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
Pedro Gomes: Crafting Generational Impact in Real Estate - From Newark Streets to 400-Unit Projects
Pedro Gomes' tale is a raw and candid beacon of inspiration, underscoring the power of legacy over a mere financial scorecard. Join me as I traverse his riveting journey from a Newark kid intricately involved in his family's budgeting to the mastermind behind a transformative 400-unit housing project. We're not just talking about bricks and drywall; it's about cementing generational footprints and the profound influence a family's ethos has on the grit it takes to thrive in the real estate coliseum.
Throughout our conversation, the heartbeat of the city blends with the tranquility of the suburbs, raising poignant discussions on parenting in contrasting environments. Pedro opens up about the challenges and triumphs of ensuring his children grow up with the resilience that city life taught him, balanced with the nurturing love that success can afford. This episode reflects on the delicate art of instilling the right values, the kind of resilience that doesn't necessarily stem from hardship, but from the conscious cultivation of character and strength.
We wrap our session by peeling back the layers of Pedro's professional ethos. It's a symphony of incremental triumphs and steadfast integrity; a narrative that moves from the snowball effect in property development to the delicate dance of setting personal and professional boundaries. Discover how one man's journey through the realms of ambition, personal growth, and the unyielding pursuit of a meaningful legacy can inspire your own path, whether you're building skyscrapers or shaping lives.
To get more insight on episodes and to apply to be on the show, visit www.BrendanDaSilva.com!
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I now am capable of saying I'm about to start a project of 400 units. I never would have thought my goal was originally to have a couple hundred thousand saved up, and that was my dream as a kid. You know, never would I have thought that. You know, in my 30s I'm building 400 units To make a quick million dollars. I could go do that in Asbury, I could go do that in Belleville. It's not the money, it's now. How do I take it to the next level?
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. All right, so I am here with Pedro Gomes. The legend Newark native saw you. The first time I saw you I didn't even know it was you, fine enough. You walked by me at your building and we buy Gomes and I was. Then someone next to me said, oh, that's the developer. I said, oh, wow, and you just were, and you were running it too. You were like moving. So I was like, oh, that's guys fast pace. And you were so young so I was like man, this is so impressive.
Speaker 2:Anyways, with all that said, I'm very grateful to have you on. Thanks for making the time. Grateful that honestly, hopefully we can share with people what exactly real estate has done for you and how it shaped you. But my favorite question to ask is tell me about, like, where did you grow up or what did you grow up in.
Speaker 1:Both my parents, immigrants from Portugal, came here, was a young kid and grew up in Newark and the iron bound on Cassute Street. Okay, parents still live there, proposed for them to leave a couple times, but it's what they know. The bakery Tayshares is down the street, the Portuguese restaurant down the next corner and everyone speaks Portuguese, and their neighbors has become like their friends and family. And so, yeah, grew up in Newark my whole life.
Speaker 2:Did you live in an apartment grown up?
Speaker 1:or a house. So live in an apartment on Garrison Street, okay, and your parents rent or own Rented Okay. And funny enough, it's weird, no one's actually asked me that question or led into that direction I'm about to go into. But I actually convinced my parents to buy a house. They just weren't business savvy and I guess I just had it. I don't know, maybe I had to because of the fact that they weren't.
Speaker 1:I remember being like 13 years old and calling the credit card company, pretending I was my dad, and the woman be like are you over 21? And I go are you questioning my voice? Can I speak to a manager right now? You're insulting my voice, you're questioning my age. I gave you my date of birth, I gave you my social, I gave you all the credentials and you're questioning my voice and the girl get all defensive or something. But I would have to do that because my parents are gonna speak English, wow, and sometimes they have late charges or things happening on. I handled all their finances at 13. I like from like 10 to like 1314. I did all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Write the checks, because they didn't know how to write in English. Whoa, yeah, literally everything. And we lived in an apartment and I convinced my parents to buy a house and at 1415, we bought a house and that's. That's kind of how it happened. But the whole entire childhood I lived on Garrison Street. The house is still there, same house never been knocked down. And, yeah, one on one Garrison.
Speaker 2:Wow, Honestly quite fascinating. But at what point did you kind of click to you that you were renting instead of owning? Because most 14 year olds are here to think about video games.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, true, I never liked video games, I just played it sometimes, but it was not something I was intrigued by. It was just a numbers game, right? So at the end of the day, my parents struggling financially and I'm doing one plus one equals two. And if that's the case, then why are we not buying? Right, if you can buy the house and the mortgage is going to be $1,200. And we can rent out the house and you live for free to no brainer, right? Maybe you could work a little bit less, because my parents worked around the clock, really didn't intend any of my sports activities and I was kind of like raising myself a little bit because my parents were working so much. But I think that's why I am the way I am today and why I'm built the way I am.
Speaker 2:So yeah Well, when you offered your parents the ability you know the kind of idea what was the response you got?
Speaker 1:It's like any time I ever had any other ideas Rejection, deflection, you know, typical, no, we can't do that. And just people that don't think outside the box. And it's the way they're built. You know, I didn't have a bad childhood. I just had a childhood that they weren't heavily involved in because of work, but they just didn't have that mindset right. It was not thinking outside the box and for some reason I always found the way to think outside the box. I would say so for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and do you have any brothers and sisters? No, just myself. Okay. So when you lived in Garrison, I'm guessing it was a two bedroom apartment, or yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:We were on the third floor actually, it was like an attic apartment and two bedroom kitchen, living in a bathroom Super tight, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:And when you ended up buying the house, what was the kind of shift in your family dynamic?
Speaker 1:Not much, honestly. It was more just space and having the, I guess. American dream of owning your home right, which is the thing that everyone lives for or, you know, tries to accomplish coming to this country as an immigrant right. So that was major shift. Other than that, it was business as usual. It's just that now they own the house and they had a little bit more freedom where they didn't have to worry about paying for the rent, because the rent was being paid for through the other tenants and the mortgages being paid.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, so wait, you had them. A three family or two family.
Speaker 1:I got them a two plus half. There's like a yeah, it's like a two and a bonus bonus, and the bonus was not legit, but it was also collecting income, right, so you can't and for them.
Speaker 2:They're like this is the best thing ever, correct. I mean, wow, your parents really got. They nailed it on the first one, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they did. I guess maybe that's why I didn't have any more this is what we got right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's good. Yeah, wow, that's really okay. And now, growing up in the city, I always I love to see this because you know I don't know if you know I have a one year old right, my wife and I we have a maverick. He's our one year old son. He's a joy. And I love Norc and I always want to like stay in Norc. It's my passion. I moved, I moved a lot. By the time I was 10 years old, I moved like 13 times. Or by the time I was 13, I moved 10 times, one or the other. Yeah, and for me, like the Ironbound was the only real concept in my life because my church was in the Ironbound. So other, we move like all around here. We ended up always coming three days a week. So my church CCP on McWarder Street. My wife and I now live right across the street from our church. It's very convenient and somehow I'm still late actually funny enough to search I can't make.
Speaker 2:I can't make it up. How do you feel like living in the city, concrete jungle shaped you, rather than if you were living in, like you know, the Portuguese dream, majority of the Portuguese dream? I might, I'm here. They move out to Warren, right? They?
Speaker 1:love Warren, they live there, they're nice.
Speaker 2:they're nice, low, like greenery. How do you think you shaped it differently?
Speaker 1:100%. So I also have a kid. Okay he's 11. His name is Cristiano and great soccer player, great kid. I think I nailed it too.
Speaker 1:I don't have any other kids. He's just amazing kid, personality, wise, drive wise. Obviously he gets that from me right Because he sees me interact. And it's one of the things that I'm most fearful of, which thankfully will not happen, because the way I've shaped my kid and the way I've teach them to be who he is, I could technically walk away from his life and he would be okay because he has that personality ready wow of who I am and what I'm going to do. Yes, sometimes he has fears, sometimes he has doubts we all do it, regardless of what age you are but besides that, he's confident, he's a leader, he's got an amazing heart right. So I tell people all the time like I can, I've done my job with him. Besides him meeting some like a curse on here, no, yeah, please, Some shit some shit.
Speaker 1:Teenager friends, who kind of?
Speaker 2:like destroy him. Destroy him a little bit yeah besides that, there is no way he's not staying on course right.
Speaker 1:So I've done an incredible job. It's the one thing I'm most proud of. Wow get all the real estate, all my accomplishments that's bullshit. Yeah my success with my son is the one thing I'm most proud of, and why I brought that up is.
Speaker 1:my biggest fear is him becoming some spoiled brat right who thinks he's entitled. But thankfully, like I said, he's not going to be that person because of the way I've raised him. But I do have my fears about the bubble that we live in. So I do live in Livingston. He does go to a private school, which is something I never thought would spend the type of money that I spend on the school for my kids to go to a private school, right, but he's in a bubble and he doesn't know how to hustle.
Speaker 1:He doesn't know how to maneuver. He doesn't know how to be in a room with a drug dealer and be in a room with a billionaire. Right, you could put me in a setting with either or I'm going to be okay. I've been in those settings before, so it's my only fear where he's not tough enough. But thankfully I'm in his life and I'm there to toughen him up and I do that regularly and he understands it's out of love and but yeah, it's something that absolutely made me you know.
Speaker 2:I think people drastically underestimate just how much your environment growing up shapes them. And your point, like you grew up in Ironbound and we're not talking about Ironbound today, right, law of development, et cetera we were in Ironbound 30 years ago, right? You see what I'm saying. It was a little, probably a little bit more dangerous, I would imagine, when you grew up.
Speaker 1:Now, 100%, let's be honest, there's a project down the street to Hawkins Street projects and there's this guy remember his name so they feel I feel I was his name.
Speaker 2:Tough Can you tell yeah, I was a good tough guy he tried to beat me up.
Speaker 1:He got me a few times and you just figured out how to deal with it Right.
Speaker 1:In the summer you're playing football in the middle of the street and these kids roll by and got to deal with it. So it teaches you lessons and it teaches you how to you know maneuver through life. But, yeah, absolutely, being in, like you said, the concrete jungle teaches you a lot of things. Yeah, it allows you to be able to be in a lot of different settings and to manage through it where most people cannot do. That. And common sense, as you think it's common sense, it's not so common?
Speaker 2:No, it's not so common, and it's scary.
Speaker 1:How many people don't have common sense. And that's why they get you know property stolen. That's why they get you know con because they just don't have the simple common sense. Yeah, and you learn that in the streets. You have to, because it's either learn it or there's going to be repercussions if you don't learn it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, In reference to your son, christiano. So we had one. I think one of the best guests we had was Gabe Lopez from JNL, right from the 55 Union right, and he shares about. It's kind of interesting because, don Pepe, I really look forward to getting no more of your story. Don Pepe, his father kind of reminds me of you a little bit, like the stories he would share Intuitive, tough, grew up, hustle, build. Didn't really have things handed to them, but like way ahead of the curve when it comes to age, right, like you were 13, 14, kind of hey, let's buy a house.
Speaker 2:The youngest realtor mankind ever has ever seen, right, I don't know if you were in the commission I hope you did but Don Pepe did. Gabe was very interesting and I can tell you I'm worried about my kid and he said to like. There's two things here. First, gabe's point. Gabe said that his father made him work at a restaurant. He had to, and that Gabe said no, no, I'm like, oh well, you know it's kind of like nepotism. Of course, if your son works for you, you're going to like hold him down right, you're going to give him the best kind of best tables, whatever he's like. He was like taking back that. I said that he's like oh no, if you were related to my father, it was infinitely worse for you. My dad was so nice to the other employees, he was so tough on me Because he expects more from you.
Speaker 1:It's a saying, it's just, it's a given right you expect more from your kids and you expect them to do better and put them in a tough situation because they should be able to handle it.
Speaker 2:And I asked Gabe. I said Gabe, what are you going to do with your kid? How do you? You know I was, I did not have my father had. He says I have a chip on my shoulder. I'm very fortunate, you're very honest about that. And then he said this. He said my kid, I'm throwing my kid in the restaurant. And we even talked about like, not my dad's restaurant, though, like another restaurant, so he won't get any nepotism. I said, oh, different restaurant. He said no, no, no, I'm going to my dad's restaurant because my dad is not going to be easy on my grandkids, on my son. My dad's going to say, hey, you got to go. And he said I was like, Wow, so interesting. And then the second thing I'll share, on a much smaller scale. I share this with my wife, my in-laws, we're, we're. I don't know if you have a will, do you have a will? I got to make a will.
Speaker 1:I do. Yeah, you have a will.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is something that you, when you have a kid, you realize you got to make a will. So I realized, okay, I got to get a will. I told my wife, who are we going to leave our son with? And she's like, oh, we should leave him with our parents or her parents and I said her my wife is so calm.
Speaker 2:She grew up in a very stable family, very, very healthy, very whole, very stable, Christian, super devout, christians Boom. I grew up in a very beautiful family but we were like Wild West, like killer, be killed lions. Everyone in my family. Now one person, my family's weak, everyone is in like deeply survivors. No one person in my family soft, there's no one.
Speaker 2:So I then I'm thinking, if I give my son to these in-laws, these people, my kids, and grow up soft and only soft, you they don't know how to like, they're not going to be able to manage money and they're going to ruin my assets. So I'm thinking like, like this. And then my wife said this, though she hit me, she said what? You, you're tough, your whole family is tough. You guys are because you guys had to survive in poverty. You guys came over. There's a lot of dysfunction, a lot of trauma, all this stuff. Do you want our son to be that tough? If he causes him to go through that things? And I'm like, yeah, he goes. Okay, you're telling me you want your son to not know what, where the food's going to come for two days on end. You really want that?
Speaker 2:Right and I'm like, no, I don't want that he goes. Okay, then let's be real. Maybe there's another way to teach him toughness then poverty.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm like huh. And she said to me, like it sounds simple to right. Probably you've gone through this 11 years as a new father. I'm like, how do you do it? And then I got this book called the Intentional Father and I've been reading through the book and it talks about, like, like you're saying, giving your son, like really being involved in your son's life and training them, teaching them, bringing them with you to your work, showing them hey, you see dad, dad's moving, dad's not chilling, that's going, that's hustling. And then the book says to, though, putting your son in tough environments. So, like, maybe your son and living in private school, it would be like sending him to like a two week, like, oh no, I'm just making something up. And the book says, like sending him to a two.
Speaker 1:I'm in TA camp somewhere in the mountains.
Speaker 2:Right and he has to hike 70 miles Like they do at St Benedict's right. The kids have to hike like 40 miles there. I went there so I went through it, the trail and all that stuff. You went to St Benedict's yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was a captain of the team leader for the trail, so uh yeah, wow, I was committed to suicide. I had to talk him off the ledge. Yeah.
Speaker 2:On the trail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because people get. It's not easy, man, this is legit. Like people are like not used to what you have to go through and you have to be a team and you have to be a unit. Wow, and people break down and the kids literally almost you know. Um, not sure if it was legit or if it was just a cry for help, but it happened Right. So, whoa, how old were you? 13 years old.
Speaker 2:Freshman year, you're buying houses and saving lives. Yeah, um.
Speaker 1:I mean, you put it that way, it sounds amazing. But uh, no man, listen, you do it in the moment because it's it's happening, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, but I was going to school and I was seeing these soccer players. I played soccer and I was not the best player at all, but you know, I'm looking at these players that are better than me and maybe I could have kept up with it and had a better chance. Uh, my son has a much better shot than me. He uh, he's just on a whole different level. But they're going and playing on that MLS and making $30, $40,000 back then and I'm like there's no way that. That's enough for me, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I worked at nightclubs um as a kid from like 14 to 15.
Speaker 2:Brother you were the most mature at the 14 year old. We could just win the whole podcast between the ages of 13 to 15. What's interesting? And then that's why I kind of nightclub like a go-go club.
Speaker 1:No, like uh, hunkabunka, abyss chrome deco, and I was doing, you know, working these tea nights where I was getting people to go and say the name of my guest list. So I came up with a guest list it was fantasy guest list and for everyone that went I got like 10 bucks. So sometimes I was having 300, 400 people going on my guest list. I was going home with three, four grand. To the point where I started, I was dealing drugs and they hired a guy to follow me one night to make sure of where I was going, cause I told him I was working at a nightclub and my friends would drive me there.
Speaker 1:And, um, yeah, for a good five, six years, um, I used to get speeches. Uh, I also was in uh soccer and the altar boy and in a youth group, uh, at St Casmer's church on Adam street, right in front of the park, um, and the guy's name was father Pete and father Pete was a priest and he was a priest soccer coach uh guy did everything and I get peaches all the time where he's like when are you going to stop this club Shit?
Speaker 1:When are you going to stop? You know, do you understand what happens in these clubs? You understand these little girls are doing? And he like ride me right, cause this is what I was doing. I was doing his job right, I was trying to make sure he steered me in the right way so today I still talked to him like once every couple of weeks and uh yeah huge mentor in my life.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is what I did for you know many years, and by the time I was like 18, I had almost I don't know close to 150, 200 grand saved up because you were promoting these clubs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know you're. You were so different than 99.99999% of children. Yeah, kind of actually makes sense, you know you're. You seem young. It kind of makes makes sense now because you have more than you've been able to accomplish, more in just short period of time. But actually it's almost like you, you started, you know, out of the womb. That's what it feels like you were like you were like 25 at 13.
Speaker 1:That's been the story of my whole life. Like you know, you're like an old man. Like you know, when I was in my twenties it was just like you know my mentality like not that I stay home and I wouldn't go out, I would. Just the way I acted, the way I handle situations, the way I address deals, it was like I was an older, 40, 50 year old guy and a 25 year old body.
Speaker 1:Right, because you were, yeah, and because I had to write. So, at the end of the day, and I'm finally coming into where I can enjoy life, because for 20 plus years my life was just grind and work, and even when I didn't have to do it as much, because you're built on doing something a certain way for so long, it's like the Titanic right, it's going. Wow, you can't just stop it, you can't just slow it down. There's just too much momentum. Yeah, and your body and your personality, it's used to being like on defense mode and attack mode all the time. Um, and that's who you become. So I'm at that point in my life where I'm trying to scale that down and like just be able to come off of that high. Yeah, cause it's been a long run of just being an adult. Yeah, for way too long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's almost like you gotta be a little, you gotta be like a cowboy for a little while. Yeah, enjoy, go. You know what they've been doing lately I'm it's very strange cause I'm 29, right, different phase of life, one year old, not 11 year old, and I have, like, right now I have 20 units, right, so I'm very grateful. Amazing, I never thought I would have one unit. My wife asked me this question. She said do you even want from a book called present over perfect, just, do you even want the life that you're building? I'm like, of course I want a success, I want, I want this. She says well, do you even want the life that you're building?
Speaker 1:And I got hit. I was like my wife asks some deep questions, my wife's deep man.
Speaker 2:My wife deep out of nowhere. Deep questions.
Speaker 1:My wife's deep out of nowhere Cause most people go their whole life and they're not down, don't understand why they're doing what they're doing. Right, for me, at a point, I was doing, doing, doing. I'm like, why am I doing as much as I'm doing? There's a reason for it now, and I understand it. And but you have to ask that question, cause if you don't understand why you're doing what you're doing, then what's the purpose? Right? So that's a deep question.
Speaker 2:I fully agree. Can I ask what was your answer?
Speaker 1:For me it's leaving the legacy behind. Right, for a while it was just doing to do, because it was all I knew how to do, how to do right Cause the pattern always doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, um. But the reason why I do as much as I do, because I want to leave the legacy behind that this one guy was able to have the initiative to change the neighborhood.
Speaker 2:So where.
Speaker 1:I'm developing. There's, you know, eight properties. I've done in the past six years several hundreds, close to a thousand units of apartments.
Speaker 2:I want to be clear. This is not like hey, I flipped the house right. My Instagram videos are really nice to me. Am I like two? Family with the bonus Airbnb? Yeah, this is not too family with the bonus Airbnb.
Speaker 1:This is like several hundred units buildings serious projects All in one area too Right, it blocks away. Like I have one here, one here, one here, one here. Yeah, I gotta ask you, how did you get them so close, these projects so purposely, intentionally? Oh, okay, so not having money and seeing the vision of you know I need to scale this and do it quickly. How do I do that?
Speaker 1:Couldn't buy in the iron bound, you know, didn't have the money to do that, so I found the area that was not happening yet and figured out that, you know, certain things were in place, certain things were where they needed to be and JIT was here, two eight was here, et cetera and I just started buying all the land that I could and started doing deals in that area strategically, also because of the logistics.
Speaker 1:I don't have to go to Bayon and hack and sack and whole bulk and then, as very so speed right Also helped a lot with doing so much so quickly, to the point where, like you said before you know you have your 20 units and you never thought you would have one I now capable of saying I'm about to start to starting a project of 400 units. I never would have thought my goal originally was to have a couple hundred thousand saved up and that was my dream as a kid.
Speaker 1:But you know, never would I have thought that you know, here at you know, in my 30s, I'm building 400 units like crazy, right? Just if you asked me that question, I would have been like there's no way right and age of you know, 18 years old or 21, right? But the answer to your question is leaving a legacy. So you go up the bridge, frankie Rogers Boulevard, where the Red Bull Stadium is, and you have the cobalt lofts, which is owned by Advanced Freelty, you have Irby and you have 35 other buildings. They're all different developers, they're all that is true right.
Speaker 1:And here my goal is to be the one guy, because 99% of the stuff that's new in that area was built by me and going to be built by me. That changed the, the whole thing, that changed the entire area, which, to me, is the legacy that I want to leave behind. So that's, that's my passion, that's my drive, that's my why. It's not the money, it's not an extra hundred thousand dollars, an extra million dollars. It's not the money, it's now, how do I take it to the next level? Because to make a quick million dollars, I could go do that in Asbury, I can go do that in Belleville.
Speaker 1:I can do it anywhere, right, yeah, and a lot of people have asked me like why do you deal with what you deal? Why don't you just go do stuff in other areas? And it's a good question, yeah, but my mission and my passion is in one place, yeah, and it takes a while for people to understand that.
Speaker 1:But it makes sense and it's going to get to where it needs to get to, Because at this point I have the land already. I own it. It's not like I want to build three, four thousand units. I'm in the process of doing it as we speak.
Speaker 2:So do you OK. So when's the last time you bought a piece of land? Have you Spotted? You know? I guess maybe this is I hate it. Like two, three months ago. Oh, you're still buying the land still every single day. Oh, ok, I thought you pause on building your development, so you're still buying in your building Correct.
Speaker 1:So I have what I've bought in over the years and, like, the one I just bought was 20,000 square feet. We're doing a hundred unit building on it.
Speaker 2:It's going for 20,000 square feet. Yeah, that's pretty good yeah.
Speaker 1:And bought a property for under a million bucks, which is cheap, you know, given that you know, per door it's forty five thousand dollars a door. So, building a proof is worth four point five. I bought it for under a million Very bad deal, Right. So still buying right, Especially if it's in that area you know it's coming. You have to fight me for it, because I consider that an area that I'm trying to develop, so missing on those opportunities is not something I take lightly.
Speaker 2:Now let me question. Let's say there was a building or a land. What would you go over the land, over the existing, like building, Like there was a small residential property or like a multifamily property? You know eight units, 12 units, 10 years?
Speaker 1:Doesn't make a difference. It comes down to the purchase price, right? So, whether it's land or a building, you just got to calculate what the value is for the deal, would you say you're picky, though, on your prices.
Speaker 2:now that you're building and your money, you got to be like you were saying, right, like if we're slow we can just build the 30 units, right, but like my money. Right now I'm coming to a realization where I'm like OK, I can't, I got to really utilize private money. There's no other way. Right, just a certain point my money is just. It's not limitless. So my home, that's where I'm at now right.
Speaker 1:So in the past it has been my own money. I've done it just self-funded, no partners, no, no private equity, no raising capital from friends and family. So on my own now going into building three, four thousand units. I'm starting to have those meetings. I'm meeting with Goldman Sachs, I'm meeting with private equity companies, family offices and people who know me and this group called YPO, which is a huge part of my life at this point During the couple of years.
Speaker 1:What does it stand for Young professional organization Nice. So you've got to be CEO of a company, you have to have X amount of employees and have a net worth of X right. A lot of these people are people that are third, fourth generation billion dollar companies, where I don't have that knowledge. So these guys are actually helping me at times, you know, guide me and maneuvering me through the right things to do as I'm growing to a scale that they're at already, right, so that's been huge yeah.
Speaker 1:Very influential and very helpful and I'm grateful for everyone who's helped me thus far in that group. But I can't talk to my friends about that and I have few, because I work as much and I very selective on who I'm friends with. And I can't talk to my family about it because, as we've talked about earlier, no clue on how to even buy a house, to ask them about a five million dollar problem or whatever the case may be, that's not going to happen. So this group actually allows me to have, you know, someone as a soundboard to just bounce ideas off of.
Speaker 2:It's just like, uh, so relative right, like to me. I'm like man. Am I going to be able to build 1000 units when I'm to 30, my late 30s?
Speaker 1:Maybe, hopefully, it's doable, it's doable, oh, it's definitely doable, definitely, doable, definitely doable, for a sure, but my mind, this is how I go through.
Speaker 2:It's like I still feel. Maybe you don't feel this way, I'm going to put words in your mouth, but oftentimes, like the progress that we're on when you didn't grow up around wealth, you didn't grow up around real estate, it can be actually very lonely, in a way like very or very misunderstood. I give you an example I was talking to my, I was talking to my mom about problem before. Uh, you know, just catching up with her, I'm like, oh yeah, this was happening, but my mom was trying to give me insight. And my mom you know, I love my mother with all my heart and she's giving me insight in real estate world and like problems, I'm listening to her. I'm listening to her. I'm like this woman has really no idea what she's talking about. She's very well intentioned, she loves me with all her soul, but she generally just doesn't know what she's talking about. It's like very, very well intentioned, boom. And then I think of my friends, my friends. Right now, my average friend probably makes 90 grand, 100 grand, 80 grand, 120.
Speaker 2:Right Good salary, but realistically they're not like they're not understanding. Okay, hey, you know I had to buy the property and now my bank account went from like 300 to zero to like I have like 20 grand and my overhead overhead is like 80 grand.
Speaker 2:So the next 30 days I got to figure out how to get you know another 80 grand to cover my overhead and still have 20 grand. And they like when they're worried about the car payment. So I'm not willing to just cut off that relationship because we're not similar growth obsession people. I have different purposes with that friend. Like I'm going to see a friend tomorrow, we're going to go just hang out by the beach. He's super chill. Amazing guy plays guitar. Is not looking to take over the world, build properties, he's just looking to.
Speaker 1:That's okay, Cause that's him right. I'm talking about friends that are toxic or have bad habits or that you know. So that's what I'm talking about those type of friends. There's certain friends that doesn't matter what magnitude you're at.
Speaker 2:You never cut ties.
Speaker 1:That's not what I was referring to. I was referring more to bad habits, toxic people that don't have the same vision.
Speaker 2:Draining right, not trustworthy Negative energy is number one right.
Speaker 1:Anyone that's going to drain energy.
Speaker 1:You know you always have those cancerous people in your life and you need to avoid them at all costs, right Cause life is already difficult as it is no need to make it more difficult. And I have enough stress in my life, you know, being a single father running your business, doing everything that I do. Then to add on top that when I go hang out with somebody they're going to drain me with problems and stress. It just doesn't stop. Worth the relationships Not healthy. I've made a few changes in my life.
Speaker 2:I recommend you to, if you want to, you go on the slow down route. I'm going to slow down and I'm not even close to you, but I'm slowing down. Here's what I'm doing, and not still ambitious, but in terms of my daily cadence, I'm meditating, practice meditation, breath work. Can't believe it. Second thing is, I cut off social media, but here's what I did. That was good. I can't. I cut off social media. It made a big difference in my life. I'm shocked. I was like, cause I'm almost on social, so I'm like, well, I'm like, let me try it. So much more present.
Speaker 2:But when you say about negativity, what are the people who I pulled away from is a good friend of mine, very, very, very ambitious man, but I'm he's. You were saying it's just too much, there's too much negative energy. I got, I'm looking to focus on my thing. I'm not looking to get any stress. That's unnecessary. I love you, I celebrate you, but you got to stay at a distance Cause I'm on a mission. I don't have the bandwidth. I have a kid that deserves my full attention when I'm with him. I have a wife who I don't want to lose Right, and I'm working on that. So you don't have unlimited deck, unlimited cards in your hand. You only got so many cards to play. Well, I'm implementing some of that stuff in my life.
Speaker 1:So I did start meditation, I did start the process of getting at least eight hours of sleep every night. I leave my phone downstairs, I shut it down at the time. I shut it down at seven, 30, at eight o'clock, um, because there is only 24 hours in the day. So it's not that you don't have enough time, it's that you have too many commitments. So there's this guy who said that to me. I'm actually in one of his courses uh integrated living.
Speaker 1:His name is the Nato and he has a place in Miami called, uh, the Miami ice club. So if you've never tried Wim Hof breathing, put it on your list. Okay, it will change your life. Someone just told me about this, actually, because I went to Costa Rica with my YPL group and I had them all try it.
Speaker 1:And everything that we did in Costa Rica. That was the one thing that they had the most value of the Wim Hof breathing, Wim Hof breathing. And I just sent two of my employees to Miami to do it, and the girls that went as like a reward for their hard work came called me when they were done. They're like oh my God, we feel amazing. We've never felt this way. All the energy in the world. It's almost like you're on drugs, but it's just, it's crazy. Wim Hof breathing, whim Hof breathing. Hey, I'm guessing it's an ice bath thing. No, so you? That's the second part.
Speaker 1:That's if you want to do that, but the Whim Hof. Breathing is just a pattern of how you breathe. You start losing sensation in your fingers. You start losing sensation on your feet, your body. You feel like you're leaving your body Um it's crazy. It's like tripping, but there's no drugs, right. Wow, just how breath just taking certain amount here into your body. Yeah, so, wow, yeah, so look into it. It's deep on the whole process and why it happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah but yeah, so he owns this place where you do that and then from there you go do a nice bath for you know three minutes. And he's doing this integrated living class that there's five of us involved in. And I'm on a 90 day sprint with him, and these are some of the things that we're talking about. How?
Speaker 2:to slow down, Right so it's exactly where I'm at.
Speaker 1:I wish I was at it, maybe five, ten years ago. Oh, that's me, but yeah exactly, but um, you know, everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 2:Well, no, I agree with you 100% there. To that point, how do you go about, you know, in being, you know a busy developer, you know father, um, oh, so many of these things in just a regular person, son, friend, how do you go about building those boundaries that real estate sometimes can just break in your personal life? You were saying 730 turning up for phone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, but that's now right so for the past. You know, I don't know how long since my son was born, um, life has been difficult and challenging because of how much I have found my plate. Right Now he's older, he's an autopilot, right. School practice, you know, it's different when he was younger, is a lot harder, but, like, even like dating and doing those type of things, it was just non-existent. There's not enough time, right. It's trying to find a balance. It's just difficult because there's only so much time in the day, right.
Speaker 1:So, um, I was just talking to someone this morning where, like, dating women is tough because when you're working all morning, uh, sometimes I'm up at 5, 36 before my kid goes to school and get ready and prepping for the day, and then picking them up from soccer 7 30 and coming home and making dinner, like last night, and then to go out with someone you're drained, right, and then you can't give them the proper energy or they want to see you more than you saying hey, I can see you once a week, that's not enough. Well, you know, that's all I can afford to give you right. So the noddle said to me is like dude, you're undatable.
Speaker 1:You're undatable because not because you're not a gullible guy, not because you're. You're successful not because you, you know, are not capable of getting a girl. It's because just your life you need to slow down. You if that's something that you want, which it is something that I want. I want to have more kids. I want to have a family, uh, besides just my son. And he goes you're not datable, you're undatable.
Speaker 1:You need to change certain things in your life, to be more datable and to be someone who has time for that, because you just don't have the Span to do that Um, and you just spot on and uh, you know um. So Listen, we're all growing in different parts of our lives, right? Um? I went through some pains, um, for a long time because just it was just work and my son, and now I'm finally at a place where I'm Trying I'm not there yet, but trying to find that balance.
Speaker 2:Wow, I love that. Yeah, so I love that. I think that's whole thing. It's not like uh, my friend, my friend's not uh, ypo, my friend's name is benna and he tells me something all the time he goes. It's not a problem to be solved, it's attention to be managed and that's like that's how I feel, like balances, especially in meditation. One of the practices I've learned is like the, the, the phrase be kind to yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah behavioral change is extremely difficult and you you Directly. You are a person who clearly like self diagnosed here. You are a true Worker. Yeah, like you work, you are a person who works. Your output is higher than vast majority of humans can fathom.
Speaker 1:I tell people sometimes what I could do in a day is what someone could maybe do in a week or two, like it's just and it's it's crazy. But that's why, yeah, I've been able to accomplish as much as I have Correct. And to go back to your question, you're talking about like just the output of what's happening and how do I manage and how do I deal with, you know, everything going on? Um, you lose a little piece of you Because it's just, it's work to work, work, work work.
Speaker 1:And you lose. You know, a piece of you and I. I've lost a piece of myself and I felt that right. So For everything you do, there's a price, right, and that's what it comes down to. So, um, I was willing To pay the price, I was willing to sacrifice. Thankfully, it didn't kill me. Sometimes I thought that I was on the verge of like a nervous breakdown gone wrong. Are we just, you know, having some crazy thing happen to me?
Speaker 1:Yeah and I was willing to sacrifice everything Because I in my health and my time and my happiness For the end goal right, but I knew that someday I'd be where I am today. In life I mean today means the past three or six months Past three or six months I've been focusing on getting back a piece of me, getting back my time, getting back, you know, the things that I care about, but I intentionally did that.
Speaker 1:It's not something that was by accident. I'm not saying it was the best choice or the right choice, but it was not a horrible choice and it got me to where I am today and I have a freedom that you know most people don't have. And tomorrow the thing that's beautiful is you can take everything I have, put me anywhere in the world. I'll be fine as long as I'm healthy and I can work and I can use my brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I tell my team what sales. I'm like why don't you learn the skill of sales Like I'm a salesperson before I'm a real estate person? Yeah, we're number one in new work. We sell. You know, last year sold 89 houses in Newark or 90 houses in Newark, right, we love helping people sell and buy. I probably could have made more money if I went like the wholesale route or something like that.
Speaker 2:But, honestly, I love my business, I love what I do and, frankly, I love helping, put people, putting people on and something I can, like go to bed every night, feel good about when sometimes on the wholesale or like that route. It's like it can get dirty, right, it could be tough I have what's the right thing to do, where if I think I feel like I usually do the right thing, like, honestly, I use maybe I don't make the most money per sale, but I feel like I do good by people. People Hopefully feel like I did good by them, and I go to bed happy and that's it. With that said, I tell my agents, like, maybe one day, realtors don't exist anymore. Maybe one day, uh, the world no longer needs realtors. Everything's on amazon.
Speaker 2:Still, though, you it's not about just real estate guys. You guys have a skill set and, along the way, by putting in the work, you're forming your character, because that's actually like the ultimate reward. I see like and this is from a guy, alex Ramosy, right, very famous on instagram right now, and he says this goes we don't do the work for the out, the out Like the outcome. We do the work because we ourselves, our transformation, is the desired outcome. So every time I do work, like, for example, this pocket is not good, I'm just gonna call you up to hey page. I know you're really busy.
Speaker 2:We had another podcast and although it's like we already did one, it's like, well, who cares? Because we're doing the work. I'm learning how to ask questions, I'm learning about you, you're communicating and you like. I think it's just better to do things correctly, like, for example, how many shortcuts could you have taken at envy? By gums a thousand. But you walk in and, honestly, great building, like serious vibe young adult, you're single, you got to be in that building. You know, professional, it's very, very nice. I'm not in line, it's very nice building. But the point I'm saying is that, like, the shortcuts, like these things don't really help you, but developing the skill set, or you're said like, the mindset and the skills will ultimately carry with you, even if I dropped you in freaking Qatar. Um, let me ask you this you have a good reputation. Honestly, I don't know if you know this, but you do have a good reputation.
Speaker 1:I've been hearing that more and more lately.
Speaker 2:How do you? How do you build it Like, how does like, do you think you would have like, how does that work?
Speaker 1:Organic no effort. There's no social media. There's no marketing.
Speaker 2:There's no real estate. People speak very badly about people. That's one of the things and you're public with it, right, yeah, you didn't do envy, you didn't. Everybody goms right. You put your tagline on it. So you say, hey, this, you stood behind. You said, oh, this is me. So people have complaints, right, and people have to think, but with you overall you have a very good reputation.
Speaker 1:I haven't Really hurting the negative just doing the right thing, putting my head down. Like I said, no marketing, no branding, no website. We built our website like a year ago.
Speaker 2:Stop nothing.
Speaker 1:That's not true true, and the bike gomes were built when the buildings were done. Those were the first two buildings with the bike gomes attack. All right, everything else going forward, we'll have that. But yeah, just literally putting my head down, not looking up, and just pounding and going and doing. That's it. And your, your work speaks for itself and that that's what's happened. It's just people now see that this kid, which you know, was what I was back when I was like 24, 25, I go to City Hall and I try to get something done and I get kicked out and people no one's really there to help you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's tough, it's tough, but now it's a different story. But when?
Speaker 2:you first go into City Hall, that's true.
Speaker 1:It's difficult to navigate right. So in the 24 year old kid now is the serious real deal.
Speaker 2:Back then it was just yes, it was just guy coming in. How many years you think it took for you to see that?
Speaker 1:I've been.
Speaker 2:I've been in the 15 is when it really happens that you feel like okay, you're a stat, you, because it's a decade, right, yeah, you're not going anywhere. You've been somewhere for 10 years, you're not moving around, yeah 15 years is what it takes.
Speaker 1:Wow, and it's. It's crazy because it's just the snowball effect, right? It's a compounding interest, right? $2, tomorrow's four, four is a, and if you keep doing that very quickly it's hundreds of millions of dollars right. So same thing with this. It's like you know, start with a 13 unit building, and 13 was 20, 20 was 40, 40, it was 80 and it was 100, ends 200 as 400, and now next one that we're working on is gonna be 700, so it just starts to really snow 700 units.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where's that?
Speaker 1:located, can't really discuss it yet?
Speaker 2:No, it's a norc.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like to see.
Speaker 2:Norc succeed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every crane I see. It's not like, oh, I'm gonna have tough renting my building. I'm not worried about that because my quality of my buildings may not be the best, but it's up there high enough when the competition is not gonna be able to touch it. So seeing that makes me happy, because I'm a guy that bets in Newark, right Wow, and wants people to succeed. Yeah, I could care less if I saw 10 more cranes. That's good for everyone in order. Yeah, it's a win-win right, I agree.
Speaker 2:So I totally agree. There was a realtor who once called me and said this is just crazy. But like the realtor called me said, hey, listen, I saw that you were number one in Newark. This happened three years ago and the guy was two years ago. We were selling like 40 houses a year in Newark at that time. Right, and they got called me, says, hey, let you know, next year I'm gonna beat you, I'm gonna be number one. And the guy said it like with the. It was such a like, a kind of like who did he? He did not do it. No, okay, we've been number one for four years. You should call him up.
Speaker 1:Hey, by the way, you want to come work for me, because I remember the statement you made, so I would like to refresh your memory that that did not happen. We're hiring agents. I would say something like that. I would never do something like that, yeah, but I think yeah.
Speaker 2:I think, okay, so I'm the same way. I would ever do that because I'm like. I'm like all I want is peace. But I do think I'm like this guy. And then I see him, like, oh, but the thing I with him, I told him this, I said I was his name but I was like brother, you know what, I hope you are. I wish them well. He's like well, you know, I'm so number one. I'm like be number it's a good, but they're number one today.
Speaker 2:Maybe you probably not gonna be number one in five years and if you are number one in 20 years you're gonna die and then you're gonna be forgot like who cares about some of one crap You're doing. Well, I'm very happy for you. That means Newark got a better classification of realtor. Yeah, realtor's already don't have the best rep right. So if you can just increase your quality of sir, that's why I'm way number one in Newark. Don't be wrong, we're not number one. You're just gonna work hard because we are with direct to sellers, because we have our petition. That's not just why. It's very honest. Truth is there really was not a crazy level competition. Yeah, there's really not. Like you're building, anybody comes very, very, very cool building. That's when I tore. That's all went and I haven't toured the other one, but I have that's one tour, so that's when I you've been to cannello.
Speaker 2:I've been cannello. Yeah, very cool too. They're in great vibes. And I'll tell you, I looked at the gym right next cannello and I even think how you did the layout school, because I'm getting my cup of coffee make. I do. I can see myself living here. This is a sick gym, yeah, when you want. So I think that was pretty cool how you have the glass, because it kind of gives the person the coffee show of like what's on the other side.
Speaker 2:Yes, I thought that was a good thing. I don't know if you probably did on purpose. I'm guessing yeah. But my point is I never buy gomes. You just raised above the bar of like I'm gonna provide something that, frankly, newark deserves, but it's not being met. Same thing I did in real estate. I saw okay, this is not rocket science. Treat, do good business by people. Yeah, don't screw people over. Do it long enough, that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll tell you that the building Arbol, right when you come off it's a big green sign.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beautiful.
Speaker 1:I spent an extra million dollars on that building that should have my siding guy, victor, goes Wow, why are you doing this, why are you spending this money? And I said Victor, because it's not just this building, it's the 4,000 other units I'm gonna build and that's a gateway leaving Newark, everyone that comes into Newark. I'll be at Ruth Chris steakhouse at the short mall, and I'd run into people like, oh, have you seen that building, arbol? They're talking about it right. So my goal was to set In the city of Newark so that people understand that one I am here and to nor can Receive this type of quality of work. Yeah, and there is no other building that I know of that has amenities like that. Maybe there's one or two that may just have opened up. I would say, harrison, that's it. Erby, with your no, nor none, erby, here in Newark, it's not no, no, no, no, no, no one, harrison, I agree all day, the one in Harrison is unbelievable by do agree with you what they did in Newark.
Speaker 2:They gave kind of like the B version correct and they did, and they're they're apparently allegedly doing well in their lease out To I'm not sure whether they have a good name.
Speaker 1:Listen, at the end of the day, they do a good job, right? So you have to compliment, oh, of course, with that.
Speaker 2:But your amount of amenities, I do agree, because what you did, you did more than many, I think, your rights. You had said a great word, there's a vibe, there's a whole.
Speaker 1:You walk in, there's music. The music carries you through the whole building. The music takes you up the elevator. The artwork that we have I hand selected every piece in that building all that stuff talks to a certain type of you really hand selected, it's up guys.
Speaker 1:In Pompano Beach in Florida a friend owns a warehouse with 75,000. I went down there myself, hand selected this stuff, shipped it up here, spent 20,000 plus dollars on all the artwork for that, the restaurant and a bunch of other things, and hand selected every piece myself. I'm stunned. I'm hands-on man, like I tell, and it's other thing we do the development.
Speaker 1:Yeah we do the leasing, we do the management. We have staff that works in the building, that does the cleaning. We do everything in house from start to finish. So now we're starting to do lease ups for other clients. We're starting to manage really clients properties. We're starting to Do construction for other people because the brand name is there and people know that they trust it. They trust it like they'll write a check for a hundred two hundred thousand dollars and not even ask me for a contract.
Speaker 1:Because they know that I've had to lose money. Yeah, then lose your word lose my word because then automatically a guy like you, who I've never met, yeah doesn't say that hey, I'm not, haven't heard anything, but good news, because normally developers it's all right bad, negative.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, don't get me wrong there's some people that will say stuff like a ten will move out and like I'm gonna get my security deposit. You know why you didn't get it? Because you left the apartment looking like shit, like that's why you didn't get it. Besides that, there's not negative reviews about anything, because we do a good job, we pay people, we don't wait for banks to give us draws.
Speaker 1:I just write the check right and there's value to that. So when you need that person to come work for you or a job in Jersey City, who do you think the developers gonna go work for? The guy that has to wait 30, 60, 90 days, sometimes a hundred days, to get paid no with a guy that pays you a check within a week.
Speaker 2:I'm blown away, pedro, personal because you, I, honestly I'm I feel like this, usually like the podcast for others. I think this one's for me, but we're okay outside of real estate Hobbies. Do you have any?
Speaker 1:So just started picking up a few hobbies, because all I did was work. So I started tennis and salsa dancing, mmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's also dancing. You're gonna find a wife real quick out here. A little bit a little shot up perhaps.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not sure you know, so I started doing that and that was part of my 90 days print. It was like one of the things was no social media, a couple other things, pick up some hobbies and just implementing these things, because once you get momentum and you start doing them, it's like going to gym the first week sucks. Once you're going 30 days strong, you wake up in the morning and your body wants to go to the gym right.
Speaker 2:So atomic habits patterns yes right.
Speaker 1:So and then my ultimate goal is I've been saying this for at least five years I started once and I stopped, just to get my pilot's license.
Speaker 2:I like anything that goes both cars nice Motorcycle or not, for you.
Speaker 1:I'm too crazy that I would kill myself.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that this. So that's the reason why.
Speaker 1:I have Purposely, you know you know when you know yeah.
Speaker 2:I know. Yeah, that no, not a good decision, pedro, I am very grateful for your time. Thank you so much for opening up by your life. Ladies, if you want to salsa, dance, pedro, you can find a mat. I'm the wingman. No, but guys, check out his building. He's only like a few apartments left. Take care, guys.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys appreciate it.
