Mastering the Art of Real Estate with Guest, Greg Woehrle, Realtor, Developer, Contractor and Childhood Friend

Greg Woehrle brings over 30 years of experience as a licensed real estate broker, developer, and builder in the Bay Area. His real estate career launched with the acquisition of the historic Kaiser Estate in Piedmont/Montclair, which led to founding Select Real Estate in the early 1990s—his first brokerage specializing in luxury home sales. Since then, Greg has remained deeply involved in the development, design, and sale of high-end custom homes across Lafayette, Orinda, Alamo, Walnut Creek, and Piedmont.

Beyond real estate, Greg has dedicated decades to community service—volunteering through his church, coaching youth sports, and mentoring future leaders in both business and life.

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About Mastering the Art of Real Estate

Whether you are a Real Estate Advisor or an entrepreneur with a service, product, or brand, this podcast is for you. As busy professionals juggling countless ideas and tasks, Mastering the Art of Real Estate brings you valuable conversations with guests just like you — from real estate advisors and financial planners to stagers, interior designers, coaches, tech start-up CEOs, and lifestyle experts.  Our goal is to inspire and empower you to take what you learn and apply it to elevate your own business. 

If you would like to connect with our guest, or be introduced to a Real Estate Advisor in your area, please reach out.

And if you are looking to buy or sell in the San Francisco East Bay, or LA, contact Debbi @ [e-mail] | 510.414.6777

To be considered for Debbi's Podcast, Mastering the Art of Real Estate, or to make suggestions who you'd like to see on her show, please reach out to Chase Betta @ [e-mail] or directly to Debbi DiMaggio @ [e-mail]

We hope you find Mastering the Art of Real Estate interesting, and you take something away that you can implement in your own business.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Welcome to master in the art of real Estate. I'm
your host, Debbie Demagio. We are here today with my
very good friend and childhood friend, Greg Worley.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome, Greg, Hello, thank you, glad to be here, Thanks pleasure.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thank you so much for coming today. I had a
guest first time ever who canceled and I called Greg
and he to the occasion and that's what a good
real estate agent does and friend, so I really thank
you for jumping in today at the last minute.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
You're welcome. That's what we do. We support each other.
There's no competition, there's this collaboration here.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Absolutely absolutely, So let's properly introduce my friend Greg. Licensed
real estate broker, principal developer, general contractor in Lafayette, California.
Greg brings over thirty years of experience as a licensed
real estate broker, developer and builder in the Bay Area.
His real estate career launched with the acquisition of the
historic Kaiser Estate in Piedmont, Montclair, which led to founding

(01:37):
Select real Estate in the early nineteen nineties, his first
brokerage specializing in luxury homes. Since then, Greg has remained
deeply involved in development, design, and sale of high end
custom homes across Lafayette, Arenda, Alamo, Walnut Creek, and Piedmont.
He is the founder and driving force behind Worley Development
and Whorley and Son's Builders, as well as the creator

(01:59):
of lous Ranch Gallery, the physical home of Warlely real
Estate and Development, and the Early Diagnosis Foundation. His expertise
spans land acquisition, acquisition, sb nign lot splits, subdivision processing, permitting,
and custom home construction, making him one of the most
well rounded professionals in the Barrier luxury market. A longtime

(02:21):
Lafayette resident community leader, Greg has raised his six children.
Always I just can never imagine a happy valley. I
always get stumped there in the happy.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Valley, neighbor don't ask me their names.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Embracing and contributing to the Lomrenda lifestyle alongside his wife
Marty and daughter Samantha, the Worlies from the first multi
generational real estate and development team in Lafayette.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm going to skip some of it. It's long beyond
real estate.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Greg has dedicated decades to community service, volunteering through his church,
coaching youth sports, and entoring future leaders in both business
and life. Thank you so much again. Greg, and welcome
to mastering the Art of real Estate. So Greg and
I met not like most of us. I've met most
people along the road or just meeting them for the

(03:14):
first time on my podcast. Greg and I met. Now
when I say this, he was a young boy. I
remember Greg being in a little red, white and blue
speedo because we were on the Keimont swim team together.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yes, we were, and you were always much taller than
I was, so I was afraid.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well that's how I remember Greg, and we reconnected not
long ago. And now are both of our children. Chase
works for us, and your daughter Sam is working for you.
And tell me, let's start there for a moment. How
how is that having your daughter work for you now
as a young adult herself.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, first of all, thank you that very nice introduction.
I didn't know I did all that. This is great
to do all that.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
I know.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
It makes me feel like maybe I know what I'm
talking about, but you know t Yeah, I'll tell you
there's nothing like a family business, the family connection. Just
knowing that your family's got your back, Knowing you can
kind of say and do anything to them and they'll
still get your back has kind of been really special,
and to be able to teach somebody in the family

(04:29):
about real estate and development, contracting and just all the
nuances of life. That real estate is really its own,
its own life. Really, it's just been really fun to
do that and rewarding because these are all the things
that she's got to do. She's only twenty eight, well
she's turning twenty eight tomorrow, and she's got to learn

(04:50):
how to survive in any market and buy her own
house and do all these different things that we all
do and take for granted daily in real estate, whether
it's turning a screw for a doorknob or whether it's
building a whole house from the ground up. She's been
involved since she was a baby, just watching and learning,

(05:12):
and so she kind of gets a lot of the
real estate language already. When she started a few years ago,
about three years ago is when she started, right about
when COVID hit, When she came out of college couldn't
find a job. We rebranded the brokerage and we provided
a position for my daughter, and I decided, if you
want to be a really good real estate agent, you're

(05:34):
going to have to learn how to do everything. And
that's kind of what we do as a to Z
and so she's been learning everything from like I said, contracting, subdividing, renovations,
ready to sell, just everything that it really takes to
be a well rounded agent. And so she's lucky to
be involved in one of the what I call one

(05:55):
of the first multi licensed brokerages in this area that
acts can do contracting, engineering, and real estate brokerage. And
so it's given her a lot of avenues in to
not only just what real estate is all about, but
the nuts and bolts behind it. So absolutely, that's been

(06:16):
it's been beautiful, it's been great. And my wife is
also working with us, and I'll tell you it's you know,
she's raised all those six kids and she's been hearing
and living and breathing real estate whether she wants to
or not, for the last thirty years almost So it's
it's really nice. So thank you for asking about that.

(06:36):
It's been really rewarding, just as I'm sure yours is too.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
With yours, absolutely it's wonderful.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And the kids, whether they like it or not, they
as they're born, they're just immersed into real estate because
it's with us, like it's a life of its own
and it's with us at all times, and our clients
are with us at all times, whether we were traveling
or not. And so the kids, I think that's what's
so nice about it is having Chase work with them.
Is he he already knows things. I don't have to
explain things. He understands how to that we have to

(07:05):
step up. He understands that there's you don't say no,
you always have to, you know, pivot and turn and
make whatever happen. And so they have that in them
because they've seen us moving and doing and never say
no and always picking up the phone and always tending
to our clients.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
So that's what makes it so nice.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Is that there's there is of course teaching the nuts
and boots, like you said, but they do have that
that personality, they get it.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
So that's I love that. So there's so much to
unpack with you because you have so many great stories.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
So we only have an hour. So first of all,
I want to know you you do after college? Or
where did you go to college? If you went to college,
and then how and then how and when did you
get in real estate?

Speaker 3 (07:51):
And what led you into real estate?

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Sure? Sure, well I actually went to college at the
University of the Pacific and Stockton majored in business and
minored in public administration. So I was actually what got
me involved in real estate was really growing up in
the Piedmont area. And I remember, I don't know if
I can say this or not, but I kind of
lived on the other side of the tracks, so what

(08:15):
we call the tracks in Piedmont, and that means the
lower area for me. And so I used to go
in swim team and visit all these wonderful homes up
in these incredible areas, and I just fell in love
with just the way that other people's homes looked. And
so I always had an idea that one day, hey,

(08:35):
I'm going to live in a home like this. And
I think that's what early inspired it. And then when
I was in college, I was in a fraternity and
I was working at Gold's gym, and I decided working
at golds gym wasn't doing me much justice. So I decided, Hey,
I'm going to listen to a seminar. So I listened
to a seminar I think by Carlton Sheets, and then

(08:56):
I also listened to a real estate seminar or a
mental or Tony Robbins, and I put the two together
just what their nuggets were, and I decided, Hey, what
if I bought a little house out here next to
my fraternity, created what they call like a live out now,
and made it so that all of my water Pole

(09:17):
players and all of my sororities at friends and my
fraternity brothers could live in homes that I also lived
in college. So I started looking for the biggest five bedroom,
six bedroom house in Stockton, California, big sixty thousand buck investment.
And my mom became my first real estate partner, and

(09:38):
we bought a small place and renovated a little bit
and rented it out to fraternity brothers and water pol players,
and I was like, Wow, I got five bedrooms, I'm
making my rent, I'm paying nothing, and I think I
can do this again. So I did it with a
sorority and another sorority, and then I just kept going
from there. So that's kind of how I I kind

(10:00):
of got into the business. I am so that time.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Wow, I am so well. You were you were the
the what is it called the blank on the name?
You were, You were the investor you put it together,
that is you were the owner.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
You weren't. You weren't a.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Really, but you were the owner of the problem. You
were buying property. That is so impressive. How old are you?

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I was about twenty one years old or twenty twenty
one years old. So I did start early, and I'll
tell you I did start with the lawn aerating business
in Stockton. So I was out aer rating lawns at first,
and I was knocking on doors, and I was learning
that you know how to how to hear no thousands
of times, and so one day, I actually one day
is kind of a fun story. I'll tell it real quick.

(10:43):
I knocked on. I go, okay, So I want to
go to the big homes because they got the big lawn.
So I'm going to make bigger money. So I went
and knocked on. I went and knocked on this door,
and after thirty minutes it was one of the hardest
sales I ever did. But I finally got this guy
at his mansion to let me go out in his
prism beautiful manicured lawn and poke holes in it. So

(11:04):
he said, if anybody can get if anybody can figure
out how to let me, let you poke holes in
my beautiful manicured Wawnuh, I guess you. I guess you
could sell anything. And I said, well, I'm working at it.
I'm trying to get a house like yours. And he says, well,
you know what I just so happened to be the
owner of the bank is doctor. And when you get

(11:24):
ready and you need something and you have uh and
you have a need for a home, you come see me.
And that's exactly what I did. And I used that
that resource. And so it's kind of a kind of
a fun, fun story and it's kind of just a
it just goes to show you you never know what's
going to come out of anything. There I was landscaping
and the next day I'm running houses for fraternities and sororities.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
It's it's and I always call that you were you
were open to the opportunity. Some people are kind of
closed off that you you have that mindset that I
do is just being open to what's possible. You just
never know when you wake up a day, what's going
to happen. Just go out there and and just look
for it and be open to it.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
So that is such a great story.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
I love that. Oh my god, never take never take no,
never take no more answer. And I think that's what happened,
is he finally I think I sat on that guy's
lawn for so long he finally said, just do it.
I'm tired of listening to you. So anyway, Yeah, I
never take no for an answer, and then uh, once
you do get something like that, then you got to perform.

(12:27):
Now that's what it was. I was like when when
I was standing on that lawn, I was like, oh, no,
oh crap, what if I screwed so so uh so
you know what, I'll tell you a secret. So what
I did real quick is I made sure that I
had a bag of nitrogen fertilizer, and so after I
did his lawn, I gave him free fertilizer. He had
the best looking lawn on the block. And I didn't

(12:48):
know if it's because I punched holes in it or
because I fertilized it. And I didn't care. I just
used my resources.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
So you do what you have to do to impress.
We're gonna yeah, we're gonna go to commercial break. We'll
be right back, and then we want to talk about
how you went from buying those houses in Stockton to
getting into getting your license and how that all happened,
and we'll be right back with Greg Whorley.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Welcome back to mastering the Art of real Estate.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
We are here with Greg Worley, my dear friend from childhood,
and we are talking about how he got into real estate,
what led him into real estate. So you were in Stockton,
you were a college student, and what was next? What
did you do upon graduation? And how many houses did
you own in Stockton when you left?

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, when I was in Stockton, I actually ended up
with a total of four houses. So that's all I
did in Stockton, and that was enough because with a
lot of fraternities and sorties comes a little bit of
maintenance that you have to do on the homes. When
you'd come home and the dog was swimming in the
hot tub, you know. So it's just that kind of stuff,
you know that, and you can imagine the other party

(14:44):
favors that were usually all over the place. So I
went to after that, I decided to own subway sandwiches
and salads. At the same time, I was actually doing
real estate, So I bought a couple of franchises. Because
I took my real estate to a different level. I
decided I would go search for great locations, find something

(15:05):
that was perfect, renovate it because I always had this
dream of renovating things. I don't know why, but I
always wanted to make things better. So I did subway
sandwiches and salads. And then I did my real estate
career at the same time and started in Piedmont with
Select real Estate, as you mentioned in the bio, and
so that was like my first introductory into real estate.

(15:28):
When I was actually working subway sandwiches. I had an
international trading company at the same time, and I was
doing real estate, and the actual father of the international
and company where we were renting asked me if I
wanted to sell his home in Piedmont, and so I

(15:50):
jumped at the chance. He gave me the opportunity, and
I went ahead and put my sign out, and I
think the first open house I double ended the deal.
It was on Blair and it was kind of fun,
and so it gave me the real estate bug and
I was just like, this is this is simple? Yeah right, Okay,
I just got lucky. I just got lucky. Is what

(16:11):
really happened me? As I had open home Saturday, Sunday, Friday,
I was getting known in Piedmont as the guy they
were picking up my signs because they were out too often,
so I'd have to a lot of times go back
to the city of Piedmont and collect my signs. But anyway,
so I started there, and I started with the with

(16:33):
the Kaiser estate. It was there and on the Piedmont
side of Montclair. And decided to buy a small piece
of land from Bobby Kaiser. And it was a four
lot there was a four lot subdivision. It was Bobby
Kaiser's smallest real estate holding. But she said, for some reason,

(16:54):
me and my negotiation skills were giving her her biggest
headache out of all of her businesses. So I'm not
so sure I leave that, but that's what she told me,
And so I started there. I decided I finally bought
the place from her and decided I was going to
build what's called the Sala States there in that area.
And I started building, and then I realized that, oh

(17:19):
my gosh, the builders aren't very good, and so then
I started being a self builder and owner builder. And
then when it came to the point of selling, I
had to hire somebody because I didn't know much about
selling my own product, and whether it was a conflict
of interest, whether I could and oh my gosh, all
of a sudden, all these different things I had never
thought about started coming up. And I didn't have the

(17:41):
right insurances because you need to have builders risk and
you have to have liability. And so I decided, well,
if I got to do all that, I might as
well become a contractor and I'll just sell my own stuff.
So with getting my broker's license, I decided to get
my contractor's license. Within a year or two started building
my own product so that I can insure it and

(18:02):
sell it. And that's kind of how it all started,
and I've just kind of evolved from there. Having a license,
having the multiple licenses has just been a godsend just
because you don't have to answer to really anybody else,
and as we know in real estate, no broker wants
you to say anything that you don't know anything about

(18:23):
because of the liability. And so having the license, I
have three different licenses, I could just flip hats and
just say, Okay, now I'm your contractor, now I'm your broker,
now I'm your engineer, and so one stop shot. And
so so you have.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Your engineering there you have your engineering license as well.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yes, I have a contracting engineering license, which means I
can basically build bridges. Don't use me for that. I
could build a bridge, they say, and I can blow
things up, and I can do underground stuff. And so
that's what an a license does. It lets you work
in the public right aways. And it's engineering. It's it's
not very easy to get either, so no. So so

(19:06):
that's so having started that way and evolving is myself
being my own client and myself trying to sell my
own stuff. That's kind of where the evolution, you know,
started to happen was. I just started realizing, hey, you know,
you just need to know a little bit more. I
couldn't really rely on my all my resources all the

(19:27):
time because my contractors were either going bankrupt or had lawsuits.
It's just difficult times every now and then three cycles,
and so I'd end up having to take the position
of the people I was employing. And that's kind of
how it evolved, and I'm really happy it went that
way just because now it really provides an incredible foundation

(19:47):
having multiple licenses and being able to do a to
Z on anything that has to do with a piece
of property. Anything, we can do anything. So it's not right.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
So that so right now, it's that's just incredible.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
So you have all these licenses, so I assume you
have insurance on all of these different hats that you wear.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yees, do you have insurance? It's it's a little costly,
but it's worth the price because I can. I can
go ahead and represent my own product. I can build
my own product, I can sell my own product, and
I'm licensed, bonded, and ensured to do it all.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
So, for instance, right now, how how many houses are
you building? And then are you also practicing real estate
buying and helping clients buy and sell full time? And
how many houses are you currently in the process of building.
I mean, that's a lot to manage.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yes, And that's a kind of a yes it is,
thank you for asking that, and it's a yes, yes, yes,
just about all that. I'm doing a major, major subdivision
that I've been hired as a consultant for down in Danville.
That's eighteen homes, so it's kind of like we're doing that.
We also have a slide repair company that goes under
my engineering license, so we're actually repairing slides and creating

(21:00):
pads for people in Alamo and in Danville. Right now
we have two of those. We're actually actually a lot
splitting homes in the Happy Valley area and in the
greater Walnut Creek and Alamo area, which means we've got
subdivision work that we're doing, and there's probably two or

(21:21):
three of those at a time, and actual builds right now.
I'm just really good at preparing for a build. We
haven't We don't have one right now under construction. We
have a lot of major renovations under constructions for ready
to sell. We have three homes right now that we're
renovating in order to get ready to sell in ones
in Piedmont, ones in Lafayette, and ones in Maraga. And

(21:47):
then we have yeah, and then we're ready. We're ready
in another house to sell. In a very unique way.
This is what's just a crazy process is we had
somebody in Alamo come to us and say, Okay, here's
my beautiful estate. We want to sell it. And I said, lord,
do you want to sell up for? And they gave
me a number and I said, well what about the
back forty here? You got all this land and property.
I said, well, well, why are you undervaluing your property?

(22:07):
And they said, what do you mean We thought we
were kind of overvaluing it. And I said, well, let's
just sb nine lots, split this thing, and you're going
to have a front lot and the back lot, and
your house is going to still be on this this
this back this half of the lot, and we're going
to sell your lot for a million plus and we're
going to sell your house for the same price that
you thought it was worth. So that's one of the

(22:28):
things that we're working on, which is a lot of
fun to do because you actually are creating value, real value,
not just saying this is how many homes I sold,
or this is how much I can sell you over asking,
or this is you know, this is why I have
the magic touch. This is like we're land creators, so
we create new parcels for people, and that is very

(22:50):
dynamic in a high upscale real estate area like we're
in to be able to do that because it becomes
it becomes life change for people. And it's also right
that they can either they can either sell their properties
for a lot more money or they create what we call,
you know, their life estates, where they create second parcels

(23:11):
for their children. And we've done that here in Lafayette
and it's very rewarding.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
It's a lot of so that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
So I did want to get into the SB nine
because that's something that's so so big right now because
lack of housing and the price of housing. So so
you're in, I'm in the Oakland Piedmont, more dense over here,
and we don't have a lot of land, and we're
on hillsides and and so you're out. He's out in
a very nice area in Contracostal Lafayette or into Danville Almo,

(23:40):
which the lots are much can be much larger.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
So walk us through, walk us through the.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
SB nine on a like what you're doing for the family.
So you so the first one you just spoke about
was someone was going to sell their house. And then
you said, you can make even more money because so
with the house you just spoke about, you had the
front house.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Then you subdivided.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
The bad eye, and then in this house and and
and well we're in the process. So it took me
about a year to talk with them and educate them,
and we've had a great relationship. At first, we were
just going to sk benign in it for them, and
then they decided they wanted to sell, and so then
that's how we're now creating more value for them. But

(24:26):
for the kids.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Let me wait, sit and ask a question.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Let me ask you, so are you selling them as
two separate homes or is it two separate homes? Are
you selling the parcel with two homes on one lot?

Speaker 2 (24:38):
So we'll be selling the parcel with their home on
one lot, and then the actual parcel will be a
new free and clear parcel that will be in the front,
so you'll have two apns. Both lots are now conveilable
to two separate people. In the past, a lot of
times people would do two properties on one lot and
then had no way to subdivide it because the subdivide

(25:00):
vision restrictions. Let's just say they only had an acre
of land and you needed three acres to subdivide, they
wouldn't be able to subdivide. But because of the new
SB nine laws, they've done away with all of those
types of restrictions. And so long as you have a
twenty five hundred square foot lot and you meet certain criteria,
which is criteria from the State of California, you can
subdivide that lot. And so to go to your question

(25:24):
about the families, we have a family in Lafayette where
they have four kids, and they have a very large
parcel and they have their family home on one parcel,
and then they have a contiguous parcel that they've owned
since two thousand and have run into red tape every
single time they've tried to subdivide it. The city of

(25:45):
Lafayette has figured out how to shut them down, until
finally this SB nine came about in twenty twenty two,
which did away with a lot of the subjective standards
that Lafayette uses to decide what they're going to do
with properties. Was just objective standards that would be implied,
and so they were able to subdivide there. We were

(26:06):
able to subdivide their property. And now they came up
with four different building pads for their kids. They got
four kids, and so that was not for resale, that
was for family compounding. We call it. It's basically, you know,
because of the cost the entry costs into Lafayette. As
you know, Debbie, none of our kids can really afford

(26:27):
the payments for the stuff here in these areas. So
This is a way to create and keep family wealth
and to start family wealth for the young kids. And
there's nothing better than you know, getting a piece of
land free and clear that you can develop. Now as
a kid, all of a sudden, you have all these

(26:47):
opportunities for lending, and you have equity, and you have
a place to build, and your next door neighbor is
not going to say not in my backyard and prevent
you from buildings.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's incredible.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
We talked about this a couple of years ago when
you were you started to work on it. So just
for example, how many square feet is the front the
main house, the parents house, and then how many square
feet will each of the homes be of the four kids?

Speaker 2 (27:14):
About yeah, yeah, So the parents house was roughly forty
five hundred square feet, beautiful estate home, very nice, gated.
And then they'll have a separate ADU for that house,
which will be about eight hundred square feet that one
of the kids can have. And then on the parcel
that we created by subdividing their eight acres into two

(27:38):
four acre parcels, they'll be able to put two more
houses on the new parcel that's created. Because you can
either do a house in Adu. You can do two houses,
you can do a duplex. There's quite a mix that
you can do. And so it just provides a canvas. Ultimately,
the kids, you know, weren't like fighting over the parcels

(27:58):
yet like they fight over bed rooms. They just knowing,
they just knew that the opportunity was coming and somebody somebody,
you know. So I don't know exactly how it's going
to pan out yet, how they're going to do it,
but now they have the opportunity to do it, and
it's it's it's it's beautiful. It's great. Now they're kids
that were thinking they had to go out of state

(28:20):
are staying around. So that's incredible, It is incredible.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, do you foresee you? So what do you what
do you see your future? I mean you're always ahead.
I mean you're not You're always doing the next thing.
And I mean I come to you as an expert.
And in all of this, I sold a lot which
finally closed after a year and you don't even know
the half of it. And you were right there in
the beginning and it became the preliminary title report was

(28:47):
misread for at least four times that transferred it was
completely not what we thought anyway. So I came to
you on understanding the SB nine you've seminars, Do you
are you?

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Do you want to? Still?

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Is that kind of a focus right now? Are you
going to continue to grow that part of your business?
Is it worthwhile or is it too time consuming? And
will you take it to another area in California? What
does that look like for you?

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, so thanks for asking that. It's very It is
very time consuming, and you do need some special skills
and special knowledge, and so it's it's not easy. Nothing's easy.
As we know in real estate, even the simplest transactions
can be a nightmare. So it's very involved. It takes

(29:38):
a lot of time. But I think that as time
goes by and people learn and cities kind of free
up some of their their I want to say biases, uh,
that will remain a very special and lucrative segment of
business and so we will always probably have our hand
in that. I mean, I can't imagine tell my kid

(30:00):
to go buy a quarter acre lot when there's a
half acre lot with way more potential, with maybe a
rundown beat up house. But I just can't imagine advising
my kid to not try to buy the largest lot
possible in an area that's es benignable for an investment
because it's a very good investment vehicle. It maybe costs

(30:24):
one hundred thousand dollars in this area to create potentially
five hundred to a million dollars as well. Now you
do the ROI on that, it's it's it's unbelievable because, yeah,
especially when the ROI is based off of you own
the property already. So when you own the property already,
what's the ROI when you don't pay anything except for

(30:45):
one hundred grand, you know, in fees. So so anyways
that we will continue to do, it's highly specialized. We
were trying to perfect it, but you know, the rules
are always changing with each and every different city and county.
And so I'll probably stay mostly here in this area

(31:06):
because this is where I kind of understand it. This
is where I know the people. I've been involved in
development for thirty five years in this area, so I
can use a little bit of my knowledge and references
and just people that I know in this business in
this area. So I'll probably stick around here to answer
your question there, but politely help and jump in anywhere

(31:30):
I can if people need help anywhere in other areas
and provide my insight. I have an excellent land use
attorney that's been helping to develop our systems for SB
nine and it's just really helpful that we already have
the resources and the tools. So what everybody has to
know if you're going to try to ask Benine, be

(31:50):
ready to hear no, no, no, and be ready to
be rejected from the city and the counties. You just
have to keep going. You know, you're not ever ready
ever any bunny bunny that they just want to get
off their.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Desk, so absolutely, and what in your case, you seem
to know more than they do, so that helps.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
It does help. But you got to you got to
make sure you don't look like I know it all
because they that I know so right, you got it.
I'll tell you. I'll tell you one of the biggest
secrets I have learned in public offices and doing development
or doing any type of business or real estate. You
always want to make it the other person's idea, all right,

(32:31):
somehow make them feel like they came up with the
golden nugget that you're using. And I'll tell you when
you do that, you get a lot more help and
a lot less resistance. And so that's that's one of
those things that I'm trying to teach my kids. I'm
sure you're trying to teach chases. I'm trying to teach
It's like, you know, you know, let people feel good

(32:51):
about the process you're doing and let them get on board,
and then they start to sell the stuff that you
were selling to them before, and it just makes things
a lot easier.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
It's very true. It's very true. We're going to go
to commercial break.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
We'll be right back with Greg Worley. Y, Welcome back

(35:01):
to mastering the Art of real Estate. We are here
with Greg Worley out of Lafayette, California, one of my
dearest friends from childhood.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
So happy to have you on today.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Hello, here, you're one of the best.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Here's so sweet. Well, we just have a mutual admiration
society between the two.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
So I have lots of basic questions, and I don't
want to go there because you're not your typical real
estate agent. So I want to talk about how you
because you hold many licenses and do a lot more
than the average real estate agent just by virtual holding
those license and having those experiences with engineering and contracting
and really being tied to the cities and the counties

(35:46):
that you work with.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
So how do you How does Greg.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Worley go about getting new clients? What are the ways
you find your clients as you're getting you know, doing
your thing.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Sure, besides the standard of getting my daughter to work
with me and my wife and getting on the social
media platforms and all that stuff, I can't figure out
how to do, you know, but they do great at that.
But I have a little bit different style is because
I'm out in many different I guess, working working environments

(36:22):
every single day. I could be on a construction site.
I could be on a landslide, I could be on
a subdivision. I could be actually doing a renovation, or
I could be doing a remodel. Or I could just
be helping somebody who says they have mold and I
just decided to go over there and try to help
them out and figure out what to do. It's just
all these different fingers are already out there, and it's

(36:44):
like from each one, you never know what's going to happen.
So the person who has mold, might I have the
mom that wants to move to Rosmore in our area.
And it's interesting if we just strike up the conversations
and just learn and get to know a little bit
more about each and every one of those clients can
pick up on the clues and queues that basically say, Aha,

(37:04):
they got a mom that's got a house in Piedmont
and they want to move to Rossmore. And we're experts
in Rossmore as well, and we love to move people.
And so all of a sudden, the mold call came
listing in Piedmont and then it became a sale in Rossmore.
And so we're all about packaging. We like to get
two for one, and so we like to either get

(37:28):
a listing and a contracting job. So when the people say, he, oh,
you want to list my house, and we tell them
all the great reasons why we should list their house,
and then we tell them and by the way, we're
going to renovate it for you. And then they'll say, oh,
we have a contractor we have a handyman. I said, no, no,
if you want us to list the house, we're going
to renovate it for you, and we're going to help
you do all these things. And then we're going to
sell it. And by the way, where are you're going?

(37:50):
Do you need to move somewhere? And they say, oh,
we're going out of state. We say, oh, no problem,
we have a network out of state and we'll hook
you up with the real estate agent out of state.
So we try to you who's every single one of
those landing points or those connections as our actual that's
that's kind of our multiple listing service is all the

(38:11):
services we do. We're our own multiple listing service in
a way, and so it's kind of it's it's it's
a lot to manage, but it's surprising how often you
just by striking up a conversation a landslide turns into
a new parcel and SB nine and new pad for

(38:32):
a new buyer. And now we're out trying to find
a new buyer for the pad that we created. And
so it just all becomes interconnected. And the more you
understand and realize that, and the more stuff you're just into.
And I'm not talking just like the stuff like oh,
I'm going to a mixer or I'm going to you know,
a marketing meeting. I'm talking about you need to go

(38:54):
out and do kind of real, some real stuff and
somehow get involved. And whether that's with your contractors or
whether it's your stagers or whoever you're you're you know,
you're associating with. It's amazing how many different ways you
can bring clients in outside of what the standard cold
call or standard you know, I got a post and

(39:16):
I got to hope somebody calls or rings the phone.
The more you're out there, the more it just seems
like business just rolls in. We don't know where it
can sometimes we don't even know where it came from.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
I think absolutely I would say what I hear.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
What I hear is because I know people have asked
me in the past, why do you do that?

Speaker 3 (39:34):
What do you get?

Speaker 1 (39:35):
You're not getting paid for that? And I would always
say because it makes me feel good, and you never
know where it's going to come from. And Adam, my
husband calls it fairy dust. You're out there sprinkling fairy dust,
and what you're doing is it's the same. You might
not be fairy dust, but you're out there helping people,
and you know you want to help the person with
the mold because you have that knowledge, you have that skill,

(39:56):
you have that know how, so you can go and
help that person, and then just by listening, like you
said to the queues, other things came from that. So
you do a lot of that. I don't even know
how you because you have so much knowledge and you're
able to help so many people who call on you
like myself. It's just it's and so the business, it
might not be a direct correlation, but it does come

(40:19):
come from somewhere else. I know when we were selling
a lot, I sent your name out to many people
and said, cal greg because he can build the house,
I'm not going to you know.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
So it's just.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Really wonderful that you're able to do that. So the
second point is also that keep learning. People should keep
learning and investing in their career so they can help
and help their clients. They don't necessarily have to be
moving now, but you as you help them, who knows
what's going to happen down the road or who knows
who they'll refer to you because you were just offering

(40:52):
your assistance.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Right, And we have some fabulous tools and resources that
I don't think half the agent well I know half
the agents aren't even using them. But you know, I
know this. There's this little thing that came out. I
think it's called AI AI. Some people are starting to
learn about that and trying to understand it. A great example.

(41:14):
I'm a financial wizard, but I was sitting in front
of my client yesterday and my client was hitting me with, uh, okay,
I want this condo, I want this interest right, and
I want this tournament and I want blah blah blah
blah blah. And so I got my eyePhone out and
I'm just sitting there plugging into chat GPT every single time,

(41:35):
and I just go, Okay, that's one thousand and seven
and forty nine dollars interest payment. And then he'd ask
me something else, and I just kept going. I just said,
just a minute. And you know they they'll wait if
you give them the right answer, and you hope that
the AI has giving you the right answer. Checking I've
been checking the AI and it's pretty darn good. They've
got a lot of resources there. Wow. So yeah, So

(41:58):
I guess where I was kind of kind of going
with that is that as an agent, you just truly
have so many different resources, but you've got to invest
in yourself, like you said, you've got to You've got
to put in the work and invest in yourself and
do something that makes you different. And it's not so
you stand out really with other people. It's so that
you have the confidence to walk into a room and

(42:22):
tell people what to do that are either younger than you,
older than you, more experienced. I do professional athletes. I
have these, you know, CFOs CIOs, whatever you want to
call them. But we have all kinds of people that
we can that have confidence in us because we not

(42:42):
only use our resources, we not only invest in ourselves,
but we're not afraid to use it because we've empowered ourselves.
And that's like one of the things that has always
scared my daughter, who's twenty eight tomorrow, and you know,
I've tried to get her to learn that it's okay
to make mistakes, just so long as you can act

(43:04):
as if you if you don't know the answer, you're
gonna get it. Uh and what you're gonna get is
going to be right. And so so that's really important.
I think for agents, you know, this era is to
use these new technologies and and and don't act as
if you don't know if they're right or wrong. You know,
you do your research and you and you back it

(43:26):
up and if for for Heaven help us, if it
is wrong, you make it right. As long as you
make it right, you're gonna be okay. Right.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
So I always tell them my newer agents like you
tell we tell our kids. Now in the business, it's
you can say, I'll get right back to you. You
don't have to know everything, and you can say, let
me get right back to you. And when someone said
when someone says I don't know and then just leaves
it at that, that to me says I don't care.

(43:54):
All you have to do as a new agent or
an agent who doesn't know. Maybe you're a seasoned agent,
you still don't know. I'm sure that many things that
I don't know. And if it's an SB nine, I'm
going right to Greg.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
But you just I don't know. I'll get right back
to you.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
And then you call and you call your broker, you
call whatever, and you get the answer, and you call
back and you deliver the information. Not only does that
look so you look so good to your client, but
you feel so confident because you just got the answer
and now you know it and you just learned. So
I think that is, yeah, one of the most important
lessons in real estate.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. And you
get and and and you guys know real estate over
there in Pedmont, that's for sure. And just like you
come to me for SP nine, I come to you
guys for p You know, I grew up in Piedmont.
You know, I know, because you know you have done
the work, You've put in the time, and you have
developed those resources and those skills like no other. I know.

(44:53):
I know because you know, if I just say your
name in that community, it's just like bam, They're like,
oh well if she said it, and that that's what
it is. So that's how I use you as my resource.
And when somebody questions me, I said, well Debbie, Debbie said.
Debbie said, so you call them.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Debbie said, oh my gosh, it's fun. It is so fun.
So tell me about how.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
You leverage your your network, your colleagues for to find
success in your own business and how important that is,
because we know it's so important to be really connected,
like we are as friends and colleagues and we aren't competitors,
we're absolutely colleagues.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
And yeah we collaborate.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yes, Well, once you learn that you can't do it
all on your own. That's when it's really becomes an
awakening and reaching out to whoever it is, whether it's
another builder. So I have a building company, but I
reach out to other builders and I collaborate with those buildings.
I asked them, what's your pricing? Hey? What are you doing? Hey? Hey,

(46:02):
can you do me a favor? I can't get this done?
Can you send your crew over to help me out?
I mean, it's unbelievable when you can reciprocate to people
and you create this interoperability between companies and you stop
looking at each other as competitors. You start looking at
each other's resources. And I think that's been one of
the greatest assets that I have is I'm not afraid

(46:25):
to go ask somebody else for help. When somebody is like, well,
they're you're competitor, why would you even do that, And
I'm just like, well, you don't understand. I need the help.
These guys are good. I like them, and they'll do
something for me later. You don't always have to get
every crumb off the table, you know, spread it around.
And that's I think because I always want to help

(46:48):
and I always do help, and a lot of times,
like you said Debbie earlier, you do a lot of
things for free. And you know what, you do a
lot of things for free. I do a lot of
things for free. The most successful people are usually getting
asked all the time why they do so much for free.
And we all know that everybody, everybody needs something, and
you know, we have a great I want to say that.

(47:11):
You know, we're looking to make sure that you know,
we're not only grateful, but we're sharing the wealth of
what we're doing with everybody else. And when we do that,
it just seems to come back to us tenfold. And
so when you ask me what am I doing, Yeah,
what am I doing with my resources? I'm usually helping
them and I'm not charging them. Yeah, And then that's

(47:32):
the way they refer people to me. And it's just,
you know, don't always ask for a buck, don't always
that's my deals. You know, you don't have to you
don't always have to get paid. You'll get paid differently.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Absolutely, I love it.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
So, okay, you just said when you said the word grateful,
So Greg, let's go over to there. So Greg and
I we discovered that we both get up very early
in the morning. So I noticed with morning me too,
so which is nice. So you have someone if you
need to you you know at that time. We do

(48:09):
like to be private in our own head, doing our
own and we're going to go through.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
We'll go through what you do, what your morning routine is.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
But I do notice, over the last year and a
half of interviewing all top professionals and coaches, one of
their things, they all get up early. They all have
a really strong morning routine. I think only one person
who liked to sleep in and didn't have a morning routine,
but everyone, pretty much every successful person has a good,
a strong personal morning routine.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
And gratitude is part of that.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
So I know once I went along you were getting
up one morning and you were in Lake Tahoe on
a beautiful walk. So I have that vision of Lake
Tahoe and your morning routine because we were both up
very early. But give us your morning routine, give us
your morning routine.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
I love it. Okay, Well, here's the secret to the
morning routine. Go to bed early. Yes, morning starts with
getting in bed. A lot of times my kids are going,
what are you what do you mean it's eight forty five,
it's nine o'clock. Come sit and watch a show. And
this happened for many, many many years, like ten fifteen years,
and they finally now get it. When they see Dad

(49:15):
going up and leaving, they know I'm going to better early,
so I could get up early, and early doesn't have
to be three am like it was this morning. I
just had something pressing on my mind. I couldn't get
it off, and sometimes you just got to get up.
So usually around four forty five o'clock and my morning tune,
I get up, I drink the protein drink or the

(49:35):
energy drink, and I go to the gym. It's seven
minutes away, and that's where I double task. That's where
I get on the bike and I start cycling and
texting or emailing or reading or podcasting. I try to
do something very positive every single morning before I start

(49:57):
my workout, and that is I say water words. I
have a cup of water, and I speak nicely and
gently to the water. I tell it that, you know,
Worley is wealth, Worlely is security, it's abundance. You know,
all of this to make me happy, healthy and free.
And I kiss the water and drink it down and
act like, oh my gosh, I'm just that's the fairy

(50:18):
dust we use with the world. You guys.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah, so so I do that. I work out for
sometimes an hour, sometimes three, sometimes five because I'm double tasking.
I could get I'm one of those guys that you
sometimes have to tap on the shoulder on the machine
and go are you done? Are you done? What are
you doing? But anyways, I do that and then I

(50:44):
have my protein shake a banana, and I try to
I try not to leave. I try to come up
with three things that I'm going to accomplish every day,
and I try not to go to bed without accomplishing.
Without accomplishing, I try to go to bed with accomplishing
all of those every day, and if I don't, I
put it on number one as the list for the
next day. And I have found that I'm really good

(51:07):
at preaching this. Not very good at doing it, but
really good at preaching it. And I know I have
to get better at that. But so long as you
know what you should do and you attempt to do it,
even if you get one thing done, I use that
kind of as my ritualism. Chase, I heard that.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Chase, that's my son calling.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
He still doesn't he doesn't remember that my podcast is
from eleven to twelve.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Of course that's great though, that's why we love our kids.
But anyway, the morning routine, and that's you know, I
try to handle the most difficult things in the morning.
That's when I think best. And I will tell you
I am just no good. If I don't get my
morning workout in and have my morning time, it's a

(52:00):
different day for me. In fact, I feel different physically,
I feel different mentally, and it's probably an addiction I have,
but it's it just is what it is. And and
and you know those morning regard what's your morning routine
real fast?

Speaker 1 (52:16):
Yeah, it's it's headset goes on, Adam is sleeping, and
I love to put my headset on and just be
I love having it because it really locks me in.
And it's the same with the podcast. I like to
be locked in. And so I'm listening to some affirmations
on YouTube. Then there's a meditation that I listen to

(52:38):
on YouTube, and.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
So that's kind of beautiful. That's that's on my phone.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
And then when I'm go upstairs to the loft, I'll
listen and my headsets to the TV. So it's still
right here and it will be on the screen. So
whether it's the meditation or the affirmations, and then I
really just try to do that and then to say repeat,
to say my own what I'm grateful for.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
I love to do that.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
And I tend to go long on this because it's
just it's I move so fast throughout the day that
it's I mean, I'll do it for hours, and then
if Adam gets up, gets up too early, I'll say
and I'll like, he's oh, quiet time still yes, no
no talking.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
So we're at a conference.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
We're at a conference the other day and you know,
we're in the same room and I'm like, there's no
upstairs room. Zip it Like I'm outside, you know, early
morning outside We're in Scottsdale. It was so beautiful. I
was listening to the birds chirping and I was outside
on the deck and I'm like, don't talk to me.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
I'm still in my morning.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
But it's so important to me to have that morning
time and to drink water and to take my vitamins.
I've gotten better about doing that calcium for women, especially
in coffee. And then I'm trying to drink to make
my own green juice. We are in Mexico, and they
had the best green juice and it wasn't awful. So

(53:57):
many green juices are awful, especially the one you buy
the store. And so I started making my own and
they taste good. And I'm getting vitamins in because I'm
really bad at eating fruits and vegetables.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
So I think, I will, I will, Okay, I will.
I'll give it to you.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Taste good and it has all the healthy stuff and
there's no thickeners, there's no yogurt or anything. It's just
all vegetables. And it's amazing. How it fine, you know, it's.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
So jam pack. So that's really good.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
And then and then eventually I'll let Adam talk and
I'll let him get up. But I love my morning
routine and I do and then I do, so I don't.
I try not to look at text messages at all
during that couple hour couple hour period.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Yeah, so it's it is a very important time.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I just love to be in my own head and
my own visual and just but not bothered by anything.
So and I love and I keep hearing this about
the three things, so I jotted it down the three
things per day that.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Comes up a lot, So before you go to bed.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
I love that, And yes, going to bed early is
the most important thing because you can't rock it the
next day. And so I want we are almost done,
but it just hit twelve. Can you give me one
piece of advice. I'm my new book I'm writing. I
wasn't going to write a new book, but I am.
And it's called working title is from the Locker Room

(55:20):
to the Boardroom. How to find how an athlete and
a CEO find success? So anything because you're you're an athlete,
you're a water polo player and swim team. Any tips
from an athlete to how you found success in real estate?

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Yes, actually that's great, Debbie. Congratulations your books are amazing.
Think you keep doing that. You keep all of us
on our toes by doing that, So we thank you,
all of us in this community. I would say as
an athlete, you just have to act like life is
a game every time you get up, and you never

(55:59):
know what the playing field is going to be. And
so if you always are trying to play basketball and
you've got a soccer field that day, you're going to
have some issues. So be adaptable, be a chamelion, Be
somebody that can play every single sport on any different
playing field. So great.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Oh, I love it. That is awesome.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
That well, you're gonna write You're gonna write one of
my testimonials in the books.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
So I love that. That is direct great. How do
they How do our guests get a hold of you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Sure, you can call me or text me, text me
as best at nine two five two one two eight
seven seven one, or you can email me at Greg
at Worley. You'll never know how to spell it, so
it's w O E h r l E real estate
dot com and you can get a hold of me

(56:51):
and or find me find me on probably AI AI.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
Awesome. I love that.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
I know I asked it a question for me and
it pulled me up, so we won't go into that.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Thank you, Greg Worley.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
This was incredible.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Thank you so.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Much to thank you for all you do and your
podcast is unbelievable. Love it and I'd love to come
back to another time.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
Absolutely, thank you, Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
Tune in each week for another episode of Mastering the
Art of Real Estate with host Debbie Dematio. Here Friday's
Neon Easton on the Bold Brave TV Network. Tune in
to where real estate matters matter