 48.5 yards on 5.5 targets with a catch rate over expectation of almost 11 points below expected, meaning there's a lot more potential out there for him if he is able to reel in these catches. Higbee scored three times in two prior meetings with the Niners and while that's not enough to bank on by itself, the role is great right now for a salary of 8,500 on this single game slate on Fandall. That'll do it for my favorite NFL picks for the NFC Conference Championship. Best of luck this weekend.


What's going on everybody? This is chronicles hanger pack break number night. Sorry number 18 number 19 is in the store now So go check it out. We're gonna roll the dice and we're gonna go five times. So this is break 18 four to one one two three four and five Mark down to Chris and this is just for the pack break Remember the randomizer for the spot giveaway will be done at the end of the break two three four and five Nick's down to the Blazers Bang bang there you go So print this list out and we'll go ahead and rip Good luck. Just a one-pack break of hanger basketball Could chase some Lucas some trays. There's a Luca right on top. That's pretty cool You don't get the the spot Chris still got a Luca rookie. That's nice. No, that's ships, but we'll ship the LeBron There's Bronson even Chenzo Bruce Brown. There's a green Lonzo. There's a green Luca nice playoff edition That's a nice one cobalt Lucas Chris Cobo Gary Clark Trey young marquee rookie Nox green and that is the pack break. So there you go a couple Lucas a Trey and PJ Not too shabby. So let's take all the 30 customer names We're gonna randomize them the top name after however many times you roll this dice is gonna be a Winner of a $999 and 99 cent basketball mixer spot after nine times. Good luck big Randomizer here five and a four that is nine two three four five six seven eight ninth and final time name on top I Think I might have showed it is Chris.  Go check it out. Jaspy's case breaks calm. Thanks everybody


Yeah, I think like that next day that next couple days Damn, yeah, I'm who all the labels that call We first got a car from Interscope.  You know I'm saying that feel good I'm like all right bet. Yeah, let's get it


Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Wa sallallahu ala al-hadih, Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam al-ajma'een All day today you have been talking about pathways to Jannah Different types of pathways that enter you into Jannah And Subhan Allah we have reached the middle of Shaaban You walk outside, it is a full moon That means we have two weeks upon us to Ramadan When the month before Shaaban, Rajab entered the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Would make a special dua consistently Allahumma barik lana fi rajaab, wa barik lana fi shaaban Allahumma balliq nair Ramadan Allah put blessings in the month of Rajab And blessings in the month of Shaaban And allow us to reach the month of Ramadan Why just reach the month of Ramadan? Because if you could just witness it and enter it You're good Insha'Allah The blessings descend SubhanAllah But the scholars say to ready ourselves for Ramadan We are given Rajab and Shaaban Rajab is the cleansing, the month of Istighfar, forgiveness And Shaaban is the month of beautification After you've taken your shower You're meant to perfume yourself in Shaaban To ready yourself to enter the month of Ramadan How do you do so? With the salawat On the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam This is the month of salawat A month of sending our salams to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam In order to then enter and enter Stop right at the door of Ramadan And be able to witness all of its great blessings So brothers and sisters Today what I chose, insha'Allah In terms of the doorway that I want to share with you Is a doorway that's familiar to all of us But SubhanAllah the scholars say It is not necessarily what everyone does And that is Ramadan Imam al-Ghazali says about Ramadan That there are three types of fasting And he says that some people won't even reach the first level But when they do reach the first level Normally it stops right there And what is the first level of fasting? It is abstaining from food and drink One time I was watching the news, the local news And it was right around the time Either Ramadan had just entered, it was the day before Ramadan And the newscaster is saying on the news The Muslim month of And I thought she was going to say The Muslim month of fasting is upon us Muslims fast from sun up to sun down And she's explaining this on the news And behind her it says the words Ramadan But then she says It is the Muslim month of Feasting What? And I looked a little closer at the screen And sure enough behind her head it says Ramadan Muslim month of feasting And I thought la ilaha illallah Insha'Allah Yeah and SubhanAllah this is the image We have given to people This is what Ramadan is for us A month of feasting A month of feasting SubhanAllah Then that tells us what Imam al-Ghazali was saying is accurate That in order to really truly Reach the blessings of Ramadan It has to go well beyond Not eating and not drinking In Ramadan SubhanAllah That first level Is just the threshold The next levels He says is the fast of the khawas Who are the khawas? They are the elect How do you fast the fast of the elect? He says you fast from all five of your senses You fast from what you see The fasting of what you hear The fasting of what this tongue says The fasting of what you think The fasting of what your limbs touch This is the fasting of the elect It's a higher level of fasting It's a fasting that pushes us to understand It's not merely just leaving food and drink And intimacy in the daylight hours But rather it is actually a full On holistic fast of all five of our senses And then he says And then there is a third level of fasting This is the fasting of khawas and khawas This is the elect of the elect SubhanAllah And this is a high level And when you hear it you're going to say Oh I don't know about that SubhanAllah Because what is it? It's a fasting from anything other than Allah It's not meant to make you feel bad or me Rather if you don't know What the aim is What you're shooting for Then your threshold Is very low Very very low And so we clap and we applaud ourselves For a while I got through the day not eating and drinking But SubhanAllah That is just the basic threshold And so when we think about Why Allah put this month in place And I'll tell you something I want to tell you about how to get Through the door that is only For those who fast in Ramadan What is that door called in Jannah? Babul Babul Rayyan It is only for those who fast Why? Because what Allah is the wajal Of the many many many wisdoms Divine wisdoms of why he had this month One of which is the psychology Of empathy And that's what I want to focus on See we have these two terms In the psychological field We have sympathy And we have empathy Sympathy Is at a distance We are seeing a genocide unfold Right in front of our eyes Destruction, starvation Death and murder And it's hard And it hurts And we are all tuned in Because we are all witnessing What is happening Through our phones Virtually And we're following And we're praying And we're giving in charity Insha'Allah But I'll tell you something That's missing So far everything we said Is sympathy It's at an arms length Where you say Ya Haram Masakin Pachara Pachari Ya Haram Empathy is different Empathy is where You put yourself In the shoes of that person What would it be like if And Allah azawajal In his divine wisdom He knows what he created And he created us as humans To say You are not going to understand What your fellow sister and brother And the ummah is actually feeling until You put yourself in their shoes Actually You do what they do You do not eat And you do not drink And you feel the pings of hunger And only then Have you truly understood What's happening with them And only then Do you love for yourself What you love for your fellow brother The psychology of empathy And Allah's divine wisdom Also determined That a day is not sufficient A week is not sufficient A few weeks isn't sufficient An entire month Why? Enos Jalla Jalla adhu Until it becomes so part And parcel of who we are That you truly feel For your fellow sister and brother And I'll tell you something All that we're witnessing And all that we're watching right now Is one thing And then meeting the actual people Who have experienced the genocide As something else I'm going to share something difficult And I'm going to preface That this is difficult Two weeks ago I was in a conference in Qatar It was an Islamic psychology conference And before I traveled Some sisters contacted me And they said We have here with us in Qatar A woman, a psychologist A professor of psychology From the Islamic University of Ghazza A Jamaal Islamic at Ghazza And she's a psychologist like you And she wants to meet you And I said of course I'd be honored Please, please ask her To come to the conference I said look We're going to warn you She has a difficult story I'm listening They said She is the only one Out of her entire family Who was pulled out of the rubble When that building fell Everybody Mother, father, husband, children Siblings, nieces, nephews Everybody And when they pulled her out And she realized she was still alive She started crying Not for them She said ya Allah What did I do That upset you so much That you didn't allow me to be a martyr like them Ya Allah What did I do That I couldn't be a Shahidah like them Imagine Fast forward to the conference I'm there It's lunchtime We break People are socializing And meeting each other I'm saying salam to many people And here comes a sister Of the many sisters Who are saying salam And I'm saying salam to her And then she says And she stops And she says Dr. Rania I'm Sheyma Hello Sahan I'm Sheyma I'm not It's not clicking Why Huge smile on her face Happy, happy person And she keeps saying another In a third time Dr. Rania I'm Dr. Sheyma Abu Sha'ban from Ghazza Oh SubhanAllah I stop Freeze Like you know when you're just like Shocked I couldn't even recognize her Or understand that she was somebody Who just weeks Just weeks prior She was pulled out of the rubble And here she is smiling Say please, please let's sit down And she sits down Along with some of the other sisters And she begins telling her story Ya Allah What happened after this She said I had nowhere to go My family is gone My house is gone My university is gone Everything is gone Gone, gone What word do I go She says to me I went from house to house To tent to tent To place to place To empty building To empty hospital To empty room Anything, anywhere I could find I had no one And I was hungry And I was hungry I was hungry And like a hungry You don't understand She said You don't understand How much salty water I drank That's all that's available Just to survive Salty water, salty water And no food And when finally, finally Days later Somebody gave her a fourth A fourth of a piece of bread She said it was like They put a gold bar in my hand That's what it was like And she took the first bite And then she said I got so distracted I start taking pictures of the bread That's how long I hadn't seen bread Or touched it or eaten it She goes from place to place Until finally she gets a call And the call is You have no family And here are some children Who are parentless Who also don't have any family And who are injured Accompany them to Qatar For medical treatment So she becomes The surrogate mother if you will Of a little girl Who has casts on Each of her four limbs Who needs to go for Medical treatment and physical rehab And she becomes like her mother In Qatar And that's what she was doing there And they said to her Allah, you keep asking Why Allah didn't take you as a martyr Yet However There is a reason why Allah Still wants you on this earth There is still something He needs from you That is not done yet The fact that she's a psychologist When she went there All of these parentless children She started to work with them And you know what her Subhanallah You know what her specialty In psychology was At the university? Trauma Trauma of warfare So she's taken on These children I said to her Dr. Seymour You have to tell your story To the world Next week As was announced Friday and Saturday of next week I'm hosting at Stanford The annual Muslim mental health conference It happens once a year In different universities This year we're hosting it At Stanford because It's the 10 year anniversary of my lab Alhamdulillah, shukrillah The Muslim mental health And Islamic psychology lab And I said to her Dr. Seymour We have a panel On Palestinian mental health Amongst the many other panels That are happening Your story must be heard But she started to record her story And it was so heavy That she couldn't even record it in one go She had to break it up And eventually we got the recording And we do intend to actually play this At the conference And Subhanallah Please make dua for me We're flying in from the west bank Of the Palestinian minister Of mental health Dr. Seymour Jabir Insha'Allah To make voices That are not heard clear And accurate And in the very places That are denying these stories Make dua for me please Insha'Allah These stories Like Dr. Seymour And Dr. Samahs and so on When I tell you Empathy The psychology of empathy You can hear a story like this And we can tear up And we can say La ilaha illallah But until you feel The pangs of hunger Until you're so thirsty That you can understand What that felt like For the sisters and brothers In Al-Qasr Currently still happening It cannot happen Without something like Ramadan This is why Ramadan comes As a tatheer As a cleansing It comes to purify To renew To refresh To allow you to get to The rest of the year Able To handle whatever comes at us Subhanallah And to still say With full conviction And iman La ilaha illallah Muhammad al-Rusul We pray as I close here I want to say We pray for Deeply Our sisters and brothers In Al-Qasr In Palestine All of it And all of the other parts Of our Ummah That are hurting That are ailing That are oppressed That are tribulated At this moment And we pray that This fasting This month of fasting Isn't just a purification For us It's a fortification To allow our du'as To actually Have the impact They're meant to have Please, remember These sisters and brothers In your prayers In your du'as When you come to break Your fast Every single night Of Ramadan Remember that These du'as That you make for them Behind their backs They don't know Are more likely to be Accepted Than if they knew And remember too That we need their du'as More than they need ours Subhanallah I close here by saying And asking As I think the announcements Were made, masha'Allah That MCC, masha'Allah Has been a wonderful sponsor To many things One of which is Madistan The non-profit that is Supporting all these Mental health efforts That I'm referring to And Alhamdulillah We actually have Our own office Here in Madistan In this building That's Al-Baduk Allah The close of the conference There is a gala It's a benefit dinner And I know many of you Were sad that You couldn't come tonight But he'll be here Exactly a week from now At the gala He's actually the keynote speaker At that gala Insha'Allah Along with Shikhtarik Musleh Who you heard from earlier So please do Come out to the gala There's a few more tickets left We do need your support Insha'Allah Please support the efforts Around mental health And Muslims And allow insha'Allah To grow here And allow us Insha'Allah To continue building This legacy Reviving Really a legacy Of Islam And mental health But we Muslims have What modern psychology Is attempting to teach It's already part of our tradition We just have to be able to Practice it Pull it up Revive it And use it to our benefit Insha'Allah So insha'Allah I think that there are going to You'll be putting an announcement Insha'Allah Brother Muneer And with that I'll close And Brother Muneer Make his announcement Barakallahu fikum Please keep us in your prayers Barakallahu fikum Miftaah program And to all those Who have benefited from this From all of you And peace be upon you And peace be upon you Muhammad And his family And friends All together


And then here is where we actually dropped the udon. Oh my gosh. What's going on everybody? Welcome to a very authentic Japanese experience episode of Fung Bro's food. Macadona though. We are here with our Japanese friend Chi from New York. Konnichiwa, yoroshiku onegaishimasu. You can speak English too. Sada. Do you like that though? Chi, that's not your real name though. Chi is Chikori? Chikori Koike. We are out in West LA on Sawtel. And if you guys don't know, this is a famous Japanese street. It's like the west side little Tokyo or better yet, little Osaka. Today we are going to be checking out one of the most authentic Japanese experiences you can get in America. Hands down, I read it. I don't know, I read it. We got the articles to back it up. This spot is very famous and authentic for many, many reasons. Mostly because it's very quick, it's very affordable and it's really, really good. Eko. Koro today, I'm going to come next. Could you please explain to us how it works here? Yes, of course. It's a cafeteria style and I think maybe it's a quality for Udon.   Make your way all the way down to the drink station, get your drinks, pay for your order. Once you're done paying, you can go to the complimentary topping station and get your free choice of green onions, cilantro, as much as you want. Not everybody that works here is Japanese, but people still say that this is one of the most Japanese experiences you can get. Why is that? We bring the concepts straight from Japan, the equipment, the ingredients are all from Japan. We bring the training from Japan as well, so we train the staff to provide omotenashi, which is giving to the customer, you know, accommodating, making their experience as good as possible. So we bring the Japanese service style to America, which we feel that the customers would love, that extra degree of service. They think I need to go back in the back of the kitchen to go talk to the chef in order for me to decide which one I want. If I'm entering the kitchen of Arigame Udon right now, let's go see what we find there. People are really cool. Shout out to them because not that many Japanese restaurants will let you back in their kitchen. What are we doing here? Can we explain? We're doing spam. That will be called Furikake Spam. Excuse me, miss. What do we got going on here? So this is the last noodle station in this fridge. This is the H Udon, and we have these here. We just pretty much flatten them, and then pretty much this station over here is where we pretty much get the shape of the actual udon. And then here is where we actually drop the udon. Oh my gosh. That's all different stations. I'm just hopping station to station. It's like an RPG game. So we got different soups right here. This is the signature basic just health broth. This is the kake, and then we got the tonkatsu. Real milky. Wow. This is the bukkake. What does bukkake mean? So it has bonito and seaweed in it. So it's like the sauce version of the kake. Awesome. Awesome. And then finally we got the curry. Okay. Yeah, so we got the curry soup. It's sizzle. Beautiful. The curry. It's dope. You see a close up. It looks like Twinkies, but it's not. Beautiful. They made a thing. I made my way around this kitchen. I'm deciding what I want. So many choices. Quality's high. I can actually afford all of it if I wanted to. So I'm really excited, right? Which one would I get? Alright, so everybody said to get the chanpong. That's the one. Champong. I know what I'm getting. Mission accomplished here. Okay, what does what we grab say about us? I went ham on the teppura and I put some of the chili peppers on top because I wanted to make it like kind of give me that Cajun fried food type feeling. This is my favorite thing I wanted to try eating. Musubi. Yeah. David, you have the traditional one. I have the traditional one because I'm the most traditional. Alright, why are we pulling out noodles of like, out of water? I have a comment. Actually they said that when they cook it in this, it gives the udon like a different texture. So it's a little bit more chewy than the rest of the udon that we're going to have. Out of the wood bowl. Kamau udon. So that's low key really good. You wouldn't think I had a lot of flavor. The ginger flavor is really strong in that. The bukkake means to jump on. The noodles are a lot more firm with the old one. That's really good. The bukkake udon is lit. Okay. Say you like this. I really like that one. Alright guys, I'm moving on to the champion. The champon. This is the one that everybody in the back told me to try. Champon. It was started at a Chinese restaurant in Nagasaki. It's inspired by a Fujinese dish. So let me try this. Oh dang, that does taste kind of Chinese. It tastes kind of like a dumpling because you have pork and cabbage. You have similar ingredients as a dumpling. Are you and Jeannie are going for the Spamasubis? Is that the noise you have to make? Can you explain how the Spamasubis is different? It's my first time having one. You never had Spamasubis? No. Wait, what? Yeah. That's why I was excited to try it. Spamasubis, we eat these all the time in the West Coast. Very Japanese American. You guys eat this all the time? Spamasubis, yeah. I'm so jealous. Everybody bring out their favorite fried item. Tamagoyaki. It's really good. It's really good. It's really good. You know like in bento boxes? Tamagoyaki is something that is always included but not. I've never saw it like fried. I'm giving this to my fried egg. Sambura egg. We are moving on to more udon here at Marugame. I have the kare udon. I don't know, it's either between this one or the bukake. I got the double nikutama. She is experiencing Japanese experiences on the West Coast. Okay, I got the mentai kamatama. That's really good. If you like mentai, it's not spicy at all. I want to point out something that I'm actually extremely attracted to. Which is this huge tempura broccoli. Like usually when you see tempura broccoli, it's not this big. I'm so excited about this. Yo, this is a chicken katsu udon. Oh my god. Oh no, there's a bone in it. Oh no, it's a stick. How is that? Your face? Your face? Gee, you've been to Japan. Why would people say that this is the most authentic experience that you can get now? This type of style works really well in the subways. The guy is going to work.  In Japan they are really picky about customer service. Did you feel like that carried over in your family your jobs? Yeah. And I think it doesn't work in America. In New York there's no authentic Japanese people carrying on the restaurants or anything like that. It's always a different race carrying on a Japanese restaurant. Are you saying other races can't serve you as well? No, they can. But even like they explain here, they train really properly to understand the culture behind what you're serving. Right. And a lot of people just get infatuated with the idea without really understanding the culture behind it.  Are you supposed to pick at it? No, usually it's soaked into the broth and you eat it with the noodles. So not just like this? Is a fish cake with sushi rice? Actually mom used to make these growing up and she used to stuff. What do you mean? You said that we have the same mom. Even mom has packed this in our blend boxes. I also think it's because our mom spent some time in Japan. Alright. You know what I like about this? Because I love that light vinegar flavor on the rice. Here's my thing about potato croquette. It's like the vegetarian chicken concert where it's like fried the same way but there's no meat inside. Usually when you think of places that offer a very Japanese experience, you're thinking yo that's gotta be like 30-40 dollars a person. You could come out of here spending like 10 to 20. That's not a 40 to 50. I mean that's a pretty big difference. And sometimes that's the most authentic because everybody has expensive Japanese restaurants in their big city that they're in but do you have a cheap restaurant? You really eat what the working people eat. That's oftentimes the most authentic. Just like $1 pizza is to New York. You know how everybody eats that. If you feed the regular people, that is authentic. I'm gonna try this salmon sushi. David you know I'm the mixologist. So I'm about to mix up these two more sen eggs that I got. I'm about to dip on a gear nap. Do you notice over time that there's more Japanese concepts being direct reported from Japan to the US? The Ichiran, Ikinari and Marugame, Udon all pretty much feel the same as they do in Japan. That's how it should be. Like green tea, right? You were talking about matcha? Yeah. Americanized green tea is that I take a little offense to because green tea isn't just like a product. There's like a tea ceremony that's affiliated with it and both of my grandparents are actually green tea teachers. They're grandparents who are matcha masters. Are you just singling out like those white guys who did it? Because I feel like everybody's doing matcha everything. They are but they're... No that's fine but like to put a bamboo whisk on a blender is like... I think it's just the green tea. I take it personally because I was like raised around it. But at the same time I get it that like in order to introduce a culture to a different group you need to tweak it a little bit to have that like exposure at the same time. Make matcha ceremony? I got an idea. Let's have a drink sake one cup. You guys I'm gonna be honest when it comes to other cultures I often google things. Basically in Japan if you're pouring you don't necessarily have to put your arm like this or anything but you do have to have the label up and it's a two-handed pour. Calpico sake. Straight face favorite udon. Kare udon. I think the Japanese curry has a really refined subtle flavor. Obviously I like other styles of curry too that have more cake and more spice but it's just a nice easy eat. I like the bukkake udon. I loved actually the kama udon. The first one it was like the simplicity and the ginger flavor I really liked it. It's actually a flavor I don't have a lot. I like the noodles from the other udons better than the kama. The kama udon felt different. No so I like the dip for the kama but I like the other noodles better because they're chewier. I prefer the chewier noodles. What was your guys' favorite fried dish or tempura? The tamago yaki is something I've never had before and that's why I definitely think you guys should definitely come check out Marudame. You're gonna try things that you can only try in Japan. No Doug, you know what it was like? You know how at the carnivals out here they fry everything? It was kind of like that in a Japanese way here. They were like yo tamago, we're frying it. The inari. I think that that is actually my absolute favorite. Are you very proud of Naomi Sake? Yeah. There's some controversies that happen but it's okay. What do you think about the controversy that it sparks because for the longest time Japan is a homogenous place. But then it's like now you have these people representing Japan that they don't look Japanese. They get hypocritical depending on the situation you know like when they're representing the flag it's like oh yeah you know we support you 100% but then when it comes to like you know the racial factor and like the nitty gritty then it turns like questionable.  I mean let me just tell you it's possible. Shout out to Yuta Watanabe though but Roy Hachimer is probably better. What are some other things that you would like to see come over from Japan that you think have more global appeal to the Western market? Animal cafes. They have the Hedgehog Cafe right? I went to those things in Japan. But don't you think it's not just the cuteness it's therapeutic too? It is, it is. When you hold mammals it releases like serotonin or... They just need to have certain regulations so that all the animals are treated well. Everybody's clean handling them. There's no abuse or like you know all that stuff. Do you know what's something that came from Japan that blew up in America? Shiba Inus. That's the dog I want. Here's the one thing I would like to see come over. High quality bento boxes like from Lawson's or from like 7-Eleven. High quality convenience stores. Thank you so much for doing this episode. Is there anything last thing that you would like to say about being a second gen Japanese but growing up in America? Be weird guys, stay hentai. I take it. I gotta say my major takeaway from this is that it was really cool to get a full Japanese experience at this price point in America. I've never seen anything like it. I think you're gonna see more of these like quote-unquote you know affordable experiential food concepts come over to America. I think spots like this where you have to pick your own food out are teaching people to be more cooperative and work with each other. Because someone could easily sneeze and cough all over that temper over there and just ruin it. But when you walk into here you don't feel like doing that. Also I think it actually teaches portion control because you have to pay on the car piece by piece. So what are you gonna do?  Alright everybody thank you so much for watching that video in the comments below. Let us know if there's any other Japanese chains or spots that we should check out in the area. Because we love to see the authentic Asian spots come over to America. Or if you don't have the time or the money to take a $2,000 flight to Japan to spend $15 dollars coming to Marigame. Alright shout out to Gini. Just behind the camera. Alright everybody. Gochisousamadeshita. Two! We have to give a huge gigantic shout out to our biggest sponsor of all time. For whom without them none of this would be possible. I gotta give a shout out to our sponsor. You guys. No seriously you guys have been the sponsor of our entire channel. I mean you know we have other sponsors but you guys have been watching the videos and subscribing. And it's not all about subscriptions. Obviously it's about engagement. It's about the people you touch. It's about the comments, the ups and downs and everything. I mean you guys just meeting you guys in person and connecting with you guys. That's what it's really about. I think it's so rare for people to be able to touch the lives of people that they don't physically meet. You know open somebody's eyes or educate somebody or just give somebody something funny. For you know in a way that they enjoyed or was accessible to them. Two million people around the world at least know who fumbos are or like a video enough to have subscribed. It just means so much. And you guys we are gonna keep going. We got a lot of cool stuff coming up. We got a membership channel right now. Please click join if you guys want some exclusive podcast exclusive material. Just check it out and also turn on your notifications because we got new videos coming out. For seven years we've been making videos consistently. So we have some new formats coming. We're gonna bring back vlogging. And I will say this closing up because I don't want to talk too long. But one thing and one goal that we have that we're gonna accomplish in the next few months is to be more personal with you guys. And we are gonna share more about our lives and our thoughts. I gotta give a huge shout out to Nelson, Chan from UberLive. We have too many people to thank man. I don't even wanna thank all the directors. Richie, Tim, all those guys. Nelson, Bill Smith, Vince Carter. Alright guys, thank you for everything. And until next time, we out. Peace. Anything you say Japanese sounds like a sound right. You put your like gut in. Because maybe I'm Bart Sammler.