September 16, 2025 • 21 mins
Georgy Marrero shares his fascinating journey from AI engineer at Meta and Amazon to successful commercial real estate investor and developer, revealing how he applies his deep tech background to revolutionize the CRE space.
• Made the leap to commercial real estate seeking autonomy, freedom, and purpose
• Started with a house for his grandmother that unexpectedly yielded a 20% return in seven months
• Evolved from residential to multifamily, light industrial, senior housing, and land development
• Learned underwriting through YouTube, podcasts, and forums before advancing through networking
• Integrates AI across his business, from construction monitoring to marketing and underwriting
• Emphasizes that AI supplements but doesn't replace human expertise and critical thinking
• Moved from Dominican Republic to California at 17 with just $1,000
• Balances emotional intelligence with logical analysis when making important decisions
• Draws courage from past successes when facing new challenges
• Defines living fully as creating impact beyond himself to benefit family and others
Connect with Georgie on LinkedIn and Instagram by searching for his name: Georgy Marrero.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Thank you for joining me on Heather Ewing, the CRE
Rundown.
We are coming to you with agreat guest.
It is none other than Georgie,and he is of Equus Georgie,
welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, Heather.
Very happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Definitely so.
We met through LinkedIn, like Ido many of my guests.
It's an emporium for greatprofessionals that are hard
hitting, that are overcomingchallenges and are really
hitting their stride.
Can you share with us a littlebit more about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely Well.
So I'm in the commercial realestate space, like a lot of the
listeners are, and a little bitdifferent is.
I come from a deep techbackground in AI.
So before being full time incommercial real estate,
investing and development, I wasdoing AI engineering at Meta,
(01:05):
facebook and Amazon and also hadmy own startup.
Today I focus a lot on thecommercial real estate, but also
bringing AI into the space,which is a very unique
intersection.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Oh, that would be heavenly.
I mean, you couldn't ask for abetter setup, right.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yep, yeah, it's the new and the old together.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Exactly what drew you into commercial real estate.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I think it was autonomy and freedom, and that
means very different things fordifferent people, and even my
own definition of them has beenevolving with time.
But I think with that evolutionmy purpose has gained more
(01:52):
clarity and you know I couldn'tbe happier with what commercial
real estate has allowed me to do.
But it was autonomy, freedomand purpose.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
That's terrific.
So, delving in a little bitfurther, how did you make the
transition?
A lot of times people willidentify here I am.
This is what I want, but thegap seems too far right, where
it's so big that I think it'salmost like the deer in the
headlights where they get frozen.
Can you break down or share acouple of the steps that really
(02:26):
helped you to make thetransition?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, heavy education.
Investment in education was, Ithink, the key, because
investing you can do it in somany different ways.
So investing you can do it inso many different ways.
But I figure that if you try todo it on your own, figure it
out all on your own, you can getinto a lot of different rabbit
(02:51):
holes.
So networking and findingpeople that were already on the
path and were successful andwere auto-corporate, that was
one of the things that I did.
But honestly, heather, I didn'tstart that way.
I started just jumping in anddoing some deals and I started
(03:11):
with residential real estatefirst.
The first active deal that Idid wasn't really an investment.
It was actually a house for mygrandmother at the time.
But the geek in me decided tounderwrite the deal just like if
it was an investment, and I'mvery glad that I did, because a
few things happened where mygrandmother didn't want the
house after I finished it and Ijust sell it and I made about a
(03:38):
20% return.
Seven months at the time theydidn't know what I was doing,
but it came out really well andthat turned on the light bulb
and I continued investing.
That got me into duplexes,condos, short-term rentals, and
then I made the leap into moremultifamily.
I mean bigger multifamily inthe dozens of unit 80 units, 70
(04:02):
units, 100 units and nowadays Ihave light industrial.
I do developments in the seniorhousing space, horizontal
development with land, and Idon't know what's going to be
like in five years, but I'mready for it.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right, there's always an opportunity for growth.
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So another question that if someone is new or
wanting to get into the arena,too right of breaking it down a
little bit further.
So you buy your grandmotherthis house, which is fantastic,
and the underwriting.
Where did you learn how tounderwrite?
Did you attend differentnetworking events?
Did you ask to mentor withsomeone?
Did you go to our friendYouTube, or was there another
(04:49):
source that you used back then?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay, so the first underwriting I did.
I still have the spreadsheetand I would be embarrassed to
show the underwriting that I didif I still have the spreadsheet
and I would be embarrassed toshow the underwriting that I had
at the time.
Yes, my underwriting skillshave evolved significantly after
that, but I was going onYouTube, listening to a lot of
(05:12):
podcasts just like this one andreading forums and I just put a
few pieces together.
It made sense.
I did not characterize all ofthe risks, but just enough for
that particular time.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And the evolution I mean several years later, once I
really understood how aperformance should look like,
how to correctly estimate goingin and exit, cap rates and
vacancies and what a costarreport is in all of these things
.
I learned that throughnetworking and groups and
(05:55):
mentorships, just by being inthe circles where there were
people already acquiring theseproperties.
So at the beginning it was allself-thought, by just listening
passively.
And then how I evolved myunderwriting skills was being
surrounded by people that knewwhat they were doing and having
a quick feedback loop of here'swhat I think it should look like
(06:15):
and then telling them, thentelling me you know, this number
should change Right.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, and I think that's the beauty too, is that,
as you put the time in and youkeep going up different rungs of
knowledge, of understanding howto underwrite, also reducing
liability risk, and I, of course, always like to plug that it's
really important to have greatbroker relationships, because so
much of that is the deals thatare not on the market that you
(06:47):
hear about and I'm a brokermyself, as you know and it's the
relationships that we cultivateover the years decade plus that
.
That's where, yes, it is onesimple call, but what people
often forget is it's all of theyears of providing value,
contributing, doing deals, greatreturns, that type of thing
(07:10):
that really do present thosetypes of opportunities.
So kudos to you, too, forcontinuing to put yourself in
the arena where you can.
Obviously you're working hardand you're doing the best of
your ability, and then they'reable to take you up to that next
rung and the next and the next,which is always very
exhilarating, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yep, I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Definitely so.
Circling back to the AI, so youhad that in the initial years.
How do you see it shifting andchanging and where do you
anticipate commercial realestate going in the next couple
of years?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh, that's a fascinating question.
Ai has been evolving, aseverybody knows, so rapidly, and
I think there are still manyyears of evolution.
And I think there are stillmany years of evolution.
I believe that we're not yetusing it to its full potential.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
The way that we use AI today for the commercial real
estate investing.
It touches everything fromacquisitions to the financing
all the way to the operations,and I can give some examples.
For instance, there areconstruction projects that we're
(08:27):
doing, and my expertise hasbeen computer vision cameras
that tell us what's going on,how much progress was made.
That helps us a lot with thesupervision of the projects.
That's just one small way thatwe use it, of course, in social
media and treating parts of yourbusiness like a marketing and
(08:51):
sales funnel.
There's a lot of ways that AIcan be deployed there, not just
in content creation, but also inthe follow-up.
As a broker, I'm pretty surefollow-up is one of the most
important things on how businessis made.
Same for investing anddevelopment as well.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Definitely.
If you think about it, thatconsistency and the
follow-through is what doescreate and maintain the trust
with your different clients andalso talking with new people.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Absolutely.
And lastly, on the acquisitions, ai has.
Probably a lot of peopleremember when you used to ask AI
what is two plus two and itsaid I think it's three.
But today is a little bitdifferent because now it has
different tools and sometimesI'm experimenting with AI and
(09:40):
I'm doing some calculations andit's saying just drop the rent
roll unit mix and the T12.
I'll actually help you do that.
I'm like whoa, slow down.
I didn't know.
You knew how to do this.
And when you actually sharethose information with the AI,
now it's writing its own code todo parts of the underwriting.
(10:01):
But I do want to caution thatyou still need to know the math
and the why and the inners,because AI can only help you so
much.
You always have to be a criticand challenge some of the
assumptions.
So AI does not replace thatknowledge, it just supplements
(10:25):
it very well so you can dothings faster.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Definitely, and I agree, you have to fact check
things.
And that's where sometimes Ilike to just pull up different
comps for the Madison markethere in Wisconsin, where I am,
and sometimes they're on andother times it's like that
couldn't be further off.
It's citing a triple netinstead of the base rent, but it
has it reversed or it's just avery different numbers.
(10:51):
So again it comes back to thoserelationships where when you
broker different transactions,you definitely know not only all
of the rents, the TIs, abatedrents, everything else that went
into the deal, which ispriceless, costar, the other
MLSs, they're nice but they'redefinitely not the full story.
(11:14):
So I agree completely,fact-checking is crucial.
Now we were talking earlier andyou were born in the Dominican
Republic, which I think isfantastic.
Share a little bit more aboutthat and how do you think that's
helped you to really get aheadin investing?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes, so I grew up in the Dominican Republic, in this
city called San Pedro de Macorís, which is a big baseball city.
If you look at the aerial view,there's a bunch of stadiums for
baseball, and we were speakinga bit about sport as well,
because I know you're a marathonrunner.
(11:54):
Yes, I used to play baseball.
I did 10 years.
Everybody from that town playsbaseball, but it was a very
humble family that I grew upwith, and I always told a story
about how I started in the worldof tech, and I was around seven
(12:18):
years old where my dad bought acomputer.
That was one of the major giftsthat he gave me.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And my mother put dial-up internet at the time, so
that was one upgrade that shedid.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yep Brings you back, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It does it does.
So I was just a very curiouskid with a computer on the
internet just exploring hiscuriosity.
So that the part of where I'mexploring the curiosity was is
very important, because eventoday, everything I do is driven
by my curiosity.
(12:57):
But when I fast forward, when Iwas 17, I had to decide what to
do and I had a few scholarshipsand ability to go to
universities in the DominicanRepublic and I decided to not do
that and move to California.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
That's a bold move.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yes, I had about $1,000 to my name.
I didn't have financial supportfrom my parents because they
couldn't, so I just moved tofigure it out.
In one year I was alreadyworking in a software company,
making almost six figures, and Iwas just 19.
(13:37):
So, every time I am doing a newbusiness or I am working on a
new real estate deal and itseems daunting and I feel the
fear in my body.
I try to remember all of the,all of the things, all of the
moments that I was brave and andI think, having that log of
(14:01):
moments that I didn't know whatwas going to happen but I still
jumped and I came on the otherside.
Even better, that helps me takethe leap at the next and the
next event.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Definitely.
It's like a muscle, just like aphysical muscle, that the more
you do something, the strongerit's going to get and the
greater ability you have totrust it.
I always say that there shouldbe an excitement for what you're
thinking of, but also temperedwith a little fear, and that's
when you know you're on theright path.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, fear.
Fear can mean different things.
Fear can mean really not dothat, or it could mean you
should really do this.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, and that's for me, that's how I differentiate
between the yes and the no.
How do you differentiate thefear of yes versus no.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
The way I do it.
I'm I'm a very logical person,but I also listen to my emotions
and that's the whole EQ uhsystem and all of that.
But I feel something and that'sreally the feeling, that's the
emotion.
But then I write it down and Iand I and I think about, about
(15:17):
it logical, if many days passand I'm still thinking about it,
or maybe sometimes months maybe.
I remember when I was still aw-2 worker, I I knew I felt like
I needed to jump intoentrepreneurship full time
because I was limited in mysuccess there, and then I waited
three months and I still feltthat so if I get that recurring
(15:41):
nudge of you should be doingthat thing, you should be doing
that thing, I I stop and I tryto listen to it and I try to
find a way.
So that that's one that's withtime but also getting the
feelings and the logical side ofthings on paper.
And if there's really nocatastrophic risk, I tend to
(16:05):
just go ahead and take the leapat that point.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, definitely, and that's a nice thing is everyone
, I think, can sense indifferent ways and you kind of
learn your own tricks of thetrade.
If you want to say, in makingthose decisions of it's trial
and error, right Of these arethe indications, this was the
decision, what was the result,and life is a series of those
(16:29):
and that's where you also hopethat people continually refine
that and get better.
But I really do like balancingthe emotional EQ along with the
facts and understanding theupside and the downside, because
you have to be able to accepteither if that's the choice
you're going to make.
So, jumping back a little bitin time again, when you moved to
(16:49):
California, did you startinvesting?
You were making the six figures.
Did you start investing then ordid making the six figures?
Did you start investing then ordid it come later?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It came later, but there was an event about six
months before moving toCalifornia and two books that I
read, and one of them was RobertKiyosaki's Rich Dad or Poor Dad
, and the other one was NapoleonHill's Think and and grow rich
yes napoleon hills really gaveme the courage.
(17:18):
it just showed me that ifthere's a will, there's a way.
Rich that poor.
That explained to me theimportance of of time, that it's
way more important than moneyand that money is just a, that
time is the most valuableresource, and it made me
understand how real estateallows you to really make your
(17:41):
wealth reclaim your time.
I'm just going to put it likethat succinctly.
But I didn't have money and Istill wanted to do the tech, so
I just put the book in my backpocket and I just went with
Napoleon Hill's book and I justdecided to make my own journey,
going to California and thensubsequently going into
(18:02):
University of California,berkeley, to study AI and all of
that.
It wasn't until I startedworking at Meta as a full-time
engineer that I startedinvesting in real estate.
That's when I pulled RobertKiyosaki's book out, I reread it
and then I started on thatjourney of investing.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Which is a great point, because so many times
people think that you know, weas professionals read something
and then it happens right away,and sometimes it does, but other
times, such as that is, theseed is planted, it's germinated
and over time then the bambooshoots up right, which is really
important.
(18:40):
And I also think something I'venoticed over the years is people
want to make a decision andthey want a guarantee that they
are going to get this result atthis time point and this and, as
you know, the only promise inlife is change and things of
that nature, and you can controlhow you react and what you
(19:02):
choose, but that's your owndomain.
But something I like to sharewith people is that I liken it
to a tree and you make a choice,and so you're going up the tree
and you might veer off a littlebit more to one side, and
you're continually going up.
It may not be the exactdestination that you thought,
(19:22):
but typically it's somethingeven better that maybe you
couldn't conceive, similar tomoving to California.
I'm sure you never conceivedyou would be where you're at
today.
Right, it wasn't the exactvision, but it's even better.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Absolutely, it's even better.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Definitely so.
My last hard hitting questionfor you, Georgie, is what does
living fully mean to you?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yes, what does living fully mean to me?
I'm a very family orientedperson and you know, nowadays a
lot of the things that I do goesbeyond what I can do for myself
, but what I can do for myparents, my siblings, my aunts,
(20:15):
uncle.
So I think living fully to memeans giving and just having an
impact that goes beyond my ownlife, my immediate life.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Which says it all right there.
Well, georgie, thank you somuch for joining me, and how can
people connect with you?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
LinkedIn is a great place, as well as Instagram.
Those are the two social mediathat I'm typically on the DMs
and the messages that I respondmyself.
So just my full name, georgieMarrero, and I'm sure it's going
to be linked on the notes aswell.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Perfect, it sure will be, georgie.
Thanks so much for joining metoday and I look forward to
connecting with you further onLinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Heather.
Thank you for joining me on Heather Ewing, the CRE
Rundown.
We are coming to you with agreat guest.
It is none other than Georgie,and he is of Equus Georgie,
welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, Heather.
Very happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Definitely so.
We met through LinkedIn, like Ido many of my guests.
It's an emporium for greatprofessionals that are hard
hitting, that are overcomingchallenges and are really
hitting their stride.
Can you share with us a littlebit more about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely Well.
So I'm in the commercial realestate space, like a lot of the
listeners are, and a little bitdifferent is.
I come from a deep techbackground in AI.
So before being full time incommercial real estate,
investing and development, I wasdoing AI engineering at Meta,
(01:05):
facebook and Amazon and also hadmy own startup.
Today I focus a lot on thecommercial real estate, but also
bringing AI into the space,which is a very unique
intersection.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Oh, that would be heavenly.
I mean, you couldn't ask for abetter setup, right.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yep, yeah, it's the new and the old together.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Exactly what drew you into commercial real estate.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I think it was autonomy and freedom, and that
means very different things fordifferent people, and even my
own definition of them has beenevolving with time.
But I think with that evolutionmy purpose has gained more
(01:52):
clarity and you know I couldn'tbe happier with what commercial
real estate has allowed me to do.
But it was autonomy, freedomand purpose.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
That's terrific.
So, delving in a little bitfurther, how did you make the
transition?
A lot of times people willidentify here I am.
This is what I want, but thegap seems too far right, where
it's so big that I think it'salmost like the deer in the
headlights where they get frozen.
Can you break down or share acouple of the steps that really
(02:26):
helped you to make thetransition?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, heavy education.
Investment in education was, Ithink, the key, because
investing you can do it in somany different ways.
So investing you can do it inso many different ways.
But I figure that if you try todo it on your own, figure it
out all on your own, you can getinto a lot of different rabbit
(02:51):
holes.
So networking and findingpeople that were already on the
path and were successful andwere auto-corporate, that was
one of the things that I did.
But honestly, heather, I didn'tstart that way.
I started just jumping in anddoing some deals and I started
(03:11):
with residential real estatefirst.
The first active deal that Idid wasn't really an investment.
It was actually a house for mygrandmother at the time.
But the geek in me decided tounderwrite the deal just like if
it was an investment, and I'mvery glad that I did, because a
few things happened where mygrandmother didn't want the
house after I finished it and Ijust sell it and I made about a
(03:38):
20% return.
Seven months at the time theydidn't know what I was doing,
but it came out really well andthat turned on the light bulb
and I continued investing.
That got me into duplexes,condos, short-term rentals, and
then I made the leap into moremultifamily.
I mean bigger multifamily inthe dozens of unit 80 units, 70
(04:02):
units, 100 units and nowadays Ihave light industrial.
I do developments in the seniorhousing space, horizontal
development with land, and Idon't know what's going to be
like in five years, but I'mready for it.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right, there's always an opportunity for growth.
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So another question that if someone is new or
wanting to get into the arena,too right of breaking it down a
little bit further.
So you buy your grandmotherthis house, which is fantastic,
and the underwriting.
Where did you learn how tounderwrite?
Did you attend differentnetworking events?
Did you ask to mentor withsomeone?
Did you go to our friendYouTube, or was there another
(04:49):
source that you used back then?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay, so the first underwriting I did.
I still have the spreadsheetand I would be embarrassed to
show the underwriting that I didif I still have the spreadsheet
and I would be embarrassed toshow the underwriting that I had
at the time.
Yes, my underwriting skillshave evolved significantly after
that, but I was going onYouTube, listening to a lot of
(05:12):
podcasts just like this one andreading forums and I just put a
few pieces together.
It made sense.
I did not characterize all ofthe risks, but just enough for
that particular time.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And the evolution I mean several years later, once I
really understood how aperformance should look like,
how to correctly estimate goingin and exit, cap rates and
vacancies and what a costarreport is in all of these things
.
I learned that throughnetworking and groups and
(05:55):
mentorships, just by being inthe circles where there were
people already acquiring theseproperties.
So at the beginning it was allself-thought, by just listening
passively.
And then how I evolved myunderwriting skills was being
surrounded by people that knewwhat they were doing and having
a quick feedback loop of here'swhat I think it should look like
(06:15):
and then telling them, thentelling me you know, this number
should change Right.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, and I think that's the beauty too, is that,
as you put the time in and youkeep going up different rungs of
knowledge, of understanding howto underwrite, also reducing
liability risk, and I, of course, always like to plug that it's
really important to have greatbroker relationships, because so
much of that is the deals thatare not on the market that you
(06:47):
hear about and I'm a brokermyself, as you know and it's the
relationships that we cultivateover the years decade plus that
.
That's where, yes, it is onesimple call, but what people
often forget is it's all of theyears of providing value,
contributing, doing deals, greatreturns, that type of thing
(07:10):
that really do present thosetypes of opportunities.
So kudos to you, too, forcontinuing to put yourself in
the arena where you can.
Obviously you're working hardand you're doing the best of
your ability, and then they'reable to take you up to that next
rung and the next and the next,which is always very
exhilarating, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yep, I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Definitely so.
Circling back to the AI, so youhad that in the initial years.
How do you see it shifting andchanging and where do you
anticipate commercial realestate going in the next couple
of years?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh, that's a fascinating question.
Ai has been evolving, aseverybody knows, so rapidly, and
I think there are still manyyears of evolution.
And I think there are stillmany years of evolution.
I believe that we're not yetusing it to its full potential.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
The way that we use AI today for the commercial real
estate investing.
It touches everything fromacquisitions to the financing
all the way to the operations,and I can give some examples.
For instance, there areconstruction projects that we're
(08:27):
doing, and my expertise hasbeen computer vision cameras
that tell us what's going on,how much progress was made.
That helps us a lot with thesupervision of the projects.
That's just one small way thatwe use it, of course, in social
media and treating parts of yourbusiness like a marketing and
(08:51):
sales funnel.
There's a lot of ways that AIcan be deployed there, not just
in content creation, but also inthe follow-up.
As a broker, I'm pretty surefollow-up is one of the most
important things on how businessis made.
Same for investing anddevelopment as well.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Definitely.
If you think about it, thatconsistency and the
follow-through is what doescreate and maintain the trust
with your different clients andalso talking with new people.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Absolutely.
And lastly, on the acquisitions, ai has.
Probably a lot of peopleremember when you used to ask AI
what is two plus two and itsaid I think it's three.
But today is a little bitdifferent because now it has
different tools and sometimesI'm experimenting with AI and
(09:40):
I'm doing some calculations andit's saying just drop the rent
roll unit mix and the T12.
I'll actually help you do that.
I'm like whoa, slow down.
I didn't know.
You knew how to do this.
And when you actually sharethose information with the AI,
now it's writing its own code todo parts of the underwriting.
(10:01):
But I do want to caution thatyou still need to know the math
and the why and the inners,because AI can only help you so
much.
You always have to be a criticand challenge some of the
assumptions.
So AI does not replace thatknowledge, it just supplements
(10:25):
it very well so you can dothings faster.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Definitely, and I agree, you have to fact check
things.
And that's where sometimes Ilike to just pull up different
comps for the Madison markethere in Wisconsin, where I am,
and sometimes they're on andother times it's like that
couldn't be further off.
It's citing a triple netinstead of the base rent, but it
has it reversed or it's just avery different numbers.
(10:51):
So again it comes back to thoserelationships where when you
broker different transactions,you definitely know not only all
of the rents, the TIs, abatedrents, everything else that went
into the deal, which ispriceless, costar, the other
MLSs, they're nice but they'redefinitely not the full story.
(11:14):
So I agree completely,fact-checking is crucial.
Now we were talking earlier andyou were born in the Dominican
Republic, which I think isfantastic.
Share a little bit more aboutthat and how do you think that's
helped you to really get aheadin investing?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes, so I grew up in the Dominican Republic, in this
city called San Pedro de Macorís, which is a big baseball city.
If you look at the aerial view,there's a bunch of stadiums for
baseball, and we were speakinga bit about sport as well,
because I know you're a marathonrunner.
(11:54):
Yes, I used to play baseball.
I did 10 years.
Everybody from that town playsbaseball, but it was a very
humble family that I grew upwith, and I always told a story
about how I started in the worldof tech, and I was around seven
(12:18):
years old where my dad bought acomputer.
That was one of the major giftsthat he gave me.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And my mother put dial-up internet at the time, so
that was one upgrade that shedid.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yep Brings you back, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It does it does.
So I was just a very curiouskid with a computer on the
internet just exploring hiscuriosity.
So that the part of where I'mexploring the curiosity was is
very important, because eventoday, everything I do is driven
by my curiosity.
(12:57):
But when I fast forward, when Iwas 17, I had to decide what to
do and I had a few scholarshipsand ability to go to
universities in the DominicanRepublic and I decided to not do
that and move to California.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
That's a bold move.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yes, I had about $1,000 to my name.
I didn't have financial supportfrom my parents because they
couldn't, so I just moved tofigure it out.
In one year I was alreadyworking in a software company,
making almost six figures, and Iwas just 19.
(13:37):
So, every time I am doing a newbusiness or I am working on a
new real estate deal and itseems daunting and I feel the
fear in my body.
I try to remember all of the,all of the things, all of the
moments that I was brave and andI think, having that log of
(14:01):
moments that I didn't know whatwas going to happen but I still
jumped and I came on the otherside.
Even better, that helps me takethe leap at the next and the
next event.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Definitely.
It's like a muscle, just like aphysical muscle, that the more
you do something, the strongerit's going to get and the
greater ability you have totrust it.
I always say that there shouldbe an excitement for what you're
thinking of, but also temperedwith a little fear, and that's
when you know you're on theright path.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, fear.
Fear can mean different things.
Fear can mean really not dothat, or it could mean you
should really do this.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, and that's for me, that's how I differentiate
between the yes and the no.
How do you differentiate thefear of yes versus no.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
The way I do it.
I'm I'm a very logical person,but I also listen to my emotions
and that's the whole EQ uhsystem and all of that.
But I feel something and that'sreally the feeling, that's the
emotion.
But then I write it down and Iand I and I think about, about
(15:17):
it logical, if many days passand I'm still thinking about it,
or maybe sometimes months maybe.
I remember when I was still aw-2 worker, I I knew I felt like
I needed to jump intoentrepreneurship full time
because I was limited in mysuccess there, and then I waited
three months and I still feltthat so if I get that recurring
(15:41):
nudge of you should be doingthat thing, you should be doing
that thing, I I stop and I tryto listen to it and I try to
find a way.
So that that's one that's withtime but also getting the
feelings and the logical side ofthings on paper.
And if there's really nocatastrophic risk, I tend to
(16:05):
just go ahead and take the leapat that point.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, definitely, and that's a nice thing is everyone
, I think, can sense indifferent ways and you kind of
learn your own tricks of thetrade.
If you want to say, in makingthose decisions of it's trial
and error, right Of these arethe indications, this was the
decision, what was the result,and life is a series of those
(16:29):
and that's where you also hopethat people continually refine
that and get better.
But I really do like balancingthe emotional EQ along with the
facts and understanding theupside and the downside, because
you have to be able to accepteither if that's the choice
you're going to make.
So, jumping back a little bitin time again, when you moved to
(16:49):
California, did you startinvesting?
You were making the six figures.
Did you start investing then ordid making the six figures?
Did you start investing then ordid it come later?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It came later, but there was an event about six
months before moving toCalifornia and two books that I
read, and one of them was RobertKiyosaki's Rich Dad or Poor Dad
, and the other one was NapoleonHill's Think and and grow rich
yes napoleon hills really gaveme the courage.
(17:18):
it just showed me that ifthere's a will, there's a way.
Rich that poor.
That explained to me theimportance of of time, that it's
way more important than moneyand that money is just a, that
time is the most valuableresource, and it made me
understand how real estateallows you to really make your
(17:41):
wealth reclaim your time.
I'm just going to put it likethat succinctly.
But I didn't have money and Istill wanted to do the tech, so
I just put the book in my backpocket and I just went with
Napoleon Hill's book and I justdecided to make my own journey,
going to California and thensubsequently going into
(18:02):
University of California,berkeley, to study AI and all of
that.
It wasn't until I startedworking at Meta as a full-time
engineer that I startedinvesting in real estate.
That's when I pulled RobertKiyosaki's book out, I reread it
and then I started on thatjourney of investing.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Which is a great point, because so many times
people think that you know, weas professionals read something
and then it happens right away,and sometimes it does, but other
times, such as that is, theseed is planted, it's germinated
and over time then the bambooshoots up right, which is really
important.
(18:40):
And I also think something I'venoticed over the years is people
want to make a decision andthey want a guarantee that they
are going to get this result atthis time point and this and, as
you know, the only promise inlife is change and things of
that nature, and you can controlhow you react and what you
(19:02):
choose, but that's your owndomain.
But something I like to sharewith people is that I liken it
to a tree and you make a choice,and so you're going up the tree
and you might veer off a littlebit more to one side, and
you're continually going up.
It may not be the exactdestination that you thought,
(19:22):
but typically it's somethingeven better that maybe you
couldn't conceive, similar tomoving to California.
I'm sure you never conceivedyou would be where you're at
today.
Right, it wasn't the exactvision, but it's even better.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Absolutely, it's even better.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Definitely so.
My last hard hitting questionfor you, Georgie, is what does
living fully mean to you?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yes, what does living fully mean to me?
I'm a very family orientedperson and you know, nowadays a
lot of the things that I do goesbeyond what I can do for myself
, but what I can do for myparents, my siblings, my aunts,
(20:15):
uncle.
So I think living fully to memeans giving and just having an
impact that goes beyond my ownlife, my immediate life.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Which says it all right there.
Well, georgie, thank you somuch for joining me, and how can
people connect with you?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
LinkedIn is a great place, as well as Instagram.
Those are the two social mediathat I'm typically on the DMs
and the messages that I respondmyself.
So just my full name, georgieMarrero, and I'm sure it's going
to be linked on the notes aswell.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Perfect, it sure will be, georgie.
Thanks so much for joining metoday and I look forward to
connecting with you further onLinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Heather.
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