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Real Lives of Real Estate w/ Brendan Da Silva
Welcome to the Real Lives of Real Estate, a brand new real estate podcast unlike any other. Your host is the #1 Realtor in Newark, NJ, Brendan Da Silva, and every week he interviews real estate professionals about how working in the industry has affected their lives and stories.
Real Lives of Real Estate w/ Brendan Da Silva
From Director of Operations to Property Management: Navigating Career Paths with Savannah Kessler
From the bustling streets of Blossville, New York, to the tranquil shores of a boat-accessible retreat, Savannah Kessler and I take you on a journey that winds through the heart of real estate's influence on our lives. Savannah, a real estate virtuoso and an old friend, brings to light the profound ways our homes shape our childhoods and, ultimately, the adults we grow into. We crack open the emotional vault as we recount the moves that marked our formative years, laying bare the nuances of stability and sanctuary that real estate can provide—or just as easily, take away.
As we wade deeper into the conversation, the bricks and mortar of properties transform into the building blocks of community and identity. The dialogue pivots from personal recollections to the collaborative spirit and almost cult-like passion found within the real estate industry, where growth and transformation are part of the daily grind. Savannah and I dissect the intricacies of joining forces in a team environment, where the merging of diverse minds creates not just successful transactions, but a shared identity that reaches beyond the confines of the office.
Yet, every story has its shadows, and our chat doesn't shy away from the darker corners of a real estate career. Navigating the surge of professional pressures, Savannah shares her brush with burnout as a Director of Operations, revealing the toll on personal relationships and the delicate balance between ambition and well-being. We cap off with candid reflections on the impacts of punctuality and the mindset required for building wealth through real estate, while also teasing out insights on the digital footprints we leave within social media's realm. Join us for an episode that goes far beyond listings and sales, into the heart of how real estate shapes who we are.
To get more insight on episodes and to apply to be on the show, visit www.BrendanDaSilva.com!
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I remember when we used to take on rentals, we would be trying to find tenants for some of our landlords. We would say, okay, we're going to meet at 9am. The tenant would show up it's 9-0-1. We'd leave. We'd say I'm sorry you were late to the signing of the lease. We can't take you on as a tenant because if you're going to be late to signing the lease, you're going to be late on your rent. I remember that impacting me so much. And obviously like three years later, I still remember it.
Speaker 2:All right. So I'm here with Savannah Kessler Okay, used to be the director of Ops, old-time friend, the whole nine sister. You know you got the thing right. You got all the accolades you could. Moved to DC about two months ago, three months ago, and now it's back visiting. So we had to get you on the podcast.
Speaker 2:As you know or maybe don't know, really the real lives of real estate, right, this whole podcast. The idea is to not do like a get rich quicksiem but talk about, and when I'm happy you're on the podcast is to really give like an honest look at what does real estate do? How does it impact behind the scenes? Right, for you, you are like my EA, right, and my director of Ops and Airbnb everything. So I would love for us to deep dive into how real estate industry has impacted you. You didn't come from real estate background. We'll get into and, at the same time, how you saw it impact me, and for better and for worse, right, and yeah, I think that's pretty much it. So why not tell us a little bit? Now, I always like to ask, not where did you grow up, but what did you grow up in, did you?
Speaker 1:go to the house apartment. Yeah, so I grew up primarily in homes. My parents moved to upstate New York when I was a child, and so that's where I'm from, but we moved around a lot. We had. My parents got divorced when I was young and so with that I was in and out of like my dad's house, my mom's house, my dad's house, my mom's house. We primarily grew up in homes. I don't remember a time actually ever living in an apartment, so my mom typically always rented. My dad had the house that they purchased when they moved there, but it was always a house.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you were always housing it yeah. Okay, we're talking like small house, big house, the lab.
Speaker 1:Well, there's five kids in my family, so we needed a little bit more space, but the house that I would call like my childhood home was a pretty, fairly big house. We had two acres of land, like four or five bedrooms, two full baths, so it was a decently sized house with a lot of property.
Speaker 2:And what town was this in?
Speaker 1:This was in Blossville, new York, blossville, blossville.
Speaker 2:Blossville.
Speaker 1:Blossville.
Speaker 2:Never heard of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very small.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm not like probably couldn't even find it on the map. Well, you know what I would say about that. I got no words Blossville, crazy place. So this way I would ask you here when you were growing up, how often did you guys move from home to home? Because I remember, you know, I remember knowing you guys a little bit and I remember you mentioned that you did move quite often.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I honestly couldn't. I feel like I couldn't put a timeline on it because I was so young Like by the time I was 18, I had probably moved like 11 times in my life.
Speaker 2:That's a lot. Yeah, a lot of times that's a lot, and it was always from house to house.
Speaker 1:From house to house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when the moving be so like like irritating.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, it was impeccably annoying.
Speaker 2:Yeah Cause, I'm just thinking you had to pack up go, pack up, go. I think I moved like 13 times by the time I was 10 years old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2:Like 13 by the time I was 10 or 11, I would move. So I moved quite a bit. This is what I remember. Now I never have even gotten this verified, but I just remember constantly moving and I personally, like you know, when you're a kid you don't remember too much, but I remember constantly just being from like one apartment to another apartment. Then we got a house. The house is a huge deal. It was like game changer and then, out of nowhere, we're back in the small, tiny apartment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Well, and I think the difference is too, Brendan, like you grew up in North Jersey you know, I grew up in rural Podunk, new York, where there was no apartments, so everything was houses and they were mostly being rented.
Speaker 2:So let me ask you a question Did you know the people who are rent like landlord? Did you know the landlord?
Speaker 1:I don't think that we knew them personally.
Speaker 2:Hmm, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Did you growing up, did you know anybody who was like a?
Speaker 1:real estate investor. I only knew a real estate agent.
Speaker 2:Okay, who was that?
Speaker 1:The person who was helping us rent the property.
Speaker 2:Oh, they loved you, yeah, you were the favorite.
Speaker 1:I was the only one in the town.
Speaker 2:Honestly, the only real estate agent in the town, so you had very little real estate professional.
Speaker 1:Literally like I knew nothing Was this real estate agent that you knew was.
Speaker 2:Was it a guy girl?
Speaker 1:It was a girl, guy couple.
Speaker 2:Oh, it were a powwow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mary, couple, yeah Mary couple Dick and Jean. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So let me answer this question. Were they well off? Did you see like, wow, these people are questioning it or we went to their house.
Speaker 1:I think they were building a house and they had. I remember they had like a lot of land and so they had animals. That's all I remember, yeah, like sheep and goats, but they never like.
Speaker 2:You never saw anyone like. Invest in real estate. No, do you ever hear someone talk about real estate as a kid?
Speaker 1:No, I remember, like I remember my mom helping. So I think my aunt may have been a real estate agent at the time, but she lived kind of far from us, maybe like an hour, so my mom would sometimes go help her stage houses for when she was doing photos. Otherwise I had like no exposure to real estate as a child.
Speaker 2:Your mom was staging houses. You've staged some houses, oh yeah, okay, cool. And now, growing up, what did your parents say about real estate? Did you hear any language about like, even about like? I guess for me I would talk about like the right aspect, right, that's how real estate?
Speaker 2:impacted me because we always rented and my mom and my dad often didn't have the means to happily pay rent. So it was always like this aspect. You remember being young and there was always this aspect of like crap, we don't you know that fear like save your money, you know save your money, save your money, save your money.
Speaker 2:How was that for you? Did you ever end up having that? Did you feel that for him like growing up, or was it more like you know? Hey, would not we ever talk about finance and real estate?
Speaker 1:I think, like in terms of, like our housing, we didn't talk about finances. I knew that we were growing up poor and I knew that we didn't have all these other people had in my town, but it was never a topic of conversation like. I don't know how we're gonna make ends meet this week, or I don't know how we're gonna eat. You know, I don't know how I'm gonna pack your lunch, or I don't know how we're gonna have dinner. But they never talked about the rent aspect. They never, never talked about the rent.
Speaker 1:The only thing I remember ever talking about with them which is kind of funny is I remember like asking a question about like you know, like how do how do schools get the money to pay for teachers or something along those lines, and I remember my dad saying like oh, when you own a house, you have to pay taxes and the taxes go to the city. And I was like so you have to pay. You have to pay because we live in this house. And he said yeah, and I said well, mom doesn't own the house that she lives in. And he said yeah, she doesn't have to pay taxes.
Speaker 1:So, I knew that by renting a house that was like. That's like the only recollection I have of any real estate talk was that I knew, by renting a house or renting a property, you did not have to pay taxes on that property.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, well, that is true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those who are listening, yeah.
Speaker 2:But wow, okay, but your dad did own a house then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my dad owned a house.
Speaker 2:Okay and well, how was that? Was there any different experience for you like did your dad own one house? Did he buy multiple? Did he buy go from one cell one by one?
Speaker 1:No, so he owned. He owned the house that we. We don't have it anymore. He sold it maybe like five years ago, but when he sold that property he bought a plot of land. But we never had more than one property at a time.
Speaker 2:But did you, did you have that one property for a long period of time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, until we were out of the house, until he probably had that for at least 10, at least 10 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I gotta be honest. I think that to me is like one of the most beautiful things about real estate in terms of your primary residence. It's a stability aspect and one thing I'm realizing now with Maverick having like a time with the old son. It's moving around a lot isn't the worst you like, it just is not the way.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think, like as children of parents who have moved around, a lot we recognize the trauma that comes along with moving Just not the way.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, like you know, trauma it's just not good. Yeah, I don't know if you want, like, maybe you can say trauma is okay, whatever, but even if it is, there's not, it's just like not, it has not the ideal. Yeah, now I will say it is a luxury to be able to travel and that's all good, but to have a home base, to have a staple, to have a hey, this is my like, that's my tree right in the backyard and really when you kind of really get hit by this is when you look back and it's a blur.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like where was I?
Speaker 1:Well, I think now, as someone who's dating and in a serious relationship. I think of someone like how like I have, you know, my boyfriend, who's able to take me around and show me like, oh, this is where I grew up, this is this this is this. I don't have that. I can. I can take this person to a a plot of land and say this is where my house is, or, like I don't have someone, I don't have a.
Speaker 1:We're going home for Christmas and this is the house I grew up in and I think that's something that I recognize now, that that's what I've always wanted, but I think the stability aspect, like even into adulthood, is really really key.
Speaker 2:For sure. And then you too, your little wander bird, right. Yes, so for like and even when. For me, I think the for me I've had similar, where I grew up a lot in like, I moved a lot, but was all within a maybe a five, ten mile radius right. So I died. Like I moved from South Jersey to North Jersey, like my wife went from Brazil to, you know, jersey, jersey to Florida, florida to Hamptons, like she moved to like four or five different like she was two different continents, right, and then Florida is like its own state nowadays.
Speaker 2:But the point is for me, I just moved so often so I can tell people, hey, this is where I was, well. But recently my wife she took me for a drive and all the house, some of the houses, like when I was my birthday, when I was like turned 27. She took me to all these key points in my life, like where I was born, the school I went to and for high school, all these things. It was a beautiful experience, like my house in Carney. I was kind of taken back by some of these places. I was like I forgot I lived here.
Speaker 2:So for me it's interesting because I can tour people like, yeah, that's where I played, this is where I did that. But I can show people the home. So I'm from the area, but I don't have, I don't own any piece of the area. So when people say like, even in work, they'll be like oh, this is my block, this is my block, that's my block. And the mayor of Rosbarac will say like your block, what do you own? You don't own nothing here and so it's not your block, you don't own it yeah and he's not saying that in a way to belittle people.
Speaker 2:He's saying that in a way to like, tell, inspire people you got to own. So I think that that's one big thing that I've realized, and how impact, how real estate impacts us as we're upbringing in our lives is that we gotta, gotta, gotta get to a place where we have home ownership and stability. And this is a big, big, big, big issue when it comes to, like America right now with unaffordability and ultimately, like it's pushing us to rent, pushing us to rent, pushing us to rent now. But what's it?
Speaker 2:It is the mortgage rates, it is the market, it is the you know government right pumping in the money, blasting up prices, and then you have like private institutional right you know Vanguard, blackrock, the whole nine and they're bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Then you end up just having to rent and then you can never really have that one place unless you're renting one spot for 30 years, it's. You know, renting is not a bad idea short term, do it all day, like my wife and I right now. We're renting, but we own multiple property. But renting should not be the way long term, because you have no real control of stability right, maybe in the city.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think of a city makes sense, but I really have the right control.
Speaker 2:Yeah and then, like you just get trapped, like you get stuck like paying so little. Yeah, that's a good idea actually. Maybe if you're in a city, it also depends on the city.
Speaker 1:Some cities you can't really buy unless you buy.
Speaker 2:Sometimes condos aren't the way. You wouldn't buy condo in DC, dc has a lot of condos there.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I would ever buy in DC really. Yeah, but they just bought a great place.
Speaker 2:I know, just bought great place.
Speaker 1:He bought a great place. It's not in DC, though.
Speaker 2:Where is it?
Speaker 1:It's in, it's in Annandale, virginia Annandale. Yeah, I say that annan Dale.
Speaker 2:Holly's strange James. Yeah, okay back to you. So you had that upbringing. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. When is the next time you would say real estate? I think it's gonna be actually word of life in my.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna well, I mean, yeah, if we want to backtrack to then, probably when I met you.
Speaker 2:Okay, how so?
Speaker 1:I mean, I think if we hadn't met at summer camp in no like the real estate profession or the real estate industry.
Speaker 2:I think about real estate like the space and word of life, because they own that big ranch and that was a formative experience in your time, and the island like that's real.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:So tell us about that.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. So word of life is a Christian summer camp, that they have multiple properties throughout the US, throughout the world, honestly, and so that was a camp I attended when I was in high school. It's an island in the middle of upstate New York when they just have a bunch of high schoolers come every summer for eight weeks and it's incredible, formative experience for sure.
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 1:I went like four years in a row, I think.
Speaker 2:I volunteered there and then you ended up working.
Speaker 1:I ended up going to school. They have a Bible Institute that I ended up going to. They have won in New York and Florida for the US and then they have won and, like I don't know, maybe 40 countries, oh, but yeah. So I went to the Florida campus for a year after high school and what was?
Speaker 2:how did they get because I was they have like massive public, I'm assuming like 200 acres of land or 300 acres of land up and upstate and around X mountains with like a whole island. Yeah, probably have like more than 300 acres actually.
Speaker 1:I have no idea honestly. They have a lot of space, yeah they probably have several hundred acres.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, they have a lot of honest.
Speaker 1:It was all donated to them, which is insane.
Speaker 2:So that's what I want to hear. How did that? How does that look like? Do you know any of those stories? I don't know, I can't remember. For you may ask, like, what would you say? Because that space to me is a very sacred space.
Speaker 1:That's where I came to know Christ.
Speaker 2:Where would you like? What was the impact you think of that particular piece of land? And if it wasn't that wonderful, it wasn't that beautiful, what would be kind of the different impact that you guys had?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I think one thing to note specifically about the land is when you come onto the property, you literally have to be taken by boat, and so I think that's already like an incredible experience, as you literally like we don't take boats every day here. If we drive in a car, we take a bus, we take a train, whatever, but to be taken by a boat onto an island and then to be welcomed, they have this incredible beautiful boat house and it says on it a very special island, and so that's what's welcoming you when you get there. And so I think, like maybe you're going there for the first time and you see that and you're like I have no idea what the heck this means, or like you don't even think about it, but to leave, hopefully, a changed person, a changed man, a changed woman, and to look back at that when you're going back to the mainland, I think is like very, very emotional, very, very like spiritual experience, and so, yeah, for me it was very, very formative.
Speaker 1:That's where I met, obviously, some of my closest friends. That's where I met you and so many other people in my life who I have the chance to work with, who I'm still in contact with one of my friends, olivia. I lived with her and her husband in Phoenix. We met on the island and we I was in her wedding and you know things like that and I think like without that place, the trajectory of my life would have been so different.
Speaker 1:Which is really kind of crazy, it is really kind of crazy.
Speaker 2:And that is once again like and people were once like we're generous enough to give them that land. Yeah which is such a crazy thing to me. Yeah, but I believe it. Yeah, I remember being on the after, like the week I got saved. I remember going tubing on the water and. I saw the Sun hit the water and you know me, I'm growing up Jersey. I never had the means go to be, right like super.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine who has a boat. Yeah, it was like a profound experience and once again it's like the land, you know, like we're in some Western yeah, protect the land right but the land is real estate and real estate impacts our lives in every single way, even how they design the cabins Right the material the calmness of it all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's very peaceful. You can't have your phone. Can't have your phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the best part, yeah okay, so now fast forward to the silver team and I want love to hear all about Kind of how you've seen, because people will know like, oh, here's how we did the Airbnb, and here's how we did that and here's how we do this. But, what would you say behind the scenes or some things that would surprise people? We've had a lot of bad in our Friendship and.
Speaker 2:I should. Friendship was very, very negatively impacted, but then actually possibly impacted. But what would you say has been something behind the scene takeaways that you've seen how real Say isn't in how real says impacted your life in particular. And then you know, since you know me so well, my yeah, very, two, three years impacted my life.
Speaker 1:Um, I think for me, it was surprising to see just how many opportunities are out there, like literally. I feel as though, like you and I have had so many conversations and you've been like Savannah, why don't you just Whatever? And I'm like, oh, why didn't I think of that? Like there's just so specifically with Airbnb, I think, for example, like just like there's so many ways around it and I think around it being like, if you don't own a Property, that doesn't mean you can't do Airbnb. So I think like that has definitely changed and like Grown my mind and things of that nature. What was the rest of the question?
Speaker 2:What would you say? But actually let's stay with that for a second. Yeah so like you're saying that, it seems it sounds like you're saying that real estate being in the industry has impacted your mind, like being able to think bigger. Yeah would you mind talking more to that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think like Well, I think when I joined I joined the team in November 2020. I left the team in July 2023. So almost three years on the team. When I joined the team in November 2020, it was completely different team than it was when I left, and I think that's a beautiful thing. There's a lot of growth with growth within those couple years. But I think that, in terms of expanding my mind, I was put into situations, one where I didn't have all the answers. I know you often say never be the smartest person in the room, and I think that is like one of the things I was. Before I joined the team, I was oftentimes like I didn't know what I was doing, but I also didn't have someone come alongside of me and teach me and say, hey, how about you try this?
Speaker 1:and so in terms of that part of expanding my mind, that was a huge thing. But then also just to being in a collaborative environment where it's like every single person is Like striving for a common goal and that common goal is to sell or buy real estate or do something within that like mindset, I think, like I came from a nonprofit world, I came from like a bunch of different avenues of career. That was a huge difference is that kind of every person was looking to do the same exact thing, and so with that, I think, when we all have the same mentality and the same goal in mind, then we're all Automatically going to be kind of thinking in the same direction and everybody has a different brain so we're able to collaborate and come up with different ideas. So I think just being around people who have a different brain than me, have different ideas than I do, allowed me to kind of expand my own brain and kind of exercise the muscle that I wasn't used to using.
Speaker 2:Do you think you would have had that in a different space, though it was just particularly to real estate?
Speaker 1:I Think different space, for sure, but I think like I wasn't in a different, I wasn't in different space. This is where I was. I was in real estate. I didn't have another opportunity.
Speaker 2:You know that I could have even chosen from so yeah, I would say too, though I think honestly it's not like you know, you know cheerlead for real estate. I think real estate industry as a whole it does have such an eclectic, eclectic roster of people. So even on our team we had not only socioeconomically adverse, we had faith, we had really a lot of different views.
Speaker 2:Most importantly, like you're saying, a lot of different personalities with even further different amount of skill sets. So I think, being in the real estate space and especially being on this team, where it's young and people are willing to grow and everyone's still molding- like the person that you met, the person that you're working with six months from now isn't going to be the person you're still working with now, even though it's the same physical person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually think it's well. I've never been in an industry long enough aside from real estate long enough to really meet someone else and be like, oh, what do you do for work? And them tell me I do this and I'm doing the same thing as them. So I think, like my experience in real estate is like I think about my current landlord and I think about specifically one other person who I, after I had left the team, I was sitting at a coffee shop, I was working on some Airbnb stuff and I was sitting outside in.
Speaker 1:This woman is sitting at a table next to me and I hear her answer the phone and she's talking about GSMLS and I'm like, and then I looked at her afterwards and then I got on a phone call with someone here on the team and I was talking about something regarding real estate and then she was like, oh, are you in real estate?
Speaker 2:And I was like I am, I heard you say you know, and so I think like yeah, I don't know what it's like in other industries, but I think specifically for real estate there's such a connection, like you feel like you're, like family.
Speaker 1:You know and you can carry conversation and like even my landlord now, like I'm trying to get him to allow me to arbitrage my Airbnb, arbitrage my house that I'm living in, and he's totally fine with it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, once you're, when you've gotten, it's like I want to be like dramatic, but when you get into real estate industry, if you really want to succeed, if you really, if you end up they say it's a bug, right, once you catch the bug from real estate right, whether it's investing, whether it's working in the industry, whether whatever it is once you catch that bug, real estate will impact your life because you then join a cult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the cult is just like oh, I'm a real estate guy Like I couldn't do, even if you brought me into like anything.
Speaker 2:I would just always want to talk about real estate, because real estate is like it becomes more than that.
Speaker 1:It's what you know.
Speaker 2:It's part of you and honestly, you're right Like it's such a challenging experience that you find so much like the bet. The people who I find understand me the most are people in the real estate space.
Speaker 2:It's very challenging. I got an amazing pastor unbelievable, I love him, pleasant, whatever but I always think there's like a gap right. So how we can understand for me. So even in the real estate industry, where there's a counterpart, where there's not a faith, where the person I'm speaking to may not be faith based, but they understand what it's like to be hustling, to be in real estate to want to get better every single day that the money isn't getting gained.
Speaker 2:You're wearing more, so I think you're right. It's almost like trauma bonding. Yeah, it is. That's very true.
Speaker 1:It's actually very true, and even just in my experience, like obviously you have thousands of hours more of experience than I do, but in my small my new experience with real estate that I have. I remember we went to like a conference or some kind of something that we went to for Airbnb, where you're presenting, and just the conversations that I was able to have as someone I think at the time I had only been like maybe a year and a half in to real estate and like maybe a couple months into doing Airbnb like the conversations I was able to have. I remember leaving that experience to me like I just did that, like I just had those conversations and like just being able to hold that and being able to relate with people on that level, I think, is really, really, really special and very unique specifically to real estate.
Speaker 2:Very, because it's just a camaraderie. Yeah it's more than trauma bonding actually. Yeah, you're saying it's like you. It's like you shared a womb.
Speaker 1:I'm not a womb of real estate.
Speaker 2:Can I, can I give you the best idea? It's like you shared a foxhole. Okay, you're getting shot at you're shooting.
Speaker 2:You're shooting the bad guys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're in war and you're fighting. And then you come home and you see someone who has, you know, shout out to the veterans, war heroes, and I'm making like a very bad comparison. Right now I'm realizing. But the idea is this it's like when you see someone, oh, actually, you know, it's like better example. It's like someone from when you go to college with somebody and then like, oh wait, you went there.
Speaker 2:I went there too, and but it's like that college experience but worldwide industry experience yeah. So you're real estate, I'm a real estate too. Oh my gosh, what's going on? Talk to me. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And one thing I love about the real estate at least my space in the real estate world right is that there's so much collaboration is with Keller Williams, for sure. It's like anytime you meet me a KW person, kw agent, they're never like oh, here are my secrets.
Speaker 1:Here's like my craft. Well, and I think that's what I felt too when I was here. I was like there's just so many like especially with KW, like especially with the co brokers and things like that. It's like, hey, how are you doing this? I'm having trouble in this area. Can you help me, can you?
Speaker 2:tell me how you're doing this.
Speaker 1:That is a really, really beautiful thing, Because there is competition, but not competition to an extent of like. I'm going to hide my secrets and I can't let you in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not like a zero sum game. Exactly I want you to win and I'll win, yeah, so like we can both win, exactly Like there's enough food in the kitchen for everybody yeah, forever, and then some yeah and then some yeah, Okay, so wow, very, very, very good, I agree 100%. So that's what real estate kind of impacted you in your mind like blowing up. Is there any other way? Because real estate also took like and not just real estate also like the silver team, right?
Speaker 2:And not only the silver team, myself really like overworked you to like the brim of death.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So tell us about what you would caution people of your own personal experience when it comes to how real estate industry can impact you in terms of, like your work life for the worst For the worst, so that was a better.
Speaker 1:You want me to just say all the bad things?
Speaker 2:Well, not all the bad things, but some of them.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I think it's really easy to want to take everything on and to be, for me, for example, like I really wanted to be the hero. I wanted to be the one to save the day. I wanted to be the one to be like no, I did that, like um, and so I think it's in my position I mean, I wasn't an agent or anything like that but in my role of director of operations, slash executive assistant, like I wanted to be the one who was like I am so thankful that I had a part in that and then it was successful and so with that, I took on a lot, I took on, I took on, I took on and I never took off. I never said no, I never said no. I never said no because I wanted to be like no, I can handle this, I can handle this. And I think that goes back to some things as out when I was a child and you know things like that.
Speaker 1:But I do think that there is like some truth in that. In specifically for my role as director of operations and EA in real estate is that it's really really easy to want to do it all, especially when we're trying to run a team and we're trying to build and we're trying to grow. That's one thing I would say is I I never said no. I think also learning to delegate could have helped with that. Like I didn't, I didn't delegate to anyone, I wanted to do it myself, and the truth of the matter is my shoulders just aren't that strong. So that's one thing.
Speaker 2:Can we stay on there for a second? Sure, Once again. Is that specific to real estate, that experience of like, hey, I'm just taking on, taking on, taking on, or is it that? Is there anything unique to real estate that exacerbated that to you?
Speaker 1:I think that the the real estate industry can be very demanding and it's it never shuts off. It's 24, seven. You know, like clients can call you at nine PM, they can call you at nine AM, they can call you at three AM, like especially if they have yourself a number. Like you are inaccessible to them unless you set up boundaries. So I think that's one thing that is like very specific to real estate is that, like you can make yourself indispensable, which is a very dangerous place to be If you want to like, which I don't know why anyone would want to do that.
Speaker 2:But I myself want to be indispensable to my clients, for sure, but not myself like this. The value I provide, like the team, is a poor example. I think you said on the head it's because real estate is so demanding and there is no end. Like there is, like there's never. Okay, well, we're done. No, you can always grow it's exciting right, it's very exciting you can always grow.
Speaker 2:You can always get better. Wow, at the same time it's like Icarus, right, you will fly too close to the sun and you will get burned down and died. So if you don't pace yourself, if you don't like gauge your stomach like my dog, if we give him like a ton of food, guess what he'll do? He'll eat all the food. He'll literally erupt his stomach eating the food why he can't stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I think what you're saying is like for whether it's like hey, we're trying to prove ourselves, hey, we're afraid, hey, we're ashamed, whatever it is, you know, we're trying to build our worth, good and bad, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Gotta say hey, what if I didn't grow?
Speaker 1:next year. That's okay, yeah, and I think like not necessarily like specific to real estate, but I think like just where the team was you know, when I was here, like there was such room for growth, like we were babies, you know like as individuals and as a team, you know, like we had no clue what we were doing.
Speaker 1:we were still trying to learn. There was so much to do, so much to learn, and so I think with that just added on so much work and so much potential growth opportunity, whereas maybe even now it's a little bit less because we've gotten to a point of maybe more so a plateau with a slight incline, but when I was here it was just inclined like 90 degrees.
Speaker 2:This was growing, growing, growing, growing, growing, growing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the rapid growth you know they say the sound of rapid growth is like the sound of rapid growth in a business is a lack of cash flow and an increase in stress, Right, Like a demanding increase in stress. So that is like the experience of rapid growth and that's like that's the cost. Anyone in business tell you like if you're like everyone's big, oh my God, you're growing so quickly. Well, yeah, because it cost me a ton of money to grow.
Speaker 1:Well, it's literally. You think of someone who has a growth spurt. There was like, like medically speaking, people who go through growth spurts end up breaking their bones because their body cannot adjust to the rate in which their body is growing.
Speaker 2:Are you telling me, if I go through a growth spurt, my bone's gonna break?
Speaker 1:Well, not in a like a like a like. There are growth spurs that do happen and it's called a growth spurt, Like you know, like if you grow five inches in the summer, you know five inches in a year, like that's a growth spurt. But I think there is like a medical term that is a growth spurt and it's like they literally grew too fast and their bones broke.
Speaker 2:Oh, like the bone was as strong as it sustained the growth?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So that is a great analogy for us, yeah. And like your, time and how we also impacted you because you broke and then I broke with it, and then the company broke three to four times over. And then, once again, real lives are real. This is what happens.
Speaker 1:And I think, like for that example, like if you think of like me breaking and then you breaking and then the company breaking, like I thought my back was strong enough to carry all that. And the truth is like, no one's person back is strong enough for that. You were it's like it's weird.
Speaker 2:There's like there's a saying. It's like we drastically overestimate what we can do in one year and we drastically underestimate what we can do in 10.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, and I'm just like huh, because reality, we want it all now. And it's like Warren Buffett, for example. Right, uncle Warren, right the whole joke. But Warren Buffett, he was in investing for like decades and he only really got famous in his like later half of his life, but he was in the industry, invested for decades. Wait, he was just going slow, slow and steady. And who wants me slow and steady? Nobody.
Speaker 2:We want to be like fast growth, rapid expansion, where, right now, like I was talking to our leadership team and my whole thing is like, okay, what if we didn't grow next year? Yeah, let's try, for let's target 20% growth Great. What if we didn't do it, though, and just went 1% better and that's okay? Okay? So, basically, you're saying that real estate really impacted you because it was all consuming. It broke a bone in you, and I couldn't agree more. I've been there, I often have been there. What would you say is another way for the negative that real estate industry impacted your personal life.
Speaker 1:Oh, my personal life.
Speaker 1:I think I was so exhausted from working, from answering calls, from doing all this stuff on the team and from real estate that I literally, like I would get home from work on a Friday night and I would look in my apartment and I would say I do not have even the energy to clean up this house, like I do not have the energy to go grocery shopping.
Speaker 1:And so I think, like that starts to snowball into like one living in a messy space, two eating out because there's not enough, like I don't have enough time or enough time slash energy to go to the store and get groceries. And so I think, like personally, like it did start to affect my physical health One eating out, two like and then also with the living in a messier space, like my mental health, because when you live in a cleaner space you just tend to have like a better mental health, and so like in terms of like my personal life, that was like definitely one way that started to affect me. I was completely exhausted all the time. I found that I was a little bit harsh towards people when I had no reason to be just like friends and family. I would just kind of like snap back at them.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, irritability.
Speaker 1:Very irritable. So, yeah, like just not just working so much to the point of literally breaking the signs I should have paid attention to, the signs of, like I said, eating out no time, being exhausted, all of these different things and really just not allowing myself to have time to like refocus, rest, take Sabbath and like enjoy life, where I was like really letting life take me when I should have been taking life Powerful.
Speaker 2:Where would you say that real estate has impacted your relationship? You know because you are in a relationship. You know the guy, you know shout out to Bec love ya. Also shout out, mama K.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, shout out.
Speaker 2:Love you, mama K. Where would you say that real estate has impacted your relationship? You started dating Bec while you were here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, on the team, right, yeah, yeah. So how was that I?
Speaker 1:was on the team while we were dating, I think in the beginning of our relationship I was so stressed and so tired that he told me that he was like really questioning, kind of like not my personality, but kind of my personality, just because he was Tell me more about that yeah, he was like Samina, I would get on the phone with you, cause we were long distance at the time, and he would get on the phone with me and be like you were so like emotional and so like, like I said, irritable and so like almost manic honestly.
Speaker 1:And he was like I just I didn't know what I signed up for, because that's not who the person was that I met two years, that we met two years before we started dating, and so now I'm like a completely different person because I've had that time to kind of rest and recuperate and be Savannah again. But so that definitely affected our relationship in the beginning, probably the first three to four months, because of just the amount of stress that I was taking on, but then also, I think, positively, it affected our relationship as well because, like you mentioned, he just bought a house in July and so was able to kind of come alongside him in that and talk to him about things that if I wasn't in real estate I would literally have no idea. I would have no clue like what an interest rate was, or maybe I would know what an interest rate was.
Speaker 2:but like you know what I mean, that's a piece to do, so pause real quick. So you had like both right. You have the negative aspect where he's literally, and my wife will tell you. And one thing that I hate with all my soul is when my wife doesn't want to call me at work, because she's like oh, you're like, have your work voice on. And to me I'm like and it's just the worst feeling, right Because. I know exactly what she means right, I think we all know exactly. Okay, Brandon, talk to you later.
Speaker 1:You're like scared.
Speaker 2:You're just like so you have that energy which is just heartbreaking. And then when you're saying, also with a vet, you had the opportunity to kind of be a person of value in what I would say the largest financial decision of his life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:And now, with that being said, I gotta imagine that's a sense of empowerment for you. Oh my, gosh.
Speaker 1:yeah, the amount of connection that I felt to him because of like just being able to speak into that in his life.
Speaker 1:Like you know, he doesn't come from a real estate background at all, like you know, like his parents have bought and sold a couple properties, but like, aside from that, like he doesn't really have anyone in his life who was directing him other than his agents, and so I think there's always I've never bought a property, but I think, depending on the agent you're working with, you may feel a little bit like are they trying to pull the fast one on me, you know things like that, like I think that's just natural human nature, but to have him come and ask me questions and me have the answer, or me be able to provide insight into what he was questioning or what he was wondering, was extremely empowering and just like, like I mentioned, just the connection that it brought, like I think that's really, really special.
Speaker 2:What would? Oh, I love this. Well, what kind of person would you recommend get into real estate?
Speaker 1:Any person.
Speaker 2:Like like any person. Okay, what would you say? Someone like what are some of the key impacts that someone could you know, expect in their personal life if they're getting into real estate?
Speaker 1:Good and bad. Good and bad, I think you're fresh off the boat. Yeah, this is just the reality of it. God to the land.
Speaker 1:It's the day yeah yeah, yeah, I think like increased stress for sure. Just naturally, this is a very stressful industry, but I think if you can learn to manage it, I think you recently have learned to manage very well. I'm learning and I think that's a roller coaster. I think there will be, you know, seasons of very good stress management and seasons where it's not so good. So I think, learning to manage your stress, I think that's the type of person you have to be able to do that time. You have to be very like on time person.
Speaker 1:Do not be late. Because one thing that you taught me that I take into consideration almost every time I'm going to meet someone is I remember when we used to take on rentals and we would be trying to find tenants for some of our landlords and the landlords would be there. We'd be there. We would say, okay, we're going to meet at 9am. The tenant would show up it's 901. We'd leave. We'd say I'm sorry you were late. You were late to this signing of the lease. We can't take you on as a tenant because if you're going to be late to signing the lease, you're going to be late on your rent, and so I remember that, impacting me so much.
Speaker 1:And like obviously, like three years later, I still remember it. But so I think you have to be on time, because think of the person on the other side, think of the seller or the buyer who's waiting for you and you're 10 minutes late and it's like oh well, if you can show up to my appointment on time, am I going to be able to contact you when I need to or when I have a question.
Speaker 1:So I think that's one thing you need to be able to manage your time well. You need to be able to manage your stress well. I think you need to be hardworking, and I think everyone probably thinks they're hardworking, but I mean, you've got to be full of grit.
Speaker 2:Grit.
Speaker 1:You've got to be someone who you're going to get beat up, you're going to get punched in the head, you're going to get your nose broken, but you've got to be willing to get back up and try again, because it is a brutal industry.
Speaker 2:And, at the same time, real estate has impacted my life in such profoundly positive ways. It has given me such an opportunity. Really, the Lord's used it for me to bless others, bless myself, bless my family, and it's such an abundant industry and it's such a honestly wonderful industry, and it's weird that I'm like I think I'm lying to myself when I say stuff, but then I remember wait, no, both can be true. It can be brutal. You do need to show up on time. But guess what? The world is brutal, the world is tough.
Speaker 1:There is no easy way out.
Speaker 2:There's literally no easy way out, and even about being on time. This week I was late to an appointment.
Speaker 1:It happens.
Speaker 2:And the guy literally said I'm sorry, I was 20 minutes late.
Speaker 1:I was a little late.
Speaker 2:I was 27 minutes late and he left. And he's like I'm not coming back, wasting my time. I'm not going to work with you. I'm over there. I'm pissed, I'm like man. I'm late because I'm interviewing a position so that when we work with you we can be better, and I'm late because of the traffic. I'm late because of this and I mean, I know I'm late because I didn't budge well.
Speaker 1:Right, I was in pride, and clients want to feel like their priority, and so if you're not prioritizing their time, why should they give you their business?
Speaker 2:And also I wouldn't work with someone who's 20 minutes late.
Speaker 1:20, 25 minutes late.
Speaker 2:No way, I'm a big guy, I'm not always you crazy. So, with that being said, I do agree with you, and it's not binary. Both things can be true. You can't have a really difficult, heartbreaking industry that also gives your heart so much life and when you realize that you actually are able, in my experience, to live a fuller life honestly yeah.
Speaker 2:So no, but that is really beautiful, though, to see from your perspective, because I've seen so much. Those are your takeaways, Because that is how real estate really does impact people's lives, and especially your first two years in the business, especially your first two years there, that's for sure. Yeah, and now on a separate thread where are you living now? Oh, wow Because let's talk about your physical space is real estate right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So how is your physical space right now? How do you like it? I know you're in DC. It could be like your physical space. Are you living, or are you just even the city and town around?
Speaker 1:it yeah. So I live in a suburb of DC and I live in a house.
Speaker 2:And you used to live in Newark. I used to live in Newark Like a lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very, very cool, very, very cool studio apartment Lived in Newark. I lived there for a year.
Speaker 2:Brick walls, literally like was an old carriage house, Great landlord, great neighbors.
Speaker 1:It was really really awesome.
Speaker 2:And you say that was in your new experience in Newark.
Speaker 1:That was my Newark experience, okay.
Speaker 2:Great landlords, great neighbor.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Which is funny because the year block in particularly is it was a rough.
Speaker 2:Literally a rough block. So what makes you say that? Oh, you want to know how rough my block was Tell me.
Speaker 1:I went out. I went out of my house one morning. It was actually a very rainy day.
Speaker 2:Rainy day.
Speaker 1:And I walked outside and I looked across the street and I was like, oh, I'm so glad, like that's not my car. And then I looked and it was my car and the entire front driver's side was completely smashed, totaled, and I was like, oh, so that's what it's like.
Speaker 2:On that block? Yeah, on that block, and you got it. What was it? Hit and run. It was a hit and run. The guy left a note no, no, no, they didn't do much.
Speaker 1:I'm being honest Newark PD. We love you Honestly. They probably have bigger fish to fry. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, so that was rough, but thankfully my insurance was really good so they were able to help me out. But no, I did love my experience in Newark. I lived in a very quiet studio, literally like I could throw a rock and hit it from here.
Speaker 2:So it was very close. But overall I then would say the neighborhood wasn't that good.
Speaker 1:No, the neighborhood's not good.
Speaker 2:The neighborhood was good, the neighborhood was yes, neighbors were great. Okay, neighbors were great, I think that's the thing about Newark that I've loved. The people you live next to are really really awesome. I think it's the people that drive through that. I'm like can you stay elsewhere? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Because I think people come to Newark and they expect something, but where I live now I live in a house in DC area and I'm renting a room there. I'm renting a basement, so it's a three-bed. It's a four-bedroom, three-bath house. I'm renting the basement and the area is amazing. It's really, really walkable, very. I would say it's a metropolitan area, but I wouldn't call it urban, if that makes sense. A lot of like business. But I also think DC is so different from Newark it's like a suburb.
Speaker 2:It's a suburb, okay, suburb Right now. Would you say that? In what ways have you lived in a suburb, real estate, environments, right Neighborhood, what ways has it impacted you differently than living in the city environment?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the suburb. I'm recognizing how much more expensive it is. It is incredibly expensive. The house I'm living in is worth almost a million dollars and it is not anything fancy at all. A house down the street, two houses down for me, just sold for $2.8 million Non-fancy house. This market is really hot right now. I think the Newark market is really hot right now. I think so just recognizing these prices are pretty hefty comparatively. Why is that? Looking into that and just trying to see this is very interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, definitely interesting. You're basically getting exposed to larger amounts of money. What I encourage you is that you have the opportunity of. You've already developed like whoa. There's a big button world there with a lot of money changing hands all the time. Your goal is this anytime there's an exchange of money, how can I get a piece?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, now that's my mindset. How can I Airbnb this If I don't have the money to buy it? How can I Airbnb this Even?
Speaker 2:there in DC you should get your license Like okay, that person sold their house. That means I'm assuming there was a realtor involved right so why not get there?
Speaker 2:And I think that's really how real estate impacts your. If there's one way that I would love to see real estate in your experience because we're talking more about the industry of real estate rather than personal life we're talking personal too, though. Is real estate industry, when I hope it does. I hope it impacts you in a way that, at all times, you think like adventagiously to oneself For sure. So like, almost like, agreed that.
Speaker 1:I hope it instills you. It's a selfish mentality of thinking like okay, my landlord is renting. You know for my personal experience, my landlord is renting out this entire house, but he's also renting individual rooms. There's four people that live in that house. He's not renting to one family, so how can I, as a tenant of that house, take advantage of maybe two rooms? Or even the whole house, or how can I take advantage of this so that I have, at the end of the day, more money in my pocket?
Speaker 2:So you're saying selfish is actually why I challenge you in. There is not selfish Like real estate, where I hope it teaches like it's actually selfish of you not to do it, Because if you don't do it, your landlord is going to have the risk of getting tenants who don't pay. If you don't do it, your future family is not going to have the financial position to be able to thrive and you're going to have another Savannah who moved 10 times, or 10 times, I believe. It was Something like this.
Speaker 2:Something like that 10 times or 13 times, but you were 18, or 10 times by 10, you were 18. So you're going to have another young daughter or young son who's in a feel that way. So, the most selfish thing you can do is not take action to like expand your wealth and really build more value in the world.
Speaker 1:I think I used to look at it selfishly and now I'm in the mindset of like I'm learning to look at it as an opportunity rather than how can I take advantage?
Speaker 2:It's not ever taking advantage but it can feel that way in the beginning If you think about how like Richie Barr depicted in movies right. How Richie will depict it.
Speaker 1:Very like greedy wealthy evil cartoon Right.
Speaker 2:Who's the enemy for like? I just watched this who's the enemy for Batman?
Speaker 1:Who's the?
Speaker 2:enemy for Superman. Lex Luthor right.
Speaker 1:I don't know Lex Luthor.
Speaker 2:Superman was my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite superhero ever. You have Clark Kent and that was a cool thing, right. But what Lex Luthor? Who's what, this billionaire guy? And he's an evil one, and then you look at him as Spider-Man right. Right in the Marvel Universe.
Speaker 1:And what did?
Speaker 2:you see there who's his enemy the Green Goblin, yeah, osborn.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. So you see that he was he. He's a billionaire so oftentimes. And then you get Batman right. Batman's depicted as well. Well, batman's a rich. What are you talking about? Well, though, batman was rich, right, why is it happening? He's only the superhero, is not Batman the rich guy? That's actually like his. He actually hates that.
Speaker 1:He paints Batman and alter ego yeah, his alter ego, Bruce.
Speaker 2:Wayne. Right, bruce Wayne is this guy who's like this rich, you know playboy blah, blah, blah blah, like obnoxious. So we really don't grow up seeing people with wealth as something good.
Speaker 1:We see it as something bad.
Speaker 2:So we then our money story and that was from a really great pastor down in Florida who taught me that with the superheroes. But we don't see wealth as something good, especially when you grew up in low income.
Speaker 1:Yeah. We see wealth as something well, you're much better than me. Very frivolous, yeah, that's what it's viewed as. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's almost like I'm not good enough for that. Yeah exactly Right and like. So there's a shame aspect to it and there's like well, I'm not going to go out and take that, Whereas, like people who build wealth, they go out and they take. By creating, they create value and they are compensated in money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's the same thing with you. I think you're such a person of value, so, but it's a shame aspect that we have to take away, and that's what real estate did in my life, and it's the view of, like our money story that we really have to diagnose, like really dissect, like wait, what happened here?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And move on from that place, Anyways.
Speaker 1:Savannah, great to have you on the show. Yeah, thank you yes.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Realize Real Estate. We're glad to have you, you're part of my real life and a part of my real estate journey, such a friend and dear to my heart. So, yes, ok, guys, savannah is not really active on social media, but she was active on social media.
Speaker 1:I'm very active. You are very active recently. Well, I post once a month on my grid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know this is, I don't know what you call it. Once a month post is not very active. I'll become more active for the fans, for the podcast, for the podcast, ok great. What's your podcast? What's your Instagram?
Speaker 1:My Instagram is at NaturallySav underscore.
Speaker 2:NaturallySav.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
