December 3, 2025 • 49 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Welcome to the Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back a
Real Estate podcast.
We're here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Franklin
Square.
Today's guest to the show isnone other than Senior Vice
President at Cobalt BankerAmerican Homes, David
Ainachense.
David, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Mike.
Great to be here.
Awesome, awesome.
Before we get started, though, Ijust want to remind our audience
(00:26):
if you like what you see heretoday, like, subscribe.
We'd love to have you back forfuture episodes.
And by the way, stay to the endfor the drop the mic question.
We always have a lot of fun withthat.
So you're gonna have fun withthis one.
I'm sure I will.
All right, there we go.
All right, so David, so yourbackground, let's let's let's
start really at the beginningand stuff.
Um so you have a different pathto real estate.
(00:48):
One of the things we like to dois explore people's path into
the real estate business, butyours came via Rome, Italy,
right?
SPEAKER_04 (00:56):
Yes, yes, that's correct.
I came via Rome.
That's where I'm from.
I was born in Rome.
My family still lives in alittle small town just outside
of Rome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
So you originally came to to New York, correct?
It was your first real place inthe States?
SPEAKER_04 (01:10):
Yeah, so after I after I moved in, my my
destination was New York.
I was an exchange student when Iwas 15, and that was actually in
uh in Florida for a year.
SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_04 (01:20):
Um so that was my first experience of the United
States.
SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
Aaron Powell Now, if I have this correctly, when you
first came to the States, youdidn't even speak English uh
effectively.
SPEAKER_04 (01:29):
Yeah, no, I I didn't at all.
Um, you know, I I only studiedFrench in school, and I remember
coming into the US and at TSA,the customs agents was asking me
questions, and I opened mybackpack and dropped all the
paperwork that I had on hisdesk, and I said, There you go.
There you go.
SPEAKER_00 (01:47):
There you go.
Now you came came with no adultsupervision, correct?
They put your backpack on, putyou on the plane, and gave you a
one-way ticket, I heard.
Yeah.
That speaks volumes right now.
SPEAKER_04 (01:56):
Yeah, that's actually accurate.
Yeah.
I swam all my way back.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
So what was it like coming to a different country,
not even speaking the languageor having that mentor or family
member that you could kind oflike hide under the wing?
That must have beenintimidating.
SPEAKER_04 (02:12):
It was, it was, especially at the beginning when
I, you know, I couldn'tcommunicate as well.
But I had the uh I had theblessing to end up in uh in a
family that hosted me for thefor the full year in uh in
Florida, and they became my uhyou know, my uh uh almost my
real family.
They were still in touch withthem.
So I have uh I get to have twomoms.
(02:33):
They both like to yell at me andbe very loud.
Um but I'm I that was ablessing.
You know, I was uh I waswelcomed right away and uh and
coming here, you know, was adream of mine.
The uh, you know, everyone in inItaly uh watches you know shows
about the United States and uhand stories, and uh and it was a
dream of mine to uh to be hereand see if I could make it.
(02:55):
All right, there you go.
SPEAKER_00 (02:56):
Now you stayed a year and then obviously went
back home for a period of time.
Finished school, is that what itwas?
SPEAKER_04 (03:03):
Yeah, exactly.
So I finished I um I attended mysenior year of high school here
in Florida, then I went back toItaly, and there was another
year of uh of high school leftthere, so I finished there, and
then uh eventually because I hadthis connection with with the
States, I kept coming back asmany times as I could.
Right.
Uh and then it kind of turnedinto a business, and uh, and
(03:24):
then finally I um one time Istayed.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
Okay, so what made since your first introduction
was Florida, what made you cometo New York?
SPEAKER_04 (03:32):
Uh so during uh in uh in my twenties I had a um uh
a company with three friends ofmine and uh you know we're still
very uh very good friends and uhin in Milan and we were doing uh
something called voice over IP,the Skype kind of uh technology.
And uh we had clients in NewYork, and because I was the only
one who wasn't married um of uhof the four, uh I was the one
(03:57):
that was always traveling everyfew months, coming here and uh
dealing with uh you knowpotential new clients and uh and
the business side of it, all mymy other three friends are all
on the uh um coding and softwareengineer side.
Right.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
All right.
So where where does you knowcoming here for business trips
slash become um coming here toto live full time?
SPEAKER_04 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I I know we're trying to getthere.
All right, so let's get there.
So, well, the the the way to NewYork and the way to real estate
actually went through my heart.
Uh because on uh one of thetrips uh I actually ended up uh
meeting uh meeting a woman who Ialways meet the girls, always
(04:42):
always the girl in the story,yes.
It's always the girl.
And uh she was living in NewYork, she was in real estate.
Um and when I uh proposed a weekafter we met, um I had no plan,
and it seemed like a good ideato get into real estate and work
with her.
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
All right, there you go.
So hence you wound up in and nowwhen you say New York, you know,
not everyone in the country uhunderstands the difference for
like us New Yorkers.
There's New York, like the city,and then there's the rest of New
York, there's suburban New York,and then there's um rural New
York as we as we have.
So where in New York uh doesdoes David Anachenzi start his
(05:23):
real estate?
SPEAKER_04 (05:24):
Yeah, yeah, it was actually in uh in Manhattan on
the Upper West side.
That was my first office.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:29):
Um and uh it's a brand or is it in the
independent?
No, it was a brand.
It was a brand.
Uh now it's called DouglasSalaman.
Okay.
Um, and uh that's where Istarted, and I started basically
as the uh um uh assistant of myat the time uh wife.
She's my ex-wife now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:49):
Uh but um um yeah, I was basically trying to learn as
much as I could from her, anduh, she was a great teacher, and
uh I had a great manager at thetime, and uh that's how I
started.
And uh I actually remember oneepisode which kind of um uh gave
me a lot uh in terms of learningabout real estate.
I walked into the my manager'soffice one day and I said, Jeff,
(06:12):
I have a fantastic idea.
I'm going to market myself asthe real estate agents for
Italians.
So everybody who comes fromItaly is gonna work with me.
And he looks at me and he says,That is the stupidest idea ever.
You shouldn't have a few stupidideas over the years, right?
His point was that I should, youknow, market myself to the
(06:34):
broader audience possible andyou know, start selling a co-op,
right?
Why limit yourself and stuff?
Yeah, don't don't pigeonholeyourself.
Yes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
All right, well, that's interesting.
So you so you got into sales fora while, right?
Yeah.
And then so what what was whatwas next for David?
SPEAKER_04 (06:50):
Yeah, so when um uh d during the uh 2008, 2009, when
uh you know the market has um Iyou know I wouldn't even say it
took a turn.
Yeah, I wouldn't say it it tooka dive, it just nothing was
moving in uh in the city.
And uh, you know, a lot of realestate agents were uh kind of
depressed.
Um I felt like the big officewasn't uh a good fit anymore.
(07:11):
Everybody was not as joyful.
So uh at the time, one of thetop producers in that office,
um, who is still one of my bestfriends, Doug, um, decided to go
out and venture on his own andstart his own company.
No relations to Element.
Uh no, different different dog.
No, he's a different dog.
Yeah, he's not the dog ofDouglas Solomon, no.
But he decided to go on his ownand started his own company,
(07:34):
which was called HeadingsProperty Group, which is that's
his last name.
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (07:38):
And um it he asked me and my um ex-wife to go with
him, and um, it took us about 15seconds to say yes, he was a
great guy.
Um and uh from there I startedgetting more involved with him
in the uh running of abrokerage.
Okay, um, and then a few yearslater that brokerage was
absorbed by another brokerage inthe city, and I had the
(08:00):
opportunity to become the manthe manager for uh the um
offices for that company.
SPEAKER_00 (08:05):
All right, what uh do you want to share the
company?
SPEAKER_04 (08:07):
Yeah, core group marketing.
It's a great place.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
All right.
It's still around today, right?
It's still around, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (08:12):
It's a great company.
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
So um how long did you stay in that role?
SPEAKER_04 (08:16):
Uh I stayed there for about four years.
Okay.
Um, and then I went to um acompany um uh just actually down
the street on Fifth Avenue, uhCompass.
Okay.
And I was there for that still astartup at that time or um no,
it was already it was already uhsomewhat established.
Yeah, yeah, they they had juststarted the expansion into um
(08:37):
different states and uh and uhand so forth.
So I got exposed to that uhdifferent culture of real
estate, different way of uhseeing real estate.
Uh and it was great, and it wasgreat, and um and I still have a
lot of great friends there.
Yeah, so what was the role youtook on at Campus?
Uh at Compass I was uh an agentcoach.
(08:58):
Okay.
Um so I was you know meetingwith agents every day and uh
trying to coach them on uh helpthem to uh grow their business.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
All right, interesting.
So so you the the path it bringsyou to a lot of different uh
aspects of of the business,right?
It does, yeah.
Yeah.
And how how long were you atcompass?
SPEAKER_04 (09:18):
Uh so compass actually wasn't a long uh
experience.
It was uh maybe less of a yearless of a year.
Um and uh and from there Iactually had the opportunities
to join a uh an actual realestate technology company, uh
meaning it wasn't a brokerage.
SPEAKER_05 (09:35):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (09:35):
Um it uh it actually did technology for brokerages.
Okay um and uh I worked withthem for about a year or a year
and a half.
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
Which company is this?
SPEAKER_04 (09:44):
Uh it's called Purtual.
You know, from there it ended upthat my uh one of my main roles
was to actually continue to meetwith agents and train them and
you know and and and you knoweducate them on this uh on this
new system.
And uh and there I realized thatI actually missed my first
calling, which was actually umyou know, working with agents
(10:06):
within a brokerage.
Um, you know, full time.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
So it's sort of like comes full circle.
SPEAKER_04 (10:11):
So it did, yeah, it did come, it did come full
circle at the at the time, andum um, you know, and it's uh and
and at that point I actually hadan opportunity to interview with
Coldwood Banker in uh this waslike 2019 now.
And uh and I interviewed with umuh at the time the original VP
for Coldwood Banker, BillMcCartney, who's become one of
(10:32):
my mentors as well.
SPEAKER_01 (10:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (10:34):
Um and uh he's now in Arizona, and every time I see
a picture of him, I tell himthat I love him, but I also hate
him a little bit for how good helooks.
Uh but the uh so I I met withhim and uh from there a few
months later I was managing theGreat Neck office for Coldwell
Banker Realty, and then less orright maybe a year later, I also
(10:58):
managed the Manasset office forColdwell Banker Realty, and then
in 2021, in April, one uh sunnyMonday, you guys came in and uh
we merged.
SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
We had the the the the the zoom uh zoom meeting,
right?
So yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
So Cold Banker Realty andCentury 21 American Homes merged
on April 29th, and we met onApril 28th on a Zoom meeting.
SPEAKER_04 (11:21):
Yeah, and nobody told us what it was about.
It was uh it was uh almost asstressful as this interview.
SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
Oh come on, this is not this is easy.
This is easy, yeah.
This is kind of easy, yeah,yeah.
Yeah, so um very interesting.
It wasn't our uh um idea not tomeet the management team early.
It was uh COW Bankers' um ideasince you were an employee of
theirs.
We had to kind of follow theirrules in order to get to the
finish line here.
(11:47):
So so yeah, we had one-daynotice.
We did this merger um on theheels of uh COVID.
So people were still, you know,we we we were back to work, but
they did not want to have bigmeetings, so we did it all on
Zoom.
And uh here we were, we wentfrom 12 to 24 offices overnight
in the busiest real estatemarket.
So, what was that experiencelike?
SPEAKER_04 (12:08):
So I wasn't as involved with the merger, having
found out basically a daybefore.
Um, but then you know, we allgot very involved really
hands-on and rolled up oursleeves, and uh, and I have to
say, it was um it was impressiveto see how quickly everything
was into production and youknow, agents getting paid next
day and um it you know, and andand systems all falling into
(12:32):
place.
You know, yes, we definitely hadsome kinks and you know, and
bumps along the road, but Iactually those are one that's
one of the things that made meuh appreciate the company I work
with, is because we actuallyworked through those kinks and
bumps uh together as a team fromthe from the get-go.
I actually remember that Zoomthat we had, yeah, and uh, and I
(12:54):
I really you know had no ideawho Tom and Mike were.
And um, so right after I calledBill McCartney, who was our you
know regional vice president,and uh and I said, you know, who
are these guys?
What's going on here?
And he said one thing.
He said, they're good people,and uh and really that's all I
needed to know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (13:13):
Uh and and you know, and I have to say now going
back, I proposed after a week ofthe first time, I you know,
decided to move to the US veryquickly.
I was okay with him just tellinghim that you guys were good
people.
For someone who likes data, Ithink I'm a very impulsive guy.
But it all seems to work out.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
Well, I guess you gotta blend data with intuition,
you know.
SPEAKER_04 (13:33):
Yeah, just go with it.
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
Yeah, exactly.
So when we merged, you weremanaging both uh Great Neck and
Manhasset, by the way.
Right?
SPEAKER_04 (13:40):
Right, yeah, yeah, both offices.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:42):
And then uh so if I could kind of like patch in,
since now we're overlapping nowin uh Cobalt Bank or American
Homes, about a year into thismerger, Bill bought a house, him
and his wife bought a house outin Arizona, which was going to
be a uh vacation home, which heloved so much that he decided
we're gonna stay here.
So uh I remember Tom Lai saying,okay, well, man, we got we got
(14:05):
get somebody who's really good,you know, who who can really you
know step that game up andstuff, you know.
And he wasn't available, or sheor she wasn't available.
So it's very funny because uhyou've heard me say this before,
but uh I kind of had you in theback of my brain.
And um uh but I asked Bill, andBill goes, uh maybe you should
(14:26):
consider this you know, sittingdown with David, David
Anachenzi.
I'm like, okay, that'sinteresting you bring that up.
So so since that point, um itkind of uh forced us to make a
change.
And then um so you've now beenput into the um senior vice
president role over at CobaltBanker American Home.
So overseeing what, 18 managers?
SPEAKER_04 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we have uh 18 managers, andum, you know, it's uh it's a fun
job.
My um my you know my daughtersays that my title is you know
manager of the managers.
Um I guess it doesn't fit on mybusiness card.
I actually don't have business Iactually don't have business
cards, everything is digitalnow.
But uh going back to the meetingwhere you know where we met and
(15:08):
you know, and I was offered thethe the position, that was a
very interesting meeting becausedriving there from great first I
get a text from Tom Gallagher,who for some reason when he
texts me that he wants to seeme, it just sends like a
four-word text message.
Can you come to East Meadow orwhatever?
Um and so that was already kindof stressful.
And then on my way there, I gota flat tire.
(15:31):
So I arrived at East Meadow.
My I have a flat tire, I goupstairs, I open the door, and I
see Tom, Mike, and Bill, and Ilook at them and I say, If you
guys are going to fire me today,it's not a good day.
I already got a flat tire, not agood day.
And you know, thankfully itended up being something else.
But yeah, yeah, yeah.
And opportunity.
(15:52):
Opportunity was knocking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, no.
It was a good meeting.
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
Good, good.
Well, well, here we are, and nowwhat is it three three years
later?
SPEAKER_04 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's just about three years, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:03):
For our audience, you know, um, so you have some
unique experience and vantagepoints.
I always like to say vantagepoints in real estate, because
for an average agent, they mightknow how their office works,
they have an idea how they wantto build their business or how
they should be building theirbusiness.
And yet um I I I think it'sreally helpful to to see
(16:23):
different vantage points in thisindustry.
So, you know, you have you'vehad some of the most unique
vantage points and stuff.
So what's what's an aha momentthat you know that you've had in
the past about the industry thatmight be useful information for
uh an audience member.
SPEAKER_04 (16:41):
One of the most interesting things that I've
seen in our um in our industryis the path to success has many
different roads.
Right?
And depending on where you aregeographically, depending on uh,
you know, the market and and andso forth, and depending on your
personality.
So there's really no one type ofagent that is successful in real
(17:03):
estate.
Right, definitely not a cookieguy.
There is now, there is manydifferent personalities and
there's many different traitsthat can make an a real estate
agent successful.
The common trend is consistency,never give up, and have a plan.
And that comes across, you know,where a lot of the you know top
agents and you know and and andproducing agents that we have,
(17:26):
where they all get to successdifferent ways, you know,
whether it's you know, GalCarillo and her team or Brian
Carp or Larry Thieler, and youknow, and by the way, if you
haven't seen those episodes,make sure you get those episodes
on our podcast.
Yeah, you know, and um and butit's it's interesting to hear
their stories and uh and see howthey got to success in very
(17:47):
different ways, right?
So there it's definitely not acookie-cutter in industry, which
is very uh interesting.
And my role as uh I see my rolesomewhat uh of a uh connector,
right?
So where I get absorbedsomething from somebody and then
talk about it with someone elseand say, hey, did you think
about doing that?
You know, Brian is doing it orGail is doing it or Larry's
(18:10):
doing it.
Um and the great the other greatthing is that they're all very
happy and willing to share whatthey do, uh, which is not common
in all in other companies.
But um so being this role ofconnector, I am exposed to a lot
of different things.
And a path to success is one ofthe things that you know
surprised surprised me the mostwhen I first started.
SPEAKER_00 (18:30):
Yeah.
But w would you necessarilyagree with the the thought
process that is even thoughthere's different paths paths
and different personalities, uhthere are some commonality that
you see in successful, you know,agents and teams?
SPEAKER_04 (18:43):
So first of all is believe that you're going to do
it, right?
So envision success as somethingyou are going to achieve, right?
Uh and then just focus on theprocess.
So m map out the steps and uhand you know, take those steps
um consistently.
Um, you know, don't uh don'ttake a day off from the process
(19:04):
and keep pushing and uheventually you'll make it.
What I what I love about realestate is that you know, we like
to be on Facebook and Instagramand so forth, but we're you
know, most of us are not,especially myself, we're not
rocket scientists, you know.
I think I've actually onlyinterviewed a rocket scientist
uh who wanted to get into realestate after he retired.
But um well, but did did he doit?
(19:26):
No.
Uh it did, it did, it did, yes,yes, successful?
Yes, I don't know.
I think he got an allergyattack.
But the you know, the idea isthat if you are consistent, if
you're true to yourself and youhave a plan and you execute on
that plan, you have hightolerance for, you know, um, I
don't want to call it rejection,but you know, would for the fact
that you know not everything isgonna go your way right away,
(19:49):
right?
Um, you'll make it.
Like, you know, you really havethe opportunity to uh build a
legacy, a business in thisindustry, which other industries
don't allow.
SPEAKER_00 (19:59):
I always call it right, uh if you've heard me say
this, uh business worth owning.
And should be working or teamleader should be working on
building a business worthowning.
Yeah.
Because it's easy to be inbusiness.
It's not easy to have a businessworth owning.
Yeah.
A successful business.
That's how I define successfulbusiness.
SPEAKER_04 (20:17):
Yeah, Deb Asher was always here on my shoulder
whispering words um in my ear,you know, she she calls, you
know, the working on yourbusiness, right?
Um, you know, work on yourbusiness as well as in your
business, you know, when yeah,especially when you get busy.
And and some of those agentsthat have been very successful
and continue to be, it's becausethey have the ability to time
(20:37):
manage and and you know, andfocus on working on their
business even when they're verybusy working in their business.
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
Yes, very much so I like that.
Never stop learning, basically.
Never stop learning.
So what do you consider thebiggest challenge in supporting
a leadership team?
You know, especially a teamthat's spread out
geographically.
So when what is you know, sowhat does that challenge look
like?
SPEAKER_04 (21:00):
So it's the leadership team that we have,
you know, actually makes theprocess quite easy.
You know, they um you know,we're we're very lucky to have a
great leadership team and uh,you know, and everybody cares,
everybody's on board.
I don't think it's luck.
And uh by the way, it's yeah,no, but you know, you tend to
attract, I guess, uh, you know,people that that you know see
(21:21):
themselves into the project anduh and and and that but yeah,
yeah, yeah, you're right.
It's not luck.
Um but it it is somethingactually that comes from from
the top down, right?
So after I did get to meet youand Tom, um I I you know I have
to say I see why some of themembers of the leadership team
have been here for such a longtime, right?
(21:43):
And it's uh and it's becauseyou've been able to um share
your vision of what the companywas gonna grow into with them
consistently and make them partof it and uh uh make them feel
heard uh and make the agentsfeel the same way.
So the um, you know, theretention uh that that this
company has is quite incredible.
(22:05):
And I think in part it's becauseof that, this energy that comes
down from you know, Tom and Mikein um in you know, uh every day.
You know, you're probably one ofthe most hands-on people, you
know, business owners that I'vemet um so far in the industry.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Well, I I would say real estate even as a business,
right?
Not as just as an agent, is it'snot something you can put on
autopilot pilot.
SPEAKER_04 (22:27):
No, no, you always do something, uh and you always
do something different, which isgreat, right?
Yeah.
So yeah, I remember the call.
Um we had a manager in one ofour offices, and uh he calls me
one day and he says that thetoilet was broken.
And uh and he said, Who who dowe call?
Do we have a handyman?
I'm like, what's broken?
He said, The handle.
And literally I was in the area,so I'll be there in 20 minutes,
(22:50):
and I fixed it.
And it, you know, and by theway, I'm not a handy person at
all, asked my wife.
SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
Um YouTube video.
SPEAKER_04 (22:57):
Yeah, YouTube, yeah, you know, YouTube everything.
Yeah.
Um and uh but you know, we'rereally hands-on, and there's
really this sense of belongingand uh and community, which is
uh again, it starts from thetop, but it's uh perceived and
felt um uh throughout uhthroughout the company.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
So you want to talk a little bit about how we've
been leaning into AI to find thethe synergies and efficiencies
to help our agents be moreproductive?
SPEAKER_04 (23:23):
Yeah, yeah.
The um, you know, the uh AI hasdefinitely been, you know, like
we were recently in um in LasVegas for the Cold War Banker um
convention, Jam Blue, and AI wasabout probably 85% of all the
classes that were there.
Um AI is it's you know, it'ssuch a big um, you know, range
(23:45):
of products, right?
Right.
So one of the things that youknow Chris Mantiria was our CTO,
one of the things he says islike, you know, it drives him
crazy when somebody says, Oh,uh, I want to start using AI, we
should use AI.
And he's like, Well, what for?
Right?
Because it's not, you know, it'snot a solution to everything.
It's an assistant, it'ssomething that helps you.
(24:06):
Ask a deeper question.
Yes, exactly.
So the the results are onlygoing to be as good as the
questions are, right?
Yeah.
So some of the things that westarted now is Chris is actually
um putting out weekly um shortuh webinars on different aspects
of AI and how to you know workwith prompts, how to build gems.
(24:29):
We um as a company, we um uh youknow we use um Gemini um because
it's part of uh of the GoogleWorkspace platform that we
provide to Google agents.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So so yeah, so our all of ouragents have access to the you
know Gemini Pro accounts and youknow, as well as all the Google
Workspace.
So we you know we provide a lotof training, not so much of what
(24:51):
AI is because it's gonna bedifferent tomorrow, yeah, but
how to leverage it in the senseof how do you build a prompt and
how do you, you know, how do youcommunicate with it, what's the
concept of it, right?
Practical application.
Practical application, how doyou do a CMA or or things like
that, and then coming out withdifferent solutions.
So we're you know, we'reembracing it um as a company as
(25:12):
much as we can.
Uh we are, you know, we're luckyenough that uh all of our agents
have access to a pro account forfor for Gemini so they can do um
you know more intense uh workthan uh you know than the free
accounts allow you to do.
And you know, you can do a fullvideo, you know, generate videos
and put stitch them alltogether.
(25:34):
And uh I get very excited aboutthis stuff.
So but you know, the I the ideais that it's something that you
know we the real estate agentsshould adopt.
Um to be clear, I I actuallydon't think, and this this was
said at the conference too, andI fully agree with it.
I I don't expect AI to replacethe real estate agents.
(25:55):
No, but the real estate agentsthat adopt AI in their everyday
business and their businessplanning are most likely going
to replace a lot of the agentsthat don't.
Yeah.
Um it's just going out andproduce them.
Yeah, yeah, which goes back tothe question you asked before,
which is you know, what are someof the challenges that the
leadership team has?
(26:15):
And, you know, one of thechallenges is understanding a
different uh generation ofagents that have different tools
than what we had, yeah, right,when we started in real estate.
Um I mean, I remember walking umwalking into the um you know the
the conference room at DouglasSalaman to put together a board
package, and there's atypewriter, right?
(26:36):
And and when's a typewriter?
Exactly.
That's what I asked.
And um, you know, and and it wasused to fill out board packages,
board applications.
Um so uh from there, obviouslythe technology has evolved a
lot.
SPEAKER_01 (26:49):
Yes.
SPEAKER_04 (26:50):
And now I I'm not putting down Douglas Salman, I'm
sure that that typewriter isgone by now.
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
Yes, that's it.
SPEAKER_04 (26:55):
But at the time it was there, yes.
So, you know, and this was like2007, right?
SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (26:59):
So we already had Adobe, we already had, you know,
so the uh the technology haschanged, and for us to embrace
the changes that the industry uhis is bringing upon us um is is
is mandatory.
Like we have to do, we owe it toour agents to be the most
forking customs and our clientsand customers.
(27:20):
Yeah, yeah.
But you know, our agents arealso our clients uh as well,
right?
From our level.
From our level.
SPEAKER_00 (27:26):
Our customers and clients are our customers and
clients.
SPEAKER_04 (27:29):
Yeah, if we can't provide them, if we can't put
them in the best possibleposition to compete and be, you
know, above uh um most everyoneelse in the industry.
Best in class, then we're notdoing our job right, right?
So we take that very seriously.
And uh, you know, and I and Isee it in Tom, and I see it in
you, and uh, you know, and andas and as some of the people
(27:49):
that I've encountered throughthe um um through through my
real estate journey, like myfriend Dag that I spoke before,
and Bill, uh, and you know, Iconsider you guys um my mentors
as well, because of this visionthat you have, you know, this
forward thinking uh approach.
And it's like what can we howcan we do it better, right?
Right, right.
Which is um uh which issomething that people are asking
(28:12):
AI now, right?
It's like you ask for somethingand you say, How do you do it
better?
No, make it even better, make iteven better, make it even
better, right?
Uh my friend Justin always saysthat.
Uh, but the um uh the the ideais to try to always improve
incrementally to to providebetter uh better services and
and shift the company missionwith the changing times.
SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
So now you've heard obviously um it was big news two
weeks ago.
Uh Compass and Anywhere brands,you know.
Um Compass is the the largestindependent brokerage in the
United States.
Uh Anywhere Brands is the parentcompany for Cowwell Century 21
Corporate and uh Sotherby's ERAand Garden So the largest
(28:56):
franchise uh real estate in thein the world, essentially.
So the two are getting togetherin a merger, right?
And that's called some ripplesand stuff.
So how do you see that impactingthe marketplace?
SPEAKER_04 (29:10):
So I actually think it's very interesting, right?
And it just it just describeswhere the industry is going as
um as a whole, and and it's morethan just economic factors, I
think.
SPEAKER_01 (29:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (29:21):
So and you know, I and I think um, you know, a
company like Compass, um, whohas um built a technology stack
first and foremost, and then uhprovide it to the to its agents,
um, you know, I think it's kindof a natural move to want to
become the biggest serviceprovider for that technology.
(29:42):
So I think it's a great move forthem.
You know, I've heard all kindsof stuff in uh in the trenches
of you know, people asking melike, so are you all going to
become Compass now?
Or you know, uh is Compass gonnabe the biggest MLS in the
country?
And and reality is we we don'treally.
Know what's going to shake outexcept at the highest level.
(30:04):
Except for us uh being afranchise, you know, I I think
that I'm actually very happy tobe part of it.
And I much prefer being part ofthis big change than being
excluded from this big change.
SPEAKER_00 (30:16):
Right, sitting on the sidelines and watching what
happens the other big guys gettogether and work
collaboratively, right?
SPEAKER_04 (30:22):
Yeah, the way I see it, this is an opportunity to
improve the systems and toolsand um you know and and scope of
what we get from our nationalbrand, right?
And at the same time, as one ofthe biggest franchises for you
know anywhere, you know, notjust called a banker, yeah, um,
we're one of their biggestclients.
So as a client, I you know, andone of the things that I learned
(30:44):
about America as an as animmigrant is that the client is
always right, right?
Is that a thing?
Yes, yes, right.
So by being one of the biggestclients, you know, I would
expect that we would actually beable to um take advantage of,
you know, potentially bettertools and better systems and uh
and a more powerful structure.
(31:05):
So it's you know, I thinkthere's an opportunity for the
industry to to get better, youknow.
I think there's a I I I thinkthe um the the the biggest um um
stressful point is for thepeople who have been just uh
chugging along and you knowmailing it in in different
positions, you know, whether asagents, as brokers, as you know,
(31:27):
you know, leadership positions,and now there's literally
earthquakes uh going on undertheir feet, and you know, how do
you adjust to that, right?
Um it is a very interesting timeto be in real life.
SPEAKER_00 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
So uh interestingly enough, youand I got this question this
past week, right, about youknow, uh the merger and uh
saying, you know, well we'regonna become compass and what
have you.
So I I think it it's importantthat we're clear.
I think you're on the same pagewith this, is that obviously we
have a franchise agreement withthe COWA Banker, and that COW
(31:59):
Banker is such a tremendousorganization in forty-three
different countries around theworld, tremendous market share,
a hundred thousand plus agents,that is that it it stands alone,
and uh I think Compass is notgoing into anywhere so that
every brand's gonna rebrand asCompass is they're gonna go in
and leverage Anywhere brands asa franchiser to franchise
(32:21):
Compass.
It's the other way around, andpotentially the Anywhere brands
can take the best in intechnology out of what Compass
is built.
SPEAKER_04 (32:29):
So Yeah, no, absolutely.
I think I think you're just youknow, you're you're right on all
of that.
Um and uh and Cold of a Bank isa very powerful brand, uh and
uh, you know, and it's an assetto uh to compass, right?
SPEAKER_00 (32:42):
That's why they want to buy it.
I want to come back to the otherthing, which really kind of
tapped me, kind of knocked onthat door.
And the other thing was that II've been asked is you know, so
uh are we now forced to sell ourcompany to to compass?
And uh it's very clear thatwe're an independently owned
company that happens tofranchise with a Cobalt banker.
So there's no first rod refusalor option to buy our company.
(33:07):
So the fact that they're mergingon a franchise level doesn't
affect us on a local level.
So it's kind of funny.
Somebody just asked me, What'sgonna happen with my closing
next week?
How am I gonna get paid?
The same way you always gotpaid, typically in like 12 hours
or less, right?
But we handle our own payroll.
So it I I I I see this thing onthe highest levels is it doesn't
(33:28):
affect us from our day-to-dayoperations.
But what it can really impactwould be I'm kind of curious how
you feel about this.
Uh exclusives and stuff, youknow, against the gnar push of
clear cooperation.
Well, Compass is one company,now they just merge with the
behemoth that's anywhere.
(33:49):
Um all of a sudden, uh, youknow, do we need every MLS in
the country?
Does does the anywhere compassmerger create a given the
ability to create their owninternal multiple listing
service?
SPEAKER_04 (34:00):
Yeah, and you know, it's uh it it it it is going to
be very interesting to see wherethe industry goes, right?
Because now we have a group of350,000 agents.
Yeah.
Um and it's you know, it's it'sbasically one it probably is one
of the largest MLSs in uh in thecountry, right?
If you put them by far.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:19):
There's no one even close.
SPEAKER_04 (34:21):
So, you know, that's um that's quite that's quite the
force.
And um, you know, and and I andI Well they got offices in all
50 states then.
SPEAKER_00 (34:29):
Yeah.
If when you look at it that way,there's they're in literally all
50 states and multiple countriesas well.
SPEAKER_04 (34:34):
So I I think maybe agents may have an opportunity
to be um better heard from youknow, maybe from organizations
that gave agents for granted inuh in the past, right?
I think everybody's gonna haveto listen and watch a little bit
more carefully.
Yeah.
I I think the uh the idea thatwe all become compassed is is
(34:55):
just uh it's just not a viablefinancial uh idea, right?
And it wouldn't work because weare much more valuable as
Coldwell Bank or American homesto them than we would be as
compassed.
Correct.
Um so I I I don't think it's youknow, I I I I think the rumors
and you know, and and and I knowthat nobody in our industry um
(35:16):
spreads rumors, they mostly justforward them.
Um but some and they gotta stopsomewhere.
Uh well, you know, they they'reall forwarded.
Um but but you know, the ideaanyone who stops for a second,
right, yeah, and realizes thatyou know it's not financially
viable, like it makes no sensefrom a financial point of view,
(35:37):
right?
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Each each one of those brands has has massive,
massive Wall Street value.
So you don't just throw a brandin the garbage.
You you you consolidate costs.
SPEAKER_04 (35:48):
Yeah, and you know, and the relocation services and
all of that.
So yeah, so that I you know thethe consolidation of costs and
the uh and the um uh maximizingthe exposure of all the
different brands is really wherethe key is.
And providing these tools, youknow, that you know that's a
winning play for companies aswell.
Yeah, yeah.
And and ultimately, if the toolsthat we get are better than the
(36:11):
tools that we get from our MLS,then maybe your question is you
know, is right to be asked.
It's like why do we have an MLS,right?
And and again, we don't knowwhere it's gonna go.
And you know, and I'm surethere's a lot of people that
work very hard on our MLS.
Yes, exactly.
But everybody should be watchingcarefully what happens.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:29):
Yeah.
Obviously, this business can be24-7.
It's it's hard to find abeginning and an end.
So, you know, what does playhard mean for David Aynagzi?
You know, how do you unplug fromthe demands of 24-7 real estate?
SPEAKER_04 (36:43):
Um, so that's a great question.
And uh probably not the answeryou you're expecting.
You haven't figured that outyet.
Uh no, no, I I I I do.
It's just not, you know, it'suh, you know, I should say, oh,
I spend a lot of time with mykids and uh uh instead I'm going
through a full midlife crisis.
Okay.
And uh so I decided that I havethis incredible passion for dogs
(37:08):
and specifically training dogs.
Last May, um, I see on theFacebook page for the sheltering
poor Jeff, Save a Pet.
They do a lot of great things.
Uh, I see the picture of thesedogs at the head, and she's a
canic orso, which is an Italianmastiff, so I instinctively felt
bonded, connection with her.
(37:28):
Um, she's an uh you know, acanic horso is an ancient um uh
war dogs that the Roman soldiersactually used to use and bring
to war.
So you had the Roman connectionwith them.
They had the Roman connection.
They're they're afraid ofnothing, they're great, you
know, companions and and soforth.
And um, and um uh it's actuallyinteresting when you read about
it.
But at the um, so the point isthis time I actually my wife was
(37:52):
a little bit more stern aboutno, we're not doing this.
Um, but I had started my again,my midlife crisis, which is was
which was dog training.
So I watch a lot of YouTubevideos with dog trainings, and
then I try to do it with mydogs, and it actually works.
SPEAKER_01 (38:07):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (38:08):
So um I convinced my wife, or I maybe I should say I
conned my wife into uh intogoing over there.
She's gonna see this.
She's she's gonna see, sheknows.
Um, into going there.
And this time I called mydaughter and I said, Hey, why
don't you come with us?
We're gonna go look at puppies.
Because this time I neededsupport because it was a very
(38:29):
difficult thing to pull off.
SPEAKER_01 (38:31):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (38:32):
Long story short, we ended up with this 75-pound, uh,
you know, beautiful blue bluebrindle kind of corso.
I've been officially put ofnotice that I'm one dog away
from divorce.
Right, there you go.
Um but but it you know it's it'sinteresting actually.
The dog training is probablywhat what takes my mind off of
uh of you know the the pressuresof real estate the pressures of
(38:54):
real estate and what we gothrough and you know the legal
things and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
So let's let's do a shout out.
You have apparently you have ora burgeoning YouTube star bit
star in the house.
So you want to tell us about thenew channel staring your
four-legged friends?
SPEAKER_04 (39:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So my um so I watch a lot ofYouTube dog trainers and things,
and you know, and they havethousands and thousands of
followers, and you know, andobviously when you watch YouTube
videos, the first thing youthink is, I can do that.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (39:21):
Uh we all not everyone thinks that though.
Okay.
So well, maybe I'm competitivein that way.
So I found this to be like theeasiest entry way for me, dog
training.
All right.
So you want to give a shout outto the um YouTube channel?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So Rhea, uh, which is myCanicorso, uh R-H-E-A, Rhea.
Um she has a YouTube channel,it's called uh Rhea the
(39:44):
Canicorso, and we areapproaching 500 subscribers.
And if we reach 500 subscribersby the time this airs, Mike is
going to give a million dollarsto one lucky viewer.
Puppy.
Or puppy.
Yeah, there we go.
Uh but yeah, so Rhea theCanicorso.
(40:05):
So I started this channel and Istarted with shorts.
Yeah, I started about a monthago, and then I it it goes uh I
also started a TikTok accountfor it to go together.
The one promotes the other, anduh and I have about you know
almost um 500 subscribers onYouTube and uh almost you know
just I think just over 400 onTikTok.
SPEAKER_01 (40:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (40:28):
And and it's something that had always uh
scared me.
And now I'm a little bit morecomfortable with.
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
Now apparently though, Ray is getting a lot of
views though.
What's your biggest number ofviews for uh a video so far on
this brand new uh adventure?
SPEAKER_04 (40:43):
So I think I so I think this is how the YouTube
addiction works.
Because I did a couple of videosand I and I got you know a few
hundred views.
Um and then I did one short,which is you know definitely not
the one that I thought was thebest one.
SPEAKER_01 (41:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (41:01):
And all of a sudden within two days it had like
5,000 views, and within likethree days it had 10,000 views,
and then it got to like about15,000 views.
Um and then I tried anexperiment, so I actually
promoted it for two days.
I guess it was like$25,000,$30,and it got to 40,000 views.
And now, and you know, and andand I know that maybe it's not
(41:23):
as big as a number of uh, youknow, the big YouTube stars, but
it's impressive to see thatsomething like that gets 40,000
views.
For a dog.
Yeah, yeah, yeah with a brandwith a brand new.
It's not too bad, not too badfor a dog.
So and and that actually broughta lot of subscribers, you know,
which and and and now I'm a lotmore comfortable talking to our
agents about doing somethinglike that, right?
(41:45):
Not necessarily about dogs, butabout you know, about real
estate between you know puttingtogether and I use a lot of um
AI to come up with concepts andyou know, thumbnails, and you
study some stuff.
So it actually it's actuallyvery interesting, and it applies
to somewhat wait, let me saythis with a straight face to my
wife.
It applies to my job, so I mustcontinue to do it.
unknown (42:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (42:07):
Let me give it a straight face back.
All right.
So it's it's good that you haveuh an outlet, you know, you
know, and um actually this kindof fits into the next uh
conversation real quickly, whichis uh giving back.
So certainly saving dogs and andrescue, you know, and giving
them a home, I think could becan considered community
(42:30):
service, by the way.
So so uh I know I got a pair ofuh dogs at home too, so we do
our our fair share that way aswell.
So uh just to pivot realquickly, um what favorite like
uh you know giving back issomething really you know big
part of it.
Do you guys you know you andyour wife have a favorite
charity or something you want togive a shout out to as well?
SPEAKER_04 (42:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So so so first uh you know, oneof the uh one one of the things
that uh you know being part ofCold Way Banker exposes you is
uh St.
Jude's.
So that's definitely one of thethings that uh one of the
charities that I've actuallybeen exposed by meeting some of
the parents that were benefitingfrom it, and you know, and you
actually see how not only howreal it is, but also how
(43:14):
essential it is.
Yeah, the impact it actually is.
Impact, yeah.
And how you know they they saynow 80% of kids will survive,
which is a great percentage, butit's still not enough, right?
SPEAKER_01 (43:26):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_04 (43:26):
So that that work that Coldwood Banker is doing is
um is very important.
On a local level, you know, weum you know, after we merged, uh
we I've I've come to know the umHeart of American Homes, which
is our foundation, yeah, right?
Yeah and I've seen that at work.
And I've I've actually seen itum, you know, I I I I've been
(43:46):
involved with a couple of thingswhere I've seen it at work, and
it's impressive how a smallgroup of people can make a huge
difference to you know to thecommunities where they where
they live, right?
And and to to completestrangers, right?
So we're part of the samecommunity, but they're also
strangers.
And um, and and that'simpressive, you know.
(44:07):
And I and and I'm not theauthority to speak about it
other than being completely inawe of the work that the board
and Tom Gallagher and you knowand and everybody does on for
the foundation, you know.
It's uh it's really incredible.
And you know, and I guess theone thing I will say is that you
know, when originally, you know,the the tagline was, you know,
(44:28):
there is zero overhead.
And I always thought, well,there's gotta be a little
overhead.
And then now I can tell you, youknow, three and a half years
into, you know, there's reallyno overhead.
Everybody does things from theirheart, and uh, and it's
impressive.
And then if you give me onesecond to to to really fix my
relationship with my wife, um Ithis is my charity work, right?
(44:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's Mike'scharity work.
You know, one one of the peoplethat does a lot of good is my
wife.
You know, she's um she's aphysician and she works for a uh
federally funded clinic whereshe sees a lot of uh patients
that have um either no insuranceor you know very little
insurance and and um you knowshe she here on Long Island and
(45:13):
and you know and and she does alot of good.
And uh, you know, she's verywell loved by her patients and
her co-workers.
Um but it's not an easy place tobe, you know, to be a doctor.
It's you know, she's um so sowhat she does is inspiring and
she works really hard and she'svery stressed about it, and you
(45:33):
know, she comes home and um butbut it's um but she truly is an
inspiration for what she forwhat she does.
And we um the clinic does someum events, like for example,
this past weekend we did a safetrick or treat uh event where
the clinic was all decorated uhfor Halloween, and we went there
(45:56):
with the kids.
All of the kids uh volunteeredfor it.
Okay, good.
Uh they were in charge of thescary hallway, and they did a
great job.
Everybody all most kids came outof it crying, so they so they
did an excellent job.
Yeah, uh, it was scary for sure.
And then uh, you know, all thethe younger kids would walk
through the hallways and wewould just give them candy and
we were dressed in costumes.
(46:17):
Uh by the way, I was forced intoa costume.
If you see any pictures, it wasnot approved by me.
Okay.
Um, but um, yeah, but it, youknow, we did it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:27):
What costume did she get you to wear?
SPEAKER_04 (46:29):
Um so we were both uh minions from The Speakable
Me.
Yeah.
And I know you have a lot to sayabout it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:36):
But just you know we're gonna get a copy of that
picture and then let that do itstalking for us.
SPEAKER_04 (46:42):
But you know, it was great, it was great to do when
you see these kids, you know,like be you know happy and you
know, and uh say in the same umin in the same way we do like um
um holiday meal uh right rightaround Thanksgiving where you
know we serve food at theclinic.
Yeah.
And uh for yeah, for three yearsnow, I uh am in charge of the
(47:04):
hot chocolate station.
Okay.
Um so I you know that's mystation, nobody touches it.
Uh and it's it's mine, and I'mvery proud of it.
You know, it's uh and it allstems from from what she does,
yeah, you know, and thecommitment that she puts into
that.
So sometimes our troubles, ourstresses of real estate are put
into perspective when very muchso.
Yeah.
(47:24):
Perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (47:24):
It's time for the drop the mic question.
SPEAKER_00 (47:28):
So before I go into the drop the mic question, I
want to remind our audience,please, if you love what you're
you're hearing here and seeing,just like, subscribe, join us
for some future episodes.
We'd love to have you here.
Yeah, got it.
We want an honest answer here.
So uh what's the better Italianexport?
Ferrari or pasta?
SPEAKER_04 (47:47):
All right.
So I'm on the committee thatwrites some of these questions
sometimes.
I didn't see any of thesequestions for a second.
That's right.
Let me point these out.
That's right.
No one gets to drop the micquestions ahead of time.
SPEAKER_00 (47:57):
There you go.
SPEAKER_04 (47:58):
Or any other questions.
I didn't see any of it.
Um you know, what is the betterexport?
Well, I think uh so I thinkpasta is a much more popular and
accessible product thatexpresses the greatness of
Italy.
Uh Ferrari, you know, is anicon, you know.
So it's uh but you know, if youask me, my the best export I
(48:20):
have is my own olive oil that myfamily makes, you know, my
brother-in-law makes in Italy.
Um, so that to me is the top.
Uh, but you know, I would say,you know, pasta is deaf brings
Italy to anyone who wants to tryit.
You know, Ferrari is a littlebit more exclusive.
SPEAKER_01 (48:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (48:36):
Uh but it's, you know, uh it's uh it's it's
definitely an icon.
It's a status.
SPEAKER_00 (48:42):
All right.
Well, thank you for sharing someculture with us today.
So uh both real estate cultureand uh you know your Italian
heritage culture.
So we're happy to, you know,highlight it and showcase it
here.
So David, I want to say thankyou, thank you for being an
integral part of Cobalt Bank orAmerican Homes and uh for being
a great interview on our showtoday.
SPEAKER_04 (49:01):
Oh, thank you, Mike.
Thank you so much for having me.
And uh and I really urgeeverybody to if you don't want
want to watch this episode, orif you don't understand my
accent, please go and check outall the other episodes.
They're really great.
Uh great, thank you.
Welcome to the Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back a
Real Estate podcast.
We're here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Franklin
Square.
Today's guest to the show isnone other than Senior Vice
President at Cobalt BankerAmerican Homes, David
Ainachense.
David, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Mike.
Great to be here.
Awesome, awesome.
Before we get started, though, Ijust want to remind our audience
(00:26):
if you like what you see heretoday, like, subscribe.
We'd love to have you back forfuture episodes.
And by the way, stay to the endfor the drop the mic question.
We always have a lot of fun withthat.
So you're gonna have fun withthis one.
I'm sure I will.
All right, there we go.
All right, so David, so yourbackground, let's let's let's
start really at the beginningand stuff.
Um so you have a different pathto real estate.
(00:48):
One of the things we like to dois explore people's path into
the real estate business, butyours came via Rome, Italy,
right?
SPEAKER_04 (00:56):
Yes, yes, that's correct.
I came via Rome.
That's where I'm from.
I was born in Rome.
My family still lives in alittle small town just outside
of Rome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
So you originally came to to New York, correct?
It was your first real place inthe States?
SPEAKER_04 (01:10):
Yeah, so after I after I moved in, my my
destination was New York.
I was an exchange student when Iwas 15, and that was actually in
uh in Florida for a year.
SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_04 (01:20):
Um so that was my first experience of the United
States.
SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
Aaron Powell Now, if I have this correctly, when you
first came to the States, youdidn't even speak English uh
effectively.
SPEAKER_04 (01:29):
Yeah, no, I I didn't at all.
Um, you know, I I only studiedFrench in school, and I remember
coming into the US and at TSA,the customs agents was asking me
questions, and I opened mybackpack and dropped all the
paperwork that I had on hisdesk, and I said, There you go.
There you go.
SPEAKER_00 (01:47):
There you go.
Now you came came with no adultsupervision, correct?
They put your backpack on, putyou on the plane, and gave you a
one-way ticket, I heard.
Yeah.
That speaks volumes right now.
SPEAKER_04 (01:56):
Yeah, that's actually accurate.
Yeah.
I swam all my way back.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
So what was it like coming to a different country,
not even speaking the languageor having that mentor or family
member that you could kind oflike hide under the wing?
That must have beenintimidating.
SPEAKER_04 (02:12):
It was, it was, especially at the beginning when
I, you know, I couldn'tcommunicate as well.
But I had the uh I had theblessing to end up in uh in a
family that hosted me for thefor the full year in uh in
Florida, and they became my uhyou know, my uh uh almost my
real family.
They were still in touch withthem.
So I have uh I get to have twomoms.
(02:33):
They both like to yell at me andbe very loud.
Um but I'm I that was ablessing.
You know, I was uh I waswelcomed right away and uh and
coming here, you know, was adream of mine.
The uh, you know, everyone in inItaly uh watches you know shows
about the United States and uhand stories, and uh and it was a
dream of mine to uh to be hereand see if I could make it.
(02:55):
All right, there you go.
SPEAKER_00 (02:56):
Now you stayed a year and then obviously went
back home for a period of time.
Finished school, is that what itwas?
SPEAKER_04 (03:03):
Yeah, exactly.
So I finished I um I attended mysenior year of high school here
in Florida, then I went back toItaly, and there was another
year of uh of high school leftthere, so I finished there, and
then uh eventually because I hadthis connection with with the
States, I kept coming back asmany times as I could.
Right.
Uh and then it kind of turnedinto a business, and uh, and
(03:24):
then finally I um one time Istayed.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
Okay, so what made since your first introduction
was Florida, what made you cometo New York?
SPEAKER_04 (03:32):
Uh so during uh in uh in my twenties I had a um uh
a company with three friends ofmine and uh you know we're still
very uh very good friends and uhin in Milan and we were doing uh
something called voice over IP,the Skype kind of uh technology.
And uh we had clients in NewYork, and because I was the only
one who wasn't married um of uhof the four, uh I was the one
(03:57):
that was always traveling everyfew months, coming here and uh
dealing with uh you knowpotential new clients and uh and
the business side of it, all mymy other three friends are all
on the uh um coding and softwareengineer side.
Right.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
All right.
So where where does you knowcoming here for business trips
slash become um coming here toto live full time?
SPEAKER_04 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I I know we're trying to getthere.
All right, so let's get there.
So, well, the the the way to NewYork and the way to real estate
actually went through my heart.
Uh because on uh one of thetrips uh I actually ended up uh
meeting uh meeting a woman who Ialways meet the girls, always
(04:42):
always the girl in the story,yes.
It's always the girl.
And uh she was living in NewYork, she was in real estate.
Um and when I uh proposed a weekafter we met, um I had no plan,
and it seemed like a good ideato get into real estate and work
with her.
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
All right, there you go.
So hence you wound up in and nowwhen you say New York, you know,
not everyone in the country uhunderstands the difference for
like us New Yorkers.
There's New York, like the city,and then there's the rest of New
York, there's suburban New York,and then there's um rural New
York as we as we have.
So where in New York uh doesdoes David Anachenzi start his
(05:23):
real estate?
SPEAKER_04 (05:24):
Yeah, yeah, it was actually in uh in Manhattan on
the Upper West side.
That was my first office.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:29):
Um and uh it's a brand or is it in the
independent?
No, it was a brand.
It was a brand.
Uh now it's called DouglasSalaman.
Okay.
Um, and uh that's where Istarted, and I started basically
as the uh um uh assistant of myat the time uh wife.
She's my ex-wife now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:49):
Uh but um um yeah, I was basically trying to learn as
much as I could from her, anduh, she was a great teacher, and
uh I had a great manager at thetime, and uh that's how I
started.
And uh I actually remember oneepisode which kind of um uh gave
me a lot uh in terms of learningabout real estate.
I walked into the my manager'soffice one day and I said, Jeff,
(06:12):
I have a fantastic idea.
I'm going to market myself asthe real estate agents for
Italians.
So everybody who comes fromItaly is gonna work with me.
And he looks at me and he says,That is the stupidest idea ever.
You shouldn't have a few stupidideas over the years, right?
His point was that I should, youknow, market myself to the
(06:34):
broader audience possible andyou know, start selling a co-op,
right?
Why limit yourself and stuff?
Yeah, don't don't pigeonholeyourself.
Yes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
All right, well, that's interesting.
So you so you got into sales fora while, right?
Yeah.
And then so what what was whatwas next for David?
SPEAKER_04 (06:50):
Yeah, so when um uh d during the uh 2008, 2009, when
uh you know the market has um Iyou know I wouldn't even say it
took a turn.
Yeah, I wouldn't say it it tooka dive, it just nothing was
moving in uh in the city.
And uh, you know, a lot of realestate agents were uh kind of
depressed.
Um I felt like the big officewasn't uh a good fit anymore.
(07:11):
Everybody was not as joyful.
So uh at the time, one of thetop producers in that office,
um, who is still one of my bestfriends, Doug, um, decided to go
out and venture on his own andstart his own company.
No relations to Element.
Uh no, different different dog.
No, he's a different dog.
Yeah, he's not the dog ofDouglas Solomon, no.
But he decided to go on his ownand started his own company,
(07:34):
which was called HeadingsProperty Group, which is that's
his last name.
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (07:38):
And um it he asked me and my um ex-wife to go with
him, and um, it took us about 15seconds to say yes, he was a
great guy.
Um and uh from there I startedgetting more involved with him
in the uh running of abrokerage.
Okay, um, and then a few yearslater that brokerage was
absorbed by another brokerage inthe city, and I had the
(08:00):
opportunity to become the manthe manager for uh the um
offices for that company.
SPEAKER_00 (08:05):
All right, what uh do you want to share the
company?
SPEAKER_04 (08:07):
Yeah, core group marketing.
It's a great place.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
All right.
It's still around today, right?
It's still around, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (08:12):
It's a great company.
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
So um how long did you stay in that role?
SPEAKER_04 (08:16):
Uh I stayed there for about four years.
Okay.
Um, and then I went to um acompany um uh just actually down
the street on Fifth Avenue, uhCompass.
Okay.
And I was there for that still astartup at that time or um no,
it was already it was already uhsomewhat established.
Yeah, yeah, they they had juststarted the expansion into um
(08:37):
different states and uh and uhand so forth.
So I got exposed to that uhdifferent culture of real
estate, different way of uhseeing real estate.
Uh and it was great, and it wasgreat, and um and I still have a
lot of great friends there.
Yeah, so what was the role youtook on at Campus?
Uh at Compass I was uh an agentcoach.
(08:58):
Okay.
Um so I was you know meetingwith agents every day and uh
trying to coach them on uh helpthem to uh grow their business.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
All right, interesting.
So so you the the path it bringsyou to a lot of different uh
aspects of of the business,right?
It does, yeah.
Yeah.
And how how long were you atcompass?
SPEAKER_04 (09:18):
Uh so compass actually wasn't a long uh
experience.
It was uh maybe less of a yearless of a year.
Um and uh and from there Iactually had the opportunities
to join a uh an actual realestate technology company, uh
meaning it wasn't a brokerage.
SPEAKER_05 (09:35):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (09:35):
Um it uh it actually did technology for brokerages.
Okay um and uh I worked withthem for about a year or a year
and a half.
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
Which company is this?
SPEAKER_04 (09:44):
Uh it's called Purtual.
You know, from there it ended upthat my uh one of my main roles
was to actually continue to meetwith agents and train them and
you know and and and you knoweducate them on this uh on this
new system.
And uh and there I realized thatI actually missed my first
calling, which was actually umyou know, working with agents
(10:06):
within a brokerage.
Um, you know, full time.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
So it's sort of like comes full circle.
SPEAKER_04 (10:11):
So it did, yeah, it did come, it did come full
circle at the at the time, andum um, you know, and it's uh and
and at that point I actually hadan opportunity to interview with
Coldwood Banker in uh this waslike 2019 now.
And uh and I interviewed with umuh at the time the original VP
for Coldwood Banker, BillMcCartney, who's become one of
(10:32):
my mentors as well.
SPEAKER_01 (10:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (10:34):
Um and uh he's now in Arizona, and every time I see
a picture of him, I tell himthat I love him, but I also hate
him a little bit for how good helooks.
Uh but the uh so I I met withhim and uh from there a few
months later I was managing theGreat Neck office for Coldwell
Banker Realty, and then less orright maybe a year later, I also
(10:58):
managed the Manasset office forColdwell Banker Realty, and then
in 2021, in April, one uh sunnyMonday, you guys came in and uh
we merged.
SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
We had the the the the the zoom uh zoom meeting,
right?
So yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
So Cold Banker Realty andCentury 21 American Homes merged
on April 29th, and we met onApril 28th on a Zoom meeting.
SPEAKER_04 (11:21):
Yeah, and nobody told us what it was about.
It was uh it was uh almost asstressful as this interview.
SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
Oh come on, this is not this is easy.
This is easy, yeah.
This is kind of easy, yeah,yeah.
Yeah, so um very interesting.
It wasn't our uh um idea not tomeet the management team early.
It was uh COW Bankers' um ideasince you were an employee of
theirs.
We had to kind of follow theirrules in order to get to the
finish line here.
(11:47):
So so yeah, we had one-daynotice.
We did this merger um on theheels of uh COVID.
So people were still, you know,we we we were back to work, but
they did not want to have bigmeetings, so we did it all on
Zoom.
And uh here we were, we wentfrom 12 to 24 offices overnight
in the busiest real estatemarket.
So, what was that experiencelike?
SPEAKER_04 (12:08):
So I wasn't as involved with the merger, having
found out basically a daybefore.
Um, but then you know, we allgot very involved really
hands-on and rolled up oursleeves, and uh, and I have to
say, it was um it was impressiveto see how quickly everything
was into production and youknow, agents getting paid next
day and um it you know, and andand systems all falling into
(12:32):
place.
You know, yes, we definitely hadsome kinks and you know, and
bumps along the road, but Iactually those are one that's
one of the things that made meuh appreciate the company I work
with, is because we actuallyworked through those kinks and
bumps uh together as a team fromthe from the get-go.
I actually remember that Zoomthat we had, yeah, and uh, and I
(12:54):
I really you know had no ideawho Tom and Mike were.
And um, so right after I calledBill McCartney, who was our you
know regional vice president,and uh and I said, you know, who
are these guys?
What's going on here?
And he said one thing.
He said, they're good people,and uh and really that's all I
needed to know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (13:13):
Uh and and you know, and I have to say now going
back, I proposed after a week ofthe first time, I you know,
decided to move to the US veryquickly.
I was okay with him just tellinghim that you guys were good
people.
For someone who likes data, Ithink I'm a very impulsive guy.
But it all seems to work out.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
Well, I guess you gotta blend data with intuition,
you know.
SPEAKER_04 (13:33):
Yeah, just go with it.
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
Yeah, exactly.
So when we merged, you weremanaging both uh Great Neck and
Manhasset, by the way.
Right?
SPEAKER_04 (13:40):
Right, yeah, yeah, both offices.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:42):
And then uh so if I could kind of like patch in,
since now we're overlapping nowin uh Cobalt Bank or American
Homes, about a year into thismerger, Bill bought a house, him
and his wife bought a house outin Arizona, which was going to
be a uh vacation home, which heloved so much that he decided
we're gonna stay here.
So uh I remember Tom Lai saying,okay, well, man, we got we got
(14:05):
get somebody who's really good,you know, who who can really you
know step that game up andstuff, you know.
And he wasn't available, or sheor she wasn't available.
So it's very funny because uhyou've heard me say this before,
but uh I kind of had you in theback of my brain.
And um uh but I asked Bill, andBill goes, uh maybe you should
(14:26):
consider this you know, sittingdown with David, David
Anachenzi.
I'm like, okay, that'sinteresting you bring that up.
So so since that point, um itkind of uh forced us to make a
change.
And then um so you've now beenput into the um senior vice
president role over at CobaltBanker American Home.
So overseeing what, 18 managers?
SPEAKER_04 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we have uh 18 managers, andum, you know, it's uh it's a fun
job.
My um my you know my daughtersays that my title is you know
manager of the managers.
Um I guess it doesn't fit on mybusiness card.
I actually don't have business Iactually don't have business
cards, everything is digitalnow.
But uh going back to the meetingwhere you know where we met and
(15:08):
you know, and I was offered thethe the position, that was a
very interesting meeting becausedriving there from great first I
get a text from Tom Gallagher,who for some reason when he
texts me that he wants to seeme, it just sends like a
four-word text message.
Can you come to East Meadow orwhatever?
Um and so that was already kindof stressful.
And then on my way there, I gota flat tire.
(15:31):
So I arrived at East Meadow.
My I have a flat tire, I goupstairs, I open the door, and I
see Tom, Mike, and Bill, and Ilook at them and I say, If you
guys are going to fire me today,it's not a good day.
I already got a flat tire, not agood day.
And you know, thankfully itended up being something else.
But yeah, yeah, yeah.
And opportunity.
(15:52):
Opportunity was knocking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, no.
It was a good meeting.
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
Good, good.
Well, well, here we are, and nowwhat is it three three years
later?
SPEAKER_04 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's just about three years, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:03):
For our audience, you know, um, so you have some
unique experience and vantagepoints.
I always like to say vantagepoints in real estate, because
for an average agent, they mightknow how their office works,
they have an idea how they wantto build their business or how
they should be building theirbusiness.
And yet um I I I think it'sreally helpful to to see
(16:23):
different vantage points in thisindustry.
So, you know, you have you'vehad some of the most unique
vantage points and stuff.
So what's what's an aha momentthat you know that you've had in
the past about the industry thatmight be useful information for
uh an audience member.
SPEAKER_04 (16:41):
One of the most interesting things that I've
seen in our um in our industryis the path to success has many
different roads.
Right?
And depending on where you aregeographically, depending on uh,
you know, the market and and andso forth, and depending on your
personality.
So there's really no one type ofagent that is successful in real
(17:03):
estate.
Right, definitely not a cookieguy.
There is now, there is manydifferent personalities and
there's many different traitsthat can make an a real estate
agent successful.
The common trend is consistency,never give up, and have a plan.
And that comes across, you know,where a lot of the you know top
agents and you know and and andproducing agents that we have,
(17:26):
where they all get to successdifferent ways, you know,
whether it's you know, GalCarillo and her team or Brian
Carp or Larry Thieler, and youknow, and by the way, if you
haven't seen those episodes,make sure you get those episodes
on our podcast.
Yeah, you know, and um and butit's it's interesting to hear
their stories and uh and see howthey got to success in very
(17:47):
different ways, right?
So there it's definitely not acookie-cutter in industry, which
is very uh interesting.
And my role as uh I see my rolesomewhat uh of a uh connector,
right?
So where I get absorbedsomething from somebody and then
talk about it with someone elseand say, hey, did you think
about doing that?
You know, Brian is doing it orGail is doing it or Larry's
(18:10):
doing it.
Um and the great the other greatthing is that they're all very
happy and willing to share whatthey do, uh, which is not common
in all in other companies.
But um so being this role ofconnector, I am exposed to a lot
of different things.
And a path to success is one ofthe things that you know
surprised surprised me the mostwhen I first started.
SPEAKER_00 (18:30):
Yeah.
But w would you necessarilyagree with the the thought
process that is even thoughthere's different paths paths
and different personalities, uhthere are some commonality that
you see in successful, you know,agents and teams?
SPEAKER_04 (18:43):
So first of all is believe that you're going to do
it, right?
So envision success as somethingyou are going to achieve, right?
Uh and then just focus on theprocess.
So m map out the steps and uhand you know, take those steps
um consistently.
Um, you know, don't uh don'ttake a day off from the process
(19:04):
and keep pushing and uheventually you'll make it.
What I what I love about realestate is that you know, we like
to be on Facebook and Instagramand so forth, but we're you
know, most of us are not,especially myself, we're not
rocket scientists, you know.
I think I've actually onlyinterviewed a rocket scientist
uh who wanted to get into realestate after he retired.
But um well, but did did he doit?
(19:26):
No.
Uh it did, it did, it did, yes,yes, successful?
Yes, I don't know.
I think he got an allergyattack.
But the you know, the idea isthat if you are consistent, if
you're true to yourself and youhave a plan and you execute on
that plan, you have hightolerance for, you know, um, I
don't want to call it rejection,but you know, would for the fact
that you know not everything isgonna go your way right away,
(19:49):
right?
Um, you'll make it.
Like, you know, you really havethe opportunity to uh build a
legacy, a business in thisindustry, which other industries
don't allow.
SPEAKER_00 (19:59):
I always call it right, uh if you've heard me say
this, uh business worth owning.
And should be working or teamleader should be working on
building a business worthowning.
Yeah.
Because it's easy to be inbusiness.
It's not easy to have a businessworth owning.
Yeah.
A successful business.
That's how I define successfulbusiness.
SPEAKER_04 (20:17):
Yeah, Deb Asher was always here on my shoulder
whispering words um in my ear,you know, she she calls, you
know, the working on yourbusiness, right?
Um, you know, work on yourbusiness as well as in your
business, you know, when yeah,especially when you get busy.
And and some of those agentsthat have been very successful
and continue to be, it's becausethey have the ability to time
(20:37):
manage and and you know, andfocus on working on their
business even when they're verybusy working in their business.
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
Yes, very much so I like that.
Never stop learning, basically.
Never stop learning.
So what do you consider thebiggest challenge in supporting
a leadership team?
You know, especially a teamthat's spread out
geographically.
So when what is you know, sowhat does that challenge look
like?
SPEAKER_04 (21:00):
So it's the leadership team that we have,
you know, actually makes theprocess quite easy.
You know, they um you know,we're we're very lucky to have a
great leadership team and uh,you know, and everybody cares,
everybody's on board.
I don't think it's luck.
And uh by the way, it's yeah,no, but you know, you tend to
attract, I guess, uh, you know,people that that you know see
(21:21):
themselves into the project anduh and and and that but yeah,
yeah, yeah, you're right.
It's not luck.
Um but it it is somethingactually that comes from from
the top down, right?
So after I did get to meet youand Tom, um I I you know I have
to say I see why some of themembers of the leadership team
have been here for such a longtime, right?
(21:43):
And it's uh and it's becauseyou've been able to um share
your vision of what the companywas gonna grow into with them
consistently and make them partof it and uh uh make them feel
heard uh and make the agentsfeel the same way.
So the um, you know, theretention uh that that this
company has is quite incredible.
(22:05):
And I think in part it's becauseof that, this energy that comes
down from you know, Tom and Mikein um in you know, uh every day.
You know, you're probably one ofthe most hands-on people, you
know, business owners that I'vemet um so far in the industry.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Well, I I would say real estate even as a business,
right?
Not as just as an agent, is it'snot something you can put on
autopilot pilot.
SPEAKER_04 (22:27):
No, no, you always do something, uh and you always
do something different, which isgreat, right?
Yeah.
So yeah, I remember the call.
Um we had a manager in one ofour offices, and uh he calls me
one day and he says that thetoilet was broken.
And uh and he said, Who who dowe call?
Do we have a handyman?
I'm like, what's broken?
He said, The handle.
And literally I was in the area,so I'll be there in 20 minutes,
(22:50):
and I fixed it.
And it, you know, and by theway, I'm not a handy person at
all, asked my wife.
SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
Um YouTube video.
SPEAKER_04 (22:57):
Yeah, YouTube, yeah, you know, YouTube everything.
Yeah.
Um and uh but you know, we'rereally hands-on, and there's
really this sense of belongingand uh and community, which is
uh again, it starts from thetop, but it's uh perceived and
felt um uh throughout uhthroughout the company.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
So you want to talk a little bit about how we've
been leaning into AI to find thethe synergies and efficiencies
to help our agents be moreproductive?
SPEAKER_04 (23:23):
Yeah, yeah.
The um, you know, the uh AI hasdefinitely been, you know, like
we were recently in um in LasVegas for the Cold War Banker um
convention, Jam Blue, and AI wasabout probably 85% of all the
classes that were there.
Um AI is it's you know, it'ssuch a big um, you know, range
(23:45):
of products, right?
Right.
So one of the things that youknow Chris Mantiria was our CTO,
one of the things he says islike, you know, it drives him
crazy when somebody says, Oh,uh, I want to start using AI, we
should use AI.
And he's like, Well, what for?
Right?
Because it's not, you know, it'snot a solution to everything.
It's an assistant, it'ssomething that helps you.
(24:06):
Ask a deeper question.
Yes, exactly.
So the the results are onlygoing to be as good as the
questions are, right?
Yeah.
So some of the things that westarted now is Chris is actually
um putting out weekly um shortuh webinars on different aspects
of AI and how to you know workwith prompts, how to build gems.
(24:29):
We um as a company, we um uh youknow we use um Gemini um because
it's part of uh of the GoogleWorkspace platform that we
provide to Google agents.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So so yeah, so our all of ouragents have access to the you
know Gemini Pro accounts and youknow, as well as all the Google
Workspace.
So we you know we provide a lotof training, not so much of what
(24:51):
AI is because it's gonna bedifferent tomorrow, yeah, but
how to leverage it in the senseof how do you build a prompt and
how do you, you know, how do youcommunicate with it, what's the
concept of it, right?
Practical application.
Practical application, how doyou do a CMA or or things like
that, and then coming out withdifferent solutions.
So we're you know, we'reembracing it um as a company as
(25:12):
much as we can.
Uh we are, you know, we're luckyenough that uh all of our agents
have access to a pro account forfor for Gemini so they can do um
you know more intense uh workthan uh you know than the free
accounts allow you to do.
And you know, you can do a fullvideo, you know, generate videos
and put stitch them alltogether.
(25:34):
And uh I get very excited aboutthis stuff.
So but you know, the I the ideais that it's something that you
know we the real estate agentsshould adopt.
Um to be clear, I I actuallydon't think, and this this was
said at the conference too, andI fully agree with it.
I I don't expect AI to replacethe real estate agents.
(25:55):
No, but the real estate agentsthat adopt AI in their everyday
business and their businessplanning are most likely going
to replace a lot of the agentsthat don't.
Yeah.
Um it's just going out andproduce them.
Yeah, yeah, which goes back tothe question you asked before,
which is you know, what are someof the challenges that the
leadership team has?
(26:15):
And, you know, one of thechallenges is understanding a
different uh generation ofagents that have different tools
than what we had, yeah, right,when we started in real estate.
Um I mean, I remember walking umwalking into the um you know the
the conference room at DouglasSalaman to put together a board
package, and there's atypewriter, right?
(26:36):
And and when's a typewriter?
Exactly.
That's what I asked.
And um, you know, and and it wasused to fill out board packages,
board applications.
Um so uh from there, obviouslythe technology has evolved a
lot.
SPEAKER_01 (26:49):
Yes.
SPEAKER_04 (26:50):
And now I I'm not putting down Douglas Salman, I'm
sure that that typewriter isgone by now.
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
Yes, that's it.
SPEAKER_04 (26:55):
But at the time it was there, yes.
So, you know, and this was like2007, right?
SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (26:59):
So we already had Adobe, we already had, you know,
so the uh the technology haschanged, and for us to embrace
the changes that the industry uhis is bringing upon us um is is
is mandatory.
Like we have to do, we owe it toour agents to be the most
forking customs and our clientsand customers.
(27:20):
Yeah, yeah.
But you know, our agents arealso our clients uh as well,
right?
From our level.
From our level.
SPEAKER_00 (27:26):
Our customers and clients are our customers and
clients.
SPEAKER_04 (27:29):
Yeah, if we can't provide them, if we can't put
them in the best possibleposition to compete and be, you
know, above uh um most everyoneelse in the industry.
Best in class, then we're notdoing our job right, right?
So we take that very seriously.
And uh, you know, and I and Isee it in Tom, and I see it in
you, and uh, you know, and andas and as some of the people
(27:49):
that I've encountered throughthe um um through through my
real estate journey, like myfriend Dag that I spoke before,
and Bill, uh, and you know, Iconsider you guys um my mentors
as well, because of this visionthat you have, you know, this
forward thinking uh approach.
And it's like what can we howcan we do it better, right?
Right, right.
Which is um uh which issomething that people are asking
(28:12):
AI now, right?
It's like you ask for somethingand you say, How do you do it
better?
No, make it even better, make iteven better, make it even
better, right?
Uh my friend Justin always saysthat.
Uh, but the um uh the the ideais to try to always improve
incrementally to to providebetter uh better services and
and shift the company missionwith the changing times.
SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
So now you've heard obviously um it was big news two
weeks ago.
Uh Compass and Anywhere brands,you know.
Um Compass is the the largestindependent brokerage in the
United States.
Uh Anywhere Brands is the parentcompany for Cowwell Century 21
Corporate and uh Sotherby's ERAand Garden So the largest
(28:56):
franchise uh real estate in thein the world, essentially.
So the two are getting togetherin a merger, right?
And that's called some ripplesand stuff.
So how do you see that impactingthe marketplace?
SPEAKER_04 (29:10):
So I actually think it's very interesting, right?
And it just it just describeswhere the industry is going as
um as a whole, and and it's morethan just economic factors, I
think.
SPEAKER_01 (29:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (29:21):
So and you know, I and I think um, you know, a
company like Compass, um, whohas um built a technology stack
first and foremost, and then uhprovide it to the to its agents,
um, you know, I think it's kindof a natural move to want to
become the biggest serviceprovider for that technology.
(29:42):
So I think it's a great move forthem.
You know, I've heard all kindsof stuff in uh in the trenches
of you know, people asking melike, so are you all going to
become Compass now?
Or you know, uh is Compass gonnabe the biggest MLS in the
country?
And and reality is we we don'treally.
Know what's going to shake outexcept at the highest level.
(30:04):
Except for us uh being afranchise, you know, I I think
that I'm actually very happy tobe part of it.
And I much prefer being part ofthis big change than being
excluded from this big change.
SPEAKER_00 (30:16):
Right, sitting on the sidelines and watching what
happens the other big guys gettogether and work
collaboratively, right?
SPEAKER_04 (30:22):
Yeah, the way I see it, this is an opportunity to
improve the systems and toolsand um you know and and scope of
what we get from our nationalbrand, right?
And at the same time, as one ofthe biggest franchises for you
know anywhere, you know, notjust called a banker, yeah, um,
we're one of their biggestclients.
So as a client, I you know, andone of the things that I learned
(30:44):
about America as an as animmigrant is that the client is
always right, right?
Is that a thing?
Yes, yes, right.
So by being one of the biggestclients, you know, I would
expect that we would actually beable to um take advantage of,
you know, potentially bettertools and better systems and uh
and a more powerful structure.
(31:05):
So it's you know, I thinkthere's an opportunity for the
industry to to get better, youknow.
I think there's a I I I thinkthe um the the the biggest um um
stressful point is for thepeople who have been just uh
chugging along and you knowmailing it in in different
positions, you know, whether asagents, as brokers, as you know,
(31:27):
you know, leadership positions,and now there's literally
earthquakes uh going on undertheir feet, and you know, how do
you adjust to that, right?
Um it is a very interesting timeto be in real life.
SPEAKER_00 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
So uh interestingly enough, youand I got this question this
past week, right, about youknow, uh the merger and uh
saying, you know, well we'regonna become compass and what
have you.
So I I think it it's importantthat we're clear.
I think you're on the same pagewith this, is that obviously we
have a franchise agreement withthe COWA Banker, and that COW
(31:59):
Banker is such a tremendousorganization in forty-three
different countries around theworld, tremendous market share,
a hundred thousand plus agents,that is that it it stands alone,
and uh I think Compass is notgoing into anywhere so that
every brand's gonna rebrand asCompass is they're gonna go in
and leverage Anywhere brands asa franchiser to franchise
(32:21):
Compass.
It's the other way around, andpotentially the Anywhere brands
can take the best in intechnology out of what Compass
is built.
SPEAKER_04 (32:29):
So Yeah, no, absolutely.
I think I think you're just youknow, you're you're right on all
of that.
Um and uh and Cold of a Bank isa very powerful brand, uh and
uh, you know, and it's an assetto uh to compass, right?
SPEAKER_00 (32:42):
That's why they want to buy it.
I want to come back to the otherthing, which really kind of
tapped me, kind of knocked onthat door.
And the other thing was that II've been asked is you know, so
uh are we now forced to sell ourcompany to to compass?
And uh it's very clear thatwe're an independently owned
company that happens tofranchise with a Cobalt banker.
So there's no first rod refusalor option to buy our company.
(33:07):
So the fact that they're mergingon a franchise level doesn't
affect us on a local level.
So it's kind of funny.
Somebody just asked me, What'sgonna happen with my closing
next week?
How am I gonna get paid?
The same way you always gotpaid, typically in like 12 hours
or less, right?
But we handle our own payroll.
So it I I I I see this thing onthe highest levels is it doesn't
(33:28):
affect us from our day-to-dayoperations.
But what it can really impactwould be I'm kind of curious how
you feel about this.
Uh exclusives and stuff, youknow, against the gnar push of
clear cooperation.
Well, Compass is one company,now they just merge with the
behemoth that's anywhere.
(33:49):
Um all of a sudden, uh, youknow, do we need every MLS in
the country?
Does does the anywhere compassmerger create a given the
ability to create their owninternal multiple listing
service?
SPEAKER_04 (34:00):
Yeah, and you know, it's uh it it it it is going to
be very interesting to see wherethe industry goes, right?
Because now we have a group of350,000 agents.
Yeah.
Um and it's you know, it's it'sbasically one it probably is one
of the largest MLSs in uh in thecountry, right?
If you put them by far.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:19):
There's no one even close.
SPEAKER_04 (34:21):
So, you know, that's um that's quite that's quite the
force.
And um, you know, and and I andI Well they got offices in all
50 states then.
SPEAKER_00 (34:29):
Yeah.
If when you look at it that way,there's they're in literally all
50 states and multiple countriesas well.
SPEAKER_04 (34:34):
So I I think maybe agents may have an opportunity
to be um better heard from youknow, maybe from organizations
that gave agents for granted inuh in the past, right?
I think everybody's gonna haveto listen and watch a little bit
more carefully.
Yeah.
I I think the uh the idea thatwe all become compassed is is
(34:55):
just uh it's just not a viablefinancial uh idea, right?
And it wouldn't work because weare much more valuable as
Coldwell Bank or American homesto them than we would be as
compassed.
Correct.
Um so I I I don't think it's youknow, I I I I think the rumors
and you know, and and and I knowthat nobody in our industry um
(35:16):
spreads rumors, they mostly justforward them.
Um but some and they gotta stopsomewhere.
Uh well, you know, they they'reall forwarded.
Um but but you know, the ideaanyone who stops for a second,
right, yeah, and realizes thatyou know it's not financially
viable, like it makes no sensefrom a financial point of view,
(35:37):
right?
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Each each one of those brands has has massive,
massive Wall Street value.
So you don't just throw a brandin the garbage.
You you you consolidate costs.
SPEAKER_04 (35:48):
Yeah, and you know, and the relocation services and
all of that.
So yeah, so that I you know thethe consolidation of costs and
the uh and the um uh maximizingthe exposure of all the
different brands is really wherethe key is.
And providing these tools, youknow, that you know that's a
winning play for companies aswell.
Yeah, yeah.
And and ultimately, if the toolsthat we get are better than the
(36:11):
tools that we get from our MLS,then maybe your question is you
know, is right to be asked.
It's like why do we have an MLS,right?
And and again, we don't knowwhere it's gonna go.
And you know, and I'm surethere's a lot of people that
work very hard on our MLS.
Yes, exactly.
But everybody should be watchingcarefully what happens.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:29):
Yeah.
Obviously, this business can be24-7.
It's it's hard to find abeginning and an end.
So, you know, what does playhard mean for David Aynagzi?
You know, how do you unplug fromthe demands of 24-7 real estate?
SPEAKER_04 (36:43):
Um, so that's a great question.
And uh probably not the answeryou you're expecting.
You haven't figured that outyet.
Uh no, no, I I I I do.
It's just not, you know, it'suh, you know, I should say, oh,
I spend a lot of time with mykids and uh uh instead I'm going
through a full midlife crisis.
Okay.
And uh so I decided that I havethis incredible passion for dogs
(37:08):
and specifically training dogs.
Last May, um, I see on theFacebook page for the sheltering
poor Jeff, Save a Pet.
They do a lot of great things.
Uh, I see the picture of thesedogs at the head, and she's a
canic orso, which is an Italianmastiff, so I instinctively felt
bonded, connection with her.
(37:28):
Um, she's an uh you know, acanic horso is an ancient um uh
war dogs that the Roman soldiersactually used to use and bring
to war.
So you had the Roman connectionwith them.
They had the Roman connection.
They're they're afraid ofnothing, they're great, you
know, companions and and soforth.
And um, and um uh it's actuallyinteresting when you read about
it.
But at the um, so the point isthis time I actually my wife was
(37:52):
a little bit more stern aboutno, we're not doing this.
Um, but I had started my again,my midlife crisis, which is was
which was dog training.
So I watch a lot of YouTubevideos with dog trainings, and
then I try to do it with mydogs, and it actually works.
SPEAKER_01 (38:07):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (38:08):
So um I convinced my wife, or I maybe I should say I
conned my wife into uh intogoing over there.
She's gonna see this.
She's she's gonna see, sheknows.
Um, into going there.
And this time I called mydaughter and I said, Hey, why
don't you come with us?
We're gonna go look at puppies.
Because this time I neededsupport because it was a very
(38:29):
difficult thing to pull off.
SPEAKER_01 (38:31):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (38:32):
Long story short, we ended up with this 75-pound, uh,
you know, beautiful blue bluebrindle kind of corso.
I've been officially put ofnotice that I'm one dog away
from divorce.
Right, there you go.
Um but but it you know it's it'sinteresting actually.
The dog training is probablywhat what takes my mind off of
uh of you know the the pressuresof real estate the pressures of
(38:54):
real estate and what we gothrough and you know the legal
things and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
So let's let's do a shout out.
You have apparently you have ora burgeoning YouTube star bit
star in the house.
So you want to tell us about thenew channel staring your
four-legged friends?
SPEAKER_04 (39:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So my um so I watch a lot ofYouTube dog trainers and things,
and you know, and they havethousands and thousands of
followers, and you know, andobviously when you watch YouTube
videos, the first thing youthink is, I can do that.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (39:21):
Uh we all not everyone thinks that though.
Okay.
So well, maybe I'm competitivein that way.
So I found this to be like theeasiest entry way for me, dog
training.
All right.
So you want to give a shout outto the um YouTube channel?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So Rhea, uh, which is myCanicorso, uh R-H-E-A, Rhea.
Um she has a YouTube channel,it's called uh Rhea the
(39:44):
Canicorso, and we areapproaching 500 subscribers.
And if we reach 500 subscribersby the time this airs, Mike is
going to give a million dollarsto one lucky viewer.
Puppy.
Or puppy.
Yeah, there we go.
Uh but yeah, so Rhea theCanicorso.
(40:05):
So I started this channel and Istarted with shorts.
Yeah, I started about a monthago, and then I it it goes uh I
also started a TikTok accountfor it to go together.
The one promotes the other, anduh and I have about you know
almost um 500 subscribers onYouTube and uh almost you know
just I think just over 400 onTikTok.
SPEAKER_01 (40:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (40:28):
And and it's something that had always uh
scared me.
And now I'm a little bit morecomfortable with.
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
Now apparently though, Ray is getting a lot of
views though.
What's your biggest number ofviews for uh a video so far on
this brand new uh adventure?
SPEAKER_04 (40:43):
So I think I so I think this is how the YouTube
addiction works.
Because I did a couple of videosand I and I got you know a few
hundred views.
Um and then I did one short,which is you know definitely not
the one that I thought was thebest one.
SPEAKER_01 (41:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (41:01):
And all of a sudden within two days it had like
5,000 views, and within likethree days it had 10,000 views,
and then it got to like about15,000 views.
Um and then I tried anexperiment, so I actually
promoted it for two days.
I guess it was like$25,000,$30,and it got to 40,000 views.
And now, and you know, and andand I know that maybe it's not
(41:23):
as big as a number of uh, youknow, the big YouTube stars, but
it's impressive to see thatsomething like that gets 40,000
views.
For a dog.
Yeah, yeah, yeah with a brandwith a brand new.
It's not too bad, not too badfor a dog.
So and and that actually broughta lot of subscribers, you know,
which and and and now I'm a lotmore comfortable talking to our
agents about doing somethinglike that, right?
(41:45):
Not necessarily about dogs, butabout you know, about real
estate between you know puttingtogether and I use a lot of um
AI to come up with concepts andyou know, thumbnails, and you
study some stuff.
So it actually it's actuallyvery interesting, and it applies
to somewhat wait, let me saythis with a straight face to my
wife.
It applies to my job, so I mustcontinue to do it.
unknown (42:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (42:07):
Let me give it a straight face back.
All right.
So it's it's good that you haveuh an outlet, you know, you
know, and um actually this kindof fits into the next uh
conversation real quickly, whichis uh giving back.
So certainly saving dogs and andrescue, you know, and giving
them a home, I think could becan considered community
(42:30):
service, by the way.
So so uh I know I got a pair ofuh dogs at home too, so we do
our our fair share that way aswell.
So uh just to pivot realquickly, um what favorite like
uh you know giving back issomething really you know big
part of it.
Do you guys you know you andyour wife have a favorite
charity or something you want togive a shout out to as well?
SPEAKER_04 (42:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So so so first uh you know, oneof the uh one one of the things
that uh you know being part ofCold Way Banker exposes you is
uh St.
Jude's.
So that's definitely one of thethings that uh one of the
charities that I've actuallybeen exposed by meeting some of
the parents that were benefitingfrom it, and you know, and you
actually see how not only howreal it is, but also how
(43:14):
essential it is.
Yeah, the impact it actually is.
Impact, yeah.
And how you know they they saynow 80% of kids will survive,
which is a great percentage, butit's still not enough, right?
SPEAKER_01 (43:26):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_04 (43:26):
So that that work that Coldwood Banker is doing is
um is very important.
On a local level, you know, weum you know, after we merged, uh
we I've I've come to know the umHeart of American Homes, which
is our foundation, yeah, right?
Yeah and I've seen that at work.
And I've I've actually seen itum, you know, I I I I've been
(43:46):
involved with a couple of thingswhere I've seen it at work, and
it's impressive how a smallgroup of people can make a huge
difference to you know to thecommunities where they where
they live, right?
And and to to completestrangers, right?
So we're part of the samecommunity, but they're also
strangers.
And um, and and that'simpressive, you know.
(44:07):
And I and and I'm not theauthority to speak about it
other than being completely inawe of the work that the board
and Tom Gallagher and you knowand and everybody does on for
the foundation, you know.
It's uh it's really incredible.
And you know, and I guess theone thing I will say is that you
know, when originally, you know,the the tagline was, you know,
(44:28):
there is zero overhead.
And I always thought, well,there's gotta be a little
overhead.
And then now I can tell you, youknow, three and a half years
into, you know, there's reallyno overhead.
Everybody does things from theirheart, and uh, and it's
impressive.
And then if you give me onesecond to to to really fix my
relationship with my wife, um Ithis is my charity work, right?
(44:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's Mike'scharity work.
You know, one one of the peoplethat does a lot of good is my
wife.
You know, she's um she's aphysician and she works for a uh
federally funded clinic whereshe sees a lot of uh patients
that have um either no insuranceor you know very little
insurance and and um you knowshe she here on Long Island and
(45:13):
and you know and and she does alot of good.
And uh, you know, she's verywell loved by her patients and
her co-workers.
Um but it's not an easy place tobe, you know, to be a doctor.
It's you know, she's um so sowhat she does is inspiring and
she works really hard and she'svery stressed about it, and you
(45:33):
know, she comes home and um butbut it's um but she truly is an
inspiration for what she forwhat she does.
And we um the clinic does someum events, like for example,
this past weekend we did a safetrick or treat uh event where
the clinic was all decorated uhfor Halloween, and we went there
(45:56):
with the kids.
All of the kids uh volunteeredfor it.
Okay, good.
Uh they were in charge of thescary hallway, and they did a
great job.
Everybody all most kids came outof it crying, so they so they
did an excellent job.
Yeah, uh, it was scary for sure.
And then uh, you know, all thethe younger kids would walk
through the hallways and wewould just give them candy and
we were dressed in costumes.
(46:17):
Uh by the way, I was forced intoa costume.
If you see any pictures, it wasnot approved by me.
Okay.
Um, but um, yeah, but it, youknow, we did it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:27):
What costume did she get you to wear?
SPEAKER_04 (46:29):
Um so we were both uh minions from The Speakable
Me.
Yeah.
And I know you have a lot to sayabout it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:36):
But just you know we're gonna get a copy of that
picture and then let that do itstalking for us.
SPEAKER_04 (46:42):
But you know, it was great, it was great to do when
you see these kids, you know,like be you know happy and you
know, and uh say in the same umin in the same way we do like um
um holiday meal uh right rightaround Thanksgiving where you
know we serve food at theclinic.
Yeah.
And uh for yeah, for three yearsnow, I uh am in charge of the
(47:04):
hot chocolate station.
Okay.
Um so I you know that's mystation, nobody touches it.
Uh and it's it's mine, and I'mvery proud of it.
You know, it's uh and it allstems from from what she does,
yeah, you know, and thecommitment that she puts into
that.
So sometimes our troubles, ourstresses of real estate are put
into perspective when very muchso.
Yeah.
(47:24):
Perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (47:24):
It's time for the drop the mic question.
SPEAKER_00 (47:28):
So before I go into the drop the mic question, I
want to remind our audience,please, if you love what you're
you're hearing here and seeing,just like, subscribe, join us
for some future episodes.
We'd love to have you here.
Yeah, got it.
We want an honest answer here.
So uh what's the better Italianexport?
Ferrari or pasta?
SPEAKER_04 (47:47):
All right.
So I'm on the committee thatwrites some of these questions
sometimes.
I didn't see any of thesequestions for a second.
That's right.
Let me point these out.
That's right.
No one gets to drop the micquestions ahead of time.
SPEAKER_00 (47:57):
There you go.
SPEAKER_04 (47:58):
Or any other questions.
I didn't see any of it.
Um you know, what is the betterexport?
Well, I think uh so I thinkpasta is a much more popular and
accessible product thatexpresses the greatness of
Italy.
Uh Ferrari, you know, is anicon, you know.
So it's uh but you know, if youask me, my the best export I
(48:20):
have is my own olive oil that myfamily makes, you know, my
brother-in-law makes in Italy.
Um, so that to me is the top.
Uh, but you know, I would say,you know, pasta is deaf brings
Italy to anyone who wants to tryit.
You know, Ferrari is a littlebit more exclusive.
SPEAKER_01 (48:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (48:36):
Uh but it's, you know, uh it's uh it's it's
definitely an icon.
It's a status.
SPEAKER_00 (48:42):
All right.
Well, thank you for sharing someculture with us today.
So uh both real estate cultureand uh you know your Italian
heritage culture.
So we're happy to, you know,highlight it and showcase it
here.
So David, I want to say thankyou, thank you for being an
integral part of Cobalt Bank orAmerican Homes and uh for being
a great interview on our showtoday.
SPEAKER_04 (49:01):
Oh, thank you, Mike.
Thank you so much for having me.
And uh and I really urgeeverybody to if you don't want
want to watch this episode, orif you don't understand my
accent, please go and check outall the other episodes.
They're really great.
Uh great, thank you.
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