February 17, 2025 • 26 mins
Unlock the secrets of real estate success with Briggs Elwell, a trailblazer whose journey from call center intern to co-founder of RltyCo offers invaluable lessons for newcomers and seasoned investors. Join us as Briggs reveals the transformative steps he took to address critical financial gaps faced by 1099 contractors in the real estate world. Discover how RltyCo has grown beyond advancing real estate commissions to provide indispensable tax and legal services, ensuring that contractors can maximize their tax benefits and safeguard their assets. Whether you're looking for inspiration or practical advice, Briggs' story is rich with insights that can redefine your approach to real estate investing.
Explore the dynamic landscape of the real estate market as we analyze how recent political shifts and crises have reshaped opportunities and challenges. From the ongoing U.S. housing shortage to the impact of COVID-19 on buying trends and mortgage rates, we dissect the factors influencing today's market. Uncover strategies are being implemented in New York and California to overcome their unique housing crises and consider the potential for federal incentives to stimulate growth. Briggs also shares personal stories highlighting the power of networking, emphasizing its role in building a successful career. If you’re eager to gain a deeper understanding of the current real estate climate, this episode is a must-listen.              Â
Briggs is an accomplished leader in the real estate industry with over 15 years of experience. As the CEO and Co-Founder of RLTYco, Briggs leverages his extensive background and expertise to guide the company’s vision and strategic direction.
After graduating from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in real estate, Briggs began his career at The Related Companies in New York City.
Initially, in sales and asset management, Briggs went on to oversee business development at both the corporate and brokerage levels for over 7,000 luxury units for Related.
Managing business development, Briggs put a strong emphasis on brokerage relationships and the client experience by implementing new benefit programs, training, and strategic corporate partnerships.
Following Related, Briggs went on to become a Managing Partner of OPTIMAR International, successfully establishing and growing the Northeast business for the South Florida-based commercial investment and residential brokerage.
With a proven track record in real estate, finance, and fostering strategic alliances, Briggs co-founded RLTYco in 2021.
As CEO, he continues to drive innovation and growth within the company, dedicated to serving real estate professionals, brokerage, and developers seeking end-to-end financial services, support, healthcare, and bottom-line growth. Â
Here are the links to find out more about RltyCo and what they provide :
 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250109666648/en/RLTYco-Raises-20M-Series-A-Giving-Agents-Nationwide-Same-Day-Commission-Advance-and-Full-Suite-of-Benefits.Â
https://rltyco.com/
Podcast Intro
Propstream
PropStream is real estate data and analytics platform where investors can get an abundance of info .
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everybody, welcome to the Professor's Real
Estate Investing Podcast.
I'm with my guest today, mrBriggs Illwill, if I pronounced
that right, you got it Good,thank you.
Thank you, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Great.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
No problem, I just wanted to get everybody here to
listen to Mr Briggs and see howhe came about getting into real
estate investing.
How did he start off first andthen now where he is now?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Sure.
So I started my career I wasactually in a call center many,
many years ago as a summerintern at the Related Companies,
a large developer in New Yorkthat has since expanded very
much so across the country butactually all across the globe.
And while I was there I workedmy way up the ladder, so to
(00:51):
speak, and my most seniorposition was overseeing business
development for the luxuryrental portfolio, which at the
time was about 7,000 unitsacross the country.
I think today it's actuallymaintained around similar size
because they've sold some of theunits or converted them to
condominiums.
But throughout my time there itwas very clear that all I
(01:13):
really wanted to doprofessionally was to work in
the real estate field and fastforward to today.
I went on to run a couple ofdifferent real estate brokerages
investment side, residential aswell.
I was also partnered andassisted in the expansion for a
developer from South Florida upto New York.
And then today I run RealtyCo,which I co-founded with my
(01:35):
business partner Dan Kennedy,and it basically offers a myriad
of financial tools and servicesin the real estate space.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh, that's great.
That's great.
Is it done here in the UnitedStates and overseas also, or is
it just here in the UnitedStates?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right now we're just in the US.
I can tell you at some point weare interested in expanding
some of our offerings across,you know, to other countries.
You know Europe is kind of apretty easy place for us to
transition to.
But we're in the early goings,only the fourth year of the
business, and I think that we'vegot plenty of wood to chop in
the United States before we goto other countries.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's great.
That's great.
I just want to see like so,basically, with your company,
how can people what's like thefoundation, what's the
foundation of it?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Sure.
So what?
Along the way with my career,what I started to witness were a
lot of inadequacies forcontractors in real estate, and
that's a general term thatincludes real estate agents,
brokerages and also a variety ofdevelopers.
You know, the bigger developerstypically are on a W-2, but
midsize are either K-1 or 10 and9 themselves as contractors,
(02:51):
and so in that space,specifically on the finance side
, it's a very underservicedmarket In the W-2 world.
You hear of platforms like ADP,for example, and they're
assisting everything fromhealthcare benefits, taxes,
getting your paycheck and whereit goes.
(03:13):
All of those things are aharmonious product that already
exists when you go to work as aW-2.
When you work as a 1099, acontractor in real estate which
really summarizes the majorityof employees in the development
and brokerage world it's on you,you're your own boss and
unfortunately there's nobodythere providing you a 401k,
(03:35):
there's nobody there to provideyou health care, and at the very
beginning there's also a lot ofcomplexities with getting paid.
And so what we did is our firstlaunchpad for the platform was
we launched Realty Capital,which is our finance arm, and
initially it was just advancingreal estate commissions.
So pretty simple product.
What we would do is, if you'rea real estate agent and you have
(03:56):
a big commission check that'sclosing in 90 days or 120, what
we would do is we would buy itfrom you today at a slight
discount so that you can getaccess to that capital sooner
and use it, you know, candidly,for whatever you want.
You could use it to invest inyour business, you could use it
to pay rent, you know personalexpenses and so on.
(04:16):
But what we ended up seeing fromthere is that brokerages also
were looking for this type of afinancial product for themselves
, and so we're smallerdevelopers.
You know a developer that mayhave a building in contract say
it's three units.
The bank typically won'tprovide the liquidity until the
whole project is sold, and sowhat we'll do is we'll advance
part of those receivables sothat they could theoretically go
(04:37):
buy their next project.
You know where, in many regards, you would have to take out a
mortgage to finance that.
We could potentiallypotentially give you the capital
to get to your next projectsooner.
And so that was the initialcrux of what we wanted to create
was effectively just anadvancement business for real
estate receivables.
(04:57):
But what we witnessed inlaunching that was that there
really was just absolutely noassistance to the contractors
after getting paid.
Nobody was advising on tax,legal or healthcare, which are
kind of the main other threepillars of what we do.
And, candidly, in 1099 world,your employer, if you're a
(05:19):
broker at a brokerage, they'rereally not supposed to assist or
advise on anything financiallyoriented, because that's where
there's a line between being aW-2 and a 1099.
And so what we did is we builtout RealtyTax, which is a
platform that assists 1099s inmaximizing their deductions, and
being properly set up, and onday one we realized, when we
(05:42):
started helping out agents withtax services, how many of them
weren't actually properlystructured legally.
And what I mean there is that alot of people were filing their
taxes as self-employed, whereif you had an LLC or a
corporation that you were payingyourself out of, not only could
you save immensely onself-employment taxes and
deductions, but you also wouldbe protected.
(06:05):
God forbid you're showing ahouse and somebody gets hurt or
you say something that wasincorrect.
Your personal assets are, justto be clear I'm not an attorney,
but I know this line wellenough because my partner, who
is, says it all the time butyou're not protected from your
personal assets if you don'thave an entity in between you
and the relationship with yourbusiness.
(06:26):
So, basically, when wetransitioned to tax, we then
realized how many people weren'tlegally set up correctly.
So we then launched RealtyLegal, which is the platform
that assists in formation andall the way through we do estate
planning.
We're actually going to beexpanding the platform very soon
with a lot of other offeringsthat we're excited to announce.
But Realty Legal was createdbased upon the inadequacies we
(06:49):
saw in tax assistance for the1099s finance platform.
We've actually expanded intoyou know, services as well.
We asked the uh, the 10 andnine community what else are you
?
You know what else are youlooking for, and the most
(07:09):
notable was it is not easy Ifyou're a contractor any, any
industry but real estate, youknow, first and foremost, since
that's what we're doing rightnow Um, if you're a contractor,
healthcare is not on the table,meaning that you're not getting
it from your employer, and youknow, if you're lucky enough to
have a spouse, you might be ableto get under their plan.
But you know, we saw that thatwas the number one request was
(07:31):
healthcare, and so what we didis we went out and we, partnered
with United Healthcare, createda platform dedicated to real
estate 10 and 9s that servicesthat community, not exclusive to
United.
Just to be clear, we have over250 different providers that
fall under the platform, so youmight actually come through our
United partnership and find outthat you're getting, you know,
(07:52):
blue cross, um, we also have avariety of private providers
that we have in the event thatsomebody is looking for a more,
you know, custom tailored uhcoverage, and so we effectively
have resolved for the 1099community in real estate from
our point of view a financialplatform, a legal and tax
(08:12):
platform, and then healthcare,and as we continue to build, we
are truly embracing the servicesand benefits component of it.
When you go work as a W-2 at anemployer, you have all these
luxuries that you don't get whenyou're 10 to 9.
Discounts at gyms, discounts atwellness facilities, you name
it.
So we look to continue toexpand on that with RealtyCo
(08:33):
platform, one that we're veryexcited to be rolling out in
near I'd say probably, earlyFebruary.
I haven't announced it publicly, but I can tell you that we are
going to be rolling outeducation, and so our agents are
going to be able to come to usto be able to get their renewal
(08:53):
and their licensing at farsuperior pricing in all 50
states.
So through our platform you'llbe able to get licensed soon.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh, that's beautiful.
I like everything and all theaspects you said about that,
especially with the healthcarecoverage, because I still work
in the hospital field and rightnow that's the number one thing,
especially when it comes tothis country's healthcare
coverage.
And just the simple fact thatyou have all those avenues right
there with healthcare, that'shuge Because there's a lot of
(09:18):
people who don't have healthcarecoverage and if they do, they
have it through their W-2employer, but they might still
be paying high, extreme pricesfor it.
So just by you having thatumbrella, that avenue, that
program right there, that helpsout a whole lot, and especially
when it comes to realtors likeme and everything.
But, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Unfortunately, so many people come into a
contractor position and they'lltake the first thing they find
online in regards to healthcare,but they didn't get the
assistance to necessarily pickwhat's best for them and most
economical.
And with what we've puttogether no broker fee
associated with the programwe're able to assist in trying
to find you what is best for you.
(09:59):
When we do see that most people, unfortunately, if they're left
on their own searching for it,they don't typically end up in
the policy that makes the mostsense for them.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
That's true, very true.
What else was I going to askyou?
When it comes to this, in awith the real estate investing,
and since we have the new changeof president, what do you think
is going to happen with thesector of real estate in itself?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I think you're going to find that you know a lot more
capital is going to come intothe country for development
opportunities from othercountries.
I think there's going to be abit of a release on restrictions
for getting capital you knowinto the United States to invest
here, of a release onrestrictions for getting capital
you know into the United Statesto invest here.
You know, for the recenthistory I would say there was a
lot of regulation in place thatmade it a little bit more
(10:48):
complicated for internationalcapital to come in.
There were opportunities youknow visa programs and things
like that that were put in place, but they didn't necessarily
solve the opportunities that youknow all international
investors were looking for.
I would also say that,generally speaking, you know the
mindset of the newadministration is less
regulation and historicallyspeaking, if there's less
(11:15):
regulation there typically leadsto more development.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes, and then how about with because I'm with
Avenue, with everything you justsaid right there, and with our
housing shortage?
What?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
it is.
I think it's between seven andnine million.
Yeah, it's a big number.
I've seen that number floatedaround.
It's usually a headline numberand I think we've seen some of
the numbers might not make a lotof sense.
In regards to some peoplethinking 15 million, I think
that it certainly is in themillions and it's a significant
number.
Unfortunately, the problem withresolving that is it comes down
to local and state governmentsand it's really a state by state
(11:50):
issue figuring out how toresolve it.
It's not necessarily a federal,you know, overarching policy
that fixes it.
You know New York historically.
I can only speak to it becauseit's, you know, in my backyard
and where I live.
But New York is becoming, youknow, more and more involved in
trying to resolve the shortfallson housing.
They're still not doing enoughand it, you know it's a real
(12:11):
uphill battle.
My hope is that the newadministration and you know, in
regards to that specific topic,creates the incentives that are
necessary so that the investmentthat you know, the capital,
whether it's international orus-based um, is incentivized to
participate in those.
You know it's a matter ofcreating a platform so that
people they have to get theirreturn in regards to putting
(12:33):
capital to work to build theseprojects.
Um, and they're?
You know they're not.
They're not simple.
Uh, it's not a matter of justsaying let's put a building here
.
It's such a big, overarchingtopic.
My short answer because Ihaven't heard the current
administration speak to itenough is that my hope is that
they lift enough of therestrictions and they create
(12:53):
enough incentives so that thedevelopers want to invest into
growing the general housingportfolio.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yes, and speaking with that too, also my backyard
here in California.
And then we just had the firesdown in Southern California.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I know terrible.
Hopefully you were leftunscathed from that.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I was.
I'm in Northern California, butI've heard a lot.
I've actually had a friend thatcame up here where I'm at last
Thursday.
She's glad she came up herebecause she wasn't even able to
breathe.
One of the fires was 12 milesaway from where she lived and
it's out here in California.
The housing market is I don'tknow what direction it wants to
(13:38):
go.
They want more homes but, likeI said, I don't know.
It doesn't look like they'redoing anything for it.
And then when you have 12,000homes because I tell people also
years ago, when I got my realestate license, the one fact
that I did remember is out ofeverything I remember it says
California itself is the fifthbiggest economy in the world.
(13:59):
I don't know where it is rightnow.
I know I know it's still in thetop 10, but I'm like more than
hundreds and hundreds ofcountries.
And then with this fire righthere, it plays huge implications
with the fires, the insurance,you name it, and it's just
overall bad, but I wanted to getin a better condition.
And then they need to do somemore when it comes to that.
Also with the homeless rate,because the homeless rate in
(14:21):
this country about a third ofthe homeless in the state and it
seems like with when it comesto that, like it seems like the
homeless have more rights thanpeople who work a nine to five
job.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, listen, it's.
It's incredibly complicatedtopic.
You know California, by the way.
I just looked it up and you'recorrect California's GDP is
equivalent to India, which isranked fifth in the world, so
it's not a small one.
The complicated part is and Ithink that you're going to see a
lot of discussion on this topicover the next coming months
(14:54):
California is one of the mostrestrictive states in regards to
development and so, no matterwhat the project is that you're
trying to complete, whether it'screating you know a shortfall
in housing in general or youknow a luxury development I
think that you're going to haveto see some sort of change to
make it so that a lot of therestrictions that they have in
(15:15):
place, specificallyenvironmental, don't necessarily
blockade what needs to be done.
I would imagine they're going tolift a lot of restrictions to
be able to rebuild the housesthat burned down.
I've got a good friend of minewho, with a newborn, he lost his
entire home and obviously theirlives are shattered and they're
going to be okay, they're safe.
But the problem is when you gothrough the insurance policies
(15:39):
you're talking about.
You know certainly the betterpart of a year before an
insurance company is going tonecessarily fill a claim, if
they're even able to, but thenyou have to go through the state
restrictions in regards toenvironmental studies and all
these different things to beable to rebuild.
It's going to be a tough one.
I think that the state isprobably going to have to make a
general shift towardsderegulation on development so
(16:02):
that they can A rebuild thehomes that burned down but, b if
you want to tackle at the statelevel a housing shortage, the
only way to do it is to createincentives and also deregulate
how to do the building, becauseif it's too much red tape, no
one wants to participate if it'stoo much red tape, no one wants
to participate.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, it's like a person, just the struggle.
It's a hole and they didn'tneed to release that hole for
what's going to happen here inthe state.
Correct what I would say too,like how's the housing market
like where you're at in New York?
I used to live back east yearsago, so I know all about New
York.
How's the housing market therenow today?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
The market is interesting in the sense that
obviously you know, as with moststates, the last 18 months
volume on residential was very,very slow Not a lot of buying
going on, not a lot of selling,and that was largely due to
rates.
You had a big rate spike and Ithink now that we're seeing
rates effectively level off,nobody's banking on a massive
(17:03):
drop in 2025, you're going tosee buyers come back to the
table, but there's a decentamount of inventory that needs
to be soaked up on the luxuryside of New York before you
start to see a ton of otherdevelopment come into play.
And you know the COVID effectobviously slowed things down.
Construction definitely took a,you know, kind of a step back,
(17:23):
but I would say in general,things are starting to ramp back
up.
You know the majority of peoplethat are going to come back
have come back and the city isvery busy.
You know it's very active.
Restaurants are full.
It's fun to be here.
It also was tough to witnessduring the 2020-2021 cycle, but
(17:44):
in general, I think you're goingto see that when COVID happened
, there was this drop-off in abuyer pool.
Basically, buying just haltedto zero.
Then, when buying started upagain, you had this massive wave
because of all the people thatdidn't buy for 12 months.
Now, if you think about it, ifyou have millions of
transactions that just didn'thappen for a year, all those
(18:06):
people that waited what'shappening now is, I think,
you're going to see another, notas aggressive wave, but another
wave that drives pricing up,because you had people that just
sat on the sidelines for thelast 18 months.
So you have the people that saton the sidelines that are now
going to buy and then the peoplethat are currently planning to
buy already all coming to thetable at the same time.
(18:27):
With rates flattening out, Ithink come summer, you're
probably going to see a prettydecent boom in regards to the
buyer pool.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
That's what I was thinking too.
And then the topic of I'vetalked so much about COVID,
because COVID changed basicallyeverything about the world in
itself, in general.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's for sure.
I know that a lot of peopleBriggs are still there.
Like I said, they're waiting onthe sidelines and right now
some of them I know are still.
They're waiting to get back tothat interest rate and I'm like
that was once in a chance of alifetime that it happened like
that.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Unfortunately, it's not going to happen.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I said but you're just going to have to navigate
what we have now and see whereit goes with the interest rate
what we have now and see whereit goes with the interest rate
when do you think the interestrate will be like this year?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I think we're going to stay pretty close to where
we're at.
I think at this point there's adecent chance that you see
another quarter point drop.
But I think what most peopleit's a bit of a stereotype, I
guess, or a general statement,but the mortgage rates don't
necessarily directly react tothe Fed rates and right now what
(19:37):
you've seen is that exactcircumstance Fed dropped again,
but mortgage rates remain prettysteady.
I don't think you're going tosee a huge drop.
I think that at the end of theday you might see rates by the
end of the year potentially downanother quarter, might see
rates by the end of the yearpotentially down another quarter
, possibly a half if the marketwants it.
(19:57):
But at the moment I think it'sgoing to stay pretty darn flat
to where it is.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And that's what I think people are starting to
realize.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yes, I'm glad you said that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can tune in to me on this part right here.
So I know that the Fed rate andthe mortgage rate they're two
different ways.
How are they both separate?
Because a lot of people getthat confused when they say when
the Feds go down in rate, thatalso includes the mortgage rate,
but it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So the short answer is that mortgage rates are
largely driven by the 10-yeartreasury bond yield market, and
when Fed drops rates, the10-year treasury bond market
doesn't necessarily responddirectly, because they're
(20:45):
completely different things.
So one is effectively a productthat is being sold and is driven
by supply and demand, and thenthe other is effectively a rate
that is driven by the Fed.
So when the Fed says the rateis now X, unfortunately it
doesn't just mean that everybodyelse is going to, you know,
(21:06):
fall suit.
That is a rate that is drivenin regards to debt that banks
are distributing, but the bondmarket, which are treasuries, is
purely a supply and demandfactor, and when the bond
traders are trading off of whatthe Fed rate is, they're trying
(21:26):
to collect the spread, basically, and so when you're investing
on it I think I've probably, ifanything, overcomplicated it,
but the short answer is that theFed rate is a directed rate in
regards to debt that banks aregetting and distributing.
Treasuries are what mortgagerates are typically pegged off
of, and the 10-year treasuryrate is something that
(21:49):
fluctuates based upon the supplyand demand of the marketplace,
whereas the Fed rate is more ofa directive to what banks can
lend at.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Okay, that makes perfect sense right there.
I completely understand you now.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
They, historically, are relatively close, but they
don't necessarily follow theexact same path.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Okay, what would you say to yourself?
I would say before you know,you got out of, you know school,
you got out of high school,went to college and everything,
what?
What would the younger person,what would you say to yourself
if he was younger, like what youwould change in your life.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Um, you know, I think , uh, if I could go back in time
, I would have been moreaggressive with tapping into.
You know, and building anetwork.
You know success you can neverbuild anything on your own.
You know.
You think about building abuilding, building a house.
One person is not going tobuild it.
(22:48):
You need to hire a contractorto do plumbing.
You need to hire somebody to dothe kitchen.
You know all the different keycomponents.
Build it.
You need to hire a contractorto do plumbing.
You need to hire somebody to dothe kitchen all the different
key components of it.
And that goes with business andsuccess.
And probably, if I was torevisit my past, I would have
worked harder on my network andutilizing it to be successful.
Some people are probably alittle bit shy on that topic,
(23:11):
but at the end of the day, whoyou surround yourself with is
largely what will drive yoursuccess.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Exactly who you run with speaks volumes and you know
.
The saying goes your network isyour net worth.
That really is true.
That really is true.
Well how, how can people get intouch with you?
And I'll put in the notes andeverything, because the company
is very knowledgeable,especially for this time period.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I mean simple.
Just go to RealtyCocomR-L-T-Y-C-Ocom.
There you will be directed toall of our platforms and you can
obviously pick and choose.
And you can reach out to usover chat or call the office
lines.
We're readily available andalways here, know, always here
to talk.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
All right, great, great.
Thank you so much.
I'm honored to have you ontoday's show and everything, and
you know, are you in Manhattan?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You're in.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Manhattan Bank of America, right behind me and
Salesforce Tower, and we'reright in midtown Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
That's beautiful.
I love New York.
I'm a Yankees fan.
I'm a big Yankees fan.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Well, if you're ever here, let us know and stop by
the office.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Definitely, definitely will, but I was
honoring the pleasure and I wantto thank you so much and God
bless.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Tony, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Thank you.
Hello everybody, welcome to the Professor's Real
Estate Investing Podcast.
I'm with my guest today, mrBriggs Illwill, if I pronounced
that right, you got it Good,thank you.
Thank you, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Great.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
No problem, I just wanted to get everybody here to
listen to Mr Briggs and see howhe came about getting into real
estate investing.
How did he start off first andthen now where he is now?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Sure.
So I started my career I wasactually in a call center many,
many years ago as a summerintern at the Related Companies,
a large developer in New Yorkthat has since expanded very
much so across the country butactually all across the globe.
And while I was there I workedmy way up the ladder, so to
(00:51):
speak, and my most seniorposition was overseeing business
development for the luxuryrental portfolio, which at the
time was about 7,000 unitsacross the country.
I think today it's actuallymaintained around similar size
because they've sold some of theunits or converted them to
condominiums.
But throughout my time there itwas very clear that all I
(01:13):
really wanted to doprofessionally was to work in
the real estate field and fastforward to today.
I went on to run a couple ofdifferent real estate brokerages
investment side, residential aswell.
I was also partnered andassisted in the expansion for a
developer from South Florida upto New York.
And then today I run RealtyCo,which I co-founded with my
(01:35):
business partner Dan Kennedy,and it basically offers a myriad
of financial tools and servicesin the real estate space.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh, that's great.
That's great.
Is it done here in the UnitedStates and overseas also, or is
it just here in the UnitedStates?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right now we're just in the US.
I can tell you at some point weare interested in expanding
some of our offerings across,you know, to other countries.
You know Europe is kind of apretty easy place for us to
transition to.
But we're in the early goings,only the fourth year of the
business, and I think that we'vegot plenty of wood to chop in
the United States before we goto other countries.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's great.
That's great.
I just want to see like so,basically, with your company,
how can people what's like thefoundation, what's the
foundation of it?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Sure.
So what?
Along the way with my career,what I started to witness were a
lot of inadequacies forcontractors in real estate, and
that's a general term thatincludes real estate agents,
brokerages and also a variety ofdevelopers.
You know, the bigger developerstypically are on a W-2, but
midsize are either K-1 or 10 and9 themselves as contractors,
(02:51):
and so in that space,specifically on the finance side
, it's a very underservicedmarket In the W-2 world.
You hear of platforms like ADP,for example, and they're
assisting everything fromhealthcare benefits, taxes,
getting your paycheck and whereit goes.
(03:13):
All of those things are aharmonious product that already
exists when you go to work as aW-2.
When you work as a 1099, acontractor in real estate which
really summarizes the majorityof employees in the development
and brokerage world it's on you,you're your own boss and
unfortunately there's nobodythere providing you a 401k,
(03:35):
there's nobody there to provideyou health care, and at the very
beginning there's also a lot ofcomplexities with getting paid.
And so what we did is our firstlaunchpad for the platform was
we launched Realty Capital,which is our finance arm, and
initially it was just advancingreal estate commissions.
So pretty simple product.
What we would do is, if you'rea real estate agent and you have
(03:56):
a big commission check that'sclosing in 90 days or 120, what
we would do is we would buy itfrom you today at a slight
discount so that you can getaccess to that capital sooner
and use it, you know, candidly,for whatever you want.
You could use it to invest inyour business, you could use it
to pay rent, you know personalexpenses and so on.
(04:16):
But what we ended up seeing fromthere is that brokerages also
were looking for this type of afinancial product for themselves
, and so we're smallerdevelopers.
You know a developer that mayhave a building in contract say
it's three units.
The bank typically won'tprovide the liquidity until the
whole project is sold, and sowhat we'll do is we'll advance
part of those receivables sothat they could theoretically go
(04:37):
buy their next project.
You know where, in many regards, you would have to take out a
mortgage to finance that.
We could potentiallypotentially give you the capital
to get to your next projectsooner.
And so that was the initialcrux of what we wanted to create
was effectively just anadvancement business for real
estate receivables.
(04:57):
But what we witnessed inlaunching that was that there
really was just absolutely noassistance to the contractors
after getting paid.
Nobody was advising on tax,legal or healthcare, which are
kind of the main other threepillars of what we do.
And, candidly, in 1099 world,your employer, if you're a
(05:19):
broker at a brokerage, they'rereally not supposed to assist or
advise on anything financiallyoriented, because that's where
there's a line between being aW-2 and a 1099.
And so what we did is we builtout RealtyTax, which is a
platform that assists 1099s inmaximizing their deductions, and
being properly set up, and onday one we realized, when we
(05:42):
started helping out agents withtax services, how many of them
weren't actually properlystructured legally.
And what I mean there is that alot of people were filing their
taxes as self-employed, whereif you had an LLC or a
corporation that you were payingyourself out of, not only could
you save immensely onself-employment taxes and
deductions, but you also wouldbe protected.
(06:05):
God forbid you're showing ahouse and somebody gets hurt or
you say something that wasincorrect.
Your personal assets are, justto be clear I'm not an attorney,
but I know this line wellenough because my partner, who
is, says it all the time butyou're not protected from your
personal assets if you don'thave an entity in between you
and the relationship with yourbusiness.
(06:26):
So, basically, when wetransitioned to tax, we then
realized how many people weren'tlegally set up correctly.
So we then launched RealtyLegal, which is the platform
that assists in formation andall the way through we do estate
planning.
We're actually going to beexpanding the platform very soon
with a lot of other offeringsthat we're excited to announce.
But Realty Legal was createdbased upon the inadequacies we
(06:49):
saw in tax assistance for the1099s finance platform.
We've actually expanded intoyou know, services as well.
We asked the uh, the 10 andnine community what else are you
?
You know what else are youlooking for, and the most
(07:09):
notable was it is not easy Ifyou're a contractor any, any
industry but real estate, youknow, first and foremost, since
that's what we're doing rightnow Um, if you're a contractor,
healthcare is not on the table,meaning that you're not getting
it from your employer, and youknow, if you're lucky enough to
have a spouse, you might be ableto get under their plan.
But you know, we saw that thatwas the number one request was
(07:31):
healthcare, and so what we didis we went out and we, partnered
with United Healthcare, createda platform dedicated to real
estate 10 and 9s that servicesthat community, not exclusive to
United.
Just to be clear, we have over250 different providers that
fall under the platform, so youmight actually come through our
United partnership and find outthat you're getting, you know,
(07:52):
blue cross, um, we also have avariety of private providers
that we have in the event thatsomebody is looking for a more,
you know, custom tailored uhcoverage, and so we effectively
have resolved for the 1099community in real estate from
our point of view a financialplatform, a legal and tax
(08:12):
platform, and then healthcare,and as we continue to build, we
are truly embracing the servicesand benefits component of it.
When you go work as a W-2 at anemployer, you have all these
luxuries that you don't get whenyou're 10 to 9.
Discounts at gyms, discounts atwellness facilities, you name
it.
So we look to continue toexpand on that with RealtyCo
(08:33):
platform, one that we're veryexcited to be rolling out in
near I'd say probably, earlyFebruary.
I haven't announced it publicly, but I can tell you that we are
going to be rolling outeducation, and so our agents are
going to be able to come to usto be able to get their renewal
(08:53):
and their licensing at farsuperior pricing in all 50
states.
So through our platform you'llbe able to get licensed soon.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh, that's beautiful.
I like everything and all theaspects you said about that,
especially with the healthcarecoverage, because I still work
in the hospital field and rightnow that's the number one thing,
especially when it comes tothis country's healthcare
coverage.
And just the simple fact thatyou have all those avenues right
there with healthcare, that'shuge Because there's a lot of
(09:18):
people who don't have healthcarecoverage and if they do, they
have it through their W-2employer, but they might still
be paying high, extreme pricesfor it.
So just by you having thatumbrella, that avenue, that
program right there, that helpsout a whole lot, and especially
when it comes to realtors likeme and everything.
But, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Unfortunately, so many people come into a
contractor position and they'lltake the first thing they find
online in regards to healthcare,but they didn't get the
assistance to necessarily pickwhat's best for them and most
economical.
And with what we've puttogether no broker fee
associated with the programwe're able to assist in trying
to find you what is best for you.
(09:59):
When we do see that most people, unfortunately, if they're left
on their own searching for it,they don't typically end up in
the policy that makes the mostsense for them.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
That's true, very true.
What else was I going to askyou?
When it comes to this, in awith the real estate investing,
and since we have the new changeof president, what do you think
is going to happen with thesector of real estate in itself?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I think you're going to find that you know a lot more
capital is going to come intothe country for development
opportunities from othercountries.
I think there's going to be abit of a release on restrictions
for getting capital you knowinto the United States to invest
here, of a release onrestrictions for getting capital
you know into the United Statesto invest here.
You know, for the recenthistory I would say there was a
lot of regulation in place thatmade it a little bit more
(10:48):
complicated for internationalcapital to come in.
There were opportunities youknow visa programs and things
like that that were put in place, but they didn't necessarily
solve the opportunities that youknow all international
investors were looking for.
I would also say that,generally speaking, you know the
mindset of the newadministration is less
regulation and historicallyspeaking, if there's less
(11:15):
regulation there typically leadsto more development.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes, and then how about with because I'm with
Avenue, with everything you justsaid right there, and with our
housing shortage?
What?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
it is.
I think it's between seven andnine million.
Yeah, it's a big number.
I've seen that number floatedaround.
It's usually a headline numberand I think we've seen some of
the numbers might not make a lotof sense.
In regards to some peoplethinking 15 million, I think
that it certainly is in themillions and it's a significant
number.
Unfortunately, the problem withresolving that is it comes down
to local and state governmentsand it's really a state by state
(11:50):
issue figuring out how toresolve it.
It's not necessarily a federal,you know, overarching policy
that fixes it.
You know New York historically.
I can only speak to it becauseit's, you know, in my backyard
and where I live.
But New York is becoming, youknow, more and more involved in
trying to resolve the shortfallson housing.
They're still not doing enoughand it, you know it's a real
(12:11):
uphill battle.
My hope is that the newadministration and you know, in
regards to that specific topic,creates the incentives that are
necessary so that the investmentthat you know, the capital,
whether it's international orus-based um, is incentivized to
participate in those.
You know it's a matter ofcreating a platform so that
people they have to get theirreturn in regards to putting
(12:33):
capital to work to build theseprojects.
Um, and they're?
You know they're not.
They're not simple.
Uh, it's not a matter of justsaying let's put a building here
.
It's such a big, overarchingtopic.
My short answer because Ihaven't heard the current
administration speak to itenough is that my hope is that
they lift enough of therestrictions and they create
(12:53):
enough incentives so that thedevelopers want to invest into
growing the general housingportfolio.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yes, and speaking with that too, also my backyard
here in California.
And then we just had the firesdown in Southern California.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I know terrible.
Hopefully you were leftunscathed from that.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I was.
I'm in Northern California, butI've heard a lot.
I've actually had a friend thatcame up here where I'm at last
Thursday.
She's glad she came up herebecause she wasn't even able to
breathe.
One of the fires was 12 milesaway from where she lived and
it's out here in California.
The housing market is I don'tknow what direction it wants to
(13:38):
go.
They want more homes but, likeI said, I don't know.
It doesn't look like they'redoing anything for it.
And then when you have 12,000homes because I tell people also
years ago, when I got my realestate license, the one fact
that I did remember is out ofeverything I remember it says
California itself is the fifthbiggest economy in the world.
(13:59):
I don't know where it is rightnow.
I know I know it's still in thetop 10, but I'm like more than
hundreds and hundreds ofcountries.
And then with this fire righthere, it plays huge implications
with the fires, the insurance,you name it, and it's just
overall bad, but I wanted to getin a better condition.
And then they need to do somemore when it comes to that.
Also with the homeless rate,because the homeless rate in
(14:21):
this country about a third ofthe homeless in the state and it
seems like with when it comesto that, like it seems like the
homeless have more rights thanpeople who work a nine to five
job.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, listen, it's.
It's incredibly complicatedtopic.
You know California, by the way.
I just looked it up and you'recorrect California's GDP is
equivalent to India, which isranked fifth in the world, so
it's not a small one.
The complicated part is and Ithink that you're going to see a
lot of discussion on this topicover the next coming months
(14:54):
California is one of the mostrestrictive states in regards to
development and so, no matterwhat the project is that you're
trying to complete, whether it'screating you know a shortfall
in housing in general or youknow a luxury development I
think that you're going to haveto see some sort of change to
make it so that a lot of therestrictions that they have in
(15:15):
place, specificallyenvironmental, don't necessarily
blockade what needs to be done.
I would imagine they're going tolift a lot of restrictions to
be able to rebuild the housesthat burned down.
I've got a good friend of minewho, with a newborn, he lost his
entire home and obviously theirlives are shattered and they're
going to be okay, they're safe.
But the problem is when you gothrough the insurance policies
(15:39):
you're talking about.
You know certainly the betterpart of a year before an
insurance company is going tonecessarily fill a claim, if
they're even able to, but thenyou have to go through the state
restrictions in regards toenvironmental studies and all
these different things to beable to rebuild.
It's going to be a tough one.
I think that the state isprobably going to have to make a
general shift towardsderegulation on development so
(16:02):
that they can A rebuild thehomes that burned down but, b if
you want to tackle at the statelevel a housing shortage, the
only way to do it is to createincentives and also deregulate
how to do the building, becauseif it's too much red tape, no
one wants to participate if it'stoo much red tape, no one wants
to participate.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, it's like a person, just the struggle.
It's a hole and they didn'tneed to release that hole for
what's going to happen here inthe state.
Correct what I would say too,like how's the housing market
like where you're at in New York?
I used to live back east yearsago, so I know all about New
York.
How's the housing market therenow today?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
The market is interesting in the sense that
obviously you know, as with moststates, the last 18 months
volume on residential was very,very slow Not a lot of buying
going on, not a lot of selling,and that was largely due to
rates.
You had a big rate spike and Ithink now that we're seeing
rates effectively level off,nobody's banking on a massive
(17:03):
drop in 2025, you're going tosee buyers come back to the
table, but there's a decentamount of inventory that needs
to be soaked up on the luxuryside of New York before you
start to see a ton of otherdevelopment come into play.
And you know the COVID effectobviously slowed things down.
Construction definitely took a,you know, kind of a step back,
(17:23):
but I would say in general,things are starting to ramp back
up.
You know the majority of peoplethat are going to come back
have come back and the city isvery busy.
You know it's very active.
Restaurants are full.
It's fun to be here.
It also was tough to witnessduring the 2020-2021 cycle, but
(17:44):
in general, I think you're goingto see that when COVID happened
, there was this drop-off in abuyer pool.
Basically, buying just haltedto zero.
Then, when buying started upagain, you had this massive wave
because of all the people thatdidn't buy for 12 months.
Now, if you think about it, ifyou have millions of
transactions that just didn'thappen for a year, all those
(18:06):
people that waited what'shappening now is, I think,
you're going to see another, notas aggressive wave, but another
wave that drives pricing up,because you had people that just
sat on the sidelines for thelast 18 months.
So you have the people that saton the sidelines that are now
going to buy and then the peoplethat are currently planning to
buy already all coming to thetable at the same time.
(18:27):
With rates flattening out, Ithink come summer, you're
probably going to see a prettydecent boom in regards to the
buyer pool.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
That's what I was thinking too.
And then the topic of I'vetalked so much about COVID,
because COVID changed basicallyeverything about the world in
itself, in general.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's for sure.
I know that a lot of peopleBriggs are still there.
Like I said, they're waiting onthe sidelines and right now
some of them I know are still.
They're waiting to get back tothat interest rate and I'm like
that was once in a chance of alifetime that it happened like
that.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Unfortunately, it's not going to happen.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I said but you're just going to have to navigate
what we have now and see whereit goes with the interest rate
what we have now and see whereit goes with the interest rate
when do you think the interestrate will be like this year?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I think we're going to stay pretty close to where
we're at.
I think at this point there's adecent chance that you see
another quarter point drop.
But I think what most peopleit's a bit of a stereotype, I
guess, or a general statement,but the mortgage rates don't
necessarily directly react tothe Fed rates and right now what
(19:37):
you've seen is that exactcircumstance Fed dropped again,
but mortgage rates remain prettysteady.
I don't think you're going tosee a huge drop.
I think that at the end of theday you might see rates by the
end of the year potentially downanother quarter, might see
rates by the end of the yearpotentially down another quarter
, possibly a half if the marketwants it.
(19:57):
But at the moment I think it'sgoing to stay pretty darn flat
to where it is.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And that's what I think people are starting to
realize.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yes, I'm glad you said that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can tune in to me on this part right here.
So I know that the Fed rate andthe mortgage rate they're two
different ways.
How are they both separate?
Because a lot of people getthat confused when they say when
the Feds go down in rate, thatalso includes the mortgage rate,
but it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So the short answer is that mortgage rates are
largely driven by the 10-yeartreasury bond yield market, and
when Fed drops rates, the10-year treasury bond market
doesn't necessarily responddirectly, because they're
(20:45):
completely different things.
So one is effectively a productthat is being sold and is driven
by supply and demand, and thenthe other is effectively a rate
that is driven by the Fed.
So when the Fed says the rateis now X, unfortunately it
doesn't just mean that everybodyelse is going to, you know,
(21:06):
fall suit.
That is a rate that is drivenin regards to debt that banks
are distributing, but the bondmarket, which are treasuries, is
purely a supply and demandfactor, and when the bond
traders are trading off of whatthe Fed rate is, they're trying
(21:26):
to collect the spread, basically, and so when you're investing
on it I think I've probably, ifanything, overcomplicated it,
but the short answer is that theFed rate is a directed rate in
regards to debt that banks aregetting and distributing.
Treasuries are what mortgagerates are typically pegged off
of, and the 10-year treasuryrate is something that
(21:49):
fluctuates based upon the supplyand demand of the marketplace,
whereas the Fed rate is more ofa directive to what banks can
lend at.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Okay, that makes perfect sense right there.
I completely understand you now.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
They, historically, are relatively close, but they
don't necessarily follow theexact same path.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Okay, what would you say to yourself?
I would say before you know,you got out of, you know school,
you got out of high school,went to college and everything,
what?
What would the younger person,what would you say to yourself
if he was younger, like what youwould change in your life.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Um, you know, I think , uh, if I could go back in time
, I would have been moreaggressive with tapping into.
You know, and building anetwork.
You know success you can neverbuild anything on your own.
You know.
You think about building abuilding, building a house.
One person is not going tobuild it.
(22:48):
You need to hire a contractorto do plumbing.
You need to hire somebody to dothe kitchen.
You know all the different keycomponents.
Build it.
You need to hire a contractorto do plumbing.
You need to hire somebody to dothe kitchen all the different
key components of it.
And that goes with business andsuccess.
And probably, if I was torevisit my past, I would have
worked harder on my network andutilizing it to be successful.
Some people are probably alittle bit shy on that topic,
(23:11):
but at the end of the day, whoyou surround yourself with is
largely what will drive yoursuccess.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Exactly who you run with speaks volumes and you know
.
The saying goes your network isyour net worth.
That really is true.
That really is true.
Well how, how can people get intouch with you?
And I'll put in the notes andeverything, because the company
is very knowledgeable,especially for this time period.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I mean simple.
Just go to RealtyCocomR-L-T-Y-C-Ocom.
There you will be directed toall of our platforms and you can
obviously pick and choose.
And you can reach out to usover chat or call the office
lines.
We're readily available andalways here, know, always here
to talk.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
All right, great, great.
Thank you so much.
I'm honored to have you ontoday's show and everything, and
you know, are you in Manhattan?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You're in.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Manhattan Bank of America, right behind me and
Salesforce Tower, and we'reright in midtown Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
That's beautiful.
I love New York.
I'm a Yankees fan.
I'm a big Yankees fan.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Well, if you're ever here, let us know and stop by
the office.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Definitely, definitely will, but I was
honoring the pleasure and I wantto thank you so much and God
bless.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Tony, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.