January 30, 2024 • 23 mins
Jose G. Hernandez, joins this special episode where the full team talks about how they got here. Host Ari Petronelli shares her journey from paralegal to a maven in the world of private aviation and real estate appraisal. Marcus Espinoza shares his own transformation under the wing of a revered developer; it's a deep dive into personal stories, friendships, and the invaluable lessons learned along the vibrant path of real estate. We discuss the art of enhancing property value, the impact of personal connections on professional collaboration, and the unique properties that add spice to our daily appraisal work.
Join us as we embark on an adventure through some of the most awe-inspiring properties that challenge the very notion of traditional real estate valuation. Imagine appraising an underground 'spaceship house' in Santa Barbara or a home nestled among the rocks in Joshua Tree, properties so unique that they redefine our understanding of space and design. Our dialogue highlights the crucial role of networking, expertise, and the subtle yet significant differences between appraisers and real estate agents when it comes to getting the value of a property just right.
We encourage anyone curious about the intricacies of mortgages, appraisals, or transactions to reach out with questions—you might just find the answers featured on our next episode or in a personalized email response from Ari, Jose, or Marcus. We're here to shed light on the complex facets of real estate and to welcome you into the fold of our shared journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I am Ari Petronelli.
I'm your host.
Usually I'm with my twoco-workers, marcus Espinoza and
Jose G Hernandez.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How you doing.
Thank you for having me no Arifirst time on the set.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thank you so much for being here, Jose.
You are one of my favoritepeople.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So we're going to keep things casual today.
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Just you know.
So people who are listeningkind of get to know who we are
and what we do and kind ofexplain what this podcast is.
Marcus, I think you were anappraiser before, jose, is that
correct?
Yes, by quite a few years.
Yes, yeah, but how did you getinto appraisals?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, I was in college and when I was in
college I was answering an ad tothe school paper and it was
asking for someone to come onboard, as they're doing light
accounting work.
And I respond and I met withthe person and the person was a
(01:06):
developer.
That developer was developingin Long Beach.
He was an appraiser, he was abroker and he was a B1 licensed
contractor.
Although he was those threethings, he elected to go into
investing buying properties inLong Beach, converting them from
(01:26):
five units down to four units.
This as far as his appraisalbackground.
He was an MAI and SRA.
As far as his broker experience, he was a CCIM, so he had all
the credentials when it camedown to investing.
And he picked it up fromeducation.
And I would listen to him inthe office and the thing that he
(01:49):
talked about more than anythingwas his MAI and so the more you
talk about something, the moreyou value it.
So he seemed like he valued theMAI thing.
So I was thinking, oh, that'swhere he got the bulk of his
knowledge.
So that's what I went after andI got into appraising property
(02:09):
and I loved it.
But before I got into appraisalI went out and by around 2000,.
I got my broker's license andabout a year or two year after
that I got my appraisal licenseand started appraising property
and looking at all differenttypes of real estate assets and
(02:31):
talking to different investorsand fell in love with it because
it was so unique and there wereso many different approaches
and valuing real estate anddifferent investors were doing
different things.
And I remember gosh by about 10years ago or maybe was it a
(02:52):
little bit more than that wherepeople were getting into
creative office and how theywere doing it.
They were converting industrialbuildings.
Back then Industrial was worthless than office Office.
Seems like it's the other wayaround today, but yeah, so
people were convertingwarehouses into office and even
churches into office and withthe stained glass.
(03:15):
So I got this and that was oneparticular investor doing that.
And then I had another investorthat were doing multifamily,
where they were relocatingtenants or they're adding value,
always trying to find ways toadd value, and that's I just
found it fascinating and that'show I got into the profession.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So we all have our.
We're all friends outside ofthis we all have our personal
relationships with each other,but I know that you and Jose
have known each other for a longtime.
How did you guys meet?
How are you guys now workingtogether?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, this takes me back to junior high.
Well, actually, even beforethat, I take that back.
That takes me back to thirdgrade actually.
So in third grade I develop arelationship with his neighbors
and his cousin and we becamegood friends.
And we became friends through,got closer and in junior high,
(04:12):
and in junior high His oldercousin would bring me around
Jose's house, and you know and,and, and you know I knew of him
but didn't know him, and myYounger sister you know, very
close to his older sister andand they be they're really good
friends.
(04:32):
They've been friends sinceprobably gosh, I don't know in a
garden in a garden.
So you know it's it's, it's,it's more than family, because
you know family, you, you don'tchoose friends, you choose.
So that makes it, you know,more more fascinating.
So and then we connected andwhen I was probably my first
(04:58):
year in college and he was justfinishing high school and he
came over to my house because heheard that had a word processor
and and the word process is amonitor with a.
It was a monitor with akeyboard, and I remember picking
it up at circuit city orsomething I don't remember where
, and, and he was, you know,before it was very few people
(05:19):
that were typing on a wordprocess or even a computer.
There were more more doing iton a brighter.
So he was like oh, you know, Ican go to Marcus's and I can
make changes on this monitor.
And so he came over and hewrote his paper, and you know
his, his senior paper, and andthat's from that point on,
that's when we starteddeveloping relationships
(05:39):
together.
So, jose, how did you get into?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You know appraisals in real estate.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, that's a long little long story, but I'm gonna
try to keep it quick.
Thank you, yes.
So yeah, back in 2001 I startedworking full-time at the state,
but I was on a temporary basis.
They're called on permanentintermittent.
So in 2004 they laid me off forabout three, four months, or
2005, one of those years and inbetween that, those three or
(06:06):
four months I was laid off, Istarted working with Marcus
helping them out, doingresidential appraisals, and I
was just doing some basic datadata work.
And In 2006 or seven, when welost all our clients, I was
still working at the state.
So I was doing appraisalspart-time throughout those two
(06:28):
or three years.
And 2000, and yeah, so I, youknow, lost all customers.
I went, you know, I keptworking at the state.
And then in 2000 and I don'tremember what year was, 17 or 15
or something I went back to toschool to finish my degree so I
could get my Batchers and Ididn't want to come back to work
(06:51):
doing appraisals because untilI actually had my degree and I
was a little more Situated.
But yeah, no, so I got into itthrough markets.
At that point market was doingstrictly commercial and it was
interesting, find interesting,like the challenge, the
different property types, theincome, the math part how to you
know calculating the value wasvery interesting to me.
(07:15):
So we're gonna differentproperty ties but yeah, so, yeah
, good, good goes back.
But I had a long break and thenwhen I came back I'm like, okay
, I'm gonna come back full-time.
At that point I left thisestate after 18 years, I don't
know, I guess Five, six, sevenyears later, and yeah, I've been
doing it full-time since sincethen.
No Right, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, it was really nice that you guys so, ari, what
about you?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I was a very young mother and my primary focus for
a very long time were my kids.
I was a single mom for quite awhile and I, when my kids got
into school, I was able to go towork, which was really exciting
for somebody that's beenstaying home for, oh Gosh, I
(08:03):
don't know six, seven years, butmy first job Was a paralegal at
like a boutique law firm and wedid insurance claims.
So it was really interesting.
I love the law, I love, I loverules, and so it was really a
Good fit for a little bit, untilI Kind of fell out of love with
(08:26):
law and I started working witha girlfriend and she owns a
company, a private aviationcompany, and it was.
It was fun and it wasinteresting and every day was
different and I loved that.
But, to you know, I had to kindof take my career more seriously
and I kind of fell into realestate.
(08:48):
Actually, my friend Jack, whowas on the podcast earlier, he
kind of told me like are youwould have a good personality
for a real estate agent, and Iwas inspired by that.
I looked into it, I startedtaking classes and, sure enough,
I became a real estate agent.
I took classes and passed, andit did take me one fail to pass
(09:12):
that test, but it was just onepoint off because they give you
your score and it was painful.
So I took it a few days laterand I did it.
And the thing I really loveabout real estate is that there
are rules that you have tofollow, but you could also be
very creative about how to getaround those rules.
You know that we were talkingabout.
(09:34):
You know, rebuttals inappraisals and Finding finding
value in places where you knowmaybe the appraiser missed or
maybe I mean just finding Justbeing creative in real estate.
I think it's probably one of myfavorite things, right.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, that's very interesting because you know I
mean the paralegal background,that deaf definitely could
transition into valuationbecause because in valuation we
do a lot of work for, forlitigation, for estate planning,
for State tax and all that kindof falls in play on how to
(10:12):
communicate with the other side,which is the client, the
attorneys.
Absolutely that right yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, so one of the things that I really love,
marcus and I, our children, wereon the same Baseball team and
they we kind of had a traumaticexperience with that baseball
team and it kind of brought ourfamilies very close together and
our boys they call each othercousins I mean, your wife is one
of my best friends and you arealso one of my best friends and
(10:41):
but so kind of working, westarted working together and I
also kind of fell in love withvaluation as well, because it is
it is Very precise and thereare rules and there's reasons
and it kind of I just I lovethat structure of it, but it is
really fascinating watch youguys, you know, do your thing
(11:02):
and Every day is also verydifferent, which I kind of need
just for myself right andcommercial valuation is just
that.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
It's just where you, you know you get involved and
there's you're working on achurch one day and then you
maybe and that happens a lot inlitigation support, because in
litigation support there's a wayof appraising property and you
have to pick up that, thatability to service that client,
and so Because of that, there'sonly so many people that do that
(11:31):
and because of that you get totouch on different real estate
types, and so it's just alwayssomething different.
You know you could beappraising just you know
something as small as aresidential condo and you could
be appraising something as largeas a High-rise office building.
So it's, it's always differentand so because of that, it keeps
my attention every assignment.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Challenging.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I was a heavy.
Do you have any funny storiesabout a, like an appraisal that
you've done, or like somethingthat's super interesting, like
how Marcus has done that insanemansion and I?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Don't know about funny, but interesting for sure,
though We've appraised a lot ofdifferent properties, but what
I'm gonna stand out, it's it's.
It was in Santa Barbara, thearea it's called.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Want to see no and it's.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
They call it the spaceship house.
So they built this, this house,that's that.
You can't really see it fromSatellite.
It's built underground almostbecause there's plants on top of
it, and it's yeah it'sinteresting.
So it's a.
To me that was a veryinteresting house.
It's a big House and there'sonly like two bedrooms there and
(12:38):
it's yeah, who's it was.
To me that wasn't the mostprobably interesting Property
that I worked on.
That was yeah, yeah.
The definitely unique, veryvery unique property.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
How do people find you guys like for the appraisals
?
Is it just a Google search?
Is it usually word of mouth?
Is it referrals?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
you know a lot of it comes from word of mouth and and
you know just going todifferent mixers, and you know
just touching elbows and andjust you know creating friends
with the client.
Also networking, networking andjust trying to talk to people
and you know, and it doesn'tneed to need to be about work.
I mean, you obviously want themto know what you do, but you
(13:19):
know just connecting on apersonal level, you know having
a drink with somebody and just,you know Just talking about life
and then, and then you justbuilt something from there.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So what was interesting about that?
What Marcus saying now is thatwe actually went to a mixer and
so that's the way we got engagedfor For that, that spaceship
house I was talking aboutbecause it was in your regular
Single-family house that you goappraise, and it's not even your
(13:48):
regular $25 million house youpraise, because we've appraised
properties from you know$500,000 to, was it, a hundred
million dollars.
I mean very expensive houses.
So you know you got people thatcould praise.
You know these single-familyanimals, but when they're unique
, like the spaceship house, it'snot just your typical house.
You need to, you know, be, becreative.
(14:10):
So we were at a mixer and Iremember Marcus was gonna get.
He was engaged at one point todo some house in, like on
Springs, which was yeah, thatwas in Joshua Tree.
Yeah.
And then they told him oh yeah,you were going to praise that
one.
And then they're right.
(14:30):
By the way, we got thisproperty and since it was a
unique property that not justyour typical appraiser could
actually work on, you needsomeone that has some experience
, some knowledge.
And yeah, that's the way thatproperty was was engaged.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, I forgot about that story and that particular
client was having a difficulttime finding somebody to
actually appraise it.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
That knew how to appraise it at least.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, and we were engaged to appraise a property
in Joshua Tree and that propertywas.
It's like if you're looking atit from an aerial standpoint,
you won't be able to see it,because it blends in with the
rocks.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So it's a rock house and actually it's on Airbnb
today and I actually saw it onAirbnb and it's a pretty
generous amount per night.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So you're sure you know what you're talking about
and it's stunning.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, so that one.
And then he goes oh, I was justtrying to engage on that one.
So yeah, I remember that,that's actually.
I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I mean, just because you have the license to appraise
, I don't know, $10 millionhouse or $20, it doesn't mean
that you have the expertise toactually do it.
So you need to have thecompetency to do it and so, yeah
, so that's interesting, becausethat's the way that word of
(15:50):
mouth goes is like, okay, if youguys appraise these you know
we've appraised these houses inHollywood or Beverly Hills and
they're off a mountain, or whenthey have beautiful views,
stunning views of downtown LA,and you know, since they know
we've appraised property thatway, they reach out like, hey,
you guys appraise this house,now we have this one.
(16:12):
It's a proposed house, it'sgoing to have a view, and so
that's how.
Yeah, so the word of mouth onthose at least expensive single
families.
It's the way that we've beenengaged Well more than Marcus.
You know we've been engagedthat way, though engaged.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, I've also noticed being a real estate
agent there's, you know, theclasses are informative, but
they really the experience ofactually being in the field is
completely different.
And so, working with you guys,I feel like I have learned so
much about valuation, you know,and what goes into it, and like
actual comps and you know it'seasy to just, you know, do a
(16:52):
handful of comps, but toactually understand them and why
it's a whole different.
You know, level ofunderstanding and comprehension
for that side of it.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, because, as a relator, sometimes you get, you
know, or you know they're givingan opinion of value based on
comps that a broker is or anagent is actually looking at,
and an appraiser may not evenuse any of those comparables
because they don't make anysense to you know, they're
definitely not, they're notcomparable.
(17:25):
So so, yeah, I mean you know,you're, you know you're, you're
learning in that sense too, thatyou're actually gonna be able
to help your client out whenyou're representing them.
Hey, this is, you know whatactually an appraiser will do,
you know which is the bank isgonna rely on, as opposed to
something that I'm just, youknow, throwing, thrown out
generate or the system generatedcomps yeah yeah, which I had
(17:46):
issues with before with aprevious client where I didn't
feel like the comps that wasgenerated by that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, you know program was accurate, and so I
had to do some research myselfand, yeah, I found more accurate
cops.
The real estate shop came aboutbecause so, marcus, I think we
were just having dinner at yourhouse, yeah, and you said I have
this idea.
You know what, if we started aneducational platform and we can
(18:13):
help the public, or even youknow, people in the industry not
only you know, learn aboutthese niche topics, but also, in
a way, network with each otherand be able to you know if
somebody does have they, theyare looking for that one
property, but they need helpwith fractional interests.
You know, like, we actuallyknow somebody who can help that
(18:35):
and hopefully, you know, like wehad John Penner on the podcast
and we know that he can helpwith that.
And at first I was a littlelike okay, marcus, marcus is the
idea man.
You know he's his ideas for alot of things, but I mean, you
do have great ideas.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Well, it was a collaborative of between you and
I.
We collaborate on this together, because I was actually
thinking a YouTube channel andthat's it.
And she was like Marcus, Idon't know about a YouTube
channel, what about a?
What about?
What about just going on anddoing a podcast?
Because you can, it willservice both.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, we could do both.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, and so it's like.
You know, I actually didn'tthink about that, but yeah,
that's so.
You know, just, you know thewhole thing about having a good
team and you know we want toprovide Education to the public
and the public know that.
You know there's a resourcehere.
What type of valuations we do.
We do, we, we do a lot ofdifferent types of valuations,
but there's also, there's alsoother things that you may need.
(19:35):
You know me, you need a plumber, or Our painter, or you know.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
But also I wanted this podcast to be for people to
realize that real estate, moreinformation, is better.
The more information you have,I mean, the less scary real
estate can be.
And to have you know anappraiser come on and explain
Certain things.
I thought when you were on thepodcast with Jack discussing
about you know what actuallyadds value to a property.
(20:01):
You know and maybe like, if youwant your home to get the
amount of money or do you wantto sell fast, like where to put
that money.
I think that is, I mean, sointeresting For somebody who, I
mean, might have not any ideahow to do things Like that.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
So yeah, so market does definitely custom system
some good ideas.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So sometimes I don't like to admit that and I might
just whisper it, you know, tomyself, but yeah just so you
know who we are Jose's alicensed broker, mark is is a
licensed broker and Ari is alicensed real estate agent.
He's also a certified generalappraiser, and I'm also a
certified general appraiser withsome designations.
So you know that's who, thatthis is who is.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Behind the mics yes.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, you know, that's why I bring it back to
one of the one of the reasonswhy I did not want to come back
working with Marcus until I wasactually Until I was able to say
those things, because, you know, I didn't want to be, I didn't
want to have, you know, to helpa customer out or client out,
you got to have the knowledgeand education for it and you
know that takes you can't justyou know, just you know wake up
(21:13):
one day and just say I'm gonnado that.
So so yeah, that's what took mea couple years actually kind of
get going here because I wantedto make sure I had had the
education, the knowledge to beable to, you know, help these
client or help market that withthese complicated assignments,
and that just you know.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I love working with you guys.
It's really.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, so RE is learning about retail office,
industrial, all the subtypesunderneath that, for example,
industrial you got.
Code storage, you got.
Distribution.
You got contractor's yards yougot.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, we're working on Tesla yards, even it's just.
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yes, so yeah, there is a lot of different real
estate types.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Well, now I go past an empty building and I'm
counting the parking spaces andthinking about how much that
adds to the value of thatbuilding.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And we also provide services for fractional interest
.
So it's just a lot of differentreal estate types that we've
been doing over the years, andJose's been doing this for about
a decade.
I've been doing this over twodecades, and so you get to see a
lot of different real estatetypes.
We also, jose and I, bothworked at Carrier's
International for seven yearsand CBE for a number of years,
(22:41):
so every time when you work fora big shop like that, you just
see everything come across yourdesk.
So it's been a very excitingjourney.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Excited to see where this takes us too.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
We're excited to see where this takes us, for sure.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So if you are listening and you have a
question about anything inregards to real estate it could
be mortgages, appraisals,transactions, whatever you name
it complicated you could send usan email at info at
therealestateshopcacom.
(23:17):
You could also email me, joseor Marcus, ari, jose or Marcus
at therealestateshopcacom andwe'd be happy to either answer
it on the podcast or answer itthrough an email.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, thanks Ari.
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
No, thank you guys, this has been a fun journey.
I am Ari Petronelli.
I'm your host.
Usually I'm with my twoco-workers, marcus Espinoza and
Jose G Hernandez.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How you doing.
Thank you for having me no Arifirst time on the set.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thank you so much for being here, Jose.
You are one of my favoritepeople.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So we're going to keep things casual today.
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Just you know.
So people who are listeningkind of get to know who we are
and what we do and kind ofexplain what this podcast is.
Marcus, I think you were anappraiser before, jose, is that
correct?
Yes, by quite a few years.
Yes, yeah, but how did you getinto appraisals?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, I was in college and when I was in
college I was answering an ad tothe school paper and it was
asking for someone to come onboard, as they're doing light
accounting work.
And I respond and I met withthe person and the person was a
(01:06):
developer.
That developer was developingin Long Beach.
He was an appraiser, he was abroker and he was a B1 licensed
contractor.
Although he was those threethings, he elected to go into
investing buying properties inLong Beach, converting them from
(01:26):
five units down to four units.
This as far as his appraisalbackground.
He was an MAI and SRA.
As far as his broker experience, he was a CCIM, so he had all
the credentials when it camedown to investing.
And he picked it up fromeducation.
And I would listen to him inthe office and the thing that he
(01:49):
talked about more than anythingwas his MAI and so the more you
talk about something, the moreyou value it.
So he seemed like he valued theMAI thing.
So I was thinking, oh, that'swhere he got the bulk of his
knowledge.
So that's what I went after andI got into appraising property
(02:09):
and I loved it.
But before I got into appraisalI went out and by around 2000,.
I got my broker's license andabout a year or two year after
that I got my appraisal licenseand started appraising property
and looking at all differenttypes of real estate assets and
(02:31):
talking to different investorsand fell in love with it because
it was so unique and there wereso many different approaches
and valuing real estate anddifferent investors were doing
different things.
And I remember gosh by about 10years ago or maybe was it a
(02:52):
little bit more than that wherepeople were getting into
creative office and how theywere doing it.
They were converting industrialbuildings.
Back then Industrial was worthless than office Office.
Seems like it's the other wayaround today, but yeah, so
people were convertingwarehouses into office and even
churches into office and withthe stained glass.
(03:15):
So I got this and that was oneparticular investor doing that.
And then I had another investorthat were doing multifamily,
where they were relocatingtenants or they're adding value,
always trying to find ways toadd value, and that's I just
found it fascinating and that'show I got into the profession.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So we all have our.
We're all friends outside ofthis we all have our personal
relationships with each other,but I know that you and Jose
have known each other for a longtime.
How did you guys meet?
How are you guys now workingtogether?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, this takes me back to junior high.
Well, actually, even beforethat, I take that back.
That takes me back to thirdgrade actually.
So in third grade I develop arelationship with his neighbors
and his cousin and we becamegood friends.
And we became friends through,got closer and in junior high,
(04:12):
and in junior high His oldercousin would bring me around
Jose's house, and you know and,and, and you know I knew of him
but didn't know him, and myYounger sister you know, very
close to his older sister andand they be they're really good
friends.
(04:32):
They've been friends sinceprobably gosh, I don't know in a
garden in a garden.
So you know it's it's, it's,it's more than family, because
you know family, you, you don'tchoose friends, you choose.
So that makes it, you know,more more fascinating.
So and then we connected andwhen I was probably my first
(04:58):
year in college and he was justfinishing high school and he
came over to my house because heheard that had a word processor
and and the word process is amonitor with a.
It was a monitor with akeyboard, and I remember picking
it up at circuit city orsomething I don't remember where
, and, and he was, you know,before it was very few people
(05:19):
that were typing on a wordprocess or even a computer.
There were more more doing iton a brighter.
So he was like oh, you know, Ican go to Marcus's and I can
make changes on this monitor.
And so he came over and hewrote his paper, and you know
his, his senior paper, and andthat's from that point on,
that's when we starteddeveloping relationships
(05:39):
together.
So, jose, how did you get into?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You know appraisals in real estate.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, that's a long little long story, but I'm gonna
try to keep it quick.
Thank you, yes.
So yeah, back in 2001 I startedworking full-time at the state,
but I was on a temporary basis.
They're called on permanentintermittent.
So in 2004 they laid me off forabout three, four months, or
2005, one of those years and inbetween that, those three or
(06:06):
four months I was laid off, Istarted working with Marcus
helping them out, doingresidential appraisals, and I
was just doing some basic datadata work.
And In 2006 or seven, when welost all our clients, I was
still working at the state.
So I was doing appraisalspart-time throughout those two
(06:28):
or three years.
And 2000, and yeah, so I, youknow, lost all customers.
I went, you know, I keptworking at the state.
And then in 2000 and I don'tremember what year was, 17 or 15
or something I went back to toschool to finish my degree so I
could get my Batchers and Ididn't want to come back to work
(06:51):
doing appraisals because untilI actually had my degree and I
was a little more Situated.
But yeah, no, so I got into itthrough markets.
At that point market was doingstrictly commercial and it was
interesting, find interesting,like the challenge, the
different property types, theincome, the math part how to you
know calculating the value wasvery interesting to me.
(07:15):
So we're gonna differentproperty ties but yeah, so, yeah
, good, good goes back.
But I had a long break and thenwhen I came back I'm like, okay
, I'm gonna come back full-time.
At that point I left thisestate after 18 years, I don't
know, I guess Five, six, sevenyears later, and yeah, I've been
doing it full-time since sincethen.
No Right, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, it was really nice that you guys so, ari, what
about you?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I was a very young mother and my primary focus for
a very long time were my kids.
I was a single mom for quite awhile and I, when my kids got
into school, I was able to go towork, which was really exciting
for somebody that's beenstaying home for, oh Gosh, I
(08:03):
don't know six, seven years, butmy first job Was a paralegal at
like a boutique law firm and wedid insurance claims.
So it was really interesting.
I love the law, I love, I loverules, and so it was really a
Good fit for a little bit, untilI Kind of fell out of love with
(08:26):
law and I started working witha girlfriend and she owns a
company, a private aviationcompany, and it was.
It was fun and it wasinteresting and every day was
different and I loved that.
But, to you know, I had to kindof take my career more seriously
and I kind of fell into realestate.
(08:48):
Actually, my friend Jack, whowas on the podcast earlier, he
kind of told me like are youwould have a good personality
for a real estate agent, and Iwas inspired by that.
I looked into it, I startedtaking classes and, sure enough,
I became a real estate agent.
I took classes and passed, andit did take me one fail to pass
(09:12):
that test, but it was just onepoint off because they give you
your score and it was painful.
So I took it a few days laterand I did it.
And the thing I really loveabout real estate is that there
are rules that you have tofollow, but you could also be
very creative about how to getaround those rules.
You know that we were talkingabout.
(09:34):
You know, rebuttals inappraisals and Finding finding
value in places where you knowmaybe the appraiser missed or
maybe I mean just finding Justbeing creative in real estate.
I think it's probably one of myfavorite things, right.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, that's very interesting because you know I
mean the paralegal background,that deaf definitely could
transition into valuationbecause because in valuation we
do a lot of work for, forlitigation, for estate planning,
for State tax and all that kindof falls in play on how to
(10:12):
communicate with the other side,which is the client, the
attorneys.
Absolutely that right yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, so one of the things that I really love,
marcus and I, our children, wereon the same Baseball team and
they we kind of had a traumaticexperience with that baseball
team and it kind of brought ourfamilies very close together and
our boys they call each othercousins I mean, your wife is one
of my best friends and you arealso one of my best friends and
(10:41):
but so kind of working, westarted working together and I
also kind of fell in love withvaluation as well, because it is
it is Very precise and thereare rules and there's reasons
and it kind of I just I lovethat structure of it, but it is
really fascinating watch youguys, you know, do your thing
(11:02):
and Every day is also verydifferent, which I kind of need
just for myself right andcommercial valuation is just
that.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
It's just where you, you know you get involved and
there's you're working on achurch one day and then you
maybe and that happens a lot inlitigation support, because in
litigation support there's a wayof appraising property and you
have to pick up that, thatability to service that client,
and so Because of that, there'sonly so many people that do that
(11:31):
and because of that you get totouch on different real estate
types, and so it's just alwayssomething different.
You know you could beappraising just you know
something as small as aresidential condo and you could
be appraising something as largeas a High-rise office building.
So it's, it's always differentand so because of that, it keeps
my attention every assignment.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Challenging.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I was a heavy.
Do you have any funny storiesabout a, like an appraisal that
you've done, or like somethingthat's super interesting, like
how Marcus has done that insanemansion and I?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Don't know about funny, but interesting for sure,
though We've appraised a lot ofdifferent properties, but what
I'm gonna stand out, it's it's.
It was in Santa Barbara, thearea it's called.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Want to see no and it's.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
They call it the spaceship house.
So they built this, this house,that's that.
You can't really see it fromSatellite.
It's built underground almostbecause there's plants on top of
it, and it's yeah it'sinteresting.
So it's a.
To me that was a veryinteresting house.
It's a big House and there'sonly like two bedrooms there and
(12:38):
it's yeah, who's it was.
To me that wasn't the mostprobably interesting Property
that I worked on.
That was yeah, yeah.
The definitely unique, veryvery unique property.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
How do people find you guys like for the appraisals
?
Is it just a Google search?
Is it usually word of mouth?
Is it referrals?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
you know a lot of it comes from word of mouth and and
you know just going todifferent mixers, and you know
just touching elbows and andjust you know creating friends
with the client.
Also networking, networking andjust trying to talk to people
and you know, and it doesn'tneed to need to be about work.
I mean, you obviously want themto know what you do, but you
(13:19):
know just connecting on apersonal level, you know having
a drink with somebody and just,you know Just talking about life
and then, and then you justbuilt something from there.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So what was interesting about that?
What Marcus saying now is thatwe actually went to a mixer and
so that's the way we got engagedfor For that, that spaceship
house I was talking aboutbecause it was in your regular
Single-family house that you goappraise, and it's not even your
(13:48):
regular $25 million house youpraise, because we've appraised
properties from you know$500,000 to, was it, a hundred
million dollars.
I mean very expensive houses.
So you know you got people thatcould praise.
You know these single-familyanimals, but when they're unique
, like the spaceship house, it'snot just your typical house.
You need to, you know, be, becreative.
(14:10):
So we were at a mixer and Iremember Marcus was gonna get.
He was engaged at one point todo some house in, like on
Springs, which was yeah, thatwas in Joshua Tree.
Yeah.
And then they told him oh yeah,you were going to praise that
one.
And then they're right.
(14:30):
By the way, we got thisproperty and since it was a
unique property that not justyour typical appraiser could
actually work on, you needsomeone that has some experience
, some knowledge.
And yeah, that's the way thatproperty was was engaged.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, I forgot about that story and that particular
client was having a difficulttime finding somebody to
actually appraise it.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
That knew how to appraise it at least.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, and we were engaged to appraise a property
in Joshua Tree and that propertywas.
It's like if you're looking atit from an aerial standpoint,
you won't be able to see it,because it blends in with the
rocks.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So it's a rock house and actually it's on Airbnb
today and I actually saw it onAirbnb and it's a pretty
generous amount per night.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So you're sure you know what you're talking about
and it's stunning.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, so that one.
And then he goes oh, I was justtrying to engage on that one.
So yeah, I remember that,that's actually.
I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I mean, just because you have the license to appraise
, I don't know, $10 millionhouse or $20, it doesn't mean
that you have the expertise toactually do it.
So you need to have thecompetency to do it and so, yeah
, so that's interesting, becausethat's the way that word of
(15:50):
mouth goes is like, okay, if youguys appraise these you know
we've appraised these houses inHollywood or Beverly Hills and
they're off a mountain, or whenthey have beautiful views,
stunning views of downtown LA,and you know, since they know
we've appraised property thatway, they reach out like, hey,
you guys appraise this house,now we have this one.
(16:12):
It's a proposed house, it'sgoing to have a view, and so
that's how.
Yeah, so the word of mouth onthose at least expensive single
families.
It's the way that we've beenengaged Well more than Marcus.
You know we've been engagedthat way, though engaged.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, I've also noticed being a real estate
agent there's, you know, theclasses are informative, but
they really the experience ofactually being in the field is
completely different.
And so, working with you guys,I feel like I have learned so
much about valuation, you know,and what goes into it, and like
actual comps and you know it'seasy to just, you know, do a
(16:52):
handful of comps, but toactually understand them and why
it's a whole different.
You know, level ofunderstanding and comprehension
for that side of it.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, because, as a relator, sometimes you get, you
know, or you know they're givingan opinion of value based on
comps that a broker is or anagent is actually looking at,
and an appraiser may not evenuse any of those comparables
because they don't make anysense to you know, they're
definitely not, they're notcomparable.
(17:25):
So so, yeah, I mean you know,you're, you know you're, you're
learning in that sense too, thatyou're actually gonna be able
to help your client out whenyou're representing them.
Hey, this is, you know whatactually an appraiser will do,
you know which is the bank isgonna rely on, as opposed to
something that I'm just, youknow, throwing, thrown out
generate or the system generatedcomps yeah yeah, which I had
(17:46):
issues with before with aprevious client where I didn't
feel like the comps that wasgenerated by that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, you know program was accurate, and so I
had to do some research myselfand, yeah, I found more accurate
cops.
The real estate shop came aboutbecause so, marcus, I think we
were just having dinner at yourhouse, yeah, and you said I have
this idea.
You know what, if we started aneducational platform and we can
(18:13):
help the public, or even youknow, people in the industry not
only you know, learn aboutthese niche topics, but also, in
a way, network with each otherand be able to you know if
somebody does have they, theyare looking for that one
property, but they need helpwith fractional interests.
You know, like, we actuallyknow somebody who can help that
(18:35):
and hopefully, you know, like wehad John Penner on the podcast
and we know that he can helpwith that.
And at first I was a littlelike okay, marcus, marcus is the
idea man.
You know he's his ideas for alot of things, but I mean, you
do have great ideas.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Well, it was a collaborative of between you and
I.
We collaborate on this together, because I was actually
thinking a YouTube channel andthat's it.
And she was like Marcus, Idon't know about a YouTube
channel, what about a?
What about?
What about just going on anddoing a podcast?
Because you can, it willservice both.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, we could do both.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, and so it's like.
You know, I actually didn'tthink about that, but yeah,
that's so.
You know, just, you know thewhole thing about having a good
team and you know we want toprovide Education to the public
and the public know that.
You know there's a resourcehere.
What type of valuations we do.
We do, we, we do a lot ofdifferent types of valuations,
but there's also, there's alsoother things that you may need.
(19:35):
You know me, you need a plumber, or Our painter, or you know.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
But also I wanted this podcast to be for people to
realize that real estate, moreinformation, is better.
The more information you have,I mean, the less scary real
estate can be.
And to have you know anappraiser come on and explain
Certain things.
I thought when you were on thepodcast with Jack discussing
about you know what actuallyadds value to a property.
(20:01):
You know and maybe like, if youwant your home to get the
amount of money or do you wantto sell fast, like where to put
that money.
I think that is, I mean, sointeresting For somebody who, I
mean, might have not any ideahow to do things Like that.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
So yeah, so market does definitely custom system
some good ideas.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So sometimes I don't like to admit that and I might
just whisper it, you know, tomyself, but yeah just so you
know who we are Jose's alicensed broker, mark is is a
licensed broker and Ari is alicensed real estate agent.
He's also a certified generalappraiser, and I'm also a
certified general appraiser withsome designations.
So you know that's who, thatthis is who is.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Behind the mics yes.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, you know, that's why I bring it back to
one of the one of the reasonswhy I did not want to come back
working with Marcus until I wasactually Until I was able to say
those things, because, you know, I didn't want to be, I didn't
want to have, you know, to helpa customer out or client out,
you got to have the knowledgeand education for it and you
know that takes you can't justyou know, just you know wake up
(21:13):
one day and just say I'm gonnado that.
So so yeah, that's what took mea couple years actually kind of
get going here because I wantedto make sure I had had the
education, the knowledge to beable to, you know, help these
client or help market that withthese complicated assignments,
and that just you know.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I love working with you guys.
It's really.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, so RE is learning about retail office,
industrial, all the subtypesunderneath that, for example,
industrial you got.
Code storage, you got.
Distribution.
You got contractor's yards yougot.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, we're working on Tesla yards, even it's just.
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yes, so yeah, there is a lot of different real
estate types.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Well, now I go past an empty building and I'm
counting the parking spaces andthinking about how much that
adds to the value of thatbuilding.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And we also provide services for fractional interest
.
So it's just a lot of differentreal estate types that we've
been doing over the years, andJose's been doing this for about
a decade.
I've been doing this over twodecades, and so you get to see a
lot of different real estatetypes.
We also, jose and I, bothworked at Carrier's
International for seven yearsand CBE for a number of years,
(22:41):
so every time when you work fora big shop like that, you just
see everything come across yourdesk.
So it's been a very excitingjourney.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Excited to see where this takes us too.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
We're excited to see where this takes us, for sure.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So if you are listening and you have a
question about anything inregards to real estate it could
be mortgages, appraisals,transactions, whatever you name
it complicated you could send usan email at info at
therealestateshopcacom.
(23:17):
You could also email me, joseor Marcus, ari, jose or Marcus
at therealestateshopcacom andwe'd be happy to either answer
it on the podcast or answer itthrough an email.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, thanks Ari.
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
No, thank you guys, this has been a fun journey.
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