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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
Anthony Marin's Journey from First Property to Real Estate Cornerstone
From the vibrant streets of Brooklyn to the bustling avenues of North Newark, Anthony from MIG sheds light on his dynamic journey in the realm of bricks and mortar. His story is one of transformation, from the simple beginnings of owning a three-family home to becoming a beacon of success within the community. Our conversation takes us on a path intertwined with the evolving sense of neighborhood camaraderie, delving into the life lessons learned from apartment living and how social media sparked connections that led to a chance encounter during a mansion tour.
It's not just about the buildings; real estate reflects our personal odysseys. My own transition from an aspiring sports agent to a tech enthusiast at BlackRock Financial parallels the shifts we experience in our living spaces, from the joy of a first room to the complexities of family life, like navigating through a sibling's divorce. Anthony and I navigate the tough waters of real estate's influence on our professional lives, highlighting the unexpected routes and the stability found in owning property—even when it seems like every other aspect of life is in flux.
But the essence of it all goes beyond the skyline—it's about the heart and hearth of our lives. We delve into how the real estate market has sculpted generational stories, contrasting the loss my family faced against the financial windfall my in-laws reaped from savvy investing. Anthony's choice to live rent-free through astute investments has not only reshaped his own future but also rewritten his family's narrative. We end with a poignant reflection on the true measure of success within real estate, celebrating the happiness and fulfillment that comes from building a life and legacy for ourselves and our loved ones.
To get more insight on episodes and to apply to be on the show, visit www.BrendanDaSilva.com!
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So when I bought that three family, that's when my head shifted. I'm like, okay, I can do this. I bought it. I got two tenants in here. They're paying. They're paying two thirds of my rent four years in. Five years in. They were paying for everything. I was living in a three bed, two bath, 1500 square foot in the ironbound for $0. They paid my home mortgage and taxes and insurance, everything.
Speaker 2:All right. So I have Anthony, the one and only from MITG, located in the ironbound. What's free in the ironbound again.
Speaker 1:On Jebestery right, Jebestery Wilson.
Speaker 2:Avenue. Okay, perfect, welcome to Real Lives of Real Estate. We're happy to have you here today. I've known you. How did I first get to meet you? I think it was on Instagram. I first heard about you Shout out social media. There you go Connect people Thank you Right and good social media page. Definitely follow up, for you know everything in all things.
Speaker 1:MITGproperties, just so you get the handle Just in case.
Speaker 2:The MITGproperties definitely follow, though, and I remember seeing your stuff and just thoughts myself. This seems like a guy I need to know, and then I don't know how we first got connected, but do you, because I don't actually remember.
Speaker 1:I, if I remember correctly, I think it was a tour in this mansion.
Speaker 2:Oh, the initial tour.
Speaker 1:And the same. I knew you the same way. It was through social media and you were walking around with your camera crew and I said that's Brendan the Silva, and I introduced myself and like hey, what's up, man Just want to introduce myself. I see your stuff, and that was it. Quick five minute intro. And then that's where the you had just started, yeah.
Speaker 2:And you were just getting your space and iron band at the time, right.
Speaker 1:I was looking for space here as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, I remember. Oh, and you're like God. This is yes, and you actually made a good decision, because your timeline would have been pushed back a year.
Speaker 1:As far as you got, so I got it yeah.
Speaker 2:You have been like just saying at home, work from home, Wow what am I? Gonna do no, but anyways. Yeah. Now look here we are in the same building, probably a year and a half later, Right it?
Speaker 1:will probably match. That place looks great, your office looks great, this spot for this is awesome and congrats.
Speaker 2:Well, this is the only thing we could have done here. I don't know else. So my favorite question to start off with is what did you grow up in? Did you grow up in a house, an apartment building? What did you grow up in? Where did you grow up? How did that impact you?
Speaker 1:So my furthest memories back. I grew up in a two family house in Brownsville, brooklyn, so my mom was paying rent on a two family and, yeah, it's pretty much and it's crazy, it's the same type of properties that I started buying in North Newark. It reminded me of what we used to live in. It was kind of the same people right, I'm Puerto Rican from Brooklyn. In North Newark it's a lot of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans living the same way I lived, so it was kind of cool to go back and start buying property over there.
Speaker 2:Wow, and Brownsville is tough, believe it or not? And Mike Tyson, am I right?
Speaker 1:Yes, so Brownsville in the 80s. It was very tough and if people don't know Brownsville, I say it's where Mike Tyson's from. And they just know, oh shit, mike Tyson's from the Ruffian area.
Speaker 2:So that's how I explain it. Yeah, OK and all right. And now so did your mom live? Did your mom own the two family in Brownsville? She didn't. So you guys, did you know that your mom was renting when you were a kid, Probably?
Speaker 1:I didn't know. But then again I didn't know the difference between owning and renting at the time anyway. I mean, I was only there for a few years. And then we moved out to another mixed use apartment building in Sunset Park, brooklyn, which is a little better area. But again, I think at that point I realized we were paying rent. At that point I was a little older.
Speaker 2:And then was the building.
Speaker 1:It was a pizzeria and a pharmacy on the first floor and then four apartments above.
Speaker 2:OK any backyard space you guys had no any greenery at all.
Speaker 1:I used to play basketball with the garbage cans in the front. We'd take all the garbage out. One of my older neighbors. He would come out with his basketball and he would get the garbage can and just shoot the ball in the garbage can Whoa.
Speaker 2:I think there's one cool thing I see about, like I tell you now, because now I live in an apartment building, right, I've never lived in a part building. Now I live in a part building my wife, my son and I think one thing I do like about it is there is a sense of community in the building, right, or like in those kind of spaces, because even there, like you're, this older man is coming down and helping you through like an American dream, right, like a Bronx tale, right, like yeah no, the difference between then and now is you did have a community like everyone around you, like my friend was across the street.
Speaker 1:So I would just go across the street, knock on his door and then I would have him come over and we'd shoot the baskets in front of my house. So there was a community of people all around. But I don't know I mean I don't want to sound like the old guy Everyone's like oh, the community's gone, it's not gone. I think it's just different now because kids aren't going outside and playing anymore. You don't knock on someone's door and say, hey, can you come out and play anymore.
Speaker 2:It's just you know it's different. Now you were in Brooklyn too. So would you feel like back then, let's say, anywhere you went, if you guys, if you had lived in a house or like a suburb, do you feel like you still wouldn't have had the interaction where the kids were playing? I don't know, right, I was born in 94, right?
Speaker 1:So so well, if you want to take the story a little further, my mom bought a house in Staten Island.
Speaker 2:When was that.
Speaker 1:So that was when, a little before high school, I was in sixth or seventh grade, Did you realize?
Speaker 2:oh, we're buying this now.
Speaker 1:So that was the step up. Like my mom was one of the, first ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like, oh, wow, she's buying it. I was like, so it was, it was a big for us and it wasn't suburbs of Staten Island, it was a nicer area it was. It was a nice area in Staten Island but still pretty urban. But yeah, the community was still there. I would go to the kids around me, I would walk, because now I'm Middle school, high school, so my friends didn't all live around me, so I'd walk a couple blocks. Go get my friends and we go. Now we're going to the basketball courts and playing basketball at the park instead of in front of my house and playing football and stuff like that. But yeah, that sense of community was still always there.
Speaker 1:Like you knew who your neighbors were and you'd look out, like my mom would look out for the neighbors and vice versa. What made your mom buy the house? I think she was tired of paying rent. I think that was. That was a sign of making it. You know, for our family and like you know Puerto Ricans, where we, when we grew up, like if you bought a house, it was like you made it and my mom, my mom, worked hard. My mom would get up in the morning. She worked in the finance industry. She ended her career at JP Morgan Chase, so she worked her way. She worked her way up from being a secretary.
Speaker 1:Oh, we leveled at a little bank to being a director at JP Morgan Chase. So a lot of my work ethic came from seeing my mom get up at five o'clock in the morning, leave at six thirty and not get home to seven thirty o'clock at night.
Speaker 2:You wow, what a credible example are the women and our mothers can be. Is that?
Speaker 1:the case. Oh, she was it, you know. Yeah, my mom and my dad split up when I was two years old, so she bought the house in Stine Island from.
Speaker 2:she's from Puerto Rico, right yeah?
Speaker 1:No, she was born here. She was born here. Yeah, she was back and forth in Puerto Rico initially, but yeah, she's born here.
Speaker 2:She's going through single mother first generation, single mother, single mother, any siblings?
Speaker 1:Yeah, three siblings, oh, two sisters and a brother.
Speaker 2:So a family of four, single mother, just like my mother. Same exact thing, and she ends up buying her own property by herself, by herself. Well in Stine Island now. Back then was Stine Island safe, Not so safe, kind of in the middle.
Speaker 1:It's just like every other place, right, you have your really nice areas, you have your really bad areas and you have stuff in the middle. We were somewhere in the middle, I would say If you had to push it more towards the lower end, it was pretty urban where we were, so yeah, OK, let me ask you another thing here real quick, because I'm just.
Speaker 2:Did you have your own room in the apartment then with your three siblings? No, did you have your own room in Stine Island?
Speaker 1:That's a great question. I had my own room in Stine Island At one point in Sunset Park. I always shared a room with my brother, so it was me and my older brother, seven years older than me, and then my mother actually brought my cousin in, so it was actually three of us and I would say a 10 by 12. Bunk beds and a high riser coming out of the bottom. So I've shared a small room from probably the age of five to 12-ish.
Speaker 2:So then, when you went, stand out.
Speaker 1:Then we got to stand out like I'm my own room.
Speaker 2:How did?
Speaker 1:that make you feel, oh, it was great Again. It was like I mean, now that I look back, I was super proud of my mom and, just like I said, we made it Like I had my own room. My brother has his own space. By that time my mom had remarried, so I had two younger siblings at the time, so they had their own space. It was cool.
Speaker 2:Wow, it's so funny because I always, you know, I moved around a lot. I moved around like 13 times by the time I was 10 years old, or whatever. It is 10 by 13 or 13 by 10, I always mix it up I moved around a lot. And we also from house to duplex, to apartment to house. It was just low income, great people, horrible tenants, but it's true.
Speaker 1:It is what it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always find that it's like. The sense of my story is that my mom and my dad they actually sold a piece of land in Brazil after they had immigrated. My dad wanted to invest in business. My mom said let's buy a two family Lendhurst. They did not buy the two family Lendhurst. My dad, god bless his heart, amazing man, revolutionary legend. Love him, support him, idolize him, adore him. The business did not take off and, in light of that, many other decisions we all moved around so many times. So he's never had sense of stability right.
Speaker 2:And I do remember when I got my first room that was a huge moment, because I was in Rutherford and I had my first full room was an attic. My brother moved out, he was 18. I was 14. And I had an attic. When I tell you, I felt like I was a King Anthony, I was El Chapo, I was the King Pin, I was Trump, I was the King of the castle and, literally, because I'm in the attic too right, so I'm like, oh, I'm doing my own thing and there's a sense of, actually, you're right. I do remember. I feel like I made this. I'm really, I'm really good, so I have a lot of the same story.
Speaker 1:So my mom bought the house in Staten Island. There were the bedrooms upstairs. I got the basement.
Speaker 2:So I had my own door go downstairs and it was sectioned off.
Speaker 1:Actually, my bed was in one area and the TV and my PlayStation everything was in another area.
Speaker 1:So I had a little mini apartment down there. It was great because my older brother had moved out. He was staying in Brooklyn that's where his job was so he had stayed there and got an apartment there. So I echoed the same feelings. I felt like it was on top of the world. But what happens? My brother, who got married young, got a divorce, had to move back in. So now my kingdom in the basement got split in half.
Speaker 1:So I went from being the King to having to share my space again, but it was still like, although there was no door, it would still be both our separate spaces, so it was still good.
Speaker 2:Real lives, of real estate, hit you in the face, you got half the space. So, you go to the space Staten Island. I imagine you guys stayed there until you went to graduate high school. Did you end up going to college and college, yeah, so I went to St.
Speaker 1:John's University in Staten Island.
Speaker 2:Right there. So you stayed on a room and board. You were right there, Yep.
Speaker 1:I was right there, although I was on campus and I slept a lot at the dorm, so people thought I actually did live on campus. But it's better to sleep there than drive drunk. So you stay on campus Go home five minutes away, change clothes, take a quick shower and then come right back.
Speaker 2:Enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1:Boom. Safety is key. You crash into someone's couch, whatever it is, and call it a day.
Speaker 2:OK, so now let's fast forward. Actually, because you went into tech right, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean, my entrance to real estate was pretty different than most.
Speaker 2:So would you mind talking about that and what kind? Of led you there, in terms of what introduced you and like, because it made a huge impact on you right, yeah, no, it's.
Speaker 1:So I went to college and I said what am I going to do? I had no idea. My favorite movie was Jerry Maguire. So my first instinct was I was going to be a sports agent. And so someone told me to be a sports agent. You got to get a political science degree and a political science degree and I forget what other degree and I started taking classes in both and I hated both classes. I'm like this is miserable. And all my friends that had just graduated like I was a freshman but seniors graduated they were making 100, 200, 300k in tech. So I said F this, I'm changing my major. I'm going to do technology as a major just to make money when I graduated Not that I loved it, you know, just to make money.
Speaker 2:I don't blame you.
Speaker 1:So you know, went through college, graduated, got a job at BlackRock Financial At the time they were a small little company.
Speaker 2:They're defined small. I can't imagine they were small.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean you know, right now they're the largest financial company in the world.
Speaker 2:They were probably like 250th, like when I started Wow, so you were ground level with BlackRock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. It was a small little fixed income shop. I mean they just did a small portion of the financial markets. But then they bought Merrill Lynch, they bought a bunch of other companies, and you know Barclays, and here they are. But but anyway they was there for five years, rose up the ranks pretty well, and then did you have real estate exposure during that time working at BlackRock?
Speaker 2:None, none, none. You're working for BlackRock and you don't have real estate.
Speaker 1:BlackRock. I thought I was a trader. I've opened up a little I don't know what it was back in the Scott trade account. I had a Scott trade account. I was day trading while I was there because I have that workout for you Horrible.
Speaker 1:I lost a shitload of money, you know. So that's what I thought. I was going to be a day trader and a financial guy and do it during the day. But that didn't work out. So my wife and I you know, my wife was born and raised here in Newark and we knew we were going to move here. So I wound up getting a job at. Did you meet your wife at St John's? I did meet my wife at St John's.
Speaker 2:I just, you never told me that, I just guessed me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I met her at St John's, st Alan campus.
Speaker 2:So and where did she live? In Newark she lives in the iron bar. Born and raised in the iron bar.
Speaker 1:They own or did they rent? They rented initially and then they owned.
Speaker 2:So how old was she when they owned?
Speaker 1:She was young, she was probably like.
Speaker 2:The stability man, the stability, to answer your question, we were taking a long time to get here.
Speaker 1:The only reason I started thinking about multifamily was because of my wife and her family. They lived in a two family.
Speaker 2:Where were you living with your wife at the time?
Speaker 1:I was we were both still living at home, so she was living with her parents and oh, you were dating while you were at Black Rock.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, okay, yeah, yeah. So when do you guys get married?
Speaker 1:We were dating as a senior and then we still we kept on dating while I was working and then, you know, we started thinking about marriage and everything. So we decided we were going to move to Newark. And so that's where the idea of like, okay, the first house we're going to buy, we're going to buy a multifamily. I thought it was the best thing in the world that the second floor tenants were helping pay my in-laws mortgage. I'm like that was the smartest thing in the world.
Speaker 2:Pause. So your exposure to getting into real estate that would lead you to switch your career, that you got a degree in at Black Rock was because you're in-law, who's daughter you met at St John's Showed you. Hey, we're not just talking about it, we're not just on the podcast, we're living it. So think about what, where you would be right now. I'd love to say this how real estate would have impacted your life differently if you never had guy in that experience. And If you're in laws, let's say, for example, they were just like you know, we're just gonna rent forever. Because sometimes you do things in real estate and it's like vicariously, people get impacted or they live through you.
Speaker 1:Now Look at this and I'll give you the perspective I grew up with right, because my grandmother owned a lot of real estate in Trenton and in Brooklyn and my mother and her three siblings sold it all because their perspective on renters were that they didn't pay, they wrecked the house and they didn't want to deal with it. So I grew up with that in my head. Oh, so I never wanted to be a landlord growing up, brother, how did we?
Speaker 2:not talk about this? How about that the park has with this?
Speaker 1:You're telling me your grandmother, brooklyn and I mean trying, okay, yeah, but Brooklyn, and then your she was only stuff for $5,000. So she's still be up at $60,000 now.
Speaker 2:So you're telling oh well, I got like goosebumps, so you said that I'm not kidding. But here's the thing too is when we talk about realized real estate, everyone thinks you come in, you're gonna make all this money, you're gonna pop off. You just see your experience with your grandmother and it two generations later how it can impact. Right, because they say one generation makes it right, the next generation uses it, the next generation loses it.
Speaker 1:Right, my family sped that up my grandmother made it. The next generation lost it all. They sold it because they thought it was not good, and then it took the generation after that to go build it back up the right way.
Speaker 1:And so now I have people in my family saying you're just like a wellita, because she was out there hustling, buying real estate and and I'm trying to just change the narrative in my family that, yes, tenants can be a problem, but there's much more good than bad when you own property and have tenants beautifully said now Wow, that's really cool.
Speaker 2:So then you see your grandma, you see your, your mother-in-law, or soon, that was your mother one at the time my mother, yeah, my in-laws. You see your in-law at a time, you and your Girl, now wife. Where are you guys living exactly? Remind me.
Speaker 1:So when we got married, I was this is a pretty good story and I'm glad, glad you asked that question I was living on my in-laws couch because I was working at sales commonsense, which is a law firm here in Newark, because you know it again how things work out. I wanted to find something close and you know, a law firm in Newark how amazing was that.
Speaker 1:My first leadership position I was managing at like 26, 27 years old, so I was on their couch and we had hurt. We have already started the process of buying our three family, our brand new three family, and you know, fits and starts it and get finished when I was supposed to.
Speaker 2:So I was living on my in-laws couch for and you guys were engaged and we were engaged so you're buying this three family, you're doing your thing. What ends up happening? All because of your in-laws. You saw a different narrative. You saw hey, this can actually work.
Speaker 1:And where was that? Three tenants were paying.
Speaker 2:They actually got along with them living that three family.
Speaker 1:I still live in the three family that I bought initially 13 years ago. Oh my gosh, and where's? That three family on Clifford Street in the iron box on Clifford, in the iron bounder.
Speaker 2:Wow To think about the impact if you're in-laws. Did not have that tenacity. Their immigrants here in loss, yeah, okay, straight straight they come straight from Portugal and they come out here.
Speaker 2:They pop, pop, pop, they make the American dream happen. They impact their daughter, real estate and they impact you, okay. So wow, and you still living that three family. And, once again, what you've provided for your family is what stability? Not only terms of the cash flow, financial stability, but also in the geographical stability. Your kids know what, they know that space, and now you are buying another property we can share. I don't know. Yeah, no, I would.
Speaker 1:I think it'll be more impactful for the, for the listeners, is that's what's so, deceit. So when I bought that three family, that's when my head shifted. I'm like, okay, I can do this. I bought it, I got two tenants in here, they're paying, they're paying Two-thirds of my rent and it got to, you know, 80% of my rent and I would say, four years in, five years in, they were paying for everything. I was living in a three-bed, two-bed, 1500 square foot in the iron bound, for zero dollars. Yeah, so they're paying your home mortgage. They paid my home mortgage and taxes and insurance, everything. Wow, the entire pity payment done. So at that point I'm, you know, working at the law firm trying to figure out how to get in, but I didn't have the Like push. I'm looking on the MLS. Nothing makes sense. The numbers just don't make sense. If I buy it for this, I put this down, I won't make any money, you know.
Speaker 1:But then it was when my wife came home about a year later. So she was pregnant with our daughter, our first daughter. And then, you know, excited, ecstatic, didn't go to sleep that night, went to the office the next day and I said we need to make more money. We need to make more. I got another kid on the. I got a kid on the way Wow, and that was the push I needed To actually really do this. So I'm googling, googling how to make more money and I saw that Andrew Carnegie quote 90% of millionaires got there through real estate. And I said wait, brendan, wait, you're telling me I have a nine a nine, nine out of ten chance to become a millionaire if I go into real estate. The decision was made at that point that day in my office I'm going into real estate. And then that's when, you know, I started reading voraciously.
Speaker 1:I don't know how many books I read well money on success on real estate and that was it.
Speaker 2:And then you better you better think your daughter forever oh yeah, she was she was the push, she was a catalyst. She was the catalyst and so I can. People say all when you get, when you have a kid, you're gonna make less money, you're not gonna want to work as much till it's all opposite.
Speaker 1:It was a complete opposite, my I, agree.
Speaker 2:I'm one year in and I'm more motivated. I'm like no, I gotta like. I like we just bought that. We're buying the six family now and the LSE. The LC name is Maverick 195.
Speaker 1:LLC.
Speaker 2:Nice many of my son, the property, the number of that property right the street dress and LSE. I'm like no, I want like. This is like there's so much more I have, like my world has got infinitely bigger. I time it's time to fill it up, but here's the caveat that we got a little.
Speaker 1:Everybody know as well you know, when I, when I first got in, I thought 12 years later my daughter's gonna be 12. I thought 12 years later I'd be sitting on the beach already just chilling. That's not. That's not how it works. That is not. You gotta put in the time, energy and effort. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm struggling. You know, thank God, you know everything's working out. Well, we do well, but I mean it depends where your goals are. But you gotta put in.
Speaker 2:It's gonna take time to get to where you want to go. I always think of Dom Pepe Grandfather. Right now, pepe owns route 21, this restaurant. Right, he owns this, like the restaurants called Pepe. When you look at it Realistically, you see that generations. So what we're doing now, everything we do, we're never gonna see the full fruit of it. The full fruit of it if handled well and we really lead our children well the wheels, they will impact them. Not even Maverick, it'll be Maverick's children, mm-hmm, if we teach my Maverick. And what's your daughter's name? Amelia?
Speaker 1:I mean Amelia Avaline, and the last one is Ariela. Oh my god, so really quick with the first two days were an accident. And then you know, those are the two names we liked. And now our daughter said we have to have an, a name for the third one. So our our choices were limited, but we settled on Ariela. Beautiful Okay, all beautiful names. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Now let me switch real quick. How is real estate impacted your, how is your, your career in real estate? You own your own brokerage. You have your own shop. You do a lot of property management. You do a lot of. You know commercial consulting. You know development. You have a little bup-a-pah in your right, this dog in you. How have you brownville warrior? How?
Speaker 1:has.
Speaker 2:How has your Marriage possibly negatively been impacted? What have you learned from real estate? Your wife's local Assembly woman assembly woman some woman in Newark East Ward. What have you learned about Marriage, about real estate? How does it intersect? What are some advice you know, what's some piece of advice you give to people who are living out?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm. We're very fortunate because her career is very demanding and obviously any career in real estate if you're gonna do it well is very demanding too. So we had this conversation earlier. I'm lucky that my in-laws live very close to us, that they Take care of the kids and we can. We have that flexibility. So the first thing I would say, if you're going to really jump into real estate and you're married, you you want to have the conversation and I never had this conversation because I didn't know but you want to have a conversation.
Speaker 1:That it's going to be difficult. You're gonna have to be out and about, depending on what you do, but it's gonna be strenuous and time-consuming. And I mean, if you love it, as much as I know you love it and and as much as I love it, we're thinking about this 24-7. Yeah, right, and so there's times we have to learn to put it to the side, because we got to be family time and we got to be wife time. So what, the advice I would give to the people getting into it is like compartmentalize real estate and compartmentalize Family time and then whatever else you'd like to do. Right, if you want to watch sports, then do that, whatever your outlet is. Like you know, on Fridays I like to have a cigar with my friends, so I leave the office early so I can go have a cigar with my friends, because that's my outlet right.
Speaker 1:So, you know, my wife in the beginning was like, oh, I thought you were so busy I am, but I need this. Oh yeah, I need this to decompress, you know, because I have real estate, I have my family and I need this to just decompress at the end of the week because, you know, it makes me feel better when I go home I can be all all about you guys, and then when I go back to work at you know, 6, 6, 30 the morning on a Saturday, because I want to be done by 12 I have that little bit of decompression that that I need.
Speaker 2:Can you talk to the fact? Can you talk to what your wife said like hey, I thought you were so busy. Can you talk about that? Because I I have an idea. Would you mind sharing? When she said that, what do you think she meant? What was going on?
Speaker 1:Well, a lot of times my wife will say this is like my wife.
Speaker 2:She used to say the same thing. We had a coming to Jesus moments and it's a lot, even my family, right. Mom was like but you working or you doing, I'm like I'm, this is what. Like this is part of me surviving, right, what happened?
Speaker 1:Even something such as what we're doing right now. Maybe our Wives don't understand the value that this brings. Yeah right, you're so busy, why aren't you going out there finding listings? Why aren't you going out there finding a deal? Well, they don't realize that this is gonna help Find that deal, or just put us in a good headspace to do the things that we need to do.
Speaker 1:So you know, especially in the beginning, when you know, going from a w2 to an entrepreneur, I Went to a lot of events and I wanted to meet as many people as possible. So they're night events. So she's like oh, you're going out there, you're hanging out, you're drinking, yes, but I'm also Meeting these contacts and this is gonna help me grow. So I mean, I know, you know this because you speak about it a lot. It's communication. You got to communicate. They may not understand it. So that's it, that's what. Something I had to learn like they're not gonna understand exactly what you're doing because that's not what she does every day. So for me to be successful in everything I've read and I've learned the people I've spoken to it is having lunches, it is going to these late night networking events, it is playing golf.
Speaker 1:That was a tough one. That's oh no, where are you going? I'm gonna go play golf this morning at this, at this event. You know what do you mean? You're gonna go play golf, I mean. But you know, yeah, years later now we have an understanding and and, to be honest, the only reason there's an understanding is because I've been successful. At the end of the day, if you're doing this for two, three, four years and you're not making money, I mean, this is us being real right now yeah then the wife is gonna go Where's the, where's the dividend?
Speaker 1:you, you're saying this is gonna work when it's gonna work. So after a year or two, when you know we started doing deals because initially I was an investor, before I was a broker or property manager you know we started doing deals and these deals started bringing in rentaling. Come she's like okay, well, maybe this does work, okay, I'll leave you be, but you got to provide results. I mean, you got to bring the results.
Speaker 2:You got to bring the results. This is okay. So it's difficult for my. So my wife and I very interesting saying this, real, thinking it, as you can see that deeply impacts someone's marriage, right, because one, it's a high-risk industry. It's not, you know, your classic W2. You have your money, right? I always talk about this, actually, funny enough, rami, the guy behind the camera here. I always, like jokingly, would talk about him with my wife. I'll be like I think Rami lives like a happier life than I do. I always I literally bring up Mike. One this guy always seems to have a good attitude to. He travels all the time. Three, he has the ability in his life. He knows what's coming, he knows we're going like and you kind of get envious and then I remember well, yeah, he's just smiling on his phone right now he's like, so like where the ones focus, trying to make sure I provide good content.
Speaker 1:He's probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's probably literally he's probably scrolling on. Graham answering some other one of his clients text Super relax, and Rami, he's not. He has also declined. So he's like a good hybrid. My whole point story is here Rami, shout out to you we love you, brother, but we really deeply depend on you. So you know, never be dissatisfied. But no, in all seriousness. So when we end up seeing here super like, cat like, super straightforward In real estate, your marriage, no matter how you want to cut it, is directly impacted.
Speaker 2:Beyond the traditional, I would say Industries, right, that are not so demanding. For example, if you're a corporate lawyer, you're working, you know 80m to a PM, yeah, you know a high-stress job, etc. No problem. But when you're talking about real estate, where the income in Entrepreneurship, where the income is there, you said something like oh, you need a wife who really can see the results. I am always say this you got to have someone who is understanding that there is not going to be anything to show for your work. You can see the value in the like podcast. You can see the value in the late nights. You can see the value in the early morning golfing sessions. However, if your spouse, if your life partner, does not see the value in you and believe your word and believe your judgment. Ultimately, that relationship will not work Because you could end up literally going crazy because when you want to go all in on the like we went all in on the billboards right, like I'm going all in on my goals, get every billboard on route 21.
Speaker 2:And you know, we just got two more billboards my wife we had. We had a month that we were in the red right and my wife was like, hey, why are we gonna do this? We just went in the red. It's an extra, you know, for grand a month. I said, do not worry about this at all. I this is not something that you're involved in, this is something I need you to leave to me to handle, to leave to me to trust. We are not sure, okay, and that's. Every marriage is different. For my marriage, that's how I worked. I got I have very clear boundaries. My wife, we're buying the six family. It's my wife's name. My wife literally did not know until the lawyer called her Cause we put the LSE, because she has a higher credit, cause we did the DSER loan. So my whole point is marriage, real estate, the last house I bought was the same thing.
Speaker 2:It was a complete in my wife's name. I hit just sign here, just sign here, just sign here. Okay, can we take a moment here? That's there. Can you explain the trust that?
Speaker 1:our wife has to do that. Okay, explain, explain please, Really, really quick, and let's not forget this. But the story you just said. I just want to go back and I glossed over this on my initial story of where. So when I told my wife I was going to quit my job and liquidate, all of our. Ira, for she's pregnant. So this is what happened, oh my.
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 1:The day she told me she was pregnant is when I started like reading. I said, okay, we're going to do real estate. I did like a solid six, seven months of reading and then I had the plan in my head. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to liquidate all of our 401K, all of our IRA, all of our savings. I'm going to pay the penalties. I'm going to pay the taxes. I need all that money because I need to start investing now. With all of that, that money is not going to do anything. What super rich person you know is rich off of their IRA and 401K?
Speaker 2:You don't know one. I don't know anyone who's rich, so there you go.
Speaker 1:That was if she had questioned me, I was going to say that. But she didn't even question me. So I came home and I you know she's there, she's pregnant, eight months pregnant. And I said, babe, I'm going to take all of our retirement funds, IRA 401K, everything I'm going to liquidate and I'm going to invest in real estate. And I expected some kind of response. She just looked at me, awkward, like two minutes of silence, and her response was are you sure? And I think the way I responded was why it went so well.
Speaker 1:I was emphatic, I was so confident in what I learned. I had a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to do and I said I'm 100% positive, this is what we're going to do, this is how I'm going to do it. And I went for it. And so, just to exactly what you're saying. She trusted me just to say, hey, are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. And that's all she needed. I was sure she was good with it and she allowed me to run. So you know that kind of answers where you were going with it, and then just to go back to 12, 13 years later that again we've been doing the real estate.
Speaker 1:It's been successful to the point that when I say, hey, this deal is going to go in your name, this, what we're doing now is going to go in your name. They're going to send you a bunch of documents hey, just sign them, Don't worry about it. And her favorite line is like you, just keep it a keeper. Now you ain't going nowhere. I like that. She's like I know you ain't going nowhere. All this stuff is in my name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're trapped, there we go. I like her, there you go. Well, that's it. And then, ok, let me ask you another question, and this is probably one of my favorite questions, and we can focus on this one as we end off here. But how would you say, because I'm in your way, ahead of me 12 years with the kids how has real estate impacted the way you father?
Speaker 1:So it's funny, I did a talk at Rutgers Real Estate School. I did a talk at Rutgers Real Estate School recently and had to put in there and it's my why and my why are my kids. And so to answer this very straightforward is we've said this is not an easy game. This real estate game it's not.
Speaker 1:There are many a times there have been and will still be many a times where I'm sitting at my desk and I'm like what the fuck am I doing? I could be making an easy six figures as an IT CTO at a company and be good, but I'm doing this. But the reason is because I want to be able to live the life I want to live with my kids, and specifically, that's going through all their soccer games, being able to go to their school events and just being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. That's what it is, and so that's what it is. I want to be able to father and I want to go to everything of theirs that they do, and I want them to see that if they have something that they want to do, that they can go after it too. I want to be that example, whoa.
Speaker 2:So real estate for you has given you both an opportunity to model what it looks like for you to really believe in yourself and pursue your dreams for your children. At the same time, it seems like real estate is giving you the freedom and the flexibility that given. I would say it's earned you the opportunity. It's allowed you to earn the opportunity Because you were handed right. So you're like here's $10 billion, here's $20 billion. Good luck Now. You did it yourself. You got in this very, very ambitiously. Really cool. I didn't know all the details of the story, so it is really cool to hear it.
Speaker 2:So now let me ask you a question Are you this is one of my good questions too, here, I think Do you have any rules around the phone at home? When it comes to work at home, some people have what we've got in pockets. They're like, listen, I'll pick up the phone in bed with my wife at 11 o'clock, like I just got to get the deal period. I've seen that and I've seen people say when I get in my house, you can never get a hold of me. Where do you fall in that?
Speaker 1:spectrum. I don't have any rules. I know some people they're very structured and they need to have rules for everything. They're diet, they're work habits, they're work day. I have guidelines that I try to stay inside of, but I don't have any rules with the phone. If it's an important phone call, I got to pick it up. My wife the cool thing is my wife understands that because when she has a really important phone called at 11 o'clock for some major, important bill that she's working on, she pays, she picks it up.
Speaker 1:And this happened to us recently. We had a building called on fire. Wow, yeah, that could be for the next podcast. We could talk about that one. So I got to call at eight o'clock at night and I didn't pick it up because it was from a tenant. So when you get a call from a tenant at eight o'clock at night, the first one goes to voicemail. Always, anytime it's after hours, it goes to voicemail. And then, if they call back, I'm like, okay, maybe this is important, but they didn't call back. They texted back saying that the building was on fire. So what happens? I obviously call them back very quickly.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry, podcast. We need to hear this. Guys. How are you gonna take two, part two? No, but wait. So what happened with it? Was this your building or building? You managed.
Speaker 1:It was a building we're managing and actually it was a building that I used to own. I sold it to one of my clients.
Speaker 2:Did you sell it to him? Seller finance or DSER?
Speaker 1:No, I didn't do seller finance on that one. I would if it made sense. But that one, he got his own mortgage. Okay, and now would you?
Speaker 2:okay, gotcha, I'm just begging for someone to sell or finance me a deal for once.
Speaker 1:These rates.
Speaker 2:You know I'm getting a 9% DSER loan on a six family.
Speaker 1:I believe it. I got lucky with a 7.25 on the house that we just bought.
Speaker 2:Painful.
Speaker 1:But I offered someone a seller finance deal recently and they said no because their attorneys talked them out of it.
Speaker 2:You mean you offered a seller to seller finance.
Speaker 1:No, I offered a buyer. I own a three family in Newark.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And I offered one of the tenants. She really wanted to buy it.
Speaker 2:Beautiful.
Speaker 1:She's like I really want to buy it. I really want to buy it. She has cash, but she just the numbers weren't going to make sense with the rates. So, I offered a seller financing deal at 5.5% and then the second year would be at 6%.
Speaker 2:It was a great deal for her. How many more years until she could pay it off?
Speaker 1:She had two years to pay it off, so she's going to have it for two years and then she'll have to refinance in two years when rates in essence should be lower. I thought, well, I didn't think. I know it's a good. If I was her I would have jumped all over it, but she just I didn't. I told her to go find an attorney.
Speaker 2:She found two attorneys and they both made her feel like she was an idiot, and it's because she wasn't talking to the right attorneys.
Speaker 1:Always refer the attorney. That's the takeaway Cause. Also, she's explaining to them. And they ruined they literally ruined this family's life because they would have gotten this. Now they're going to have to move out cause we got it under contract with someone else. They're requesting that they move out.
Speaker 2:I think I saw something. Did you post on your Instagram three family for sale? I didn't, I didn't post that one. You did a brick one, a brick three family a while back.
Speaker 1:Was that it?
Speaker 2:It is it the one on Camstreet. But okay, then you got a good price for it on the market, or what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just threw my sign out and so I just put my sign on it and then I got a call and right now it's under contract. Now she's pissed. Well, she doesn't know yet, oh my.
Speaker 2:God. So yeah, she doesn't know yet.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're still working through attorney review, but by tomorrow, the next day, everything's going to be said and she's going to get a notice to vacate and I feel bad. But I also don't feel bad too, because I gave you a sweetheart deal. I really how much money did she have to put up? She said she had 150, that she was ready, that she has cash to play with. I was asking for 75 upfront.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, very easily.
Speaker 1:So I wasn't even asking for a hard cash and what's the purchase price that you had for her and I was actually giving her a less than what I'm getting right now. I think it was like 720. I have it on the contract right now for 750.
Speaker 2:Okay, look, yeah, so she might 7% down. Okay, what are some words of wisdom you'd give as people live their lives in the real estate business how to live a full life in spite of the stress and the warfare of our industry.
Speaker 1:Mike, what I'm going to say is don't do it for the money. So figure out what makes you happy. And I'll be honest, I went into this for the money. There's no, I'm not going to skirt around that. I did it for the money because I wanted to have money to raise my family. I thought that was the most important thing, but it's not. Right now it's all about me being happy, my wife being happy, and if my wife and I are happy together, then my kids are going to be happy. So that's the bar I set everything on now. So you know, we're making a lot of decisions now in the company, and those decisions, when I make them, at the end of the day it's not only about dollars and cents. It's about is this going to make my life happier as the leader of this company? Because even just to take it down that road, if I'm happier, then my employees are going to be happy and my clients are going to be happier.
Speaker 2:I have so much to say to that. I don't want to ramble and take away from your glory there Because we just said, every realtor needs to get that tattooed on their heart. Every entrepreneur needs to get a tattoo on their heart. Money is not the destination, money is not the vehicle, money is the gas.
Speaker 1:It's the fuel, yeah.
Speaker 2:You said it.
Speaker 1:You said it. I was just thinking it's the fuel.
Speaker 2:It's the fuel.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 2:It gets you where you want to go, but it only doesn't even get you where you want to go. It just heats up the wheels. It heats up the engine. Yeah, ok, listen, anthony. Where can they find you on IG you said earlier?
Speaker 1:migpropertiesig migpropertiestiktok LinkedIn, where we're everywhere.
Speaker 2:Done migmarry any of them, Brendan, really quickly.
Speaker 1:I'd be remissed if I didn't say this I just want to congratulate you on everything you do. My heart. You're a superstar. I'm here in Newark. What you're doing here in Newark is awesome. The space is great. Just keep it up, man. You're a life for a lot of people that you help.
Speaker 2:Oh, ok, all right, favorite guest Adios.
