Episode 228 - A Timely Transition

It’s always fun when there’s enough out there for everyone. This is exactly how we feel the more we sit down with those involved in the real estate industry. 

Kamyar got his start back in 2004 on the residential side of things. He decided to switch over to commercial in 2011 and hasn’t looked back since. 

So what are some of the benefits to working in commercial? What exactly does a commercial real estate broker consultant do?

Tune in to episode 228 for answers to those questions, best practices for keeping up in such a competitive market and much more! 

For more information: 
 
Office: (818) 703-9337
Website: www.wembleysinc.com
YouTube: @MindsofCommercialRealEstate

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Cammy R bought the West Coast vibes all the way from Calabasas, California. We are talking about real estate today, y'all. One of our favorite industries and topics to explore and discover. So started way back in 2004 when he was doing the residential side of things. A trivial event happened in 2008, which he'll touch on, and then in 2011 he switched over to the commercial side of things. So being a commercial real estate broker consultant, he will tell you the ins and outs of what he does, how he secures clientele, where he works specifically within California and surrounding areas, and how you, if you're someone who is interested in real estate in any capacity, can get involved. He'll even give a tip to those people out there about why owning your building is crucial, what it can do for you, and even some steps you can take to get to it. On top of that, he'll even tell you one thing that in such a competitive industry will truly set you apart time and time again. So without further ado, enjoy episode 228, a timely transition.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

What's going on, everybody?

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Welcome back, welcome back to another episode of the Down to Business Podcast. You know, with the new year here, I feel like I've just, I don't know, five years has me feeling totally different. You know, it's it's definitely just, you know, one year was great, two years were great, three, four, but it's just something about this five-year mark, something about this five-year milestone that we celebrated a couple of months ago that really just has me on a high, like on a creative high at that. So very happy that Camille R is one continuing to push the brand with us, continuing to push the mission, joining us on the platform today. But also very excited because he's touching on one of my favorite topics. And if y'all have been following the podcast, you know that we've interviewed on this topic in so many different capacities. And people are involved in so many different ways with it. People are making money passively, actively, you name it. But ultimately, there are so many different ways to go. There's so much education and information around there. But I love being able to just narrow it down, find a journey, talk about a story, and really just see the success that people have been able to have. And I know CamyR will be no different. So before we get into all things, y'all know I like tap dancing around the topic before I let the guests do what they do. But before we get into that, Camille, how are you doing today? How's everything on your end? Well, how are you doing? I cannot complain. I I really can't complain. Physically, right now, it's almost the weekend, so I'm just trying to make it one day at a time, you know. But very happy to have you here, very happy that you absolutely, absolutely. So, look, for the people now, this is gonna be, you know, this is obviously why we're here. You know, you've done what you've done, you have quite the history behind you, quite the experience and the expertise. So now we want to also be able to spread that knowledge and spread that wealth to newcomers, to people from your network, to people from my network, everybody at one time. So, to bring everybody up to speed, to put everybody on an even playing field, can you just do two things for me? Can you one, just tell me a little bit about yourself? And then two, tell me what brings you on the Down the Business Podcast today.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Sure. Uh one, I am a commercial real estate broker consultant. Um, you know, I started in the real estate industry back in 2004, you know, started in the residential era, uh, comes to the economic apocalypse of 2008. You know, it was a very hard times, but uh eventually, you know, started, you know, transitioning to the commercial side around 2011. Here we are today, and we're very focused on you know on the commercial side. I still do the residential side for my previous clients and referrals. And um, you know, it's been a roller coaster of a ride, you know, between 2008 and what's happened in the last two years uh with um higher interest rates and just you know uh consumer confidence.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Now, so if if we go all the way back to 2008 now, go back to what you were doing, everybody knows the what really took place economically and really how it set, you know, just a lot of things back, a lot of people, a lot of everything. But would you say that your decision to enter commercial residential, was it influenced by something specific? Was it just based off of kind of what you saw around you? Was it just what you were interested in? Did it come as did you feel like it was the most lucrative? How did that, how did you really start to take advantage of that opportunity back then?

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Uh it came around when I was doing helping people save their homes via loan modifications on the higher echelon community, where they you know they owed three, four, five million dollar loans of properties worth between you know five, six to say about fifteen million dollars. These are people who I uh you know helped to save the roof over their head and their families. And they were all owners of a lot of commercial properties. And they advised me if I'm you know, now that I've helped them save their home, if they if I you know transition to commercial space, they'd be they'd work with me and become my clients.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

So it was kind of just like you started with one and you you built such a great rapport, had such a great experience that it just kind of transitioned you right into the other and you kept business going. I love that. Okay. Yeah, because what I'm also hearing with that is that speaks to you. That speaks to the type of personalized experience that you get and also the work ethic that you have. You know, people are not going to return or offer referrals or want to continue to work with you if it's not something that they feel like they can benefit from, or if they feel like they're not getting the best bang for their buck, or even transparency, because I feel like that's a lot of what comes with real estate or what comes with money, commercial, residential, everything. It's really just knowing. As I spoke to in the beginning, we've talked to so many different people in real estate, whether we talk about automization, whether we talk about Airbnb, arbitrage, whether we talk commercial, residential, flipping, there's so much out there, and there's so many, you know, even if you type in real estate in YouTube or Google, you'll be looking forever. You can fall down this dark hole, and who knows kind of where you'll end up and what you'll be doing. So the fact that, you know, you were able to kind of have a path, have an understanding at first, and then allow that to kind of work you and learn more into another, that's really cool. So, okay, with getting your start in real estate, something that's always so interesting to me is that a lot of the people who we've spoken with, a lot of the people who we've interviewed, wherever they're doing business, it's normally nine times out of ten, not where they live. Would you say that that's true for you? Are you kind of just are you doing obviously when you were helping people kind of save their homes and things like that, you probably may have been working with people directly, maybe in your area or locally. But would you say a lot of your a lot of your work, a lot of your interest, a lot of what you do, does it expand kind of outside of your network where you're currently based?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

No. Majority are in my network and in the space within a let's say about a 50 mile radius. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Well, I guess just for the people out there, where are you based?

SPEAKER_02 6:08

I'm based out of Calabasas, California.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Nice. Okay. Now, the I guess, and you'll probably have maybe a differencing in and of an answer for this. So from 2008 up until now, you would say, how, if if much, or if at all, how much has the landscape within real estate changed within California? As someone who's never been to the West Coast, but I hear, well, I've never been to California, I've been West Coast, but as someone who always hears about Cali, about just land, about the lifestyle, about it's just a different type of world out there. You know, I'm on the East Coast, so it's coast to coast, essentially. What has it been like, you know, as you as you think about 2008 and what you were doing there and kind of what the market was, and now kind of coming into 2024, even as you said a couple of years ago, with interest rates kind of going sky high, there's always just people kind of confused about do I need to buy now, don't buy? Then you watch the news or the media and they're kind of fear-mongering and they tell you don't do this or don't do that. So, what has that landscape been like? What have you kind of noticed um the changes have been over the last like 15-16 years?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

The last 15-16 years, I mean, a lot of the land's been developed. I mean, this, you know, the dense, it's been become a lot more dense. A lot of a lot of uh the older buildings haven't transitioned or been brought down and newer buildings have come up. You know, but one of the biggest, biggest differences I can say, remember in 2008 with that whole economical apocalypse happened, you know, the banks didn't have money and the borrowers and the individuals didn't have money. Today, due to what's happening and after COVID and the amount of money that was printed by the government, the COVID dollars, you know, the banks have a lot of money. Certain individuals have a lot of money. But for the for the middle class and the lower echelon, because the cost of lifestyle and the cost of goods have gone up, it's very tough on them. So they're living day by day or month to month.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And I could imagine, and I'm I mean, I'm I'm one to already know that the cost of living in California is one thing for sure. I even it's funny now, as um, or previously when I was in the market for a new job, just um a lot of the remote roles and just things I was looking at, you know, the salary ranges were based off of where you were. And it was always so interesting to see the East Coast salary and how things were comp versus West Coast in Cali, and it was always like 30 to 40,000 more. And I was just like, Dad, well, do I just need to move to California to make more money? But my cousin who lives in LA, he was just like, all right, now keep in mind the cost of live is gonna equate to your cost of living. So you're gonna come out here, you're gonna pay some more, you know, what you're living in now, you'll probably almost pay double what you're paying now for what you're getting and you know, groceries, gas, everything of the sort, just living. So, no, you're gonna pretty much live that same lifestyle. So that money, it'll feel like you're you're living just on the city. If not more. See, you know, so so maybe it's maybe it's good. I've stayed away from Cali for a little bit because it's just do come visit. Don't stay away. That's what they say. They say, you know, come visit, but know when that know when to go, no way. All right, now with what you're doing, how would you say that, you know, with as I said, with so many people wanting to get their feet wet in real estate in some form or capacity, whether they continue with it, whether they kind of just have a stint, whether they get motivated one day and just kind of want to hit the ground running and keep it going and become lucrative from it, how would you say marketing is done for you? How do people really find out about you? Is it a lot of referrals? Is it because something that I also heard in the beginning was that, you know, a lot of your clientele, a lot of this business that you were kind of transitioning to was based off of previous clients, was based off of just the experience that they had with you. They knew what you were, they knew that you knew what you were doing, and essentially they felt comfortable with you. But when it comes to people who you may have not have worked with before, people kind of outreaching to you or finding out about you, how does that really happen? Is it through social media, is it through word of mouth? Are you attending events? How does it really go with what you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 9:39

It's mainly through referrals, referrals of previous clients, or through my COIs, my center for influences, which consists of, you know, attorneys, CPAs, business managers, and you know, people who I've dealt with in the past, who trust my work, who have who've seen how I work, and to trust me with their clients because my reputation is essentially gonna be their reputation.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I like that. And you're you're absolutely right. And that's the first time I've heard the acronym COI for that circle of influence. I normally hear it as a certificate of insurance. So I love that one. I'm gonna have to adapt that one and keep that one on the top of me. With so much, with some, I'll call them opinions for right now, with so many opinions around real estate, with so many people just telling you to do this, or as I said, maybe reading this, or or watching a guru here or an expert here telling you to do this or not do that. Are you ever apprehensive about the future of what you're doing? Do you ever feel like this will be something that phases out that people begin to automate, that people just don't really have a care for anymore? Do you feel like this is something that as long as land is being built, developed, that there will always be a need for it, there will always be somebody in some capacity who needs your help or your services?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

I'm dealing with a lot on you know, on the lending side, it's I'm dealing with money. So it's gonna take a really long time for the AI and everything to kick in to you know be able to take over our positions where it's automate, uh, you know, automated. And when you're dealing with people's financials, tax insurance, social security, credit reports, they're very sensitive on it. Even I would say the new generation. So it's gonna be very tough for them to let it just email somebody that they haven't met, they don't trust. So I think this position relative with what I'm doing, it's gonna be there for a while.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah. And I I love that point that you make about trust and authenticity because that's so important. And I think that as a as a business owner, as an entrepreneur as a whole, that could make or break your business. You know, a lot of times we we we went we may know that we need something or we may have a necessity, but it it's always how we go about it, or it's always, you know, where we feel the most comfortable. You know, you could you could shop with somebody who you don't know versus who you do know because you just of maybe your experience or lack thereof, or maybe the presentation, the marketing, the trust behind it. You know, if you if you feel like if you feel apprehensive or you have a gut feeling about something, you're not necessarily always gonna want to put your money, your time, your effort into that. But if it's something that, you know, it's it's been proven, it's been tried and true, maybe even you've experienced it, or you have a referral, as you said. Because a lot of times you're also gonna trust those people around you. You're gonna trust your network that says, hey, if if my cousin or if my one of my closest friends told me that he worked with Cam ER, he had a great experience from start to finish, oh well, I would be remiss if I didn't do that. You know, I don't know you from the next person up down the line, but I know this person, I trust what they're saying. So of course they would never send me something in bad faith. But I also understand, too, that one bad apple can spoil the bunch, that somebody can, you know, naturally just want to kind of back away or be reserved with that because of an experience that they had. And I've talked to a lot of different business owners like that, how their industry sometimes or their niche specific can be tainted due to just unprofessionalists or due to people, you know, really just worried about the money and not really worried about the experience and the customer satisfaction from it. So I love the fact that, you know, in an it it kind of even makes me commend you a bit more, not to say that I wouldn't either way, but commend you a bit more just because that's a referral-based business is hard. And it's hard to be lucrative and successful and consistent with that because you are literally having to be on the ground at all times, and you are literally having to be not necessarily emphatic with these clients, but you treat them how you would want to be treated, how you would want somebody to handle your family, how if you were misinformed or if you didn't necessarily, if this wasn't your strong suit, you wouldn't want somebody to take advantage of you. It almost reminds me of that mechanic story sometimes. How women, when they take their cars to the mechanic, they're always told to bring somebody trusted or bring maybe a male figure or something like that, because a mechanic naturally will assume that you're not as knowledgeable about cars. So he'll try to run up the tab, he'll try to tell you this, this, and that, bring out all sorts of terminology, and I don't, and I don't necessarily know what's going on. So the fact that you know, you there are people out here who may want to take advantage of you, who may want to do certain things like that. So to keep that, you know, to keep that morality, to keep that everything on the up and up, that's just amazing, especially in a place like California where I could imagine it's just it's a whole lot of everything. Business is booming, people are moving in and out, people are migrating, and everything of the sort. But as we think about now the the future outlook, the one not only necessarily for just real estate and what it is you're doing, but just from a business perspective. Would you say that with with us being kind of in the early stages of the new year, us kind of looking to tackle Q1 and Q2 and Q3 and Q4, is there anything that from the business side, from the entrepreneurial side of things that you're looking to kind of get into? Is there anything that you're looking to debut? The reason why I like asking this question is because I understand that there are already people that know you. You've established a network. There are people who have come across you, they know where to find you, they know what to do, they know where to send their referrals. But I know that now by being on this platform, by coming here and joining me, you're gonna have some newcomers, you're gonna have some people who are curious, you're gonna even have some West Coast people because we've dealt with a lot of people in California on that side of the world. So they may, their, their curiosity may be piqued in a sense, and they wait, they are now gonna meet you at a particular point in your journey. So would you say that there's anything that they can look forward to? Is there anything that you're even looking, whether it be maybe new services, maybe new niches or new industries that you're looking to involve yourself in?

SPEAKER_02 14:56

For myself, you know, the niche I'm in being in the commercial lending space. I mean, there's no necessarily anything new. We'd obviously would like to see new programs or easier qualifications for potential new uh you know clients. But we have a new administration coming into town, and those are going to change a lot of the laws and regulations. And so uh, you know, we have a lot of people on the sidelines waiting to see what happens with those and what are the effects on those.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

I got you. And I can definitely understand how you know it's you know your business, you know what you want to do, you know kind of how you set the blueprint and the foundation. But a lot of some of these things can be out of our control. And some of these things, once rules and policies are set, we just have to fall in line and abide by, in a sense. So I definitely do understand that and I get that. And hopefully it's nothing too detrimental or too dramatic, but rather things that'll be beneficial and things that'll help you one, even learn. So, speaking of learning, speaking of education, I recognize that being in real estate, I feel like you always have to remain a student of the game in some capacity. You always have to, you know, there's always new developments, there's always new things happening, new terminology, new rules, new laws. How would you say you best stay up to date on your industry, on news, on happenings, um, and and just making sure that you know you're always putting your best business foot forward?

SPEAKER_02 16:07

You know, I read a lot of newspapers, a lot of books, and we have, you know, articles that come out, you know, once a month, you know, from the uh Department of Real Estate, you know, what's new, what's happening, and everything. So I definitely am always reading and um becoming aware of what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

I need to take that, I need to take that piece of advice for you. I need to pick up a book. I feel like I have a stack of books that I look at and I just, you know, it looks cool sitting on that bookshelf or sitting on that dresser, but I need to, I need to open them up, wipe them off a little bit, and probably just do the same myself. But that's important, you know, because oftentimes we speak to so many people who have had such success in their industry, in their field. And it's not, I never want people to get the impression that these people are just successful and they can kind of just, you know, kick back and relax. No, this is always that the same way things were in 2008, is not the same way that they are in 2004. The same way that they are, I mean 2024 and 2025. And even from now, we look at now, even three years from now, five years from now, seven years from now, we could be looking at totally different things, you know. So it's always important to be in the know. The same way social media is changing, the same way landscapes are changing, the same way infrastructure is changing, so is everything around us, so are industries. And you know, you have to be in the know. And it's not to say you're gonna know everything, it's not to say you're gonna catch everything and always be able to be ahead of that curve. But I feel like, you know, the more you educate yourself, the more you read, the more you open, the more you stay up to date on current events, the easier it'll make it for you and your business. You know, if you're kind of out of touch and out of tune, you may not know that this law just got passed and it's gonna affect me, it's gonna affect how I do business and how I move forward, especially where you are, because that's something I've learned about real estate too, that it's very area specific. That is just like, you know, Cala, I spoke to a guy who was just basically telling me about some of the zoning laws and rules that are in Florida, but versus PA, where I'm from, you know, and then you look at West Coast or you look at Texas. So it's always so very interesting, just some of the specifications, depending on where you're actually set up and doing business. So I know we spoke about, you know, you were saying a lot of the business that you're doing are pretty much the predominant for who you're working with and who is local, it's within that 50 mile radius. Do you ever see yourself branching out beyond that, or is there really no need because of what you do?

SPEAKER_02 18:10

There's not necessarily need. Again, I've done a lot of you know commercial lending nationwide, you know, uh, but typically again, it is around here. I don't necessarily need to branch because it like nowadays we get on a Zoom call like we are today, we get on a uh, you know, Microsoft Soft Teams call, you know, and they can meet me, they can see me, they can feel me, especially if it was a referral, and I can they all they do is email me or upload their you know documents uh securely to my computer, and I can handle the job for them.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

We love convenience, and that's really what it sounds like from there. And I think, you know, especially with all these tools and these softwares, now it does really make it easy to do business any and everywhere. With business, though, I recognize that sometimes people may just be misunderstood. People may not always have your best interest in mind, or people just have their own opinions. As I said, one bad apple could truly spoil the bunch, and you could have a bad experience and it just make you never want to look in someone else's direction, even though they could mean well and want nothing but the best for you. So I say all that to say, do you feel like there are misconceptions around what you do in real estate specifically?

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I mean, look, yeah, because we did have the era of the 2008, which, you know, that what created the whole economic apocalypse was all these people taking these bad loans, you know, not knowing what they're getting themselves into. So there's always that connotation that has stayed amongst people. But if you uh explain everything to the client, you read over everything and they know exactly what they're getting themselves into, there's nothing to be worried about. It's only when they don't know what they're getting themselves into, is what creates that.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

That uncertainty, that fear, almost that fear of the unknown. Now, you you you brought up an L word, the word loans. And it's funny that you brought that up because not really funny, but to me, it's just a little funny because I was actually in the process of applying for a grant and some uh boost, what are they called? Some boot camps, excuse me. And just trying to, you know, I'm trying ever since I LLC'd my business last year, I really felt like I needed to take more steps to build that foundation from a business perspective, whether it be credit, grants, everything of the sort. But I would say something that's always kind of back to my college days, something that's kind of always steered me the wrong or rubbed me the wrong way is the word loans. It it just like I don't, I would much rather a grant or a scholarship because I feel like it's not kind of something that's hanging over my head in a sense. So, but I also know that in one of the most recent grants that I was applying for, they were asking, what other ways do we try to secure funding? Have we gone the loan route? And I said no. And so the follow-up question to that was, well, why haven't you gone the loan route? And really for me, the only thing that I could say was because I just felt like there was a negative connotation around. I didn't say that, you know, I've I've had to take out loans for school and everything like that. They've helped me get through school, they've helped me pay for school and everything like that. So I know that loans are not all bad, but I know that growing up, I know a lot of the education that was bestowed upon me was saying grants are loans, you always want to take that grant because it's money that you don't have to pay back. Now, with loans though, I also told myself that I feel like I answered the question basically saying that I feel like I could have educated myself more. Before I kind of made an assumption, before I just kind of tried to throw loans to the wayside, I should, I should read more. As you said, I should read, I should look things up, I should do everything like that. So, with what you're doing with loans specifically, why do you feel like people should not be apprehensive about this word? They should hear this word and know that loans are here to help, loans are here to assist.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

If you're taking a loan for the right format to buy into real estate and you know what yourself getting into, you know what the rate is, you feel comfortable taking on those payments. Absolutely. I mean, this is how you grow, you know, unless you have so much cash, you could buy everything cash. But how many what percentage of you know, nation has enough cash to buy everything they want with cash? You know, if if it's your car payment, if it's the house, and any other things that loans are available, but just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, how long it's gonna take for it to get paid off, what is your rate, and just having complete understanding and having the capability to pay it.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

And that's what I think is important too, because something that I also was saying too was some of the things that were Shying me away from loans, which is the terminology. I didn't necessarily know what they were talking about when we're talking about APRs and percentages and rates and what my payment plan is going to look like. And I would send some screenshots to some people and be like, hey, do you think this is what should I do here? No, don't know by no means. You know, so for me, it was okay. Well, if you're telling me, all right, I'm not gonna touch it at all. If I see anything like that, I'm never gonna, you know, so you do that enough times and I just completely step away. But I also feel like, you know, if it becomes a thing of where you really do your due diligence, you do that research, you break everything down, you calculate those finances, you can make it happen. As you said, if it works for you, if it fits for what you're trying to do, then there's definitely other alternatives out there to make that work. So thank you. I appreciate you sharing that perspective. But back now to the I guess the market specifically, California. Obviously, California is a huge place. Calabasas, beautiful. You know, it's it's I could imagine that it's probably everything that I hear about that I see and everything of the sort like that. So I could imagine that with that, there's a host of different real estate. There's a host of just people trying to do business there. There's a host of people within that, um, just in that realm, in that market. What is the do you feel like you're working within a competitive market, a competitive niche? Do you feel like you kind of have to work a little bit harder to stay ahead of that curve? And if so, can you just shed some insight and some uh yeah, can you just shed some insight on that?

SPEAKER_02 23:14

It's absolutely it is a very competitive market. There's a lot of people in our field, and you know, it just basically what sets you apart is your customer service. You know, that's what really, you know, otherwise you can go to any bank, you could go, there's so many other mortgage brokers or, you know, realtors or you know, they're out there, but you gotta be able to set yourself apart. And that's only through customer service and through your referrals.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Got to pride yourself on that customer service, on that personalized experience, on being able to put a face to the name, on being able to really talk to somebody, really being able to have those conversations, whether they be virtual or in person. I think that they go a long way rather than, as you said, that that automation or that replacement. You know, somebody is not gonna really feel so inclined to go back and forth with a computer, or you're not gonna really get that personal experience. It's really just gonna feel like a transaction. It's really gonna feel like, okay, I gave something, I got something, that's it. Whereas, you know, if you can talk to somebody, you can really get to know that person, the conversation could even extend past what you guys are there for. You could even offer other resources, other methods of education, because I'm sure in working with some of the clients and people that you have, that you probably educated them in realms that they weren't expecting. You've probably been able to give them some gems, some insights, some enlightenment, as otherwise they may not have gotten if they've gone another route. What are you, as we look up, as we look now to the beginning of the year, but as we look at a future outlook, whether it be a year from now, three years from now, five, seven, ten, whatever we want to do, is there something, anything that you are most excited about, whether it be just in the realm of business that you're in, whether it be within real estate, whether it be within the California market, anything that's really just, you know, you kind of have it's kind of just making your eyes wide a little bit, or anything that you're kind of thinking about as you look to continue to elevate your business?

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Well, it's it's honestly all these new developments that are that are happening in the next five or ten years. You know, there's a I think by like 2035, if you look at a lot of the major cities nationwide or even around the world, it's gonna be a lot of changes, a lot of new buildings, a lot of new um uh uniqueness. Maybe it's gonna be less cars out there, even. So it's very unique to uh as we're transitioning.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

For for someone who has never been to California, how would you describe Calabasas?

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Calabasas is a suburb of Los Angeles, you know, it's it's a very um it's a good word would be a niche, right? It's uh it's like say 30, 40 minutes outside the city, you know, very clean and stuff. Um, but overall, California is a very dense city. It's beautiful, got one of the best weathers, you know, worldwide. But you know, it's gotten very expensive in the last five years. You you're gonna pay for the weather.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

And it was it's it's it's funny that you mentioned weather because something that my cousin was talking to me a lot about, he's in Compton specifically. Um, something that he was telling me, and I actually have a friend too, he's in San Diego. They were telling me that the uh last year, especially towards the latter half of the year, I guess what would have been hurricane season for us here in Florida, um, it was earthquake season for you guys. Like my cousin was even telling me like he was waking up to just earthquakes, just even minimal but multiple ones a day. Do you ever feel like there are there any things that are plaguing the real estate market within California, whether it just be from a weather perspective, natural disasters, a people, a community, is there anything that's kind of working against you guys that you kind of have to, I guess maybe work harder to compensate for? Or do you kind of just feel like business is business? As you said, there is competition, there is things that you have to kind of keep up with, but nothing that people are kind of looking at as like a red flag.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

No, the red flags for California are earthquakes and fires and the cost of insurance.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

I I definitely forgot about fires because I remember back in 2019 when I was in grad school, I actually went to school with someone. I can't remember what part of Florida of California she was in, but I remember it was a super bad fire out there that year. And she was pretty much just showing us everything while even the wildfires that were happening back in 2019. But I remember her community being affected specifically. So it's so crazy, you know, too, to be in before I got to Florida, you know, earthquakes are not a thing for me. I was I was born in New York, raised in Philly, so uh we saw a lot of rain. I the biggest thing for me was snow, and I just wanted to get away from the snow. I don't like the cold, so I was really just trying to do all that. So I come down here, the palm trees, the sun, I'm like, okay. And now you're telling me we're in hurricane season and we're getting two back to back and maybe a tropical storm on the way. And I'm just like, wow, like I don't really know what to do with this now. And I'm, you know, do I'm weighing the snow versus the the flooding and the, you know, it's a lot. I still don't like the cold, by the way. So I'm gonna take my Florida hurricanes all day long. But it's just always so interesting just to see different landscapes, you know, as you start to move west a little bit from Florida, you start to get into your tornado alleys and just different places and different that's to me, those are things that like, you know, we hear about these natural disasters and things, but it's like when you don't live in that era when you've never dealt with it yourself, it's like it's totally different. So for me, a wildfire, I'm raising my eyes. Like, what's going on? An earthquake, I'm just like, wow, bro, like, what did that feel like? Are you guys all right? Like, is that gonna happen again? Like, do you have to, you know, so always so interesting just to hear that, just to compare and contrast, you know, where we are and what we're doing. I know that within this episode, you are gonna have people with curiosity, with curiosity around real estate, maybe even curiosity specifically around what it is that you do. For someone, even like myself, who knows at some point that they want to get into real estate, whether it be passively, who wants to make more money, who wants to bring in another stream, but also help people just the same and learn. You know, I was it was funny, I was talking to somebody at my job who literally got his real estate license just so he could sell his house. And I was just like, that's that's amazing. Like, I, you know, most of the times you hear people are doing that because they want to get into business, they want to make more money, but you did that just so that you could reap the benefits of it. And that's cool because now it gave you another skill set. Would you say that, or what would you say to someone who may not necessarily know where to start in real estate? Hears this interview, is interested in what you're doing, but also knows nothing about what it is that you're doing, but still knows that in some form and some capacity, they hear people talking about real estate, they know that they want to make some money from it and they're interested. How would you encourage people to get involved with real estate? Is it from an education perspective? Is it really just finding a mentor, finding someone who does what you do? Is it networking? Is it a culmination of all of that? What do you suggest?

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Definitely culmination of all of that. Mentor is very important. Networking out brings the clients, you know, but it's a combination of everything. You know, you have to be willing to put in the extra time, the effort to get up and going.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

And I that's that's so cool because we've even uh one, we've had people that come on here to offer themselves as mentors to others, but it's even cooler hearing the people that now have amassed such great success and really hearing how they got it, how they, you know, how they had to drive or how they had to sacrifice time or money to be able to learn this. And it was worth it because in the now they're good to go. Now their brand and business is booming, and now, you know, they can kind of do business in different places and in different spaces. So I I I thank you. And I, you know, as someone who I feel like I tell myself all the time that tomorrow, every time you bring a real estate person on, you you need to take a deeper dive into what you need to do. You know, I feel like out of all the probably when this episode airs, this will probably be maybe like in the 230s or the 240s. I feel like out of all our episodes, more than half have to have touched on real estate. I'm I'm gonna do an official count on that one of these days, but I feel like my so I feel like it's a sign. Like I keep seeing it, I keep procrastinating on a little bit, but also I tell myself that maybe I'm just I'm also trying to feel out what I want to do because as I said, I've spoken to people who are involved, and people are telling me some of the things that they do, and I was just like, wow, I didn't even know you could do that within real estate. Like I didn't even know that was really a niche or that was really a thing. But I think too, it could be very much area specific. You know, what you do in California may not yield as much in different places or may not be as as much of an in-demand somewhere else, or a place where real estate is not as pre, or a place where commercial and residential is not as prevalent, let's say, versus somewhere where that's land. You know, I talked to a lot of people who are in land flipping too, and so they focus on a lot of those rural areas or places that are under construction or going through different changes and different things. So that's always so interesting. So now, before we get to the most important part, which obviously everything you said is of great importance, but the most important part I like to call it is a call to action, where we let people know where they can find you, where they can follow along the journey, even for my California folks, where they can even maybe maybe put some boots on the ground and maybe even meet you and maybe even see you live in direct one day. But before we get to that, do you feel like there is anything that we have not touched on? Even any last words that you want to leave out there for other business owners, entrepreneurs, creatives, people in the real estate space in any capacity, anything?

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Well, now my word would be for business owners, if you don't own your building, that should be your ultimate goal.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

And why would you say that?

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Because, you know, if you're if I don't know how many years that the business owner has paid lease, but if you get into yourself into a SPA loan with 10% down, in 25 years you pay off that building, it's yours.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Do y'all see why I bring these people on the podcast, man?

SPEAKER_00 32:23

They drop some gems on y'all, they help y'all really, you know, make sure, hey, look, I don't, I don't, I don't need anything from y'all, I just need y'all to take advantage of the of the resources because, you know, you have people like Camillard that are, you know, they have amassed their success, they have put in the groundwork and they're still putting in the groundwork. You know, it's not to say that when we get off this interview that everything is just fine and dandy. You know, he still has work that he has to get done. There are still things that he needs to do. And part of that is this, you know, part of that is providing that education, part of that is getting the brand and the business out there. Because as he said, the referrals speak for themselves, the customer service and satisfaction speaks for itself. But it's also a thing of there are a lot of people out there who may not even know what they need necessarily, who are facing a problem, who are going through something, but they may not necessarily know where to find that solution, where to even go, who to talk to, how to do. And then sometimes you talk to the wrong person and you put yourself back even more. And now it really makes you not even want to handle it at all. So the fact that you know we have people out here that are willing to educate, willing to help, willing to personalize, and willing to make sure that all your questions are answered, I think that that's so important. So, one, thank you again for coming on the platform, for joining us, for giving us some insight and some education today. But two, thank you ultimately for the impact that you're having in local communities and beyond, because that is the sole reason why I started this podcast. Because I recognize that there were so many stories out there that need to be told. There was so much impact that was being had that is being had on a daily basis that otherwise may go unnoticed or unhighlighted. And I feel like, you know, even you in Calabasas, you know, you've probably impacted people outside of California, and you may not even realize, you may not even know it. I know for a fact once we air this, the impact is going to be global because, you know, you're gonna be able to educate people. You're even you may even interest somebody who's in real estate to go another way now or to add this to their arsenal. So I love that. But now officially, for those people out there who want to find out more about you, want to follow along the journey, maybe even have some questions, want to pick your brain. Maybe they're even in Calabasas and they kind of want to see how you do what you do. What are the best places to find you? What are the best places to reach you from social media website? Give us everything you got.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Sure, they can reach me on the office line, 818-703-9337. They can re uh, you know, go on my website, www.wemble'sinc.com. I have a YouTube channel called Minds of Real Estate, which are new episodes um approximately once a week. I'm on, you know, the Instagrams, the Snapchats, the TikToks, all of that, you know, to be out there. But you know, I'm available at all times. You know, I make myself available. If I don't take a call with him probably two to four hours, I will reach back out.

unknown 34:47

Come on now.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Hey, he said, call the line, y'all. This is one of the few people that came on here and gave that line. So call that line, ask those questions. You know, there are people, as I said, who are making themselves readily available to us, have no problem answering questions, no problem providing some insight, and are not really trying to, you know, he didn't get on here today selling you a service or or trying to get you to do but you know, he he more so wants to provide that education and let you know that there are alternatives, there are options out there. Whether you're in Calabasas, whether you're in Tampa, Pennsylvania, it doesn't matter. There's something out there for everyone. So, Camillar, to you, to the team, thank you guys so much for what you're doing. For having me. It's a pleasure speaking to you. Absolutely. And I definitely encourage, as I always do, to all my followers, all my listeners, my audience, newcomers, everything, take advantage. He gave y'all the phone number, he gave y'all the websites, even if it's nothing more than scrolling just to see what they do. You heard a term on here and you want to find out some more about it. You heard something on here that kind of piqued your interest, and maybe you're taking a trip to California and you kind of want to see what's going on. It's there's always education out there for someone in some capacity. So, to everybody out there who continuously listens, man, I thank y'all. I love y'all. This has been another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamar Turner.