Open The Gate
Breaking down Sacramento Real Estate: Our Favorite People, Places and Mindsets
Open The Gate
Ep 30- Jason Habeeb- Pro Golf Aspirations, to Real Estate to Foster to Adopt!
Good morning, Kaylee.
Speaker 2:You're so subdued, good morning.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not trying to hit you with too much energy. I know you told me you're not exactly feeling a million percent today it's okay. You know the trials and tribulations of growing a human inside your body. It's something that I'll never have to experience.
Speaker 2:You're very right about that. Yeah, it is God. I hate to be so down when I say that, but it is very much like a parasite, Like it sucks a lot out of you, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can only imagine.
Speaker 2:But grateful for the process. No, I really am.
Speaker 1:I'll be curious when they're teenagers and we talk, and if you would rather them be parasitic inside of you or just like to your bank account.
Speaker 2:Good point.
Speaker 1:Because right now mine are just spending money like like it's their job, like it's their job yeah, so how are you, you, your daughter's, in the midst of like a crazy? Yeah, volleyball season's kicking off, so we're starting to get busy. This is our second of three consecutive weekends. Uh, fortunately the first two are here in town, and then we'll be down in the Bay Area for next weekend. Well, and then of course, like my son's, baseball stuff is starting to ramp up too, so it's like we'll be conquering and dividing sooner than later yeah.
Speaker 1:But we get to. You know I'm looking forward to some travel. We've got some stuff on the horizon. It's going to be a busy first six months.
Speaker 2:How fun though, yeah, to be like a sports parent and your kids actually good at it, you know it's not like it's it's, it really is, it really is rewarding.
Speaker 1:So um especially with your background, you know it must be pretty prideful for you to see your kids like kicking ass out there and you know, I think, yeah, and Marina and I are, like I've always said, like like I'm pretty competitive, but marina makes me look like I'm not competitive at all like she. I mean she's, she's an assassin.
Speaker 2:She's brazilian, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So yeah, spicy tamales yeah, so, um, so I I constantly kind of find myself, you know, battling like okay, rein it in a little bit, don't be so over the top, and that's like in all regards.
Speaker 2:I'm not real loud like rah rah on the sidelines, but like you're loud when it counts, I imagine things will bother me, you know Um so, yeah, it's uh, but it's, it's a blast.
Speaker 1:I mean, we've obviously this is like I said I've got a almost 15 year old and a 12 year old, so, and we've been doing it for a long time. So I um, on the weekends that we don't have anything, we, we don't know what to do with ourselves. So it's uh, it is definitely definitely a blessing. So, well enough about us. I am, uh, I am super excited about our guest today. Um, he's kicked my ass multiple times on the golf course.
Speaker 1:Um you know, even with all the stroke, even with all the strokes that he has to give me um just a uh just a really Okay, I'm excited, just a really good dude. I'm so excited to hear kind of his come up and his story. He's into cars, he's into philanthropy, he kills it in real estate and he's got some really really cool life stuff going on that I think we're right in the midst of, right now that we're going to dig into. So, without further ado, let's walk this guy out.
Speaker 2:Let's walk him in.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, Wow.
Speaker 1:We're going to let this one play for a little bit.
Speaker 2:Look, If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted.
Speaker 1:One moment that you captured. Just let it slip Yo. All right, iconic, all right.
Speaker 3:What a great walk-up song.
Speaker 1:You cannot go wrong with Eminem. Lose Yourself, especially if you were born anytime between like 1980 and 1997. I mean the dude covered my entire life, he like education, childhood and teenage years, probably at least.
Speaker 2:Okay, you had mentioned that was also your wedding song.
Speaker 3:That was yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's dive into that a little bit, because let's talk about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean Eminem's obviously a big part of our generation, for sure, and you know that song kind of emulates like taking advantage of those opportunities that come in your life that some people may or may not have that opportunity to do that I just want to be clear For those listening Jason's looking right at me when he talks about our generation, because it's obvious that Kaylee is so much more of my generation.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:I have some gray hair, all right, all right, we've we've reestablished that I'm the old guy at the table.
Speaker 1:Okay, got it Got it Sorry, so We'll continue to, so lose yourself as a wedding walk-up.
Speaker 2:I know that's so interesting. I love it. It's different.
Speaker 1:It's very similar with us with Open the Gate. It's that slow boil until the gates open up and we're off and running.
Speaker 3:It's all about taking the path less traveled and doing things differently. Right, and I think we could apply that in all areas of life. So that's kind of why I wanted that at the start. You know, when I first got married I was like all right, everyone's expecting wedding bells and these classic wedding songs.
Speaker 1:There's Eminem.
Speaker 3:So it really kind of threw everybody for now. Was it in the church? No, it was outside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was outside of the church, so good question. I imagine your wedding was a party. If that's an indication of what to expect for the rest of the night at the wedding.
Speaker 3:I would be pretty excited as a guest. It was a blast. It was a blast.
Speaker 2:And how long have you and your wife been?
Speaker 3:married. It'll be 10 years now.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, in August Congratulations.
Speaker 3:So 10 years in real estate and 10 years married.
Speaker 1:That applies when you're having fun Wow.
Speaker 3:So you, yeah, what was it? The wedding first, or was real estate? Real estate was in May. I got my license May of 2015 and then married in August 2015. Oh, wow, okay. So a lot of big life changes.
Speaker 2:How did your wife handle the anxiety of now Okay, the guy I'm about to marry is moving to a role where there's no paycheck guaranteed and we're about to start our life together, we're about to get married. I mean, how did, how did both of you guys deal with that? That's very it's not not like it's a stressful time at all already when you're getting married. I know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, it was just one of those things to where originally and I think Dan knows a lot of the story, but uh, for those that don't know, I was a pro golfer, at least aspiring to be a pro golfer.
Speaker 2:That's why he kicks your ass. That's why he kicks your ass. Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was out of college. My dream was to be a pro golfer. I played, you know, seven days a week. I was just really dedicated. I got a job at a local country club, granite Bay, as a cart guy, met my mentor who kind of took me in. But I was originally there to hopefully meet a business guy to sponsor me.
Speaker 2:And then I realized I wasn't as good as I thought I was. No, when reality hits, yeah.
Speaker 1:Damn. It's an open-hand, five-finger slap. I've experienced it myself, we all have.
Speaker 2:And man, it's a bitch. Yeah, no, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 3:So that's kind of how I got started, and doing everything at one time wasn't really the plan. It just kind of felt like that and I needed to start creating a living for my now wife and future family, and so what's more stable than real estate?
Speaker 1:Golf, right, golf, yeah, totally unstable. I mean honestly looking back at it. I mean 2015,. We're kind of coming out of the doldrums of real estate. Things were going pretty good, I mean it wasn't.
Speaker 1:It obviously wasn't as bad as like 10 to 12 to 13, you know yeah, all that you got to experience the good years in the pandemic when it was crazy and I think and I think obviously so many people don't understand I mean like an aspiring professional golfer. I mean you're I mean you've probably got stories of sharing rooms being on the road and you know it's probably a couple of guys in some beat to shit car driving across the world trying to get to the next tournament and hoping you got enough money in your pocket to pay the entry fee and all that stuff. I mean it's a, it is an absolute grind. I mean we see the PGA tour professionals on TV that are just multimillionaires and the majority of them come from that background or that pedigree, but the ones that really have to cut their teeth and climb their way up. It is an absolutely vicious grind.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 2:I imagine, and what skill it takes to be able to climb that ladder too. I hate that I have to keep referring everything to Los Angeles, but this is a really good analogy, because the world gets to see everybody on the screen right and they see the glitz and the glamour and all of this. What they don't see are the millions and millions of people that are there hustling every single day, working three jobs, trying to get to auditions, trying to make it work that will never see the light of day, and this is like the untold story of the people who try and who have the talent. But just, you know the like whatever the start is in line, the opportunity wasn't there, it's just yeah it's crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is they really say. It's the 1%. It's probably like a 1% of the 1%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:And it's just uh, it's a tough road to go down and I learned a lot. Uh, you learn a lot of life principles in the game of golf right and like you could control all the way until that ball. You hit that ball and it's in the air.
Speaker 2:I mean it could hit a sprinkler head and go in the water or it could go in the hole you know it's like, isn't that life?
Speaker 3:And, uh, you know I learned, I learned a lot at a young age from the game of golf and working at that golf course and talking to all these multi-millionaires who are my now clients and friends?
Speaker 3:yeah, and they're like in my shoes, you know, young, married college trying to figure out life and business and everything. And a lot of them took the time to have coffee and lunch with me and just like, what do you want to do in life? Like, what are your skills? I'm like I don't know't know. You know and you know kind of figured it out from there.
Speaker 2:That's incredible guidance yeah.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what I did. I think what all great people do when they're starting any journey is they look to the people who are where they want to be and they sit down and say can I have a minute of your time? I'd like to know what did you do? What advice can you offer me? It? What did you do? What advice can you offer me it? Doesn't matter if you've heard it a million times. You know. Every little piece and every little opinion resonates with you differently. That's right, it's incredible. So you were golfing your entire life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean, I was doing it since I was probably seven or eight, wow. And then I played soccer baseball growing up and it was more of a team sport and I realized I like to win and so I'm like I was blaming the other kids on the team and my parents go well, why don't you try golf? And I go okay. So I get to high school and I go yeah, cause then if you screw up, it's on you.
Speaker 1:You have no one else to blame, and I go hey, that's true, I've got to take accountability for that Right and I started playing throughout high school.
Speaker 3:Um joined uh, gran Joined Granite Bay as a cart guy just doing clean-up to golf carts and stacking the range, balls and everything.
Speaker 1:Hoping someone slips you a five yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:I think minimum wage was like six bucks an hour.
Speaker 1:Weaseling your way into some money games a little Danny Noonan action.
Speaker 3:That's right. It wasn't really about the money, it was about the free golf and the connections.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 3:I got to play three, four times at one of the best country clubs in the area for free during the week and I got really good. I was there for two years, met my girlfriend who became my now wife. But the biggest factor in going into real estate I don't know if I ever shared this was my father-in-law goes dude. You got to get a real job.
Speaker 3:And I asked for his blessing to marry his daughter and he goes. Yeah, I mean, how are you going to? You've been trying to get sponsored for two years, it's not happening and you're about to get married. You got to do something, yeah.
Speaker 1:There's another open fist slap.
Speaker 2:Holy shit, there's realities. I know.
Speaker 1:So you touched on something that I love and I don't want to pass this over because I think it's so important. But you want to pass this over because it's I think it's so important, but it's. You talked about kind of putting yourself in that space with a very, very clear intention, and that space was the golf course and your intention was to try and meet someone to sponsor you and it ultimately led to probably teaching you some of the best networking lessons and things of that of that matter. So I just love that, because we talk about on this show like the reason we do this is obviously to provide some sort of insights from successful people that someone listening can grab onto that nugget and say that's something I can take away. And I just love that.
Speaker 1:That you very intentionally put yourself in that environment with a very intentional goal and, as a matter of fact, you actually recognize the goal of putting yourself in that environment with a very intentional goal and, as a matter of fact, you you actually recognize the goal of putting yourself in that environment. But I think there were also some kind of um like uh, what nuggets by default, like that were unintended consequences and um, so okay. So so we're working at the golf course, we're we're cleaning clubs and cleaning carts, and then, and how did you make that jump from from that to real estate? And was it a direct jump? There was nothing in between, it was just okay.
Speaker 3:This is what I'm going to do well before the golf course I was in the, the food service industry, so I worked at a bunch of different restaurants. Actually, I counted all the jobs slash like businesses that I had up until college. It was 19 wow yeah I started working when I was 10 selling golf balls Back, when child labor was still okay. Is that job still on your?
Speaker 1:resume. Yeah, yeah, I did, you know, not an official job.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I mean, you know, I just learned, you know at a young age like how to work hard, right? But working hard, as we know, only gets you to a certain place, and I'm like I want to work smart too. At the end of the day, Well and it's like you know.
Speaker 1:it kind of sucks to say it's not always what you know, but it's who you know. But unfortunately, a lot of times it's who you know, you know. Somebody who knows you or sees something in you is much more likely to provide you an opportunity if they see that something A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:You know, I remember when, when we moved back to Northern California from Kansas city and I was trying to find a job man it was. It was a harsh reality that I didn't know anybody and I didn't have an inside track on anything. And I had an inside track on everything my whole life because, much like you, I try and network my way into those positions where I know I can go make friends Like that's what I'm, that's one of my, that's one of my strong suits, that's what I'm good at.
Speaker 1:Um, so when you're out there just blindly applying for these jobs and trying to meet people and make a connection in that, in that 10 minute window or over on a phone call, you know it's like Holy cow, like this is hard, and those people that are out there that are doing it right now like we feel for you it's hard, like we get it Absolutely, but it's like that's such good advice. I mean, tap into your network because if you are an honest, hardworking, good person, someone in your network probably has at least a lead for you, right.
Speaker 2:To chase down a foot in the door.
Speaker 1:Can can get you so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Be brave enough to ask for help. I have I in this room to find someone who's wildly successful that didn't get a handout from somebody that they know, whether by asking for it, whether being in the right space and saying, hey, I see something in you. Nobody gets to the top on their own.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:So what is it? You go faster alone, or you go farther together, or something like that, but it's true, I mean there's, it is about who you know and it's about leveraging it, and it's about being confident and courageous enough to say hey, I'm trying to get here, and I think you're the type of person who can help me get there.
Speaker 3:And I think people buy into that too when you humble yourself and realize I don't know it all. I need help.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to figure it out and they're like oh my God, I've had Some of my biggest, biggest career wins and gains based off of stubbing my toe, where you just have to go to somebody, hat in hand, and say we fucked up and I apologize. And I want to be here and be accountable to help make this right. And what? What the action is or the activity to make it right is never the same and sometimes they're a lot more painful than others. Sometimes it's you know, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's just, you know, standing in front of somebody eating a little crow. But I think that's awesome, I think it's incredibly insightful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Whether it be a house or a cheeseburger or queso Don't say the word cheeseburger right now, Dan.
Speaker 3:Oh sorry, you know what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's pregnant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's going through some stuff.
Speaker 3:But speaking of cheeseburgers, that reminds me of one of my stories early on, and I didn't even know it at the time, but looking back at it it really helped me. I was working at Chili's and my manager was always pushing sales Like you've got to add avocado, you've got to push for the ribeye. And I was like I just don't want to be like a greasy server that's trying to up the bill and upsell these people and just get a you know more sales for the company or a bigger tip, and so I just really kind of ignored him, to be honest, and I was working there.
Speaker 3:Um, everyone wanted to go party on a Friday night, saturday night, and I knew those are the money shifts, right.
Speaker 3:So everyone would get off, you know seven, eight after the dinner rush and I would go there and I developed like a couple different people and families that used to sit in my section and over time, through the relational aspect of them coming every Friday or Saturday, they always used to ask me like what, do you recommend the ribeye? And I go it sucks, don't get the ribeye. And they're like what? And they're like why? And I go it's frozen. You'll have a lot better experience if you had the avocado burger. It's fresh Angus beef, it's half the price.
Speaker 3:And they're like oh my God, this guy's not trying to upsell me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:And I just took that principle.
Speaker 2:There goes your tip. My tip is double because they're already planning on spending the money for the rib eye.
Speaker 1:And I go okay, well, real estate is really the same thing.
Speaker 3:It's like we're not really. It's kind of cliche to say, but we're not in the sales business, we're in the relationship business. And it's like okay, help somebody find out what they want and then go out there and get it.
Speaker 1:Well, I love that you say that, because it is. It's a hundred percent, it's a relationship business and no matter what you're selling or whatever I mean, at the end of the day it's the feelings and the emotion that are going to surround that sale or that purchase. Depending on what side of the deal you're on, they're going to withstand. It blows me away when you look at the statistics about like in real estate, specifically the amount of people that don't use the same realtor again.
Speaker 1:And it's like man like damn, because I've always thought in the back of my head I'm like man. Every closing I have I would just put it in my calendar on an annual repeat and I would follow up with that person every year. Hey man, it's been five years, it's been 10 years. I hope you still love your house. Just some sort of keeping connection and, and I get it. I mean it's a very cutthroat, fast paced, competitive industry. Um, and somebody's you know someone's going to be trying to get, after all your past clients, I'm sure, if I mean hopefully, if they're doing their job and if you're doing yours to them. So just always been just kind of a mesmerizing type of deal about the sales world. So, okay, so when you got started in real estate, you're going from like a very probably turbulent professional income environment to another one right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so walk us through kind of. I mean, what were some of the things, that some of the lessons that you learned, some of the experiences you had in that in those first couple of years that you took away, that that you still, that you can still kind of glean from today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you know trial and error. I screwed up a lot, to be honest.
Speaker 1:The best way to learn your lessons, right Like the lessons you'll never forget, were the ones that cause you pain or cost you money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, my paperwork was horrible. I was more of a people guy. I was like all right, but I was too cheap to pay for a transaction coordinator and my old broker, steve, who you know was like dude, you got to get your paperwork in order because it's sucking. And then he's like you're spending all this time trying to do your paperwork. The best asset is you.
Speaker 2:you need to get in front of people.
Speaker 3:He's like you're you're losing opportunities because you're so focused on saving $200 on this transaction and at the time $200 was a lot of money. Right and I was just like I'm just trying to save some money here. But then he got me thinking outside of the box. I'm like, all right, I'll hire a transaction coordinator. My business tripled within six months. Oh, I should have probably done that from the beginning.
Speaker 1:A TC probably appreciates you. Oh, my goodness, oh, absolutely, she's still my TC, mel, that's awesome Mel if you're watching? I know you are.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:We love Mel. Amber told me Mel was over with you now. Yeah, congratulations, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:It's so cool. I always thought of it as like yeah, I don't want to spend this money on a TC, but I definitely don't want to spend money on a lawsuit.
Speaker 3:No exactly.
Speaker 2:Because I didn't know how to fill out the paperwork or it wasn't done correctly. I don't know. That's the way I always approached it. There were some things when I first got into this industry that I was like I don't care if I have to pay top dollar for this because I know it's going to save me a lot in the long. It's like getting an Uber instead of driving when you're drunk. You know it's like, yeah, it's inconvenient and sucks, but the cost of a DUI not even worth it Yep, exactly, yep, 100%.
Speaker 1:So is there, is there? Is there one like piece of advice that you would say, hey, this is the lesson I learned. It was maybe the most painful or just the most beneficial lesson you learned outside of getting a TC.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean CRM system and keeping track and following up, following through and following back.
Speaker 1:Database.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but the three Fs right, and so I'm a big Ryan Serhant fan and I got this from him. I didn't come up with it by anything, so I don't want to sound smarter than I am, but he kept it really simple.
Speaker 3:He goes, you follow up with your past clients, you follow through with what you're going to say in your current transactions, because a lot of agents are like oh, they're always out there networking, which is great, but you're dealing with these clients right now, right, and you need to create a great experience for them and make sure they're taken care of, right.
Speaker 1:Do what you say you're going to do is is so important.
Speaker 3:It should be the baseline. It's so simple so simple.
Speaker 1:It's amazing at how many balls get dropped and you're just like man. And then the fingers start pointing and it's like, come on, dude, Like how about some accountability? Like just just, you know it's wild, I'm big on follow through.
Speaker 2:So you struck you were speaking to my heart right there. Okay, what's the third F? I'm on the edge of my seat.
Speaker 3:Follow back.
Speaker 2:Follow back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, follow up, follow through, follow back. And so follow back means even after the transaction is done you're following back. Oh, you know, do you need that contractor, that painter, or can I help you set up your utilities? Or hey, I have a client party, you know, in april I'd love to see you and your family, you know. You know, obviously, the pop by gives a big buffini guy and stuff.
Speaker 3:So just staying in front of them, being a friend, creating an experience yeah right, there's a million realtors out there, but, like, our job is to create a memorable experience, follow the rules right and make sure they have a great time, because it's a really a stressful time.
Speaker 1:There's a lot going on.
Speaker 1:A lot of moving parts but I touch on that all the all the time, like we. We, we spend some, and the three of us specifically, you know we spend so much of our time and our professional careers in this business. We oftentimes it's so easy to lose track of the experience that your clients are having right, Because this has worked for us. We understand buyers, we understand sellers, we understand the things that they need to do, but how often do we put ourselves in their shoes and try and remember to feel the emotions that they're feeling, right, like it's so crazy?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, we'll get a $2,500 dry rot repair job and it's like man, we're like ah, whatever, it's just another 2500 to somebody that's, that's a lot of money and it's, you know, that's important on something that they're, on something that they're purchasing.
Speaker 1:they're making a major investment in the amount of fear that people have in our market around termites. And I'm like we you know, we're a termite company like, we're like termites, no big deal, like we can care of that. But it's like when you step out of your own shoes and put yourself in theirs and you're like, oh shit, like yeah, I can understand why this is so overwhelmingly scary and uncomfortable, that fear of the unknown Right. So it's our job to educate.
Speaker 3:I think that's what also, I think we have to aware as well, because every, every person has different needs, right, and it's like how can we but setting the right expectations up front? How can we help you?
Speaker 3:exceed those those wants and needs right right you can't just go in there with like a set thing like oh, we're gonna do a pest inspection, home inspection, go through disclosures, like yeah, that's part of the process, but what's important to you it could be that $2,500 for the dry rod or it could be, you know, getting a new refrigerator because there are new countertops, right?
Speaker 1:I use the analogy like the buyer, you know, the recently divorced single mother, or the 30-year contractor, like the way that the things that intimidate or scare them in that deal are so massively different. Person to person, it could be the same exact property, but the trepidation and the emotions that get stirred up could be, completely different and it's just understanding that individual in their space.
Speaker 2:It takes a lot of emotional intelligence as a realtor to be tapped into. Your client understand I think I heard once on average for the real estate transaction there's at least 17 people that are a part of it. Touch it from the realtor, the lender, tcs, the inspectors, escrow all of that Right, and so we only have control over what we can do so to be able to maintain and manage our client's experience, even when it's in the hands of those 16 plus other people that are doing. You know doing their part to make this ball move forward. And then you add into that multiple transactions at a time. You know doing their part to make this ball move forward, and then you add into that multiple transactions at a time, you know, plus family stuff, plus family everything else.
Speaker 1:It's a lot.
Speaker 2:I mean it takes a.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, by the way, I have a life outside of my professional existence.
Speaker 2:Which always surprises people, but you know it. It takes a lot, and the people who I think are really good in this business are the ones that pay attention to that the most.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I agree, yeah, sure, so our our next question on the board. I think you already answered it. If you're going to advise advice for a younger you I'm pretty sure you covered that with the TC. But would there be anything else? I mean, I like, I like to be able to go back and tell you know, whisper in my own ear.
Speaker 3:Go back and whisper in my own ear, Yahoo or Amazon.
Speaker 1:Bitcoin. That one still scares me. There's nothing wrong with? Bitcoin. Amazon was a win. Amazon yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean looking back at it earlier on. I mean, for me it was following up with my dad. I had a database right, but I didn't input it and that's what I'm telling Roberto over there. It's like, hey, you have access to all these different people, all these relationships from your past careers, professions, from schooling, right, blow them up. Blow them up and not saying in an annoying way right, but just say, hey, how's it going, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:What are you doing? What are you doing? How's your family?
Speaker 3:I saw on Facebook you had a kid or whatever. Congrats Like okay, well, that could lead into oh, I have a kid, you know, I just graduated college. You know, at that time right, I was 23.
Speaker 1:23 year old doing that I'm like grow up, yeah, like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:You're way too young to be doing that right now, but I think it's just that they're so immature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love, I love hearing you guys have this conversation because you two are in for the best experience Like the next, like the next, like five to seven years where you actually don't get to pick your friends anymore. Your friends will be the parents of your kids.
Speaker 2:I know. That's why I've already surrounded my eyes. God, I hope they're cool.
Speaker 1:We were so fortunate, like we, we met some of the coolest who are still like some of our best friends. But, dude, you guys are totally like at the mercy.
Speaker 2:Well, I strategically surrounded myself with people and made friends who were all pregnant at the same time. So you know, I'm like embedded and now it's only going to grow, which is great. But I got my core people and we all are having. You know, all of our babies are like within six months of each other right now.
Speaker 1:But then the step, the step beyond that is when, when your kids start becoming their own people and actually those friends, those friendships they don't know maybe necessarily dissolve, some do, but but but kids kind of go down their own, their different paths, and then you're like oh shit, I gotta make friends again like my kids aren't hanging out with those kids anymore, or like yeah, yeah, and it's like you gotta maintain that and figure out how to work. So that's, that's actually the stage that that I'm in right now.
Speaker 2:So okay, well, that's fun, it's fun, it's super fun. Yeah, prioritize new friend parents for you. Okay, I love it.
Speaker 1:We're holding on tight, like we're holding on tight.
Speaker 3:But recognizing that right, it's different chapters and different stages in life. It is Like at 23, when I'm just getting in the industry right. Those are the people I'm surrounding myself with right and so you have to be able to mesh. But when you're in your early 30s, you're about to have your first kid. We're trying to foster, to adopt a child placement. Three months ago, life's been crazy. I never even held a baby up until three months ago.
Speaker 2:I had no idea what I was doing. And then they just put one in your arms and they're like congratulations, here's your opportunity I had an hour to just say yes or no. That's wild.
Speaker 3:We've been certified foster parents for over two years and a guy who's a buddy and a client of mine who was also adopted. He is running the foster agency in Loomis that we're certified through. That doesn't happen right, and so I go, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we're going to jump ahead.
Speaker 2:The cat's out of the bag now. Did you see my face? I'm like I have so many questions.
Speaker 1:And Kaylee's going to run wild with this.
Speaker 2:I can't wait. It's just crazy to me. You know, like when you're normally pregnant, or you know in my experience, my situation having to do IVF even before that we've had months and years to get mentally ready that this was going to be our, you know our path. You had an hour and somebody said, hey, I got a baby for you. What the hell Like. How do you, how do you deal with that mentally, physically, emotionally, and get ready?
Speaker 3:Yep, you know there's no. You know I was talking to my friends that you know their kids are my age right, like a lot of my friends at the golf course. They're in their 60s and you know they're like my parents' age right and they're like we still don't have it figured out. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like you just go in there and there's no like perfect formula.
Speaker 3:Everyone wants to be like the best parent and obviously you have good intentions. You're going to love your child like nothing. You figure it out and I think and I'm learning that because you don't want to mess up or hurt the baby or whatever, it is unintentionally right. And it's like, okay, well, you could read the books you could watch the videos. You could listen to your friends and family on their situation.
Speaker 1:And everyone's got advice right. I mean I can't help but just spew advice all over you guys. It's the most intense word vomit I've ever had, oh my goodness Parents just got to tell you their experience.
Speaker 2:Somebody sent me a meme the other day that I feel like was the best moment, and you guys will do it too, like that's what's wild. I know I'm already starting. When you hear it, you're just like fuck, give it a rest.
Speaker 1:And then five years from now, you'll be like, oh, I'm getting soft as I'm getting soft as I get older. Like I'm well aware of that, but like I do, I look back on a lot of that stuff and being able to tell those stories like gives me that peace or that that you know and and and again.
Speaker 2:I mean you're just wanting to share experience and hopefully you guys pull something, yeah, yeah, and maybe give you a nugget that you can use.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yep, and use, so how?
Speaker 2:can I ask how old was?
Speaker 3:the baby. He was one day old, like literally fresh out of the womb. And I'm on the golf course, you know, having a few cocktails, like a normal Friday afternoon, and you know, and my wife calls me five to five times, I go. Who died, you know and she's like we got the call we've been waiting for. I'm like, okay, well, tell me. And she's like I don't really know anything and I go he's healthy and he's ours, but we need to let him know within an hour. And I go hold on, hold my beer.
Speaker 3:Literally I go hitting my shot and I go. I just remember I'm a man of faith, so I just remember praying. I was just like all right, god. I'm like, if this is the business person, we try to put things in our own hands, like make things happen and I'm learning to really do that in the family life it's like okay, it's like you could do everything that you can to give that kid the best life possible and try to be the best father and best mother and everything.
Speaker 3:And in the day you know, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. And for me you know, going through this foster to adopt, it's like, well, you don't know if the kid's going to go back to the bio family or somebody else is going to come out of the woodwork.
Speaker 3:It's usually a six and nine-month ordeal between fostering to adopt in California, but we knew that going in and anything worthwhile in life is not easy, so it's like you're going to have to have an aspect of faith that's going to work out how it's supposed to.
Speaker 1:You don't need to like connect all the dots and like understand all the background to make an important decision you know, and you, and I think a lot of people too will forget that, like you're informed and capable and you're gonna make it happen. Like, trust me, like there are very few people on this earth who can let a one day old baby fail, you know, like it's inherent um, but man, I can, I can only imagine the emotions. I remember walking out of the and so my children were both born when I lived in Kansas City, and I remember that when my daughter was born, they let us hang out in the hospital for like three nights and I mean, you get pretty fricking comfortable with the nurses doing everything for you I mean, I didn't wipe an ass until I got home.
Speaker 1:I didn't even know what I was doing. And the lasting memory of that of my daughter was when we walked out of the hospital and my marina was in a wheelchair because they have to wheelchair you out of there apparently some legality and they handed me the car seat with Kaylee in it and it hit me like I was like oh shit. Like I was like, well, you know, I look at the nurse. I was like where are you sitting? There's no room for you in our car. Are you going to follow us home? And she's like you're on your own, dad slaps me on the back and away. We went Good luck, yeah. And it was like everyone tells you like this is going to happen, yeah, and until it's oh shit, this is really real now.
Speaker 1:Reality quite literally slapped you in the back and you, then, for the rest of your life, you drive differently. You just view the world differently.
Speaker 2:So how far into the process are you guys?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we just turned three months last week and so we're hoping by April, May, we should have an idea. It's looking like adoption, but you really don't know until the judge makes that final decision on decision day.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:A lot of appointments. You have social workers doctors, you have visitation Just on top of the medical stuff for a newborn you've got compliance they're checking your house out, making sure it's safe.
Speaker 2:Plus, on top of all, that you're connecting and bonding with this little human getting used to your routines together, the permanence in their life and at any moment that can be changed.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I that wow.
Speaker 3:We had a three-year-old.
Speaker 2:I'm having a really hard time.
Speaker 3:It's hard to explain unless you're going through it. We had a three-year-old girl in May of last year and we were told that she's going to be with you, possibly for adoption, three or four months. Sticky situation, I won't get into it. But she ended up going back with Grandma and Grandpa, oh yeah. And we're like, how can you allow this kid? And we knew the situation with the mom and we're like, how can you allow this kid to go back, you know? And then we realized that grandma and grandpa were just overwhelmed with what was going on with the other kids and they were taking care of their kids, kids. They had all these different people and they're just had health issues and they were trying to do their best instead of judging. Be like how can you let your, your family, be like well, and it's such a rock and a hard place here's.
Speaker 1:Here's you and your wife trying to do something that's just so fucking awesome, like just so noble and so just badass, right. And then you've got biological family who's who wants their family member to be back part of their family and you know you kind of have to at that point put you know the the life's realities and struggles and things aside, because like yeah, that it's hard to argue that the right place for any child is not with their biological family and it goes back to everybody just doing the best that they can.
Speaker 3:There's no playbook on how to do it the right way, the wrong way, we're all just trying to get it done get it done and yeah, that's so tough, yeah, that's gotta love the kid. You know it's like that's the only reason, and three, that's good, that's that's.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's a, that's, that's an age where they can really latch on and I mean they're having conversations and saying some really funny shit, doing some, oh yeah, doing some things. You're like, I mean you're, I mean that's like memory, that the memory zone, like three, is when three is when stuff's happening. So I can only imagine, so I mean obviously, the amount, the turmoil of, of emotions that you've gone through through this process and you guys stuck with it. So you had the three. Oh, did you have any other?
Speaker 3:No, we took a few months off after she went back and we just, you know, we're just, obviously it was emotional roller coaster, it took us for a loop and we're like you know what, like let's just get back on it. You know what I mean. Like there will be something. And I'm telling all of you know, friends and close colleagues, you know I'm sharing the stories and everything. They're like oh, you know, I had a friend that adopted and then they baby boy. Wow, yeah, and so like obviously that went on hold.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 3:mean.
Speaker 2:But you just never know, it saved you a lot of money. Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure I mean, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3:So it's just one of those things where you just never know, it's never like the perfect timing of things I mean and Kaylee touched on it the emotional roller coaster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, financial money, but the stress money, the emotional money like you're getting drained the excitement, the potential letdown, all of it.
Speaker 1:It's just such an all-encompassing situation.
Speaker 2:So with that, do you guys are you able to control? You know how many children you can get at one time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, if there's a sibling that pops up and stuff like, we have the ability to say yes or no, right, right, but they're not going to be like, hey, we got two more babies coming your way. Yeah, no, I mean. So we tell them kind of like roughly what we're okay with right. And then we get the call based on when we're in the queue, right. So if that's why we had an hour to respond, everyone wants, everyone wants a brand-new, healthy, newborn baby.
Speaker 3:It's like you know, and so we're just like okay, like let's do it without knowing anything. And we went to Target that night after the golf course and filled up the golf cart.
Speaker 1:Well, good thing you had a couple cocktails in. You were probably pretty spendy at Target, I mean hey. I was just like here's my golf cart Upgrade everything, let's do it it is what it is Wi-Fi did, so it was good.
Speaker 3:We have a lot of support, a lot of people helping and praying and asking what they could do to help, so it's just been a good experience. It's been tough, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I don't know if this is a fair question, but I feel like I need to ask it. In the back of your head is there, especially having gone through having the three-year-old taken back, Is it?
Speaker 3:in the back of your head that this could all go away. It is, I would say, um. Am I living in that space?
Speaker 1:No, Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, I mean I. I just you can't let your mind go there. You know what I mean. It's like saying, oh man, I got a $10 million deal in escrow.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, I can't wait for it to close, don't start spending that, don't start spending that, and it's like no.
Speaker 3:well, you have the whole transaction, so many different parts, 17 people involved to get it to the finish line, and even then there's still a lot more involved after that. And so at the end of the day, you have to live in that space of being in the transaction and just control what you can each and every single day. A lot of people involved, a lot of movers and shakers that could switch the outcome right.
Speaker 1:I feel inclined to humanize this baby that you've just taken possession of. Name, gender, what do we got going on His name is Kyson Boy. Kyson Boy, I love that name.
Speaker 3:Kyson yeah, he's a cute little boy, he's growing, he's healthy. He's a cute little boy, he's growing, he's healthy, he's happy Already.
Speaker 1:Well on his way to being a Granite Bay, Grizzly yeah he loves watching golf with Dad on Sundays. Perfect. I mean just in time for the football playoffs. Yeah, so it's been an awesome experience.
Speaker 3:I'm learning to just enjoy every single moment, trying to be as present as I can. So when you're talking about being at your kids' games, which I know you got to get to here soon. But it's just like that's big Because my dad was never at my games. He was always working. He wasn't out doing anything bad, he was just working, trying to provide for the family.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 3:That's one of my reasons for success is so I could be present for my family and help the next generation like somebody did for me.
Speaker 1:People told me for years like the high school years go by so fast and they're and and they're really a fun. My daughter's a freshman and uh, like you, you have an opportunity to kind of hear that and it can kind of go in one ear and out the other and I like totally leaned in on. I'm like really proud of myself for doing this, because it's been a very conscious effort. I've had to make some decisions professionally to to do other things personally because my family and I don't want to miss them. So if I were to give you one advice, you'll get there eventually. Like lean into that time, because I'm going to have seven years of high school for my kids and and I don't want to miss any of it.
Speaker 1:And I talked to you know, I talked with, with business partners and things like that, and say, hey, like this is where I'm at on these things, and it's kind of a non yeah, Um, so obviously, you know, if you, if you can, if you can put yourself in a position to to do that, um, that would be, that would be my biggest thing to for both of you guys.
Speaker 3:I mean cause.
Speaker 1:I, I am so proud and I'm obviously I'm in year one of it, but like I'm so proud of it, like, and it's my goal, but also saying all right.
Speaker 2:I got to go Cause.
Speaker 1:yeah, I got no problem firing off text messages and emails at five in the morning either. You know so like and it's, and I've always joked in the back of my head. I'm like, well, what if you wake someone up? I'm like, well, they should have their, they should have their phone set up at this point, like to not get notifications.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not on our fault. Okay, what a journey. That's incredible.
Speaker 1:I feel like I need to decompress from this I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Kaylee's going to take a good nap today.
Speaker 2:Just like imagining everything to go through. It's insane. It's insane Just because I am in the thick of it right now, on the other side, and it's like imagining all of that is wild. It's so wild, so let's move on, yeah, lighter to a lighter topic um which looks like we're in.
Speaker 1:We're in our uh local culture scene area right, yeah, yeah, so you're, you're born, and raised sacramento area, yeah, sacramentan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I moved to native, yeah, I mean, I was born here, we moved to the Bay Area, then we moved back.
Speaker 2:Okay, we'll accept that, that's fine, okay, we won't hold it against you.
Speaker 3:We all have our stints away.
Speaker 2:I truly believe you can only appreciate Sacramento until you move away. And then, when you move back, you're like you know what? This city is pretty damn I will.
Speaker 1:I will tell you in my experience that that actually speaks to all of california, because when you leave california, people are like oh my god, I can't believe you live.
Speaker 1:You know, and I'm I've lived in some areas, but it's like people don't understand. You know, because of the media and the way cal and I go look like you guys charge me. Whatever the fuck you need to, because this is where I want to be. I can be in tahoe in an hour and a half. I can be in San Francisco in an hour and a half the food scene anywhere in Northern California Can't go wrong.
Speaker 2:And in Southern California Well, maybe like south of Bakersfield, there's a line there. You got.
Speaker 1:Harris Ranch. You can get a good steak somewhere halfway down the.
Speaker 2:That's very limited to one type Anyway.
Speaker 1:Bakers can't be choosers on I-5, all right, yeah, that's true, that's true. But you actually I know that you're very involved in, like your car club. You've been the steering chair for the Sacramento Association Masters Club. I mean, in addition to that, like, what are the what's? I mean God, now you've got a kid, so you?
Speaker 3:can do shit for a while. Yeah, in addition to that, what are the? I mean God. Now you've got a kid, so you're going to be doing shit for a while. The car club is going to be on hold for a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you have in the collection right now?
Speaker 3:So right now I have a Porsche GT4, and that's my weekend car. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:So you're driving it, I'm driving it.
Speaker 3:yeah, it's not just in the garage. Good, I have that. And then I got the new Sierra EV Denali. Okay, wow, it's like a full-size truck without the gas. I go out to the Bay Area. I help people buy and sell out there as well Tahoe Truckee, so I just throw it in autopilot and just get my calls and emails done.
Speaker 1:I've always admired your willingness to go where you need to to get the deal done. You got to do that you know.
Speaker 3:you ask, like what one thing that would do differently is just like uh, I think I was doing that from the beginning, but I would just kind of double down on expanding my knowledge in different markets and different markets have different point of sale items.
Speaker 1:They have different disclosures, but selling a house is the same regardless. Does that keep you excited, like the variety of different markets and selling in different areas?
Speaker 3:It does because it's like when you play a game of chess or checkers right, or a golf course right, and it's like every course is different, You're playing, there's multiple ways to win. You just got to be able to connect the dots and properly strategize. But most people are so stuck in their one lane, which is fine, you know. If you want to be a master of that one lane, that's great. You know that's what gets you going. But for me, I believe there's other opportunities out there and we should continue to expand and grow, not only in business, but in life Right and so what you know what do they say?
Speaker 1:Variety is the spice of life.
Speaker 2:Variety is the spice of life. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Just go for it. Figure it out as you go. You don't need to have all the answers up front, but you figure it out as you go. Absolutely, I love it.
Speaker 2:So tell me what about Sacramento that you love? Favorite spots.
Speaker 3:Oh man.
Speaker 2:Favorite places to eat.
Speaker 1:Things to do Outside of Tilly's.
Speaker 2:Oh man, you don't get to hang out at Tilly's.
Speaker 3:That much anymore, buddy, oh man, uh, we love downtown sack um, we love like midtown um, we love sauced.
Speaker 2:Um, we love crew. Oh, my crew is awesome. If you guys are looking, it's gonna be my first meal after this baby comes out of me.
Speaker 3:I cannot wait I bet it's a good spot. Um, you know, yeah, we just we're big foodies, we like hawks and granite bay. Yep, um, you know, farm to fork menu, scratch menu. They change it seasonal all the time, so we have a lot of great restaurant opportunities here. It's like low crime rate, less traffic than the Bay Area. You're an hour and a half, like you said, to the mountains and the ocean and it's a third of the price of the Bay Area. It's been like that, what? For 23 years since we moved back.
Speaker 1:I left the Bay in 2001. And it was like in the rearview mirror I was like bye, and it was like I'm still super nostalgic, obviously, about half of them. I'm very well aware that I grew up in a very special place, but when I moved out, like I knew like there was very, very little, if any chance at all that I would ever be able to afford to live there again, we were right over the mountain in San Mateo.
Speaker 3:Yeah so yeah, and so we're like my parents are like there's no way.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so we came here and we're like, okay, well, it's still happening. 23 years later 24 years later now.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's wild, it's wild. I got a couple of friends who still live there and I'm like man, I don't know how you guys do it. Yeah, you guys come up here and just kill it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not a different state. It's only an hour and a half.
Speaker 2:It's okay, it's all right, very easy to still get there. That's right, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's not suburbia, I mean there is. There's a flavor for every, every taste, right?
Speaker 1:My biggest takeaway like the thing that drives me crazy when I go back down to the peninsula now is like is how narrow the streets are. I'm like God, this is like. Oh, it's all street pie. No, it's so stupid. But like you know, it's so stupid. We got our big old family mobile you know like a dad than in that moment. Oh for sure you should ask my daughter about the stupid jokes. I tell her it's great.
Speaker 2:That was amazing, the narrow streets.
Speaker 1:It's frustrating.
Speaker 3:You'll get there. It's a big problem. I'm on my way.
Speaker 1:When you're trying to unclip your baby car seat and there's someone buzzing your tower that's an issue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, first world problems, first world problems Very first world problems.
Speaker 1:Take note parents. You Peninsula, parents are just killing it. You're admirable.
Speaker 2:They've figured out the way. I mean my God, okay. So our final and last question, which is Dan's absolute favorite, and I believe you had mentioned you thought about this, so hopefully we're not taking you off guard, dan.
Speaker 1:This is definitely the one we prep you for. We don't want to stump you. So if you could be anybody for a day dead or alive, can't be yourself, can't be Kaylee or I, because I know people do aspire to be one of us who would it be? What would you do and why?
Speaker 3:I would say right now, because he's kind of trending Scotty Scheffler. He's an ongoing golfer in the world. He's a man of faith. He walks the walk. He's just a good dude.
Speaker 1:He's a family man.
Speaker 3:I believe he's got his priorities in check. He loves golf, he loves helping other people?
Speaker 1:Would you have wanted to be him on that day at Augusta, when he got arrested?
Speaker 3:I think it would be pretty cool, pretty cool experience. He said he was warming up in the jail cell and went out and still kicked everybody's ass. He birdied the first hole right out of the jail cell. That's amazing. What a freaking, epic story, though Fresh out of jail onto the golf course. The toughest golf course, the toughest golf course in the world. He accidentally drags a cop in his car listening to music trying to prep for a major championship.
Speaker 3:It's like you can't make up this stuff right and the way he handled it with class and care and charisma, just character, I mean the guy's just a class act. He went through the same ministry that I went through a college golf fellowship. My pastor played golf. It's just a class act he supports. He went through the same ministry that I went through College Golf Fellowship. My pastor played golf at Tiger Woods and so he's really the one that basically kind of taught me like, if your identity is in something of this world, it's going to come and go, whether it's golf, your golf game, or your performance in business, or you know how good you look at the gym, whatever it is right, there's more important things in life. And uh, scotty gets it. And as somebody that I look up to, and and uh, for many reasons.
Speaker 3:So you know, maybe, uh, maybe give me a lesson one of these days, you know.
Speaker 1:I'll need it now.
Speaker 3:Well, if Scotty, if Scotty Scheffler or any of his people out there listening, jason can hit it a mile, all right, like that, he's a good dude and a good time out on the golf course.
Speaker 1:With that said, jason, thank you so much for being so generous with your time and, honestly, your experiences. I know you talked about some really personal stuff that you certainly did not have to. We're so appreciative of you sharing that with us and coming down and hanging out.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me Appreciate it, of course. Thanks for being here Appreciate it, of course.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being here. We're going to play you on the way out. Cool, we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Bye, bye, bye, bye.
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