George Salas Real Estate

09/15/2026

I left Peru as a teenager without the goodbye I wanted with my father.

More than 25 years later, we were finally together again.

A lot happened in between.

I learned English.
Worked.
Built businesses.
Lost money.
Started over.
Found real estate.
Got married.
Became a father myself.

And through all of it, that separation from my own father kept stretching.

Then in 2024, at 82 years old, he came to the United States.

For the first time in more than 30 years, we were able to spend Christmas together. That one hit differently.

Because by then, I was not just looking at the moment as a son.
I was looking at it as Ethan’s dad too.

Life has a strange way of bringing old chapters back around.

The 15-year-old version of me could never have understood how much life would happen before that reunion.

And I definitely could not have imagined that by the time it happened, I would have a family of my own.

2 years later, I still think about that Christmas.
Some moments only become more valuable with time.

P.S. Is there a family moment from a few years ago that means even more to you now?

09/11/2026

What do you need to see before you feel confident in a hospitality investment? The property is only one part of the picture.

You also need to understand what is driving demand, how the property is expected to perform, and whether there is a clear plan for operating the asset after closing.

For me, that means looking at:

-Guest demand
-Pricing strategy
-Operating costs
-Property condition
-Maintenance needs
-Guest experience
-Who owns the key decisions
-How performance will be reported
-What could create problems later
-Whether the operation still makes sense if things do not go exactly as planned

The goal is not to make the opportunity sound more exciting. It is to make it easier to understand.

The deeper you look, the clearer the connection should become between the real estate, the operation, and the way performance will be measured.

That is usually where confidence starts to build.


What gives you the most confidence when you are reviewing a hospitality opportunity?

09/09/2026

Right now my focus is on…

1. My health and performance - I’m getting more intentional about how I eat, train, recover, and take care of myself. None of the business matters if I don’t have the health and energy to enjoy it.

2. Building Empress - I’m focused on growing Empress into a real hospitality investment and operating platform, not just doing more deals.

3. My family - Striving to be more present with M***a and Ethan and creating the kind of freedom, experiences, and memories that were the reason I started building in the first place.

4. Getting better at what I do - I’m going deeper into hospitality, short-term rentals, boutique hotels, experiential real estate, AI, and capital. I want to keep learning, testing, and becoming one of the best in the world at what I do.

5. Relationships and opportunities - I’m being much more intentional about the people I surround myself with, the rooms I walk into, and building genuine relationships with people I can learn from, create with, and do meaningful business with.

6. More freedom and impact - Less busy work. Less being trapped in operations. More time spent creating, investing, thinking, teaching, and doing the things only I can do.

That’s where my energy is going right now.

What are you focused on in this season of your life?

09/08/2026

09/03/2026

August photo dump.

📍 Rockport, Texas - Property Work
📍 South Florida - Capital Raising Conference
📍 Leadership + Building the Team
📍 Soccer with Ethan
📍 Gym + Family Time

Started the month in Rockport working on a deal, ended up in South Florida for a capital raising conference, and spent a lot of the time in between building the team, working through deals, and figuring out the next version of what we're building.

Good rooms, good conversations, a lot of strategy, a few flights, some time at the beach, soccer with Ethan, gym sessions, and time back home with the family.

August felt like one of those months where a lot was moving at once.

Deals. Capital. People. Systems. Family.

I'm grateful for the opportunities in front of me, but even more grateful that I still get to come home and be Dad.

Building something big matters.

Being present while you build it matters more.

09/01/2026

Short-term rentals have created a lot of freedom for my family.

But not because they are “Airbnbs.”

What changed things for me was learning to see them as hospitality assets. Yes, the real estate matters. But so do the guest, the design, the market, the experience, the numbers, and the team operating it. A lot of the concerns around STRs are real.

Regulations change.

Markets get crowded.

Guests can cause damage.

Operations can get messy.

The goal is not to ignore those risks. The goal is to understand them, underwrite them, and build systems around them.

For us, that means being selective about markets, designing around the guest, creating experiences people actually want, and paying close attention to what the numbers are telling us.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this:

You cannot run hospitality casually and expect consistent results.

That is why I no longer look at these as just short-term rentals.

I look at them as real estate underneath, a hospitality business on top, and an operating system connecting the two.

08/29/2026

This is one of our properties in Houston, Texas.

Designed for families and groups who want space to relax and spend time together, the home features a tropical backyard with a private in-ground pool, shaded gazebos, outdoor dining, and space to unwind.

Guests can spend the afternoon by the pool, fire up the BBQ, enjoy a meal outside, or relax in the Jacuzzi after a long day.

If you were staying here, what would you do first?

🏊 Swim in the private in-ground pool
🍖 Fire up the BBQ
🌴 Relax in the tropical backyard
♨️ Unwind in the Jacuzzi

08/28/2026

What is the biggest lesson I would share with someone who is brand new to real estate investing?

Start before you have everything figured out.

When I got into real estate, I wasn't coming in with a perfect plan, a big pile of money, or years of experience.

I was coming off one of the hardest financial setbacks of my life, and I was still trying to figure out what my next chapter was going to look like.

I started learning. I called people I knew, I went to meetups, I studied deals, I took courses I could afford, I asked questions and I kept looking.

It took me about 4 months to get my first deal.

That first property made me around $46K.

But the bigger win wasn't the money.

It showed me that I didn't need to know everything before I started.

A lot of what I know today came after that first deal. Then the next one. Then the mistakes. The years of figuring out what actually worked for me.

I think a lot of new investors get stuck because they feel like they need more information before they can move.

Learn enough to understand what you're doing, do your homework, know the risks.

But at some point, you have to make a move.

You can spend years trying to feel completely ready.

I don't think I ever did.
I just started, and I kept learning from there.