Brad Johnson: Welcome back to another episode of Do Business. Do Life. Today, I’m joined by Rich Robledo. Welcome to the show, Rich.
Rich Robledo: Thanks, Brad. Looking forward to chatting with you this next hour.
Brad Johnson: Me too, man. It’s always fun when these introductions happen through a past guest. And I know we’ve got a mutual friend in Patrick that connected us. And then we really dove in and a lot of synergy between your business and the audience that we have here, financial advisors. Obviously, you’re heavy into real estate in the Vegas market and obviously with the sort of clientele you deal with, oftentimes you’re venturing into other states as well. But excited to dive in here. How’d you get into this? I mean, you’ve been very successful. You’ve built a team. I find like in financial services, typically, there’s really cool origin stories of how people became a financial advisor. So, I’m assuming you probably have a pretty cool one too.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, Brad, the Air Force brought me out to Las Vegas in ’93. I got out in ’93, was going to go to college in Reno with the VA bill and I bought my second… I was getting ready to figure out what I was going to do, and I was staying at an apartment, got into the sales job, worked for cable sales for five years, and then a buddy of mine helped me buy my second house at a mobile detail company. I was doing nightclub marketing and cable sales, and my buddy was like, “Rich, I think if you were to get rid of everything else you’re doing and just do real estate, you’d be successful.” And I said, “Well, I’m doing really well. I’m buying my second home.” And I said, “Why would you say that?” He goes, “People love you. I do really well and people don’t like me. So, I think you should do real estate.”
And I remember, Brad, I drove back, drove to Cox Communications where I was doing the cable sales and I told my supervisor I was going to do real estate. I’ll never forget it. She goes, “Well, I tried it and I wasn’t able to do it.” And then I talked to the vice president of marketing and I said, “Hey, I think I want to do real estate.” And he said, “There’s plenty of realtors, Rich. You should just stick to cable sales.” So, after having two people tell me I wasn’t going to be able to do it, I got into real estate in 2002, passed the test on my first try, and I just got into it because of the ability to make a lot of money, but more so because I had two people tell me I wasn’t going to be able to do it.
Brad Johnson: Sometimes you need that poster board material, right?
Rich Robledo: That’s it. Right. Dave Portnoy has a bottle of alcohol for the people he comes after, right? And you don’t want to be driven by that. However, that fueled the start of my career was two people that I respected, telling me I wasn’t going to be able to do it.
Brad Johnson: Obviously, real estate, it’s a lot like financial advising. I feel like when you get into that sort of an industry, it’s kind of sink or swim and a lot sink. And so, what was it in the early days in a very competitive market? I mean, Vegas has blown up over the last 20 years, population-wise, so I’m sure there’s a ton of competition in your world. So, how did you stand out from the crowd?
Rich Robledo: Well, you know what? I was able to find mentors that have helped me along the way. When I first got into business, I had somebody tell me who goes, “What does it matter what that person or that brokerage is going to take from you if they provide massive value to you?” So, I figured that I went to work at Coldwell Banker because the managing broker reminded me of Pat Riley. At that time in my career, I wanted to be like Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson could play all five roles. And then I figured the one thing I could do is better myself with education, sales training. So, I was constantly going on conferences, trying to get in front of people, and I just had mentorship, amazing mentorship.
To this day, I still talk to that managing broker who helped me get started. And I think everybody has a level of authenticity, and everybody worries about how they look, what they’re going to do. But your tribe is out there. If you’re authentic, deliver great service with integrity. And that’s how the business has grown for me, but mentorship has been invaluable in my career.
Brad Johnson: What age were you when you got into real estate?
Rich Robledo: Twenty-nine.
Brad Johnson: Twenty-nine. And then how old was this mentor at the time? Like, a couple decades in front of you or…?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. At the time, he was probably 45, 55.
Brad Johnson: Anything you remember, 29-year-old Rich, where you’re like, “Wow, this knowledge just got dropped on me and that changed the whole trajectory”? Are there anything that stands out as far as that mentorship or things you learned?
Rich Robledo: There was a lot, right? It was Andrew Carnegie. It was Dale Carnegie’s books. It was all of these books that up until that time, I’d never been pressed to read or to grow personally. One of the things was he goes, “Treat everybody great because you never know who can open that next door for you.” One bad client’s going to tell 20 people how bad you did. One good client’s going to tell two people. So, limit the number of bad people or bad interactions you have. And never burn a bridge because in our business it’s really small. And I’ll always have to work with somebody more than once. So, those were some of the massive things that Bob Hamrick and Steve Womack helped me with.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. That never burn a bridge one, I learned that in my early days. I was 26 when I got into finance and I remember I had an interaction on a phone call with — it was a client at the time that was a little delusional. I’m sure I wasn’t completely not at fault, but I remember I just picked up the phone and the next thing I know, there’s like five F-bombs getting dropped on me. And I remember I fired back and it was not a great interaction. I wasn’t proud of it. And I remember one of my coworkers at the time said, “Hey, dude, I’m sure that dude wasn’t like the nicest guy to talk to, but don’t ever burn a bridge.” And so right because your ego wants to do it in the moment, but it never serves you.
Rich Robledo: Your ego is not your amigo.
Brad Johnson: Your ego is not your what?
Rich Robledo: Amigo.
Brad Johnson: Amigo. I love that.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. A lot of my business coaches told me that. I’ve had amazing things where he goes, “Rich, you’re leading with ego and you don’t sign the contract. Our job is to facilitate a transaction. Remove your ego. Get the job done.”
Brad Johnson: It’s good advice.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. And it’s the ego is not your amigo. And then, I mean, when I was a younger guy, I went a little overconfident at things and having screaming matches and whatnot, trying to prove a point. On the flip side, I’ve been able to be that other agent, the other side. I had a young broker who was aggressive, and I asked him. I’m like, “What is wrong?” And he goes, “Well, I know who you are. I know the number of deals you’ve done. So, I wanted to impress you.” And I told him, I’m like, “By you impressing me, you almost cost your client the house.” And I asked him, I’m like, “How many deals have you done?” And he said, “This is my second one.” And I told him, “If you had told me that upfront, I could have made you look like a superstar instead of showing where you made mistakes.”
And the ego, again, that teaching opportunity. Be upfront. Tell people, “Hey, I may not know the answer now but let me pull out a team member. Let me find somebody who can help us.” So, your ego is not your amigo, Brad.
Brad Johnson: Love that. Well, we dove straight into mentorship and I know one of the things that was really cool as we were prepping for this conversation is I’m not going to say by accident, but it was kind of serendipity that you started, I don’t know if you call it a community, it’s definitely an event, an experience, the Cigars & Conversation. And it actually was born out of mentorship where you had some younger guys that said, “Hey, Rich, we want to pick your brain.” And you kind of facilitated doing it in a unique way. So, can you dive into the story behind that? And I’m sure there’s a lot of lessons that will come out of it.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, on social media, a lot of people don’t know exactly what I do, but a lot of these young guys will see me post something with rap music or me having a nice dinner or smoking a cigar. So, I had three young guys in November ’23 ask about hanging out. So, Brad, I come home and I kind of tell my wife what’s happened in November. I said, “These three young guys want to hang out and smoke cigars,” and didn’t think anything about it. And then that following January, my wife asked me, she goes, “Hey, what did you do for those three young guys who wanted to smoke a cigar with you?” and I said, “Well, I haven’t done anything.” And she goes, “Remember when you were young and you asked an older guy for help? Something that you saw, and then you asked him for help, how difficult that was for mentorship.”
And I told her, I said, “You know what? I’ve never really had to seek that out. I always had the older guys saw my effort and then would come and take me to lunch, ‘Hey, I see what you’re doing. Maybe you should do this.’” And my wife rolled her eyes and she goes, “Of course, your life is full of blessings, but for some of us, we need to seek it. So, you need to do something for these young guys.” So, all three worked on the strip. All three got off work at 5:00 or 5:30 so I asked them. I said, “When can everybody meet?” And they all said 6. I said, “Hey, can you guys make it on this Thursday at 6:00?” All three said yes. And I told the three young guys, I said, “Listen, I don’t get to see my friends because I’m so busy. Do you mind if I invite a couple of friends or post something on social media?”
And the kids were like, “No, no, no, that would be amazing.” So, I put a little Instagram post on Instagram and we had like 35, 40 people show up for the first event. And the young guys were like, “Hey, we need a private Facebook group. When’s the next one? What is this? What is that?” And I kind of told the young guys, “Listen, this is it. We get one shot, like we’re going to do this tonight. I’m going to make sure I spend some time with each one of you guys, and then we’re over.” So, then it was a real easy thing to put together. At the end of the night, we’re leaving and I have a friend of mine who sold one of his companies for 150 million. And there were four of my friends sitting at the table all asking him questions, all asking him about decisions. And my friend was just smoking a cigar and answering these questions.
And at that moment, Brad, I realized that with the COVID, with the changing society, with everything happening really quickly, that there was a lack of mentorship for both men and women. There was a lack of space and community for people to kind of enjoy each other. And I told myself, I said, “I’ll have to do it again.” Cigars & Conversation has grown into an amazing community. We’ve had people travel from literally all over the world to attend. But the nicest thing is, is that you don’t talk about business. At one event, I had three parents ask me, and the parents were extremely successful, but each parent asked me, “Can my son come? Do something.” And I’m like, “Well, why do you want your son to come here?” because we’re drinking and smoking cigars.
And all three parents said, “I’d show them my world. I want them to see your world. I want them to see how you guys talk. I want them to see how you guys hang out with each other. And I want them to see something that I can’t give them.” So, then it makes you think back about how important seeing something for you the first time. You know, then it’s been amazing to see that growth. I had some young business guys that have a mobile detail company going incredible, and they were extremely nervous to show up. And when they show up, they’re all in suits, right? And one of the kid tells me, he goes, “Listen, this is our first business event. We used to work at the casino and we would set these up for you guys, and now we’re in business. What do we do?” I say, “You just walk up and introduce yourself to somebody. You ask them about them. And then let it go from there.”
But it’s the melting pot, Brad. At one of the first ones, I had somebody who sold the company for nine figures and a bathroom attendant. Now, they’re sitting next to each other. Both are in shorts, t-shirts, smoking cigars. Both are having a great time. Both don’t know what each one is doing. Just I know. And they both ask about each other still to this day just to check in, “Hey, when is Nikki coming back? Hey, Richie, how about this guy?” So, it’s the community. There’s no rank, no title. It’s just an amazing community of people trying to help each other.
Brad Johnson: That’s awesome. So, you did that first one. Obviously, it went over really well and there was a want for more of those sort of conversations. What’s the format now? How frequently do you do them?
Rich Robledo: We do it once a month, second Thursday of the month. And what I figured out was there’s a lack of knowledge in cigars. There’s a lack of knowledge in community. So, after the second one, Brad, I started to feel like it’s growing. If people are showing up, then it’s my responsibility to provide something of value to the attendees. Cigars, like wine, it’s very intimidating if you don’t know how to cut it, how to light it, how to enjoy it. So, the format is everybody shows up at 6:00, some show up at 5:30. We hang out for 30 minutes. At 6:30, I have somebody present. I am big in giving back to the community. I believe it is our job. I call it community rent. So, I’ve had nonprofits present. I’ve had other individuals, brand liquor companies, love to sponsor and bring things for us wine companies. One of my favorite guests was the Governor of Nevada.
Brad Johnson: Everybody’s showing up to Cigars & Conversation.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, there’s been a couple of other people tried to do the same thing and I always think about there’s that YouTube video of a young guy who goes, “They can steal the recipe and still not make the sauce.” And the sauce is my Rolodex, but I had the governor show up, and he said, “Rich, I’m only going to be able to hang out with your group for ten minutes,” and ended up being almost an hour. And that was also a moment of reflection, Brad, because I see the governor, I see his team and you forget how far you’ve come in life. Because I’m sure, like you, we’re always looking forward, not looking backwards. And I had three young guys call me that evening because they could not believe that they actually spoke to the Governor of Nevada. So, it’s 30 minutes, relax, 5 to 10 minutes presentation because I don’t want you to take it over because it’s really just a space to connect, to collaborate, and build a community.
Brad Johnson: So, in our industry, in finance, oftentimes there’s something called client events and you’re going to create a cool experience, probably not too different than what you’re talking about. I know you didn’t originally create this for a business purpose. It was more like, “Hey, some young guys wanted some mentorship, wanted some advice.” So, you got some buddies together and then there was a want, a request for more of that. On your side, as far as besides just giving back and serving others and mentoring others, is the format, do people pay to come to this? Has it driven business for you? Like, how has it played out now after a number of these and hosting them?
Rich Robledo: Two other business opportunities have come for me personally from having the event that I have a 10% interest in two companies that will start to pay dividends mid-year this year. It’s been free. Everybody has a lot of ideas about what I should do with my event, and I remind marketing companies, PR companies, “Listen, it started organically, started authentically. I’m not charging for it.” However, I can see that changing a little bit because I want to provide an elevated experience for a couple of guys, just like a client event, right? Like, this investor will get this event, and this investor would get a different event. So, phase two will be some sort of fee. And then it will come with, twice a year, a dinner with a liquor sponsor and somebody who’s going to talk about some sort of coaching or life strategies that we all need to serve us.
Brad Johnson: Love it. Well, if I’m rolling through Vegas sometime and you got one of these coming on, I’ll just have to beg my way into Cigar & Conversation.
Rich Robledo: You’re in, man. I have friends from Texas, Newport Beach, Scottsdale, Baltimore, and Florida who kind of got it on their calendar and will fly in if they know that I’m going to have a great speaker or something is going to be fun or if they know, “All right, Rich, if the event’s on Thursday, can we golf Thursday morning?” So, I had a country club see it and a country club reached out to me, and the manager was like, “Why don’t we do a day for your attendees? We will allow them to play the course. We will host the dinner and let you have that day for 20 or 30 of your top attendees that they’ve shown up for you.”
Brad Johnson: Very cool. Now, you’re starting to get some perks out of the deal, which is nice.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, the perks have been nice, man, because it’s just people appreciate what I do for them. And I don’t ask for it. They’re like, “Rich, I had the owner of one of the best steakhouses in Vegas,” and he saw this group. He’s been invited but he finally made it. He goes, “Rich, I need to connect you with the vice president of this casino, the director of marketing for this cigar club, and I want to do the food for these guys at an event just for you guys.” So, people, they want that group to come in because they want them to experience what they can do for them as well.
Brad Johnson: Okay. Before we get off the kind of the experience you’ve created and how that’s played out, expanding your network, obviously, some business opportunities have come organically through that, any other thoughts, like if you were going to give a financial advisor advice because when you say, “Hey, here’s my friend that sold his business for 150 million,” those are the sort of crowds that financial advisors would love to create or be a part of? Any advice you would give a financial advisor if they were going to create something like that on their own, that would potentially grow their network, grow their business?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. I guess it’s more for like the guys that have been in business for 10 to 15 years who have that Rolodex. I believe that these guys that are in that, that have had those liquidity events don’t want to retire and sail away. So, it’s trying to find opportunities for my older friends to meet some of the younger guys so they can give them some mentorship. And they might not get the father’s money directly, but what is amazing is to get the introduction to the son or the daughter who is now working for the company, and it’s growing to see how they can get that connection to grow. Because I’m 51 now, so I tell my agents, “It’s your job to form that relationship with my clients’ kids because their kids are going to be the decision makers in 10 to 15 years.”
So, you want to form with those guys and you’ll see it a lot in philanthropy where the parents, the grandparents have their philanthropic giving, the parents have theirs, and then the kids were like, “Well, I don’t want to continue to give to this one. Maybe I can make my name with this organization.” So, it’s having the older guys like ourselves to connect with our clients, to give opportunity for the younger people on our team to form that bridge, to grow it, and see what we could do to keep… The last thing you want as a financial advisor or as an agent is to have that client leave you.
Brad Johnson: Well, let’s flip to the real estate side of the spectrum here, which I know you’ve had a ton of success. I mean, we’re talking about properties, I believe a penthouse at the Waldorf. You’ve been involved in that transaction, so multimillion-dollar transactions. So, let’s focus on what I’d call like the higher net worth, the more affluent clientele that you’ve served. I think I would guess that’s very similar in the real estate market. In the financial services market, it’s like, hey, to go upstream and deal with obviously bigger properties or bigger amounts of investible assets as a financial advisor, where most advisors, I would say, are trying to trend. When you’re dealing with higher net worth or higher asset level sort of real estate transactions, what’s different with those? Or how do you serve those sort of clients compared to just kind of the standard starter home sort of transaction?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. It’s trying to figure out and this is what I love about Patrick. He’s going to speak at my brokerage meeting because systems, expectations, and delivery. I love looking at the food industry in regards to what they do. Outback is extremely successful. Fleming’s is extremely successful. And then Bourbon Steak is extremely successful. All three of those demographics are going to require different levels. They don’t require it, Brad, but they expect different levels of service. And once you get to a certain level, you’ve got to be ready to deal with not just the client, because now you’ve got their financial advisor, their attorney, their CPA. I’ve sold houses to athletes that the athlete didn’t know that we closed because once I showed him the home, he was removed from the transaction.
Brad Johnson: The team took care of it.
Rich Robledo: The team took care of it, which is interesting to get to because I’m at the closest, “Hey, congratulations. We recorded.” He goes, “What’s that mean?” I said, “This house is yours.” He goes, “Oh man, I love it,” because I’ve got an amazing investment advisor, a CPA, an attorney that review everything. So, it’s being able to put yourself into those conversations so that you’re more than just a realtor, you’re more an advisor, a trusted part of that team. So, I sought out wealth advisors, commercial insurance brokers, everybody that deals with our ideal client, relationships I have. And in the starter home, this is something I’m struggling with because I miss business out, Brad, because clients don’t want to bother me with the $600,000, $800,000 home because they know I’m busier or the appearances as I deal with larger deals.
But that $600,000 to $800,000 house, I’ve got the same process. They deliver. They deserve the same level of service. It’s just I may not put them in my car to show them the homes or to show up for the photography, but I am there on the back seat, reviewing all of the contracts, making sure that they are well taken care of.
Brad Johnson: So, I want to get your take on this. I heard this a long time ago. And I think there’s a lot of parallels between finance and real estate. So, I think beginning financial advisors try to sell a product, it’s like, “Hey, buy this,” and they’re trying to sell it, where the more seasoned advisors are asking questions, uncovering problems, and then they’re sourcing solutions to fix the problems. And I’m assuming probably younger real estate professionals are selling homes where more seasoned real estate professionals, you are solving problems such as, “This one’s a car guy, so he needs the six-car garage. This one’s like heavy into fashion so they need the bigger closet.” How does that play in as you’re kind of climbing the net worth ladder and selling features or benefits inside of the home versus just, “Hey, here’s a $2 million home. What do you think?” How have you seen that play out in your world?
Rich Robledo: Well, Brad, I tell my agent, it’s our job to create the problem or point it out to them and then provide the solution. A lot of times people don’t know as well there’s growing, what they’re going to want, what they’re going to need. It’s our job as their friend and advisor to kind of notice you would put a lift in this garage to get that third car. Wouldn’t you? Well, yeah, you’re parking your car on the street or you’re leaving a car at the office. So, it’s looking at what people need in helping them with that problem that they didn’t know was a problem, and I magically had the answer for it.
Death, debt, divorce, diamonds. Those are all life moments that I tell my agents to keep track of. There’s always going to be something happening around those four Ds in real estate. And I’m sure as well as financial advisement, when somebody has their trust set up, somebody is going to inherit a home, somebody might need to sell a home, having that relationship with that trust attorney or that trustee to kind of help facilitate that.
Brad Johnson: Do you have a story? Obviously, don’t share any personal information, but looking back of all of the transactions you’ve done to where a lesser seasoned real estate professional would have just tried to sell a $2 million home, but this is the story that closed the deal, whether it was the garage, some feature or benefit in the home where you’re like as soon as you showed it, it was like, this is the one, and they’re like, we’re ready to roll.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. One of the ones that sticks out, it was early on. I had a friend who had female twins, right? Two young girls. Well, as we know, as girls get older, the girls were sharing a bedroom. But as they get older, each girl or boy is going to want their own bedroom and bathroom. And as they were getting older, like, hey, man, you might not be ready to move, but in the next two or three years, the girls are going to get older. You don’t want them fighting over a bathroom time. Maybe we should think about getting something with their own bed and bath.
And well, do you have something, something they just want on the market? Three streets over from where you guys live, because I know you love your community, they walked in and they weren’t ready to pull the trigger. And they’re like, you know what? You’re right. We can move into this now. It’s larger than what we need at this moment, but in the next three to five years, it’ll be perfect, right?
So, it’s always looking at people’s lifestyle. Looking at what– because they will call and I’ll ask them what is important to you? What do you do on your weekends? Because you might tell me one thing, I will show you everything you ask for, and then when we walk the house, you can be like, “Oh, it’s this or it’s something that,” right? So, it’s always listening, asking more questions, and then showing them what’s available and then showing them what they need. Because sometimes, people are going to tell you, this is what I want. You show them what they want. And after the conversation, you’re like, this is what you wanted, but this is what you need, right? It’s just paid attention to lifestyle and decisions.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, let’s go into real estate as an investment. I know you’ve done some some big transactions, and oftentimes, you’re working with clientele that’s got a second home. And you’ve worked in markets very fast. Obviously, Vegas is a a market that’s exploded over the last 10, 20 years, but also Austin, Nashville. What advice would you give somebody if they’re looking at a property specifically through the lens of just an investment, not their primary residence?
Rich Robledo: So, right now, Brad, what I’ve got is I am working with six parents and grandparents looking to buy homes for children and grandchildren because of the cost of housing, because of the cost, the barrier to entry, because incomes have not risen with the cost of housing, I pointed out at a dinner, “Listen, this could be a great investment or something that you could do a gift to your kids or your grandkids,” because the starter home in Vegas, I remember 20 years ago was $136,000. We just topped $485,000 for the median sales price of a home in Las Vegas, right?
In Summerlin, median sales home for a starter home in Summerlin, Nevada is $750,000, right? So, I’m looking at the opportunity for me to help my clients, but then look at that investment to say, “Hey, let’s buy this now,” so that you can hold that for them. And if they don’t want it, then they can sell it in 10 to 15 years, right? But give them that opportunity to look for something.
We sold– my partner and myself sold our rental portfolio in 2017, and my wife and myself were having that conversation again. We need to replace what we sold because I see it continuing to grow. And you’re seeing the affluency drive the Vegas market. We just had this week, I had a conversation, a public golf course is closing June 22nd. They’re going to make it a private club with the– starting at the initiation fee is going to be $200,000, but $4,000 a month monthly.
Sony Studios and Warner Brothers just combined their efforts to bring that movie studio to Las Vegas. Zero Bond from New York just opened up a private social house at Wynn, and that’s all been within the last 10 days of all of these things happening that people are coming here, which is going to provide more value for people who want to pick up rentals or people that are looking for their– and right now, Brad, people are looking for their fourth and fifth homes.
Brad Johnson: And obviously, Vegas, if you’re into entertainment, if you’re into food, I mean it’s like Disneyland, for all of that. But if we go back to the investment lens, I’m in Kansas. So, basically, the opposite real estate market of Vegas where I feel like, you can buy a home on 20 acres for less than a million bucks and you can’t do that in Vegas. And so, what I’ve found is Kansas is kind of slow and steady, not big ups and downs.
And I’m assuming Vegas, you go through kind of hot and cold spells where it gets really overheated and then you’ve got to dip. Well, how does that play out when you’re thinking through the investment lens? Obviously, the old adage of buy low, sell high, you probably want to follow that in real estate too. But how do you kind of play the market. Or I know you don’t predict the market, but how do you think through that lens?
Rich Robledo: So, it’s changed, right? And I remember, one of my mentors told me 15 years ago, he goes, “I don’t sell real estate.” And I’m like, “Well, what do you mean?” He goes, “I hold.” The penthouse I sold in the Waldorf sold within four hours of hitting the market to a gentleman from London. I had the opportunity to chat with him. I’m like, “So, sir, I’d lifted it at a high price hoping to get it.” And his response to me was like, “Damn Americans, you’re thinking now. We will never sell this penthouse.” He goes, “My grandchildren, children will always have a penthouse on the Las Vegas Strip. And your city’s only going to continue to grow.”
And I sit back and I think about those conversations, and I’ll ask my investors, if you’re not willing to hold for 5 to 10 years, you’re not somebody that I’m going to want to work with because you are going to call me when the market dips a little bit. You are going to call me when rents drop a little bit instead of go up. So, we know that annualized or looked at historically every 10 to 20 years, within those periods, there’s going to be a little drop. But if you’re looking at it in 10 years, you’re going to be fine, right? So, it’s a different investment thought process. And it’s just from, believe me, right now, I’m kicking myself for what we sold in 2017.
Brad Johnson: So, if we go to scarcity, because the Waldorf, the penthouse at the Waldorf, how many penthouses were there? One? Or were there multiple?
Rich Robledo: There’s multiple, but there’s four with that strip view.
Brad Johnson: Okay. And he has one of the four that have the pristine view.
Rich Robledo: Correct.
Brad Johnson: So, if we look at real estate through that lens, I mean it’s supply and demand, it drives economics. And so, now, the name brand of the Waldorf, the penthouse at the Waldorf, that’s like, oh, I brag about that when I’m at the country club, right? Like, every humans got their thing. And so, how much does scarcity drive value where, hey, okay, here’s a really nice golf community, but there’s 200 homes around this course? That’s a certain level of scarcity.
But now, as you elevate and it’s like, hey, there’s one of four penthouses at the Waldorf that’s got the view of the strip. Do you see these jumps when it just comes to exclusivity like that, where that’s where if I was looking at investments, I feel like anytime you put one of four penthouses on the market at the Waldorf, you might be able to ask for whatever you want, from a price standpoint? It’s not driven by market conditions. It’s more driven by scarcity, I guess, is what I’m trying to say. Do you find that to be true?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. I’ve got two clients looking to move into Red Rock Country Club, and what I’ve noticed is that on the street that you want to live on, there’s 87 homes. Half of those homes have strip views. Of those 87 homes, there are four homeowners on that street that own multiple homes. One homeowner or family owns four homes. Another homeowner or family owns three homes. At scarcity, to be on that street, Brad and it is. People aren’t selling homes, they’re holding onto them. Wall Street Journal today, somebody added to their real estate portfolio just to have and he paid a premium because he’s going to hold it.
Brad Johnson: You were obviously in the market in ‘08, ‘09, the big crash. How did that impact the Vegas market? How did that play out? Like, obviously, I feel like real estate’s been booming for a while, driven by a lot of low interest rates. They spiked here recently. How did the markets like Vegas react when you actually have a downturn or the housing market takes a hit a bit?
Rich Robledo: I learned quite a lot during that time, right? So, I had an office. And the start of that crash started in 2006. 2007 was financial and 2008 was the foreclosure market. So, I told somebody, I bought a home for $25,000, and at the top of the market, sold for $250,000. I had seven friends commit suicide.
Brad Johnson: Oh, wow.
Rich Robledo: There is a lot I learned during that period, Brad, that we, as people, as Americans, define ourselves by what car we own, where we live, where our kids go to school. And I’ve shared this on one podcast, and this is where the mentorship helps tremendously is that I had one of my friend’s father sit down and take me to lunch and he starts to put a budget together. And he goes, “Don’t do anything crazy. It’s not your fault. What is happening is happening everywhere.”
Because as a business owner, I look at myself first. Where did I make the mistake? Why didn’t I see this? How come it caught me so off guard, right? So, I’m looking for opportunities.
We were on the cover of several magazines, Time, Money magazine. The new ghettos were in Florida and Las Vegas in the suburbs, not the inner city, because so much was built on speculation. And what we’re going through now is totally different because of the safeguards the government put in place, right? No more of those loans for you. If you had a heartbeat, they’d sell you a house, right?
And extremely interesting going through that, but it was that period where I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot about our society, what we place value on. And you talked about mentorship lessons. One of the lessons, too, what I learned was everything I’ve had, all of the gifts, all of the material things were just gifts from God. And at any time, God can call those gift set. So, there is no attachment to physical things anymore.
Also, the second one, and I mess it up at times, I should probably get it right, is I’ve been poor, but I’ve never been broke, right? Broke is that mindset where you feel that you don’t deserve or you can’t, that victim, right? And poor is just a small time period. Because in business, not everything we do is going to be absolute grand slams. We have to take some losses, but realizing that it’s not letting that loss define who you are to still get up and do it again and give another try.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. We just had a speaker that was out and he was talking about when you fall down, a lot of people say, “Well, get right back up.” And he’s like, “Don’t get right back up.” He’s like, “Spend some time when you’re on the ground and figure out why you fell down in the first place, then get back up.”
And it was actually Tim Grover, the performance coach of Jordan and Kobe. And I was like, “That makes a lot of sense,” because I think, oftentimes, people don’t– they don’t take the lesson that came along with the fall, so that next time they avoid the fall altogether. Have you found that to be true as well?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, Ed Mylett, another guy I listened to, is good friends with Tim Grover. He goes, “Why do you think there’s a 10 count in boxing?” He goes, “The boxer that gets knocked out sometimes jumps up out of ego to tell the guy that he didn’t get hurt. Take a knee. Take those full 10 seconds. Get your wits about yourself. Journal. Figure out what was the mistake, and then go back and go at it again,” right?
So, I have images of, and we’ve all seen fights where the guy jumps up really quick and gets knocked out again, and then you see the smart boxer look at his corner and they tell him, “Calm down. Take a knee. You have 10 seconds. Get up at 9. Prepare yourself mentally,” because I believe life business is a war that we need to prepare ourselves mentally, physically to do every day.
Brad Johnson: Yeah, I’ll tell you, I coached entrepreneurs for 13, 14 years, and I’ve been an entrepreneur going on about four and a half now. And those are two very different worlds. One is the world of theory. One is the world of reality.
And I have a lot more empathy now, and I wish, going back when I was coaching before I was an entrepreneur, it’s real easy in the classroom. Oh, just, hey, A plus B equals C, but you don’t see the body blows that they’re taking before they get to the office, the personnel problems, the internet being down, whatever the issue of the day is.
And so, back to the downturn for you, where stuff got really hard for everybody in that marketplace, what lessons or what changes came out of the other side of that for you? It sounds like the unattachment from material things was a reality for you. Anything else that you’re like, this changed me or changed the way I do business?
Rich Robledo: It kind of gave me a new level of appreciation for effort, right? I had to re-fall in love with real estate. At that point, where everything is gone, verge of bankruptcy, I…
Brad Johnson: Is that where your business was? Because literally, everything dried up. You had a team that was selling and the team couldn’t sell anything. How big was your team at the time?
Rich Robledo: 22.
Brad Johnson: Oh, wow.
Rich Robledo: We had an office here and we had three in Florida, specializing in high rises. The high-rise market was the first market to collapse in Las Vegas. They were calling it the Manhattanization of Las Vegas. The 75 to 100 new proposed towers being built, a 10th got built, at that time, Corus Bank filed bankruptcy, right? Old family Bank in Chicago that never got into risky investment, so everybody making money. They went into real estate. The fall of Lehman brothers, right?
I mean, there was carcasses laid across Wall Street and Main Street for decades. So, I had to fall in love because I thought I made mistakes. And the mistakes were market driven, not myself driven. So, I had to fall in love with real estate again and look at what I could tighten up to do better the next time.
A good friend of mine told me, I said, “I’m going to get onto real estate business.” And he asks me, he goes, “Why did you get into the real estate?” I said, “Well, I wanted to help people.” And he goes, “Don’t lie. Why did you get into real estate?” I said, “I wanted to make a lot of money.” He goes, “Are people still making money?” I said, “I don’t know. I’m not.” He goes, “I didn’t ask you if you’re making money. I asked if people in your industry are making money.”
And I said, “Well, yeah, there’s the guys that are doing their foreclosures or cleaning up. The property managers are doing well.” He goes, “So, if your why is still the answer by others, prove it through the concept that real estate is making their money, why would you get out? You have a PhD and what not to do now. So, go do that.”
And then he told me, he goes, “Rich, we’re not like our friends that we hang out with.” He goes, “We are risk takers.” He goes, “And there are two modes in life. You’re either creating wealth or protecting wealth, and you cannot do both at the same time.” He goes, “Me and you need to create wealth. Our friends are protecting it.” He had a house in Park City, house in Vegas, and a house in Newport Beach. He goes, “The only thing I think about and I’ve done really well are the decisions that my friends with money talked me out of. So, go make money.”
Brad Johnson: And this friend was another friend in real estate at the time?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. So, he was in real estate. He was in restaurants. He was in promotional marketing, right? So, he had a couple of other– all of my friends are usually in several businesses, old entrepreneurs.
Brad Johnson: Okay. So, you’ve got, and by the way, here’s my disclaimer, don’t take this as business advice, anyone that’s listening, I’m just asking Rich’s opinion. But let’s say I’ve got $5 million, and based on the real estate market that you know today, and let’s not even limit it just to Las Vegas, but I’ve got $5 million that I want to invest into real estate and maybe diversify a bit too, so I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket, how would you start to think through if I was going to go out and get real estate that’s going to have a cash flow, a return on it, I’m not just betting on appreciation down the road? What would you be looking at or how would you be, kind of the lens that you’d be looking through there?
Rich Robledo: I would be looking at two-market Section 8 and/or growing markets with college towns that education is going to continue to get more expensive and parents are going to end up renting places for their children off campus. So, for myself, I am looking in Tucson and in Bakersfield, right? So, it gives me that access. You have a small town. Great that you can get– housing is more affordable, so you can get more for that $5 million. The appreciation is not going to go crazy. But with the creative financing, you’re going to get cash flow that can go into other investments.
Brad Johnson: And what I know, everybody says real estate is local because it is specific to the marketplace you’re in. But what’s a cash flow you would be looking for, for a rental property, for the math to even make sense?
Rich Robledo: At least $500 is positive.
Brad Johnson: Okay. And so, it’s not a percentage for you. It’s kind of the minimum threshold for it to be worth your time.
Rich Robledo: Correct, yeah.
Brad Johnson: Okay, cool. Well, I’m looking at the clock. This time has flown quickly. Anything else just, that we haven’t touched on with your real estate experience that might apply to financial advisors out there before we get into a little bit of the do life side as we wrap?
Rich Robledo: No. You know what? I’ll say this. I think that we, as business people and as people need to constantly look at the circle of friends that we hang with and who we’re with and take a hard look to see whether or not they deserve to be in that circle.
Brad Johnson: Sometimes, you outgrow people.
Rich Robledo: Correct.
Brad Johnson: I’ve seen that. And one of my favorite quotes ever is you’re the average of the five people you surround yourself with. That’s a Jim Rohn quote from way back in the day. But I think it’s interesting, circling back to the Cigars & Conversation, that’s what those kids were looking for. They’re like, “Hey, I want to level up the average of the people I’m surrounding myself with.” They sought it out. And I’m assuming that’s probably serving them pretty well already.
Rich Robledo: It is. It’s amazing.
Brad Johnson: Have you stayed in touch with those three?
Rich Robledo: Yeah. Yeah, it is, I will get messages from people, emails, and they will say that, listen, you might not remember this or what you said here, but it’s a pillar of who I am. And I’ve really taken heart to those words or watching you or something you posted.
Brad Johnson: Love that. Well, so Do Business, Do Life, one of the things we talk a lot about at Triad is build a business that blesses your life, doesn’t just become your life, and obviously, just how this conversation’s played out, I feel like you’re a subscriber to that methodology yourself, but if I was to ask Rich’s definition of what does Do Business, Do Life mean to you, how would you define that?
Rich Robledo: So, I’ve thought about it, Brad, right? And Do Business, Do Life or something is our action, right? I coach my guys is live a life by design, not a life at default. Every day, know what you’re going to do. So, when you go to bed and you lay your head, when you’re doing your journal, you know that you gave it everything you wanted to do. So, you look at my life spiritually, physically, community, financially, right? And hustle, like trying to look at what those equities are for you and go out and try to be the best in each one of those. And it is having an action plan, with the 10-year letter, the 5-year letter, the 3-year goal, backed up with the 12-month goal, living your life in quarters but daily actions. So, I love Do Business, Do Life because when you say Do Business, Do Life, means I’ve got a plan that I’m going to do, not something I’m waiting for the phone to ring on.
Brad Johnson: Yeah, I hadn’t heard it put that way, but by design, Do Business, Do Life, there’s a verb in there, which means go create the action. Don’t wait for it to come to you. So, I like that.
Rich Robledo: You can use that. Just give me credit the first time.
Brad Johnson: All right. Next time I bust it out, I’ll be like, this is for my boy Rich in Vegas.
Rich Robledo: That’s it, right? My coach, Toby goes, “Rich, if you live a life by design, then you know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, that means you’re going to have to be happy with what I decide to give you. Do you want what I want to give you? Or would you rather fight for what you want?” I said, “Well, I want what I want. I don’t want what you want to give me.” He’ll then, “Go fight what you want, but in order to fight for what you want, you have to know exactly what it is you want.”
Brad Johnson: Truth. Couldn’t agree more.
Rich Robledo: Right. Same thing with family, right? My wife told me early on, “I don’t care, awards, boards, accolades, you come home, you’re going to be dad. Kids don’t care.” The day was bad. Kids don’t care if I got an appointment or what not. If a deal blows up, I come home. I’m dad. One of my coaches told me, Brad, he goes, “Is your family getting the best of you or the rest of you? Because I see you suit up for your clients. Do you suit up for your family?”
Brad Johnson: I think that’s good advice to end on, Rich. And I relate to that a lot. We talk a lot about keeping the main thing, the main thing. And I think sometimes in the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, you look at how it started. It’s like, I’m going to do this on my terms, so I make the rules. And then somebody looks up 5, 10 years and they built the prison around themselves accidentally, that actually kept them from those that they love.
And I think the biggest entrepreneurial lie is I’m building this business for my family. And to your point, they just want dad at home or mom at home. They just want the quality time.
Rich Robledo: Yeah. Kids don’t know the difference between an A8 and a Honda Civic.
Brad Johnson: That’s true. Well, they might when they get a little older, but not when they’re younger.
Rich Robledo: Yeah, but that’s because what we teach them.
Brad Johnson: And that’s true. That’s true. All right, my man, well, hey, next time I roll through Vegas, let’s definitely grab some time. I’m not a big cigar guy, but maybe that’s because I haven’t found the right cigar. So, I’m open to the next one, so…
Rich Robledo: Well, Cigars & Conversation part 2 is just conversation. Just call me out.
Brad Johnson: Oh, there you go.
Rich Robledo: That’s it.
Brad Johnson: I’m sure you can do red wine and conversation, too, so…
Rich Robledo: Correct.
Brad Johnson: All right. Well, my man, it’s been awesome. Thanks for the time. And hopefully, our paths cross in person soon. Till next time.
Rich Robledo: Thanks, Brad. Bye-bye.
Brad Johnson: See ya.
