The Realtor Who Turned One Phone Call Into $6 Million | James Hackman

What does it take to thrive in South Florida real estate?

In this episode of The Gold Coast Podcast, host Eric Winegard sits down with James Hackman, Realtor and Advocate for Homeownership with LaMacchia Realty.

James reveals how one cold call led to a $3.5 million listing and nearly $100,000 in commission, proving that old-school prospecting and relationship-building still drive massive results in today's market.

The conversation covers:

* How cold calling continues to create high-value opportunities
* The mindset required to succeed in real estate and sales
* Why Boca Raton and Delray Beach remain some of the hottest markets in the country
* Florida's property tax proposals and their potential impact
* The migration of businesses and families to South Florida
* Politics, homeownership, and the future of the Sunshine State

Whether you're a Realtor, entrepreneur, investor, or considering a move to Florida, this episode offers valuable insights into sales, leadership, and the evolving South Florida real estate market.

Connect with James Hackman:
Instagram: @JamesHackmanRealtor

🎙️ Subscribe to The Gold Coast Podcast for conversations with top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and innovators shaping South Florida and beyond!

Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Weigard. Today, you know, we got an interesting guy here, James Hackman. He's a local realtor here down in South Florida. Sounds like he covers everywhere, up in uh as far as Port St. Lucie, all the way down to Fort Lauderdale, maybe even further. Um, a guy who's very uh politically aware and politically keen in this community, but more importantly, he's a great guy, uh great realtor, and I'm very excited to help help help help you guys understand his journey and and how potentially he can help you as a local realtor. Thanks for uh hopping on the pod, man. Yeah, thank you, Eric. It's been great. My one but I have a buddy, I think he's about 6'7 in Texas. He shrunk a little though, because I you know he's mid-40s now. He he actually did have a spine issue, so I think he did shrink a couple inches. But his son is 13, and he I think he's he's probably maybe no, actually, dude. He might, yeah, he's like 6'2, 6'3, way taller than everybody. Dude, he had a game, he was sending me highlights of his football game, he plays receiver. It was something like amongst boys. Yeah, it was something, something ridiculous, like seven touchdowns, 400 yards receiving. Wow. Literally, their you know, play is just you know, throw it up to Smitty. His last name is Smith.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, so we'll see. We'll see if he I can't.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

And Texas is competitive, right? I mean, there's it's that's no joke, ball out there. Yeah, no doubt. So so where are you originally from? Boca. Okay, cool. Yeah, my family moved to Boca in the 90s. Um, grew up in like Coral Springs, moved to Boca, went to Boca High, went to uh St. Ambrose down the road, cool, and um went to Tallahassee, went to Florida State uh 05, where I met Alex and Austin, the other brother. Um Okay. So I've known Alex in Austin, you know, for two decades or so.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Did Alex go to Florida State?

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Wow, I I I guess I should know more about my guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

He uh he he was like my experience with him, like they hand built their like the beer pong table, which was like popular in college. He's very hands-on. I know you I'm sure you get that by now, but yeah, for sure. I always kind of laugh when he pulls up in his truck and it's like, you know, you expect some big dude to get out of the truck, and he like hops down. Yeah, you know, he's they're great people, great family. Yeah, know both their wives. They're they're good, they're amazing individuals.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

He's you know, I can always tell um like I do uh I don't want to say I'm an MMA specialist, but you know, I do a little bit of training with uh my buddy who's uh he was in the UFC. He was actually the ninth ranked middleweight at one point. So he you know, and and he's a bigger guy, maybe not as muscular as me, but he's not far off, you know. Uh definitely leaner. So anyway, so he's a capable dude, and obviously being in the UFC. So, like, you know, uh like he never really goes at me that hard, but sometimes he'll remind me, you know. Um but but then we'll bring in other guys sometimes, and I can always kind of observe someone's toughness or not. Alex is tough as nails, dude. Oh, yeah, tough as nails for sure. 140 pounds, but he punches like he's a 200 pounder, definitely, not scared to get hit. No, yeah, I can always learn a lot about a man uh doing a little MMA for sure for sure. So he's he's a great dude.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I really reliable, you know, all the good things you see in in humans, and you know, we kind of fell off after Tallahassee, but um you know, he hit me up, cold calling, like I was cold calling my buyers and sellers, and yeah, you know, he's like, dude, like let's grab coffee. And he kind of gave me the the pitch, and I'm like, whatever I can do to help you, I'm in. Yeah, and it's just convenient that most of our circles are you know kind of cohesive with chambers and B2B and you know, just whatever I can do to help you guys, I'm in.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

No, I appreciate it. I I you know we just want to interview good people, you know. That that's really our goal. And and and we called it the Gold Coast Podcast because uh, you know, the thought was West Palm down to Miami. I mean, don't get me wrong, you know, I've had other people from New York and stuff that come on, but usually there's some type of business being done down here. Sure. Um, so I love that you brought up cold calling. Yep. I love that you brought this up, right? I think how old are you? 39. 39, okay. I believe I'm 45. Just trying to get perspective on your age, right? Yeah, I think it's going to be even more important in the future. Here's why. Because like like we run a lot of ads, right? So Facebook ads, meta ads, Google ads, and you know, obviously there's this kind of migration. You can see it where a lot of people are searching on chat now or the other AI platforms, etc.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Claude, I think it was.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Oh, yeah. Oh, there's an abundance of them. There's hundreds of them, and they're all kind of competing right now. You know, Claude is way better than chat right now, but then you know, is something gonna be better than Claude? So we'll see how all this shakes out in the next couple years. But anyway, my my point is that for the average business trying to stay in business, unless you hire a company like ours, right, that's really on top of it, you know, it is they are gonna they are gonna challenge, be challenged on on marketing. They're gonna be challenged, they're gonna be stressed, right? So, so I believe that if people because I don't think that cold calling and cold outreach won't ever be important, I think it's gonna become even more important. And this is the analogy I like to give. Because if you're a single man and you see, you know, there's 10 women lined up at a bar, and let's rank them all one through ten. The ten is a ten, the one is a one, you don't really want to walk up to her, right? But maybe, you know, depending upon your age and where you're at, you know, you'll go seven and up, okay? Sure. Now, the one will definitely walk up to you and talk to you. She's probably doesn't have anybody going up to her. The four and the five probably will too. But once you get up to seven, once you get up to eight, they're not gonna walk up to you. You you you as a man need to show some confidence and walk up to them. That's how I look at cold calling. That ten, they're not reaching out to you. No, they're not responding to a Facebook ad. Yeah, they're not Googling you, they know what they got is a$15 million listing.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

They're not calling you.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

No.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Right? Yep. So what what are your thoughts on cold calling?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

You have to, it's a necessity. You have to do it. I think that's what separates the five to ten transactions to the 20 to 30 transactions a year, is because you can only work your sphere so much. People that know you, like you, trust you. And eventually you have to kind of make that leap. And there's, like you said, some confidence, mindset, all these things that go with just taking the chance on yourself. And most of my bigger deals have been through cold calling and just organic outreach. Um not sure if I I'll share this because there was no NDA or anything like that going on. Um, Coach Taggart, the former head coach of FAU football, um, was laid off. It was a tough, tough year for the Owls. Um, you know, they kind of um had some allocation, some athletics department. We had a new AD. There were some things that were kind of transitioning anyway. Uh, reached out to him organically, pulled his information up, cold called him and said, Hey, look, you know, I'm I'm the best realtor in the Oaks. Have never done a transaction there. I'm the best realtor in the Oaks. I know what your home is worth. Would love to work with you in the future. And it was a 10. It was a you know three and a half million dollar listing, and it was, you know, hey, I'm not really interested right now, seeing where it shakes out. The kids were in school. He is was the Ravens running back's head coach or the Ravens running backs coach with Derrick Henry. Now they just all jump ship because Harbaugh went to the Giants, so now he's the Giants running back coach. I make this context because had I not done that, that was a$97,000 paycheck for that one, you know, listing. And um actually working with the buyer currently to now sell it again, and he's gonna move somewhere else in the two to two and a half million. So this one cold call is now gonna generate probably six million in in lead. And again, so if you're listening and you're kind of in on the fence about doing this, um, you know, you gotta take the chance on yourself and do it. I love it. I love you already, dude.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Yeah. Seriously. No, you gotta like, you gotta, I don't know, man. I um, you know, I there's a lot of I used to work at this one company before I started my own firm, and just the way they set up the not say culture, but the way they set up their sales system was the salespeople waited on leads, right? So they had kind of like a system that was a unique system, and yes, it provided opportunity, but it provided, you know, not like moderate opportunity. Sure. And what I saw it do is it just kind of crippled the salespeople because you know, you could easily make 70, 80, if you're good 120,000 there, you know, and you can kind of make that kind of money just kind of waiting on it, you know, for for you to be fed, right? Mo parallel to our industry, right? Yeah, exactly. Because you you you sell a couple deals and take what you can get mentality. Yep. And uh and and I just watched it cripple salespeople, but then but the salespeople that you know would make several hundred thousand dollars a year were ones that had that kind of warrior mindset. So I like I I pride, I I think cold outreach, dude, it keeps you sharp. It keeps you like you're not gonna be as good of a salesperson if you don't do it. I don't care how good you are. You know, even myself, I own the company, but I still force myself to do, you know, really difficult things, you know. Um, so I I I love that you do it. What what's your what's your cold calling strategy?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So there's a few different ways. Uh, there's many things that we do in the industry. Circle prospecting would be, you know, picking one house that just sold and then calling all the neighbors to leverage that closing. Uh the other thing is life opportunity. If you're friends with somebody that maybe you haven't reached out to them in a long time, but you know, they don't know you, like you, or trust you. Uh, you know that they had a child, reaching out to them and say, hey, you know, we haven't spoken in a while, but uh, you know, I saw the new addition, congratulations. Like, no, you still in that townhouse in Fort Lauderdale? Like, how's that? How's that going? How's the nursery looking? And then all of a sudden you kind of find that motivation of like, so funny you're reaching out. Like, we're Lonzillo and we're looking at properties. You're like, oh, obviously I knew this. I I kind of I could gather that. Life event marketing, yeah exactly. And um, so my my company or I'm a realtor with LaMacchia Realty in Fort Lauderdale. Our broker, Anthony Lamachia, we have 800 agents in the Northeast. Boston, Mass, uh, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and he's saying the next and last two years have all been uh diapers, diamonds, death, and divorce are where these transactions are coming from. Because if you have a three to four percent rate, chances are you're not gonna upgrade for a six to seven percent rate. We're all many of the people are in this position. But if you have a diaper diamond divorce or death, chances are that might the motivation of changing is better than staying the same.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Yeah, it's really smart.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

So identifying these things, right? And of course, it's an emotional business, it's a relationship business, and you can't just call somebody who's going through a tough time to say, hey, you know, are you interested in selling? You have to build that connection. In all of sales, it's rapport and it's relationship driven, and then finding the motivation on what I can do to help. Yeah, no, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Um, yeah, it's like I don't want to I don't want to say you've niched down because your niche is, you know, your niche is everybody, right? But but you've you've of I don't even know how to describe it, um, but but you've you've definitely narrowed down, you know, these these four D's, like life. I used to call it life event marketing, you know, trying to get in front of people, you know, during these uh times where they're making big financial decisions. Definitely. Um is relocation one of them? Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, job relocation. Yeah, um I'm trying to think of a D for it. No, no, exactly. Uh but um you start getting into these things of um obviously that's a little bit harder to to realize and and get into. Um, but you have relocate you have relocation companies as well, which usually they um work off referrals. So there's an entire strategy with just referrals. You can be a complete referral agent and just have relationship with agents outside of our market to get that referral business so that to hey, I'm in Boston, I'm getting a job down in Boca because Brick is an amazing place to work. Um, who do we have in Boca? And we have this market where you can reach out and say, hey, you know, James is the guy in Boca. Uh, but there's a referral free attached to this buyer or seller who's moving to relocating. Yeah, so there's many lead gen uh opportunities in real estate. Um, obviously cold calling and and um circle prospecting is probably one of the highest expired. Somebody who had the listing couldn't get it done, whether it's poor marketing or um you let the seller kind of dictate what you were trying to do with the property. More times than not, if a property's not selling, it's overpriced, um, regardless of the market. Whether we're in war or recession or any other variables, um, typically in our market, if it's not selling, it's based on price. Yeah, because you could list a home for$200,000 less than what it is market-wise and get a line out the door, chances are you'll come back up to what it should have sold anyway.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Which I've seen that too. That's another uh strategy is if you work with like an auction website and you list it for what the seller wants to net, chances are you're gonna get$100,000 to$200,000 more than what it's listed for.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Because the people and the market dictate what it's worth, not the seller or the listing agent.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Are there are there right now, obviously, it's been a challenging real estate period for the average realtor, I'm assuming. Are there more realtors coming into the industry or are a lot of them kind of dropping out right now?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

I think we're seeing a mix. I think we are losing as many people are coming in.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Um, so I serve with the Broward Palm Beach St. Lucie Realtors. This is my own opinion. I'm not speaking on behalf of that organization. Yeah, but uh only our CEO, Donna Deanna Hall, and our president Jonathan Dolphus can speak on behalf of the association. But um, you know, we serve um 43,000 members of Realtors in Broward, Palm Beach, and St. Lucy. Uh I believe the May closing transactions, there were 2,500 closed transactions in our market. So that means In May. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Or uh wait, in May? Or what the heck of month is it? You mean in March?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

March, sorry. March, March. Yes, sorry. When the time warped there, I got my ends. Yeah, yeah. No, sorry. In March.

unknown 15:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

So that means, you know, 40,000 realtors didn't close a deal. Yeah, one out of 20. Exactly. Closed the deal, it sounds like okay. And the, you know, stigma is um, you know, one percent of the business one percent of realtors do 99% of the business.

unknown 15:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Which probably that other 99% isn't cold calling, isn't working on their sales skills, isn't picking up the phone. I mean, that's just uh uh unspoken rule for our industry. Yeah. Take what you can get mentality versus going out there and and creating it.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Yeah. No, I I I love I I love goal, I love cold calling, I really do. I you know, I I kind of miss the days. Like, don't get me wrong, I you know, I love being a business owner and I love uh being an entrepreneur, but you know, I do kind of miss just having the responsibility of sales because I I actually got to a point where I really just enjoyed it. You know, like I like I would thrive just having my laptop, my cell phone, and kind of the cool thing is you know, you can kind of do it in your backyard, you can kind of do it in your car, vacation, do it, whatever. Yeah, yeah, and you just I I would just thrive in it, you know. And so so are you I know you said you're down in Fort Lauderdale. It sounds like you're active uh buying and selling all throughout South Florida. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Okay, yeah. So our office location is in Fort Lauderdale, uh Imperial Point shopping center. Yeah I live with my my wife and I moved to North Palm Beach over the summer, and we still own our property down in Plantation. So between Fort Lauderdale Plantation, my family's from Boca, my wife and I now live in North Palm Beach. I have listings and closed sales throughout Broward and Palm Beach County.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

What's the wealthiest zip code in South Florida?

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Um, I mean, South Florida. So you have Palm Beach Island, but that's kind of its own animal. Um I would say 33432, which would be the zip, this zip code, Royal Palm Golf is is probably the next price point. Is that right there? That's right. Wow. Um the average price per square feet, you start getting into like um, you know, averages believe broke a is in the eight to nine hundred thousand for median sales price. Yeah. Um and that's just you know, eventually the first-time home buyer is gonna be looking at a six to seven hundred thousand dollar price tag. And I understand that people are are forced and there's affordability crisis, but there's also an inventory crisis, which supply and demand logic. Once we have enough supply in order for the pricing and demand to subside, we'll see a price correction. But we're still very limited because people want to live here. Even on the rainiest day, it's people are still flocking here by the thousands. No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

No doubt.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yeah, I mean part of that is, and that's one of the value propositions I bring is being very involved with government affairs and the Realtor Political Action Committee is listening to our legislators and why it's so robust, is because we have one of the freest states in the in the country.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

You know, all the tax uh benefits do come from being here. Uh, Florida Realtors just um was part of this elimination of the business rent tax, which is gonna cause help. A lot of entrepreneurs and business owners help with that, yeah, especially the property owners. Um, of course, the governor has mentioned, and this year has been the property tax uh session. House leadership has some things that are progressing. The Senate is still in a stalemate, they don't really have anything progressing, but the governor's office has been adamant about eliminating property tax. At least for homestead, right? Exactly. That's what it is. So I believe there were 14 original proposals in the start of session. I believe now we're down to three. Um, I think the one that's catching the most buzz is non-school board. So everything else besides the school board will be eliminated. Obviously, ad valorum, you have things that are kind of in the weeds that you know, how are we gonna pay for roads and schools and fire and municipality services? You even look at our our backyard. Deerfield just eliminated the contract with the Broward Sheriff's Office. Now they're talking about how they're gonna fund their own fire and police. That is gonna be a cost to the homeowners. So, okay, fine, we want to eliminate property tax, but then you talk about half a mile down the road and you have people who can't come to agreement for just one city. Now you're talking about a whole state.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

So I think it's a great idea, but like most government and policy, there's unintended consequences. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, like, yeah, the whole, you know, I'm not a tax expert by any means, but obviously at some point we all agreed that taxes are good for you know the safety and the governance of society, right? Sure. The objective of tax, right? As a whole, as a whole. As a whole, yeah, yeah. It obviously got a little out of hand, right? Like with uh income taxes and you know how high some of these taxes are. Like um, you know, I mean, we get we get taxed on everything. It's it's absurd. You know, I wonder um what do you think would happen to property values if Florida eliminates property taxes?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

It's a great concept. Um, so you look at like a first-time home buyer's you know, um line items, right? Tax being one of them, insurance, principal, interest, if they have a down payment, you know, private private mortgage insurance, all these things that create your down payment and your and your monthly payment. If you were to eliminate five to seven thousand dollars, or in some cases twenty to thirty thousand dollars, um, it's a thousand bucks off your mortgage, right? Now you can possibly afford this house that you couldn't afford without the tax line item. So I think property values will go up, right? But um, you know, you look at like Palm Beach Island, you look at a municipality like that, imagine if they stopped funding. I mean, every home on the island is tens of millions, right? Even to where it's you know 40 to 60 million in you know, Hillsborough Mile and these you know little pockets on the east on the on the beach side. Um what happens if those if those tax dollars are eliminated overnight? Right. It could it could, you know, cr and that's where the buzz and and the um kind of the news headlines are going.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

We are kind of taxing the rich there, is what we're gonna do. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. And I think there should they are paying their fair share.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

I think there should be a cap. I think that was one of the more popular ones amongst the the Florida realtors and the realtor party champions, is you know, we we understand the logic, but um You know, you have a portability, which is when you take your homestead and if you're moving to another property, you take that tax savings. Maybe you increase portability. Maybe you increase the homestead exemption from$25,000 per part per partner to a hundred thousand dollars per partner. I'm not asking to eliminate my entire nine thousand dollar tax bill, but what if it was$4,500? Right? And I can still fund partial of fire and police and school board.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Well, I'm just thinking this through here, and I'm just listening to the We're not gonna solve this problem today, but we should.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I know.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

I gotta get to Santa's on here one day. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

You know, that'd be cool. Um so I think that well, I I'm just sitting here thinking like a capitalist, right? And you know, if I you know, if I own a corporation in Detroit, and that corporation has no need to be in Detroit, and it could operate completely fine in Boca Ratoma, Florida, if I saw that property taxes were eliminated in the state of Florida, it might really incentivize me as a business person to say, you know what, I'm gonna bring my economics down to Florida as well. So I could see it being an incentivizer for corporations too. Would you agree? Definitely. So maybe not year one. It maybe there's, you know, it's a little bit chaotic financially, and I'm sure they'd figure it out, patch it up, and they wouldn't just do it whimsically, right? Sure. But I could see it being a huge incentivizer for people to just wanted to continue to invest in Florida, wouldn't you agree? Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

And where that's what we're seeing is is the mass exodus with corporations. Before it was, you know, people just wanted to be in a in a home that they could feel safe and they didn't have to worry about the government shutdown. So Florida was one of the first states to be operational in the COVID era. And because we were deemed essential, and that was a Florida realtor's, you know, pack win. Uh Realtor Party is the initiative, the realtor pack is the financial arm. So the realtor party, we we take that as a win. We were the ones who talked to our legislators, say, hey, look, you have to make all 1099 employees deemed essential so we can get back to work. And that's what, in my opinion, created this robust because you were at your home in Georgia or New York or Massachusetts, and I don't want to pick on the Northeast or the West Coast. I mean, everybody does, right? Of course. Um, I believe New York and California, these you know, tend to be more liberal or blue states, were one of the last people to open up. Florida and you know, some of the red states were, yeah, they have a perfect model, let's replicate it. And so, boom, Florida realtors were deemed 1099 employees. We're essential, so now the the real estate market's back open. Going out to eat and all of these things that you can enjoy life down here were now back open. So I'm not trying to reminisce about the COVID era because it's an anomaly, but um, I think that's what created this, you know, mass exodus and influx into our our market. Are you a spiritual person? Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Are you a believing God?

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Definitely, raised Catholic, now lean more Christian, but yeah, you know, no, no, I do too.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

And I like so I've a proud Christian the past maybe year of my life. My wife and I have been calling ourselves a Christian. So this is why I moved to Florida because in February of 2020, right before all the COVID stuff came out, I flew down with my prior company, I stayed in Boca, and I went and had dinner in Delray Beach on a Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Tremonti's, and I'm like, wait a minute, people are living like this in February down here in South Florida, and I was kind of flabbergasted, just blown away by the community, the culture, the vibrancy. You know, I call it really mature fun down in Delray Beach. It's like mature fun. My wife calls it Del Vegas. Del Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Because there's something to do every night. It you know, there's there's all you know, restaurants are packed, whether it was 2020 or 2026. I mean, it's we don't really have a season, I don't feel like I think that that's over.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Well, and then and then COVID hit right after, and I my mind was made up. I was like, I'm moving to Delray. Love it. Moved came right down, you know, a few months right after. I'm done. I I quit. Yeah, I divorced, I got divorced, I uh quit my company, met a new girl, started my own company, changed my zip code, fell in love with a new woman who's my wife, and uh, you know, mother of my soon-to-be first child, Sophia, here in a couple months.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

But yeah, man, like, and there's um, I just know there's a lot of people like me that are on the fence. You know what I'm saying? Like, still sure. Like, oh, I'd love to do it. I'd love to do it, oh, I'd love to do it. You know, but they can't convince their wife or they can't convince their partner in business. But if but if those real estate taxes got eliminated, dude, I think you'd see another gold rush down here. Definitely. I really do. Yep. I I feel like the amount of just people, no, all right, I'm going. I'm going. You know, wait, no sit, no state income tax, no, this. Like, I believe that Florida has drawn a line in the sand with the rest of the country. They're like, no, this this is the freedom state. Yep. Right. And I think there's a lot of people that want to be a part of that still, right? Oh, yeah. Like, like I've never, I was never proud to say I'm from New York. It wasn't or upstate. You know, it wasn't a thing. Right, right. Like, like there wasn't pride in our community the way it is down here. Like down here, it's like, no, I'm no, I'm a Floridian. For sure. You know, so I think um, you know, that I I love this community, I love everything that's going on.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Um I think there's always been a uh like a snowbird stigma, right? Like the the people that are from the northeast are my my family's from originally from New York, Queens Flushing. Uh my grandparents moved down here in the 70s, and my mom's born or you know, actually, my mom was born in New York, but we're mostly raised down here in South Florida.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Um and so you look at like the Sopranos, right? Like Sopranos always have something like, oh, we're moving to Boca. And it's like, but that was early 2000s. That was you know in the 90s, where they were already referencing Boca. So Boca's been a powerhouse for many, many years. Del Rey as well. Um, I actually think the price per you know, median sales price is higher in Del Rey now. There's there's the allure of Del Rey. Um sale price, that's correct.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Oh wow, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

And um, some of that has to deal with um just the exclusivity, right? Being east and the proximity, like Atlantic Avenue is not Meisner Park, and Meisner Park is not Atlantic Avenue, right? They both have their appeals. Um I think people come here for the the freedom, for the convenience. Everything is with arm length. We have 10 publics on Federal Highway just between, you know, Deerfield and and Delray. Um, so there's not a there's a an abundance of everything for every age demographic down here.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

And um, of course, I'm I'm slightly biased and I'm I'm you know feeling some some you love it down here, which you know, obviously every every uh out of town Floridian is is welcome to come and and enjoy the elements because you know this is a rainy week, but it'll be you know 75 and breezy this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

And most of the other country are either snow or you know, drought, things of that nature. It's you know, we have our own climate, we have our own business practices. Florida's, you know, one of one.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

There was this movie, um, God, Kiana Reeves and and you're gonna have to help me think of the name, Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. Kiana, this is like an old like mid-90s, late 90s. It was called like the devil. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Do you know where he like Keanu Reeves was an attorney down in Florida? I what the heck was that movie called? I can't think of it, but I know what you're talking about. But basically, if you go back and watch that movie, okay, the perception of Florida was the Florida man. Yeah, I mean if people watch it, Keanu Reeves and that whole courtroom, they're like country bumpkins. Yep, right? It's like Florida people, right? Yeah, and and you know, he went up to New York to get like the big job. That perception is still link has lingered, but it's you down here in Southeast Florida, dude, it's nothing like that. Correct. You know, it's like some people call it the sixth borough, yep, right? There's so many New Yorkers down here, and and what I've witnessed over the past three years, dude, I think there's an arrogance in the Northeast, rightfully so. You know, New York, um, DC, um, you know, Philly, Boston, like the big major metros and their education. Yeah, they probably had more entrepreneurs, more business, more wealth. But I'm I'm seeing, tell me if you agree or disagree, I'm seeing a lot of these entrepreneurs, and I'm seeing a lot of money and entrepreneurs come down to South Florida.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Definitely, right? Yeah, Miami specifically. But yes, I mean, people and you know, Brick, the Book Rotone Innovation Campus, is where Dell founded the you know Mac computer, right? In that uh Steve Jobs era. So, like we were part of this, you know, um technology boom before it was Silicon Valley or or you know the northeast with the Wall Street, right? They're calling it now Wall Street South because they're gonna save so much money with taxes moving down here, let alone like it doesn't snow, right? Worst case scenario, you have to deal with a hurricane, you know, three months a year, and it may or may not hit us, god for you know, god willing. Um, so it's one of these things where I think Florida will always be, you know, at the top of the food chain and people want to replicate our models. Um and you know, we're seeing the numbers just continue to grow with people relocating from here. Um in fact, like my last few clients were you know, all relocations, uh really over a million bucks, you know, price point, and they're just why wouldn't we? You know, they're the you don't have to sell us on it. Here's the house. I want to sign today, you know, where I'm relocating my whole family. You don't need to sell Florida, you don't need to sell Florida real estate. It's it sells itself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

No, I I love it. I I own a little bit of real estate down here too. Um what is uh how long have you been a realtor?

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Five years post-COVID. Previously, before I got into real estate, uh my family and I own a political advertising company. So I am very um you know in depth with policy and candidates and and campaigns, uh, which is why I found that passion with the realtor's pack and government affairs. So a lot of people don't understand or know this is you know, we when we endorse a candidate, when the Broward Palm Beach St. Lucie Realtors endorse a candidate down here running for a municipality race, uh, we screen them and we ask them, you know, how they feel about private property rights, um, you know, what's their city budget, um, you know, have they been included in um, you know, these master plans for these different municipalities? We we vet these candidates before we endorse them. You'd be surprised that obviously the incumbent is a little bit more well-versed when it comes to this information. The people who are just filing, possibly just the file, or they are attending the city council meetings but aren't really involved with the community, you'd be surprised how much information they are just overlooking when it comes to you know what it takes to run. We saw with the Save Boca election, you know, you have a lot of people who won their race have no experience political-wise. And you had people who either jumped different seats or were the incumbents who lost the their seat because of what's going on in East Boca. And I think the residents of East Boca are just tired of the development. So we can talk and beat our chests all day about how great Boca is, but I think the residents here have kind of had enough with the the growth and the development. Um, and I'm I'm on the fence on both sides. I think you know things need to be developed and the infrastructure needs to keep up. But when you have a growing number of residents who are opposed to this certain initiative, I think it's important for the the current city council to understand and listen. So um, you know, it's it's uh it's gonna be an interesting uh development with this new city council. Andy Thompson won the mayor's race. Um the rest of the Save Boca dais is now gonna they're gonna have to learn in in on it versus uh behind the scenes on a committee or on a um you know advisory board that the city offers, right? They're gonna have to learn Robert's rules of order, they're gonna have to learn the city budget, they're gonna have to work with the city manager, the staff. All these things are not something that you can pick up a book and and learn how to do.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah, I'm not as in tune politically at the local level. You know, obviously I pay attention, state level, national level. So we have a new mayor here?

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Yes. Okay, long time Boca City Council member, Andy Thompson, great family man.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Saw his name everywhere now that I think about it. Yep, cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Um great, great guy, great dude, um, great family. He has five five kids. Yep, he's an attorney. Okay. Um, long time, you know, career politician, I'll I'll say loosely, but he's uh he's a great uh man, a great dude. He uh vacated his seat, then won his re-election. He vacated his seat to run for state representative, lost because this you know red wave was back, that was the 2022 election, I believe. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

So um and he's and he's uh a Democrat? Yes. Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

It's a nonpartisan city race, okay. But he ran as a Democrat when he ran for state rep. And I'm not, you know, again, I'm not trying to plug any any which way, or I'm just kind of giving you my my opinion. Um and so yeah, he's he's our new mayor, which is thankfully, because um, you know, he's gonna have to lead these new city council members with how things should and could be done from from just from a professional standpoint, right? I'm sure these individuals who won are all professional business people, but there's ways to handle yourself as a city council member, um, you know, getting involved with the different advisory boards, um, the city staff, all these things that, you know, isn't second nature. It has to be thoughtfully and um a little more hand holding, I think, will will need to be done for the city of Boca.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Yeah. So I'm you know, unfortunately, not to go off on a tangent here. Yep, yep. But you know, I I was um I was in the military from 99 to 03, so I was in the Navy. Thank you for your service. Uh it was an honored, uh pleasure to do it. So um, you know, what my first experience with conspiracy was when I came, so I was on the fleet that captured Saddam Hussein in his little hole. Right, kind of cool, right? In 2003. It wasn't me out there doing cool stuff. Steel Team Six, but I was on the ship. Yeah, you know, I was on the ship with with the teams, right? Yeah. And uh, which is kind of a cool badass story to say. And you know, I remember when I came back home to Virginia, I had to be uh I was in Virginia for about two or three weeks. Uh I forget what they're doing. They're basically like, uh, I forget what the term is, but before you actually get out of the military, you have to go through some testing and etc. Right. Um anyway, but I saw something in the news, I remember, and I was like, huh. I was like, wait a minute, that didn't that was that's interesting. It didn't kind of happen like that. And uh, but it was my first, you know, and this is 2003, we're not text messaging, there's no social media. So, but it but it but I saw a story that I was like, wow, I was like, that's pretty um um like it was clear misinformation. Yep, and I witnessed it, and that was the very first time that I thought maybe what I'm seeing on the news isn't accurate. Yep. So then I become obsessed with conspiracies. Okay, you know, aliens, yeah, yeah, you know, 9-11, Kennedy, like I start going down these rabbit holes. And I think in 2006 or 2007, YouTube really made it, it was kind of the wild, wild west. Sure. You know, because people could just kind of post content freely and it wasn't really uh controlled yet or observed. So information was kind of freeing flowly. Uh information was flowing freely. Yep. And uh and and I started to kind of say, oh my God, maybe maybe maybe the politicians aren't actually running the show. You know, maybe it's maybe there's something really going on a little deeper here. But anyway, fast forward to the to the age we live in today, um, you know, whether you're left or whether you're right, like like I believe in the conservative values, and um, but I don't unfortunately, I don't know if my vote actually matters. And that's a very disheartening place to be in because I I've come to the conclusion we don't have a say-so at all. Okay. You know, so not not to get not to get like politically jarring with you, yeah, but I think we're all kind of being played for a fiddle. Um have you am I out of my mind? Does my vote matter? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yes, it matters, and I'll you know, I'll stand on this hill forever. Uh the the mayor won by five votes, and there was a recount, and I think you're not completely wildly wrong, but but yes, your vote matters. I feel like my brother has similar views to you. He's like, eh, I'm I'm you know, uh, no party affiliation, just you know, kind of takes it for what it is mentality. Um, I think based on our values, I have the obligation to to vote, right? It's a privilege. I think we've kind of lost that over the years. I think society as a whole has gotten very just um insensitive with everything because everything is just so far in our face. You look at like the Charlie Kirk assassination, it happened, it was online, you know, within 30 minutes of when it happened. Never in our history of society has something so gruesome and so hatred-filled been at our fingertips in so short amount of time. So I think you're not wrong to feel that way, but I think it's if it's a part of a bigger picture on our society as a whole, um, and getting back to that like faith-filled, my steps are ordered by the Lord mentality. And so it's your calling, right? Whether it's you know casting your vote or believing one way or another. Um, I think there's documentation about aliens, but there's also documentation that like even the Artemis is a green screen, and we, you know, we just witnessed a f a fictitious um you know launch.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

So uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

I mean, I I guess you'd have to see it to believe it. And I'm not I don't work for the supervisor of elections office to see where these votes go, but I know the last few times it's been within one percent. That's enough for human error to to be in effect, right? Like we saw some things happen in the Wellington race where the person sent out a mailer or the supervisor election sent out a mailer saying if you vote for this person, it won't count, so don't vote for this person. But it was because they used a template from the year prior, and that person dropped out of the race. So not to cause a lot more misinformation, but this person, in many people's opinions, lost that momentum because the supervisor elections office, the people who run the election, made a mistake. And again, back to human error. I believe that person lost their race, but it's still a variable that we'll never know would have happened if it was just a clean race. Yeah, so I I think everyone should vote. I think you once you're 18. I was registered to vote. Like I think it was at Delray Affair, and the Supervisor Elections Office was had a tent, and I registered to vote, you know, in March or April when the Delray Affair came out. I was excited to vote. I think based on how divisive we've gotten as a country, it definitely doesn't make me feel good to like get yelled at when I'm voting one way or another, or you know, the comment warriors on Facebook or Instagram and all these other things. Like, I feel like I shouldn't be prejudiced one way or the other when it comes to red or blue. No doubt. Yeah. But you see people who, you know, if somebody will post a picture like, you know, MAGA or something to where it's you know party divisive, and it'll be both sides, you know, and you're like, you're my neighbor, dude. Like, why are you gonna take it there? Right? We're still God's children, we're still you're my neighbor, you know, we go to the same publics, whatever. The fact that I vote one way or another shouldn't, you know, change me as a character or my character, you know.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

I saw um because there's this going on too. Like I saw uh Eric Trump at a podcast. Yep. Like, do you follow Patrick Bat David? Yes. I follow PVD. Yep. So like I'm part of his um uh cigar lounge, and he has like a private like showing every now and then with his podcast, and I went and watched the one with Eric Trump. And Eric Trump, remember when they said uh oh, what did he say? Uh Trump 2028. Yep, right? And he said they did that intentionally and they were all dying laughing about it. Yep. Right? Like, you know, if he's gonna try to run for a third term. Yep. And that was just, you know, but but you know, people on the left were totally in a frenzy about it and taking it to another level. And then, you know, I don't know, man. I I feel like um I think the reason why I say that is this. I'm actually looking forward to when Trump's not in office. Right. Because I'm hoping I'm hoping there's some kind of like normalcy or kind of commonality again. Sure. You know, because whether whether you agree with him or you don't agree with him, he's definitely divisive. Like I can't even text message my friends about it. No, I can't even do it. No, I mean it. It's like it the the way they respond is I'm like, dude, I'm not emotional about this. Like you know, it's it's wild to me. Yeah. And and they're like, just don't go there, bro. Just I'm like, go where? Like, but whatever that is, whatever that friction is. I really hope it goes away. I don't like it either. Right. You know, I really hope it does. Whichever way you vote.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Right, exactly. I think um, and again, it's part of the nature of the beast, right? It's if FJB and you know, Tyrant and the No King's Day, and no matter what side you're on, is like you guys aren't any better, right? Regardless of who I'm talking about, whether it's the left or the right, none of this is productive. None of this makes us a better country. And, you know, I feel like he's like most presidents, they have pros and cons, right? Who knows how Kamala would have handled what's going on right now with straight up her moves and um just foreign affairs and all these things, right? We we probably would have taken a step back and not been a part of it. But and again, I'm not trying to get political either.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Um just uh observing, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:51

I I feel my personal opinion is it's democracy versus dictatorship, right? You're talking about Russia, China, Iran, probably some people that wouldn't want me to come over for dinner versus democracy, checks and balances, presidents of different countries, NATO, things that are like we are here for the people. I don't think these countries who we have opposition with are for their people. That's again, that's my opinion, right? If we if I take a step back and look at this from a logical standpoint, I think the the people of China are oppressed. I think the people of Cuba, my wife's Cuban, I think the people of Cuba are oppressed. Venezuela. We're not doing these things, we as United States, we're not doing these, not red, which you could take that into context. We, right, we are not doing these things to be bullies. I want people to walk around Venezuela free. I want people to walk around Israel, and regardless of how you feel of religiously, I mean, I I think Hezbollah as as a as a whole are not great people. If they were if they had a substation in the United States in Boca Raton, I don't think they'd be very friendly. Why would you want that? Why would you why would you be a part of that?

SPEAKER_02 46:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

I don't know. Again, that's just my bird's eye view of take.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

I'll tell you something I heard last night. And once again, I'm not, dude, just never in my life have I been this locked in professionally. Yeah. You know, I'm I'm kind of locked in from seven to nine every day. Love it. Literally, every day. You know, 14. Yeah. And but and and my wife knows I got a three to five year kind of run that I gotta go on here to get this thing to nine figures. That's the goal. All right, we're gonna do it, right? And so in a good way, I don't have time. I don't have time to watch a game. I don't have time to throw on Fox or CNN. I don't I don't have time. I just don't even have time. So I actually don't even know what's going on that much. So when I tell you what I'm getting ready to tell you, I'm just telling you what these guys told me last night. Sure. But they work with uh they're very high up in the value attainment community, and they were just saying, you know, so they're paying attention to polls that are probably pretty accurate. Yep, and they said they believe, I well, I probably shouldn't, I'll I'll probably edit it out, they believe a blue wave is coming midterms. Yes, and they say it's imminent. Yes. Unless the Iran war stops today, gas prices go down in three weeks, and something it has to be like immediate. Yep. But they feel a blue wave is coming.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Yep. I don't I don't disagree. And I read an article, I I don't remember where I got it from. It happened, it started with the mayor of Dade County's race. And that seat flipped from red to blue. Oh wow. Now I'm not trying to get the Republican.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

The Miami mayor?

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

And so what we're seeing now is a trend, right? I think there's two state rep districts that that flipped. But they were both special elections. So you have state rep for Del Rey and Lake Worth Boynton. Um and then you have the North District, 87, um, Emily Gregory. And so two Dems, two qualified candidates, uh both flipped their seats. And the previous race won by dominant uh percentage, like 15 to 20 points. And they won by under five points. So I'm seeing it already with these with these special elections. Now, I don't think it'll turn blue. A good race to watch is the Congressional District 22 down here, which is the Moskowitz seats, uh Moskowitz seat. You have George Meredith, longtime state rep, uh Fort Lauderdale guy running for the Republican seat. You have uh Scott Singer, former mayor of Boca, running for the Republican seat. I feel like I think Scott Singer was a former Democrat, but I could be wrong, uh, but I'm pretty sure he's been historically a Democrat. And then he's filing as a Republican to ride that red wave. So it kind of goes both ways. It's been more about wittability than it has been about your values and and how you register as a voter.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Which I think kind of takes the fun out of it. It takes the, you know, part part, but Ben, back to your like, does my vote really matter? Um, the Hillary Cassell seat, her seat is up as well. She's a state rep down in uh Hollywood. She is a longtime Democrat, flipped the Republican, won her seat. She has to rerun, and she has to run in a blue district uh as a Republican. So she is more like insurance reform. Uh Cassell on Cassell is their law practice. She's done great things uh in office. And so, to your point, to round all this, you know, hot take out is I think you're right. I think it's coming. I think they're they're spot on. I don't know if it's gonna be that drastic. Um another seat to watch is uh District 100, which is that um Deerfield to Fort Lauderdale state rep race. Chip Lamarca is the current state rep. He's termed out. You're gonna have to find somebody else to run that seat. Um and do you know every district, every person? So I I like the whole state of Florida, or is it just my just my community? Oh, I I they're my customers.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:16

So when I before I got into real estate, I I knew these people personally, went hung out with them, drank beers with, you know, I know them on a personal level, not just the contractor level. Um my family's deeply rooted in in local politics. Yeah, and you know, we're we're the number, you know, we're we're the guy. We're we're we call if you're running for office, you probably know Lisa Mark or, you know, the my family's business. Wow. One way, shape, or form. Um Mr. Bet David, I think they had a disagreement with Chip. There was something with a sign or a fence, something to where like that caused some divisive in that, you know, uh Lardo by the sea or you know, Fort Lardo, Oakland Park area.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

I don't love the politics side of things because then you start like, you know, I I am who I am, you know, regardless of special interest or Republican Party or Democratic Party, it's not gonna change me who I was. Like my mother raised me better than that. Um, but yeah, I I I love it and I'm very passionate about it. Um, and it's interesting to see because you have people like the city City of Boca race. Like, I feel like these people thought they were a shoe-in. And now they're all unemployed, or you know, they're they're they don't have a position when they were the most qualified to do so. They they've been to the municipality meetings, they've been to the advisory board meetings, they did all the right things and still lost. Could you take that as like a blue wave win? I don't know, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

Is your passion politics or real estate?

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Both. I love it. Yeah, I got my license in 2022 um to represent myself. My wife and I were looking. Um, we looked with another real estate agent, and it was like, you know, your typical experience, I feel like, and I wanted to provide a better experience. So I took that and I made it my own. And so now I get very involved with this process with selling and buying, um, helping my clients. Um, I just help those seller who I'm not being compensated for this. I help them like renovate their entire space. Most agents do that. Other brokers and coaches will like, if you're not getting paid, then don't put any time or effort into it. Yeah, I'm looking at it as an investment in the relationship because that will go longer and referrals and James is the guy, much like the political space. Like, we've done things that we didn't have to do and we weren't compensated for, like wave signs at polling locations, um, you know, work on weekends. Like it's gonna be triple the price from anybody else. You go to a minute man and you ask for a you know, step and repeat or retractable banner, they're gonna triple the price just so they don't have to do it within that time frame.

unknown 52:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Whereas you know, I'll step up and you know, I'll deliver it on a weekend. I'll, you know, with with with gratitude.

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Yeah. Well, you're you're obviously uh very well spoken. You're a handsome devil. Thank you. You got a great presence to you. I I can see why you're uh doing doing impassionate. Yeah. I can see why you're doing great, man. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

I love it. I you know, being a part of people's lives is is something that I've I take pride in. And um, you know, very grateful for again. I know Democratic candidates who are great friends of mine, Republican candidates who are great friends of mine. Um, you know, I don't think the party affiliation changes you one way or another. And I think the public should, you know, start realizing that as well.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

No, I agree. I agree. This was fun, man. Um, do me a favor, I want to uh help promote you a little bit. Yep. All right. Look into that camera. And uh if somebody's interested in learning more about you as a real estate professional, where how can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Instagram is where I spend most of my uh due diligence. Uh James Hackman Realtor is my handle. Um I'm based in North Palm Beach. And um yeah, I'm sure my contact information will be in the caption below. But um, if you need marketing services, you know, Eric's your guy as well. And you know, I again I believe in reciprocity, you know. I think um we're part of something bigger, and you know, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here and you know thank you for the good conversation.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

Yeah, no, we're happy to have you. And guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Weingard. Like and subscribe. We'll see you again.