Renowned celebrity real estate agent Carl Gambino has left an indelible mark on the real estate landscape, boasting a nationwide presence in key markets like New York, Los Angeles, the Hamptons, New Jersey, and Miami, with a staggering $1.5 billion in lifetime sales. With A-list clients such as Wahlberg, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Styles, Gambino consistently breaks records and represents prominent figures in business, sports, and entertainment. Notable recent sales include residences in Beverly Hills, Aspen, and Fisher Island, earning him recognition from outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and The Real Deal. As both an agent and savvy investor, Gambino’s influence and reputation remain unparalleled in the industry.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Carl’s background and journey to real estate
- The Best Environment To Learn and Grow In
- Dog Walking With Joe Jonas
- Likeability and How To Persuade
- Slowing Down? Or Ramping Up?
- ’How To Build A team
- Advice For People Just Starting Out
- Special Properties For Tax Purposes
To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com
Full Transcript Below
00:54:46:07 – 00:55:05:10
Speaker 1
Welcome to another edition of Life Time Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing. I’m Radcliffe and I’m thrilled you’re here. We have a very unique guest today. His name is Carl Gambino and Carl is a very interesting guy. He’s really well known as a celebrity real estate agent and owns a bunch of different types of real estate, which we’re going to get into.
00:55:05:10 – 00:55:38:21
Speaker 1
But just to give you an idea who he works with. So he is he sold Wahlberg’s house for 55 million. He’s worked with J-Lo, Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod, the Jonas Brothers, Renee Zellweger, Travis Scott, and on and on and on. And, you know, huge, huge real estate sales company based in L.A., New York and Miami. And we’re going to have a lot of fun talking about, you know, big name investors or high net worth investors and the strategies he used to to create the incredible roster of clients that he has, which is really extraordinary.
00:55:38:22 – 00:55:39:23
Speaker 1
Carl, welcome to the show, brother.
00:55:39:28 – 00:55:40:27
Speaker 2
Thank you for having me.
00:55:40:28 – 00:55:50:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, you bet. Now, I know you’ve got a very interesting past and you know, you now have a real estate company that does, what, 400 million a year around?
00:55:50:01 – 00:55:50:12
Speaker 2
Yes.
00:55:50:15 – 00:56:09:08
Speaker 1
Okay. You’re very modest guy, by the way, Which is. Which is really cool. And, you know, and the fact that you’re here to add value, you don’t really have an agenda is really cool as well. So I’m really excited to get to know you. And so talk a little bit about your background. Where did you come from because you started to allude to it before we started recording and it’s fascinating.
00:56:09:14 – 00:56:37:12
Speaker 2
So I was born in New York. I grew up mostly in New Jersey. I come from like an old school loving, but like limiting kind of negative Guido family. And I got in a lot of trouble growing up. I ended up I was pretty much an alcoholic from as young as I can remember. I got really addicted to drugs and alcohol, ended up having to go to rehab from 19 to 21 in Jamaica, Queens.
00:56:37:12 – 00:56:38:02
Speaker 2
And I lived there.
00:56:38:08 – 00:56:39:04
Speaker 1
Wow.
00:56:39:06 – 00:56:47:02
Speaker 2
And when I got out, I didn’t I had no clue what I wanted to do. And I got sober. I’m six years sober now.
00:56:47:06 – 00:56:48:09
Speaker 1
Well, congratulations.
00:56:48:10 – 00:57:10:21
Speaker 2
Thank you. And I like out of a movie. Meet some guy at a party. He was like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. He had, like, slicked back hair. He had a license plate that said closer. And he was like, You should come talk to me. I own a brokerage that sells multifamily real estate in Manhattan. And I was like, I don’t know, I’ve been in trouble.
00:57:10:22 – 00:57:40:26
Speaker 2
I did always love architecture and houses, too. I used to make my older friends drive me around and look at big houses in New Jersey. I always had overwhelming ambition at my family. We always had what we needed, but we didn’t have money at all. And I was always like, obsessed with wanting to make a lot of money and had this like, crazy ambition that I would almost stuffed down because it was not the environment I grew up in at all.
00:57:40:28 – 00:57:58:14
Speaker 2
So and I told the guy, I’m like, I don’t know if I can do this. I’ve been in trouble. And he’s like, No. I went to his office and he’s like, This guy, the top broker, You see him and he pointed to some other guy. He’s like, That guy went to prison for murder for manslaughter, and then ended up getting his license.
00:57:58:14 – 00:58:01:06
Speaker 2
They helped me get it. I wrote all these letters to the state.
00:58:01:07 – 00:58:08:07
Speaker 1
Yeah, because they do a whole background check to get license and stuff. And so I was just thinking the same thing. Did that background cause you a problem?
00:58:08:07 – 00:58:26:05
Speaker 2
But I had to prove to the state of New York that I was sober and all these things. And from there I started in multifamily sales in Manhattan. In Brooklyn. The first property I sold was, I think a six unit building with two stores in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and it took me about a year to do it.
00:58:26:05 – 00:58:49:03
Speaker 2
I was so broke, I would I worked as a coat check at night at a restaurant and I would just cold call all day long. And then from there, I just I knew I loved multifamily and love real estate, but for some reason I didn’t love being a broker. Like I kept getting screwed over. People would cut me out of deals, I’d send them deals, they’d go around me and show up there and buy them.
00:58:49:05 – 00:59:03:27
Speaker 2
So I kind of stopped doing multifamily sales and I did a various other things from there. I did rentals in New York City in the summer, which you can make a lot of money. I would make like five grand a week. It was like this crazy racket, which was.
00:59:04:00 – 00:59:05:09
Speaker 1
Please explain. I don’t understand.
00:59:05:16 – 00:59:10:06
Speaker 2
So in New York City, the tenant pays the fee, which is normally 15% of the annual.
00:59:10:06 – 00:59:16:14
Speaker 1
Rent to two. So they if they’re going to Lisa an apartment, the tenant pays a fee to get that apartment.
00:59:16:14 – 00:59:35:14
Speaker 2
Normally that’s the marketplace. Unless the market tanks and it switches to an owner pay market. But most of the time the tenant pays interest. So it’s excellent sales training in the sense where they call you, they basically hate you, they feel like they’re overpaying you. You have to convert them to liking you, showing them places and doing a deal within one day.
00:59:35:14 – 00:59:39:03
Speaker 2
And I always say that was like the greatest sales training.
00:59:39:03 – 00:59:59:04
Speaker 1
And guys, those are you listening thinking, well, this what how does this apply to multifamily? It absolutely freaking applies to multifamily because you’re selling all the time. You’ve got to sell a broker on you. You’ve got to sell a seller to sell to you, you’ve got to sell investors to invest with you. And and you just you just referenced sales training that you got from from doing the leasing.
00:59:59:04 – 01:00:15:13
Speaker 1
I mean, you could do it selling cars. You could do it. My my voice making outbound call calls for selling roofing. There’s so many ways door to door, even for the roofing door to door salesmen by the way, are some of the best there are. But so if you haven’t had any formal sales training, you know, get one.
01:00:15:13 – 01:00:22:19
Speaker 1
A grant card owns books. Educate yourself on sales, on sales because it’s such a critical part of this business. Sorry to interrupt. Please continue.
01:00:22:22 – 01:00:29:09
Speaker 2
One thing I forgot to mention is I got I was given sales books. I was given Napoleon Hill’s books.
01:00:29:10 – 01:00:29:26
Speaker 1
Napoleon Hill.
01:00:30:04 – 01:00:50:26
Speaker 2
There’s a book called Succeeding Grow Rich through Persuasion. That was kind of life changing for me, Of course, thinking grow rich, too, and I actually developed almost like a gratitude for sales ability, and I figured it was a tool that I could use for anything. Love it. Make a long story short, I move to the West Coast, stop doing real estate, my wife says.
01:00:50:26 – 01:01:23:04
Speaker 2
I followed her because we broke up and got back together. And then I was. I thought I wanted to do creative things. I was wrong. I was I went broke and was just tired of being broke. So then I got my license in L.A. and got into residential in L.A. and I got a job working for this massive agent who is one of the biggest agents in the world in high end residential, which is excellent because I was desensitized to watching these people do like $100 million home sales and sometimes represent both sides.
01:01:23:04 – 01:01:47:05
Speaker 2
They rep tons of entertainment people, some of the wealthiest people in the world. So it was an incredible environment. It was it was basically like a shark pit where you had to sink or swim. But it was great environment to just watch outstanding success over and over again. And from there, I kind of, you know, obviously caught the bug to want that.
01:01:47:05 – 01:01:51:25
Speaker 2
I mean, I always had it, as I said, but it increased it. And then let.
01:01:51:25 – 01:02:18:02
Speaker 1
Me stop you, if I may. Don’t don’t lose that spot in line here. You just want to because you’re saying a lot of really good stuff that I want to hammer down on a little bit. So you saw incredible success. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? I mean, you saw incredible deals being done, obviously, but they were there any specific nuances of these salespeople that were doing these extraordinary deals that you can talk about?
01:02:18:04 – 01:02:56:22
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah. I what I notice is the way that they thought, like their thought process was so elevated and beyond anything I had ever seen in my life where they were like, I am the absolute best, or I’m so educated or whatever their confidence and not even arrogance, like just their confidence. Confidence was so educational for me because I wasn’t from that kind of background where I they were literally like, I’ll sell $100 million home and double end it with no problem, or I’ll make multiple millions per transaction, or I’ll sell hundreds of millions to billions per year and turn around and buy a ton of property.
01:02:56:24 – 01:03:02:05
Speaker 2
It was just I had never seen transactions in that kind of confidence before.
01:03:02:05 – 01:03:08:16
Speaker 1
In my life. So may I ask you this, Do you think that confidence came from success or the confidence created the success?
01:03:08:18 – 01:03:32:04
Speaker 2
I think there’s multiple types of people now that I’ve been around some of the wealthiest, most successful people that I think there’s some people that are born that way where they just have that incredible belief in their own ability. I think there’s people like me where you have to develop that and I’ve spent thousands of hours developing that and I think with success you constantly are able to elevate that.
01:03:32:04 – 01:03:54:14
Speaker 2
I mean, I remember I sold $1,000,000 home and was like, This is a crazy amount of money at the time and was like so blown away that I did that. And then I did that with 5,000,010 million and 20,000,030 5,000,050 million each. And brokers asked me all the time like, how did I do that in a very short period?
01:03:54:16 – 01:04:15:22
Speaker 2
Because I probably built the whole business within six to now. I’ve been doing it eight years straight, but six years we were really, really flowing and it was just about constant mine elevation. And I think in sales in general, people don’t give enough credit to. It’s a mind game.
01:04:15:23 – 01:04:19:00
Speaker 1
Do you feel like you had to fake it till you made it? Did you ever?
01:04:19:00 – 01:04:21:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, many like imposter syndrome.
01:04:21:05 – 01:04:46:12
Speaker 1
I mean, you know, I teach and I teach that at my boot camps is like, hey, you know, everybody started where you’re starting, okay? And so sometimes you got to act as if, you know, you got to you got to walk, you know, and breathe like, you know, and maybe revisit something you’re super proud of that you did in the past and how you breathe, what you thought about how you carried yourself and bring that energy to whatever it is you’re going to get into, like multifamily investing, as it were.
01:04:46:14 – 01:04:56:04
Speaker 1
So that’s fascinating. So not only did you build your own skill set and how did you do that? You you read all the books. Did you do any courses, anything like that?
01:04:56:04 – 01:05:12:08
Speaker 2
I’ve read hundreds of self-development books. I listened to them. I did what they say, I practice them. I literally would read my goals out loud. I would obsess about them. I would manifest, like meditate. If I could calm my crazy mind for.
01:05:12:08 – 01:05:13:15
Speaker 1
Long enough to do it.
01:05:13:17 – 01:05:18:19
Speaker 2
Like saw myself in possession of the thing. Kind of actually the exact program it says and thing.
01:05:18:21 – 01:05:20:03
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, I know.
01:05:20:03 – 01:05:23:20
Speaker 2
It’s super unbelievably circulated book but.
01:05:23:22 – 01:05:32:24
Speaker 1
I later we had really I’ve given away 3 to 4000 copies. I’m not exaggerating at all. No. My 4000 copies I’ve given away I.
01:05:32:24 – 01:05:38:15
Speaker 2
Give them, I just gave one to the doormen in my building and it’s, it was life changing for me.
01:05:38:15 – 01:05:38:27
Speaker 1
Right.
01:05:38:27 – 01:06:07:29
Speaker 2
And what I quickly realized about where I was working in Los Angeles was that if you represent good entertainment people or high net worth individuals, but even more entertainment, it was power, even more than money, which I wasn’t used to, where not saying I had power, but they did. So I rapidly pursued those type of clients, not because they even cared about celebrity more, because I knew I could grow the business really rapidly in that way.
01:06:08:02 – 01:06:17:00
Speaker 1
So I definitely like to drill down on that a little bit. So I know you said you’re very good friends with one of the Jonas Brothers.
01:06:17:02 – 01:06:22:26
Speaker 2
Actually, Joe Jonas is like my one. And my dear friend who I met in Los Angeles when I was a dog walker.
01:06:23:03 – 01:06:24:03
Speaker 1
And wow.
01:06:24:06 – 01:06:42:01
Speaker 2
He actually helped me like he would come with me to walk dogs. And then I did I think I did three transactions on the buy side, like I did one with this guy that I was trying to get to rep me as a writer because I was trying to do creative things at that time. And the guy’s like, I’m never going to rep you as a writer.
01:06:42:03 – 01:07:02:14
Speaker 2
Ouch. And then I was like, I heard you say, you’re looking for a home. And he’s like, you’re a realtor now, too. And I was like, I am. I’ve done it before. So I sold him a house, ran out of money, sold another guy I met in an acting class. A house, ran out of money. And then the third one was this huge L.A. developer who was not he wasn’t a nice guy, really.
01:07:02:14 – 01:07:20:25
Speaker 2
And he overheard me or I overheard him say he was looking for a house and I was his dog walker. And he’s like, You’re fucking dog walker. Like, why would I use you? And I was like, You know, everything. And then I told him I worked at the firm. I was mentioning earlier, and he’s like, No way. And I showed him my business card and I see this all the time.
01:07:20:26 – 01:07:41:13
Speaker 2
This is why it’s helpful for agents when they start to be on, you know, significant teams or align themselves with people. Because in that moment, just having that business card, the guy let me show him. I ended up going in contract for five and a half million with him, which was going to be life changing. Then he canceled and I wanted to like, die.
01:07:41:15 – 01:08:05:26
Speaker 2
But then immediately I got him back into a contract and sold him something for 6 million. Wow. 250,000. I made a bunch of money and Joe, my friend, had seen that and was just amazing and was like, I’m about to sell my house. He knew I had never had a residential listing. Well, and he let me sell his house and from there I sold it very quickly.
01:08:05:26 – 01:08:11:03
Speaker 2
And that was how I kind of realized the whole entertainment thing was obviously fantastic.
01:08:11:03 – 01:08:25:23
Speaker 1
So what did you do at that point? I mean, obviously, you had you had the springboard with Joe, which obviously is huge. Did you ask for connections? Did you talk about some of the strategy you used to connect with some of these incredible people?
01:08:25:23 – 01:08:46:22
Speaker 2
I think I made I’m so I believe so much in manifestation and attraction, Like even meeting Joe, I used to walk around like as a dog walker reading, like all attract and work with excellent, well-funded developers, house flippers, celebrities like things like that. I remember I would read, I would. I’m going to be on the Hollywood Reporter top realtors list.
01:08:46:22 – 01:09:05:07
Speaker 2
And it was laughable, like I was picking up dog shit, waiting for my license in the mail. Wow. And now I’m on New York, L.A. and Florida. Hollywood Reporter Less than they gave us an award. And like at the time, I remember how ridiculous that was. So I did that further once I represented.
01:09:05:10 – 01:09:26:28
Speaker 1
So I got to stop you again. Man. This is really good stuff, guys. You hear me shouting this shit from the fucking rooftops? That this stuff works. Here is an incredible shining example that this freaking works. Wow, man. I mean, you know, I’ve manifested everything I have in my life as well and visualized it, and thank God for before I even had it.
01:09:26:28 – 01:09:48:08
Speaker 1
And. And you’re doing all these things and look at what it’s done for you. It’s fantastic, man. I just got to show. I think you put a pin on that. Amazing. Thank you. Yeah. So. So you were manifesting this stuff, but obviously that got your mind right and that got you head in the right direction, triggered your reticular activating system.
01:09:48:08 – 01:09:55:14
Speaker 1
So anything popped up you’d see it. But pro I mean, I’d like to really hear more on the mechanical side. What did you do?
01:09:55:18 – 01:10:23:12
Speaker 2
So from there I basically contacted every single business manager on earth because I realized that businessmen represented tons of entertainment and high net worth giants, and they were kind of the gatekeepers. Got you into the real estate, residential real estate world. And if you I sought to align myself and make relationships with them where if you did a great job and I always went above and beyond, yeah, I did anything for clients to make.
01:10:23:15 – 01:10:46:27
Speaker 2
And I worked seven days a week obsessively like I would go to sleep obsessing about the kind of clients and things I was going to do and the deals I’d wake up from it. And like, that’s how obsessed I was. And from there, I think in any sales business or any business, if you, you know, obviously identify who the people are and then obsessively take positive construction action to reach out to them.
01:10:46:27 – 01:11:10:02
Speaker 2
And then part of the manifesting I’m saying is like getting yourself to believe you’re going to get them. And then from there, I just went out every single night for years straight, like every night of the week I was out. Every single person I came across, if it was a trainer at the gym, someone cutting your hair, a billionaire, a fucking parking meter, I didn’t care.
01:11:10:02 – 01:11:46:14
Speaker 2
I would talk to them in 2 seconds. They knew what I did. I would be like, Where do you live? Or they would. I would get across that. I did real estate and I got unbelievably educated on my market and the market data. So when I met someone, even if I had no experience or sales, they could just sense that I was like such a killer in my business and so educated that they were willing to give me a shot and then I also think kind of likability type selling if people want to see you succeed.
01:11:46:14 – 01:11:58:19
Speaker 2
And I see a lot of salespeople where they’re afraid because of inexperience. And I’ve had the opposite experience where some people are happy to give you your biggest sell because they want to see you succeed because they like you.
01:11:58:23 – 01:12:13:24
Speaker 1
yeah, yeah. That’s huge. That likability thing is frickin huge. I want to circle back to something you said about educating how you were so educated in the in, you know, in it. Was it in the marketplace or just your business in general?
01:12:13:29 – 01:12:25:25
Speaker 2
Both. Both where if someone was like, Hey, I live on Tower Road, for instance, in Beverly Hills, I can tell them every person who lived on Tower Road which house is sold, like why this house didn’t sell because it was too close to the street, etc..
01:12:26:02 – 01:12:26:17
Speaker 1
Got it.
01:12:26:17 – 01:12:49:27
Speaker 2
And even as I started investing myself in buying properties, like I bought a house in SAG Harbor to rent out as an investment and I obsessively studied SAG Harbor for like not not even a long period, maybe two weeks, but like nonstop, looking at all the data to the point where, like when I showed up in SAG Harbor, I knew what was a deal and what wasn’t, and I knew how to find a deal.
01:12:49:27 – 01:13:07:15
Speaker 1
So back to likability for a minute, because you’re really likable guy. Do you work at that? Is that just your natural personality style? How do you how do you manifest being liked by other people? What’s what’s your strategy there?
01:13:07:17 – 01:13:29:16
Speaker 2
I think some of it comes with like natural how people are born. I think humor is a huge thing. I think especially when people are buying assets or doing anything in business, it’s obviously you have to be serious in your craft, but if you incorporate humor, it just makes it that much better. And people want to do business with people they enjoy being around.
01:13:29:16 – 01:13:51:17
Speaker 2
And I think humor creates that. Yeah, I think if you even in the Napoleon Hill things where they talk about one thing I got really early on is where they mentioned this thing called your other self. And I don’t know at the time if it was because I was so like nuts from getting sober or whatever, but I always understood, dude, what that meant where you, like, become the best version of yourself.
01:13:51:17 – 01:14:28:28
Speaker 2
We you’re almost like this superhuman of yourself and you can achieve and do anything and you abolish fear. And I think when you get in that state and you’re doing I think each person as figure out the things that make them that version of themselves and then when you’re in that state, I mean, if it’s exercising, if it’s meditating, if it’s listening to these books or reading them or whatever it is, And I think when you’re in that state, you become magnetic and you can walk in a room and, you know, even in any sales business, if you’re raising money for multifamily or whatever it is right, I think you can become like a magnet
01:14:28:28 – 01:14:41:05
Speaker 2
of attraction. And adding what I was saying earlier, where you unbelievably know your data or market or whatever you’re selling is just another tool for, you know, allowing people to say yes, yeah.
01:14:41:07 – 01:15:02:25
Speaker 1
Same thing applies. I mean, all of these strategies apply to raising money for deals, for building relationship with sellers and brokers and everything else that you need to do in this business. And you know, you studied this. So so I’ve got a question. Have you slowed down at all or are you still ramping and reading and doing all these things that you’ve done up to this point?
01:15:03:00 – 01:15:25:24
Speaker 2
I should slow down. I have two children. I work seven days a week. I haven’t slowdown. I’ve kept expanding markets. We’ve expanded into New Jersey, into Long Island. I’ve been building a real estate portfolio in the sense of we own me and my wife. I mean, we own multifamily triple net. We houses I buy often as well because it’s I know it.
01:15:25:26 – 01:15:27:23
Speaker 1
Big houses like 5 million bucks a piece.
01:15:27:23 – 01:15:54:09
Speaker 2
Yeah, like 3 to 5 million. No houses in L.A. There’s areas of certain, you know, submarkets that I’m in that I believe in in Miami. I’ve flipped houses before. I’ve bought in Miami. I actually came down to Miami in 2020 because I could sense a rush was going to go there. And I remember I bought a dry lot, my kind of shitty modern house and all the top brokers in Miami were like, Why would you buy a dry lot?
01:15:54:09 – 01:16:16:26
Speaker 2
Like, What are you doing? And I was comparing it to Beverly Hills where I was like, triple-A. Beverly Hills is 100 million plus and teardowns, I’m selling for 13 million. Wow. And I was looking at Miami like the best pockets of it on the water were, let’s say, 20 to 30 to 40 million. And and these dry lots were like 2 to 6 million.
01:16:16:29 – 01:16:19:16
Speaker 2
And I could just sense that everything was going to explode.
01:16:19:16 – 01:16:20:01
Speaker 1
And it did.
01:16:20:06 – 01:16:34:29
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I bought a I bought multifamily in an area called La Patta, which is a friend of mine, owns a big art museum there. So that’s another thing I like to do is study the markets obviously and see what’s coming. Jobs, education, things like that.
01:16:35:04 – 01:16:36:27
Speaker 1
Did you drive over here from Miami today?
01:16:36:27 – 01:16:37:10
Speaker 2
Yes.
01:16:37:15 – 01:16:47:28
Speaker 1
wow. Wow. Thank you for that. By the way, it’s a three hour drive. I know, because I used to live in South Beach when I was single last time. And I’m looking again because I’m single again. But wow.
01:16:48:00 – 01:16:51:06
Speaker 2
So if you need a broker, I can help you.
01:16:51:08 – 01:16:53:26
Speaker 1
That’s funny. That’s really funny. How old are your kids?
01:16:54:03 – 01:16:55:01
Speaker 2
Three and six.
01:16:55:08 – 01:17:15:16
Speaker 1
Okay. Can I give you some and can I give you some coaching if you permit me, Yes. Okay. And and if you want to cut this out after I say it, we can cut it out. But I can tell you my greatest regret in life was coming home to my mansion on the beach, playing with my kids at night, but not being there mentally.
01:17:15:16 – 01:17:34:06
Speaker 1
It’s my greatest regret to this day. And I and I tell my students this, you know, this, this, this, this, this path to success. It’s not successful. If you lose out on things that you can’t get back. And, you know, my kids will tell you I was a great dad, but I didn’t live up to my own expectations.
01:17:34:06 – 01:17:41:07
Speaker 1
And so, you know, I would just caution you, my friend, because you can’t get that back. That’s my $0.02 to you. So take it or leave it.
01:17:41:07 – 01:17:43:04
Speaker 2
No, I understand that entirely.
01:17:43:04 – 01:17:43:26
Speaker 1
Yeah. Okay.
01:17:43:26 – 01:17:44:12
Speaker 2
It’s really.
01:17:44:12 – 01:18:05:22
Speaker 1
Difficult. Yeah, No, I know. And you want you know, you want, you want a success so bad and you’re doing so incredibly well. But we don’t want regrets, man. That’s. That’s a regret. You can’t get back. And like I said, my kids love me, and they say I was a great dad, but I. I missed so much. I missed so much of that growth and those beautiful times and that those times you tear up because they’re so amazing.
01:18:05:24 – 01:18:21:00
Speaker 1
Anyway, sorry to put a downer on them. So you’re expanding into Jersey and Long Island. You’re already in three markets right now. Talk about how you talk about how you built your team.
01:18:21:07 – 01:18:24:15
Speaker 2
We have expanded into those. you’re already over in five.
01:18:24:19 – 01:18:46:17
Speaker 1
So you’re in five now. Wow. Fantastic. So how have you built your team? I mean, you’re you’re a really smart guy. Did you bring in operational people to help you do this? Talk about how you built maybe maybe when you first started your first office was out in LA then? Yes. Okay. First offices in L.A. How did you grow to where you are now?
01:18:46:17 – 01:18:47:29
Speaker 1
Just Talk is just some stages.
01:18:47:29 – 01:18:49:05
Speaker 2
With many mistakes.
01:18:49:05 – 01:18:50:26
Speaker 1
Yeah, well, yeah, that goes without saying.
01:18:51:01 – 01:19:06:02
Speaker 2
I think so. Basically, first it was just me doing a million jobs like a lunatic at once. And then I hired someone Who? Her name is Addy. She still works with me. She’s amazing. She’s. She kind of evolved into my director of operations.
01:19:06:02 – 01:19:07:21
Speaker 1
What she started as.
01:19:07:24 – 01:19:09:04
Speaker 2
A, I guess, an executive.
01:19:09:05 – 01:19:22:18
Speaker 1
Existing. Yeah. And I tell people that’s the first thing you hire is a frickin e.a. That’s the that’ll open up your world. That’s so funny you say that because the person that is now my director of operations was an E A as well when she started, so that’s cool. Sorry. Please continue.
01:19:22:22 – 01:19:40:08
Speaker 2
I give her credit. She changed my life and then we started basically that enabled me to just be able to sell and she kind of handled everything elsewhere before. That wasn’t right. Then, as I said, A-Rod asked me to go on some show on CNBC. Anything I told you about before?
01:19:40:11 – 01:19:41:04
Speaker 1
yeah, that’s cool.
01:19:41:04 – 01:20:01:20
Speaker 2
And I went on in his he’s like real estate advisor. And then from there I you know, it was weird cause I didn’t want to be on TV. And those that show, though, from there, agents started to reach out to me and asked my advice or questions. And that is kind of what sparked the idea of the team.
01:20:01:22 – 01:20:25:04
Speaker 2
And also I always wanted to expand back to the East Coast, but I didn’t know and I didn’t want to lose making the money I was making in Los Angeles, but I didn’t know how to do that. So then I assumed the only way I could do that is if I went national with the business. And I remember I was talking to Compass had recruited me at the time and there were like I think at the time they thought I was crazy.
01:20:25:04 – 01:20:48:05
Speaker 2
And now they say they’re like, You actually do what you say. And they’ve kind of gotten behind me on it, or they have. I would I did. One mistake was I just basically hired random people that I knew who saw me become successful and wanted to be successful but weren’t willing to put in the effort. So that was like a huge time suck in.
01:20:48:08 – 01:20:50:02
Speaker 1
A very common way. Yeah.
01:20:50:03 – 01:21:07:26
Speaker 2
And I mean, I still have a few dear friends who do work with me who are doing amazing, but I had to shed some some of the people and it was a nightmare. So now we’ve kind of developed an actual system, like a set standard. We don’t just hire any agent. They have to do a certain amount of business, they have to have a certain mentality.
01:21:07:28 – 01:21:26:06
Speaker 2
They have to kind of fall in line with our brand, which we consider and what we’re building like an elevated, elegant brand that’s not flashy, like all the real estate stuff you see. Like we just want to sell it on a real estate and be experts in our craft. So we’ve had to develop almost like a handbook for that.
01:21:26:06 – 01:21:26:21
Speaker 2
And it’s.
01:21:26:26 – 01:21:27:18
Speaker 1
Yeah.
01:21:27:21 – 01:21:49:15
Speaker 2
It’s just organically grown from there. One thing that was helpful as I started, like there’s a manager in New York, for instance, who’s helped me a lot, which one new agents interview at the firm or things like that. And we’ve just started to put the word out there and we get a lot of increase. But it’s it’s difficult to find the filter through them and find the right like I’m adding.
01:21:49:17 – 01:21:52:01
Speaker 1
So it’s our hardest thing out there is to find the right people.
01:21:52:04 – 01:22:02:10
Speaker 2
Because they have to be a representation of you and how you service your clients. And it’s, you know, it’s difficult. I mean, you see it in any business when they grow like there’s level of service goes down. Yeah.
01:22:02:17 – 01:22:13:29
Speaker 1
So you have tried lots of different things. So you wanted to be creative a writer, you went to acting school, you obviously wanted to be an actor. Do you feel like you’re where you need to be right now?
01:22:14:02 – 01:22:14:22
Speaker 2
Absolutely.
01:22:14:22 – 01:22:18:02
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. But it took some time to.
01:22:18:05 – 01:22:24:24
Speaker 2
It took many years, many different careers and many different struggles. And to find some kind of my niche.
01:22:24:24 – 01:22:41:08
Speaker 1
What would you say to people that are where you were back then? You know, they’re in a rat race job. They they know they deserve more. They have a maybe they have a family, maybe they don’t. What words of encouragement or advice would you give someone in that place.
01:22:41:11 – 01:23:10:05
Speaker 2
That if I can become entrepreneurial and build what I have, that basically anyone can if they just And one thing I would say is for me, the self-development material was key to getting me to where I am. I almost look at it like going to the gym for your mind where if you wanted to make your body like if you wanted to get ripped, you would eat healthy, exercise, go to the gym, feed it good food and nutrients on a daily basis.
01:23:10:07 – 01:23:34:18
Speaker 2
It’s the same exact thing for your mind. And if you want to get to that place that I was talking about earlier, like that other self where you’re just like, I can do anything and fear is beneath my intelligence that you have to feed your mind on a daily basis, positive, good, constructive things. And that’s why I think in those books they tell you to constantly read the goals out loud and they say, where your mind starts to believe something, you tell it over and over again.
01:23:34:18 – 01:24:01:10
Speaker 2
Even if it’s a lie, it’s true. And most people kind of go through life like I used to or the way I was brought up where they would be. Like, money doesn’t grow on trees, like things like that. But I think most people just float around daily, have no set goal, or even if they do, they’re focusing on the things they don’t want, like fear or not enough deals or not enough ability to raise money or there’s not enough transactions or whatever.
01:24:01:10 – 01:24:18:08
Speaker 2
It is just where I can’t pay my bills or how am I going to do this or this, this, and where if you just switch the script, which took me many years to learn where you’re like, Now that’s beneath my intelligence. Like, I’m going to get these type of clients, I’m going to raise this much money, I’m going to buy these type of properties.
01:24:18:09 – 01:24:33:00
Speaker 2
Yeah, I’m going to buy a house where my family can enjoy by the be whatever you want to do. Yeah. Like I enjoyed traveling in Europe with my kids. Like things like that where if you just flip the script of what you’re thinking, it’s life changing.
01:24:33:03 – 01:24:45:28
Speaker 1
Couldn’t agree more. Now, let me ask you this. So you read your goals out loud. Is there any other strategies that you use? Because I’ve done things where I’ve recorded myself saying, I now have this, this, this and this, Have you done it? Vision boards or anything, Anything else that you do?
01:24:46:04 – 01:25:00:23
Speaker 2
I used to do vision boards back in the day. I haven’t done them in a long time. I one thing is whenever I’m not working, I’m listening to one of those books or so I’m listening to like thousands of hours of them.
01:25:00:25 – 01:25:02:07
Speaker 1
So on your way over here, you were listening.
01:25:02:07 – 01:25:28:23
Speaker 2
To I listened to it all the time. Well, most of the time, maybe 80% of the time. Wow. And I think what when you’re writing out the things you want, what I find, especially in a sales capacity, is if you put what I call like, motivators, I guess I don’t know. But where words that even if it sounds cheesy or ridiculous that motivate you beyond belief, where you’re writing like, I’m a fucking animal, the words are powerful.
01:25:28:23 – 01:25:32:29
Speaker 1
Yeah, like I’m extraordinary. I’m a fucking success, whatever it is. Yeah.
01:25:32:29 – 01:25:59:04
Speaker 2
Like I’m a machine, right? And another thing I did not in a negative way. I looked at all of the competitors in my business and I studied them beyond belief and I actually can honestly say when I see someone in my business do like a huge sale or things like that, I don’t feel jealousy. I’m like, Wow, that’s amazing that these are the kind of transactions and that’s the kind of money you can make.
01:25:59:07 – 01:26:21:06
Speaker 2
And I look at it like, if that person can do it, then I can do it. And I think that’s another real motivator. But it’s really about taking unbelievable obsessive action to change, like radical action to change the way that you think. And to get out of fear. And most people don’t even realize that that’s what’s happening, that they just go through life in fear.
01:26:21:07 – 01:26:36:11
Speaker 1
So you’ve read a lot of freaking books. Okay, where do you see what I’ve got? And what you saw? What? My library downstairs. I’ve got probably most of the books you’ve read as well, because I’m a big advocate for this. But what are yours? Rattle off. You’re some of your favorites, obviously thinking, gosh, that’s a no brainer thing.
01:26:36:14 – 01:26:51:09
Speaker 2
I like I love Succeed in Grow Rich, The Persuasion. That’s Napoleon Hill and Clement Stone. Okay. Secrets of the World Class by Steve Seibold I think is excellent. William Walker Atkinson’s thought vibration is an incredible book.
01:26:51:11 – 01:26:56:15
Speaker 1
Now is that was that a predecessor to Napoleon Hill, that book? William Walker?
01:26:56:15 – 01:26:59:22
Speaker 2
I think Napoleon Hill actually was after William Walker.
01:26:59:25 – 01:27:01:25
Speaker 1
really? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. Okay. Okay.
01:27:01:25 – 01:27:10:27
Speaker 2
And you could kind of see this that Napoleon could have read him. Ralph Waldo Emerson is great. And I love James Allen as a man thinketh.
01:27:10:29 – 01:27:16:20
Speaker 1
yeah. yeah. That’s huge. Yeah, that’s the world. The prison in the prison camps.
01:27:16:23 – 01:27:18:09
Speaker 2
No, that’s Viktor Frankl.
01:27:18:12 – 01:27:19:16
Speaker 1
that’s pretty amazing.
01:27:19:17 – 01:27:22:03
Speaker 2
That’s a good book, too. It’s sad, though. Yeah, it’s very sad.
01:27:22:06 – 01:27:35:26
Speaker 1
Okay. Okay, Let’s talk about mentors for a minute. Okay? I mean, you were kind enough to say you suffered through some of my podcast during COVID when you were going crazy. Did you have mentors in this journey?
01:27:35:28 – 01:28:02:13
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Okay. I’ve been really fortunate with excellent mentors. Yeah, I’ve had mentors who originally gave me that. Those books. I kidding. There is a a person who works with me now on my team named John, who was a developer in L.A. who pushed me into the business. He’s mentored me. Another one of my friends runs a big hedge fund in L.A. who’s mentored me beyond belief, like building how to his name is Ed and building, you know, a financial life.
01:28:02:17 – 01:28:15:24
Speaker 2
Well, I’ve had yeah, your podcast was super motivational for me during the COVID. I went out and bought a ton of property from there. I’m also obsessed with art and have built a great art collection.
01:28:15:24 – 01:28:16:24
Speaker 1
But no kidding. cool.
01:28:16:24 – 01:28:32:07
Speaker 2
Your podcast was also like, All right, chill a bit. Like, I mean, you didn’t say this directly, but just by listening to it, I was like, All right, I need to chill a bit and focus on buying. And then from there I, I’ve bought all sorts of I mean, I was buying them before as well, but it was just another push.
01:28:32:07 – 01:28:45:21
Speaker 2
I needed. And now I kind of have properties all, all I do have properties all over the country and kind of every variation of property. Another thing I would entice people to study is cost segregation. I’m sure you’ve talked about it before.
01:28:45:21 – 01:29:03:10
Speaker 1
Sure. Yeah. We’ve had people on the show. Yeah. For those who don’t know what that means, cause segregation is accelerate your depreciation. You know, the straight line depreciation. What is it, 20 years and you’re able to accelerate it. And and now with bonus depreciation coming back, both the House and the Senate have agreed they’re going to pass bonus depreciation back to 100%.
01:29:03:10 – 01:29:10:01
Speaker 1
Again, cost segregation is kind of a no brainer. It even beats 1031 exchanges. And at this point, in my opinion, it’s.
01:29:10:01 – 01:29:15:28
Speaker 2
Been that’s been life changing for me as a broker, because you can use it to put it against your brokerage income for federal.
01:29:16:00 – 01:29:16:19
Speaker 1
no kidding.
01:29:16:19 – 01:29:19:26
Speaker 2
So I guess you could you acquire a bunch of properties that way too.
01:29:19:27 – 01:29:26:18
Speaker 1
So. so So you’re buying property to offset all your massive income. Good for you. Because you’re a real estate professional. Hello?
01:29:26:20 – 01:29:28:26
Speaker 2
Yeah, it’s. And that’s been life changing.
01:29:28:29 – 01:29:44:10
Speaker 1
God. Yeah. I mean, I haven’t paid taxes. I mean, I shouldn’t say that publicly, but I haven’t in decades, you know, and that’s the beautiful thing about real estate. And then I. Yeah, I did say that publicly, actually. I got a ton of hate, didn’t I? I got I had Robert Kiyosaki. I did one of those reaction videos to something he said about not paying taxes.
01:29:44:12 – 01:30:00:07
Speaker 1
And it it like 1.4 million views. Now it’s up to 2 million. No shit. And I get much. Hey, you deadbeat, don’t pay taxes. I’m like, listen, there’s a reason they made those laws to provide housing for people, but, well, good for you, man, because I’ve.
01:30:00:07 – 01:30:11:02
Speaker 2
Even took it further to buy kind of specialized use properties. Like I bought a an oil change in Tampa. wow. Where you can have an even larger cost segregation because of the equipment.
01:30:11:04 – 01:30:16:03
Speaker 1
interesting. interesting. Good for you, man. Wow. How do you manage all these different assets?
01:30:16:09 – 01:30:20:24
Speaker 2
I try to get my wife to do that, doesn’t it? She helps me with it for good.
01:30:20:28 – 01:30:21:19
Speaker 1
Okay.
01:30:21:22 – 01:30:23:20
Speaker 2
Some of them are triple net, which aren’t that well, that’s.
01:30:23:21 – 01:30:42:19
Speaker 1
Yeah, those are easy, by the way. Triple net guys is where basically you like a Walgreens would be a triple net. You know like it’s very often it’s a single tenant use where everybody’s and it’s not necessarily just single tenant but but where where they pay everything okay that that the tenant pays the taxes the home, the maintenance, the insurance and everything else.
01:30:42:19 – 01:30:54:27
Speaker 1
There’s not a lot to do with one of those. You know, the upside isn’t going to be as large typically, but a very safe, very stable. As long as you check out the tenants, very stable, safe, consistent asset. Would you agree?
01:30:54:28 – 01:31:17:14
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been buying multifamily in New Jersey because my cousin is a contractor there and he’s been managing properties for me there for homes I try to buy, if I can, newer construction homes that have less maintenance where it’s one tenant and it’s not difficult to send plumbers or things like that. So if you’re buying high end kind of modern boxes from 3 to 5 million in certain markets.
01:31:17:16 – 01:31:20:08
Speaker 1
And you’re able you’re not able to cash flow on, those are you know.
01:31:20:08 – 01:31:26:17
Speaker 2
I yeah, definitely. you are even harder It’s harder right now but okay Yes we we are with that.
01:31:26:17 – 01:31:31:16
Speaker 1
Wow, that’s crazy. I that’s crazy. Give me an example of a monthly rental amount.
01:31:31:16 – 01:31:48:25
Speaker 2
Well, some of them I was buying when the rates were very low. So obviously those are cash flowing. But where I like, I bought one property for three and a half million. It’s 5000 square feet. I’ve already sold houses in the area for over 1100 bucks a foot, so I knew it would go to like a $5 million house.
01:31:48:25 – 01:31:59:04
Speaker 2
I would the value would appreciate. I actually think it was worth kind of four and a half while I was buying it. I think I rent that. I do rent that for 21,000.
01:31:59:08 – 01:31:59:26
Speaker 1
No shit.
01:32:00:03 – 01:32:02:06
Speaker 2
You know in that, right. Where’s it in? In Los.
01:32:02:06 – 01:32:02:16
Speaker 1
Angeles.
01:32:02:16 – 01:32:20:22
Speaker 2
In L.A., the rent ratio, the purchase price in L.A. is excellent. Wow. Whereas in New York City, it could vary. Or the Hamptons is also excellent. I’m not. I usually don’t want to be in seasonal markets a ton, like our owning a lot of properties there. But I have a house that I rent seasonally that is fantastic.
01:32:20:24 – 01:32:29:09
Speaker 1
So you do a lot of research. Do you feel like we’re headed for some carnage economically or do you feel like we’re going to recover?
01:32:29:09 – 01:32:31:28
Speaker 2
Well, I don’t know. It’s so up in the air.
01:32:31:28 – 01:32:32:15
Speaker 1
It’s like nobody.
01:32:32:15 – 01:32:40:16
Speaker 2
Knows. I’ve already thought it was going to collapse multiple times, that it just keeps trucking along in residential real estate, there’s still a massive housing crisis and.
01:32:40:17 – 01:32:47:15
Speaker 1
There’s massive shortage. Yeah, I don’t yeah, I’m not really not talking residential. I should have been more clear in like multifamily and commercial.
01:32:47:15 – 01:32:51:23
Speaker 2
It sounds like in multifamily and commercial, there’s a lot of loans coming to where people can pay.
01:32:51:27 – 01:32:52:10
Speaker 1
There are.
01:32:52:11 – 01:32:55:13
Speaker 2
And I think that’s obviously opportunity.
01:32:55:13 – 01:33:17:19
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. You know, we’ve got a deal under contract right now. scream and frickin deal. Yeah. If you’re an accredited investor you need to go to see our capital dot com and check this deal out or text the word partner 723, four or five screaming deal anyway. Yeah. So yeah so you’re you’re right there’s a lot of debt come and do I was just curious if you had to take on it.
01:33:17:19 – 01:33:20:14
Speaker 1
Right. I’m I’m very bearish right now.
01:33:20:17 – 01:33:26:06
Speaker 2
One market I’ve been studying a lot where I want to acquire multifamily is Columbus, Ohio. yeah I like Columbus.
01:33:26:10 – 01:33:29:24
Speaker 1
I am actually flying out there next Tuesday to look at it now.
01:33:29:24 – 01:33:30:13
Speaker 2
So nice.
01:33:30:13 – 01:33:34:24
Speaker 1
Yeah. So that’s the market I’m very interested in as well. So hopefully I’ll beat you to that one.
01:33:34:24 – 01:33:36:20
Speaker 2
It sounds like you.
01:33:36:20 – 01:33:55:20
Speaker 1
Are so let me ask you a question that I ask a lot. Okay. Now, typically it’s on it’s a question that relates to the multifamily journey, but you’ve got such an incredible journey that, you know, I don’t care how answer it. Talk about any moments that you’ve had and you’ve alluded to some of them already, but you know, epiphanies like, holy crap, now I get it.
01:33:55:22 – 01:33:57:23
Speaker 1
Anything come to mind when I ask that question?
01:33:57:26 – 01:34:23:08
Speaker 2
There’s one portion of all of the material I’ve studied where they’re where they talk about and that you touched on this a little bit, whether you should never be satisfied with your success and you can keep climbing to higher and higher heights. And it’s a fine line because as you discuss with balance, even with children. Right. But I remember I sold this property for 55 million and all these people were congratulating me.
01:34:23:08 – 01:34:57:05
Speaker 2
It was in the press and all this stuff and I was just thinking like that closed. I need to find another deal immediately. And I then took a pause and was like actually grateful that that was my mentality. And it wasn’t that I was ungrateful for the sale, it was more that I was like, Wow, I’ve actually developed what they say in the in the material that you I’ve become this kind of just, just expecting nonstop success and elevation.
01:34:57:12 – 01:35:17:15
Speaker 1
That is really insightful because you are really looking at yourself like an observer and coming to that realization. And that’s, that’s really powerful that, that you, you, you’re congratulating yourself because of your mindset, not so much on the deal, which is extraordinary. That’s a huge one. Great answer. Let me ask you this. What is the driver at this point?
01:35:17:19 – 01:35:38:10
Speaker 1
I mean, you’re you’re your kids are set for life. Their kids are probably set for life. What’s the driver that’s that gets you to continue to jump out of bed? Obviously, you’re still feeding your mind. By the way, I want to circle back to something you said, and that is, you know, around the fact that you did that $55 million sale and you’re looking for the next deal.
01:35:38:13 – 01:35:42:11
Speaker 1
In my opinion, if you’re not continually growing, you’re dying. I don’t know if you feel.
01:35:42:11 – 01:35:44:08
Speaker 2
This now feeling exactly like.
01:35:44:08 – 01:35:48:29
Speaker 1
Okay, all right. So but what’s the driver? What’s the why at this point?
01:35:49:02 – 01:36:10:18
Speaker 2
I mean, it’s a combination of things like I just have higher achievements that I want to achieve. I would like to set my family up to where we grow the assets even further to there’s a certain threshold or dollar amount that I have as a goal that are coming in to where like if they wanted to move to Europe and never work again or things like that.
01:36:10:20 – 01:36:38:24
Speaker 2
I mean, living in the three cities that I live in is very expensive. So that keeps me going. And truly, I, as I said earlier, as and from but I want to acquire more fantastic incredible properties and especially architectural properties that I love. And also as I was talking about my art collection, I’m unbelievably obsessed with art. It makes life better to me and that’s a very expensive habit as well.
01:36:38:26 – 01:37:10:16
Speaker 2
And the last thing I’ll say is I really have come to a point that I enjoy training salespeople. Yeah, and that has been kind of quite wonderful, even though it’s been stressful and at times I’ve wanted to give up even with that. But when you train someone and you see them, you know, like there’s someone on my team that I trained in L.A. who, you know, sold close to $50 million last year, she’s doing amazing like that.
01:37:10:16 – 01:37:19:00
Speaker 2
Feels incredible to work together and have a, you know, that partnership and yeah and I’ve been wanting and that’s also why I’ve been speaking lately.
01:37:19:00 – 01:37:20:24
Speaker 1
You know that’s the that’s the answer. I was like.
01:37:20:24 – 01:37:30:11
Speaker 2
Yeah, just giving it like, it just feels good to like. And it’s not that I’m so amazing, but I’m just saying, if I ever gotten to this point, like I can give it away, it.
01:37:30:17 – 01:37:45:29
Speaker 1
Feels good to add value. You know, I was telling you, you know, it’s it’s why I do this. That’s why I keep killing myself to continue to do this because it feels so good. I mean, you get I don’t know about you, but I know you. I’m sure you get a lot of love on a regular basis as well from people who you’ve impacted.
01:37:45:29 – 01:38:00:15
Speaker 1
And, you know, and I was so impressed with the fact when I asked you, you know, if you had an outcome for being here. And it was just that, you know, you want to start speaking and you felt good that you were doing that. You said you spoke for in front of a few thousand people recently and I think in Tampa, and it just felt good.
01:38:00:15 – 01:38:02:11
Speaker 2
And in Palos Verdes.
01:38:02:14 – 01:38:19:23
Speaker 1
Palos Verdes. okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, regardless if you liked it and that’s why you’re here. And and I was so impressed with that, it really didn’t have an outcome because I get people that want to raise money or want to sell something or whatever, and that’s not you. So. Well, listen, brother, I really appreciate you coming over here and being on the show.
01:38:19:23 – 01:38:25:22
Speaker 1
It’s been it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed it. And you’ve added tremendous value today.
01:38:26:00 – 01:38:30:04
Speaker 2
Thank you for having me. And thank you for doing this. It kept me going and covered.
01:38:30:07 – 01:38:33:15
Speaker 1
I really appreciate that shout out to now. It’s great to meet you, brother.
