This past weekend I had the pleasure of making a cross country tour of first of the year client meetings and checkups for the new year. The trip basically went from NYC to LA and back again with many stops in between all crammed into 6 days. One of the stops happened to be in Phoenix, AZ which is where the story begins.
After a few meetings in Phoenix, one of my VPs at City Capital and I got picked up by a friend of mines by the name of Dr. Dolf de Roos. As some of you may know Dolf and I are co-producers of the Wealth Summit Live event in Orlando, Fl on January 24-25 2009. Dolf is a world renowned real estate investor, and author of over 11 books on the subject of commercial real estate investing. Right now he is working on digging a 48 acre lake and charging people an insane amount of money to Ski on it. Long story, but will address in another post later. So as you can see we have a lot in common to talk about.
Dolf picked us up around 6 pm that night and the night got wild after that. The first thing was we got into this futuristic car that almost drives itself with radar, has reclining rear seats with massage, and the list goes on and on. Dolf had this great restauraunt he took his two that was on a mountain overlooking the valley, with a view as phenomenal as the food. We had a great conversation at dinner, and then Dolf asked the magic question. What would you guys like to do next? The funny thing is all we could come up with was to go look at the local real estate? Wow in a west coast city, and all we could come up with on a Saturday night was look at Real Estate. The funny thing was that we were all "Seriously Excited" about going to see how local phoenix people live.
So after we left the restauraunt we set out on our adventure looking at everything from castles, to 32,000 square foot homes. Even went by Amare Stoudemire's (NBA Player) to see how he was living. It was like a private version of MTV cribs. We even checked out the Biltmore and semi-crashed a bar mitzvah that must have costs at least $100K for the size venue, people, and all out decor! It's funny how when we show up places the valet people always try to figure out who is that guy, and what do they do! May not seem significant but do keep in mind I am still only 26 and by no means look like an athlete, or a silicon dot comer, and I'm black (however seems being black is in style now these days).
Right now I guess you think I am one boring guy spending a whole night looking at Real Estate, especially in a so called recession. However, I always like to see what a million dollars gets you in various corners of the US. Trust me you can get a lot more real estate in Phoenix than you can in NYC.
While in Phoenix, I also got my first taste of Gelatto and I have been missing out. Gelatto in NYC always looks like some ice pudding, but at this spot in Phoenix they introduced me to the good stuff. Not only is it healthier, but tastes way better.
After that we hit some spots, and even took a look at some commercial facilities. We then called it a night and hit the hotel.
However all of that was just hanging out and killing some time. The one thing I did take away from all that we did is that when you love what you do, it never gets boring or old. Day, or night, warm or cold it never gets old. In order to be very successful in life you need to love what you do and you will always excel at it. When you love something, you will go further for it, do more for it, and take care in your craft. What I learned not only from Dolf, my visit, and those people who lived in homes larger than some peoples aparment buildings is that success comes with a price, but when you love something price doesn't matter.
Do you love what you do, or does someone else love the work you do, and the money you make them?
Think about it ....
I am to submit a report on this niche your post has been very very helpfull
Posted by: watch gossip girl | October 31, 2009 at 03:15 AM
Nice man.
Phoenix is off the hook. I got my first house out there right after high school. SICK real estate YES SIR. Biltmore is real nice. kiyosaki lives there too, I spent some time at the wrigley mansion in biltmore INSANE. 30k sq ft insured for $50 mil got some insane art work there too. Piano in that spot insured for 1.4 mil. Yes amare got like 3 nice properites in phx, including sick penthouses at the ESP.
Ha that is always fun man when people try and guess who you are. I remember when i was in dallas in 05 and I was at the bar and I talking to my brother and I was like I think our driver is out front, and I do look like a athelete Hehe and he was like are pro athelete and i was like nah " Whats that supposed to mean " I was just pulling his leg and he just said cuz you got driver and eveything and young and i said "and black" I smile when those things happen.
Yes do get alot for money in paradise valley and scottsdale phx etc v NEW YORK
PS
you gonna have to Blog about the pad
Posted by: jubril | January 21, 2009 at 04:59 AM