March 26, 2025 • 31 mins
Damar VanPutten Shares Tips to Stand Out, Build Wealth & Find Off-Market Deals! + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up at Angela yee and it is a Wealth Wednesday,
So of course my girl Stacy Tisdayly is here every
Wealth Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Everybody. We love it.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
We are very excited today. You know, we love talking
about real estate. You know we love talking about our
real estate club. But we really have found an amazing
guest for you today, mister Damar van Putin, who is
the CEO founder of lux Listing.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Is it Putin like Vladimir Putin?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Damn Howton, I will never say that again. I will
never ever.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Say that again.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I apologize, Tomar, I could okakay because I'm not going
close to that again. I'm gonna brag about you, though.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Please.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I think you might be all You might have done
almost as much in sales is that other guy? You
have one hundred million dollars in sales in the last
year over over one hundred million, three time Plastam and
one time Gold honors from New Jersey Realtor Circle of
Excellent Sales Award, and your rank number five on Property
Sparks list of top one hundred property shark Property.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Sharks, that's my type.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh, list of the top one hundred realtors on social
media in America, and we should start right there because
social media was you That's how you did.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
This, right, Yeah, we are a highly based social media brokerage,
I think, you know, that's how That's how I found
majority of my success starting out in the business. When
I first started, it was the middle of the pandemic.
I'm talking like quarantine. So at that point in time,
if you remember, you couldn't even do this back in
(01:41):
the day life, right, this was frowned upon. So I
had to figure out how am I going to connect
with everyone? If you know, I can't even sit down
and have a conversation. And the best way I thought
was through social media. And you know, just through giving
my testimony of knowing what it's like to buy a
(02:02):
home and not even knowing that I was able to
buy a home, Yeah, really made people connect and take
a liking to me.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And you know, I actually bought a house during the pandemic.
You and I will say, you know, because I'm in
I bought my house in Brooklyn during the pandemic. And
there weren't a lot of brokers that were showing our
real estate agents that were really even showing properties, and
there were a lot of people that weren't trying to necessarily.
It was an interesting time because some people were trying
to like move further away because everybody was working virtually
(02:32):
and people were in a panic. And then there were
some people that were like, I'm just gonna stay put.
I don't want to make any moves or do anything.
But it did make people want more of a quality
of life. I think I feel like a lot of
people left New York and you're in New Jersey and.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
You left New York too, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It came to New Jersey because they wanted space, they
wanted a backyard, they wanted all of those things. So
it really was a prime time to be able to
do that and to be able to have a social
media account where people could see stuff people were doing.
Like I saw realtors like walking through the house with
a phone to kind of like show people, you know, around.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's two people were so focused on social for connection.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, so I think all online businesses were booming during
the pandemic. And then just talking about real estate also,
interest rates where our record lows during that time too.
So everyone, I mean, even I did, That's what I'm saying.
So what were you going to say for you, We're
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I was just saying today my friend from from high
school and I we both got our houses during the pandemic,
and we were both like that was a great move.
Because I also think in this current climate right now,
like you said, interest rates were so low, but they
were like ridiculously low that people aren't used to paying
this anomaly yeah percent right now, and then I think
(03:50):
people are really concerned now about the cost of even
building a house or renovating or getting certain appliances. We
don't know what's about to happen. What are you say
seeing when it comes to that.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I mean, I think I just tell people handle things
one step at a time, right, Just make sure you
secure the asset first, and everything else will fall into place.
Through negotiating certain types of deals. We could always work
out credits when buying a house, like whether it's through
a seller's concession or you know, down payment assistance program,
(04:23):
grant or what have you, to set you up with
some extra cash after closing to take care of some
things you might have to renovate when you move in,
or some of those appliances that might not come with
the sale, so you know, every situation is different, everyone's
finances is different, but you know, we try to just
do a really good job at setting our clients up
for success, not just at the sale, but after as well.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
When you started your company, millennials were the fast one
of the fastest growing group Black millennials, one of the
fastest growing group of new homeowners. And that's your market. Ye,
and they're still pushing.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
It, still pushing strong. You know, Black black homeownership in
general has been on the rise over the past couple
of years. Act that's the statistic. But as you said,
the black millennials I think are literally leading that charge.
Especially from my experience, that's our target demographic. So I
(05:20):
think it was a little bit of a mentality switch.
I remember when I was you know, I'm a black
millennial myself, right while when I was like a teenager
or a young adult, I would think of home ownership
and I would just associate that with someone who was
like super rich or well off, especially being from Brooklyn.
(05:41):
Almost everyone's renting. Yeah, and then also I've never seen
anyone before me, like in my family own a home,
so it kind of just didn't feel like it was
in my trajectory at that point in time, But once
the pandemic came along kind of switched everything for me.
I kept hearing on the news, oh, interest rates reclos,
(06:01):
interest rate reclos, And then you know, I also heard
at the same time simultaneously that house is in Jersey.
At that time, we're going for like three hundred thousand. So,
you know, me and my wife had a conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I was like, Yo, it's the time.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, three I heard we could buy a house with
three and a half percent down. I don't know how
true that is, but let's look into that three and
a half percent of three hundred thousand, it's like ten
ten thousand. Yeah, we got that together for sure, so
let's go ahead and see about that. And you know,
that's exactly what we did. Thank god it all worked out.
Once that happened, though, I almost felt like I didn't
(06:39):
even deserve to be in that position as a homo,
right because we did that when we were usually like
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Years old, I believe, and that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Thank you again. It just felt like wow, Like I
remember we were going on vacation.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
The month, being from Brooklyn and being too five and
married already is Oh.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
No, we just got we just got married. We just
got married, Like, yeah, we just got married, as I
think I was thirty a couple months ago.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Congradulation.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
This is my high school sweetheart over there. We've been
together since I was eighteen.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
A lot your high school sweet Okay, so you said,
you guys, go ahead finished.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I'm sorry, she took us way off track.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You were twenty five years old, and then you guys
moved to New Jersey and you felt like you.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Didn't even I didn't. I didn't belong in the position
that I was in. I just I was like all
my friends around me. I just I literally went from
chilling in hallways and just I was actually rapping at
the time, to like thinking I was going to be
a rapper, and just you know, the average Brooklyn lifestyle
of a young man is what I was living. And
(07:52):
so to just end up in a whole new trajectory
of life in a short amount of time like that
just again made me feel like I didn't belong there.
So I was saying this, I have a vivid memory
of it was like my birthday. Right after we bought
the house, and uh, the wife he booked a vacation
for us, and I almost didn't even want to go
because I'm.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Like, yo, we got a house on vacation.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I don't know, not even that. I felt like, I
don't know if we're gonna come back. This feel too good? True,
I don't know if I wanted to be a home
you know what I'm saying. So that's a little funny story.
But anyways, that that mentality switch right there, realizing like, no,
actually I do belong here because we put into work,
(08:34):
we did the research, and we made sure that we
took that chance and that risk to put ourselves in
a position and it was really not that hard. I
almost felt responsible to let the rest of my community
know you can.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Do it too.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
But I think that's so important because a lot of
times we see something and don't take action, Like it
looks good and you're like, oh, that would it be done,
but we don't think like, let's research it, let's figure
out how can we make this happen and actually do it.
Some people will. I think that's the difference between people
who are successful and people who aren't. Are people who
really take action education.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, and you've created an army of you, like black millennials.
You have your brokers look like them, you play music
that's for them, and really, how much do you think
that has played a role in the success of your business?
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Oh? Super, It's all about representation, right. To be able
to see someone who looks like you and talks like you,
walks like you, dresses like you. You know, I could be
a boy and achieving these heights that you know is
like a common dream of everyone. Everyone wants to own
(09:45):
their own home, everyone wants to make money, right, these
are just common denominators. To see your counterpart achieving these
things is like it makes you see how much more
realistic it is for you rather than just you know,
the what we normally see is the white man shooting tie, etc. Etc.
I like to break it down and get right on
(10:08):
my people's level, meet them right where they're at, and
that way, you know we're talking to eye.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I always say that's what inspired me to buy my
first house with my best friend but Hers, And I
was like watching her on her journey and I was like.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Okay, she's buying a house.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I should start thinking about doing something like that too,
because before that I wasn't even you know, I'm from
Brooklyn too, and we know how expensive Brooklyn is. I
wasn't even thinking that I'll be able to ever do that,
but when I saw her do it, I was like,
all right, I got to stop wasting time and you know,
wasting money on things, because there were times I feel like,
you know, we look back and retrospect, like, man, I
wish I would have done this back then, and we're
(10:44):
going to keep on saying that to ourselves if we
don't take action and actually do something. You know, and
for you, you're also the youngest broker owner in New Jersey. Right,
that's a big deal too, Like because yes, I have
my real estate license. I know a lot of real
estate agents, but you were are young as becoming a broker.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Also your license in New Jersey, no.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
New York, she will be you think, listen, I have
my counterparts in New Jersey, now who I can just exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
To her point, you have all that. You know, we
talk about millennials and sales, but you are also an
incredibly successful entrepreneur and you weren't before. How did you
learn all about entrepreneurship and running a multimillion dollar business?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So you know, I think from where we come from
it definitely puts us out of disadvantage in a lot
of ways, but it also definitely puts us out of
an advantage in a lot of ways. To what I
mean by that, yeah, exactly, is that we know how
to hustle just being from New York that I think
fast on your feet and know how to make things
(11:46):
happen if you want to survive in a city like this, right,
it's kudos to you is getting this far and stuff
like that as well, and you as well. But yeah,
from just from where we come from, and that also
my experiences with work. I was working in a marketing
agency right out of college and it was a very high,
(12:09):
high paced environment. I was working with big brands like
b BT, TikTok, Ball, Love Treat, But like all the
black accounts, they would throw me on just for like
from for a representation standpoint and things like that, they.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
See, we have a black guy here, come on accounts exactly.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Quite literally I was. I was literally a coordinator. They're
making like less than fifty k a year, but when
it came down to those black accounts, I was automatically
a director client facing. I'm literally coming up with all
of the marketing concepts, I'm leading the execution, I'm managing
(12:47):
the team, et cetera, et cetera, but still making that
that low pay. But anyways, that experience that I got
from that situation was invaluable because it really help me
transition into the business owner that I am today, where
you know, I'm able to juggle multiple clients at a
(13:07):
time without even thinking twice. I'm able to be a
great leader to my team because I know what a
leader looks like and I also know what it what
it's like to be working on the ground from a
coordinator level all the way up to now me being
the CEO of where I'm at, So that definitely played
a part in my entrepreneurship. And then I just have
a very obsessive personality, so like when I want something,
(13:32):
I attack it from every single angle, and that allows
me to uncover multiple layers of whatever beast it is
that I'm dealing with, and I always find new ways
to stop leaving money on the table and make more
and more and more situation possible for either me or
(13:52):
my teams.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I think that's good because also I feel like a
lot of times with real estate approaches can be very
old fashioned and for you having the experience as you had,
but also being a millennial but also understanding marketing and
social media, it gives you a bit of an edge
on how to approach things instead of doing things in
a really traditional way. Because now I see like everybody's
doing you know, the real estate tiktoks and the videos
(14:14):
and things like that. But for you having that experience
and being on it super early, I think was a benefit.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, now that part of you know, that part of
my bag didn't necessarily come from the marketing industry, funny enough,
because that was more like experiential marketing. That was me
throwing events for those companies. I think that part of
my my my bag came more so from me chasing
the rap career because I was always comfortable being in
(14:41):
front of the camera, right, I was always comfortable showcasing.
You know, I feel like this is drippy, let me
throw this on. I don't want it with a suit
in top, want to come out interesting. So once once
I did that. What I was telling Stacy the other
day was when I was working at the marketing industry,
even though they put me on those accounts, I couldn't
(15:02):
find comfortability and being.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Myself code switching.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Right, So that's why you say that. So Like I
would get up and present in front of them, and
I would know exactly what I'm talking about because I'm
the one who made the presentation. But I would find like,
when I'm standing up there and trying to talk, I'm
trying to talk like them, right, instead of talking like me,
And it messed me up every single time, and it
made me sound stupid. So you know, I made a
(15:27):
vow to myself, like I'm an entrepreneur. Now, this is
my business. I'm a running my way, and through doing that,
I was able to connect with so much more people
in a genuine way. There's not a gimmick.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
There's a great message and authenticity for entrepreneurs because they
feel like they have to be everything and do everything.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
How was it for you abandoning your rap career?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
You know, Funny enough, it wasn't hard at all because
when that first when that first real estate check came in,
I was like, I ain't never get paid off a
rap at least significantly, right, right, But you know, I
found success in real estate really fast, So I think,
you know, I got my license January twenty twenty one. Sorry,
(16:13):
I got my license November of twenty twenty. By January
twenty twenty one, I had my first self.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Oh that's great, so now you can freestyle.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I had to do that too.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
We ain't doing that today. I'm gonna have to get
a bag for that. All way up with Angela. But
my first year I also ended up selling twenty seven houses.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's huge, and that first she was during the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
During the pandemic, which.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Is wild, because the thing is, people really did want
to buy something during that time. It was just hard
because I remember one house I wanted to see, they
had like a showing for one day only, and you
had to come on that day, and I want to say,
like thirty people came and they got thirteen offers because
nobody was really wanting to show their house is you know,
(17:01):
during that time. So that was tough for people.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
And not only that, it was tough for me from
a realtor standpoint, because I would go like I had
I literally so the business was booming so much in
the first year, I was probably no exaggeration, juggling like
twenty to twenty five clients at a time. I didn't
have a team or anything like that at that specific
point in time, and I was going to like putting
(17:26):
in offers wasn't a problem, Like the clients was loving
the houses that I was showing them and things like that.
It was when we were putting in the offer, there
were fifty other offers on the table as well because
it was two percent interest rates.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So everyone was like, how do you stand out when
there's all these offers going into a seller and you
want to make sure that your client secure as a property.
What are some things that you do to make sure
that you can really appeal and be on the top
of that. Because they're not allowed to tell you what
the other offers are what you need to offer, so
you have to kind of you know, you want to
make sure that people are getting the property that they want,
(18:02):
but you also want to make sure they're not overpaying.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
For it, right, So it's a myth that they're not
allowed to tell you. And even if they aren't allowed
to tell you, so not everybody follows the rules. The
first thing I do before ever putting the offer and
routors if you listening to this, but this is some
free game right here, should be charged for this one?
But I call, I call, get on it. I make
(18:25):
sure I get on the phone with the listen agent
if I'm not the listen agent, and figure out as
much information as possible so that every offer can be
a targeted approach. I'm not into the guessing game. I
want to get you your seller what they want while
still you know, paying respects to my buyer's budget and
(18:45):
you know their flexibility on whatever it is that they're offering.
So you know, oftentimes even if they're like, oh, man, listen,
I can't tell you just putting your best offer, I
might say, well, hey, do you know what the property
might appraise at so that and like and then if
they throw a number out, then I'm like, a bet,
that's probably the number that they're looking for them or
something similar to that. So I'm just trying to you know, pop.
(19:08):
Some people will tell you flat out like.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Listen, man, hey just ask if you don't ask exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
But outside of that, other tactics are depending on what
the client's finances are. You know, you can do things
like that if the house may have some you know,
equity in it or not, if your if your client's
putting a very strong offer like price point, wise, you
can say, you know, well, we'll do an appraisal waiver,
(19:36):
which basically means, regardless of what the appraise who comes
in at, we'll still honor the price that we.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Take, so you can pay the difference and what the
bank won't cover.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Right if the client's comfortable with that. Obviously. Another thing
is if the house is in you know, crisp condition
and you at least from cosmetic standpoint, and you or
it's a new construction, you feel very comfortable saying something like, hey,
you know, we'll we the inspection contingency. We'll just do
an inspection for our own knowledge. Now again I don't
(20:06):
That's not something I do on every single deal. That's
more so a case by case situation, but where it's appropriate,
it definitely does help your clients offer stand out above
the rest because you just have to think from the
mind of a seller. If I'm selling my house, what
what's going to stand out to me and for me
is who's going to guarantee me the most money or
(20:29):
who's gonna come with the least hassle.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Okay, you are really good at knowing the moment you're in,
Like the COVID and so much of what you guys
were just talking about, that whole millennial momentum during COVID.
A lot of that was in response to George Floyd.
Really ironic, just today or just this week, they started
taking down the Black Lives Matter in Washington, d C.
(20:54):
They're racing that. It's a multi block long mirror that
was made during the George Floyd protests and they're taking
it down. And the Washington DC was threatened with not
getting federal money if they didn't. What is the current
climate for blacks when it comes to real estate and
(21:16):
home buying. That whole COVID George Floyd thing really pushed
us in one way and now everything's changed. What advice
would you have for our community building wealth in real
estate in this current climate?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I would say, if you are in a position where
you can grab something, regardless of what's going on in
the world and politics and things like that, that stuff
is that unfortunately out of our control. But what you
can control is how you're setting up the generations to
(21:51):
come after you with success based off of your actions.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
So people are worried about the economy, interest rates, everything, right.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
I mean, listen again, things that we cannot control, right,
so you're gonna worry yourself into a basic life. That's
not what you can't be scared to take risks. If
we were scared to take risks, we wouldn't even be
sitting with you guys talking here today. Just quite frankly,
so I would say, you know, as I don't want
(22:20):
to sound tone deaf to what's happening in the world,
because that's not what I'm trying to get across, but
basically saying, regardless of what's happening, the best thing that
you can do is, you know, making sure you get
a piece of America. Because the more pieces we have
of America, we're slowly not becoming a minority. We're slowly
gaining power as a generation, as a people, and now
(22:43):
we start having more say because we have wealth behind us,
we have businesses behind us, we have houses to pass
down to our kids. Our kids now have their being
born into money, being born into equity and things like that. Also, sorry,
shout out to my son and Mari. He told me
make sure a shouts came out when I get.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Definitely, and you're right about that. The last thing we
want us to feel stagnant. And I think that sometimes
when it comes to a lot of things like voting
and businesses and home ownership. The feeling that they want
us to have is that we can't do anything about it,
don't make a move, and you always have to figure out,
like what are some things that you can do to
make it happen. If it's coming together as a group,
(23:22):
like we have the Wealth Wednesday's real Estate Club, but
people are doing deals together.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
To be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, honestly, into the real estate club exactly what she's saying.
When this whole shifted administration happened, we just immediately will
let's just go inside and create our own economy doing
stuff with each other, because black dollars do matter, all.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Right, And I know you're able to get people market
deals that aren't even listed. Yeah, And I feel like
that's always valuable too, because then you don't have the
competition of a bunch of people bidding on something. You
get something that is off market.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
That is our biggest I think sales point, especially in
this new world of like buyer agency agreements and things
like that. Through just doing good business and the relationships
that I've made over the past couple of years, you know,
we have some of the biggest developers in Newark, you know, Tuck,
(24:16):
So they know, like if I listen to how I mean,
if I if I'm building a house, it's best that
I pass it over to lux Listings because they'll procure
me a buyer before I'm even done with this property.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Right, and now we can just secure that financing and
we know it's and it's a win win for everybody because.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
The buyer doesn't have to pay a dollar extra then
the asking price, the asking price is always super fear
and you know, these are also a lot of new
construction opportunities, so they come with a bunch of perks too,
like tax abatements from the city, limited liability on the
buyers because they come with ten year builders warranties, so
(24:52):
anything goes wrong with like the structure or the systems
of the house like central or whatever, that those will
be covered.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So the things like being able to customize things too.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
When it's a new construction, you can say, oh, I
want these floors, I want these, I want to upgrade this,
I want to do this. Like that's I think amazing,
because no house that you get is going to have
everything the way you like it. But if you can
get into a new construction. You're able to get the
details that would be important to you that then you
don't have to change it later.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
How can people find you?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Well, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at
Dumar dot Lux. You can find a business at Lux
Listenings and Jay. If you want to give us a
calls nine one four eight nine eight lucks.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Don't play get it give it out. Yeah, give me
all the information. And I want to ask you this
because you are a broker. So when did that switch happen?
Like you said, at first, you were juggling like twenty
five you know, listings at once, people with offers, but
then you went on to become a broke have your
own brokerage.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
When did that shift happen?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
So that we just opened up the brokerage in June
of last year in New Jersey. At least in order
to become a broker, you have to be a realtor
for at least three years. So that's really just what
I was waiting for. So my third you couldn't wait. Yeah,
I couldn't wait. But that's that's what happened. At the
(26:12):
end of my first year, I actually started a real
estate team since I couldn't become a broker. And again
just by giving my testimony. Not only you know, I
did really good as a realtor by giving my testimony
as a home buyer, but then I started doing really
good as a team lead by giving my testimony as
to how being a realtor changed my life financially and
(26:36):
also past financially, just being able to, you know, wake
up whenever you want, work whenever you want things like
even though realistically.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I was working, but it still for.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yourself, for yourself, yes, correct, So it's one hundred percent difference.
So in that again, people really took to that, and
I was able to, you know, bring on the team
of think about thirty somethings in a short amount of
time and you know, not everybody. I learned really fast.
So my first originally my first thing was how many
(27:12):
realtors can I get? I just want realtors, realters, realtors
because you know, we were popular and stuff like that,
and it was easy to get realtors. But I learned
quickly that it's not about quantity, it's more so about quality.
So you know, I had a team of thirty something
realters and only like four of them.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Was producing okay, and I was a streamline.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Killing them by a landslide. And I didn't really like
the thought of that because I'm like, I'm trying to
build a brand. I don't necessarily want me to be
the brand. I want it to be Lux Listeners, because
that don't mean anytime somebody comes to buy a house,
they're looking for me. I can't focus on higher level
aspects of their business if I'm still working on every
(27:56):
single sale in that capacity. So time it was time
for me to open up the brokerage. I had that
experience of what I didn't want to see as a broker,
and I kind of just, you know, rewired the whole thing.
I'll cut half of the team, you know. I had
to say, you know, let them go and I started fresh.
And you know, right now, the most important thing when
(28:21):
bringing on new people is the interview process. In the
screening process, super vital. You know, if they don't have
that same drive, if I can't sniff that out the
work ethic, being a self starter, self motivated, things like that,
then you know I don't This isn't the place you
know for them.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I said one of the howses you sold Kyle Rich
was there? Now? Did you say I want to get
back in the studio or.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
I mean, I definitely threw out the story a couple
of times that I used, But did you hear me?
I didn't want to I didn't want to do them
like that make them feel like I was trying to
hear what I'm saying. But they were really cool people,
And to be honest, they came to me saying that,
you know, they're making a bunch of money now and
have been for you know a little while now, and
(29:11):
they don't feel like they're doing anything significant with their
money invest and I love that.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
You can't just be sitting in the bank.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Yeah, you know, so, you know, just even them having
them that mentality and wanting to do better for themselves,
you know, I felt like shut I was the perfect
guy to help them because I actually I ended up
selling them a multifamily new construction like both market things
like that. And now you know, the in that in
(29:39):
that market where they bought those houses are actually going
up twenty two percent in value annually. Amazing, right, And
then being that as a multifam they can make some
money off some money to go against the mortgage, so
you're super thankful for that. We're locked in at this point,
you know, we chat every now and then. It's a
pretty cool thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And I saw one person you sold the house to.
They got you a trip to Johannesburg.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Crazy, that's a great gift to give.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You that one, Like, what the hell? Shoot, But that
just goes to show, like, again, we do really good business.
We put the clients first. It's not really like I
don't want to sound cliche, it's not really about the money.
The money will come for me. It's more so about
the relationships. And you want people to be handed through.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
You want them to be like this wasn't amazing. For
a lot of people, that would be like their biggest
purchase ever it is, and you want it to be
a great experience. All right, Well, we appreciate you so
much for coming through. It's getting we have like a
New Jersey because I feel like I see you moving
everybody from New York to New Jersey. You know, I'm
still though I see I see you know, but I
(30:50):
do see a lot of people like this when you
post like this couple's moving from New York City to
New Jersey and I got them, so you know that's good.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Though.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I did look in New Jersey before I butt in
and Brooklyn, so you know.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
A second investment property. You just holler at me. You
know your real chick, so we'll make it happen, all right.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Well, thank you. I appreciate you for coming through. Thank
you so much, all right, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Way
What's up at Angela yee and it is a Wealth Wednesday,
So of course my girl Stacy Tisdayly is here every
Wealth Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Everybody. We love it.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
We are very excited today. You know, we love talking
about real estate. You know we love talking about our
real estate club. But we really have found an amazing
guest for you today, mister Damar van Putin, who is
the CEO founder of lux Listing.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Is it Putin like Vladimir Putin?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Damn Howton, I will never say that again. I will
never ever.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Say that again.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I apologize, Tomar, I could okakay because I'm not going
close to that again. I'm gonna brag about you, though.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Please.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I think you might be all You might have done
almost as much in sales is that other guy? You
have one hundred million dollars in sales in the last
year over over one hundred million, three time Plastam and
one time Gold honors from New Jersey Realtor Circle of
Excellent Sales Award, and your rank number five on Property
Sparks list of top one hundred property shark Property.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Sharks, that's my type.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh, list of the top one hundred realtors on social
media in America, and we should start right there because
social media was you That's how you did.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
This, right, Yeah, we are a highly based social media brokerage,
I think, you know, that's how That's how I found
majority of my success starting out in the business. When
I first started, it was the middle of the pandemic.
I'm talking like quarantine. So at that point in time,
if you remember, you couldn't even do this back in
(01:41):
the day life, right, this was frowned upon. So I
had to figure out how am I going to connect
with everyone? If you know, I can't even sit down
and have a conversation. And the best way I thought
was through social media. And you know, just through giving
my testimony of knowing what it's like to buy a
(02:02):
home and not even knowing that I was able to
buy a home, Yeah, really made people connect and take
a liking to me.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And you know, I actually bought a house during the pandemic.
You and I will say, you know, because I'm in
I bought my house in Brooklyn during the pandemic. And
there weren't a lot of brokers that were showing our
real estate agents that were really even showing properties, and
there were a lot of people that weren't trying to necessarily.
It was an interesting time because some people were trying
to like move further away because everybody was working virtually
(02:32):
and people were in a panic. And then there were
some people that were like, I'm just gonna stay put.
I don't want to make any moves or do anything.
But it did make people want more of a quality
of life. I think I feel like a lot of
people left New York and you're in New Jersey and.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
You left New York too, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It came to New Jersey because they wanted space, they
wanted a backyard, they wanted all of those things. So
it really was a prime time to be able to
do that and to be able to have a social
media account where people could see stuff people were doing.
Like I saw realtors like walking through the house with
a phone to kind of like show people, you know, around.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's two people were so focused on social for connection.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, so I think all online businesses were booming during
the pandemic. And then just talking about real estate also,
interest rates where our record lows during that time too.
So everyone, I mean, even I did, That's what I'm saying.
So what were you going to say for you, We're
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I was just saying today my friend from from high
school and I we both got our houses during the pandemic,
and we were both like that was a great move.
Because I also think in this current climate right now,
like you said, interest rates were so low, but they
were like ridiculously low that people aren't used to paying
this anomaly yeah percent right now, and then I think
(03:50):
people are really concerned now about the cost of even
building a house or renovating or getting certain appliances. We
don't know what's about to happen. What are you say
seeing when it comes to that.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I mean, I think I just tell people handle things
one step at a time, right, Just make sure you
secure the asset first, and everything else will fall into place.
Through negotiating certain types of deals. We could always work
out credits when buying a house, like whether it's through
a seller's concession or you know, down payment assistance program,
(04:23):
grant or what have you, to set you up with
some extra cash after closing to take care of some
things you might have to renovate when you move in,
or some of those appliances that might not come with
the sale, so you know, every situation is different, everyone's
finances is different, but you know, we try to just
do a really good job at setting our clients up
for success, not just at the sale, but after as well.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
When you started your company, millennials were the fast one
of the fastest growing group Black millennials, one of the
fastest growing group of new homeowners. And that's your market. Ye,
and they're still pushing.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
It, still pushing strong. You know, Black black homeownership in
general has been on the rise over the past couple
of years. Act that's the statistic. But as you said,
the black millennials I think are literally leading that charge.
Especially from my experience, that's our target demographic. So I
(05:20):
think it was a little bit of a mentality switch.
I remember when I was you know, I'm a black
millennial myself, right while when I was like a teenager
or a young adult, I would think of home ownership
and I would just associate that with someone who was
like super rich or well off, especially being from Brooklyn.
(05:41):
Almost everyone's renting. Yeah, and then also I've never seen
anyone before me, like in my family own a home,
so it kind of just didn't feel like it was
in my trajectory at that point in time, But once
the pandemic came along kind of switched everything for me.
I kept hearing on the news, oh, interest rates reclos,
(06:01):
interest rate reclos, And then you know, I also heard
at the same time simultaneously that house is in Jersey.
At that time, we're going for like three hundred thousand. So,
you know, me and my wife had a conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I was like, Yo, it's the time.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, three I heard we could buy a house with
three and a half percent down. I don't know how
true that is, but let's look into that three and
a half percent of three hundred thousand, it's like ten
ten thousand. Yeah, we got that together for sure, so
let's go ahead and see about that. And you know,
that's exactly what we did. Thank god it all worked out.
Once that happened, though, I almost felt like I didn't
(06:39):
even deserve to be in that position as a homo,
right because we did that when we were usually like
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Years old, I believe, and that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Thank you again. It just felt like wow, Like I
remember we were going on vacation.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
The month, being from Brooklyn and being too five and
married already is Oh.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
No, we just got we just got married. We just
got married, Like, yeah, we just got married, as I
think I was thirty a couple months ago.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Congradulation.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
This is my high school sweetheart over there. We've been
together since I was eighteen.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
A lot your high school sweet Okay, so you said,
you guys, go ahead finished.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I'm sorry, she took us way off track.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You were twenty five years old, and then you guys
moved to New Jersey and you felt like you.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Didn't even I didn't. I didn't belong in the position
that I was in. I just I was like all
my friends around me. I just I literally went from
chilling in hallways and just I was actually rapping at
the time, to like thinking I was going to be
a rapper, and just you know, the average Brooklyn lifestyle
of a young man is what I was living. And
(07:52):
so to just end up in a whole new trajectory
of life in a short amount of time like that
just again made me feel like I didn't belong there.
So I was saying this, I have a vivid memory
of it was like my birthday. Right after we bought
the house, and uh, the wife he booked a vacation
for us, and I almost didn't even want to go
because I'm.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Like, yo, we got a house on vacation.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I don't know, not even that. I felt like, I
don't know if we're gonna come back. This feel too good? True,
I don't know if I wanted to be a home
you know what I'm saying. So that's a little funny story.
But anyways, that that mentality switch right there, realizing like, no,
actually I do belong here because we put into work,
(08:34):
we did the research, and we made sure that we
took that chance and that risk to put ourselves in
a position and it was really not that hard. I
almost felt responsible to let the rest of my community
know you can.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Do it too.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
But I think that's so important because a lot of
times we see something and don't take action, Like it
looks good and you're like, oh, that would it be done,
but we don't think like, let's research it, let's figure
out how can we make this happen and actually do it.
Some people will. I think that's the difference between people
who are successful and people who aren't. Are people who
really take action education.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, and you've created an army of you, like black millennials.
You have your brokers look like them, you play music
that's for them, and really, how much do you think
that has played a role in the success of your business?
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Oh? Super, It's all about representation, right. To be able
to see someone who looks like you and talks like you,
walks like you, dresses like you. You know, I could be
a boy and achieving these heights that you know is
like a common dream of everyone. Everyone wants to own
(09:45):
their own home, everyone wants to make money, right, these
are just common denominators. To see your counterpart achieving these
things is like it makes you see how much more
realistic it is for you rather than just you know,
the what we normally see is the white man shooting tie, etc. Etc.
I like to break it down and get right on
(10:08):
my people's level, meet them right where they're at, and
that way, you know we're talking to eye.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I always say that's what inspired me to buy my
first house with my best friend but Hers, And I
was like watching her on her journey and I was like.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Okay, she's buying a house.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I should start thinking about doing something like that too,
because before that I wasn't even you know, I'm from
Brooklyn too, and we know how expensive Brooklyn is. I
wasn't even thinking that I'll be able to ever do that,
but when I saw her do it, I was like,
all right, I got to stop wasting time and you know,
wasting money on things, because there were times I feel like,
you know, we look back and retrospect, like, man, I
wish I would have done this back then, and we're
(10:44):
going to keep on saying that to ourselves if we
don't take action and actually do something. You know, and
for you, you're also the youngest broker owner in New Jersey. Right,
that's a big deal too, Like because yes, I have
my real estate license. I know a lot of real
estate agents, but you were are young as becoming a broker.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Also your license in New Jersey, no.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
New York, she will be you think, listen, I have
my counterparts in New Jersey, now who I can just exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
To her point, you have all that. You know, we
talk about millennials and sales, but you are also an
incredibly successful entrepreneur and you weren't before. How did you
learn all about entrepreneurship and running a multimillion dollar business?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So you know, I think from where we come from
it definitely puts us out of disadvantage in a lot
of ways, but it also definitely puts us out of
an advantage in a lot of ways. To what I
mean by that, yeah, exactly, is that we know how
to hustle just being from New York that I think
fast on your feet and know how to make things
(11:46):
happen if you want to survive in a city like this, right,
it's kudos to you is getting this far and stuff
like that as well, and you as well. But yeah,
from just from where we come from, and that also
my experiences with work. I was working in a marketing
agency right out of college and it was a very high,
(12:09):
high paced environment. I was working with big brands like
b BT, TikTok, Ball, Love Treat, But like all the
black accounts, they would throw me on just for like
from for a representation standpoint and things like that, they.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
See, we have a black guy here, come on accounts exactly.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Quite literally I was. I was literally a coordinator. They're
making like less than fifty k a year, but when
it came down to those black accounts, I was automatically
a director client facing. I'm literally coming up with all
of the marketing concepts, I'm leading the execution, I'm managing
(12:47):
the team, et cetera, et cetera, but still making that
that low pay. But anyways, that experience that I got
from that situation was invaluable because it really help me
transition into the business owner that I am today, where
you know, I'm able to juggle multiple clients at a
(13:07):
time without even thinking twice. I'm able to be a
great leader to my team because I know what a
leader looks like and I also know what it what
it's like to be working on the ground from a
coordinator level all the way up to now me being
the CEO of where I'm at, So that definitely played
a part in my entrepreneurship. And then I just have
a very obsessive personality, so like when I want something,
(13:32):
I attack it from every single angle, and that allows
me to uncover multiple layers of whatever beast it is
that I'm dealing with, and I always find new ways
to stop leaving money on the table and make more
and more and more situation possible for either me or
(13:52):
my teams.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I think that's good because also I feel like a
lot of times with real estate approaches can be very
old fashioned and for you having the experience as you had,
but also being a millennial but also understanding marketing and
social media, it gives you a bit of an edge
on how to approach things instead of doing things in
a really traditional way. Because now I see like everybody's
doing you know, the real estate tiktoks and the videos
(14:14):
and things like that. But for you having that experience
and being on it super early, I think was a benefit.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, now that part of you know, that part of
my bag didn't necessarily come from the marketing industry, funny enough,
because that was more like experiential marketing. That was me
throwing events for those companies. I think that part of
my my my bag came more so from me chasing
the rap career because I was always comfortable being in
(14:41):
front of the camera, right, I was always comfortable showcasing.
You know, I feel like this is drippy, let me
throw this on. I don't want it with a suit
in top, want to come out interesting. So once once
I did that. What I was telling Stacy the other
day was when I was working at the marketing industry,
even though they put me on those accounts, I couldn't
(15:02):
find comfortability and being.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Myself code switching.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Right, So that's why you say that. So Like I
would get up and present in front of them, and
I would know exactly what I'm talking about because I'm
the one who made the presentation. But I would find like,
when I'm standing up there and trying to talk, I'm
trying to talk like them, right, instead of talking like me,
And it messed me up every single time, and it
made me sound stupid. So you know, I made a
(15:27):
vow to myself, like I'm an entrepreneur. Now, this is
my business. I'm a running my way, and through doing that,
I was able to connect with so much more people
in a genuine way. There's not a gimmick.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
There's a great message and authenticity for entrepreneurs because they
feel like they have to be everything and do everything.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
How was it for you abandoning your rap career?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
You know, Funny enough, it wasn't hard at all because
when that first when that first real estate check came in,
I was like, I ain't never get paid off a
rap at least significantly, right, right, But you know, I
found success in real estate really fast, So I think,
you know, I got my license January twenty twenty one. Sorry,
(16:13):
I got my license November of twenty twenty. By January
twenty twenty one, I had my first self.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Oh that's great, so now you can freestyle.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I had to do that too.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
We ain't doing that today. I'm gonna have to get
a bag for that. All way up with Angela. But
my first year I also ended up selling twenty seven houses.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's huge, and that first she was during the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
During the pandemic, which.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Is wild, because the thing is, people really did want
to buy something during that time. It was just hard
because I remember one house I wanted to see, they
had like a showing for one day only, and you
had to come on that day, and I want to say,
like thirty people came and they got thirteen offers because
nobody was really wanting to show their house is you know,
(17:01):
during that time. So that was tough for people.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
And not only that, it was tough for me from
a realtor standpoint, because I would go like I had
I literally so the business was booming so much in
the first year, I was probably no exaggeration, juggling like
twenty to twenty five clients at a time. I didn't
have a team or anything like that at that specific
point in time, and I was going to like putting
(17:26):
in offers wasn't a problem, Like the clients was loving
the houses that I was showing them and things like that.
It was when we were putting in the offer, there
were fifty other offers on the table as well because
it was two percent interest rates.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So everyone was like, how do you stand out when
there's all these offers going into a seller and you
want to make sure that your client secure as a property.
What are some things that you do to make sure
that you can really appeal and be on the top
of that. Because they're not allowed to tell you what
the other offers are what you need to offer, so
you have to kind of you know, you want to
make sure that people are getting the property that they want,
(18:02):
but you also want to make sure they're not overpaying.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
For it, right, So it's a myth that they're not
allowed to tell you. And even if they aren't allowed
to tell you, so not everybody follows the rules. The
first thing I do before ever putting the offer and
routors if you listening to this, but this is some
free game right here, should be charged for this one?
But I call, I call, get on it. I make
(18:25):
sure I get on the phone with the listen agent
if I'm not the listen agent, and figure out as
much information as possible so that every offer can be
a targeted approach. I'm not into the guessing game. I
want to get you your seller what they want while
still you know, paying respects to my buyer's budget and
(18:45):
you know their flexibility on whatever it is that they're offering.
So you know, oftentimes even if they're like, oh, man, listen,
I can't tell you just putting your best offer, I
might say, well, hey, do you know what the property
might appraise at so that and like and then if
they throw a number out, then I'm like, a bet,
that's probably the number that they're looking for them or
something similar to that. So I'm just trying to you know, pop.
(19:08):
Some people will tell you flat out like.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Listen, man, hey just ask if you don't ask exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
But outside of that, other tactics are depending on what
the client's finances are. You know, you can do things
like that if the house may have some you know,
equity in it or not, if your if your client's
putting a very strong offer like price point, wise, you
can say, you know, well, we'll do an appraisal waiver,
(19:36):
which basically means, regardless of what the appraise who comes
in at, we'll still honor the price that we.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Take, so you can pay the difference and what the
bank won't cover.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Right if the client's comfortable with that. Obviously. Another thing
is if the house is in you know, crisp condition
and you at least from cosmetic standpoint, and you or
it's a new construction, you feel very comfortable saying something like, hey,
you know, we'll we the inspection contingency. We'll just do
an inspection for our own knowledge. Now again I don't
(20:06):
That's not something I do on every single deal. That's
more so a case by case situation, but where it's appropriate,
it definitely does help your clients offer stand out above
the rest because you just have to think from the
mind of a seller. If I'm selling my house, what
what's going to stand out to me and for me
is who's going to guarantee me the most money or
(20:29):
who's gonna come with the least hassle.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Okay, you are really good at knowing the moment you're in,
Like the COVID and so much of what you guys
were just talking about, that whole millennial momentum during COVID.
A lot of that was in response to George Floyd.
Really ironic, just today or just this week, they started
taking down the Black Lives Matter in Washington, d C.
(20:54):
They're racing that. It's a multi block long mirror that
was made during the George Floyd protests and they're taking
it down. And the Washington DC was threatened with not
getting federal money if they didn't. What is the current
climate for blacks when it comes to real estate and
(21:16):
home buying. That whole COVID George Floyd thing really pushed
us in one way and now everything's changed. What advice
would you have for our community building wealth in real
estate in this current climate?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I would say, if you are in a position where
you can grab something, regardless of what's going on in
the world and politics and things like that, that stuff
is that unfortunately out of our control. But what you
can control is how you're setting up the generations to
(21:51):
come after you with success based off of your actions.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
So people are worried about the economy, interest rates, everything, right.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
I mean, listen again, things that we cannot control, right,
so you're gonna worry yourself into a basic life. That's
not what you can't be scared to take risks. If
we were scared to take risks, we wouldn't even be
sitting with you guys talking here today. Just quite frankly,
so I would say, you know, as I don't want
(22:20):
to sound tone deaf to what's happening in the world,
because that's not what I'm trying to get across, but
basically saying, regardless of what's happening, the best thing that
you can do is, you know, making sure you get
a piece of America. Because the more pieces we have
of America, we're slowly not becoming a minority. We're slowly
gaining power as a generation, as a people, and now
(22:43):
we start having more say because we have wealth behind us,
we have businesses behind us, we have houses to pass
down to our kids. Our kids now have their being
born into money, being born into equity and things like that. Also, sorry,
shout out to my son and Mari. He told me
make sure a shouts came out when I get.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Definitely, and you're right about that. The last thing we
want us to feel stagnant. And I think that sometimes
when it comes to a lot of things like voting
and businesses and home ownership. The feeling that they want
us to have is that we can't do anything about it,
don't make a move, and you always have to figure out,
like what are some things that you can do to
make it happen. If it's coming together as a group,
(23:22):
like we have the Wealth Wednesday's real Estate Club, but
people are doing deals together.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
To be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, honestly, into the real estate club exactly what she's saying.
When this whole shifted administration happened, we just immediately will
let's just go inside and create our own economy doing
stuff with each other, because black dollars do matter, all.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Right, And I know you're able to get people market
deals that aren't even listed. Yeah, And I feel like
that's always valuable too, because then you don't have the
competition of a bunch of people bidding on something. You
get something that is off market.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
That is our biggest I think sales point, especially in
this new world of like buyer agency agreements and things
like that. Through just doing good business and the relationships
that I've made over the past couple of years, you know,
we have some of the biggest developers in Newark, you know, Tuck,
(24:16):
So they know, like if I listen to how I mean,
if I if I'm building a house, it's best that
I pass it over to lux Listings because they'll procure
me a buyer before I'm even done with this property.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Right, and now we can just secure that financing and
we know it's and it's a win win for everybody because.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
The buyer doesn't have to pay a dollar extra then
the asking price, the asking price is always super fear
and you know, these are also a lot of new
construction opportunities, so they come with a bunch of perks too,
like tax abatements from the city, limited liability on the
buyers because they come with ten year builders warranties, so
(24:52):
anything goes wrong with like the structure or the systems
of the house like central or whatever, that those will
be covered.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So the things like being able to customize things too.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
When it's a new construction, you can say, oh, I
want these floors, I want these, I want to upgrade this,
I want to do this. Like that's I think amazing,
because no house that you get is going to have
everything the way you like it. But if you can
get into a new construction. You're able to get the
details that would be important to you that then you
don't have to change it later.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
How can people find you?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Well, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at
Dumar dot Lux. You can find a business at Lux
Listenings and Jay. If you want to give us a
calls nine one four eight nine eight lucks.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Don't play get it give it out. Yeah, give me
all the information. And I want to ask you this
because you are a broker. So when did that switch happen?
Like you said, at first, you were juggling like twenty
five you know, listings at once, people with offers, but
then you went on to become a broke have your
own brokerage.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
When did that shift happen?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
So that we just opened up the brokerage in June
of last year in New Jersey. At least in order
to become a broker, you have to be a realtor
for at least three years. So that's really just what
I was waiting for. So my third you couldn't wait. Yeah,
I couldn't wait. But that's that's what happened. At the
(26:12):
end of my first year, I actually started a real
estate team since I couldn't become a broker. And again
just by giving my testimony. Not only you know, I
did really good as a realtor by giving my testimony
as a home buyer, but then I started doing really
good as a team lead by giving my testimony as
to how being a realtor changed my life financially and
(26:36):
also past financially, just being able to, you know, wake
up whenever you want, work whenever you want things like
even though realistically.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I was working, but it still for.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yourself, for yourself, yes, correct, So it's one hundred percent difference.
So in that again, people really took to that, and
I was able to, you know, bring on the team
of think about thirty somethings in a short amount of
time and you know, not everybody. I learned really fast.
So my first originally my first thing was how many
(27:12):
realtors can I get? I just want realtors, realters, realtors
because you know, we were popular and stuff like that,
and it was easy to get realtors. But I learned
quickly that it's not about quantity, it's more so about quality.
So you know, I had a team of thirty something
realters and only like four of them.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Was producing okay, and I was a streamline.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Killing them by a landslide. And I didn't really like
the thought of that because I'm like, I'm trying to
build a brand. I don't necessarily want me to be
the brand. I want it to be Lux Listeners, because
that don't mean anytime somebody comes to buy a house,
they're looking for me. I can't focus on higher level
aspects of their business if I'm still working on every
(27:56):
single sale in that capacity. So time it was time
for me to open up the brokerage. I had that
experience of what I didn't want to see as a broker,
and I kind of just, you know, rewired the whole thing.
I'll cut half of the team, you know. I had
to say, you know, let them go and I started fresh.
And you know, right now, the most important thing when
(28:21):
bringing on new people is the interview process. In the
screening process, super vital. You know, if they don't have
that same drive, if I can't sniff that out the
work ethic, being a self starter, self motivated, things like that,
then you know I don't This isn't the place you
know for them.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I said one of the howses you sold Kyle Rich
was there? Now? Did you say I want to get
back in the studio or.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
I mean, I definitely threw out the story a couple
of times that I used, But did you hear me?
I didn't want to I didn't want to do them
like that make them feel like I was trying to
hear what I'm saying. But they were really cool people,
And to be honest, they came to me saying that,
you know, they're making a bunch of money now and
have been for you know a little while now, and
(29:11):
they don't feel like they're doing anything significant with their
money invest and I love that.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
You can't just be sitting in the bank.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Yeah, you know, so, you know, just even them having
them that mentality and wanting to do better for themselves,
you know, I felt like shut I was the perfect
guy to help them because I actually I ended up
selling them a multifamily new construction like both market things
like that. And now you know, the in that in
(29:39):
that market where they bought those houses are actually going
up twenty two percent in value annually. Amazing, right, And
then being that as a multifam they can make some
money off some money to go against the mortgage, so
you're super thankful for that. We're locked in at this point,
you know, we chat every now and then. It's a
pretty cool thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And I saw one person you sold the house to.
They got you a trip to Johannesburg.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Crazy, that's a great gift to give.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You that one, Like, what the hell? Shoot, But that
just goes to show, like, again, we do really good business.
We put the clients first. It's not really like I
don't want to sound cliche, it's not really about the money.
The money will come for me. It's more so about
the relationships. And you want people to be handed through.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
You want them to be like this wasn't amazing. For
a lot of people, that would be like their biggest
purchase ever it is, and you want it to be
a great experience. All right, Well, we appreciate you so
much for coming through. It's getting we have like a
New Jersey because I feel like I see you moving
everybody from New York to New Jersey. You know, I'm
still though I see I see you know, but I
(30:50):
do see a lot of people like this when you
post like this couple's moving from New York City to
New Jersey and I got them, so you know that's good.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Though.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I did look in New Jersey before I butt in
and Brooklyn, so you know.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
A second investment property. You just holler at me. You
know your real chick, so we'll make it happen, all right.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Well, thank you. I appreciate you for coming through. Thank
you so much, all right, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Way
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