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Throttlecast by The Ride Lounge
Love for cars
Throttlecast by The Ride Lounge
Throttlecast: Episode 18
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In this episode of Throttlecast, Dave Codrea and Grant Brewer host Atlanta real estate advisor and Porsche enthusiast Matt Lamarsh. Lamarsh discusses his transition from a diverse corporate background—including executive recruiting, boat sales, and facility supplies—to becoming a successful residential advisor with Engel & Völkers. He attributes much of his real estate success to a global referral network and a business philosophy centered on collaboration and long-term advisory relationships.
The conversation also highlights Lamarsh’s deep involvement in Atlanta’s car culture, particularly his role as the founder of the Atlanta Porsche Enthusiasts community. He shares details about his modified 2007 911 Turbo and emphasizes how cars serve as a common denominator for building professional and personal connections. Ultimately, Lamarsh reflects on the importance of legacy, explaining that his participation in digital media is driven by a desire to share his values and experiences with future generations.
Welcome to Throttlecast, powered by the Ride Lounge. This is where people pull up, bring their builds and their cars, and tell their story. Let's get into it. Well, today we've got a good friend of ours, Matt Lamarch. Welcome to the podcast, man. Thank you guys.
SPEAKER_00I love what you're doing here and spreading the good word of car people and businesses and all the things. That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_01You're into cars. Obviously, you're into real estate as well. I am. Um, I guess for some folks that don't know who you are, who is Matt Lamarche?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh Matt Lamarche is uh an Atlanta native of 43 years. Uh grew up in this area, actually. Um, moved to East Cobb when I was younger, grew up in a very entrepreneurial family. Uh, saw the way that my grandfathers built their business, and I was like, I like that. I like what they're doing over there. This whole school thing, and like go get a job, nine to five, was like, don't think that's my speed. But uh, but yeah, it's uh no, look, Atlanta's changed so much in 43 years. I mean, we grew up in Roswell, Sandy Springs area, and you know, what they were 40 years ago was a dirt a bunch of dirt roads, and you know, 400 was uh an inkling in someone's mind out there, and now of course it's you know the uh Atlanta Audubon, right? Yeah, exactly. Uh but uh but yeah, a lot has changed. But you know, when you live one place your entire life, you start to appreciate what what it was, but also what it's becoming, and especially from like a residential real estate standpoint, I mean, so much has changed. Um, you know, affordable housing is always a hot topic in my world. Um and you know, affordable housing just takes on a new term nowadays than it used to, like, you know, 40 years ago. But yeah, it's been uh it's been a great uh a great time, great life so far. I'm super blessed to get up and do something that I really enjoy every single day uh for a long time, and at least in my professional life, that was not always the case. And if you go back and looked at my like LinkedIn profile, you're like every two to like two and a half years, this dude just finds us, finds out it's not for him, pulls the court, pulls the court and goes to the next day, it's like ah yeah, exactly. But yeah, no, I mean again, super blessed to do what I love. And the great thing about real estate, especially is you know, no two days are alike. I'll go see one house today and a totally different one tomorrow. I'll work with people that are one way today and very different tomorrow. And you know, it's uh it's something that keeps me on my toes, but honestly, that's what I was lacking in the corporate world was the monotony. Yeah, the day in, the day out, the same exact activities over and over and over again just gets real, real, real boring real fast for me. So yeah, but this is the longest I've ever done anything. Seven years in real estate.
SPEAKER_01Seven years, okay, right on. And uh I gotta tip a hat a little bit for you, real quick. So we put together this amazing uh Porsche Meat show, whatever you want to call it, uh, a couple months back, RS Collective, with the help of you and uh our friend Evan Halliday, who was also on the podcast, a couple others, and uh sure just turned out amazing. Just give us your thoughts on how that went and you know what was that day like.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the the crazy thing about putting this stuff together, and you guys know this from the podcast to the videos and uh events that you're hosting here and you know in your in your prior lives as well, right? Organizing people is tough. You never know what to expect. You always want to make sure everyone has a good time, and that you know, you got a bunch of different personalities you're trying to manage as well. But I always tell everyone that comes out, whether it's me and one other guy or me and a hundred other guys and and girls, that you know, if if I organize something and no one shows up, it's really, really boring to be standing in a parking lot looking at your car. The moment that five, ten, fifteen, a hundred people show up is amazing. Yeah. Um, and it's not a vanity thing, you know. I think a lot of people get caught up in the oh, we had over a hundred or we had five hundred cars out, or you know, whatever. But to me, it's quality over quantity, pretty much always. Um and you know, truthfully, I don't think I told you or Evan this, but like I was calling people like, hey, you're coming, right? You this is your invite. I know you might have seen the post, but like I'd love to have you there, you know. Yeah, thank you for that. Um, of course, no, I think that's the difference um of what that event was. And yeah, you're right. I mean, it was an amazing time. Some people I hadn't seen in a long time, honestly, came out to that one. Um, that uh it's been years since I've seen a couple of those people, so it was fun. Yeah, it's fun to catch up. And to me, the the cars are the keys that unlock the relationships and the business and you know everything. Absolutely. Without without the cars, it's the common denominator, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh obviously we've got the the the response was amazing. Yeah, the number one question we got asked was when's the next one? Yeah, yeah. And so naturally we're launching Ride Lounge uh Midtown Atlanta in the next month or so, and uh I think it would be a uh a disservice if we didn't have the RS Collective 2.0 there. So for anybody listening, here's your pre-invite. That's right. Matt's gonna invite everybody, right? And uh I think it'll be a great time. We're in talks with uh a few big companies right now with sponsors. I won't mention any names at the moment, but I think it's gonna be even better for the next one. So we're looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm excited. Not just about the location, but about the next one because everyone is a little bit different, yeah, you know. Um, and that's what I think is is exciting. Um I mean, Porsche in Atlanta is everything now. Like we're the Stuttgart of the United States. Pretty much, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, there's five places for your cars to get service. There's four dealerships, there's probably a dozen independent shops that know these cars extremely well. That's right. And we'll get into yours here in a little bit. It's a beautiful machine, by the way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, PEC right down the road. It really is, yeah. Yeah, and people travel here, right? They fly into Hartsfield, they go drive a car, they get back on a plane, and they go home. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. But yeah, it's um, I mean, the Atlanta Porsche scene is insane. Um, between the PCA, uh the Peach State, you know, club here, um, which I was involved with uh for a little while and got up to the vice president role, actually. I don't know if we talked at all about that, but um, but yeah, I mean that that group, our group, you know, like you said, all the independent shops and you know, storage facility. I mean, 10 years ago, none of this stuff really existed. And that's what's exciting to me. Every time I go to one of these events and I see someone that is new or that I've never met before, I'll just go introduce myself because I want them to get connected. I want them to find someone that has their same car or you know, the same generation, the same color, whatever. So um, so yeah, that's cool though. The connecting piece is one thing that I've always loved about those, you know, uh those events.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, absolutely. Relationships are definitely everything. Yeah. And so seven years in real estate. Okay, that's that's where you are now and where you've been for the last uh several years. What did it start like in the beginning? Like tell us about maybe your first job or maybe something that came before it. Give us a little bit of a background.
SPEAKER_00I mean, gosh, going way back, like again, super entrepreneurial uh grandfathers, both of them had their own businesses, one in bakery supply, the other in Fortune 500 consulting, uh working with Sam Walton at Walmart. I mean, just very different mom and pop, big corporate, but both entrepreneurs within their own right. Um, and like I said, from a very young age, I was the lemonade stand with like franchises around the neighborhood, not just like one lemonade. They won't be able to go back to it. That's right, that's right. Someone will get that 50 cents out of you. Uh no, but um, you know, mowing, mowing lawns, washing cars, like anything and everything to do to make money to go buy the thing. It was never about saving, investing. It was always about what we can go buy with this money that I literally just made 10 minutes ago. Fortunately, a lot has changed in my lifetime, and I'm a much better saver now. Kudos to my wife mostly. Uh, but yeah, just very entrepreneurial uh from a young age. Um, my first entrepreneurial journey kind of failed pretty miserably. I worked in a uh in a store, basically, that was a retail location. Yes, just like the 40-year-old version that you sold stuff on eBay. People brought their stuff in, they'd drop it off, I'd take pictures, list it, we'd ship it. Of course, other people would walk in and go, I want to buy that. And you're like, it's not exactly how this works. You gotta go on eBay, create an account, bid, and if you win, then yeah, you can come pick it up, but not exactly uh, you know, 20 years ago, eBay was massive.
SPEAKER_01So you did the eBay store thing. 100%. Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there was a franchise called I Sold It. I don't think they exist anymore. I sold it on eBay, and that was the name of the store. There were three locations here in Atlanta. Uh, I ran the one in Roswell for about two years, and I mean, we just crushed it. We were doing millions in revenue. Profitability was ridiculous, and the owners of the company came to me and they were like, you need to do this with our other two locations because it's working. People are starting to understand it, and this was very early eBay days. Um, but consignment on eBay was a whole different animal. You could sell your own stuff on eBay, no problem. But having someone else doing it for you was a was a novelty, honestly, at the time. So took over the three locations, figured out one was just never ever going to work. Um, not too far down the road here, unfortunately. But uh, but anyway, we we took that idea and ran with it for about three or four years. The owners ultimately ended up shutting the business down. I took the idea and I was like, I can do this on my own. There's nothing proprietary here, it's easy enough. Started working with small businesses, nonprofits, churches, and stuff to collect things through charity drives, and then I'd sell it, take a commission off of it, basically, and then give them the proceeds. It failed because in about 2007, you know, the market as a whole was starting to fall through the floor. Um, and people started selling their own stuff, and my small businesses were going out of business and bankrupt. I mean, it was just it was a tough time. And, you know, it's Mike Tyson that says everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the face. I was getting punched in the face multiple times a day. Yeah. Uh business just disappeared, vanished overnight, and I didn't pivot fast enough. So um it failed miserably, but it was a great lesson that I took into um corporate America, working again every two or three years, switching jobs and sales and marketing and trying to find the next thing that I was passionate about, but I was also really good at that I could be successful in. Um, but also that we're gonna grow my skill set as an entrepreneur later on, right? And so uh yeah, I worked in recruiting executive recruiting, taking guys out of the military and and putting them in civilian jobs, um, out of the Navy and the Army and the Marine Corps, and uh gosh, went from there to working on boats at the lake. Yeah, there's no rhyme or reason, by the way, to any of this. There's no continuity or path that you're like, those first two are jobs, they're still entrepreneurial though.
SPEAKER_02Recruiting, selling stuff on eBay, trying to figure it out, make it work. It's like, yeah, it's still very entrepreneurial, even if it is a job. Sure.
SPEAKER_00Well, and it required a lot of that kind of internal fortitude that I may have a paycheck coming in regularly, but the better I do, the more I get paid, and the better the business does and it grows. You know, so you're right. But yeah, working um I w I was working for uh a local uh boating facility, let's say they own several locations around Atlanta, some dealerships, sell boats, buy boats, um, consignment type stuff, but also service uh marina storage like on the lake itself. And uh I actually went to a job fair and met with a guy and I was like, hey, how do I how do I work with boats every day? And he was like, You come work for us in sales. And I was like, All right. And so left the recruiting gig, went and worked on uh on the lake, actually, which was wonderful, especially this time of year. I mean, yeah, mid-70s, low eighties is a great day on the water, way underrated when it's 95 degrees out there, no one's having fun. They just look like they're having fun, or they are very intoxicated. Uh but no, so uh started off in sales, eventually worked into a service position and found that these boats are breaking all the time. Yeah, oh yeah. Cars break a lot, but boats break a lot more because everybody knows the analogy. Break out another thousand. That's what purpose stands for, you know. And the best two days are when you buy it and when you sell it. When you sell it that's but uh but yeah, so we I worked as a service manager for a couple years and enjoyed it because it showed me a different side of the business, but it also showed me a different side of customer service, right? It it got me into a place where guy rolls up with his cooler and his family, ready to hop on the boat, and it doesn't start, and you're there to save the day in a lot of ways, you know. And that was just amazing. I mean, even some of the people that I worked alongside there are clients now in real estate. Oh, great. So ended up leaving that business, actually went to uh Yamaha uh over in uh Kennesaw. They uh had a uh position in their marine division, which is strictly outboard motors. Um, they make their own boats and wave runners and stuff, but this particular position was what they referred to as an OEM uh position where I was selling to uh boat manufacturers. So I owned about 85% of the United States for outboard motors, including pontoon boats, John boats, little tillers up to you know the 9.9, 350 horsepower, anything in between. If we could strap an engine to it, that was a boat and a package that we would sell. Uh but bass boats and offshore stuff, I mean, uh really, really good experience. And still kept me close enough to the boats that it was exciting, you know. Yeah, but to see it from a different, a different lens, a different perspective. So for sure.
SPEAKER_02When did you win in that journey where you're like, you know what? I don't think I'm a good employee anymore. Uh you're like, I don't want to do it anymore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, great question. I mean, so I I was at Yamaha, and my boss that I was working for after about six months left and went to a competitor, and I was there by myself running the region, and they were, you know, going through the interview process, and corporate just takes forever on everything. And so it took a while. And after about a year, I was like, I mean, the division hasn't blown up. I'm still here. Like, people are still getting their motors. We're actually selling more motors than we ever have. What's like, I think I'm a good fit for this. And thankfully, the answer was no, honestly. At the time, of course, I'm like, oh yeah, I can do this, you know, let me prove myself. Um, and that's also super entrepreneurial as well. But but I'm glad they said no. I stayed for like another six months. I was there for two years, and I was like, I'm out, I can't do this anymore. Went to work for Staples, uh, the office products company, and worked in their facilities division, which at the time was growing double-digit growth. Um, so cleaning supplies and paper towels and toilet paper and anything you need to run, maintain, clean a facility, that's what I was selling. And I had Coca-Cola, Home Depot, um, huge companies that I was working for. Yeah. So it had a sales, I had a sales role, but I was also rewarded for the additional upsells that I could make into those organizations. And a lot of our value proposition was consolidation. So take these five vendors that you're currently using, we offer all of those products and services and use us instead, in addition to getting your copier paper and your toilet paper and everything else. Like, just bring it all in one house. Well, that doesn't really speak to a facilities manager, it speaks to a CEO or a C-suite, you know, person that's like, wait, we can save labor and save money on products. Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah. So it was an easy sell when you got to that level, but trying to get to that level was a challenge. So yeah, left Yamaha, found a great opportunity, and after about two and a half years, you guessed it. Went to my wife and I was like, I am miserable. She's like, if you're not happy doing this, you get to make your own schedule, you're making great money. Um I I'm out of answers for you. And I'm like, I've got to go back to entrepreneur land. And I don't care what it looks like, I don't care how long it takes, I cannot work for anyone else ever again. I had to draw a line in the sand. Started my landscaping business in the fall of 2015, uh, which anyone that knows anything about uh Atlanta landscaping, not the best time to start a company doing that because leaves are falling, but once the leaves are cleaned up, there's no work.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so I thought, well, if we can survive now in the spring, we'll have laid the foundation, we'll start building then. January of 2016 rolls around, and I have 10 customers, regular maintenance customers, 20 in February, 40 in March, and I'm like, okay, so the nights, the weekends, and I'm also working at Staples at the same time. Wow. And I'm 35. Like, I'm not 21 anymore. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, three and a half year old and a six-month-old. And I'm like, this is enough. I can't told my wife again. We sat down hard to heart here. Hey, honey. She was so used to it. It's kind of like the cars, the boats, the wave runners. Like, she knew what she married almost 20 years ago. She knows exactly what to expect now. But yeah, I sat down and I'm like, look, I got 40 clients and it's replaced my income that I'm making with staples, but I don't have time to go get more business. I don't have time to do more business. We're at this inflection point where I've got to make the lead. Fortunately, she supported me, thank God for that too. Yeah. Because if you don't have someone that's in your corner, a partner that's willing to kind of help you navigate that stuff, but also think about, you know, we're eternal optimists. I'd rather it's always gonna work.
SPEAKER_02We're like, what risk?
SPEAKER_00All we see is reward, right? He's very grounded and kept me in a very good place where it was look, here's the challenges, here's the stuff that you're gonna run run up against that you know you don't see today, but it's gonna be a problem later on, right? But you know, I was willing to take that take that leap. And in uh March of 2019, after I mean, gosh, well no, sorry, March of uh 2016, left Staples, pursued that business full time, yeah, and ran up to almost a million dollars in revenue uh in our final year of 2019. Wow.
SPEAKER_01So what an incredible story. Yeah, I mean, I would agree with you. I mean, if you don't have a a partner that supports your dreams, then you're kind of in the wrong relationship. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you're built like us, yeah, yeah. You've got to have, I call her like my foundation. Yeah. Because I was chasing. I mean, again, every two years it was like, not good enough. There's more. Not good enough.
SPEAKER_02You're overdue on the conversation though now. It's been since two thousand, you know, 2018-19. But I can't tell you how happy. She's like, when's it gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00When is the when's the bomb coming? Right, right. She I'm sure she's every day she wakes up probably thinking that. But she she often comments to me, she's like, you know, I'm so happy you found your thing, you know. Because again, not every day is the same. It's it's something different. It's yes, there's challenges. There's always going to be challenges there, whether you're in business for yourself or an employee of a, you know. And and for me, I got laid off a couple times. So like those punches to the face really, really start to add up, and you're like, I'm done with this whole thing. Like, anyone can make any decision that affects my future, my financial outcomes. It's almost more risk in a in a certain sense. I mean, so many times I got laid off, and I was like, man, this this would be a lot easier if I had control of things, you know? And you don't see that.
SPEAKER_01Especially if you're a high performer. 100% know you can do it. 100%. So if you eliminate all of these other decision makers, like now all the barriers are gone. Yes. Let me run.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. You know, exactly right. Yeah, the horse is out of the bar. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If you feel like you've got skills and you want to try it, I mean you got to be able to bet on yourself.
SPEAKER_00100%.
SPEAKER_02And yeah.
SPEAKER_00And if you've got the right people around you, like we were talking about earlier, if you've if you've got the partner in your life that or the, you know, even if you're not married, if you have a good group of guys or girls around you that want the same thing, and I don't mean the same career, but the same outcomes and the same processes and journeys that you want. I mean, yeah, it can be amazing. Yeah. Um, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So you spent 13 years personally investing into real estate before becoming a licensed agent, is that right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So we did, I mean, and I helped consult with like fix and flips and you know, obviously rentals and stuff. Uh, me and my wife had our first property. We turned it into our first rental when we moved uh to Sandy Springs, and I self-managed it for 10 years, and it was great because it was basically a brand new home. Had no problems. But then year 11 came and it was like, oh, yeah, things break, don't they? Yeah. And people call you and it's 45 minutes away, and you gotta fix that toilet. Okay, so yeah, I mean, anyone that says real estate's passive has never been in real estate, really, I think. Um, because it is very active. It doesn't matter if you're commercial or residential, it is a very active business, um, especially when you're starting out. Eventually you can scale and have people on the team and facilities managers, whatever else, but like in the early stages, it is you. And instead of paying a property manager, you were looking at the property manager.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like where do you put your phone number? How do you think that's it? That's right, right?
SPEAKER_00That's right. You gotta be very careful, especially with Zillow now.
SPEAKER_01So you're with uh Engle and Volkers, that's a pretty young brand, very specific identity there. Sure. Uh what drew you over there uh compared to maybe some of the other options?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you know, I got in 2019, I started uh January, I was licensed, had a huge goal. I was like, I'm gonna sell ten houses this year. And I talked to some people, I was like, is that a lot of houses? And they're like, That's a ton of houses for your first year. And then I talked to other people and they're like, I mean, I sold twenty, and I'm like, Oh, okay, well, who's right? Right? Like, what's a good year in real estate look like, you know? Um, and so I sold four, and I was like, I mean, it wasn't the goal, but it's a good start, I felt like. Um, not where I wanted to end up, obviously. You know, it's uh it's a growth, right? Um but yeah, 2019 got started, and um after about a year and a half, it was very obvious to me that in order to go to the next level and in order to develop my business the way that I wanted to develop it, uh I was gonna have to make a change. I was super, super burnt out getting around that two-year mark. But also I found that in real estate, you know, there is no ceiling, right? You can go sell as many houses as you can. But at the end of the day, especially if you're married and especially if you got kids, those two or three people are gonna be looking at you going, can we have our dad back now? Like, you know, can I have my husband back? Like, and I I always told my wife, whether it was in the in the um landscaping business or in real estate, like, give me six months. Give me six months to like see if this thing will work, and if it does great, and if it doesn't, we'll call it a failure. I will have learned something, no doubt. Yeah, uh, but then we'll move on. And so after my first closing, I sold the business one day and literally the next day had my first closing, and I was like, we're we're on a good path here, we're on a good trajectory. But after a year and a half with the original brand I started with, it was very obvious to me that they didn't have the business model that would support my growth. And that's not a knock against them, it's just uh an honest realization that I came to that I was looking for certain things in the business, they were not able to provide it, and I had to go find the next one, you know. So interviewed with a couple other brokers around Atlanta. Um, you know, there's a lot of great companies, real estate companies in Atlanta, and each one offers something different, I feel like. A lot of them want to talk about luxury, want to talk about boutique, want to talk about client service and stuff. But a lot of them don't talk about culture. And in real estate, the culture is very egotistical in general, right? If you go talk to a hundred realtors, you're gonna be like, those people are all full of themselves, generally speaking, right? But what I liked about EV was it was a very collaborative environment and it didn't feel like I was in competition. Even if I worked in the same geography as some of the other advisors there, um, it didn't feel like competition. They were willing to share with me, I was willing to share with them, and some of these people were doing two and three times the amount of business, and I'm not a threat to them, you know. I think that's also a misconception in real estate is that there's more competition than there is collaboration. And, you know, my database, my sphere of influence, the people that I have any influence over in my day-to-day life are not clients of other people. And so I think once that realization came along, I was like, okay, in order to get to the next level, we're gonna have to hire people, we're gonna have to bring people into the team, we're gonna have to outsource the low-dollar activities, and we're gonna focus on the high-dollar activities, which is contracts, meeting with potential clients and clients and going on appointments and stuff, but also branding. And I was in this amazing space one day where a bunch of probably 20, 25 of us were in this room and and we know each other very, very well. And uh each one of us were talking about the others in of just a very honest conversation. And we were trying to discover things about each other, but we were also trying to figure out for ourselves why do people choose us? And so the entire group had a chance to pour into each one of us individually, and what I took away from that was from a branding standpoint and like who Matt is, Matt's Atlanta, real estate, and Porsches. Like that's what I was, those are the three. If I said what are the three words that describe me, it was Atlanta, real estate, and Porsches. And I was like, okay, that's powerful. Because these people know me really, really well, and they could say anything. Yeah, but these are the three things that they think about when they think about me. Not my Instagram, not my day-to-day life. That's just period what they think of. And so I thought, okay, we're gonna double and triple down on some of that. And then recently here, we've added some golf into that as well because I love golf.
SPEAKER_01Nice, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But not everyone's a golfer, so we gotta kind of Porsches are pretty golfer, but I love the videos, man.
SPEAKER_01I really do.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate it. It's just another, again, common denominator, right? And I can't tell you once I started posting those videos, how many people came out of the woodwork and they're like, we gotta go play golf. I'm like, I had no idea you were golfing.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00But if I don't open that door, if we don't unlock that door, it doesn't show up. So um, so yeah, Porsche's Atlanta real estate was like the the core of it. And I was like, we gotta, we gotta focus on that. All of that, because if I can focus on that, that will lead us to the next step, which is building relationships, starting to transact together. Um, you know, being an advisor to me at least means I don't care if you're selling tomorrow or 10 years from now, I'm gonna be here. I'm not going anywhere, you know. Um, the business will change, the industry has changed a lot in the last two years, but um, I'm not going anywhere, you know. And your friend, your family, your colleague, your coworker, I want you to feel like you can hand me off, you can co-sign me with them, and you know they're gonna have a phenomenal, a phenomenal experience.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so you helped uh even expand the Sandy Springs office in 2023. Yeah. Like what did that chapter require? Yeah, man, time.
SPEAKER_00Lots and lots of time. I mean, you know, everyone gets into real estate watching HG TV, I think, going, so I can flip a house in 30 minutes. Right, right. And it's gonna look great. Or I go get my real estate license and I'm watching, you know, Million Dollar Listing New York, and I do 10 minutes of work. I go have coffee with a client and suddenly a $300,000 check shows up, right? Not exactly. It's not exactly how it works. There's a lot of work, years of work that goes into that, you know. Um, and last year in 2025, I'm super proud to say 60% of my business came from other agents from all over the country and now the world too, right? Where with our brand, we have a global network. And so people can call me if they've got people moving to Atlanta or leaving Atlanta and going to Scottsdale or LA or wherever they're going, even into Europe, um, I can help be their eyes and ears on the ground here. And for me, our brand and what the advisor means is that you're getting a very uniform experience across the board, whether you're in Scottsdale or in Atlanta or in LA or New York. Um to me, when I was looking at changing brands, it wasn't just about what the business model could do for me, but it was what the network could also do for me. Like what opportunities would open up for masterminding sessions and what can I learn from these people that at the time we were the highest producing per agent in real estate, period. Like when you looked across the board of how much were each of these different brands agents producing on average, we were at the top. I think Compass was like the only other one that was really, really close to us. And for me, that screams professional. Like that says these people do it, they do it at a very high level, and they do it really, really well because to sustain a real estate business is hard. It's really, really hard work. So um, yeah, the Sandy Springs office opened in 23. I um I joined the leadership team at that time. Um, you know, we were in growth mode. Everyone else was worried about the market and interest rates and inventory and everything else. And we were like, we gotta, this is an opportunity. We need to seize this opportunity. And we have an office in North Atlanta, we call them shops because you shop for a house, you don't office for a house. But uh but yeah, we had a shop in North Atlanta near Avalon, another one down near uh Midtown in Buckhead, and uh we had this major gap between the two. And so we decided it opened to open a shop there that would kind of serve East Cobb, Roswell, South Parts of Alpharetta, Sandy Springs done, Woody Brookhaven Buckhead. Are you driving this to show houses? It depends on the client. Okay. Very good. So my outfit, the car, it all depends on the client. I I have some, admittedly, that if I show up in shorts and a t-shirt, they're like, Where's the suit? And then if I show up in a suit to the other one that's like, where's the t-shirt and flip flip? Oh yeah. And then, yeah, the same thing. Wait, where's the 911?
SPEAKER_02Is this the first 911 you had or you have more?
SPEAKER_00This is the second one. The first one was an 86 air cooled. It's funny, I saw one earlier today. Guards Red. It was a it was a cab, but uh Guards Red Coop, 86 air cooled.
SPEAKER_02That was the poster on the wall as a couple of things. This one looks a little more comfortable than the 86. Yeah, and has a nice little touches.
SPEAKER_01Come from two completely different worlds. You're in residential.
SPEAKER_02I did a bunch of apartments and rentals and stuff. I mean, just started buying rental homes as my first thing I did. You still own a bunch of own a bunch of the rentals now. No rentals? Sold so fast. Well, you said you had it for 10 years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, once we got to year 11, oh, year 11 was maintenance starts hitting in year 11. I mean, yeah, we we sold it in 24, but so it was year 13 technically, but year 11, I was in Cobb County Magistrate Court kicking someone out. It was not fun, man. Like, just not fun. That was it after that. Yeah, it I mean, we had one more couple go in there, but I I knew it was time. Kind of took the fun out of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was not it was not fun. It's hard to take a home that you lived in or had and then convert it to a rental and then remove the treat it just as purely an investment in the manager. Like, that's a hard a lot of people try that, but it's hard to do.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Well, and that's the thing. I work with a lot of investors, right, that are either buying properties as landlords or they have property as landlords, and they're kind of getting to the same spot I was, right? Where they only see upside and they're like, free money, basically. And I'm like, not exactly. Um, but you know, when they're already landlords, they've experienced some of the pain and suffering. And look, it's not for everybody. I try to tell everyone, like, at the end of the day, you're either built to be a landlord or you're not. And if you're not, that's fine. You can still own rental property. It just means you're gonna pay a property manager for it, you know. And I think everyone should be diversified to some extent, you know. But for me, it just lost its luster. I was so over all of it. Yeah, we we offloaded it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, shifting back to cars a little bit, so you you basically created the uh the Facebook group Atlanta Porsche Enthusiasts.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What uh when was when did that happen and what was the reason behind it? I mean, obviously it's been really how many members now?
SPEAKER_003,000, I think, 2,900, something like that. Yeah. Um, so honestly, it just started out as a typical Facebook page where 10 of us were like, we should really have like a place where we can talk about parts and where did you buy your last car, and what success or failure have you experienced with this model or whatever? And then, you know, again, over the last 10 years, especially, I mean, Facebook has just taken on a whole different thing completely. The reason we we we made a pivot, it used to be owners, we made a pivot to enthusiasts because they're like me. I mean, I bought my first one in 2015. I always, I mean, I lusted after that car for years as a kid. Oh, yeah. And as an enthusiast, at least from from afar, you know, you're like, I mean, I would love to be in this owner's group, but I don't have one, but I want to have one one day. You know, there's this weird in-between, right? And so in 2015, when I bought mine, I was like, we really gotta capture this, but also Porsche as a company was struggling with how do we get a younger demographic into the brand. You know, BMW's doing a great job, Audi's doing a great job, Mercedes is doing a great job. Cadillac at the time was doing an amazing job of that. Um, and so I was like, we need to change it to enthusiasts, we need to adjust, we need to find the people that want to get into the brand, uh, but don't have the ability to do so yet, because that was me at one point, and I had no place to go. Um, and especially when I was buying my first car, I would have loved to have had 3,000 people to go a little bit of advice and guidance. Yeah, I picked some brains, you know. Um I felt like I was flying blind, but uh but yeah, the first one was an 86, 911, uh guards red coupe. I bought it in Nashville, and wild story, this guy had a facility about the same size, and it was packed with Porsche's original Broncos, like OG Broncos. He had Bronco number one. I don't know how, but he showed me the stamp on it. Yeah, wow. It's a super sketchy neighborhood in Nashville, and I took my brother with me because I was like, uh I don't know this area too well. And my buddy that lives in Nashville is like, hey, I'm going to this address. He's like, um, do you have that gun still? You're like, where am I going? What is going on here? So uh drove up and like it's kind of tucked around the building. And I walk back there and I'm like, hey, John. He's like, yeah, come on back. And I walk in and I'm just like, what is this place? Like, it's I mean, there were 30 Broncos there, three or four Porsches, a couple 356s. I mean, unbelievable cars. Uh Buick Riviera, he had some crazy, crazy cars, just some of the weirdest, you know, collection. Um, but uh, but yeah, I bought that car uh in 2015 and it was like dream realized, you know. Yeah, um, all the years of of hard work in corporate America failing as an entrepreneur. And this was also about the time that I left corporate America to go back into entrepreneur land because I think a lot of people thought you start working at Staples or Yamaha, and all of a sudden a Porsche shows up. Yeah. Not exactly. Um, but yeah, I love that car. And honestly, for me, I think the brand as a whole, like everyone always asks, like, what's next? Or, you know, what what car would be the next one? And I just love the brand so much I would be willing to drive any of them. Like, to me, it's more about the brand experience than it is a particular model or generation or anything. Degree heat or 30-degree freeze getting up there. But uh, but yeah, it became a little uh a little too nostalgic, maybe, if that's a possibility. Um but yeah, I started in uh in 2020, kind of trying to figure out what the next car would look like. Um ultimately sold that car and bought this one here.
SPEAKER_01But um Yeah, and tell us a little bit about this one here, the beautiful car.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Yeah, it's 2007 911 Turbo. Um, we've done a couple little things to it here and there. I'm like I I balance this line of like I I can appreciate the purists. I love the way that most of the cars are spec generally. But I also like a little, you know, I grew up in the in the Fast and Furious era.
SPEAKER_01It's hard not to have some modification to meet like is this OEM Plus Plus will probably be like, are there lights underneath it? It'd be awesome if there are lights underneath it. That's where I draw the line. No wonder. You got Matt Kotzoff's taillights on the back. I said, I do, yeah. Founder's parts action.
SPEAKER_00That's right, that's right. No, yeah, like an OEM plus. I like I like low. This low slung body to me is just so sick. And especially with the wide body, it's like to me, that just takes it to the next level, you know. And honestly, if you saw this and another 2007 911 turbo driving down the road, you'd be like, that one's Matt's. Yeah, you would know which one the general population's like, oh, they're the same. Oh 100%, 100%. Uh but yeah, wheels, tires, some new Michelins on there. We got the taillights and the headlights from from Matt. Um and uh tune, I think we're at like 650. It started with like 480. And it is a manual, and it is a manual. Yeah, yes. That was a real manual. That was crucial. Yeah, yeah. Safe on values for a while. That's right. Well, and tons of fun to drive. Like, I don't drive it every day, obviously, but um it's got 117,000 miles on it. The guy that drove it before me drove it a lot and did drive it every day. He was a cardiologist in Plano, Texas, bought it brand new, drove it on back roads pretty much every day to work back and forth. That's cool. Um, so it had a hundred thousand miles when I bought it um in 2000, yeah, 2020. Um, but yeah, I flew out there, had a crack in the windshield, so I told the guys like, hey, we're gonna have to figure that out. I didn't know that. And he's like, No problem. So I bought it and uh had it shipped back. And uh Evan, actually, when he was uh with Merritt helped me out with that and sweet and and the sale of that car as well. And it's funny, I was listening to that podcast. So I met Evan through Velocity. Okay, okay I did not know, yeah, yeah, yeah. 14, 15, I think. Um, I took a group of us from Staples up to AMP and we did like this, you know, sales awards, whatever thing. Oh, that's cool. And so whoever won the award got to drive the car, and then a bunch of us did like hot laps um as a side to that. But yeah, I was one of his, I think, first customers. Corporate corporate. That's how we met like 11, 12 years ago now. Yeah. Um, but uh, but yeah, that was good times. That's cool.
SPEAKER_01So we'll uh we'll wrap things up with a little bit of um rapid fire here. There you go. Best car you've ever driven.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so in my teens, I worked in high school through like a co-op program, and I worked for the Ford dealer over in Marietta, and they were a Celine dealer. Uh but he was a car nut. The owner, Mr. Tidwell, was a car guy, like through and through. And he would bring some of the best cars into that dealership on trade for salines and stuff. So there were vipers there. We had a Cobra R. I don't know if you remember those. The red wing with the wing? Like orange, orange, reddish, no AC, no radio, like race car with a with the license plate, basically. I took that car out one time and it was like, this should be illegal. This is not, this is not good for anyone. And I'm 18, 19 years old. Like, so uh that the Viper always, I mean, I will have a Viper. I've told my brother that was his car growing up. I was always into Porsches. Yeah. Uh but he always loved the Viper. So uh I'd have to say the Viper or the uh the Cobra R was just a mach. I mean, so much fun. So much fun to drive.
SPEAKER_01Uh one thing about Atlanta real estate market that most people get completely wrong.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. Um so I and I didn't realize this until I got into the business. There's 15,000 realtors in Atlanta. And that's 13 counties, 11 and 13 counties. There's 50 in Georgia, 50,000 realtors. I thought I was competing with them. I thought I was competing with the 13,000, the 15,000 in Atlanta. Then I went and Googled how many realtors or real estate agents does the average person know? And it's like five to ten, depending on the year you look at.
SPEAKER_01That's a big number.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, okay, so I'll I don't have to stick out amongst 13,000. I have to stick out amongst five to ten. Much better odds. I like that. Uh but yeah, I mean, look, the the industry is has gone through quite a bit of change in the last call it 24 months. Um but I think the thing that most people get wrong is Atlanta's still growing. Atlanta real estate is a great investment. And yeah, we've had our slowdowns and recessions and everything else, but like the market as a whole is is in a really good place, actually. Yeah. Um and it's still a very solid investment, whether it's for your primary residence, the second home investment. It's really solid. We've seen a lot of places, Miami included, that have tanked in the last 12 months, and it is hard to watch. But generally speaking, it's not like HGTV and um or a million dollar listing. And um your house generally isn't worth as much as you thought it would be. That's true, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01Best deal you've ever ever put together. What made it so satisfying?
SPEAKER_00Oh man. Probably my first listing. So in May of 2019, uh had a couple guys call me about listing their house and my neighborhood, actually. They had no reason to trust me. I barely knew them as neighbors, but they had no reason to trust me. But they did. Um and I went in and I told them, look, I think this house is worth $550. And they were like, we'd really love to get $580. I'm like, right, so I hear you. But the market says $550. And they're like, all right, well, you're the professional. And I'm like, for six months, I'm the like, but I've done my homework. I know what the market's doing, I know what comps look like. You know, I had done my homework. I knew what I was doing. I was just very new at it, but they took a chance on me. And uh, I'm happy to say that we put that house on the market on a Thursday. On Saturday, we had a full price offer plus 30,000 at 580. Wow. And uh the the realtor that that sent me that offer was like, so you'll cancel the open house. I was like, not a chance. I've got 150 people that have RSVP'd to that open house. I'm not canceling that open house. So it was a good, it was a good learning lesson for me, not just as the first one, but also to show that like planning, preparation, execution all meet at the same time. Really, really good things are happening. And then my clients were just singing praises for months. I mean, they moved to Florida and they still post on our in our neighborhood Facebook group about you better use Matt.
SPEAKER_01Uh Porsche model you'd own if the 997 disappeared tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00So I had a chance to drive a GT4, the first generation, 2016, 17, somewhere in there, uh up with Appalachian driving experience. And uh man, that was that was a fun car. I took my brother up there because he loves cars, but he's not as into them as I am, and he can appreciate them from afar, I guess. But uh, but I took him up there. And we did a driving experience, and I think it was with the rally guys as well. And there was a small group of us that came in us and a GT4, and Mitch, the owner, let us kind of jump back and forth between cars. And to watch my brother get a GT4 sideways, and then to also do it five minutes later myself in the mountains of North Carolina was a ton of fun. So I had this like really soft spot for that platform as a whole. But yeah, I think the next one would be like an RS Spider or GT4 or GT4 RS, something like that.
SPEAKER_01Dream 3 Car Garage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. Like a 20 years anyway. Yeah, everyone's gonna be able to do that. As long as the limit. Yeah. I'll buy it too. I'll be happy to pay for the, you know. Uh no, I've always loved the Range Rovers, just hated the reliability, but I think they're getting better. They are. Um, which I think is helpful. So I love the the normal uh Range Rover. I don't need the long wheelbase, I don't need the sport. To me, that's a good balance of like everyday usability, super comfortable, super heavy. Um yeah. Pretty much any Porsche, honestly. I mean, I don't love some of the rear-wheel drive front engine stuff from the 80s and 90s, but I'd still love to have one at one point. Um but I think if we had to like nail down one, it would be a GT4 or even like a 964, 993. I love that. Oh, yeah. You know, last of the done right, too. Yeah, yeah. It's only M plus plus. Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Some BBS RSs or something like that, lowered a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Um, and then the final one, man, I don't know. I mean, gosh, I'm so I'm 43. I've had 26 cars. I've had a lot of cars that like I I would love to go kind of like go back, maybe. Um I had a 93 Ford probe in red. Yeah. Um, and me and my buddies, there were three of us that had them in my finger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, we were it was a rolling riot because they were like, it was kind of like the Mazda 626.
SPEAKER_01It was definitely a Mazda underneath though, right? Oh, hundred percent, yeah.
SPEAKER_00100%. Yeah, Ford was not in a good spot for that whole car, really. Um, but yeah, I had a red one. Uh my cousin had one, and then another buddy of mine. Oh, yeah. It was again like low slong, like you lower it a little bit, you put the right wheels and tires on it. Um, you know, an exhaust that is complementary to a V6 front-wheel drive engine, which is really tough, really tough to achieve. Um but yeah, I think about the Ford probe. I had a 94 Mustang that was that was it was loud. My parents could hear me coming in the neighborhood from a mile away. Um like mysticrome color changing paint on it. It wasn't like the official Ford 96 Cobra, but uh but it was it was sweet. And I it's funny, I over in Kennesaw when I was in in college, we went to $3 cafe there on Barrett Parkway across from where all that Barrett Parkway activity used to happen. Yep. And we were going to dinner one night and pull up to $3, and this car is like sitting right underneath the street light, and it's dark outside, it's kind of a little misty outside, so it's got the water droplets on it, and it's like a hundred different colors, and I'm like, that car is spectacular.
SPEAKER_01I've always loved a chameleon paint.
SPEAKER_00I love like it can be done really, really well, or it can be way too much, right? That's a good example. It's so sick. Like I've been watching it this entire time. So uh I walk in and I'm like, Jason, my buddy that works there, dude, whose car is that? And he's like, Oh, I just picked that up two weeks ago. I'm like, get out of here. I will buy how much do you want for it? I'll buy it right now. And he's like, seriously? I was like, Yes, I love that car, it looks amazing. And probably a month later, buying it from Europe. It was, dude, it was such a beautiful car. One of those nights. But yeah, I mean, I think like something new, practical, obviously a Porsche at some point. And then the third one I think would have to be something a little nostalgic. Like just to take me back to the high school, college days, like, and I think that's why those cars are becoming so much more expensive now, because our childhood cars now are through the roof.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I had an Electron Blue Pearl SI 2000. Yeah, let's see how make them option once bringing like $55,000. It was crazy. I'm like, well, never getting one of those again. Uh last one, what do you want people to walk away from this conversation thinking about?
SPEAKER_00Man, um so 2015, 2014, 2015 were tough times for me personally. Um I lost both of my grandfathers during that time. And um and and again, super entrepreneurial family, like watching the two of them build not just businesses, but families alongside them. And I had two very different relationships with my grandfather, um, both of them. My dad's dad was hard, like he grew up during a very tough time, and my other grandfather did as well, but he had a different experience in life. And uh when my dad's dad passed away, it was it was hard on me. Like I I they asked me to speak at the funeral, and I was a mess, man. I like I couldn't keep it together. I kept like overplaying the moments that we did have, but then I also thought more, and I think that's what tore me up about like what I'm what am I gonna miss? Like, what am he's not gonna be able to see my kids grow up? He's not gonna see, you know, us build the next house or you know, whatever. And that was I mean, it was so hard. I get goosebumps just thinking about it now, because it was like the times and the experiences and the things that we that we're going to miss out on. But then on the polar opposite side, a year later, my my other grandfather passed, and they asked me to speak at that one, and I was like, seeing this play out, you know how this goes. Like, this is not gonna be pretty, and it's gonna be really uncomfortable for a lot of people in the room, you know? But uh I was calm, cool, and collected, and that grandfather uh was present, man. He did such a phenomenal job of not just raising my mom and and their siblings and stuff, but also spending time with us as grandchildren like super intentional, super intentional. And I mean, up until I was probably 28, 29, um, we would meet for lunch, we would go play golf together, like on a random Tuesday, you know? Um and so during those two or three years, I mean, again, that was like the lowest of the low personally, professionally. I was in flux at the same time, but that was so much easier for me to manage than the personal side. And so uh losing them and realizing the like wild position of how far apart those experiences were, and I don't fault one or the other for how you know each one were. I think it actually helped build the man that sits you know here before you today. Um but life is really, really short, like I think a lot shorter than we think. And that that's what made me draw the line in the sand that one day when I talked to my wife. It was I saw my grandfathers do this. I know I will work until I cannot work anymore to work for myself. I feel like I'm building other people's businesses, I feel like I'm having success, but not enough success, you know. And the goalpost is always moving, but I realized, man, I missed out on some time with both grandfathers that I would love to have back. And honestly, that's what we really like made me pivot to a lot of social media and creating videos and doing podcasts. Is I want my kids, I want my grandkids, I want my great-grandkids to be able to go back and listen to their great-grandfather, their grandfather talk about his business, his cars, his friends. Like to me, that's like legacy is all of it. Yeah, it's all that really matters, and that's all we can leave behind. Um, because this stuff is all material. I tell my wife every day, I like, I saw that car. If we get into a hard spot, that car has gone so fast, it'll make your head spin around, you know. Um but uh but yeah, I just I really think about a legacy, leaving a legacy behind that um not only to give them something to to think about and to I would kill to have my grandfather's voice on video or in a podcast and to learn about what he was going through in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s in his business. That's good. That would just be amazing, man. So uh I think a lot about legacy, but I think I mean, I love your shoes. Oh, yeah, the Gary V's. I I mean I I'm such a huge Gary V fan. And during that time, man, he like he I don't know how I even found him, I'm sure it was like through Instagram or something, but I found him, and one of the first videos I ever saw was him telling that girl, you're gonna die. Yeah. And I was like, he's right. Like it's morbid in the moment, you're like, oh god, man, come on, Gary. So right, but it's true, it is a fact, right? Um, and so we only have so much time here, and so if you're not doing something you enjoy, go do something you enjoy. You the money is temporary, honestly. It comes and it goes. Um, but man, what people say about you when you're gone is real, it is so real. It is, yeah. For real.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Well, Matt, it's been a pleasure, man. Thank you. I know thank you guys for having. I really appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. Cool. Thank you. We'll catch you guys on the next one.