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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
João Pires: How to Build Wealth through Family and Real Estate
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From the rustic charm of a Portuguese village to the bustling streets of America, my good friend João Pires captures hearts with his immigrant tale, engraving the essence of hard work and home ownership into our discussion. As João unfolds his family's pursuit of the American dream, we're reminded of the powerful symbol that real estate plays in the quest for stability and success. His story is not just one of personal triumph but a testament to the enduring spirit of those who start anew, building a legacy brick by brick. João's journey from Newark apartments to the proud owner of a two-family house in Carney is a narrative that celebrates cultural roots and the transformative impact of a steadfast commitment to family values.
Imagine the grit it takes to knock on doors during a storm, or the audacity of wedding crashing for the sheer thrill of it. These anecdotes from my own start in real estate reveal the relentless determination and vibrant sense of humor that has fueled my career. Through the 'Blast of Brendan' segments and Megan's 5k deal celebration, our conversation weaves in the vital role of mentorship and resilience, highlighting how every challenge faced is a stepping stone to greater achievements. And let's not forget the laughs shared over wedding crashing escapades, a chapter in life that proves sometimes, you've got to take the unconventional path to create unforgettable tales.
Our lives are a mosaic of interconnected pathways, and this episode is a reflection on how each step we take, from the corridors of Nighat College to the pews of a Sayerville congregation, is intricately woven into our bigger story. As I share my transition from real estate to ministry, we ponder the seamless harmony between professional success and spiritual calling. It's a journey that champions transparency, the importance of providing genuine service, and the understanding that our vocation can be our ministry. Join us for this exploration of life's rich tapestry, where every triumph and tribulation is a brushstroke in the grand picture of our existence.
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Portuguese Immigrant Real Estate Journey
Speaker 1I remember you had this client. He was a Jewish client. He would give you like six listings or three listings, and John Carlisle literally I'm not kidding you, this is the picture I want you guys to have. He'd be playing video games, eating cereal, his phone would ring and he would make like $5,000. And it was just the most absurd thing ever. Because I'm over here, I'm like what is he doing differently than I am? 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, I'm here with João Carlos, trusted, trusted friend of mine, a brother, pastor, leader, and most unknown is actually the reason, the plug that I got into real estate. Insane, joão, we're grateful to have you brother, and tell these people how I say your name, because I'm gonna say six different times.
Speaker 2Bro, so my name is João, which is Portuguese João, and you're Brazilian, so you should know this, but the way Brandon says it is João.
Speaker 1Well, you know, there's two types of Portuguese there's Portuguese and the Portuguese, the Portugal.
Speaker 2Bro, there's Portuguese from Portugal.
Speaker 1Bro, that's the Portuguese, it's a joke, brother, it's a joke.
Speaker 2Bro. So I live in a community right now in North Florida there's no Portuguese people from Portugal, so every time I'm like, they're like oh so your name is Portuguese, are you from Brazil, are you from? Everyone thinks I'm Brazilian and I love my Brazilian brothers and sisters, though.
Speaker 1So yeah, well, we'll give them a pass. We love your back, so I will share this question. It's my favorite question to ask each guest on our podcast here real lives at Real Estate. How does Real Estate impact you? But the question is what did you grow up in? You actually have a pretty interesting, because you came from Portugal, right?
Speaker 2Yeah, I came from Portugal, this one. I was actually really excited to talk with you. But good bro, we got history. Man, you've been in real estate how long now?
Speaker 1Seven years as a realtor.
Speaker 2Okay, like seven years as a realtor, yeah, yeah. So I can't wait to get into some stories we're gonna have some juicy stuff. But so I grew up in a village, probably didn't have more than my dad said once that the village we grew up in Portugal had about 250 people. My mom said 400 at one point.
Speaker 1Mass of 1000, super small.
Speaker 2Now you've had your guests here, Carlos and Avellino, which were my cousins.
Speaker 1Oh yes, good letter.
Speaker 2We grew up in the same little village of a town called Nubriju in Portugal, so it's by Algueria, belea and by Aveiro and man we grew up with like 400 people. My dad built his house with his hands, god To marry my mother.
Speaker 1To marry your mother Brother. What does the house?
Speaker 2have to do with the mother. Listen, because back in the day, men knew what to do. Oh, okay, listen. Back in the day you're talking about, men knew what to do. You had to build something and I admired my dad and my uncle. They built this house with their hand and that's what you did when you got married. Well, you built something and man my dad, did that. He was like 17 years old, bro, building a house for my mom. And so we come from this little village and the house is still there. Owning real estate was the cream of the crop, if you knew. You were successful as an immigrant when you owned property and there was like great ownership and I remember my dad, you know, busting his butt every single day, my mom busting her butt every day, and we grew up in a home because these immigrants came here with little to nothing and they built something and real estate just meant a lot to us.
Speaker 1You came here, you came to the country at four right or three.
Speaker 2I think it was a little younger than three, yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1Okay, let's say you're two, three, four years old. Now, when you moved to America, where did it? Because you guys had a house in Portugal. I imagine your parents owned the house.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, it's still there. Yeah, oh, they still own it.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's still there, brother, yeah, yeah it's crazy they don't still own this house, yeah they do.
Speaker 2In fact, they're going to knock it down and build a new one.
Speaker 1But yeah, they still own the properties. So your parents moved to America. Where did they live when they moved here?
Speaker 2We came to Newark right off Market Street in Newark, New Jersey, In Ironbound. Yeah, we grew up in the Ironbound man Wow.
Speaker 1Okay. So when you moved to Ironbound, do you remember where you guys lived?
Speaker 2Yeah, it was an apartment.
Speaker 1So your parents came here and they kind of already had work lined up more or less.
Speaker 2I mean, I don't remember, I was just a baby. But, yeah, I saw them work themselves up into the middle class.
Speaker 1How long were you guys in that two bedroom apartment?
Speaker 2I don't remember, it must have been just a couple years, like two to three years.
Speaker 1What do you think? You guys moved out of Newark, but how long was it? Five, six, seven.
Speaker 2Yeah, something like that. My parents bought a two-family house in Carney.
Speaker 1Wow, so I think you went from Newark to Broadway.
Speaker 2No, no, no, no. We lived in Carney, new Jersey. I grew up every morning waking up and looking at the city right across the Hudson. That was my dad's first house that he bought and I remember thinking, oh, my parents have tenants. I was like, oh, we made it. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1My dad has tenants. How old are you at that point?
Speaker 2I don't know. I must have been like seven, eight or around those, maybe less than 10.
Speaker 1Wow, Wow, this is very interesting actually, because I'm thinking here. One thing I was wondering is what was the first time that I came across and really understood that my parents had money or that they didn't have money. So I always think about because they say, oh, you have your story and your life story. Then you also have a money story, right, how you grew and how you understood money. And really, when it comes to real estate, we all live under hopefully not all of us, but hopefully one day we all live in a safe shelter and we have these resources. I think about your story there. You're like oh, we kind of made it right. Your parents had the single-family house in Portugal. Obviously you don't remember it. And then you're like sub-five and then you end up going to the Iron Bound. You're in it. Too bad when you're so young. You really what does it make sense? You're five, six, seven.
Speaker 2For sure, for sure.
Speaker 1But then when you're like eight, nine, 10, you end up your parents bought that two-family in Carney Right Driveway. You know the nice picket backyard fence, but maybe you had a dog Quite literally, In fact, there were so Portuguese.
Speaker 2My dad would try to raise chickens in the back, and here we are chicken New Jersey. I said chicken New Jersey.
Speaker 1Chicken New Jersey. Chicken New Jersey. Come out your live.
Speaker 2Governor, think of that. Let's replace Harrison.
Speaker 1The garden state. Just kidding the garden state.
Speaker 2Just put the chickens in. Yeah, so my dad had a bunch of chickens in the back. We would hear chicken noises Pukka, pukka. It was like Carney, new Jersey, like roosters, and in fact people thought we were bizarre. But it's just cool seeing immigrants grow up in a country like this.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm really trying to think honestly. That's funny too, because probably it was against code to have chicken as a plan. Oh yeah, 100%, of course it was, I was like you can't have a cow in your backyard. So it is funny too, because you got things. We always talk about how real estate impacts our lives, and in this case, you guys in the Iron Riding. You couldn't bring over the culture of having your own eggs in the morning, right?
Speaker 2The eggs from the chickens that you raised.
Speaker 1But now over here in the Carney you have a little bit more freedom, you have the backyard and it really did shape not only your lifestyle, it shaped your breakfast, it seems like.
Impact of Real Estate on Life
Speaker 2Yeah, 100%. Wow, how did you?
Speaker 1when you said you made it when your dad collected rent. Do you have any recollection of that?
Speaker 2Bro, I remember thinking my dad felt like a hero to me Like and of course, our relationship isn't perfect but I remember looking back and be like my dad came from a country. He didn't come here with much money at all actually, they came with almost nothing and he was able to do this and he bought this property and now he's collecting rent from someone upstairs that lives in. Conceptually, I understood that as like a six, seven year old. I remember thinking my dad is a hero If he can make it. I can make it too, and I brought. That's the dream, bro, the fact that you can come from nothing and actually build yourself to be something. And my dad exemplified that with real estate, which is the coolest thing in the world. So, yeah, Wow.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1But now, how old were you when you guys left Carney?
Speaker 2So I forgot, bro. I think we were like 11, 12. And they bought this.
Speaker 1So you guys moved there a lot, I mean yeah, from. Portugal. Think about this Every four years you guys moved. You moved from Portugal to America at three. Then actually you're going farmland in Portugal to inner city, newark, at three to seven. From three to seven you guys were three to six. You're rocking there, then six to 10.
Speaker 2I think it was like six to 12. And then we went to Raleigh after six years.
Speaker 1OK, so after six years now you go to Raleigh. How old.
Speaker 2Around 12 years old, and my dad. They bought a one acre property.
Speaker 1In.
Speaker 2Raleigh. In Raleigh, new Jersey. Yeah, it was one of the largest, I mean until this day. They only sold it a couple years ago. I think it was 0.96 of an acre right there, and so bro.
Speaker 1I think Huge lot in Raleigh.
Speaker 2It was a very huge lot, yeah. And man, I saw my parents. My mom was in the fashion industry. I would see my dad wake up every single day at 4.30 in the morning because he worked for Local 731 in New York City and, man, they were doing big jobs like the Freedom Tower. He was part of the foundation team and I saw them work their butt off to afford that home. Man, I saw my parents go from immigrants with nothing to owning almost a one acre property in Raleigh, new Jersey. It was special to watch them do that.
Speaker 1Well, what kind of impact did you guys moving from the two family to a single family have? And did you guys sell the two family when you moved to Raleigh or did you keep it?
Speaker 2You know, it's funny because I think back now, I don't think people probably advised my parents correctly, because I mean, it depends what your philosophy of owning real estate is like. I mean, if you want to buy and hold, I think it's good. Now, looking back, I think my parents should have held it.
Speaker 1Oh, they sold it when they moved.
Speaker 2Yeah, they sold it when they moved and I understand they made some good income.
Speaker 1They probably made profit. Probably use it as down payment in the next place 100%.
Speaker 2But it's the traditional immigrant ideology. They don't think, not always of building an empire or legacy for your family and buying and holding real estate and just having value go up on those properties. It wasn't late in the think like that.
Speaker 1For them it was. They didn't want to be a landlord, probably they were probably over it.
Speaker 2For them, it was about oh, this is our kingdom, this is our family, and we're going to build our family. They didn't think like that, right, which is. It's a cool foundation to have, though, now that you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1And you were, probably you were present. Maybe they wouldn't be able to afford that single family if they kept it to themselves 100%.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's there's variables, yeah, but how did the single family impacted, you think, Because you got to.
Speaker 1I've been to your house in the place in Raleigh. It was beautiful large great backyard, huge backyard. What do you think your life would have been different if you would have stayed in the two bedroom apartments in Newark right Newark versus going to the Raleigh?
Speaker 1right and I tell clients this all the time. When we're helping clients buy a house, say, hey, you know where you move. If you want to move to Newark, great, we love Newark, but the reality is Newark is going to give you and your family a different living experience than a more suburban town will. So how did you feel like that impacted you?
Speaker 2Well, this is my story. Obviously, there's external factors everywhere you go. Reality is, though I would have been the same human being, because you think you would have been the same human being 100%.
Speaker 1But it's possible.
Speaker 2No, I'll tell you why. Because I believe that home life dictates a lot of who you are in life. I agree, and mom and dad, bro, were the same in Carney than they were in Raleigh, and so for me I think I don't think much changed. To be honest with you, well, you were exposed to, yeah 100% Right, you mean.
Speaker 2Well, no, Raleigh is very diverse as well. Raleigh is diverse, oh my gosh. Yeah, of course. Sometimes I was in certain classes. Sometimes it was like two white kids, two Asian kids, two Hispanic kids, maybe like three or four black kids. Then he had some Indian kids. It was really, really diverse.
Speaker 1Brother, what are we talking about? This is a melting pot of the world, Raleigh. Amazing 100% but still, you're talking about race, I'm talking about socioeconomic.
Speaker 2Sure sure.
Speaker 1Like Raleigh, was probably much more stable financially than the Hawkins Street in Newark right or South 11th Street.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, if you're talking about socioeconomic, of course, though, so you've got to say I think you would actually came out.
Speaker 1You probably would have came out honestly. You want to hear my opinion?
Speaker 2Go ahead.
Speaker 1You might have been. I hate to talk about the Newark school systems. I'm not saying Raleigh's perfect, but you may have came out a little bit less educated, as you did. You may have come out a little. You got to think.
Speaker 2Newark school is like what?
Speaker 131 to 1?
Speaker 2Now, thankfully now that I see what you're saying.
Speaker 1So, external factors yeah, they're doing a lot, a lot, a lot better at schools. But and we're very grateful. But, brother, you were in Newark like 30 years ago, man, 25 years ago.
Speaker 2Well no, I just turned 30. So 25. 25. Something like that. Yeah, bro, that's a quarter of a century. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1Imagine you had grown up in Newark like that.
Speaker 2Yeah, you know different world.
Speaker 1We just had someone here today was telling by excuse like we were playing football in the street and then guys would roll up and you had to defend yourself. For sure, and I'm like, wait, you just playing, you playing with the ball, and I don't know where you would get jumped for no reason.
Speaker 2For sure, for sure, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1I was like so I think the environment, really you're right, your home life doesn't dictate a lot of your life and that's definitely the number because that's like the most influential thing. But I do think really what I'm learning and how real state so impactful. We think real state. We think buildings or houses Really. A city is real, that's real state and they're city planners.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1So city planners they basically plan out how the infrastructure of a city is laid out.
Speaker 1And it's remarkable how it can actually impact us. There's even they did a blue zone in Montana. You know where the people live above 90. And they actually made most of them, I believe, Utah. They did Utah, and what they did was they actually introduced more bike paths and they brought all the stores into the center of town. So when you park, guess what you did? And they put they didn't do store store, store, store, store, store house, they did store house, store house, store house. Why? Because it was like a village.
Speaker 2Sure.
Speaker 1So because it was a village, the people actually believe it not lived longer.
Speaker 2What you're saying.
Speaker 1Prescription medication went down. Yeah, why? Because the community that we're part of, the real estate. It not only impacts our day to day, it literally impacts who we are as people.
Speaker 2Right, right, yeah, which was and that's a cool idea, though the fact that blue zones like when people talk about blue zones, they think about, like you know a vegan diet of foods in like high omega threes or the air, I mean, or like the fact that some, in some places, they work for their food, right, yep, so you're 75, 80 years old, working for their food One thing that they don't talk about, especially grown up in parts of Europe. Man, these people live long because they have incredible community, incredible community, in fact, like there's even studies that came out, your immune system is better when you have good community. Did you know that? Oh, your body's healthy when you have the right people around you.
Speaker 2So, I do understand. I do understand your line of questioning. Now it makes complete sense.
Speaker 1It's a strong point, right 100%, and even well, the community asked me too, you lived in a cul-de-sac right.
Speaker 2It was a cul-de-sac.
Speaker 1Beautiful, beautiful street and Raleigh. Did you guys know your neighbors there or not so much we did, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2I mean one neighbor complained that like because my parents love to throw parties. So my mom and I grew up with my mom throwing parties like every single weekend, july 4th they had like 150 people back there in the backyard. My mom was a gatherer and so our neighbors on the side would like constantly, constantly call the cops on us for that reason.
Speaker 1OK, so this is not a good neighbor to have. This guy is not 12-course the Vienna family over here partying it out yeah yeah, no.
Speaker 2So it definitely impacted us for sure, so yeah.
Speaker 1You guys may not know this. I'm going to give you a big shout out here. Juan Carlos got me into real estate. Here's my story. He sent me in the mail a letter with his business card Super 1990s, Office 5. This is 2013. 13, bro, what ended up happening was you sent me the business card.
Speaker 2I looked at it, I was like what the heck?
Speaker 1There's no cars in real estate. I think I'll take you. I was like proud of you, man, nice Courage in you, right. And then you should get into real estate. And you try to pitch me. I said I'm not soft for me. My mom was pitching me. I was like I'm not soft for me.
Speaker 1And then what ended up happening was, before I became a realtor, I applied actually because I was in rock bottom my life and I went through three rounds of interviews for a job that was going to pay me $12 an hour, $13 an hour, and I didn't take the job because it was like I didn't get the job, rather because I had a record and I was like, ah, I can't get the job, I walk away, I'm crying from the interview. I'm so, so disappointed. And it was literally like washing senior citizens who are mentally handicapped, very difficult job. And it was like, oh my gosh, I can't even do this. I had to call it your degree.
Speaker 1Then I walk into my car, I'm crying, I call Bennett Honeywell. Bennett's like you know what? Why don't you take drawn up on his offer, man, maybe real estate could be for you. I say I don't know, man, I don't know I'm so embarrassed, anyways. So then, finally, I'm thinking it through. That next day I went to Florida for a internship Sorry, for a men's retreat and I called you and I said listen, shuao, I'm going to go forward with it, I'm going to go. I'm really what happened, do you?
Journey in Real Estate Success
Speaker 2remember. Well, I remember, because I was sort of I don't remember the conversation. I remember what you did. I was also preaching as well, and I was traveling. I was preaching the youth right A bunch of stuff, and I remember you called me when I was preparing a message.
Speaker 1I called you from a parking lot.
Speaker 1I said listen, I'm going to do it for you, like Brett, I really think you should. I'm not really sure if I should, though, and you kind of pushed me. You sold me on joining real estate, and you, basically I was like, bro, it's $440 for the course. I had no money in my bank account, like literally $0., and you were like I'll pay for it, I'll pay $400. Don't worry, just sign up for the course. And he got you. I said, are you sure? He said yes. At the time there was a, you know, I was just so taken back by your generosity. I was like $400, this guy is crazy.
Speaker 1So then I ended up calling, I ended up going to sign up for the class right, the real estate course, and then it said like on, it said that it wasn't 400, it was 440 tax, whatever right. So, then I called you. I'm like John Carlos, listen, my bad man, it's not 400, it's 440. And you were like Brendan, I only got the 400.
Speaker 2You gotta figure it out.
Speaker 1I was like what.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, I was like what he goes.
Speaker 1Yeah, man, I sent you the 400, so all I can do, you gotta figure out the 40. I said okay, I went. Wow we're generous so. I called the lady back.
Speaker 2That's probably all I had left to at that point, who knows.
Speaker 1And then I called the lady back and you were just, you were in real estate, but you were really wearing pop and off. Yeah, you were just gaining your momentum.
Speaker 2I think at that time, it was the very beginning, yeah, right.
Speaker 1So then basically $40, I said, hey, I don't have the 40 bucks, what can we do? She goes well, write me a good Google review and exchange I'll wash away the $40. So I gave her a five star Google review.
Speaker 2I don't know that part.
Speaker 1Yeah, so that's what ended up happening. Fast forward, I end up passing the course. I join you at exit. Realty Lucky, that's right here in the great city of Newark, newark, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you take me under your wing. I wanna pause there.
Speaker 2Tell these people about me a little bit, because you have the Well so shout out to Candy Ducoto by the way, to my man, candy Ducoto, he's one of the reasons.
Speaker 1Oh, candy, ducoto, yes.
Speaker 2He's one of the reasons I love that man and his family stuff.
Speaker 1I just saw him in Iron man.
Speaker 2Great people and I don't know if they're watching this, but you know, essentially they're the reasons I went to exit Realty Really, because he recruited me From where we went to church together actually, so he knew my parents and they had to look out a little bit. But yeah, and then this is where I got. I recruited you and, bro, I remember man you pulling up in your well, you're gonna say something.
Speaker 1Wait, Candy Ducoto recruited you. Yeah, Back in the exit Realty model. If he recruited me, if he recruited you and you recruited me, did he make something off of me or not? I don't remember, it was one level. I don't think so. I think it was one level. I don't remember. I think it was. I could be wrong.
Speaker 2But, bro, I remember you pulling up, remember the car you had, the beat up Passat, the red beat up Passat. Oh yeah, bro, I would hear that thing from my office upstairs, like outside the window. I knew you were pulling up.
Speaker 1That was a terrible car, Bro. It was a great car.
Speaker 2Bro. It was a squeak to that engine, bro, and you would pull up in that thing. No respect.
Speaker 1That's a problem with this generation, and so this is the story I want to share 2003 Volkswagen Passat. I'm grinding 80 hours a week. I'm stealing gas money no respect.
Speaker 2And you know so that at first I mean people don't understand like the grind. So I didn't need to end up being in real estate that long. Obviously, it lasted a couple of years.
Speaker 1Three to four months, five months, oh no, just a couple.
Speaker 2Yeah, just I ended up. I'm doing something I love right now. Real estate was amazing, but I remember at the beginning how long were you a realtor for Three years.
Speaker 2Two years, no it was a little over three years, yeah, but I remember when I first started there was this woman called Rookie Rookmini that was her name. We called her Rookie. She ended up being a. I got her off Zillow because I was paying for some Zillow ads and she had called me. This is a really cool girl. And now, what I didn't share was that I was going on these showings, I was as a buyer's agent and I had like holes in my shoes, underneath my shoes. I wasn't poor or anything, but I was broke.
Speaker 2I just had gone into real estate, I didn't feel like asking my parents for money. I was trying to figure it out and there was these holes under my shoes and I would hope that no one would ever see them. So I would hide them because I didn't have money to buy new shoes. And of course, when you're showing homes and you're walking up the stairs in front of the client, they see underneath the freaking shoe right.
Speaker 1And I'm going to be honest, you probably had the money to buy the shoe, but you were just literally no, I probably didn't, to be honest with you. You probably thought this is fashion.
Speaker 2No, no, no, this is fashion. Listen, bro, I'm not that much. So, no, I really didn't have shoes and I was like, please, I hope they don't see these holes and I would go on these showings and I would think no one would ever see them. Bro, tell me why this first client I ever work with I end up showing them like 10 to 12 homes. Man, I bust my butt. I want them to get a two to three family. They wanted to make income. Man, I worked so hard. It was one of my first deals ever and before a deal ever closed, bro, I received these brand new two pairs of shoes, bro, Beautiful, leather, expensive shoes.
Speaker 1And as a gift for her, and I will never forget that moment, bro.
Speaker 2When I was first beginning my career, it was a client that bought me these holes because I had holes under the shoes and so, man, it's like people think everything is so glamorous all the time.
Speaker 1Oh no, I give you a story right now. Back in the day, when I definitely was not making nearly the much money as him now, I ended up closing the property with this guy Sanchez in Clifton, and the previous owner left a pair of Chelsea boots in the closet. Chelsea boots, yes, the brown Chelsea boots, and they had been pretty much newer more than a few times, but nothing crazy, very, very newish.
Speaker 1And he's like, oh my god, the mess. I said you know what? I'll take him, I'll take him. What size is the? I'll use him. He goes what. You want to use someone else's shoes? I said yeah, meanwhile I was making probably an 8K commission on the sale. So it's like what the heck is this guy doing?
Speaker 2Yeah, bro, I mean and those things. You remember those things forever. Man, I'm still friends with. Rookie, you know, recently she's saying like I'm still friends with Calechus. Yeah, I mean, you'll never forget this stuff and it's people that kind of stuck with you at first, when you didn't have any name recognition.
Speaker 1Yeah, very nice Bro, who was genuine and they loved you. But you also gave. I remember, like some of my clients, I think in the beginning got like the best, for they got the most uneducated version of me, but they got the most of me.
Speaker 2They got the dog bro.
Speaker 1No, but like not just dog. They got the most of me. Right now, if you're climbing me, I'm very, very I'm going to give you my time. I'm going to be very dedicated. I'm going to be you're getting really a high class expert in what you're looking to do. If you're looking to buy yourself right In real estate. But I cannot give you 40 hours a week like I used to. I can give you 10. I can give you eight. How much do you want? Right?
Speaker 2Right, but it's why your time is more valuable. Your time is more valuable. Yeah, it's why your time is more valuable. I remember that she was the first deal I closed and it was both sides. It was both listing and buyers, and the reason I got.
Speaker 1How did you get your first listing?
Speaker 2Well, the way I got it was because there was an FSBO. It was a four sale by owner. And we were driving around and she points at it and she was like I really like that house. And I'm like, and at first, when I was a new realtor, I'm like I didn't know I could go there trying to negotiate with the seller of the house. I'm like, oh, it's not on Zillow, there's no sign in front of it, no one's listening to it. And I remember, till this day, this guy called Franco and he was there. He happened to be there this Italian guy and I went in. I'm like, hey, I got a buyer right here. I'll charge you 5%, We'll put an offer in today. And we did and my first deal I ended up getting both sides of the deal from a four sale by owner.
Speaker 2Come on and man, it put me on a cool momentum. I didn't stay in real estate and now, looking back, I think I could have done a lot more. I'm really happy.
Speaker 1But yeah, I remember that deal you were. I'm going to be honest, walking with you in real estate was a crazy thing Because I worked. Ok, just to give you a little contrast here.
Speaker 2You mean you're not pulling me in a bad light here?
Speaker 1Oh, I'll put you in a little bad light, but he's like oh, what's off limits? Nothing, no, it's OK. But John Carlos, he got me connected with Carlos Vigetta, keypoint Mortgage, who ended up blessing my life and got me on my first Zillow campaign. Carlos was the answer to my phone. I was a nobody agent and Carlos ended up. John would be on the phone with Carlos talking about a deal or a pre-approval because they had a Zillow campaign they were running. And then I was like Carlos, you got to hook me up with Zillow, come on. And then you'd be like talk to him. I'm like Carlos, what's going on? Come on, $300, $400, $600. What's up here?
Speaker 1And I harassed and harassed and harassed Carlos to give me $500 a month on Zillow or $300 a month on Zillow or $600. Anyways, I remember you had this client. He was a Jewish client. He would give you like six listings or three listings and John Carlos, literally I'm not kidding you, this is the picture I want you guys to have. He'd be playing video games, eating cereal, his phone would ring and he would make like $5,000. And it was just the most absurd thing ever. Because I'm over here, I'm like what is he doing differently than I am, because I worked for four months without a sale.
Speaker 2Well, yeah, it's pretty normal. Most realtors don't make money first couple of months anyway. But yeah, dude, it was loyalty, bro, I took care of these people and so they would come into Newark, they would flip these houses and it was a Jewish family that would just give me these listings, left and right. And it was just a funny time, man, it was a funny time.
Speaker 1But here's one thing. It was insane, I'll tell you. I was like what is going on?
Consistent Content Creation Stories
Speaker 2All right, so here's one thing I want to bring up about you, because I mean, obviously you're doing really well right now. Here's one thing I admire about you. So for those watching, like Brendan, you pump out content all the time. By the way, that's very difficult. Most people don't have the consistency to do that. I know studies show most people don't get past like 20 podcasts and that's why they fail right? Oh, really, that's true. And even most content creators.
Speaker 1Have we created 20, Rami?
Speaker 2The idea of team, I mean, will we last to 20? The idea, though, is that you're constantly pumping out content, even on Instagram.
Speaker 2And consistency is probably the unsung hero, and people don't talk about how important consistency is. It's like a seed. I mean, if you don't water the seed, it's not going to grow. We're so used to our culture going to Whole Foods or going to the supermarket and getting something that's already grown. We don't go through the process of actually putting it in the ground and seeing it grow. We just go and buy it. A lot of times we think success is the same thing, that we're just going to go and pick it up and it's going to be here. People don't see the work that you put in, but I want to bring this up. This goes back to this. I remember you're pumping out all this content. What people probably don't remember is in your first or second month in real estate. You're not even bro. You haven't made a thing at this point. We were doing these short Instagram rules. I don't know if you remember this. It was back in the day when Instagram was starting to become popular. We were calling it Blast of Brendan.
Speaker 1Oh, blast of. Brendan, remember, I remember you telling me you were putting something in the ground.
Speaker 2We had a little jingle for it. I would get on my Instagram and be like Blast of.
Speaker 1Brendan.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh god. So and what we would do is, bro, we were making absolutely no money At that point.
Speaker 1I was doing real. I was making some money at the time no bro, it was the first month you didn't. No, first month. No, no, no, yeah, no. But oh, you were doing Blast of Brendan, oh, you were doing it.
Speaker 2And so on my Instagram we were calling it Blast of Brendan, and we would do. I would randomly be like, ok, brendan, give us tips for the day, and your advice would be like today have strength. And it was like the most basic things in the world.
Speaker 1Man. I was a basic man, but it was true.
Speaker 2Bro, there was what I appreciated about you that there was already a dog in you, bro. Oh, probably I was born. Bro, there was already a dog in you, bro it was born. It was an attitude, even when you weren't making any.
Speaker 1Bro, I was born with it. I'm going to be honest with you. I was born with it and my family bred it into me. Right, it was no other option. Bro, mom of mentality, mom of mentality, brother Diary, we can't teach beasts, we can't change it. Now, a lot of that really, like I told you, was really trauma-filled and really shame-filled. So these things do help you grow at a certain point that you have to ask yourself what am I really here for? What do I really want to do? Why am I doing what I'm doing, having those conversations? I do want you to share the TD Bank story. I'm not sure if you remember what I'm referencing.
Speaker 2Before I share the TD Bank story, let me share the Storm story.
Speaker 1Context John Carlson and I. If you're confusing this podcast because we're talking so quick, we are both working an exit-reality lucky. We have a very, very, very, very, very, very, very intense broker, intense lead, Louis Nogueta. Love him, respect him, honor him, great man.
Speaker 2I mean the things he's been able to build is impressive Legend. He's an absolute legend.
Speaker 1So, with all that said, though, we now have no-transcript Each other right, and we're figuring it out. Yeah and what you do in the office. It was door knocking, so you draw cars and I, we would door knock together right, and so we?
Speaker 2we didn't. It wasn't even strategic. We're like, let's just find a street. Bro, we're in our car. We're like all right, we're just we're gonna go knock or gonna ask people if they want to sell their house. Bro, starts pouring rain. It's like a monsoon Floodin. It's like it's like I'm out west somewhere and there's just a monsoon typhoon.
Speaker 1I have an offensive the typhoon.
Speaker 2Hurricane tsunami and this is about. This is before we get out of our car wave crash. You ever been inside of a car wash? And it's so loud. We're living in the car wash right, it's raining hard, bro, and here we are with these flyers about to go knock on doors.
Speaker 1It is after hours of us getting me, I give us getting fresh from cross could be one to one town and then we went to another one. Remember, when it's carney first, like now, let's say car, let's go by way, we're just gonna knock on the door.
Speaker 2I think horrible, horrible, bro. We're about to get out of the car, it starts raining and I'm like bros, go home, bro. I, I don't got the, I don't got the time for this bra. At that point I remember I had to like. I think I had to like preach the next day somewhere far, and I'm like Whatever it was. And I remember let's go home. And bro, you're like no, no, we're gonna go knock on these doors. And here you are, in the middle of a hurricane. You get out of the car, bro. I remember going to this door it's pouring and you're hitting on these doors, right, you're like pop up, these people confuse. I remember this guy come into the door and he was like yes, and you were like do you want we, do you want to sell your?
Speaker 1home. Hey, they didn't happen. Do you want to sell your? He didn't hear it with the rain. That's what was. The rain was hitting the rain was too hard.
Speaker 2It was so loud and he had a metal thing on top. Probably you want to sell your home.
Speaker 1That's why I'm asking you guys tuning in today, you know, free advertisement, do you want to sell your home? But I ended up not getting that listing with the guy, but what ended up happening? And I tell all realtors this all those experiences, what they do, it's not about like whether or not you get the sale or you get the clients, all that stuff All it's doing is forming you at your character. It's forming your grit, it's forming your tenacity, right. It's forming your resistance, your resilience. It's forming you as a man and what those things are what we call them are priceless For sure, and that's it. Like Alex Homoji always talks about this, it's like we do the work, not so the work gets done, but so we are transformed in the process thereof, so we become better versions. With that said, I want to tell the TD story. What's the TD story?
Speaker 1Okay so you know, you should take a degree of credit for my success, for sure, but not because you got me on to real estate or just a 400, but because, at this moment, what, three months into my real estate career, oh, I didn't. I did not have a single deal. So we're talking about ten weeks and I'm working 80 Hour weeks. I am the first one in, last one out, majority of time, very intense, right, you would say, yeah, yeah, I'm manually dialing super, super, super, super intense. What ends up happening with John Carlos tonight? I, he takes me out and I was going through tough time. I say, joe, I felt back as he put four hundred bucks up for me. Right, I say Joe, I gotta be honest with you, man, I'm sorry to say, but this is just not for me. We're in his Volkswagen.
Speaker 2Volkswagen Jetta Jetta.
Speaker 1He's going to positive one of his checks and my brother, this is not for me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna figure something else out and he takes a moment. You took a moment and you were quiet. You said you sighed. He said okay, can you give me? Can you give me one favor? Can you wait one more month? I Listen, john, this is not for me. You said just a month. There's another month, just 30 days. You can't. Okay, fine, that was on a Thursday.
Speaker 2Oh, you remember the day why?
Speaker 1that's why because on Friday there was a call in at the front desk. Someone wanted to see a 220,000. This guy, phil, wanted to see a 220,000 dollar Condo townhouse. Yeah, we're sorry, 170,000 dollar townhouse in Jamesburg. The guy the front desk is like I'm not gonna go drive to.
Speaker 2James, we're far from where we were.
Speaker 1hour 20 minutes yeah so he said I'm gonna go, I'm not gonna go drive down there. I'm in 10 minutes, I'm not gonna go drive down there. Brendan, do you want the lead? He called me up. The guy's name was Caesar, the guy the front desk, caesar. I took that call, I showed it, I filled the property. He ends up putting an offer in that weekend.
Speaker 2Just from 30 days my offer.
Speaker 1Guy accepted that next week.
Speaker 2Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1If I hadn't had gone to that car with you and I didn't go TD Bank deposit check you didn't give me that encouragement I may have quit. I may have never even bothered to take on Caesar's $160,000 buyer and I ended up being like my first check, which was $2,200. 23, 24 $200 change your life.
Speaker 1Hey brother, I've gotten checks that were fifty something thousand dollars. I've got a commission check for like 54 grand right helping a seller in a buyer double-edited property in lenders. 54 grand, that's $2,200 check remember more to me than the 5,400.
Speaker 1That's right, 54,000. Yeah, why? Because I Don't even. It just was all of it. It took four or five months. A deal died and game on another property. I didn't have the lockbox for central Jersey MLS. I broke into houses yes, you caught me. I think it is a seven year, is the it's you know how much time before, after a crime, you can't get trouble for I would literally have a lockbox. I would raise the window, hop in the window to get inside. That's why I was doing out there. So any, my whole point in story here, man, it's very simple with you, you really did bless me because on that TD Bank story I probably wouldn't, I probably was gonna quit real estate and I got. This is seven years ago, he's six and a half years ago. Imagine where I would be now just one more month another brother, I you convinced me for a month.
Speaker 1I got another day in me and I popped off. Yeah, I Didn't pop up, I had a deal, but that deal was all I needed. One deal led to another, and at that point I was working Buffalo Owings Friday nights, saturday night, sunday nights. So and the rest of history and Saturday I would have to maybe work afternoon shift. So I would go Saturday morning 8 am To do showings. I would get to restaurant 11.
Speaker 2I don't know that that you were still doing oh it was Buffalo, I went.
Speaker 1That's why I had to quit. So this is crazy, I'm working 80 hours. And then I once went back to that, a CDB strobe in Hoboken, remember I told you listen, that's what it was. I got a job as a waiter at CDB strobe, yeah, and I said he have to quit. And then the guy told me a CDB. So he's like, listen. And the guy told me he's like because I was taking real estate calls in the kitchen. He was like when you're here, you're here. When you're not here tonight here. But when you hear you gotta be all that, I can't have you being a realtor as well.
Speaker 1I said I'm in. This is not for me, that's because of you. Yeah, so yeah, man, real estate changed my life.
Wedding Crashing Stories
Speaker 2You were definitely a part of that, and she and here's the thing, though, bro, when people talk about how, like, you got to have the mama mentality, reality is, bro, that some of the most successful people on the planet have intrinsic motivation For you. You had been through the pits, oh yeah, and even even in my life, man, I had been through the pits. I mean, you've been through the pits, yeah for sure, and you've got, you've got a tough time. You know, we have been through the pits, bro, but the reality is, bro, if you have intrinsic motivation, bro, you become an animal. It's different nowadays. For me, now, it's like I want to take care of my little baby girl that's on the way. I want to take care of my wife, and you know, yeah, dude, I'm just super proud of you, bro, I'm super, super proud of you.
Speaker 1That means a lot. Yeah, I do got to ask is there anything you can maybe tell the listeners about me early on in my real estate career, some things that you've seen? You know we switched over to Joseph James shout out Jose Santiago, anything you've seen that you think would surprise people to know about me. It's kind of I'm interviewing you, interview myself, but I just look kind of like a mirror because you you see the behind the scene stuff so often so I've seen.
Speaker 2So I've seen you when you had nothing and I see you when you have something, a little bit more than before, you know. But, bro, I remember one time I forgot whose idea it was to go crash a wedding, do you remember?
Speaker 1that it was my idea. Was it your idea? Of course it was my idea.
Speaker 2So, brother, I remember I'm like at this point, first of all, at this point, I could have gotten in trouble because I broke. I was, I was traveling, I was preaching, I had become a youth pastor recently, and here I am convinced by you to go crash a wedding. Yes, in just a town over from where I was a youth pastor.
Speaker 1Oh and this wedding had what? 400 people. It was at the manor at the West Orange. I'm the West Orange we crashed three weddings in one day ready.
Speaker 2And Brendan, bro, I remember we were in the cocktail hour.
Speaker 1I'm sending around me the pictures right now.
Speaker 2Bro, hold on a second. You were in, we were in the cocktail hour and here we are, bro, just like telling people we're lying to everyone. Yeah, we're like so-and-so's, like uncle.
Speaker 1So it's those cousin.
Speaker 2bro, we're just talking to everybody and bro, the groom came up to you oh.
Speaker 1Oh, the first one was crazy. Yeah, no, we weren't talking everybody wedding up, we were being very like, we were being low-key. They say who do you know here? Right and then it was our first, one of the three we crashed, so so here's the thing about Brendan.
Speaker 2I have the pictures right here. So that was. That was the first wedding. I was over it by the third wedding because there was a bunch of what you were over by the second.
Speaker 1So and so here I am. The second wedding, so the first one we're gonna have to leave, the first time we got to leave so.
Speaker 2So here's the thing by the third wedding, I'm in my car waiting for this dude. I'm like, bro, I'm over this, bro, because I'm I struggled second-hand embarrassment. Bro second-hand you went in, bro. You were sitting at the table with people, you were dancing with people, you were eating a meal.
Speaker 1Oh, but, you were telling people finding these pictures everything.
Speaker 2So here's one thing about Brendan is Brendan lives for the grandkids.
Speaker 1Wow.
Speaker 2Brendan lives so he could share stories for the grandkids, and that's where I got it from. It was hashtag for the grandkids you made up, do you remember this?
Speaker 1I found not only this, I found the video footage of this wedding go ahead Chose. I'm oh well, look, we're gonna play it's on the podcast. I'm sending this all and I'll tell you this I have camera footage of him abandoning me at the wedding. Camera footage and you're gonna be today's a day. You, you say, hey, I was guilty. And funny enough, I'm actually wearing a similar suit. I wear it all my business pictures. You really, oh, yeah, dude, I was wearing suspenders. Yeah, your memories phenomenal okay.
Speaker 2So let me tell you I was wearing suspenders and, bro, I remember you eating at the table with these people.
Speaker 1Let me tell you my version story, so my version, which is the truth version. Where's dress? Nicely, where did this idea come from? I think I watched. I watched wedding crashers. Hey, I was single. I think you were single at the time. Do you know dire back then Bro was dating.
Speaker 2Dire bro, okay, you were doing, I was dating.
Speaker 1I was single, ready to mingle, yeah, but not so ready to mingle actually, but whatever was. So that morning I took my mother for a hike. I put on Instagram we go on, we, I take you, you know, to this, you pick me up, we go. You were, you drove to this wedding venue. We walked into one wedding. There we go, boom, boom it was. It was an interracial couple, right.
Speaker 1Yeah and we're there, very interesting vibes. We're probably the only Brazilians I can imagine in Portuguese people in the room, yeah. And then we end up going there. Wonderful time, beautiful marriage, beautiful ceremony. Honestly, we end up Dancing, we end up talking in a cocktail hour. Then we get to who do you know? We get kicked out. That part is true. The second wedding that was like a maybe 200 person wedding, 150 people wedding. The second wedding was a maybe 40 50 people wedding. So we sat down, we walk into room. Everyone looked at us and obviously you already walked into the room.
Speaker 1You gotta you just keep going confidently, so we sat down, we started talking to people but it was so small I was like we gotta go, we gotta go and this whole time we draw like Brenda the sabbatia, we got leave. This is not right that we doing the wrong thing. But he was right, I was wrong, but in the way I was right. So the third one here was a crazy thing. This was the biggest wedding of the whole venue out the manner in West Orange. I right, they had a second me to 300 person wedding, beautiful, beautiful reception, a beautiful ceremony, me and John Carlisle sitting there, and the whole time I'm putting all this on Instagram.
Speaker 1During the reception, the cocktail hour, john Carlos dips. He like says man, it was, I'm gonna be out. So you're Carlos, you cannot leave me, you have to stay. He was burning, I'm out, I go. Alright, they're off, I'm a. I went home, bye. So then John Carlos left me to die, basically ended up Having a great time of the wedding. I dance, I have a great night all at tea, like it was a land wedding, super, super Latino, hispanic, dancing, loving life, and I end up actually funny enough, getting friends with one of the groomsmen and I give my business card to one of the people at the table my man was out here getting business at cross.
Speaker 1Your wedding yes, and then I took a picture With the groom and bride and that's the reason why that's a cool story. You may never know that was the night that. My my then, like cute, I thought she was super cute. My wife now my wife Deb, that's when she DM me, so people may not know this. My wife actually slid into my DMs.
Speaker 2Yeah, she chased you brother, she chased me brother. You were the high value man I'm the high value man I don't know low.
Speaker 1I don't know any low value men, but I was definitely high value. All men value, come on. But I'm telling you for real man, I, literally my wife, said knock, knock and you will. You know, ask and you will receive.
Speaker 1I didn't know that story, bro, so she DM me that she says oh, where is this? Because I was. I Was taking my mother on a hike that morning. I said oh, it's in New York. If you're up to it, I'd love to take you. And then she said Well, what a coincidence. I just moved back in with my parents, right next to niac. I said meant to be house Thursday 430. I had some of that liquid courage, because you already abandoned us. How'd you know her, though? Because we grew up to we kind of grew up together in church. I didn't know she was friends my sister. I didn't really know her. I did it her friend in high school, so I knew she.
Speaker 2We thought you'd that, you yeah.
Speaker 1Yes, live in Moana. So basically I end up though I text her stuff. Why I wouldn't? I'm not that smooth To be a pop out. We go. I'm not that smooth of a guy. You're upfront. I'm not that up front at the Aussie. I'm really not that smooth. You're very upfront, but not that to that level. But what happened was I had some wine in me, fair enough, but more than anything else I was already on the rush of the crash in the weddings Right. So before I even thought, because I was trying to be single during that time, I was like I'm not gonna date anybody, I just want to be single. But I was like right, text, text, send Bang. Next thing I know I'm on a date and then the rest is history. Now she's my lovely wife, she's my partner, she's my friend, she's my mother, my son. It's a wonderful, honestly, but it's funny too because it really in my life. You have some key, key moments.
Speaker 2But you too I appreciate that for sure but you too, but you too, I mean also who you marry is very, very important who you marry is.
Speaker 1I would say this three big decisions in your life period. Here's the top three decisions, your life period. No matter what you tell me, this it number one, who you say goddess. Number two, who you say you are. Number three who you marry.
Speaker 2That's pretty intense.
Speaker 1There's no other big decision. There's no other decision bigger than that. The only decision probably more important than that is for you to buy a house and new work. That's good.
Speaker 2So funny bro.
Speaker 1But in all seriousness, it's like who you marry is just so huge and that's the whole thing. Like we talk about turning a house into a home, it's like central to our mission here at the Slovak team and we realize that we can sell someone a property and that's why when people start selling, we don't use, oh, you're home. We say this is your property. When they're selling it, we say this is your property. When they're buying it, we say this is your house. It's up to you to turn into a home Because, in all seriousness, it's very hard to have a home if you're coming home and there's conflict in the marriage every day.
Speaker 2For sure it's very tough. For sure You'll never feel at home, you know. So I'm going to share one more thing about you that I remember. You inspired me greatly, brother, and so, by the way, our relationship has always been very encouraging. So people are like why do you guys talk to each other like that? Because I feel like we build each other up, and I think we've always done that well, oh yeah, for sure, and this is the speed at which we talk. It is the speed. This is actually. This is just us talking.
Speaker 1You're not on 2X here. This is 1X.
Speaker 2And so, as people are watching this I don't know if people know me or anything so I became a youth pastor from this and it was pretty cool what we saw. I mean, we were at that point, my wife and I were doing ministry, we were traveling on the road, preaching all this stuff and our youth ministry. Bro, I learned a lot from business doing real estate, from youth ministry.
Life's Connected Pathways and Relationships
Speaker 1I'll be interested. How about that? Honestly.
Speaker 2Well, I was going to say something about you, though. I remember when I met you. We were at Nighat College. We were 18 years old and we were. It was a dude named Kyle Morris. He was on the golf team.
Speaker 1Oh, there we go.
Speaker 2He was on the golf team. His name was Kyle Morris. You looked at him, you would never think he was on the golf team. And so, bro, I remember you coming into my dorm I didn't even know you, bro and Kyle was sitting there and you sat by the bedside and, bro, you told him about the gospel, you told him about Jesus, and I was 18 years old.
Speaker 2At that point I had known about some sort of call to ministry. I didn't know how to put two together but, bro, hearing you share the story of the gospel to him, the way you communicated it, bro, after an hour. So I remember walking out of my dorm and being like I want to communicate the way Brendan does. I want to be able to articulate the story of Jesus the way that he just did. And it was because of you, because of you, you left me on this journey of like. I want to articulate something that good, like he did. And now I mean, you're looking, probably 12 years later and, bro, you're around 12 years later. I've had the honor to preach the gospel Overseas, for example.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, you really got in.
Speaker 2And so God used you in my life the way you articulated. And so, bro, I think the moral of the story is people don't understand how connected things are in life, Like you walking into my dorm and then my family being in real estate and then me connecting you to my family in real estate. We're just making these connections, I think the thing that people often do is they view life so linear. It's either black or white.
Speaker 1Very binary.
Speaker 2Everything is connected your time at university, or your time doing research, or your time in real estate or whatever it is.
Speaker 1Yeah, it really. There's so much intersection. I do yeah.
Speaker 2All things work together for the good of those who love him. One of my favorite Bible passages, and I think it's so true. I don't know bro. I just think that's a good moral of the story, bro, just to take away, because it's like everything is somehow.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, if you really think about it, because we met, it's so funny because you were in Carney. I was probably in Carney during the same time 100% yeah. We never knew each other. We have a lot of mutual friends. Never knew each other. Yeah, a lot of connections through the church. Never knew each other. You lived only in Raleigh, 30 minutes away. Never knew each other. Went to Niaq Just so happened to be on the same floor. Yeah, think about that. Ok, I think you're right. Same floor, end up.
Speaker 2Dorm Same dorm.
Speaker 1Same dorm. We end up same dorm floor. Great, the long story short is there. You see the connection Then. From there we stay, friends mutual. We go through a hardship, you go through a hardship, I go through a hardship, similar hardships. We end up doing ministry together, working with people who are experiencing homelessness years.
Speaker 2Well, that's another one.
Speaker 1And then we started like a young adults ministry alongside many other wonderful people. Now Mariano still, I believe, is still serving in that organization.
Speaker 2They just handed it off, bro. 10 years later.
Speaker 1Oh, they did.
Speaker 2Yeah, they handed it off, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, nice. So, with that said, now you fast forward even more. After college, I go through my hell experience. I come back on my feet, I get out, and I don't come out on my feet, I come out on my head, my face, and you give me the opportunity to get into real estate. Your godfather, carlos Figueira, the owner of Keypoint, mortgage the goat Not only that, he runs Avalino his brother starts to do title gets me connected with title. Carlos puts me onto leads. We know in real estate, no leads, no money, no money, no business.
Speaker 1So, realistically, the Lord had you in like, had that placement of where you were going to be out on that floor. He knew when that happened. He had in mind Carlos you see what I'm saying. And then, the same way I was on the floor, he had in mind all the people that you were going to speak to throughout your ministry. It's funny, because I went into real estate, because I have a record A vocational ministry was not for me at the time.
Speaker 1And the more and more I got to real estate, I realized wait, this is my business, is a ministry, business as a ministry, that's how it should be handled. And the same time, you actually had the real estate hookups your whole life. You had people who could put you on and you went the other way. You went into ministry. So where I had no real estate connections, I want to go into ministry and we share the ministry interest. I end up not going into vocational ministry pursuing real estate you have. Hey, I'm hungry, I want to. Real estate sounds great. This makes sense for me. Not really means you go into ministry, then you into ministry, so you try the real estate thing. Of course you went to school, for you were at school. For what Worship?
Speaker 2No, I was a pastor. Actually I dropped out of college because I became a youth pastor during that time. So it was just like, well, why am I going to be in this?
Speaker 1That's why I asked You're waiting for a pastor or a ministry. I remember that. So just so interesting to your point, it's not linear. Things are much more connected than we want to imagine.
Speaker 2Let me just say this too, though, bro. I don't think people understand this, so I'll use the illustration of my parents getting married. They got married at the age of 16 years old. They didn't have any money. The beautiful thing about that is that they built their lives together. They were up and they were down. They were up.
Speaker 2But, the point is what happens? Ready, you grow together. I think, bro, one thing that people don't talk about is relationships, and that you can go through this life together and not walk away when things get tough. Bro, I look back 12 years now. I'm so grateful for our relationship Because we saw each other at our worst. We've seen each other at our best, and that's not going to change till the day that we get old. We're going to see each other's ups and downs too, bro, and I would just encourage everybody watching Get some friends, like friends that love you. It's not transactional. You both care about each other. I think that's one of the most unsung things that, in this industry, I think that people should have. You need someone to encourage you when you feel like giving up. You need someone to behave. Give it another month, give it another month.
Speaker 1We need someone to keep you accountable.
Speaker 2Hey, that was stupid. You should. Hey, someone calls you out and you're not being ethical. You need some people around you.
Speaker 1No, no, I agree, and it's just small things, it's not big things. I think realistically, looking at how real it is, that I've shaped my life. It's brought people into my life that are inviting me to such intimate expressions of their life when it comes to buying a home or selling a home or buying an investment property, and I still talk to some of my clients weekly. I sold them a house four or five years ago.
Speaker 2See what I'm saying Crazy, crazy.
Transition From Real Estate to Ministry
Speaker 1So I want to ask you how did that? And then I guess end here, but I think it's important to think about people. I'm really, really interested how did we going from real estate to vocational ministry? How did that translate?
Speaker 2Well, I think that if you're in real estate by the way, I have different views on it. Now People think like you know, you're in real estate or you're in, you know full-time ministry.
Speaker 1The way.
Speaker 2I view it now is that, wherever you are, you are a full-time minister. Like, god wants to use you wherever you're placed, and that could be in the banking industry, that could be here in real estate, it doesn't matter what you're doing. And so I view that different. But yes, pragmatically, there is a vocational ministry. And At that point, man I I gotta be honest with you I got really passionate, bro. Jesus changed my life to the point where I had, you know, contemplated suicide. As a teenager, I had a crazy encounter. I saw Jesus do some crazy things. He saved my life twice in an one accident and another Indication. So I remember being like man, I want to give him my life. And at that point I started getting opportunities to speak and starting opportunities to like speak into the lives of youth and this is.
Speaker 2It's all mixed up in there, you know it's all you would you say.
Speaker 1You think you were licensed when this like I know?
Speaker 2yeah, I was like, since it was all mixed up in there before I got. But you know you couldn't do it. Yes, thanks, you were licensed, Of course.
Speaker 1now you're saying it's together right. But okay, at that point, if it's so together, would you go back? If you go back, would you could have continued in real estate and God ministry.
Speaker 2Um, no, I don't. I don't regret. I don't regret some of the stuff I did. I think when we had left that we were taken over a very large youth ministry we're talking very large and at that point it had become one of the largest youth ministries in the region at that point, and Over in Sayerville, new Jersey, and there was just no way I could do both. You know, when you're talking about several hundreds of students that come into your youth ministry and you preaching on the weekends and you traveling, all that stuff. And, by the way, my wife and I bought a house during that time and we were getting married so I wanted to pay for my wedding cash and all that stuff. It was just. I don't regret it, but I will say I learned a lot of lessons in real estate that prepared me, you know, to go into the ministry world which goes to say like we're doing the work.
Speaker 1That's where the work gets done.
Speaker 2But I said we are better off at the end of the work being done 100% and, by the way, I know stories of vice versa people that were doing something else and now they're doing real estate and they feel like this is their calling.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know it's.
Speaker 2It's never linear and I don't know. Life is what you make it. Life is what you make it. You know you bloom or you're planted.
Speaker 1If that's in real estate, plant, I mean yeah, I'm plant bloom, plant water the whole night and you said it yesterday, the grass is not greener on the other side.
Speaker 2It's really not.
Speaker 1It's like I'm saying that's a biggest lie. It's always there, reality. You just got to be content and be a steward of where you're at. Yeah, well, see, so, yeah, it's pretty much transition. Well, is there anything in real estate the infar from your experience in real estate? In particular, help transfer it over to.
Speaker 2Yeah. So when I got into real estate, you know I saw many. I saw, I mean you know this. Now, right, you are a I mean you're a sales guru and really you've learned a lot and I'll call you that right. Reality is I remember watching a bunch of salesmen and how they operated, what they used to do.
Speaker 2One thing I learned in real estate when, especially when I was going around showing homes, you would I would try to sell these homes to people that wouldn't even bring them value to life. So I was trying to fit something that didn't even fit and little by little I remember learning at one of the best salesmen know how to provide value to people and now to answer people's questions and give them what they're looking for and I started doing a little bit better in real estate when I would do those things when I actually provided a service to people and when I got into ministry, that's exactly what is.
Speaker 2You want to actually provide a service and you want to help people. That the moment that they encounter you, they're better off, and so, as a realtor, you know. My question for even people in business is like when people deal with you, are they better off or are they worse off?
Speaker 2You know, are you actually providing something that's going to help their family? And I learned that in real estate, bro, because I remember these single moms would pull up with like two to three kids in their van and I would be like, do I want to try to sell something that I know is not going to be good for them? You know, even even though, like the smallest thing of like, you know, sometimes when you buy a new property, there would be, there would actually. What's it? What's it called when they remove taxes for like 10 years?
Speaker 2tax payment tax of it five years.
Speaker 1Five years right Should they remove it, they make like, let's say, you tax me be 15. Now it's 4k for five years.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah they might like. Bro, this might sound really, really basic to some people, especially people in the industry, but there are certain times when you close on a deal like the taxes are $1,800, yeah, no one tells them that five years later it's gonna jump to nine or ten or brother.
Speaker 1I had a.
Speaker 2You want to hear this right, but this is, you see, the service of providing like yeah, yeah, yeah, I had a client who the taxes were from 7,000.
Speaker 1They close. Newark raised their taxes at 13 grand.
Speaker 2It happened to us in our within one year. It happened to us when we bought our purple. Oh, oh, what happened with there?
Speaker 1Well, I mean, I know I went from it went from 59.
Speaker 2One about my wife and I bought our single-family house here in Newark went from I think it was like 5900 to like 12,000 Within the first. Yeah, it's a true story and this is remember.
Speaker 1This is three years ago, so right now your taxes would be what? 14, 15, to be crazy. I have no idea. They raise the taxes too much.
Speaker 2It's crazy. Yeah, it's too much. But and then they talk about how they want people to own property.
Speaker 1Yeah, you gotta be careful with these taxes, man. Yeah, I mean.
Real Estate Success and Reflection
Speaker 2But I guess the point is one thing I learned, especially in real estate is made. I want people to be better off once they're done dealing with me and be completely honest, see who my first year bro, I don't think people were better off after dealing with me. I think I was a bad teammate. I think I was a bad employee. I think I was selfish. I don't actually think I did my job right and I could look back now me like man. I just I wish I helped people the video game in cereal the video game in cereal.
Speaker 1Megan the 5k on the call though you know what I mean.
Speaker 2You made the 5k on the call, though Gotta give you respect.
Speaker 1I give you, I gotta give you respect 510k on that call I was like oh my gosh man.
Speaker 1No, but you know what I think. It's a. It's good that you have the insight and perspective and you can look back and make the changes. Now what I think to myself you know there are a lot of clients. I'm very proud of how I serve them in the beginning. There are a few clients who I've called and say, hey, I feel like it into a right by a mean, to just, I had good intentions but I was inexperienced and I wore, I worn realtors all the time like listen, you're not, you're young and you're naive. You're young too. I said yeah, but I'm experienced a few hundred times now where I, where we just crossed 800 houses sold Right. Yeah, my team and I in our history, like 800, just over 800 houses right. When, over here, oh, I sold five houses. Oh, my god, listen to me, john Carlos. I want to say thank you so much for coming on the podcast we allowed which we could talk more.
Speaker 2This is fun, bro. This is good. I'm gonna do a part two part two. We got to get cross by house.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, the group and we just was. Joe Carlos questions. No guys, listen, if you do want to check out John Carlos, we always tag him in this gram. So please show him some love, support and we are very grateful for your time.
Speaker 2Thank you, man, Love you bro.
Speaker 1I.
