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The Real Estate Addicts (REA) podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in real estate development, investment, construction and entrepreneurship. Each episode dives into a wide range of industry topics and features conversations with savvy, successful entrepreneurs who candidly share their career paths, challenges, breakthroughs, and the stories behind the remarkable companies they’ve built. Expect big personalities, thoughtful insights, and conversations that both educate and inspire.
Co-hosted by Ray Hurteau, Dan Rubin (Instagram: @rhinvestgroup), and Marc Savatsky (Instagram: @choose_boston)
Follow the Real Estate Addicts Podcast on YouTube: @RealEstateAddicts
00:01
We're back. Welcome. Oh, whoa. Oh, whoa. I was, I Coming in last. Wow, Texting Crystal, we're collaborating on a menu for 4th of July. Oh, nice. It's gonna be down at the lake. So, sorry. Also, I wanna thank you, Marc, for the awesome Union Grand Opening party last week. It was a really good time. Thanks, man. The grandest opening. Grandest. Thank Grand carpet and everything. Yeah, velvet ropes. That was a nice touch, right? Nice to touch. velvet ropes? Yeah.
00:30
I'm like, did you have a bouncer attached to a construction cone? I got to a blue collar. There you go. you go. And uh yeah, I just want to mention also not paid partnership or anything, but I am very appreciative of Circa Waste and Disposal taking care of my former tenants items that she didn't take out responsibly and stuck me with.
00:53
Five star review, Make sure you... You know what? I appreciate you used... apologize for that. Yeah. No, no, no. You used the platform, like the website and our like AI generated estimate thing. most of my friends... I'll give you some feedback on that if you want. Way underestimated the price. It did, yeah. But I took it from a screenshot from one of my cameras of like a pile of garbage in the back. So, probably didn't have very good depth perception. Yeah. I know. It's still being fine tuned, but ah it is funny how like all my friends just text me and like...
01:22
I'll send the truck, it's all good. I love everybody. But like the ones who go through the website, like, and it just comes back, there's like a little feeling of like, oh cool, it's working. I was trying to actually not go through you because I'm like, let me just see what the process looks like and see if Mark says anything and you did. So kudos, good job. man, yeah, we've been shopping. We're expanding our inventory. trying to be that like tech, not just like Fred Flintstone of demo guys. Like we're really trying to.
01:50
Uh, we've got a meeting next week and we're going to take everything off the truck and like figure out like, do we have seven sledgehammers and one crowbar? Like let's get the right tools for the right job. The mini X yet? Uh, the mini X is, arriving soon. Uh, I'll report back. And then the other thing that we're getting is, uh, I mentioned the crawler. Um, that's cool. And we've a bunch of trash shoots now too. Trash shoots I find are really, and a pulley system. Oh, that's it. That's really good. I'm working on like rigging up a way to just get like.
02:20
44, you know, brute garbage can down to the fourth floor that's full. Like if I can't get a shoot, why not do that? That's a, those are like what, compound pulleys or whatever? It's every time you go up and down, you take away half the weight or something. It's like eighth grade science. This is the math that I'm like, when our kids start going through it again, I'm like, oh my God, I feel so stupid. That's what AI is for. Yeah. There you go. There you go. All right, what do we got cooking?
02:47
What do we got cooking? Mentors, mentees, gurus. I don't know, think we have masterminds. Masterminds, I mean, we How you learn. Yeah, like just getting into the business, how do you get up to speed quickly if you wanna really kind of throw yourself into the trenches and like slingshot your real estate career. And I think Ray and I early on, when we were first starting out, did our first, was it before or after we did our first project?
03:16
We did our first project in 2010. And that concluded in 2011. Then we bought a rental property in 2012. Then we kind of just sat around and we'd probably be laughing at ourselves then saying how little inventory there was, compared to today. But we thought there was not enough inventory and we thought MLS can't be the only. was starting to tick up in price. Yeah, we could see that the recovery was happening and in full swing. And we were saying, you we're never gonna get there.
03:46
If we're just using the MLS as a lead source or we must be missing something. So as luck would have it, I think your parents got something in the mail and we ended up signing up for this two day or one day. I think it was my parents got like a teaser thing. Yeah. Well, was it lucky or was it a waste of money? I would say it was both. I would say it was both. And even though we didn't find that the dollars spent equated to value, did get things moving.
04:15
It did get things moving for us and we did get some nuggets of information, no one is going, whether it's a mentor or a guru, no one is going to do it for you. Anyone who says I've got a system and all you have to do is sign up and you're ready to roll, 99 % of the time they're probably full of shit. Well, think, yes, I think I agree with you, Ray. I think the biggest thing that came out of that was it motivated us.
04:43
to want to do more. Well, it's what got us into direct to seller marketing. And committed you to direct to sale marketing. And yes. But again, was it worth the price of admission? I don't know. You know, I think of it like the feather in Dumbo's cap, right? Do remember that fairy tale? Like, he doesn't think he can fly, he can fly. And then they give him this magical feather and now he jumps off and he's good and he's flying. So like,
05:12
you need something, it's a huge swing. Like, you're gonna wait in the dugout for a while watching other people play until like you get the courage to go and stand at home plate and really swing the bat. And so like, if swinging the bat takes $10,000 and this feeling of like, I participated in a six month mastermind class and I watched all these people do it and none of them were particularly brilliant. Like that's the other thing I think you'll find. Well, I think the other thing, the other thing that pisses me off
05:41
a lot about the thing that- I know what you're gonna say. Yeah, that pissed me off was I think like 75 % of the content in these courses is like working on mindset and like- Vision, a vision chart or Creating a vision board and- Yeah, I'm not sure you repeat every morning. bullshit that like, come on, like it's just, you're either gonna be committed or you're not gonna be committed. And we know that 99 % of the people that sign up for these courses aren't gonna do anything.
06:11
Right? So it's the 1 % that are actually gonna like get out there and work and try to make something happen. But like, you don't have to, I mean, that's just me. Maybe other people need that type of like fluff to like, you know, to like build that's the feather in their cap. Maybe, but it's like, to me, it's like, all right, like I want the data. want the, want like, give me the playbook and I wanna go and execute it.
06:39
I don't need like the motivational speaker crap, but maybe that's just me. But they did give us some of that. They did. So the thing was, and you didn't answer, you didn't say what I thought you were gonna say. So I'll just say the two things that I thought you were gonna say. I think it was evident just by the folks in attendance that you knew 95 % of them weren't gonna do anything with it. They were there, they wanted to try something, they were sold a promise or hope.
07:08
rather than someone saying they're gonna do something. And the particular course that we went to, we're not gonna name it or anything, but it was, you're gonna have a mentor and you're gonna have somebody you can talk to. And I remember I tried talking to this guy a couple of times, a couple emails back and forth and that was it. And then we know other folks that went through other different programs and they seem to have a much better support network after sort of the sale, if you will. And then the last thing I will say is that, ah
07:37
We did get a bunch of stuff. Like I think we got binders and whatnot, again, like a USB stick and a USB stick, but so much of it like, here's a, here's a sample lease and here's this and here's that. many things are specific to where you're working and operating that it's kind of useless because you're to have to go and make your own that are tailored to your market. So it's like, it's good, but bad. Right. Oh, look, I think we can all agree. It's like fitness influencers. There's no losing mass amounts of weight and getting jacked without hard work. There isn't a shortcut.
08:06
You know, there's no sub- GLT-1s and- Yeah, I mean, maybe now there is. What are those things, peptides now? That's my- I'm doing that. How do you like You are? No, I'm kidding. go. You know what? I've lost my train of thought now. There's no shortcuts. No, there's no shortcuts. I think that's, I mean, it's the same thing about like, you're constantly on, it's like going back to social media now. Social media wasn't really big then when we were doing these courses.
08:34
I think now you're seeing everyone like in real estate doing cool stuff and like being successful. And it's like, you want to be like everybody else. it's like, let me share a real story. Shout out Brian Viseretta, who's a good friend. Brian reached out to me. It must've been 10 years ago now. He's a young boy. He's kids. I'm 40. Brian's probably late twenties right now. So there there's 10 years between us and he's working at Consigli's a couple of years in and I'm sort of doing development on my own.
09:03
And he reaches out to me because he saw something that I had posted on Instagram that I thought was super cool. It something that like, Hey, this is very neat tech technology. Um, and Brown was like, that's nothing. Like, let me show you what I just did for Harvard university, you know, and I laser scan their whole rectory. And then, um, we did all these construction documentation for, I'm like, Whoa, this is crazy. So he reaches out to me with like a cold call or a DM and he's like, yeah, well, he
09:32
Can I show you really what's happening out there? And I was like, all right, let's see. So like, he taught me a bunch of stuff and he was very like willing to share that knowledge. And in return, like I think this sort of like mentor-mentee relationship just sort of forms. So- I think that's much more beneficial than paying for these guru classes. I think if you have something to offer, it might not be real estate related, but it be technology related. might be fine, like-
10:00
finance related, it might be anything that you're good at. I think being able to offer that to someone that you might wanna partner with or become a mentee or learn from, I think that's huge. think you don't have to shell out all this money. think it's like, I don't know, like I'm happy to share knowledge to people. I don't feel that like what we're doing is proprietary or super secretive. Like it's just, it's not.
10:30
It's not like a patented technology. You can't, come on. uh data has gotten so commoditized and it's just a utility now. When we were getting started, the gurus were kind of one of those options that hadn't been sort of debunked because bigger pockets had just come out. And that was like becoming the authoritative collective mindset of all real estate investors nationwide. And something like that hadn't existed before. And I don't know if there's art.
10:59
there are really like, know, guru courses happening anymore. I think by and large, they got shut down. The one that we went through ended up having a massive lawsuit filed against it for a number of reasons. I'm not going to tell you, there should never be a nationwide one because real estate doesn't. I watch very successful people on bigger pockets and I don't get it. If you, you know, I just feel like Tom Hanks in the movie, Big, when they're rolling out their toys, I don't, I don't get it. Like, what do you
11:28
You know, it's like that doesn't work in Boston. No. You cannot flip that. I would never get out of bed for that. know. But it's, mean, other parts of the country are very different. I know, but I guess my point is real estate is so hyperlocal and that's actually like, think the best part about this podcast in so many respects, like I think we've resisted the urge to really like be everything to everybody. And we're pretty New England centric. We did have, you know, during our projects when we were doing projects like crazy.
11:56
We would do presentations, invite people to us, answer questions, but we did sort of reach a capacity where we couldn't answer questions all the time. And that's why we started kind of putting in a little bit of a gatekeep there, like consulting. But I'm sure we're happy, like we're always happy to do these meetups at some of our projects. We used to do them a lot and present- kids. Yeah, pretty kids. going and presenting at some of these groups.
12:23
I'm like, Ennis has a great group in the kind of like westernish Massachusetts or like, guess. Central? Not central. It's like westernish. I think a lot of this stuff comes down to patience. And it's because like even what you just explained, that sort of reciprocity principle, like you can't just like put some nuggets out on social media and think like, all right, I've given so much of my, no, like it has to be a sustained period for a number of years.
12:53
And even the same with like a mentee mentor relationship. Like someone approaches me, it's like, there's no 35 minute meeting that I'm going to give you that's going to like, you're going to walk away going like, I got it. I know the formula now. The biggest thing in real estate is experience, I feel. And the longer you're in the game and the longer you're doing it, the more experience you're going to get because every project is different and every, there's nuances to every type of build and there's new technologies coming out and new ways to do things.
13:23
And to your point, you can't go from zero to a hundred like that. It doesn't happen. can't learn everything from reading. You can read every book and you still won't know how to be an investor. You've got to do it. Yeah. I mean, think the Ray Dalio, I credit whatever success I've had or achieved ah to my knowledge of knowing how much I don't know relative to what I need to know, and then finding people around my periphery to help me plug
13:53
all of those many gaps and like to make a building appear out of nowhere takes a lot of specialties from a lot of various, you know, people. And so like, I guess I'll plug the union, like that's the whole concept of the union. It's like to get all those people, be it architects, GCs, interior designers, subcontractors, we had a product rep vendor, just join us, whose entire world is flooring and wall coverings. And you know, just get all those people under one roof.
14:22
And there's some reciprocity to all of this stuff where it's like, just answer your phone, be very willing to give that. like respond to a DM. Yeah, yeah. Like it's just basic stuff. don't know, I don't feel like I have to go out there and take 50 % or whatever of someone's equity just to give them some advice. No. Right? I don't know. Yeah. To me it's just, whatever. To each their own, I guess.
14:50
Yeah. So we going overrated then on gurus and maybe appropriately rated on mentorships? The word mentorship is overrated, but networking and like not in a cheesy sense, but in like a real value, like friendship, you know, a way where you're, that's underrated. Right. And courses I think done correctly and thoughtfully probably underrated. You're underrated.
15:18
If it's the right course? I don't know. I know. I took classes at BU when I was leaving Suffolk on real estate finance and I've always kept in touch with Jonathan Keefe. He taught real estate fundamentals and analysis and like that filing cabinet, that way to like look at three properties and just put them side by side by side and go like, oh, that's actually a good one. that's a course that you gave for from a reputable institution with a... Not a guru. Not a... uh
15:46
I don't care if it says BU on it, but it has to be a reputable source. So there are reputable sources out there and the course has to be, you know, the real, not just, you know, this is the mantra that we say every morning when our feet hit the floor and then we make our bed and then we're successful. Like, that's not how it works. I agree, but you're also not gonna, you don't wanna uh have someone pay for some sort of playbook and then like expect them.
16:15
to go out there and be super successful and execute it. I don't think that, again, we talked about that. I don't think it's feasible and it's not achievable in just the what we do. um I'm not confident it's achievable to become a true real estate developer from nothing. I almost think, you see a lot of real estate developers who were something else.
16:42
If you can get into real estate and your first deal is profitable, whether it's a dollar or maybe, you know, if you make a lot of money, great. But I mean, it's, you have to not only know how to analyze the deal, but analyzing the deal means you have made the correct assumptions on what you'll sell it for and what you'll build or renovate it for. And when you have no experience and you're trying to rely on others who their numbers may be based on,
17:11
the fact that they've got existing relationships with different people in their network. It's really hard. It's like somebody coming to you, brand new customer, Like, all right, here's the price. And then you've got somebody that's been your customer for 10 years and you're like, all right, you're gonna get a little bit of a discount. You've been with me forever. They get a natural advantage there, you know what I mean? But it's not just the numbers. It's just the fact that the experience, it's really hard to go and do your first deal.
17:37
I would say. It is. And it's also because real estate's a very capital intensive business. I say it all the time. Especially here. So how do you get into it without capital? It's like the original sin is just borrowing and borrowing and borrowing and having none of your own money to put in. And at the end of the day, you sort of making everybody else a lot of money. I also think we were extremely lucky in the time period that we were getting into this business. Yes. Yes. Right? Like we got in,
18:07
when shit was rock bottom and we rode the wave. so I think it's still riding the wave. I mean, there has not been a crash. mean, maybe that's something to discuss. The last few years have been a little weird, but flat. But yes, I agree. That's it. We've been extremely lucky. a couple percent down. Yeah, yeah. I think it's very, it's much more difficult to get in now. But it was funny thinking back to 2015.
18:37
Uh, doesn't for like interest rates were zero. Uh, developments were super profitable. And all I could think was, I wish I got in this 10 years ago. I'd look at the guys ahead of, know, a generation in front of us. like to say, um, the Dave and Dave Cedarwoods, the world I'd like off only I was 45 instead of, know, that's fair. Yeah. So, so I think there's always opportunity and probably today I think people look back and be like, can't believe I bought Lynn back then for this or Chelsea or whatever it wants to be. It's fair.
19:07
So where is that next place? That's always the question. That's right. That is the question. On that note. Hey guys, thanks for joining us on the YouTube channel. We've been putting a lot of time and effort into doing the video production. So it's awesome to have some new subscribers there and we appreciate all your feedback and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you. Bye. Later.