November 6, 2024 • 42 mins
In the Season 1 finale of "Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back," host Mike Litzner sits down with his long-time business partner and co-owner of Coldwell Banker American Homes, Tom Gallagher. With over 36 years of working together, they delve into the secrets behind their enduring partnership and how they've built an incredible company from a small real estate office to a leading firm in the industry.
They discuss balancing financial acumen with building close relationships, the importance of a strong company culture rooted in family values, and how involving family members in the business has shaped their leadership style. Tom shares his unique journey into real estate, starting from owning Blimpie franchises and racquetball clubs to purchasing their first real estate office together.
The conversation covers surviving economic downturns, the strategic transition from Century 21 to Coldwell Banker, and Tom's invaluable advice for new agents entering the industry. They also highlight their passion for giving back through the Heart of American Homes Foundation, discussing favorite fundraisers and the impact they've made in their community.
In the "Drop the Mic" segment, Tom shares a humorous anecdote that showcases his knack for storytelling, followed by a funny story from their years working together. The episode wraps up with Tom offering additional real estate insights and how listeners can reach out to him.
Connect with Tom Gallagher:
- Email: tgallagher@cbamhomes.com
- Phone: 516-526-2229
Thank you for listening
Stay connected with us:
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- Twitter: twitter.com/cbamhomes
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/cbamhomes
Visit our website:
Interested in a career in real estate?
- Join our team: careers.cbamhomes.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi and welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard and Give
Back a real estate podcast.
I'm Mike Litzner, host of ourshow and co-owner of Colwell
Banker American Homes.
We're here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Franklin
Square.
I want to thank all our viewersfor being here.
Remember please like andsubscribe.
(00:22):
And remember to stay around forthe drop the mic question.
I have the pleasure of havingmy business partner of over 36
years, the co-founder ofColdwell Banker American Homes,
tom Gallagher.
Welcome to the show, tom.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thank you, michael.
Okay, just so you know, it's 36years, six months and seven
days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
We're counting.
Yes, I've been counting for along time yes, exactly, it's one
of the things you do, right?
Yes, he likes to count, so, um,our anniversary, april fool's
day, right?
Officially so, uh, which isthat we always say it's telling.
So, um, obviously, we made itover over 36 years.
People say it's, uh, more of aof a marriage, so to speak.
(01:03):
We've been together longer thanmost marriages, so what do you
think has been the key tokeeping our partnership strong
and together for all these years?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It's an excellent question.
First of all, we both love thebusiness, we love the chase, we
love trying to do better thenext time.
I also believe that if we bothdid the same thing in the
business, we wouldn't havelasted 36 and a half years,
someone would have died?
Yes, okay, and you know I wasrooting for it to be you, thanks
(01:32):
, but no, okay.
You know you've always been theguy to go out there.
The can't sit still and run out.
And you know, try to find thenext new adventure or the next
new acquisition.
Or you know what we can do tomake things better, and I always
stayed behind and, you know,made sure we had the financial
ability to do so.
Or, stability, you know andwe've always did the mommy-daddy
(01:54):
thing also, okay, where, youknow, we do a lot of nice things
in the company.
And you know it's about family.
Okay, you and I are family.
We, you know it's about family.
Okay, you and I are family,we're the brothers that you know
that we didn't know that wemissed, but apparently we did.
You know, we've said in thepast where both of us have lost
a brother, right, right, youknow, and God sent each other to
(02:15):
replace them.
So I still believe that to thisday.
Yeah, you know.
So you know, between that andyou know the fact that you know
we just both don't like to lose,okay, yeah, it's.
You know we'll both finddifferent ways to get there, but
we do it together.
Yeah, right, and you know, Iknow you pick on me and I pick
on you.
That's true, but nobody elsebetter pick on us.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So it's, you know it's been good.
It's brothers that got togetherand turned something small into
something special.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yes.
So, tommy, you've always hadthis unique ability to deep dive
into numbers and financials and, at the same time, managed to
balance that with building closerelationships with agents and
community.
And what have you?
How do you balance the twosides of that?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, first of all, in order for us to be able to be
successful and help people, thenumbers are important, okay,
but it's not the only thing.
Right, all right.
Much like when you, when you'rea real estate agent and you and
you build your own business,it's usually based on personal
relationships.
I believe a hundred percentthat that's the best way to
(03:22):
build a relationship with the,with the people in your company.
You know we say family and wehave.
You know we're 36 yearstogether, but we also have
people with us 33 years, 34years.
You know we just had an adminleave after 28 years and it was
like a part of your familymoving away to Florida or
something.
Yeah, that's true, you know, wehad a dinner.
(03:42):
What?
48 people there showed up foran admin, you know, and she
wasn't an admin, she was Debbie,she was, she was family.
Um, you know.
So, you know, and we have somany people like that and you
know, over the years, you knowthat one of the things I love to
do, and you know, I send out onour behalf a gift to every baby
born in the company that I'maware of.
(04:03):
Obviously, right, right, youknow so, whether it's their new
parent or new grandma or grandpa, you know it's the most
exciting thing, okay, and wewant to share in that.
You know that excitement, yes,exactly.
You know so it just comesnatural, I think, to me to try
to be personal with you know,with our people, because you
know, what do they always say?
(04:24):
Right, they don't care what youknow until they know that you
care.
And it's not just a businessstrategy, it's who we are.
Okay, we actually do care.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, now it's that right brain, left brain
thing, so you have this uniquecommunication style.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And then, at the same time, though, it's like we
always joke about you, about youbeing a human calculator, right
?
So have you always had thatgift with numbers?
I?
I believe it's all the way backto card playing, okay, from the
five years old, playing canastawith my mom and my aunts and
stuff like that, and knowing howto figure out things.
And right right, you know itjust, it is something that came
naturally, but I believe it wascultivated.
You know it just, it issomething that came naturally,
but I believe it was cultivatedthrough.
You know, playing cards andalways playing games and trying
to figure things out.
And you know, from an early ageI've always been the guy kind
(05:13):
of in charge of that.
You know whether it was ourfriends, whether we go to dinner
, whether whatever it is, justgive it to me, I'll figure it
out, right, right right, Ourcompany culture.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let's talk a little bit about that.
Our company culture is reallybuilt on common sense.
I think we care about ouragents, we care about our
communities that we service.
How do you think we've stayedtrue to those values as the
company has grown over the years?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, when you look at the name of the podcast and
our company motto, which is workhard, play hard and give back,
we do that, we're always working, but we also have managed to
have time to have fun.
Let's go Mets tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right, so we do that.
But also to give back.
Nothing makes us, or mecertainly feel better than
helping someone in need.
I'm sorry that they're in need,but that we have the ability to
give back and help them Justthrough our know, just through
our foundation, the Heart ofAmerican Homes, where you know
we have every office involvedand so many people contribute a
(06:13):
portion of their salaries orwhen they have a real estate
closing just to build up thefund.
You know, in the last weekwe've helped somebody who had a
heart attack and had no healthinsurance, somebody passed away
in the company and you know theydidn't have enough money to pay
the funeral expenses.
Or whatever, it is Okay and thatyou know they're, they're so
(06:33):
grateful that somebody caredabout them.
Yeah, exactly, so you know, andI think we've instilled that
not just in, obviously,ourselves, but all of our
support staff.
They, you know, they get it.
They'll let us know ifsomething's happening or
somebody could use a hand, oryou know you know it's easy to
support the little league teamsin a town or a soccer event or
you know, if there's a cancerwalk or things like that.
(06:54):
They're all important.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But helping people one-on-one, that's a real
special, real special thing,both of your daughters both work
with us, Obviously a bigcontributor to our company
culture as well.
How has having them involved inthe business shaped the way you
feel like you've been a leaderfor this company?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Wow, that's interesting because both of them
bossed me around and I said Ihave to go to work to see my
family and then they're not niceto me.
They are great both of mydaughters.
They really have, I believe,emulated the work hard, play
hard, get back.
I see them all the time.
One of my favorite picturesfrom Lindsay she was on a yacht
(07:32):
in Croatia, yeah, okay, and shesent me a picture and it looked
like one of the corona pictureswhere you see 30 people dancing
on the deck.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And then you see a computer and it's her behind the
computer and we had over amillion dollars in closings that
week and she paid everybodywithin one day from a yacht in
Croatia.
Yeah, okay, and I'm like that'smy girl.
Yeah, okay, she's working hard.
She's certainly playing hard,right, and for the give back
part, yeah you know, besidesbeing involved, she was a woman
of the year in East Meadow, yeah, two years ago, for all of her
(08:03):
hard work in the community.
But she's also on a lot ofcharity boards.
She's in a Gavin Scott Heartshe's a board member for that
where they help families whohave children going through
heart-related issues, and itsupports the family, whether
it's paying for hotels or sothey can be there for their
children.
(08:24):
So just very, very proud of her.
And then Dana God love her.
She is the life of it.
You know, when she comes intothe room it's the entertainment
portion of the day has arrived.
Okay, yeah, she talks a lot,but she's got the greatest heart
.
She's always involved ineverything you can do.
She's the mom of my twogranddaughters and just a great
(08:48):
mom, a great person.
And now that she's taken overthe relocation director, we've
been doing a lot better withthat and she's very, very
passionate and returning phonecalls on the weekends and
getting back to people and I'mlike I don't know if she's
afraid not to work hard.
But she does.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
People forget that real estate is a
seven-day-a-week job so you'vegot to have the heart to get
into it and be into it and stuff.
So I find it interesting thatshe is able to balance being mom
, wife and relocationcoordinator for corporate
accounts.
So I give her a lot of creditfor making that all happen.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
She bribes my granddaughters.
Okay, if you guys will be quietwhile I make this phone call.
All right, there'll besomething special for you later
on.
Whatever it takes right, that'sit.
I used to bribe them when theywere younger.
They just learned how to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So this is how the lessons they learn, right?
Yeah, all right.
So, tommy, so it's 1983, 84.
I get into real estate and twoyears later you wind up coming
into the office, a small officein East Meadow called Berman
Realty, for our audience.
Why don't you share your pathinto real estate and what it
looked like?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
All right, share your path into real estate and what
it looked like.
All right, well, at the age of21, I got married to the lovely
Mary Lou in 36 years of Mike but46 years of Mary Lou.
So apparently I'm a keeper andyou know they can't get rid of
me, even if they try, right.
But I also, at the age of 22,owned a Blimpies franchise Right
, and then by the time I was 25,I had two Blimpies franchise
right, and then by the time Iwas 25, I had two blimpy
(10:24):
franchises as well asracquetball clubs.
I had food concessions andthree racquetball clubs and it
was a good business.
But it was a lot of a lot oftime and effort and you're
working with, you know, kids,and the older I got, the more
the kids got, you know, annoyingand you know who shows up, who
doesn't show up, who's stealing.
So I decided I'm going to sellall of them except one and try
(10:47):
real estate.
My best friend's mom owned thissmall little real estate company
, berman Realty, yeah, and Isaid, well, if I'm going to try
it, I should try it with them.
And I walked in and you know,of course they hired me and it
was really Mike.
Two other agents, both in their60s, no-transcript, you know.
(11:14):
It was like, okay, well, he'sthe only guy that's close to my
age I can talk to and we formeda friendship and we went out to
things together.
About 14 months into my beingthere, my best friend's mom had
a stroke and she needed to sellthe business.
That's right.
And the other couple said to uswell, why don't you guys buy it
?
Okay, so, for the sum of$12,500, mike and I bought our
(11:38):
first real estate office.
Yeah, and you know, from thereit was just him and I and the
two other agents and a rentalagent.
And then Mike's sister was the,you know, our first admin.
That's right, I forgot aboutthat.
Yeah, dottie, okay, and youknow.
And then came in, and thenArlene Gregory came in and she
was working part-time and youknow arlene part of our story,
(12:00):
you know she was with us, youknow, and still with us, okay,
but you know we're just retiredlast year but having been with
us for all, almost all of the 36years, yeah, um, so you know
that's uh, that's prettyimpressive, I think, on her part
for putting up with us.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
For 36 years.
Yes, you know, yes, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So that was it.
And then, about five years in,you know, we went from one
location to another location andyou know, then we bought our
first building, okay, in EastMeadow in 92.
And then, you know, somebodysaid to us well, you know, la
Rosa Realty in Westbury, youknow they might be selling Right
and would you be interested?
(12:37):
Now, that was Jerry Rosenthal,father of Ted Rosenthal, who was
our attorney and one of ourdearest friends.
And you know he said you guysshould buy it.
And well, we worked out a dealso we had our second office.
Yeah, you know, mike and Iflipped who got to go to
Westbury.
He lost, so you know, he wentto Westbury.
But it turned out to be thebest thing.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, first time we were separated.
Yes, right, yes, because you'regoing back to the first
building we bought.
We actually shared an officeand our desks faced each other.
I was like I always used tojoke that he had a better view
than I did, so that wasinteresting.
So yeah, and then when we hadthose two offices and then it
was like one of us needs to goup to that office and you wanted
(13:17):
me to go and I wanted you to go, and I'm like, so we had to
have this debate because we're50-50 partners, so who was the
guy that we had be thetiebreaker?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So Rick O'Neill who was vice president for Century
21.
We came in and we both statedour cases and he chose Mike to
go to Westbury and I said I grewup in East Meadow.
Okay, yes, you know, all mycontacts are East Meadow.
I was, you know, on my way tobecome the president of the
chamber of commerce, whichMichael also did a couple years
later.
But you know, I was an EastMeadow kid.
(13:48):
I grew up, you know, I went.
I just went to my 50th highschool reunion.
Um, you know, most of them, youknow, had graduated.
I didn't, but I went anyway.
No, obviously kidding, but youknow so, you know a lot of fun.
I was East Meadow and it wasthe right choice.
Then, a few years later, therewas the other Century 21 in town
.
Right, right, right.
Actually, to go back a littlebit, we were both, we were
(14:11):
independents at that time Holmes, america, berman Realty, a
small little local franchise.
We switched to Century 21 in1995.
And then, you know so, we hadthe two offices, both of them
Century 21.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Right and American Homes came from, in other words,
homes America, we were HomesAmerica.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
We had to, you know, change the name, right, that was
Evelyn Murphy, god rest hersoul.
She said well, why don't youjust make it American Homes?
And there you go, also crucial,back in the days when there
were phone books, okay, and youlook things up, century 21,
american homes came first,before century 21, art kaufman,
which was the other, the other,the other office in town, right,
(14:53):
okay, three years later webought that office.
Okay, that was our third officeand from there it rolled on.
We took over another office inBaldwin and then we opened up
our first startup in Merrick,right, you know.
Then we went and we opened upin Jamaica, which is now our
Fresh Meadows office, you knowso.
(15:14):
And it kept rolling.
So we quickly went, you know,from, you know, six to seven to
eight, our first partnership, aone tour where we became
partners, but the managingpartners was another couple of
guys, don Scanlon and AlCornella.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And you know that was in 2005.
And 20 years later, we're stillpartners with them.
Right exactly 2007,.
We added five offices underthat same arrangement.
That didn't work out so wellbecause that was 2007.
Yeah, October of 2007, themarket went crazy and for three
(15:52):
years it was brutal.
The one thing I'm very proud ofwith Mike and I is that every
time there's been a down market,we've survived and came out
stronger on the other end.
Very much so, and that's partof his perseverance and my
knowing how to budget thebalance pay things, and it's
been the history of us is thatyou just won't quit.
(16:17):
I'll make sure everything getspaid and, you know, nobody gets,
nobody gets angry.
So it's uh, we went a lot ofyears without making a lot of
money ourselves, okay, but allof our agents got paid, all of
our admins got paid and, yeah, Ithink we let one person go in
that three or four year period,yeah, and the 30 something years
I would definitely say 2007 to2009 was definitely the toughest
(16:42):
market and change we've everfaced.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
All right, would you agree with that without a doubt
it was, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know I'm I'm noted and I'm very proud that
there were our november rentsthat are due.
Now, okay, and you know,today's october 7th all the
checks are written already andthey'll while I'm away on
vacation.
I've already told my admin tosend these out on the 15th.
They'll always be a coupleweeks early.
During that period of time Iwould put dates on the envelope
(17:10):
when we had to send them out sothey'd be in on time.
Yeah okay and I would just allright, this one's got to go out
on October 5th, all right, thisone's October 8th.
Hopefully we have a closingbetween now and then, but but we
did it okay we did it and, youknow, once again came out
stronger.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, all right.
So, tommy, we've gone throughsome of the legacy of how our
company built.
You want to share with them,like the, the transition.
You know, we went through ahuge transition three and a half
years ago, from century 21 tocoldwell banker.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, and I and I went kicking and screaming yes,
you did, yeah, so so wementioned that you know we had
grown to 13 offices and you knowwe added a couple more and you
know, cut a couple.
As the situation came about.
Um, we were 25 years, a Century21 company.
We were honored with the ArtBartlett Cup, which is for
(18:02):
basically the top franchise inthe country.
We were always in the top 10 or15 as far as production and we
attended everything and we hadso many friends in there.
And then the opportunity camefor us to take Caldwell Bankers'
corporate offices.
We're NRT.
They you know, they're a big,big company across the country.
(18:28):
Yeah, just their Long Islandoperations, Just their Long
Island operations.
They had 13 offices and youknow, we were able to take that
with our 13 offices, put themtogether and merge some of the
offices together, cut out a lotof overhead.
That's the business part of metalking.
You know where it made sense,you know, and it's been a very
(18:48):
successful venture.
But I said I went kicking andscreaming because of all my
friends and being, you know, agold jacket for 25 years and
it's just, it was difficult.
I'm not as young and vibrant asMichael Wait, I'm 65 years old.
I would tell him you know howold I am.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I'm like yes, I do, I do know Because I keep telling
you.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So now I'm going to do change.
People don't like change Damn,I didn't like change but it
turned out to be prettysuccessful.
We've Made a very good, good goof it.
We're in the top ten of anyCold War banker in the country.
We're the number one in NewYork State and you know, while
those numbers are impressive, Ithink what's even better is the
amount of people that we'vegained that are now part of our
(19:35):
family.
Alright, and you know.
So you have 25 years with onething and you add this in and
they don't know us and we don'tknow them.
We weren't very, you know, inSuffolk County.
We were not.
You know, we did business therebut we didn't have any
operations there.
And to add them in, and youknow, after a feeling out period
, you know what they're justgood people.
(19:56):
You know period.
You know what they're just goodpeople, real estate people for
the most part.
You've got to be special to bein the business.
Anybody can get a license.
But to be successful and to dowell, I really believe that you
have to have a certain caring, acertain style, a certain way
about you that it's not about us, it's about the.
(20:16):
You know, it's about ourclients and you know, most of
the people that we havethroughout the entire company
now are kind of that way andthat's why, at you know, 68
years old.
Well, 68, one month and sevendays old.
Okay, I'm still doing thisbecause I like the people I'm
around, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, so what one piece of advice, Tommy, would
you give to a new agent startingout today?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
You know what, if you're shy and you're afraid to
talk to people, this is not thebusiness for you.
All right, you know I wastalking to somebody today.
I was getting this beautifulhaircut I have for you guys.
And you know he goes.
Well, you know what do youthink he goes.
How do you, how do you make it?
I go, you know if I can go to a7-Eleven and the first 10
(21:03):
people who walk in the door, allright, I'll ask them.
Have you know anybody whobought or sold a house or rented
anything in the last year?
Everybody knows somebody.
Okay, it's, you know, my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, uncle, my
grandparents sold the house.
Okay, I don't care if it's innew york, we do visits across
the world, all right, so, buteverybody knows somebody.
(21:24):
So, really, working your sphereof influence, okay, and you
know, looking to the people whoalready know and love you, I
would say anyway, when they usedto get christmas cards, I'd say
anybody, anybody who sent you achristmas card, a birthday card
, or wished you a happy birthdayon Facebook or whatever it is
those are your people.
They already know and love you,so why wouldn't they want to do
(21:46):
business with you and recommendyou to do business?
So if you do nothing else, okay, just get those names.
Get the people who know andlove you already to be on your
side, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Great piece of advice .
Great piece of advice.
They always say referralshappen by design, not by
accident.
Sure, and do a good job.
Yeah, okay, I'm assuming that.
I'm assuming that, well, youknow what?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Between them being new and us not being so new.
It's a great combination.
So if your friends out outthere looking for a good place
to work with people who actuallycare about you and will help
you succeed, where do peoplelook?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
for yes, and our locations are footprints right.
We stretch all the way fromBrooklyn through Queens, nassau
and Suffolk County, as far eastas Wading River right now.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Well, yeah, we're out there so far, but I know you
okay, and you're probably tryingto get me to stretch that
further.
If he says Westchester, justknow I'm gone okay.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's awesome.
Now I have a new goal To getrid of me, okay.
So I want to kind of move tothe play hard part of our
episode and stuff.
All right, so we know you're aconservative guy and one of your
greatest joys in your lifegranddaughters.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Oh, my babies.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
My girls yeah.
So how has?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
being a grandfather changed your outlook on life.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
You know what it's so funny?
Because I love my daughters.
They're amazing, okay, and youknow, I couldn't have been
happier.
I'm so blessed to have a great,great family life.
Yeah, and then these girls camealong and, oh my God, who knew
that?
That was the payoff?
Yeah, okay, it's just so muchfun.
You know, they come in.
I don't know if anybody hasseen any videos on reels and
(23:37):
stuff where, you know, thegranddaughter or grandson comes
out of the house and they seegrandma and grandpa and they go
right past grandma and go rightto grandpa.
Okay, well, that's me, I'm Papa.
Okay, and you know, it's allabout Papa.
And I wonder what Papa's doing.
And can we call Papa now?
And you know, it's justterrific.
Okay, I love you know,mackenzie, my seven and
a�2-year-old Just fills my heartwith joy.
(23:57):
She's actually Michael.
She's very, very energetic andbouncing all over the place and
just doing.
You know she can't wait.
Okay, finish what you're doingbefore you get to the next thing
.
I can't, I've got to do it, youknow.
And then my 4-year-old Addisonoh man, she's all about Papa,
you know.
And then my four-year-oldAddison oh man, she's all about
Papa.
We have breakfast every morning.
I have 18 minutes with herevery morning between the two
(24:20):
schools.
And, just my favorite part, nomatter what my day is going to
be like, it starts beautifullybecause of that little girl man.
She loves me and I love her andmakes me pictures.
And you know, mackenzieyesterday made me a picture of
the Mets apple.
Okay, you know, when they hit ahome run, just things like that
(24:40):
, it's just so cool.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
All right, there's also the other thing when you
talk about Papa, it's Papacom,right Well?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
yes, both of my daughters and my wife also call
me Papacom.
The com is for cranky old man,which I don't think is very nice
, occasionally accurate, butstill not very nice.
I'm nothing but nice to them.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
There you go.
So you're a diehard Mets fan,you love to sing, you love to
tell jokes.
Let's say you had one night andyou had to choose Going to a
Mets game, hitting a stage forkaraoke or standing on stage
performing comedy.
Which one's calling your name?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Wow, yes to all three .
Yeah, okay, we can probablywork that out.
Yeah, I love telling jokes,okay, and the Mets, you know
they'll break my heart, okay,but a good audience for me.
Telling jokes, that'sdefinitely what I would go for.
There we go.
Even more than singing, though,where no one else can
(25:41):
understand me, when everything Ido is wrong.
Well, my singing I can do threeor four songs and my voice will
give out, but jokes, they'renever-ending.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
We're debating whether or not we want you to
tell a joke on this episode ornot.
We've shared plenty of personalexperiences together over the
years, including drinking vodka,playing blackjack and playing
golf.
You want to share a memorableexperience about one of these,
and more of one.
Which one do you think you'rebest at?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Okay, once again hitting on all my hot spots.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I'm an avid golfer, but not a very good one, so
we'll leave that out, okay.
And drinking vodka while it'ssomething anybody can do, we
tend to do a little bit more ofit when we're together.
So I think you are the problem.
(26:47):
I might be, but blackjack,blackjack is about numbers.
There you go in a row, I'll sayha, ha, ha, ha, because that
means I'm going to win fourhands in a row.
Next, right, okay.
So it's just you know, and thatwe actually do, pretty well,
considering you know that it's ahouse game, correct, if you
follow the right system and youdo it.
And then, once again, it'snumbers, yep.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
So I think blackjack All right For our audience.
Officially, Tom's the one whoactually taught me how to play
blackjack, so we play theidentical system every time.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And, if I may add, I taught him and yet he's a much
crazier gambler than I am.
He bets a lot more money.
You know why?
Because I'm the guy that holdson to the money and I've got to
make sure we have enough and Ihave a system and I don't want
to do anything that would takeaway from my kids and Mike's
just crazy.
You're giving my secrets away.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Let's pivot a little bit to giving back.
We started talking before aboutthe heart of American Homes.
Right, it's a passion, it's afoundation that's tax-exempt,
but we've put together to serveour communities and to help
people.
So, officially, you're chairmanof the board.
You want to share a little bitmore about the foundation, the
(28:02):
Heart of American HomesFoundation, with our audience.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sure, okay, well, actually, mike and I, we've both
been in Kiwanis, okay, forprobably 35 years now.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And it's been a passion for both of us.
We run a golf outing each yearin memory of our dear friend
Steve Eisman, Passed away almostnine years now.
It still breaks our heart everyday, but we run a golf outing
that used to raise about $10,000or $12,000.
We raise almost $40,000 a yeareach year now in his memory.
(28:33):
He's the one who got usinvolved in Kiwanis in the first
place and now that money goesto send kids to camp.
30, 40 kids a year go to camp.
That would never have thatopportunity otherwise, as well
as food baskets and helping kidsand scholarships, and you know
so that money goes a long wayhelping people just in the East
(28:53):
Meadow community, scholarshipsand you know so the money goes a
long way helping people just inthe East Meadow community and
from that you know the abilityto give back and we do enjoy it.
You know both of us took ourchildren.
Then Mike still actually doesthe food baskets, okay, where
you know he gets all the namestogether, sends people out.
You know, groups them together.
We're serving, you know, about120 families.
(29:16):
Every year mike sends everybodyout.
Okay, you know which, whichdirection.
You know these four houses aretogether or you know wherever it
can be so you know, he, we,both of us can't give a lot of
consistent time, but if you giveus a project, it's just another
thing that we do and I'm veryproud of.
When our children were younger,we would take them with us to
deliver the food baskets becausethey've led pretty good lives
(29:40):
and I'm very proud of that.
But they should see that noteverybody has that opportunity
and I really believe it's whatset all of them on the way to be
the good people that they aretoday.
They're not just successful andhappy, but they all contribute
back to the community, in know,to the community in different
ways.
Yeah, very much so you knowwhat?
So you want to talk about howproud we are about business?
(30:01):
I'm not as proud about businessas I am about the families that
both of us have been able toraise.
Very much so you know.
But so Kiwanis set the tone.
But then in the company, wewere always big with Easterseals
, with Century 21, we were oneof the top five fundraisers in
the entire system, uh, for manyyears, and you know we enjoyed
that, uh, when we became call abanker, the St Jude's, and we're
(30:24):
very, very active in that.
Um, however, our people when wetried to get them.
You know our people, I mean ouragents and our employees and
everybody.
You know they.
They said that's great, but wedon't get to see the results of
that.
You know, we know we're helping, right, okay, but we don't see
the results.
And they wanted to do somethingmore more localized, which gave
(30:46):
us the impetus.
We're part of a brainstorminggroup where quite a few of those
companies have their ownfoundations and we decided to
start our own 501C3.
And it's just been, you know,it really has been my passion,
as well as Mike's, obviously.
You know, just being able tohelp, okay, we've had so many
(31:09):
sad situations where there wasnowhere else to go but us.
Okay, and you know, even somepeople in the community the
local church has a St Vincent dePaul and they'll you know they
don't have a lot of moneyThey'll call on us to help
somebody in the community andyou know what?
We're happy to do it, becausethis is what we've been raising
the money for.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
What do you consider your favorite heart of American
home story?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Wow, you know, once again, there's a lot of.
This is something we're givingpeople in need.
Yes, however, you know we'vehad an admin in our company who,
you know, through a comedy oferror there's nothing funny
about it didn't have insuranceand didn't, you know, have the
(31:55):
ability to, you know, to pay forwhat was going to be needed.
And we were able to.
You know, personally, mike andI added her to our insurance
with the best insurance possible, but also our entire office and
the community raised so muchmoney for her, okay, that you
know she was able to pay foranything she needed, any co-pays
(32:17):
, anything that went along theline.
The people in the companychauffeured her back and forth
to her appointments and sat withher after her operation.
And you know, just like a wholecommunity, we love you type
thing, and you know that feelingand we've done that in six or
seven different situations.
You know where.
(32:37):
You know the people who are inneed and man did not only do
they come out, they came out indroves and and and did.
We were trying to raise fivethousand dollars.
We raised fifteen thousanddollars, yeah, yeah, and you
know.
So.
Now, instead of, we have ascholarship fund.
Okay, on top of taking care ofthe expenses that needed to be
taken care of at that time,right, right.
(32:59):
So is there one favorite one?
It's not a favorite one becauseit's usually a sad thing, but,
damn, am I proud about ourpeople and ourselves.
Give ourselves a little pat onthe back because, you know, mike
and I fund quite a bit of it.
But, you know, so do the agents, and we do a couple of
fundraisers.
What's your favorite fundraiser?
Well, okay of it.
(33:24):
But you know, so do the agents,and we do a couple of
fundraisers.
And what's your favoritefundraiser?
Well, okay, well, you know whatthey.
They had the.
Uh, we did a comedy night.
That was good, okay.
But the night at the races, Ithink, is everybody's favorite.
Um, that's a blast.
You know, we get on the littlewooden horses and hop around and
, uh, you know, and, and theyget excited, and then we try to
outbid each other to buy a horseand it's a lot of silliness.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
What did we bet on just one of those fundraisers?
Didn't we net like over $20,000?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, one of the first times we did it, we
raised $27,000.
Yeah, okay, that was a greatnight.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
And they had fun.
Yes, it was a blast, they hadfun.
It it was fun, it was a blast.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It was.
You know.
Actually we were supposed to doone coming up and the hall
won't allow us to do it anymorebecause they got in trouble with
the state for doing gambling.
I don't think it's gambling,it's fundraising.
It's fundraising, yeah, you know.
So we're looking for a newvenue.
But look, we'll be here soonand you guys have a lot of fun.
It sells out early.
We get over 250 people peoplenormally.
Yeah, you know, you know,everybody contributes, every
(34:17):
every one of our offices getstogether and contributes a
basket.
So I like that too.
It's not just Mike and I orjust a board doing it, it's the
entire company.
They get together, they do alot of retreats, they do Italian
thing and they do wine baskets.
They, you know, and they have alot of fun doing it.
A little flavor from their area, it's, it's it's team building,
it's, you know, but it's teambuilding, but also it's life
(34:37):
building.
You can feel good after goingto that event and saying you did
something special tonight.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Now one of the things I love about the foundation is
that you know, would you say weprobably raise $100,000 a year,
$150,000, $160,000 a year, okay,which is obviously it's real
money so it can make real impactin the community, but that the
foundation is set up to have noexpenses, so literally 100% of
that money goes back into thecommunity.
So there's no rent, it's housedin our offices, there's no
employees, there's literallyzero overhead for the
(35:13):
organization other than,obviously, the cost of running
the actual fundraiser.
So when you see you know thenet.
So when we see you know some ofthe scenarios that we come
across and just to be able to,just you know, have the
foundation board vote, you know,and just make it happen, I
think it's wow, it's a wowmoment for us.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I love it.
Yeah, I love the ability to getsomething done in a few hours
that would take others weeks toget approval on.
We have our board, we have ourexecutive committee and it's
great what Michael said abouteverybody's doing this not for
free, because they're takingtheir time and their effort and
obviously contributing money,but they're giving from their
(35:56):
heart.
Our attorney we mentioned TedRosenthal before when he sets
this up and does the legal workfor free, okay.
When our accountant does thetax returns and it's you know
you've got to be careful whenit's a tax-exempt organization
but they do it.
They do it for free, okay.
Everybody contributes in theirown way.
Everybody's there, they kick inand you know it's not that
(36:20):
they're our favorite peoplebecause they do it, because they
were already good people.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
But I love that they follow our lead into.
You know, everybody's going tocontribute to make this as
special as it is.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
If someone wants to make a donation to the Heart of
American Homes Foundation, doyou want to direct them to our
website?
Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
The Heart of American Homes website, you'll find it.
There's a Donate Now button.
We take Venmo, we take checks.
Okay, I'll take your car, thecar's, for cash.
I'll do whatever you got to do.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Because I can trust you It'll be money well spent.
Yeah, you'll feel good aboutthe people that we help and if
you ever need to know, we'lltell you a few stories about you
know, I won't tell you who theyare, but I'll tell you what we
did for them.
There you go, good.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Good, all right.
Well, I want to remind theaudience please like and
subscribe, and I want to go tothe drop the mic question.
So this is always a little leftfield here.
I'm not sure if I can get awaywith doing this or not, but
since you have this knack fortelling jokes now, I've heard a
lot of your jokes here, and I'mnot sure this is going to be
ready for primetime or PG.
(37:24):
What's one of your go-to jokesthat you can share with our
audience?
Okay, well, knowing that, theydon't offend any.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
However, I have no problem offending Remax or any
of their agents.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, okay, and away we go.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
All right.
So one day the president ofRE-MAX is walking past his son's
room and he hears him prayingand he goes oh, that's nice.
And he hears him say God blessmommy, god bless daddy, god
bless sister, god bless brother,god bless grandma, goodbye
grandpa.
He's like whoa, what is that?
Sure enough, the next daygrandpa passes away.
He starts to worry about what'sgoing on.
(38:01):
So he pays more attention tohis son and a few weeks later he
hears his son praying again Godbless Mommy, god bless Daddy,
god bless Sister, god blessBrother, goodbye Grandma.
Sure enough, the next dayGrandma passes away.
So now he's a little worried.
Just like the setup we havehere, he puts all kinds of
recording devices in the kid'sroom and the camera.
(38:22):
And, sure enough, the day comeswhen he says God bless Mommy,
god bless Sister, God blessBrother, goodbye Dad.
He's like oh man.
So the next day he's allworried.
He doesn't take the balloon towork, okay, he walks.
He avoids ladders, okay.
He gets home 7.30 at night andhe tells his wife you know, I
(38:43):
had the worst day.
I was so worried all day Ithought something was going to
happen to me and it was terrible.
And she goes, you had a bad daythe mailman died on the porch.
Ooh.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I apologize to any RE-MAC agents, but not really
okay, because you shouldn't bethere.
You should be with us, havingworked together for all these
years, or business partnerstogether, what's one funny story
that jumps off the page.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Well, I don't know if I can tell this one.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
You might have to edit that out.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
However, okay, a long time ago, mike and I had a
difficult client and what we didwas we had a name for him and
we actually, you know, would usehis now pseudonym all the time
when we spoke about him.
Well, we used to send out a lotof mailings in the neighborhood
and we sent out mailings andapparently somebody and we're
(39:33):
still arguing about it to thisday okay, who did it?
Okay, but he did get a piece ofmail with his pseudonym name on
it and he wasn't happy and hecame in and we had been in a
little bit of litigation withthis gentleman because he took
his house with the market, eventhough we were in contract, and
(39:54):
it was a whole big thing andMike had to go to court.
Ebts, ebts.
Rightbts right okay examinationbefore trial, and you know, and
they're, and they're doing thiswhole examination.
He comes back to me and he'sred as I.
He's a red-faced guy, okay, buthe was just you know.
He came back to you, so whydidn't you tell me?
(40:15):
You know who.
You did this.
I go, I didn't do it, you didit back and forth, but still
what I'm telling you?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
this happened 32 years ago, wait wait, I think
our audience was missing thepart that first of all, exhibit
n comes up and they had amailing with an avery label on
it with his, his pseudonym nameon it and his address, and I had
to read it into the testimony,which I still remember.
(40:43):
The stenographer going likethis and just stopping and
looking, having our eyes peekout above the glasses, she
blushed and then went back downto this.
The attorney immediately says Iwant a recess.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And he said what the hell is wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
guys.
I'm like freaking Gallagher, itwas Litzner, I'm telling you,
yeah so, but then for ouraudience we have to say he gives
me this thing and says, uh well, it's the miracle on 33rd
street explanation, that's wellno what you did.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
You settled okay, and I go why'd you settle?
He goes well, had the evidence,and we what?
The name that we called him.
It was on the hey I, I go, sowhat?
Okay, it's the miracle of 34thStreet Defense, if you guys
recall that movie.
How did they prove that therereally was a Santa Claus?
Well, the US mail, okay,delivered all the mail to the
Santa Claus.
At the trial, okay, sotherefore you can't go against
(41:33):
that.
The government said thatthere's really a Santa Claus.
Well, the mail delivered tothis guy, the name that we
called him.
They knew he was what we said,okay, so therefore, we should
have won the trial, but Mikevery rarely gives in.
This one he gave in.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Now I know everyone's going to be asking me after
this episode comes out.
It's like what the heck is apseudonym?
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Well, you got to prove that you saw the video,
that you saw the podcast.
Okay, and if you do in private,we'll tell you what we call
them.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And yeah, only if, only if you like and subscribe,
then you can get us.
You get the special uhpseudonym name well, tommy um,
love having you on the showtoday.
Um, I know our audienceappreciates your sense of humor
and, uh, more importantly, yourcharitable heart.
So, um, if anyone wants toreach out to you, have any
(42:21):
questions about real estate or acareer in real estate, how do
they reach Tom Gallagher?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
All right.
So if anybody would ever liketo talk to me about real estate
or even a little bit of help inlife, I'd be more than happy to
talk to you.
You can reach me at tgallagher,at cbamhomescom.
You can reach me at516-526-2229.
Okay, just you know, reach out,I'd be happy to help you
whatever I can thank you great.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Well, thanks for joining us on the show today.
I love you, my friend.
I love you too, man bye.
Hi and welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard and Give
Back a real estate podcast.
I'm Mike Litzner, host of ourshow and co-owner of Colwell
Banker American Homes.
We're here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Franklin
Square.
I want to thank all our viewersfor being here.
Remember please like andsubscribe.
(00:22):
And remember to stay around forthe drop the mic question.
I have the pleasure of havingmy business partner of over 36
years, the co-founder ofColdwell Banker American Homes,
tom Gallagher.
Welcome to the show, tom.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thank you, michael.
Okay, just so you know, it's 36years, six months and seven
days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
We're counting.
Yes, I've been counting for along time yes, exactly, it's one
of the things you do, right?
Yes, he likes to count, so, um,our anniversary, april fool's
day, right?
Officially so, uh, which isthat we always say it's telling.
So, um, obviously, we made itover over 36 years.
People say it's, uh, more of aof a marriage, so to speak.
(01:03):
We've been together longer thanmost marriages, so what do you
think has been the key tokeeping our partnership strong
and together for all these years?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It's an excellent question.
First of all, we both love thebusiness, we love the chase, we
love trying to do better thenext time.
I also believe that if we bothdid the same thing in the
business, we wouldn't havelasted 36 and a half years,
someone would have died?
Yes, okay, and you know I wasrooting for it to be you, thanks
(01:32):
, but no, okay.
You know you've always been theguy to go out there.
The can't sit still and run out.
And you know, try to find thenext new adventure or the next
new acquisition.
Or you know what we can do tomake things better, and I always
stayed behind and, you know,made sure we had the financial
ability to do so.
Or, stability, you know andwe've always did the mommy-daddy
(01:54):
thing also, okay, where, youknow, we do a lot of nice things
in the company.
And you know it's about family.
Okay, you and I are family.
We, you know it's about family.
Okay, you and I are family,we're the brothers that you know
that we didn't know that wemissed, but apparently we did.
You know, we've said in thepast where both of us have lost
a brother, right, right, youknow, and God sent each other to
(02:15):
replace them.
So I still believe that to thisday.
Yeah, you know.
So you know, between that andyou know the fact that you know
we just both don't like to lose,okay, yeah, it's.
You know we'll both finddifferent ways to get there, but
we do it together.
Yeah, right, and you know, Iknow you pick on me and I pick
on you.
That's true, but nobody elsebetter pick on us.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So it's, you know it's been good.
It's brothers that got togetherand turned something small into
something special.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yes.
So, tommy, you've always hadthis unique ability to deep dive
into numbers and financials and, at the same time, managed to
balance that with building closerelationships with agents and
community.
And what have you?
How do you balance the twosides of that?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, first of all, in order for us to be able to be
successful and help people, thenumbers are important, okay,
but it's not the only thing.
Right, all right.
Much like when you, when you'rea real estate agent and you and
you build your own business,it's usually based on personal
relationships.
I believe a hundred percentthat that's the best way to
(03:22):
build a relationship with the,with the people in your company.
You know we say family and wehave.
You know we're 36 yearstogether, but we also have
people with us 33 years, 34years.
You know we just had an adminleave after 28 years and it was
like a part of your familymoving away to Florida or
something.
Yeah, that's true, you know, wehad a dinner.
(03:42):
What?
48 people there showed up foran admin, you know, and she
wasn't an admin, she was Debbie,she was, she was family.
Um, you know.
So, you know, and we have somany people like that and you
know, over the years, you knowthat one of the things I love to
do, and you know, I send out onour behalf a gift to every baby
born in the company that I'maware of.
(04:03):
Obviously, right, right, youknow so, whether it's their new
parent or new grandma or grandpa, you know it's the most
exciting thing, okay, and wewant to share in that.
You know that excitement, yes,exactly.
You know so it just comesnatural, I think, to me to try
to be personal with you know,with our people, because you
know, what do they always say?
(04:24):
Right, they don't care what youknow until they know that you
care.
And it's not just a businessstrategy, it's who we are.
Okay, we actually do care.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, now it's that right brain, left brain
thing, so you have this uniquecommunication style.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And then, at the same time, though, it's like we
always joke about you, about youbeing a human calculator, right
?
So have you always had thatgift with numbers?
I?
I believe it's all the way backto card playing, okay, from the
five years old, playing canastawith my mom and my aunts and
stuff like that, and knowing howto figure out things.
And right right, you know itjust, it is something that came
naturally, but I believe it wascultivated.
You know it just, it issomething that came naturally,
but I believe it was cultivatedthrough.
You know, playing cards andalways playing games and trying
to figure things out.
And you know, from an early ageI've always been the guy kind
(05:13):
of in charge of that.
You know whether it was ourfriends, whether we go to dinner
, whether whatever it is, justgive it to me, I'll figure it
out, right, right right, Ourcompany culture.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let's talk a little bit about that.
Our company culture is reallybuilt on common sense.
I think we care about ouragents, we care about our
communities that we service.
How do you think we've stayedtrue to those values as the
company has grown over the years?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, when you look at the name of the podcast and
our company motto, which is workhard, play hard and give back,
we do that, we're always working, but we also have managed to
have time to have fun.
Let's go Mets tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
All right, so we do that.
But also to give back.
Nothing makes us, or mecertainly feel better than
helping someone in need.
I'm sorry that they're in need,but that we have the ability to
give back and help them Justthrough our know, just through
our foundation, the Heart ofAmerican Homes, where you know
we have every office involvedand so many people contribute a
(06:13):
portion of their salaries orwhen they have a real estate
closing just to build up thefund.
You know, in the last weekwe've helped somebody who had a
heart attack and had no healthinsurance, somebody passed away
in the company and you know theydidn't have enough money to pay
the funeral expenses.
Or whatever, it is Okay and thatyou know they're, they're so
(06:33):
grateful that somebody caredabout them.
Yeah, exactly, so you know, andI think we've instilled that
not just in, obviously,ourselves, but all of our
support staff.
They, you know, they get it.
They'll let us know ifsomething's happening or
somebody could use a hand, oryou know you know it's easy to
support the little league teamsin a town or a soccer event or
you know, if there's a cancerwalk or things like that.
(06:54):
They're all important.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But helping people one-on-one, that's a real
special, real special thing,both of your daughters both work
with us, Obviously a bigcontributor to our company
culture as well.
How has having them involved inthe business shaped the way you
feel like you've been a leaderfor this company?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Wow, that's interesting because both of them
bossed me around and I said Ihave to go to work to see my
family and then they're not niceto me.
They are great both of mydaughters.
They really have, I believe,emulated the work hard, play
hard, get back.
I see them all the time.
One of my favorite picturesfrom Lindsay she was on a yacht
(07:32):
in Croatia, yeah, okay, and shesent me a picture and it looked
like one of the corona pictureswhere you see 30 people dancing
on the deck.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And then you see a computer and it's her behind the
computer and we had over amillion dollars in closings that
week and she paid everybodywithin one day from a yacht in
Croatia.
Yeah, okay, and I'm like that'smy girl.
Yeah, okay, she's working hard.
She's certainly playing hard,right, and for the give back
part, yeah you know, besidesbeing involved, she was a woman
of the year in East Meadow, yeah, two years ago, for all of her
(08:03):
hard work in the community.
But she's also on a lot ofcharity boards.
She's in a Gavin Scott Heartshe's a board member for that
where they help families whohave children going through
heart-related issues, and itsupports the family, whether
it's paying for hotels or sothey can be there for their
children.
(08:24):
So just very, very proud of her.
And then Dana God love her.
She is the life of it.
You know, when she comes intothe room it's the entertainment
portion of the day has arrived.
Okay, yeah, she talks a lot,but she's got the greatest heart
.
She's always involved ineverything you can do.
She's the mom of my twogranddaughters and just a great
(08:48):
mom, a great person.
And now that she's taken overthe relocation director, we've
been doing a lot better withthat and she's very, very
passionate and returning phonecalls on the weekends and
getting back to people and I'mlike I don't know if she's
afraid not to work hard.
But she does.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
People forget that real estate is a
seven-day-a-week job so you'vegot to have the heart to get
into it and be into it and stuff.
So I find it interesting thatshe is able to balance being mom
, wife and relocationcoordinator for corporate
accounts.
So I give her a lot of creditfor making that all happen.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
She bribes my granddaughters.
Okay, if you guys will be quietwhile I make this phone call.
All right, there'll besomething special for you later
on.
Whatever it takes right, that'sit.
I used to bribe them when theywere younger.
They just learned how to do it.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So this is how the lessons they learn, right?
Yeah, all right.
So, tommy, so it's 1983, 84.
I get into real estate and twoyears later you wind up coming
into the office, a small officein East Meadow called Berman
Realty, for our audience.
Why don't you share your pathinto real estate and what it
looked like?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
All right, share your path into real estate and what
it looked like.
All right, well, at the age of21, I got married to the lovely
Mary Lou in 36 years of Mike but46 years of Mary Lou.
So apparently I'm a keeper andyou know they can't get rid of
me, even if they try, right.
But I also, at the age of 22,owned a Blimpies franchise Right
, and then by the time I was 25,I had two Blimpies franchise
right, and then by the time Iwas 25, I had two blimpy
(10:24):
franchises as well asracquetball clubs.
I had food concessions andthree racquetball clubs and it
was a good business.
But it was a lot of a lot oftime and effort and you're
working with, you know, kids,and the older I got, the more
the kids got, you know, annoyingand you know who shows up, who
doesn't show up, who's stealing.
So I decided I'm going to sellall of them except one and try
(10:47):
real estate.
My best friend's mom owned thissmall little real estate company
, berman Realty, yeah, and Isaid, well, if I'm going to try
it, I should try it with them.
And I walked in and you know,of course they hired me and it
was really Mike.
Two other agents, both in their60s, no-transcript, you know.
(11:14):
It was like, okay, well, he'sthe only guy that's close to my
age I can talk to and we formeda friendship and we went out to
things together.
About 14 months into my beingthere, my best friend's mom had
a stroke and she needed to sellthe business.
That's right.
And the other couple said to uswell, why don't you guys buy it
?
Okay, so, for the sum of$12,500, mike and I bought our
(11:38):
first real estate office.
Yeah, and you know, from thereit was just him and I and the
two other agents and a rentalagent.
And then Mike's sister was the,you know, our first admin.
That's right, I forgot aboutthat.
Yeah, dottie, okay, and youknow.
And then came in, and thenArlene Gregory came in and she
was working part-time and youknow arlene part of our story,
(12:00):
you know she was with us, youknow, and still with us, okay,
but you know we're just retiredlast year but having been with
us for all, almost all of the 36years, yeah, um, so you know
that's uh, that's prettyimpressive, I think, on her part
for putting up with us.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
For 36 years.
Yes, you know, yes, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So that was it.
And then, about five years in,you know, we went from one
location to another location andyou know, then we bought our
first building, okay, in EastMeadow in 92.
And then, you know, somebodysaid to us well, you know, la
Rosa Realty in Westbury, youknow they might be selling Right
and would you be interested?
(12:37):
Now, that was Jerry Rosenthal,father of Ted Rosenthal, who was
our attorney and one of ourdearest friends.
And you know he said you guysshould buy it.
And well, we worked out a dealso we had our second office.
Yeah, you know, mike and Iflipped who got to go to
Westbury.
He lost, so you know, he wentto Westbury.
But it turned out to be thebest thing.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, first time we were separated.
Yes, right, yes, because you'regoing back to the first
building we bought.
We actually shared an officeand our desks faced each other.
I was like I always used tojoke that he had a better view
than I did, so that wasinteresting.
So yeah, and then when we hadthose two offices and then it
was like one of us needs to goup to that office and you wanted
(13:17):
me to go and I wanted you to go, and I'm like, so we had to
have this debate because we're50-50 partners, so who was the
guy that we had be thetiebreaker?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So Rick O'Neill who was vice president for Century
21.
We came in and we both statedour cases and he chose Mike to
go to Westbury and I said I grewup in East Meadow.
Okay, yes, you know, all mycontacts are East Meadow.
I was, you know, on my way tobecome the president of the
chamber of commerce, whichMichael also did a couple years
later.
But you know, I was an EastMeadow kid.
(13:48):
I grew up, you know, I went.
I just went to my 50th highschool reunion.
Um, you know, most of them, youknow, had graduated.
I didn't, but I went anyway.
No, obviously kidding, but youknow so, you know a lot of fun.
I was East Meadow and it wasthe right choice.
Then, a few years later, therewas the other Century 21 in town
.
Right, right, right.
Actually, to go back a littlebit, we were both, we were
(14:11):
independents at that time Holmes, america, berman Realty, a
small little local franchise.
We switched to Century 21 in1995.
And then, you know so, we hadthe two offices, both of them
Century 21.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Right and American Homes came from, in other words,
homes America, we were HomesAmerica.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
We had to, you know, change the name, right, that was
Evelyn Murphy, god rest hersoul.
She said well, why don't youjust make it American Homes?
And there you go, also crucial,back in the days when there
were phone books, okay, and youlook things up, century 21,
american homes came first,before century 21, art kaufman,
which was the other, the other,the other office in town, right,
(14:53):
okay, three years later webought that office.
Okay, that was our third officeand from there it rolled on.
We took over another office inBaldwin and then we opened up
our first startup in Merrick,right, you know.
Then we went and we opened upin Jamaica, which is now our
Fresh Meadows office, you knowso.
(15:14):
And it kept rolling.
So we quickly went, you know,from, you know, six to seven to
eight, our first partnership, aone tour where we became
partners, but the managingpartners was another couple of
guys, don Scanlon and AlCornella.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And you know that was in 2005.
And 20 years later, we're stillpartners with them.
Right exactly 2007,.
We added five offices underthat same arrangement.
That didn't work out so wellbecause that was 2007.
Yeah, October of 2007, themarket went crazy and for three
(15:52):
years it was brutal.
The one thing I'm very proud ofwith Mike and I is that every
time there's been a down market,we've survived and came out
stronger on the other end.
Very much so, and that's partof his perseverance and my
knowing how to budget thebalance pay things, and it's
been the history of us is thatyou just won't quit.
(16:17):
I'll make sure everything getspaid and, you know, nobody gets,
nobody gets angry.
So it's uh, we went a lot ofyears without making a lot of
money ourselves, okay, but allof our agents got paid, all of
our admins got paid and, yeah, Ithink we let one person go in
that three or four year period,yeah, and the 30 something years
I would definitely say 2007 to2009 was definitely the toughest
(16:42):
market and change we've everfaced.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
All right, would you agree with that without a doubt
it was, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know I'm I'm noted and I'm very proud that
there were our november rentsthat are due.
Now, okay, and you know,today's october 7th all the
checks are written already andthey'll while I'm away on
vacation.
I've already told my admin tosend these out on the 15th.
They'll always be a coupleweeks early.
During that period of time Iwould put dates on the envelope
(17:10):
when we had to send them out sothey'd be in on time.
Yeah okay and I would just allright, this one's got to go out
on October 5th, all right, thisone's October 8th.
Hopefully we have a closingbetween now and then, but but we
did it okay we did it and, youknow, once again came out
stronger.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, all right.
So, tommy, we've gone throughsome of the legacy of how our
company built.
You want to share with them,like the, the transition.
You know, we went through ahuge transition three and a half
years ago, from century 21 tocoldwell banker.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Okay, and I and I went kicking and screaming yes,
you did, yeah, so so wementioned that you know we had
grown to 13 offices and you knowwe added a couple more and you
know, cut a couple.
As the situation came about.
Um, we were 25 years, a Century21 company.
We were honored with the ArtBartlett Cup, which is for
(18:02):
basically the top franchise inthe country.
We were always in the top 10 or15 as far as production and we
attended everything and we hadso many friends in there.
And then the opportunity camefor us to take Caldwell Bankers'
corporate offices.
We're NRT.
They you know, they're a big,big company across the country.
(18:28):
Yeah, just their Long Islandoperations, Just their Long
Island operations.
They had 13 offices and youknow, we were able to take that
with our 13 offices, put themtogether and merge some of the
offices together, cut out a lotof overhead.
That's the business part of metalking.
You know where it made sense,you know, and it's been a very
(18:48):
successful venture.
But I said I went kicking andscreaming because of all my
friends and being, you know, agold jacket for 25 years and
it's just, it was difficult.
I'm not as young and vibrant asMichael Wait, I'm 65 years old.
I would tell him you know howold I am.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I'm like yes, I do, I do know Because I keep telling
you.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So now I'm going to do change.
People don't like change Damn,I didn't like change but it
turned out to be prettysuccessful.
We've Made a very good, good goof it.
We're in the top ten of anyCold War banker in the country.
We're the number one in NewYork State and you know, while
those numbers are impressive, Ithink what's even better is the
amount of people that we'vegained that are now part of our
(19:35):
family.
Alright, and you know.
So you have 25 years with onething and you add this in and
they don't know us and we don'tknow them.
We weren't very, you know, inSuffolk County.
We were not.
You know, we did business therebut we didn't have any
operations there.
And to add them in, and youknow, after a feeling out period
, you know what they're justgood people.
(19:56):
You know period.
You know what they're just goodpeople, real estate people for
the most part.
You've got to be special to bein the business.
Anybody can get a license.
But to be successful and to dowell, I really believe that you
have to have a certain caring, acertain style, a certain way
about you that it's not about us, it's about the.
(20:16):
You know, it's about ourclients and you know, most of
the people that we havethroughout the entire company
now are kind of that way andthat's why, at you know, 68
years old.
Well, 68, one month and sevendays old.
Okay, I'm still doing thisbecause I like the people I'm
around, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, so what one piece of advice, Tommy, would
you give to a new agent startingout today?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
You know what, if you're shy and you're afraid to
talk to people, this is not thebusiness for you.
All right, you know I wastalking to somebody today.
I was getting this beautifulhaircut I have for you guys.
And you know he goes.
Well, you know what do youthink he goes.
How do you, how do you make it?
I go, you know if I can go to a7-Eleven and the first 10
(21:03):
people who walk in the door, allright, I'll ask them.
Have you know anybody whobought or sold a house or rented
anything in the last year?
Everybody knows somebody.
Okay, it's, you know, my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, uncle, my
grandparents sold the house.
Okay, I don't care if it's innew york, we do visits across
the world, all right, so, buteverybody knows somebody.
(21:24):
So, really, working your sphereof influence, okay, and you
know, looking to the people whoalready know and love you, I
would say anyway, when they usedto get christmas cards, I'd say
anybody, anybody who sent you achristmas card, a birthday card
, or wished you a happy birthdayon Facebook or whatever it is
those are your people.
They already know and love you,so why wouldn't they want to do
(21:46):
business with you and recommendyou to do business?
So if you do nothing else, okay, just get those names.
Get the people who know andlove you already to be on your
side, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Great piece of advice .
Great piece of advice.
They always say referralshappen by design, not by
accident.
Sure, and do a good job.
Yeah, okay, I'm assuming that.
I'm assuming that, well, youknow what?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Between them being new and us not being so new.
It's a great combination.
So if your friends out outthere looking for a good place
to work with people who actuallycare about you and will help
you succeed, where do peoplelook?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
for yes, and our locations are footprints right.
We stretch all the way fromBrooklyn through Queens, nassau
and Suffolk County, as far eastas Wading River right now.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Well, yeah, we're out there so far, but I know you
okay, and you're probably tryingto get me to stretch that
further.
If he says Westchester, justknow I'm gone okay.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's awesome.
Now I have a new goal To getrid of me, okay.
So I want to kind of move tothe play hard part of our
episode and stuff.
All right, so we know you're aconservative guy and one of your
greatest joys in your lifegranddaughters.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Oh, my babies.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
My girls yeah.
So how has?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
being a grandfather changed your outlook on life.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
You know what it's so funny?
Because I love my daughters.
They're amazing, okay, and youknow, I couldn't have been
happier.
I'm so blessed to have a great,great family life.
Yeah, and then these girls camealong and, oh my God, who knew
that?
That was the payoff?
Yeah, okay, it's just so muchfun.
You know, they come in.
I don't know if anybody hasseen any videos on reels and
(23:37):
stuff where, you know, thegranddaughter or grandson comes
out of the house and they seegrandma and grandpa and they go
right past grandma and go rightto grandpa.
Okay, well, that's me, I'm Papa.
Okay, and you know, it's allabout Papa.
And I wonder what Papa's doing.
And can we call Papa now?
And you know, it's justterrific.
Okay, I love you know,mackenzie, my seven and
a�2-year-old Just fills my heartwith joy.
(23:57):
She's actually Michael.
She's very, very energetic andbouncing all over the place and
just doing.
You know she can't wait.
Okay, finish what you're doingbefore you get to the next thing
.
I can't, I've got to do it, youknow.
And then my 4-year-old Addisonoh man, she's all about Papa,
you know.
And then my four-year-oldAddison oh man, she's all about
Papa.
We have breakfast every morning.
I have 18 minutes with herevery morning between the two
(24:20):
schools.
And, just my favorite part, nomatter what my day is going to
be like, it starts beautifullybecause of that little girl man.
She loves me and I love her andmakes me pictures.
And you know, mackenzieyesterday made me a picture of
the Mets apple.
Okay, you know, when they hit ahome run, just things like that
(24:40):
, it's just so cool.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
All right, there's also the other thing when you
talk about Papa, it's Papacom,right Well?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
yes, both of my daughters and my wife also call
me Papacom.
The com is for cranky old man,which I don't think is very nice
, occasionally accurate, butstill not very nice.
I'm nothing but nice to them.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
There you go.
So you're a diehard Mets fan,you love to sing, you love to
tell jokes.
Let's say you had one night andyou had to choose Going to a
Mets game, hitting a stage forkaraoke or standing on stage
performing comedy.
Which one's calling your name?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Wow, yes to all three .
Yeah, okay, we can probablywork that out.
Yeah, I love telling jokes,okay, and the Mets, you know
they'll break my heart, okay,but a good audience for me.
Telling jokes, that'sdefinitely what I would go for.
There we go.
Even more than singing, though,where no one else can
(25:41):
understand me, when everything Ido is wrong.
Well, my singing I can do threeor four songs and my voice will
give out, but jokes, they'renever-ending.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
We're debating whether or not we want you to
tell a joke on this episode ornot.
We've shared plenty of personalexperiences together over the
years, including drinking vodka,playing blackjack and playing
golf.
You want to share a memorableexperience about one of these,
and more of one.
Which one do you think you'rebest at?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Okay, once again hitting on all my hot spots.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I'm an avid golfer, but not a very good one, so
we'll leave that out, okay.
And drinking vodka while it'ssomething anybody can do, we
tend to do a little bit more ofit when we're together.
So I think you are the problem.
(26:47):
I might be, but blackjack,blackjack is about numbers.
There you go in a row, I'll sayha, ha, ha, ha, because that
means I'm going to win fourhands in a row.
Next, right, okay.
So it's just you know, and thatwe actually do, pretty well,
considering you know that it's ahouse game, correct, if you
follow the right system and youdo it.
And then, once again, it'snumbers, yep.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
So I think blackjack All right For our audience.
Officially, Tom's the one whoactually taught me how to play
blackjack, so we play theidentical system every time.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And, if I may add, I taught him and yet he's a much
crazier gambler than I am.
He bets a lot more money.
You know why?
Because I'm the guy that holdson to the money and I've got to
make sure we have enough and Ihave a system and I don't want
to do anything that would takeaway from my kids and Mike's
just crazy.
You're giving my secrets away.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Let's pivot a little bit to giving back.
We started talking before aboutthe heart of American Homes.
Right, it's a passion, it's afoundation that's tax-exempt,
but we've put together to serveour communities and to help
people.
So, officially, you're chairmanof the board.
You want to share a little bitmore about the foundation, the
(28:02):
Heart of American HomesFoundation, with our audience.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sure, okay, well, actually, mike and I, we've both
been in Kiwanis, okay, forprobably 35 years now.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And it's been a passion for both of us.
We run a golf outing each yearin memory of our dear friend
Steve Eisman, Passed away almostnine years now.
It still breaks our heart everyday, but we run a golf outing
that used to raise about $10,000or $12,000.
We raise almost $40,000 a yeareach year now in his memory.
(28:33):
He's the one who got usinvolved in Kiwanis in the first
place and now that money goesto send kids to camp.
30, 40 kids a year go to camp.
That would never have thatopportunity otherwise, as well
as food baskets and helping kidsand scholarships, and you know
so that money goes a long wayhelping people just in the East
(28:53):
Meadow community, scholarshipsand you know so the money goes a
long way helping people just inthe East Meadow community and
from that you know the abilityto give back and we do enjoy it.
You know both of us took ourchildren.
Then Mike still actually doesthe food baskets, okay, where
you know he gets all the namestogether, sends people out.
You know, groups them together.
We're serving, you know, about120 families.
(29:16):
Every year mike sends everybodyout.
Okay, you know which, whichdirection.
You know these four houses aretogether or you know wherever it
can be so you know, he, we,both of us can't give a lot of
consistent time, but if you giveus a project, it's just another
thing that we do and I'm veryproud of.
When our children were younger,we would take them with us to
deliver the food baskets becausethey've led pretty good lives
(29:40):
and I'm very proud of that.
But they should see that noteverybody has that opportunity
and I really believe it's whatset all of them on the way to be
the good people that they aretoday.
They're not just successful andhappy, but they all contribute
back to the community, in know,to the community in different
ways.
Yeah, very much so you knowwhat?
So you want to talk about howproud we are about business?
(30:01):
I'm not as proud about businessas I am about the families that
both of us have been able toraise.
Very much so you know.
But so Kiwanis set the tone.
But then in the company, wewere always big with Easterseals
, with Century 21, we were oneof the top five fundraisers in
the entire system, uh, for manyyears, and you know we enjoyed
that, uh, when we became call abanker, the St Jude's, and we're
(30:24):
very, very active in that.
Um, however, our people when wetried to get them.
You know our people, I mean ouragents and our employees and
everybody.
You know they.
They said that's great, but wedon't get to see the results of
that.
You know, we know we're helping, right, okay, but we don't see
the results.
And they wanted to do somethingmore more localized, which gave
(30:46):
us the impetus.
We're part of a brainstorminggroup where quite a few of those
companies have their ownfoundations and we decided to
start our own 501C3.
And it's just been, you know,it really has been my passion,
as well as Mike's, obviously.
You know, just being able tohelp, okay, we've had so many
(31:09):
sad situations where there wasnowhere else to go but us.
Okay, and you know, even somepeople in the community the
local church has a St Vincent dePaul and they'll you know they
don't have a lot of moneyThey'll call on us to help
somebody in the community andyou know what?
We're happy to do it, becausethis is what we've been raising
the money for.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
What do you consider your favorite heart of American
home story?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Wow, you know, once again, there's a lot of.
This is something we're givingpeople in need.
Yes, however, you know we'vehad an admin in our company who,
you know, through a comedy oferror there's nothing funny
about it didn't have insuranceand didn't, you know, have the
(31:55):
ability to, you know, to pay forwhat was going to be needed.
And we were able to.
You know, personally, mike andI added her to our insurance
with the best insurance possible, but also our entire office and
the community raised so muchmoney for her, okay, that you
know she was able to pay foranything she needed, any co-pays
(32:17):
, anything that went along theline.
The people in the companychauffeured her back and forth
to her appointments and sat withher after her operation.
And you know, just like a wholecommunity, we love you type
thing, and you know that feelingand we've done that in six or
seven different situations.
You know where.
(32:37):
You know the people who are inneed and man did not only do
they come out, they came out indroves and and and did.
We were trying to raise fivethousand dollars.
We raised fifteen thousanddollars, yeah, yeah, and you
know.
So.
Now, instead of, we have ascholarship fund.
Okay, on top of taking care ofthe expenses that needed to be
taken care of at that time,right, right.
(32:59):
So is there one favorite one?
It's not a favorite one becauseit's usually a sad thing, but,
damn, am I proud about ourpeople and ourselves.
Give ourselves a little pat onthe back because, you know, mike
and I fund quite a bit of it.
But, you know, so do the agents, and we do a couple of
fundraisers.
What's your favorite fundraiser?
Well, okay of it.
(33:24):
But you know, so do the agents,and we do a couple of
fundraisers.
And what's your favoritefundraiser?
Well, okay, well, you know whatthey.
They had the.
Uh, we did a comedy night.
That was good, okay.
But the night at the races, Ithink, is everybody's favorite.
Um, that's a blast.
You know, we get on the littlewooden horses and hop around and
, uh, you know, and, and theyget excited, and then we try to
outbid each other to buy a horseand it's a lot of silliness.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
What did we bet on just one of those fundraisers?
Didn't we net like over $20,000?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, one of the first times we did it, we
raised $27,000.
Yeah, okay, that was a greatnight.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
And they had fun.
Yes, it was a blast, they hadfun.
It it was fun, it was a blast.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It was.
You know.
Actually we were supposed to doone coming up and the hall
won't allow us to do it anymorebecause they got in trouble with
the state for doing gambling.
I don't think it's gambling,it's fundraising.
It's fundraising, yeah, you know.
So we're looking for a newvenue.
But look, we'll be here soonand you guys have a lot of fun.
It sells out early.
We get over 250 people peoplenormally.
Yeah, you know, you know,everybody contributes, every
(34:17):
every one of our offices getstogether and contributes a
basket.
So I like that too.
It's not just Mike and I orjust a board doing it, it's the
entire company.
They get together, they do alot of retreats, they do Italian
thing and they do wine baskets.
They, you know, and they have alot of fun doing it.
A little flavor from their area, it's, it's it's team building,
it's, you know, but it's teambuilding, but also it's life
(34:37):
building.
You can feel good after goingto that event and saying you did
something special tonight.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Now one of the things I love about the foundation is
that you know, would you say weprobably raise $100,000 a year,
$150,000, $160,000 a year, okay,which is obviously it's real
money so it can make real impactin the community, but that the
foundation is set up to have noexpenses, so literally 100% of
that money goes back into thecommunity.
So there's no rent, it's housedin our offices, there's no
employees, there's literallyzero overhead for the
(35:13):
organization other than,obviously, the cost of running
the actual fundraiser.
So when you see you know thenet.
So when we see you know some ofthe scenarios that we come
across and just to be able to,just you know, have the
foundation board vote, you know,and just make it happen, I
think it's wow, it's a wowmoment for us.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I love it.
Yeah, I love the ability to getsomething done in a few hours
that would take others weeks toget approval on.
We have our board, we have ourexecutive committee and it's
great what Michael said abouteverybody's doing this not for
free, because they're takingtheir time and their effort and
obviously contributing money,but they're giving from their
(35:56):
heart.
Our attorney we mentioned TedRosenthal before when he sets
this up and does the legal workfor free, okay.
When our accountant does thetax returns and it's you know
you've got to be careful whenit's a tax-exempt organization
but they do it.
They do it for free, okay.
Everybody contributes in theirown way.
Everybody's there, they kick inand you know it's not that
(36:20):
they're our favorite peoplebecause they do it, because they
were already good people.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
But I love that they follow our lead into.
You know, everybody's going tocontribute to make this as
special as it is.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
If someone wants to make a donation to the Heart of
American Homes Foundation, doyou want to direct them to our
website?
Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
The Heart of American Homes website, you'll find it.
There's a Donate Now button.
We take Venmo, we take checks.
Okay, I'll take your car, thecar's, for cash.
I'll do whatever you got to do.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Because I can trust you It'll be money well spent.
Yeah, you'll feel good aboutthe people that we help and if
you ever need to know, we'lltell you a few stories about you
know, I won't tell you who theyare, but I'll tell you what we
did for them.
There you go, good.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Good, all right.
Well, I want to remind theaudience please like and
subscribe, and I want to go tothe drop the mic question.
So this is always a little leftfield here.
I'm not sure if I can get awaywith doing this or not, but
since you have this knack fortelling jokes now, I've heard a
lot of your jokes here, and I'mnot sure this is going to be
ready for primetime or PG.
(37:24):
What's one of your go-to jokesthat you can share with our
audience?
Okay, well, knowing that, theydon't offend any.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
However, I have no problem offending Remax or any
of their agents.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, okay, and away we go.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
All right.
So one day the president ofRE-MAX is walking past his son's
room and he hears him prayingand he goes oh, that's nice.
And he hears him say God blessmommy, god bless daddy, god
bless sister, god bless brother,god bless grandma, goodbye
grandpa.
He's like whoa, what is that?
Sure enough, the next daygrandpa passes away.
He starts to worry about what'sgoing on.
(38:01):
So he pays more attention tohis son and a few weeks later he
hears his son praying again Godbless Mommy, god bless Daddy,
god bless Sister, god blessBrother, goodbye Grandma.
Sure enough, the next dayGrandma passes away.
So now he's a little worried.
Just like the setup we havehere, he puts all kinds of
recording devices in the kid'sroom and the camera.
(38:22):
And, sure enough, the day comeswhen he says God bless Mommy,
god bless Sister, God blessBrother, goodbye Dad.
He's like oh man.
So the next day he's allworried.
He doesn't take the balloon towork, okay, he walks.
He avoids ladders, okay.
He gets home 7.30 at night andhe tells his wife you know, I
(38:43):
had the worst day.
I was so worried all day Ithought something was going to
happen to me and it was terrible.
And she goes, you had a bad daythe mailman died on the porch.
Ooh.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I apologize to any RE-MAC agents, but not really
okay, because you shouldn't bethere.
You should be with us, havingworked together for all these
years, or business partnerstogether, what's one funny story
that jumps off the page.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Well, I don't know if I can tell this one.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
You might have to edit that out.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
However, okay, a long time ago, mike and I had a
difficult client and what we didwas we had a name for him and
we actually, you know, would usehis now pseudonym all the time
when we spoke about him.
Well, we used to send out a lotof mailings in the neighborhood
and we sent out mailings andapparently somebody and we're
(39:33):
still arguing about it to thisday okay, who did it?
Okay, but he did get a piece ofmail with his pseudonym name on
it and he wasn't happy and hecame in and we had been in a
little bit of litigation withthis gentleman because he took
his house with the market, eventhough we were in contract, and
(39:54):
it was a whole big thing andMike had to go to court.
Ebts, ebts.
Rightbts right okay examinationbefore trial, and you know, and
they're, and they're doing thiswhole examination.
He comes back to me and he'sred as I.
He's a red-faced guy, okay, buthe was just you know.
He came back to you, so whydidn't you tell me?
(40:15):
You know who.
You did this.
I go, I didn't do it, you didit back and forth, but still
what I'm telling you?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
this happened 32 years ago, wait wait, I think
our audience was missing thepart that first of all, exhibit
n comes up and they had amailing with an avery label on
it with his, his pseudonym nameon it and his address, and I had
to read it into the testimony,which I still remember.
(40:43):
The stenographer going likethis and just stopping and
looking, having our eyes peekout above the glasses, she
blushed and then went back downto this.
The attorney immediately says Iwant a recess.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And he said what the hell is wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
guys.
I'm like freaking Gallagher, itwas Litzner, I'm telling you,
yeah so, but then for ouraudience we have to say he gives
me this thing and says, uh well, it's the miracle on 33rd
street explanation, that's wellno what you did.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
You settled okay, and I go why'd you settle?
He goes well, had the evidence,and we what?
The name that we called him.
It was on the hey I, I go, sowhat?
Okay, it's the miracle of 34thStreet Defense, if you guys
recall that movie.
How did they prove that therereally was a Santa Claus?
Well, the US mail, okay,delivered all the mail to the
Santa Claus.
At the trial, okay, sotherefore you can't go against
(41:33):
that.
The government said thatthere's really a Santa Claus.
Well, the mail delivered tothis guy, the name that we
called him.
They knew he was what we said,okay, so therefore, we should
have won the trial, but Mikevery rarely gives in.
This one he gave in.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Now I know everyone's going to be asking me after
this episode comes out.
It's like what the heck is apseudonym?
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Well, you got to prove that you saw the video,
that you saw the podcast.
Okay, and if you do in private,we'll tell you what we call
them.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And yeah, only if, only if you like and subscribe,
then you can get us.
You get the special uhpseudonym name well, tommy um,
love having you on the showtoday.
Um, I know our audienceappreciates your sense of humor
and, uh, more importantly, yourcharitable heart.
So, um, if anyone wants toreach out to you, have any
(42:21):
questions about real estate or acareer in real estate, how do
they reach Tom Gallagher?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
All right.
So if anybody would ever liketo talk to me about real estate
or even a little bit of help inlife, I'd be more than happy to
talk to you.
You can reach me at tgallagher,at cbamhomescom.
You can reach me at516-526-2229.
Okay, just you know, reach out,I'd be happy to help you
whatever I can thank you great.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
Well, thanks for joining us on the show today.
I love you, my friend.
I love you too, man bye.
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