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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
David Choi: The Real Estate Visionary's Path from Queens to Property Peak
Join me as I sit down with David Choi, a close friend and a towering figure in the real estate world, whose dedication and resilience have carved a path from the classrooms of Queens to the pinnacle of property investment. Our heartfelt conversation traverses David's riveting transformation, from an academic underdog to a 4.0 GPA achiever who clinched a gold medal in an MBA case competition and landed a full-time job offer straight out of his internship. Beyond his professional accolades, we explore the profound personal connections that define us, as David holds the cherished title of godfather to my firstborn, a testament to the intertwined nature of our lives.
As we reminisce on the early life experiences that forged our adult identities, I share candid reflections on the financial disparities that shaped my childhood and the emotional toll they exacted. We journey through David's upbringing by a single mother in Queens, painting a vivid narrative of adversity and the relentless pursuit of stability and opportunity. Unpacking the deep-seated impacts of our past, we expose the coping mechanisms and personal growth that have brought us to the present—where definitions of wealth and success are deeply personal and intricately linked to our shared histories.
Concluding the episode, we delve into the cornerstones of financial literacy and the role of faith in guiding our paths to personal and professional fulfillment. David imparts his philosophy of modest living, despite the success that real estate has brought him, emphasizing the importance of mental health and mentorship amidst the high stakes of the industry. We discuss the power of mindfulness, the significance of maintaining meaningful relationships, and the ways in which staying grounded can truly enhance self-image and life satisfaction—lessons that extend far beyond the boundaries of real estate.
To get more insight on episodes and to apply to be on the show, visit www.BrendanDaSilva.com!
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I went from failing pretty much every single class to getting 4.0's. I remember I took 23 credits one semester. I was working 25 hours a week and I was doing an MBA case. Competition. I took gold, I crushed my internship, got a full-time offer and I got all A's and all 23 credits Like dude. I was just blessed by the Lord.
Speaker 2:Get ready for Real Lives of Real Estate, where the world of real estate meets the essence of your life. Buckle up as we unravel stories, homes and the heartbeat behind it all. Let's dive into another episode, I hope you share and are encouraged.
Speaker 2:Today we have the one and only David Choi joining us, a good friend of mine. We've been friends, brothers at this point, since 13 years old, 14 years old, making it 15 years of friendship. Business owner, you are a leader, you are a warrior and many other things. And most related to this podcast, you're in real estate and real estate has drastically shaped your life. But no, thank you for coming on, man. It's been a mission trying to get you on, but you've hooked in no brother.
Speaker 1:thank you so much for bringing me onto your podcast today. I'm so proud of what you've built here. This place looks awesome and I'm hopefully going to add a ton of value to the audience that's checking in on this podcast. I do want to say that you are probably missing the one thing you didn't mention in the introduction.
Speaker 2:Oh, please help me.
Speaker 1:It's the godfather of Maverick, your firstborn child and it's really an honor, truly, that you gave me that title to be the person that, in the event anything happened to you or your wife, that you would trust me with Maverick so really an honor, an honor, thank you.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, just this claim for a dab. I did not say this. This is not true, no. But so really just diving in. You know what we love to ask our guests here, because this is not your use, that you have your pockets right. I've been honored to be a part of it twice now. Really great value there. So the question I ask is what did you grow up in? Did you grow up in a house, a two family, single family, three family, four part building? Where did you grow up? What did you grow up in?
Speaker 1:So I grew up in Queens, new York, in an apartment building. Then I moved to, rather from New Jersey.
Speaker 2:Wait, is that true? I thought you were joking. You really grew up in Queens, new York. Yeah, really yeah. And now it was you, your second child, right, yep? Do your parents have any other kids, or just you and Joey?
Speaker 1:Just me and bro. Oh well, I'm gonna call the brother Joe.
Speaker 2:For those who don't know, Rutherford is a phenomenal suburb here in Bergen County. You know we're located in Newark, right Number one real estate team, but actually, funny enough, I was in Rutherford for middle school and high school.
Speaker 1:I live. I probably moved like four times throughout Rutherford.
Speaker 2:Do you remember your first place?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was about 135 home Avenue. Wait, no, yeah, I think it was.
Speaker 2:Was it an apartment or was it a? It was a four family.
Speaker 1:We had one of the units.
Speaker 2:Okay, so it was apartment though.
Speaker 1:I remember a big red house. Yeah, apartment building.
Speaker 2:Two bedroom, three bedroom.
Speaker 1:Two bedroom.
Speaker 2:So you shared a room with a Joe Yep.
Speaker 1:My older brother Joe.
Speaker 2:How do you think like growing up in an apartment building right a four family, as opposed to many people in Rutherford who grew up in single family housing? How do you think that impacted you differently?
Speaker 1:It's not like my mom wanted me to grow up in a two family. It was just a financial situation that we grew up in. My dad had started a business and he was always traveling and reinvesting back in and he was, you know, he was getting a lot of momentum and my mom was just always working she's a beast and by third grade, my mom basically my parents got separated.
Speaker 1:At third grade, when I was in the third grade or second or third grade or something like that, and from that point on it was just my mom, single mom, paying all the bills, driving us to piano practice, take Wando, like just being the best mom she possibly can, but like scratching, you know, Penny she was. She was um, pitching pennies to make sure that she was putting food on a table and giving us an opportunity to learn. I'm sure that she would have loved to buy a house and put us in a stable home that we didn't have to move, move from place to place to place, but she did the best she could and she did a great job.
Speaker 2:I guess for you, my mom was single mother as well. When I was 13, you were young, you were second grade, that's what like nine years old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like seven, eight years old. Oh yeah, you were very young.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, you were young, okay, and now? So your mom ended up having to take on the rent herself At any point. You know that you were a tenant. Did that ever come across your mind? Because now you own property, right, you're, you're, you're the landlord.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But when you were at that age you know 10, 12, 11, you were living in Rutherford as a two family, four family. You ever think like huh, we pay someone rent.
Speaker 1:You know I, when people ask me about my past, my childhood, like the first thing I'll tell you is like, oh, I had a. I had a great childhood, you know I, I had fun. I ate. My mom always had food on table. I was, I was just living to have a good time and it wasn't until like it wasn't until like I hired a life coach where I realized that like that was just what my brain was telling me as a defense mechanism, to just say, just to protect me from the actual stuff that happens and processing those emotions, yeah.
Speaker 1:So like I, didn't know I was. I just dude, I wasn't thinking about that stuff, you know. And if I was, I wasn't processing it. So I have no idea. But you know like it was when I as a man. Now, as I go back to my past, I know that life wasn't sunshine and rainbows, right. I have many layers of trauma that made me who I am today. So no, I wasn't thinking a tenant, I just thought, like my dad abandoned me, like I don't deserve to be loved, right.
Speaker 1:And every single grade going up until like dude, literally like I didn't, I almost failed fifth grade my mom had to come in parent teacher conference and say please don't fail my boy. Like what do we have to do? She had to do that again in sixth grade and then she had to do that again in seventh grade. Then she had to do that again in eighth grade and like, oh, year after year after year, until high school where she didn't have to do that anymore because I was an athlete and athletes got special treatment in terms of grades. That was why I just kind of the teachers kind of just gave me passing grades, right, and so, like dude, I just skated by like that smoking pot selling weed, getting absolutely hammered every day that I could get a chance to, if I could afford to pinch my buddies to buy a bottle and just go on a party and having a good time. That was like that was my life.
Speaker 2:All throughout middle school and high school. It's so crazy that you're saying this. You think about middle school like so young, right 10, 11, 12. Now let me ask you a question, though. You know a lot of people in Rutherford. You were very well known. If you think about your life, you didn't really have much stability. Your mom was hustling next level, so you really, probably your mom probably wasn't home all the time.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna imagine right, they were none of my parents. My parents never came to any football games. Wrestling matches my whole career.
Speaker 2:So you're unsupported, you feel under, loved all that stuff.
Speaker 1:And I was. I knew that I was poor. I'm not poor, but like really I'm very wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world, but where I was growing up in, where my mom didn't have money, extra money, to give her, and you said that was when you were 16?.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at 16, you realized wait, my friends have more money than me Way more money than me. There was like a bonus, yes, or better, you can really pinpoint what you're saying.
Speaker 1:I realized at a certain point that everyone had a really nice house, their parents were driving really nice cars and if I broke my glasses it would be calamity, because it costs $200 fixed and like that's a big burden.
Speaker 2:I remember you getting a fight with someone and you saying my glasses, my glasses, and you would be very protective over your glasses In high school. You kind of see the difference between hey, my friends have money, I don't. Did you say anything, did you ask them? Cause I remember one of our friends let's call him James. Right, he has a place right next to the water, that dead end street, but he grew up with money right In my mind. I remember going to his house. He had a pool in the backyard. He had that basement we would hang out in.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I'd be like this guy is rich, load it. I remember that base, it was so cool.
Speaker 2:And the basement was like this guy is everything and more. I grew up in a very similar position to you. I would even say I was probably worse off than you were.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Probably yeah.
Speaker 2:We moved like 10 times 13,. Sorry, we moved like 13 times by the time it was 10 or 10 times by the time it was 13.
Speaker 2:My growing up was we were always low income. So for me, I always remember the end of the month. You know, alex Ramosi says you can tell someone's like wealth or their trajectory by what metric of time they speak in and what metric of money. So if someone's having like $10, hey, but about $10, $10, you kind of have a feeling of where they're at. Right, yeah, right. If someone brings up like, oh, yeah, this is like a $170,000 project, you're like, oh, are they talking to increments of like 100,000 or 1 million or 2 million, whatever it is? You're like, hmm, right, oh, this is thick. It's like how the people on the hedge funds oh, a stick is a million, right, that's what they talk about, that's your unit of measurement. Same thing with, but for me, what I learned more so was time. So my mom would only ever my mom and my dad, they only ever talked about the end of the month. So I remember that, even remember one time I was I was a fellow student on the couch watching TV. I was like maybe 15. My mom knocked on the door. I hear the door knock, doors banging, banging.
Speaker 2:It's like 8 am in the morning on a Saturday. I'm like gosh, my kid. I go open the door, who is it? My landlord. Oh geez, it wasn't me. It was 9 am. I probably slept in and my landlord was chasing my mom for the rent. So my landlord sits down. I'm laying on the couch. I'm like I go back to bed. I don't know, I don't realize what's really going on. My mom and the landlord have like a 30 minute, like you know what it is, yeah, like hey, you're behind in rent conversation and I'm listening to this. I'm like whoa, so it's funny that you're saying that you didn't know you were a tenant. I knew I was a tenant at like the earliest age of life. I remember constantly we were tenants Because I remember the rent was due.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:So I constantly remember like the rent's due, the rent's due, the rent's due. Even in my building I honestly get nervous when I see I'm not this subscriber of the 20 ones. The beginning of the month it says your rent is due. I'm like oh.
Speaker 1:Every single month, every single month.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh god, did you go to? What did you go to college for? Because you graduated real estate, right, but did you go to college for real estate?
Speaker 1:No, I just went into. I got into the business school. Wait, you didn't graduate with real estate degree. No, I graduated with the concentration of real estate, with the major in finance. But did you start with that? No, because the program wasn't even wasn't around. Oh and you? Oh, you're the first class, right? I was the first person to agree.
Speaker 2:In Rutgers, newark or Rutgers.
Speaker 1:From Rutgers and the entire program.
Speaker 2:Really, yep, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm on academic probation.
Speaker 2:At.
Speaker 1:Rutgers. Going into my sophomore year get a letter saying if you don't at least get your GPA up to a two, you're out this semester. So I was at a one two at the time, and so I'm like, all right, I'll get by with 2.0s. I don't really care. I go to a party and at the time I was fighting at least once every other week just because I love fighting. I don't know and I still do, but I do it in a controlled environment.
Speaker 2:So Less aggressive. I think yeah, it's not a bloodbath.
Speaker 1:It's just kickboxing. You're not doing it on hatred at this point.
Speaker 2:You're doing it on rage, you're doing it out of love for the fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it used to be out of rage.
Speaker 2:Now it's a healthier Correct.
Speaker 1:So I go to a frat party, my friend Kevin. Anyway, long story short, I get into a brawl, I give my glasses to my boy Fizzy, and, lo and behold, when he gives me my glasses back, my glasses are smashed pieces. I still don't have money. That is a very quick trigger for rage for me. So I go, I'm in the front of the house and I see a guy that I believe was part of the brawl, and so I go and punch him in the mouth and I go grab his hip and, as I'm going through it, do a hip toss. Someone's pulling me from behind. Anyway, I turn around, I punch that guy in the face and cops running up the block. I run away and I end up getting hit by a car. I hit him in the chin, he fell back and his head on a pole. His brain is bleeding Big thing. So I had an aggravated assault on a Leo, which is a felon in all 50 states.
Speaker 2:What's a?
Speaker 1:Leo On an officer.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's a law.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like dude I was in jail for a potential felony right, so Leo is law enforcement officer.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's what it stands for, cool. So anyway, my dad bails me out. He lets me kind of like just sit there for four days it was like $15,000 in bail. He goes look, I'll bail you out. And this is like my dad started coming back into my life after he met the Lord Jesus Christ. He was around 16. He started trying but he had a lot of trust to build. He just abandoned me for eight to 10 years, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Critical years in the young boys life Right.
Speaker 1:So like I still loved him, I still admired him, but like I didn't trust him yet. So he's been building and building every other week, picking me up, buying me lunch, stuff, like that, right, but by 19, he he's like he bails me out and he says, look, I'll bail you out, but you need to read the Bible with me. And so I I begrudgingly said, yes, like, I'll read the Bible with you If you bail me out of this jail, right. And so we start reading the Bible together and like you're 19, your complete failure academically, your whole life, your, your, your, you're going to probably be a felon, right.
Speaker 1:In most cases, I read the Bible and it just starts to give me hope, right. And I started reading about my name, say David, god chooses him and redeems him, and it's just a great story about his, about his failures and God forgiving him and all these things. And so I really related to to David, and so I asked God to just change my heart and I asked God to give me wisdom. And I just read the Bible every day and I just started seeing God really change the man that I was and and yeah, so I, you know it.
Speaker 1:It wasn't until I met God that I asked God for wisdom, and the first piece of wisdom that God gave me was Dave, you need to. It was like a. That was really when the money situation became crystal clear for me. I never had a clear idea as far as, like, what my financial position was, or my moms or my dads, until I met God. And when I asked God for wisdom, he's like bro, your mom has no life savings. Your mom has been pinching her pennies to put you and your brother through college. When she, when, when you guys are done, she's, she's not going to have a Roth IRA, she's not going to have a pension. She goes. Bottom line is this is either you or your brother or both of you guys are going to have to provide for for your parents. So you better start getting your act together. And so I said, all right, fair enough. Um, I'm going to outwork my mom until I retire, mom, so my mom works 80, 90 hours a week. She's a beast. And so I decided and this was the wisdom God gave me you got to outwork your mom until you retire. And so, mom, um, you know, I mom working 80, 90 hours a week. I started working 90 or 100. And I did.
Speaker 1:I've been doing that for the last nine years, right, and so once I hit once I hit that first 90 hours a week it became very clear that I did not want to work 90 hours a week.
Speaker 1:I actually did not like working at all, and so I just kept Googling, um, how to retire early, how to retire early and that's when I came across bigger pockets podcast on. That's when I got the real estate bug and that's when I just decided to go all in because I was seeing 30 year olds teachers, uh, firemen, regular people that were regular jobs retiring at 30, 35 years old. And that's the kind of life I wanted for myself, so that I could be, I could put my mom and my dad in a good place and be able to go to my kids football games, take them to take them to school when he's young. You know, throughout his life I wanted to be a present father, because that's that's something that I didn't have growing up and you know that's that's what real estate has been able to, to kind of get me to real estate has drastically impacted you.
Speaker 2:It sounds like it was kind of a in a moment of redemption. You clung to the Lord. So you now you're 27, 28, 29 of February. Do you have any plans or retiring in the next two to five, seven years?
Speaker 1:Well, I like, within the next two years, my I plant, like I could own up a million units, and that doesn't matter because it's owned by my company and we're incredibly disciplined on growth and reinvestments. So any money that my company makes it has no reflection on how I live on a personal level, right? So I literally could make $15 million, but that from my company in profit. But that does not impact me personally because me and Eric, we just pay ourselves humbly, humbly. We decided we're going to, we're going to finally pay ourselves in 2024. And so this year?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm going to. Oh why? Why shall it paid?
Speaker 1:Choice. About to get paid? Yes, this is my first year. Take it. Ask him to invite you out to dinner. No, thank you, I'm pitching my pennies, so I'm taking 2024. This is the first year I'm going to pay myself like a lot of money. Are you allowed?
Speaker 2:to say how much or no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I plan on paying myself $425,000 this year.
Speaker 2:Okay, so definitely above average.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But how are you going to get that paid? Do like, could you do W2 or no, right you guys?
Speaker 1:I'm 1099. Yeah, that's the amount I've been paying myself 65,000 a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to be here for the last six years. Have a great day. Thanks, glen McClumber. Joy, by all means, lives more humbly in proportion to his money than most people do who are making Less money than you oh yeah, for sure. So I know so many people, including Honestly close friends, who make substantially less money than joy but spend more lavishly the toy which I got. To ask you, how, how has that been? Where'd you learn that? Was that through? Because you grew up poor. You grew up in the apartment buildings. You grew up there. You did you only guys real estate when you were 21. You had 20 years old. You had no hookup, right? Hey, that's up 19 years old. How do you learn the financial literacy? Where is that something you got from being in the real estate industry.
Speaker 1:Dude, I just like proximity. Yeah, it's just proximity to my mom. She's been pinching her pennies.
Speaker 2:Right, so Whoa really, yeah, I did not think you were gonna say that she's such a wise woman.
Speaker 1:Dude like my mom is a freaking rock. She's her birthday today.
Speaker 2:It's been a brother's birthday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, I gotta wish him a birthday, happy birthday. But yeah, dude, I don't live lavishly, man, I, I guess, in comparison to others, here's what I do do. Right, I don't have a great car, I Don't live in penthouse that costs five, six thousand four feet. I don't do that. I have a very humble fixed offerings living expenses. However, when I go out and I eat whatever I want to eat, if I want to drink, I'll drink whatever I want to drink and, dude, for me that's enough.
Speaker 2:I will say, yeah, you do so like in terms of even I'm just saying thing about this, somehow real estate has not impacted your life to live lavishly since me and you. We've got into business around the same time. Yeah right, I for those who know, I went to jail when I was 20 years old. I went for six months now my four days. I beat David in that competition. I also one time be David in a Brazilian. You did so. I made him town.
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen, listen, I did it out, I did it out, I did it out, I did it, look, look, by the way. By the way, no, by the way, I I'm not a felon for those that I didn't complete. That story Got like. I am not a felon like I ended up getting PTI post trial intervention. My record is squeaky clean. You can do a background check on me.
Speaker 2:You can't find nothing you can't find on his record that he got tapped out by Brandon Silva look, we did.
Speaker 1:He came to MMA and I literally tapped him out 19 times prior to that in the period of like one hour, and at the end he goes one more time. One more time he's snatched me in our bar. I don't even know where he came from. That was one time out of the like I don't tell him this story.
Speaker 2:When you look into my eyes, you knew, I know.
Speaker 1:The moment that he had me, I was like, oh, he's gonna like not go crazy here, right, like I'm gonna shake him off. I looked into his eyes and it was the eyes of a man that was willing to literally tear my arm off to make me tap, and so I got scared. I was like, all right, all right, let go.
Speaker 2:I would be honest in my mind I felt exactly what you were saying. I knew you thought I was on let go so you weren't gonna tap and I thought I was gonna hurt him. I'm like I don't want to hurt him. I'm like, oh, but you were willing to but then I said to myself, said you may not get another chance.
Speaker 1:You will never, you would never ever in your life.
Speaker 2:That's what came through my head. Now I'm more serious.
Speaker 2:No I don't think we would have grown as close friends and I think we do stay friends if it wasn't for our common Passion of real estate and its role in our lives. I have yet to find people who are very successful real estate and have not come through a season of brokenness. Hmm, because to get from nothing to something, if they start off with money different by people who have nothing, the level of drive it takes, you have to have a degree of trauma in you. Right, sure, to go from nothing. This with that said, when I got into real estate it was because I couldn't get a job. I had done my six months, I have a misdemeanor. You know, I did a six-month plea deal, have a misdemeanor charge and I got out. I couldn't get a job.
Speaker 1:You could get that expunged.
Speaker 2:I can, I can. In Virginia they don't do expungements At this point, it just is ways. So what made you go back married? You have a kid.
Speaker 1:You have a business, probably a freaking river. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's honestly, the car is fine. The cars played out so well.
Speaker 2:Yeah and just the Lord's been very faithful and all with that said you had spreadsheets and performers and all that stuff. I said what is this guy doing? I remember I took one of your performers. You sent it to me because I thought I had a deal and I showed my broker and broke like you made this. I said me and my friend to you, and they were so impressed they brought other people to see the performer. You made a 20 years old. Literally they call people into the office. They look like I look how he's looking at deals. I said yeah, well, you know, you know what you know.
Speaker 1:It's so funny dude, I remember I was at Hampshire, you're you're older than me, so you were on is a is a pride. New Jersey's largest real estate developer, mm-hmm private equity firm, and I was in an analyst at the time just underwriting deals. I remember you calling me be like joy got this deal, can you look? I put that together like four minutes.
Speaker 1:I remember, and like I remember, about six months into your career, you you're like Dave, like I called me at like six o'clock. I'm still at work, dave, like I don't know man I don't know if this is something that I want to keep doing like I'm running around, running around, going crazy, like showing people freaking properties and they're just wasting my time and they're like I don't, I don't know, man, like I'm trying, I'm working so hard and that's not coming anything.
Speaker 1:I thought I'd be somewhat successful by now and like I'm just doing everything I can, nothing's freaking working. Yeah, I certainly wasn't gonna let you quit, right, and I'm sure after you called me, you called two or three other people that made sure you weren't lonely. It right, probably called Carlos. You're probably called John. Call John. John Carlos, yeah, you probably called him right and um. When you're, when you're in the real estate game, like in the very beginning, you need to have because your family won't support you. They just don't understand.
Speaker 2:They don't get it. They can't, you can't, you can't rationalize.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't even know why, how I got to that topic, but, um, no, you're good.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I am deeply appreciative. I remember I think that was actually month four. That's like I think it was month four. With that said, I would never even have had month four if it weren't for you, and specifically in this case, shout out to Joseph Choi your brother Fact because when I applied for my real estate license they wouldn't give it to me because I had a misdemeanor.
Speaker 2:So they made you write a letter of explanation. So I sent it to you. You had your brother right to basically edit and I sent it in and it was like, well, I actually have it in my email. I saw it last week, two weeks ago, that letter of explanation of what I went through, and your brother just masterfully crafted this. You know the basically reasoning of like, yeah, I was wrongfully accused, but even I'm not blaming anybody. You know I did my time at Pimaeanita society. I'm looking to be a functioning member. I'm 22 years old. Give me a chance.
Speaker 1:You know what's crazy, bro, is that your brother went to Harvard. Yeah, why?
Speaker 2:did he edit that? Oh, my brother, I got to give you a big shout. He got me into college. I really love me. I can't blame, I cannot complain.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay and.
Speaker 2:I don't know why you didn't edit that. It's actually is his nature to edit it, yeah, but oh, I know why. Why? Because you offered.
Speaker 1:Wow, you trusted my brother that much, no.
Speaker 2:I trusted you.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, you're the worst writer I know.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, you told me. You said my brother can help. Wow, don't like. Because I was like dude, I don't know what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:At that time, you understand, my mental psyche was so crippled from being so ashamed. I was deeply ashamed. I had a severe PTSD at least substantial PTSD I was. I was shaking on a regular basis. I was having a member of panic attacks on a regular basis. It was a heart. Daily I was having panic attacks. Yeah, it's horrible. So at that time I remember my my counselor was like hey, you need to avoid stressful situations. I said I'm getting into real estate. I hear it's very stressful. I even know this is stressful as it is. But basically you were traveling on time. I'm like joy, you travel all the time Because you ever. I'm learning a lot. I'm going to these buildings. You had an amazing experience working with them and top minds in your industry and the commercial level, underwriting massive apartment acquisitions right, crazy. Interviewing, like you don't have interviewing tenants. You're interviewing property managers, right, yeah, and then they, they give you the date. You were going to have to move out to Florida. That's right. And can you say what was your response? You're making great money.
Speaker 1:You were what? 22 years old, I was making 125 grand a year. You know like this is six years ago. But, dude, like I graduated I went for. By the way, after I met the Lord, I went from getting failing pretty much every single class to getting 4.0's, semester after semester. Dude, I remember you turn on. I remember I took 20 23 credits one semester. I was working 25 hours a week and I was doing an MBA case, competition, all at the same time. I took gold, I crushed my internship, got a full time offer and I got all A's and all 23 credits. Like dude, I was just blessed by the Lord.
Speaker 1:And this guy right here is not, that he's not yeah. You know like it was very hard for me. So like, anyway, I of course I got a good job because year after I was so blessed all throughout college that everything that I did turned out great. Every I got nine internships before I graduated, my full of resume, full of real estate experience, Like I. Just it was just too easy at the point, at that point in time, for me to win on a big level post graduation.
Speaker 2:Because I don't know if you're allowed to say this. You got a severance on the way out.
Speaker 1:Yes, they gave me. They gave me a package. Like they said, either lose to Florida or here's your package. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I can't believe you got a package.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I took that fat, fat, fat deal and it was what?
Speaker 2:30 grand or 50. I don't remember I remember, honestly, it was 60 grand. I was going to hype you. I set you up. It was like 55,000. Was it? Yeah, it was crazy about money. It was 55,000 or 52,000 or 60,000.
Speaker 1:But all I know is that at my bank account at the time I had been pitching my pennies prior to I had a total of like 65 grand to start my business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did I just say 60 grand 65.
Speaker 1:But I had, I had probably whatever, I probably had some, some.
Speaker 2:Maybe it was. Yeah, I think it was that. Maybe that's what was you start your business at 65 grand. Yeah, that's what it was. That's what it was.
Speaker 1:I remember coming in and be like I have 65 grand, what do I do? And then you were like dude Troy, you're crazy. He goes, I've been trying to get you to jump into, like just do it on your own, if I'm doing it, you could do it bro. Like come on, let's do it together. Yeah, and yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, you're saying the story yeah.
Speaker 1:You're like come on, like you should, we should do it together. And what you were doing was you were actually being a real deter. You were helping buyers find houses, you were helping sellers sell houses, and I didn't want to do that Right. And so I was like Brendan, I know we could make money together, I'm sure we would be great partners together, but, like this is what I want to do. I want to be on the investment side and, like there were, there were many times over the last six years where I questioned myself like maybe I should have just partnered with Brendan, like because the grass is always greener, right, Even like, wholesaling is much harder than helping buyers find properties to buy. In my opinion, significantly harder, Harder in what way?
Speaker 1:Buyers can be found on Zillow right Buyers can be found on realtorcom. Buyers can be found on so many different online platforms. You could even generate really cheap buyer leads on Facebook like $1.51 at times. So so long as, like real estate, the lifeblood of that business is marketing, and so if you, so long as you could generate top line gross leads and you could take those leads and convert them into appointments and you could convert those appointments into contracts, then you're, then you're going to make money. But for getting getting seller leads and getting deal flow as an investor, there's so much harder than being a than than than finding leads on the retail side, because not only are buyer leads way cheaper, but once you start focusing on the seller side to get deal flow, they're just way more expensive. Like my average leads cost me like a hundred bucks, right 50 bucks on some occasions, but I have to get through 40 leads.
Speaker 2:Would you believe that Zillow's connection, Zillow's lead right now in Newark is like a hundred $10 lead for a seller, for a buyer? Holy crap, Like $90 a buyer or something like that.
Speaker 1:No way, are you serious?
Speaker 2:That's how much. That's what the handoff is 90 bucks for a live connection to see a property, 90 bucks per buyer. You convert. The conversion ratio at best is 3% 4% 3% 4%. Let me see more now. Pointed questions like if you can like a rapid fire, okay. How has real estate impacted your relationship with friends?
Speaker 1:I don't really have time to hang out with my high school friends. Real estate has impacted my relationships with a lot of friends that I don't want to be hanging out with anymore because I'm too busy to hang out with nonsense friends as well. But I will say that the friends that I want in my life right now like I have probably have three, four friends that I really love and care about my quarters I'm still. I'm still hanging out. You're my best friend. Yeah, we hang out twice a month.
Speaker 1:Yep, no less, right Sam he's finally got his life back. I'm probably going to be hanging out with Sam twice a month now, Right, Larry? He's always traveling the world, so I really that's that's on him.
Speaker 2:That's on him, larry, that's on you. But my, I actually really like Larry. Larry's a great guy. Yeah, he's really good.
Speaker 1:So, like my quarters, I spend my time with right Hannah, I spent like my, my girlfriend. I hang out with her all the time Right, so I hang out with my mom all the time.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like the relationships that matter to you have risen to the top. I don't really think that's a real estate thing, David, believe it or not. I think that's a general life thing. As you grow older, your circle gets smaller and deeper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm good at that with it Okay.
Speaker 2:So how would you say that real estate has impacted your self image?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's hasn't really been real estate that changed my self image because, like you could have all the money in the world and externally you're flashy, you look good and girls are all over you, but like, at the core of your being, that means nothing. You really have to do a lot of personal work to to to get to that point where you actually love yourself and you feel like you're enough. So I would say that real estate has given me the money that I needed to invest in the things and the coaches and the people that are going to make me love myself more. So, overall, I believe that real estate in itself hasn't improved my self image. It's just given me the resources and the network to improve myself, to get to love myself.
Speaker 2:Wow, how would you think your life would look like if you were in real?
Speaker 1:estate With by 28, I feel like I'd be at least making 200 in finance.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, let's say you actually, let's go a little bit more polarizing. Let's say you, if you were in a real, if you couldn't do a finance or real estate related job, what would you do?
Speaker 1:I'd probably be in sales, you'd be in sales, I don't know, but I feel like I would have ended up in sales. Okay, yeah, on Friday, every Friday, every Saturday, I would be out drinking and hanging out with my friends probably watching football on Sundays with like friends and I don't think I would have the discipline that I have right now. I would just be enjoying my life just the way I was before.
Speaker 2:Do you feel like you'd be more or less happy? I think I would be less happy. You'd be less happy, yes, okay. Do you feel like you'd be more or less in physical shape if you were in real estate?
Speaker 1:I feel like right now is a bad representation of where I'm gonna be, but I feel like I'd probably be in better shape If you were in real estate.
Speaker 2:Yes. Do you think you would live longer or shorter if you were in real estate versus non-real estate? Man?
Speaker 1:I think I'd live slightly longer.
Speaker 2:Do you think you would carry as much social respect if you were in real? Estate no of course not so socially. You think you'd be decreased in value if you were in real estate? Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:If I was not in real estate, I would not be creating the impact I am on my employees' lives. I would not be able to tie that. As much as I'm tithing, I would not be able to be as generous as what I'm doing and when I found in my life is this I get the most joy when I'm helping other people.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:When I'm able to actually serve or give, I am so joyful, I love it, and so, by virtue of being in real estate, I'm a happier person, and because I'm a happier person, I'm happier in my relationships. Because I'm in real estate, I make more money so I could serve more people Like. So I think that honestly, even though being in relationship with me comes with a sacrifice, it comes with a time sacrifice, just like you're going through. Life for Deb is not easy. Deb is at home busting her tail. I know you're trying to be as present as possible, but a nine to five person would be way more present than you are. Oh for sure, right, even on weekends, dude, you're like away. Even when you're around, you might not be present.
Speaker 2:This is a great book. I believe it's called the Practice of Prayer.
Speaker 2:It talks about the practice of presence like being present and my brother talks to me like my older brother. He's my brother's master, this for now. He's like mindfulness, basically, brian. He says when he feels like he's not really being present or he's like working, worked up, he literally says this Cause, whenever you're not present, that's when a lot of anger happens and something that's right about anxiety. Worry. He says, like he'll sit down and be, like he'll literally say things out loud to himself. He'll be like I have 10 fingers. My fingers are on my lap, my feet are touching the floor. I'm wearing socks. My socks are touching my shoes by the base. Of my shoes are touching the floor.
Speaker 1:Bro, I just got grounded just by doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah of course right and he fixates on one thing. So he'll literally say he'll go outside. He was like when's the last time you went outside and just looked at a tree? My brother's not a hippie, my brother's a BCG consultant making a good amount of money on multiple properties. He's doing very well. He's a genius, very, very kind, caring, loving, loving man With this said, he said when's the last time he went outside and looked at a tree? Why is that? Because you can be walking by trees, you can be doing a lot of stuff and never even see the tree. It's like that's what happens in our homes because in our jobs we're so fast paced it makes in relationships where fast paced is really not able to slow down right.
Speaker 2:So that's the challenge that we have.
Speaker 1:So I do feel like work gives me so much joy and it might not be that healthy, I might get too much joy from it, but, dude, it gives me so much joy. I'm able to help so many people from what I do Right now. Every day at lunch I get to go and work out with Luke and Bob. These are two young men in my office. They're senior lead managers, right, and I get to mentor them every single day and I get to help them get to achieve their life goals, right.
Speaker 1:Like I sat down with what are my acquisition managers today, I said let's figure out where we're gonna be in the next six years. If you just keep making this much money and you invest this much money and reinvest, by the next six years you're gonna have $180,000 in the passive income. Let's get to that point. Let me help you get there. There's so much value that I could provide into the lives of the people that work for me. Like we're doing health insurance for people in the field my VA team, right, Like bro, we change lives and it's forget it like, yes, changing lives for outside people and tie, I think is good, but, dude, I get to go to work every day and serve the people that work for me and it's amazing it sounds real.
Speaker 2:So he really has given you. I can definitely relate. It's given both of us such a deep sense of fulfillment and purposefulness in a uncharted waters. It's one of the best things about us, and especially when you take that as like a mentoring opportunity and like an impact sender opportunity. Would you talk to the negative side, the stressful days, the stressful weeks, the nervous breakdowns, the tears?
Speaker 1:Yes, like when you're dead broke and you could barely make payroll and you have to chip in all your life savings back into the business after it's stressful.
Speaker 2:yes, and that's only in the beginning.
Speaker 1:No dude, that happens when the times are bad.
Speaker 2:That happens, even that could happen last year, for example Dude 23 was a rough year, right, like first year of 2023,.
Speaker 1:I was down $500,000, right, why First half?
Speaker 2:of 2023.
Speaker 1:First, half of 2023. Did I make all that back? Yes, but the first freaking six months of 2023, I was like, oh my God I am laying out. Me and my partner had to lay out $250,000 to keep the lights on each of our personal accounts. To keep the lights on. We didn't let anyone go, but we kept it going.
Speaker 1:We believed, and so, yes, there are stressful times, from the beginning to the middle to the end, but I believe that if I had just stayed focused and I just kept doing one thing and I just wanted to be the best at one thing, it's not that stressful. I think that if you have massive shiny object syndrome and you keep trying to jump into different ventures, you're just self-sabotaging and you're just addicted to chaos. And so if you choose entrepreneurship and real estate and you just decide to be the best in the world at one thing, I don't think your life doesn't need to be that hectic, but it's still definitely gonna come with trials. It's still gonna come with pain. I think that over time, if you still work on yourself though, you kind of just get used to it. I don't know, I don't know if that makes sense, but if I ever went through what I went through this year again this year or the following year, I don't think I'd be nearly as stressed.
Speaker 2:Was there ever a point in the past, 2023, that you felt unwell?
Speaker 1:I was trying to raise $12 million for this one deal and my business was just catapulting like I'm sales and marketing.
Speaker 2:Going downhill.
Speaker 1:Just going downhill. I'm sales and marketing. So if I'm not involved in sales and marketing, sales and marketing goes down. So I'm so busy raising millions of dollars that I can't support my and I'm watching my business bleed and I'm having such a hard time raising this money. I'm like, oh my God, if I don't raise $12 million, I'll lose my $500,000 deposit and I'm watching my business bleed. So I'm working 90 hours a week trying to figure it all out and I get to the point one day and I'm so stressed about it that I'm dizzy. You're only five feet away from me. It was as if you were moving and blurry. That was what I was experiencing. So, yes, there definitely is a lot of stress that comes with this job.
Speaker 2:Real estate has impacted our lives in a multitude of ways and I think, from the takeaway I'm hearing and our dynamic, it's clear that real estate gives us a responsibility in how we impact the lives of others. Yeah, so, david Choi, I love you, brother, where can they see you?
Speaker 1:You can follow me on Instagram or most of my social media handles are David Choi choibiz. We are taking investor capital. We own 200 plus units. We do buy multi-families and single families all throughout North Jersey and Westchester County, new York. We do over a hundred flips a year. We do also lend money. So if you guys are looking for hard money or DSCR loans, we have a debt fund. We're direct lender. So if you guys are looking for loans or want to invest with us or sell us deals, please contact me directly, 201-973-7029. You can also reach me on one of my social platforms.
Speaker 2:Sweet. Take care, David. Thank you.
