To Buy, Build, or Rent - How To Get a Home You LOVE with Ryan Serhant

Summary

Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF: Episode Summary

Episode Title: To Buy, Build, or Rent - How To Get a Home You LOVE with Ryan Serhant
Host: Vivian Tu
Guest: Ryan Serhant
Release Date: January 24, 2024

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF, host Vivian Tu dives deep into the complexities of the housing market with none other than Ryan Serhant. Ryan, a power broker, bestselling author, and star of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing New York, shares his personal journey, expert insights, and actionable advice on whether to buy, build, or rent a home you love.

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Ryan Serhant's Early Life and Background

Ryan Serhant opens up about his upbringing and early influences. Born in Texas and raised in a family immersed in finance, Ryan admits he initially shied away from the family business. Instead, his interests led him to theater and construction.

• Growing Up:
  “We bounced around a lot. My whole family worked in finance. I was definitely the one that shied away from that.” [01:18]

• First Jobs:
  Ryan recounts his summers working as a laborer in construction, a role that instilled a strong work ethic.
  “All of that stuff really made me work hard in school. It was so hard.” [02:53]

Transition into Real Estate

Ryan’s foray into real estate was not immediate. Initially aspiring to a Broadway career, financial constraints led him to pursue a real estate license as a pragmatic solution to stay in New York City.

• Real Estate Beginnings:
  “You got to pay rent. So get your real estate license. You can rent one apartment a month, and that'll pay all your bills.” [05:52]

• Early Struggles:
  His first year yielded modest earnings of $9,100, prompting Ryan to juggle multiple odd jobs to make ends meet.
  “I did one rental deal and I kind of got hooked. My commission was $1,000.” [08:38]

Joining Million Dollar Listing

Ryan shares the pivotal moment when he auditioned for Bravo's Million Dollar Listing. Despite overwhelming competition from 3,000 agents, his unique presence and personality secured him a spot on the show.

• Audition Process:
  “I just went because I was like, eh, what's the worst that can happen?” [14:39]

• On-Camera Persona:
  Ryan discusses how embracing his distinctive gray hair became a strategic advantage, making him memorable to audiences and clients alike.
  “I just let my natural hair grow out. And So I was 24 with gray hair. People were so confused... I just own it ever since.” [16:10]

Challenges and Insights from Reality TV

Being on Million Dollar Listing brought both immense exposure and unforeseen challenges. Ryan reflects on the dual nature of fame in real estate—enhancing his business while exposing him to public scrutiny.

• Public Awareness:
  “Having people know who you are is a blessing and a curse.” [21:17]

• First Season Reactions:
  An encounter with a viewer labeled him negatively, highlighting the unpredictable nature of public perception.
  “She's like, you're the asshole. I was like, oh, sorry. I didn't know what to do.” [21:56]

Current Housing Market Analysis

Ryan provides a nuanced analysis of the current housing market, emphasizing unprecedented challenges such as high pricing and soaring interest rates, which have led to historically low affordability.

• Market Difficulties:
  “Pricing has never been higher. Interest rates have not been this high in 25 years.” [24:54]

• Affordability Crisis:
  The interplay between high rents and restrictive mortgage rates is creating a stagnant market where many are compelled to rent rather than buy.
  “Affordability is at a 45-year low and rents are also at all-time highs.” [25:00]

Buying vs Renting: Pros and Cons

Delving into the perennial debate of buying versus renting, Ryan offers practical recommendations based on individual financial situations.

• When to Buy:
  “If you have a down payment that you can spare and you can afford the monthly payment on something you could buy, you should buy.” [28:54]

• When to Rent:
  Flexibility and lower upfront costs make renting a viable option, especially in uncertain financial climates.
  “You should rent. Do not complain when you look back at how much money you've spent on rent.” [30:12]

Tips for Renters

For those currently renting, Ryan shares valuable tips to ensure a quality living experience:

1. Quality Landlords:
   “Even if you're paying a little more money, the quality of that landlord is important.” [30:27]

2. Leverage Programs:
   Utilizing programs like Bilt can help renters accumulate points toward future homeownership.
   “Bilt is a pathway to homeownership... at least it's something.” [31:16]

Renovation Experiences and Advice

Ryan recounts his extensive renovation projects, emphasizing the importance of budgeting and understanding market value when undertaking such endeavors.

• Renovation Challenges:
  “The cost of construction post-COVID has really gone through the roof. A 2,000 square foot apartment is going to cost you $2 million to renovate.” [37:05]

• Value-Add Strategies:
  Enhancing property features, such as increasing bedroom counts, can significantly boost resale value.
  “You're going to be able to chop that up and turn it into five beds... it's real value add.” [42:21]

Building a Real Estate Business

Transitioning from agent to entrepreneur, Ryan discusses the creation and growth of his own real estate firm, highlighting the importance of content and personal branding.

• Establishing the Firm:
  “I started with one rental that turned into one sale that turned into a TV show... and now a billion and a half in sales a year.” [46:08]

• Content to Commerce:
  Ryan emphasizes leveraging content to drive business growth and establish market presence.
  “This is a content to commerce real estate firm.” [47:59]

Personal Branding Lessons

In a pivotal segment, Ryan shares his top personal branding strategies, which have been instrumental in his success.

1. Core Identity:
   “Developing a core identity that's authentic to you... then creating consistent content.” [51:20]

2. Consistency:
   Consistent presentation and communication solidify brand reputation.
   “Staying consistent, consistent, consistent.” [51:20]

3. Amplification:
   “Shout it from a mountaintop. Really amplify all successes.” [51:20]

Ryan’s upcoming book, Brand It Like Ryan Serhant, delves deeper into these strategies, offering readers a comprehensive guide to personal branding.

Lightning Round Highlights

The episode concludes with a fun and insightful lightning round where Ryan answers spontaneous questions:

• Biggest Commission Check:
  “$3 million from a single deal.” [48:11]

• Alternate Career:
  “Make TikTok videos with you. I'd be your Wall Street street boy.” [48:50]

• Alternative Residence:
  “My wife loves London, so we would probably live in London.” [48:59]

• Proudest Achievement:
  “My daughter's awesome... and the people at my company.” [49:08]

• Advice to His Future Real Estate Agent Daughter:
  “Let's go. Whatever she wants to do, if she really, really wants to do it, she can.” [50:21]

• Personal Branding Lesson:
  “Consistency, core identity, and amplification are key.” [51:20]

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Conclusion

This episode of Networth and Chill offers a comprehensive look into Ryan Serhant’s journey in real estate, providing listeners with valuable insights into navigating the current housing market, making informed decisions between buying and renting, and building a robust personal brand. Ryan’s candid anecdotes and expert advice make this a must-listen for anyone looking to enhance their financial standing and achieve their dream home.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Follow up, follow through, follow back. It's what we call the three Fs.” — Ryan Serhant [09:54]

• “The American dream is a marketing scheme.” — Ryan Serhant [33:38]

• “You can actually negotiate, but if you don't know if you want to buy, then you should rent.” — Ryan Serhant [26:50]

• “Consistency, consistent, consistent.” — Ryan Serhant [51:20]

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Resources Mentioned:

• Ryan Serhant's Book: Brand It Like Ryan Serhant (Releases February 6th)
• Website: sirhant.com

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For more financial insights and relatable content, subscribe to Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF and follow Vivian Tu across social media.

Transcript

[Vivienne]

What's up, rich friends? Welcome back to another episode of Net Worth and Chill with me, your host, Vivienne to, AKA your rich BFF and your favorite Wall street girly. And today we're going to talk about one of the hottest topics, Housing. Whether it's complaining about your rent going up or dividing and conquering open houses on the weekends with your boo or researching what a kitchen renovation might run you, it's pretty clear we love to talk about where we live. Of course, right Back in our parents generation, buying a home was the surefire way to build wealth and carve out a little piece of this earth just for you and yours. But is buying a home right for everyone? What about building one from scratch so it's exactly what you want? And why does renting get such a bad rap? Well, today we're going to figure all of this out. And there's nobody better to help guide us than power broker, bestselling author and star of Bravo's Million Dollar listing, New York and sell it like Sir Hand. Everyone, please welcome Ryan Sirhanti. Thanks, Ryan. Thank you so much for chatting with me. Of course. I'm super excited to talk a little bit about hot tips on finding your own Barbie dream house. But before we get into that, I want to go really way back. Talk to me about your childhood. How did you grow up? Was your family super rich? Did you guys talk about money?

[Ryan Serhant]

I was born in Texas. I grew up, we bounced around a lot. My whole family worked in finance. I was definitely the one that shied away from that. My brothers just wasn't for me. It wasn't my, I wasn't excited about it. You know, my, I, I found just more things interesting than, than Excel sheets sick.

[Vivienne]

So.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. And so we bounced around a lot. I grew up outside Boston, went to high school. Outside Boston.

[Vivienne]

Nice.

[Ryan Serhant]

My dad worked in the city and then I went to college in upstate New York. And then I came to New York in 2006 when I graduated. I grew up nicely. You know, I, I, you know, we didn't talk about money a lot though, other than save all of it forever, right?

[Vivienne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Never spend it. You know, that was, I mean, one thing was, you know, save your money for college. That was like the bedtime story that we were told every day. But I definitely, definitely had a clean understanding of the value of a dollar growing up. Like, we all had to work.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, I, my parents never talked about money at the dinner table. Like, I had no idea what my dad made. I had no idea how Much money, family had. Like, I, to this day, I actually don't know really.

[Vivienne]

Even now?

[Ryan Serhant]

Even now. Like, I guess I have some sort of idea, but I really have no idea. Right. They're very, very private, my parents, they're very private. You know, kind of typical conservative, but they put us to work. Like I, when I was a little kid, I was, you know, being paid per stick that I would pick up in the yard.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, I, they.

[Vivienne]

What was the first real job you had?

[Ryan Serhant]

The first real job I had, I mean, I, you know, my summers were working in construction. I worked for test of building and remodeling in Andover and North Andover, Massachusetts.

[Vivienne]

And were you like physically doing.

[Ryan Serhant]

I was a laborer. I was a contractors laborer. So demolition, roofing, 80 pound bags of shingles on my shoulders, all of that stuff really made me work hard in school. It was so hard.

[Vivienne]

You're like, I'm never doing this again.

[Ryan Serhant]

No. So. But you, like, you really, when you get that paycheck from doing manual labor, you, you remember every dollar.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Because you count those minutes right when it, when it hurts. But my parents really, you know, they made it a thing for me where there was no allowance. Like, we never had an allowance. An allowance to my parents.

[Vivienne]

You got allowed to live in the house.

[Ryan Serhant]

Exactly. There's no allowance. And I won't have an allowance with, with my kids either. But they said, whatever you want, you can have if you buy it yourself. So, like, I have a core memory of then, I guess I was, you know, getting into junior high school and really liking TV and movies and wanting to make my own and wanting my own video camera. And they were like, great.

[Vivienne]

Like a mean girl's mom.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, 100%. They're like, go buy one. So it's like, okay, great. What do I do? So I started a wood splitting company where we would cut wood and we would sell off the cords of lumber. Between my little brother and I, it was a total disaster. It was the hardest thing ever. I never should have started that business. It lasted for like a week. But I was able to find other ways to like, you know, we were like shoveling people's yards for 20 bucks, you know, in their driveways. We were coming up with different ways to make money, and I was trying to get as creative as possible as a little kid. And that has definitely influenced me to this day.

[Vivienne]

Okay. I love that so, so much. And you talk about working in construction.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

Did that instantaneously lead you to want to work in real estate?

[Ryan Serhant]

Absolutely not. The opposite. It made me want to, you know, do Broadway. It made me wanted to do really, really well in school. Like, I went, you know, I went to school and I double majored in English and theater. Theater. Theater was the one thing.

[Vivienne]

Theater kid.

[Ryan Serhant]

100%. Yeah. My entire. I have three sisters and two brothers. They were all kind of finance. Okay. And they were all athletes.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

And I was the theater kid.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so I did a lot of theater growing up. I went to theater camp in the summers. Like, that was my thing. I was allowed to do it as long as I also spent time in the summers working. So I would go from like working the ranch. Once my parents moved to Colorado, I'd work the ranch for a month, and then I got to do theater camp for a month. And that was like the trade that I would have. Like, I could do theater in college as long as I had a real major, like English. And I went to a writing.

[Vivienne]

Was English the real major?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. I went to Hamilton, which is a writing intensive school. Like, even math, even theater was writing intensive. Yeah. Maybe that's why this is book number three for me, because now it's just. It's just something that I can do.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So theater was always my thing. And then I came to New York City. I promptly ran out of money. And the theater thing does not pay whatsoever. And you've got to give it like 10 years. And I didn't have 10 years. And so in order to stay in New York City, a friend said, listen, don't wait tables, don't bartend, don't be a temp. You'll do that till you're 40 because you're going to get comfortable.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And then you'll have an apartment, and then you got to pay rent. And then you will always take that shift. And then you'll be a waiter forever. And then eventually you'll quit and move out. So get your real estate license.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

You can rent one apartment a month, and that'll pay all your bills. You have 29 to 30 days left in the month to do whatever you want. That was. That was the dream that was sold to you.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

It is 100% a lie, but that is the dream that was sold to me. And that's how I got into it.

[Vivienne]

Why is that a lie, though?

[Ryan Serhant]

Because that's like telling somebody, hey, gambling's awesome. Just go to the casino once, put all your money on red, you're going to win, then leave. You get to do whatever you want.

[Vivienne]

With the rest of your year.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's not how it works, right? You lose most of the time. So, yeah, if you rent one apartment a month in one day, you can do that. But you got to meet like a hundred people first to rent one apartment. Find them, you got to hunt them down. You got to be posting ads every day. You got to show people homes, and then they change their mind, and then they lose their job, and then their dad wants to use a different agent, and then you don't know New York because you're not from here, are you, Ryan? And you just got us lost in the West Village because your map quest directions that you printed out and you're holding in your pocket, we can see that. And you're the worst real estate broker in the history of the world. I'm like, wait, wait, hold on. My palm trio is freezing in the rain. I can't get the thingy. The stylus is not hitting the plastic the right way. And I was lost. I know it. I'm not from here. And so, you know, so it took a while. Like, I made $9,100 my first year in the real estate business.

[Vivienne]

Oh, 9,100. Not 91,000.

[Ryan Serhant]

9,100.

[Vivienne]

So $9,000, I think it was like.

[Ryan Serhant]

$9,188 my first year.

[Vivienne]

How did you make ends meet doing that?

[Ryan Serhant]

I. Construction money. Saved up from summers previously. My grandfather died and left me $20,000 that I put into a CD. Two CDs, actually, because I needed that 10 grand, which I did. So two $10,000 CDs. And I did odd jobs. Like, I hand modeled for 150 bucks an hour. I, I got into a soap opera and they paid me $844 an episode, which after tax was like 500 bucks. And I was like, what's b. This is so stupid.

[Vivienne]

What's.

[Ryan Serhant]

What are these taxes? Why are you taking my money from me? It's such bullshit. You know, I, I, I did other, like, little small odds and ends jobs. Like, I wanted to work out. I wanted a gym, but I couldn't afford gym fees in New York City. So I walked in there to Equinox on 63rd and Lexington. I'm like, I'll do a work trade program. How can I work out for free? Do you want to pass out flyers at the subway? And I was like, can I work out for free? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, then I'll do that. Or pass out flyers. Every day at the 63rd Street F station, I would pass out flyers. I was like free initiation. Come work at Equinox. As long as I worked out during off peak hours, which given the fact that I was trying to be an actor and a part time real estate agent, didn't really matter, I could do.

[Vivienne]

You were going at 2 in the afternoon.

[Ryan Serhant]

Exactly. Or like 9 to 10pm you know, I'd go at night and so, so I'd make money in weird, weird ways. And then slowly but surely the real estate thing, I, I did one rental deal and I kind of got hooked. Like you kind of get addicted to it, you know, like you get it and I'm like, wait a minute, I just did a thousand dollar a month rental deal. My commission was $1,000.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

My deal with the brokerage company was 50 50. So I just made 500 bucks. Okay, what if I did that tomorrow? I can make 500 bucks tomorrow. What if I did that then? What if I made $500 every day? I would be so rich.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, and that's that first thing where you're like wait a minute, what if I'm not nervous about paying rent? What would that ever feel like was.

[Vivienne]

So like obviously being in sales of any sort.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

You're kind of eating what you kill.

[Ryan Serhant]

Always.

[Vivienne]

And being in a commission based job, like were you ever scared that you weren't going to get paid because you know, you close that one apartment, you're like sick. 500.

[Ryan Serhant]

But like you're only as good as your last deal. You know, I tell salespeople that all the time, you know, you, I mean the agents are like, well I just sold this. I'm like, when did you just sell that? Like two years ago. Like. Right. The word just has a weird definition in sales. And so you're only as good as your last deal. Right. You're always hunting. The number one job of any salesperson is to generate more business.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

You're handling the business you currently have and then you're generating new business every single day. That is your, that is your job. That's why, you know, I do all the things that I do to generate new business in some way, shape or form.

[Vivienne]

What would you say is like the number one? And I know there's no real good answer to this, but like what's the secret sauce to sell? Anything.

[Ryan Serhant]

Follow up.

[Vivienne]

Sell it like sir hand.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah. Sell it like sir hand. Yeah. You could take our course. I'd say the number. Honestly, the secret sauce is follow up, follow through, follow back. It's what we call the three Fs. Right. You're following up with absolutely everybody till they buy or die. And then when they do die, you go to their funeral and you grieve and you meet everybody at the funeral. Then you follow through on everything you say you're going to do. Okay, if you say I'm going to send you listings by 5pm, you send them by 4:59. You got to be a person that people know. Ah, they're a person of their word. And then you follow back with everybody forever. If you have a good follow up system, you can sell anything to anybody as long as you have some sort of personality and you know your product. If you don't know your product, then there's always the Internet and someone's just going to buy it online, right? But if you know your product, if you know how to meet people, if you know how, if you know the two Cs of creating any relationship so you immediately give someone a compliment and then you find something in common and you just listen. People like hearing themselves talk. Like babies cry because they like hearing the sound of their own voice. It lets them know they're alive and they're out of the womb. Adults do the same thing. You let them talk, they hear the sound of their voice, it calms them down and they start to trust you because you're listening and you give them eye contact. So all of that combined, add a strong follow up program and you can be an incredible salesperson.

[Vivienne]

I love that. I have a question. You know that feeling when you get cornered by that aunt at a family gathering and you feel like you sort of have to bend the truth? You know, the one who asks things like when are you getting married? Or what's going on with that promotion? Or why haven't you moved out of your mom and dad's basement yet? Only for her to not really listen to you and just kind to judge you? Yeah. Well, you may have to grin and bear it with your family, but you shouldn't feel that way when talking to your doctor about that rash that looks like a weird shape or the fact that you may eat pizza one too many times a week or anything else that's concerning to you. Enter ZocDoc, the place where you can find and book doctors who will make you feel comfortable and actually listen to you. And we're not talking about a few, we're talking about tens of thousands of doctors all with verified patient reviews so you can make sure the vibes are vibing before you ever meet IRL with ZocDoc, you've got more options than you know. DocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in network doctors near you and instantly book appointments with them online. Once you find the doc you want, you can book them immediately. No more waiting awkwardly on hold with a receptionist. And all of these doctors have verified reviews from actual real patients. You can filter specifically for doctors who take your insurance or located near you and treat basically any condition you're searching for. Personally, I use ZocDoc to help me find an obgyn that I liked. I mean, come on, she's getting up really close and personal with me and a dentist that is close to my apartment so that it's really easy to go every six months, so I never miss a cleaning. I use Zocdoc and you should too. Go to zocdoc.com richbff and download the Zocdoc app for free. Then find and book a top rated doctor today. That's Z O c d o c.com rich bff zocdoc.com rich bff and so you start your real estate career. You're making $9,100. You're boop boop, boop, boop boop. Making more and more and more.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

But I will say a huge, like I would say rocket launch, rocket fuel moment for you was getting one of the main spots on Million Dollar Listing.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

How does one of thousands and thousands of real estate brokers in the city, you know, pitch a network and say, hey, pick me, I'm special.

[Ryan Serhant]

Well, I don't really have to. I didn't pitch a network. I do that stuff now at the time. And remember, this is pre streaming. This is. Netflix is a DVD company.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

This is 2010. I'd been in real estate for.

[Vivienne]

I was in high school.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. A little over a year.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Okay. And I came to New York City to do theater. I wanted to be an actor. And then I couldn't make money and so I got into real estate to pay the bills, basically. And so that's where I found my life. And I was actually selling things though. Like I actually, I liked, I liked making money. You know, I went from $9,100 a year to like $53,000 a year. And then I cracked six figures my third year. So, like, I liked increasing the quality of my life. I liked having my own bathroom in my own apartments, even if it was a tiny studio that faced a brick wall. Like it was mine that I rented. Like I did it with my own money. Like no help. And so. And I got my first building to sell, and I was selling those units. And then there was an open casting call for the New York franchise of a show called Million Dollar Listing on Bravo that later became Million Dollar Listing in Los Angeles, but at the time was just Million Dollar Listing. And there was an open casting call at the Hudson Hotel in Times Square. And so I just went because I was like, eh, what's the worst that can happen? I don't know. I know how to go on camera. I was on a soap opera. You know, I knew how to be on stage. I knew how to perform, I knew how to audition because I'd done it my whole life. And I went, and 3,000 real estate agents showed up.

[Vivienne]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Serhant]

And it was insane.

[Vivienne]

Were you stressed about the competition?

[Ryan Serhant]

You know what? I was. It was so. It was like the chances. It was like playing the lottery.

[Vivienne]

Right?

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, I'm not stressed. Like, I don't play the lottery, but if I did go and play the Powerball, like, is that what I call it? Powerball?

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

If I did go and play Powerball, like, I wouldn't be stressed because the chance. The chance that I win is so it's just not happening. So that's. That's how I felt.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I was like, first of all, I'm barely in the business. I barely sold anything. I know how to pitch myself. And so that's what I did when I. You know, my. My saving grace was when I sat down in front of that camera for those 30 seconds. Because that's all they gave you that first time. Like, I knew how to work the camera.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And I think a lot of other people who probably would have been way better than me. Like, they had so many more sales than I did. They were true power brokers, and I was just an imitation of one.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I just think they sat in front of. They just didn't prepare for what the actual job at hand was, which was sell yourself on camera as the power broker that Bravo is going to follow around. Don't just be one. Right. Be one for these people.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And I knew how to do that.

[Vivienne]

Had that stage presence.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. You have to have. Like you and I just talked about in our last podcast.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

45 minutes ago. Yeah. You had to have. You have to add the sauce.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, you got to have that secret sauce. You've got to have that thing that makes you pop. Like, how are you going to be memorable?

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

For example, I started going gray when I was 16.

[Vivienne]

What?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. So going gray when I was 16. And when you're 16 and you start going gray, it's weird. And so I was like that kid in the pharmacy looking.

[Vivienne]

You own it, by the way, for men now. Oh, okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

But when I was a teenager, when I was in college, I mean, I. Dude, I dyed my hair for years. Years. When I graduated, I came to New York City. You. You don't like, go and audition is for old people. Yeah, old people do those roles. You go, you have to look your part. Like, look your age. Like, well, I have to have dark hair. Like, if you look at any of you can YouTube Ryan Sirhan, AsWorld Turns. And I have like the darkest brown hair ever because it was just all fake died. And then when I got into real estate, I was like, I just didn't want to dye my hair anymore.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so I just let my natural hair grow out. And So I was 24 with gray hair. And so people were so confused because I had like a really young face, but I had like old man hair. And people were like, so how long you been doing this?

[Vivienne]

And you're like, two. Two decades.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, no, I would, no, no, I would never lie. I would just say a while. A long time.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I'd look at my watch and be like, it's been two hours. A long time. A long time. And then they would immediately trust me because I have a weathered hair, but I look like I take care of myself. So people would ask me like, my skincare regimen and how do you look so young for your age? And I'm like, you think I'm so old, don't you?

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And then so for like the show, for a million dollar listing, I didn't dye my hair. I went in there, I did my thing and was something that was my biggest weakness in my brain that I turned into my biggest strength. And I've just owned it ever since. You know, I look at people with like luscious dark locks and I'm like, man, imagine if I could like go like this. And just like my brother in law, his name is Stratos. He's Greek. He has long dark, like Pantene Pro V commercials.

[Vivienne]

Like Fabio.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah. He has like hair like yours, but even thicker. And he like takes it off and goes like this. And it's just like this Greek lion. And I do look at that. And I get envious because I have a gray helmet and. But, you know, you gotta just own it.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. Work with what? Work. Work with what you have.

[Ryan Serhant]

Exactly, exactly. So I use that as like, a calling card. And it was. It was memorable. And then they whittled it down to, like, 500, and we had to do a written application and 500 to, like, 70, I think. And then it was a Skype. And then they brought it down to 16 of us. And then they spent half a day with 16 of us, different camera crews running around New York City. And they said, just show me a day. And at that point, I was like, like, I've made it this far. I'm getting on the show. I don't even know what the show is.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

It might be the worst thing ever for me, because reality TV at that time was like, Survivor Trash. The Kardashians. Dog the Bounty Hunter.

[Vivienne]

Dog the Bounty Hunter. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So everyone in New York was like, this will ruin your career. But I was like, dude, I'm 25 years old. Like, I don't. I don't really. I have a career.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. And if this doesn't work, I'll start dyeing my hair again and people won't even know it's me.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. I think the initial. Yeah, I think it was like. Like 1500 bucks an episode when we first got cast.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I was like, okay. You know, and then the next year, it was like $3,000 an episode, you know, and we would renegotiate every year. Even though you weren't supposed to. We would always, like. We would always try to renegotiate. But the. The real payment from Bravo and doing million dollar listing was we don't take a percentage of your real estate earnings, and you make this show happen. So.

[Vivienne]

And you get free marketing.

[Ryan Serhant]

I mean, it is marketing that I never, ever even to this day, could never afford. Yeah, Right. I mean, that. I had no idea when I signed up for it, but it ended up. I mean, it played to 25 million people a week. Right. In its prime, Million dollar listing was in 160 countries.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And anywhere I would go, people would look at me, they'd recognize my hair, and they'd be like, real estate guy.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Be like, are you looking to buy, rent, or sell?

[Vivienne]

Yeah, let's go.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's the whole reason I did that whole thing.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

For 12 years.

[Vivienne]

Before we dive into our next section, I gotta say, there's no shortage of helpful AI tools out there. But using them means switching back and forth between yet another digital tool. So I've got my 8,000 tabs open, and instead of simplifying my workflow, suddenly it just becomes more complicated. Unless, of course, you're in Notion Notion combines your notes, docs and projects into one space that's simple and beautifully designed. And you can leverage the power of AI right inside of Notion across all of your notes and docs without jumping between your work and a separate AI powered tool. Notion is the perfect place to connect teams, tools and knowledge so you're empowered to do your most meaningful work. And the fully integrated Notion AI helps you work faster, write better and think bigger, doing tasks that normally take you hours in just seconds. Personally, I'll let Notion AI handle the first draft, jump a brainstorm, or turn our messy notes into something a little bit more polished. And you can even automate tedious tasks like summarizing meeting notes or finding next steps. Notion AI does all this and more and frees me up to do the deep work like taking a second pass and polishing something up or creating more content. Try Notion for free when you go to notion.com Rich BFF that's all lowercase letters. Notion.com Rich BFF to try the powerful, easy to use Notion AI. Today when you use our link, you're supporting our show. Notion.com Rich BFF okay, so we talk about the pros of like, you getting basically free marketing that you could not afford.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

What is the worst thing that happened on the show came out of the show? What's one thing that you didn't really enjoy?

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, having people know who you are is a blessing and a curse. Right. Like, I think I have kind of like the perfect level of public awareness.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

For my business because it allows me to do everything that we do. It allows me to have a calling card and that special little secret thing that just other people don't because I can put a listing in front of more eyeballs than anyone else combined.

[Vivienne]

Right.

[Ryan Serhant]

So if you're going to pay a commission, you might as well pay someone. Might as well pay to the person everybody knows. Yeah. But at the same time, that means anything you ever do that's a mistake or that's negative is also incredibly public. And you're, you know, there are those times when I'm like, if no one knew who I was, like, no one would know.

[Vivienne]

Ryan Sirhan picks nose on subway. Like it. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, I don't do that.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

But it's like anything, anything I do or anything I get named in or guilt by association, like all that stuff. I will say though, you know, I, I didn't, I was not fully prepared for public reaction after that first season. Like, I don't think I knew how many People were going to watch it or whatnot. And I remember getting off the subway. So this is like 2012. The show had just come out and, like, this girl bumps into me and looks at me and she's like, you're that guy from that show. And I was like, all excited. And she's like, you're the asshole. And I was like, oh, Emma. Oh, sorry. I didn't know what to do. I like, yeah, I, like, froze. It's like, wait, do I look like an asshole? And I called my mom. I'm like, because it's not like Netflix, right? These episodes don't binge out in one day. It's like slowly but surely for four months. Right. An episode, a week. Old school. And my mom was like, well, honey, you're so nice in real life.

[Vivienne]

I'm like, wait, what does that mean, Mom?

[Ryan Serhant]

I know. She was like, you know, the things you think are funny aren't always funny to other people. And I remember that conversation. And so Ryan Sirhant's season one, a Million Dollar listing was a. Ryan. That was. I had cameras in my face for one year.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And they filmed that whole first season with four of us.

[Vivienne]

Right.

[Ryan Serhant]

And the producers said, only three of you are going to make the final show, so best of luck. And I think I lost like 20 pounds from the stress. Like, I just.

[Vivienne]

It was like hunger games.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. 100%. And I was going up against. There was three other agents on the show who all worked at the same firm, who were all rich, who all had connections, they all knew celebrities. And then I was like, little Ryan at a firm no one had ever heard of, like, trying to do deals in the financial district, running around doing my rentals. I'm like, I'm totally getting cut. So I was stressed out in any situation they put me in. I think I was just like, you know.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

If you're, you know, try to put a camera in front of your face for a year, and every day they tell you you're about to be fired.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, how do you act? And then condense that into 44 minute episodes and it's.

[Vivienne]

And they only show you.

[Ryan Serhant]

They only show the intense moments. Yeah. They don't show me, like, eating a bagel at my desk. They don't show me, like, calling my grandma. No, they show that moment where, like, I was having a bad day. And they show that in the trailer over and over and over. So when it's just like a series of long beats, you learn about yourself a lot. Once you watch a Year of your life on international television.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. And knowing that that is such a cool moment to see all of these high net worth individuals buy these luxury properties.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

But you know, baby Ryan, first season Ryan was doing regular listings.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

I want to ask for everybody listening, who is a regular person who's not buying $80 million penthouse apartments.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

What is your opinion of the current housing market? I know this is like kind of a spicy question.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, I think it's really, really, really hard. Yeah, I think it's tough because we are in a market right now and we'll see where we are in January when this comes out. You know, we are in a market that I've never experienced and everyone I know in this business has never experienced.

[Vivienne]

Explain that to me.

[Ryan Serhant]

We've never been at a time when pricing has never been higher.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Interest rates have not been this high in 25 years. Affordability is at a 45 year low and rents are also at all time highs. Now, when I first got into the business, my first day in the real estate business was the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. So.

[Vivienne]

Oh, good timing.

[Ryan Serhant]

The market crashed.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And it was at the bottom for a couple years. Really. But when the sales market was down, the rental market was up because people were too nervous to buy. So they would go into rent.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so rents go up.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right. When rents go too high, people say, screw it, I'm not paying rent, I'm gonna go buy. And that brings the sales market back up and it's always this seesaw, except for now, pricing is so high, interest rates are so high, people can't afford to buy regular people. And so they're like, I just have to rent. I don't have a choice. I have to stay with roommates. I have to stay home.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right. So that's keeping rents incredibly, incredibly high. And so those rents don't go down because then those people are saying, well, I don't pay rent anymore. I want to. I don't want to pay someone else's mortgage. I want to go pay my own mortgage. I want to start building credit. I want to build equity in my own life. Life. But I don't want to have to go buy a tear down for a million dollars.

[Vivienne]

Right.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so, you know, it's the way the process goes. Everything eventually evens out. It always does. But it's definitely a tough time at the moment. But all I'll say is this. The sales market is not nearly as high today as it was a couple years ago.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like the peaks of 2020 and 2021, though, we were doing deals there that I'll never do again. Like, I'll never. I'll never experience that again. At least I don't think so. And so you have negotiability now in a way that you haven't had before. There are ways to creatively finance. There's ways to buy down points on your loan. There's ways to get seller financing where a seller could hold paper because 4% for them is better for you than 7 1/2% to the bank. You know, there's ways to actually make a deal work right now and then refinance when rates go lower.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, I'd rather get a better purchase price with a higher rate.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Than a much higher purchase price with a low rate. Because that's what everyone did in the.

[Vivienne]

Last boom and fix that.

[Ryan Serhant]

Now you're underwater. Yeah, right. But like, oh, no, but I have a two and a half percent rate. I'm like, yeah, but you paid $2 million for a $1.2 million house. How does that two and a half percent rate help you now? Yeah, it doesn't. I'd rather have a high rate and have paid 900 grand for a $1.2 million house and watch those prices go up and up and up and up and up. So I understand the monthly nut can be painful. But if you're budgeted, if you don't try to buy over your skis, so many people want to just purchase more than they can afford. They want the bigger house. Right. Buy something that works for you for at least the next couple years and then consistently work on an upgrade process. But, you know, as I look back over the course of my real estate career over the last 15 years, other than 20, 20, 2021, I've never been in a day and time where we've said, wow, the market is really good right now, or the market's really bad. It's only good or bad in hindsight. So, you know, June of 2024, November 1st of 2024, six days before the presidential election, we might be sitting here being like, oh, man, dude, that market at the beginning of 2024 was so great. Like, who knows? I don't know. No one knows, you know. So that's why you also can't wait to find that house that you love. You can't wait to time the market. You're never going to time the market. Trying to time the market is like trying to. You know, I meet with people all the time and they're like, ah, but it's not perfect. I think the market's going to crash. I'm just going to wait. I'm going to wait. That's like not buying a convertible because you think it's going to rain, right? It's going to rain.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

But not today.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So you might as well enjoy it.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. And you know, I'm sure you've heard the saying, like, oh, if you're renting, you're throwing your money into a black pit. You get nothing. You're not building equity. It's such a waste of money. What is your POV on the whole buying versus renting situation? You know, you mentioned like, like people have to rent right now in some cases. But like, if someone has the ability to decide whether to buy or rent, what is your recommendation and why?

[Ryan Serhant]

If you have a down payment that you can spare and you can afford the monthly payment on something you could buy, you should buy. Yeah, you should start building that credit, build that equity.

[Vivienne]

Take this with a grain of salt. He is a real estate broker.

[Ryan Serhant]

But here's what I'm saying though. Unless you have other uses for that potential down payments. If you're just sitting on cash in the bank, bank at the rate of inflation that we have today and it's not invested.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's not sitting in a treasury. Like you're not doing anything with it, then, then you should use it and you should buy something. Go get a good deal. There's so many good deals out there in every market now. Like you can actually negotiate, but if you don't know if you want to buy, then you should rent. Rent. Like, just do not complain when you look back at, on how much money you've spent on rent over the past couple years and then say, say, oh, that was my down payment and I just spent it on rent. And now I can't go buy that thing that I want because now I am ready because now I am about to get married and yeah, I don't want to rent for. And we got to go get a 3 bet. How much is a 3 bedroom in Soho? You want to come rent something? The average is $10,000 per month per bedroom. Per bedroom. Okay, brutal. So things aren't getting exponentially cheaper, but the world is only getting more expensive.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Every single day.

[Vivienne]

Do you have a hot tip for renters like, who are listening to this and they're looking on Zillow and Redfin and Street Easy and they're like, there's so much to look at, like what, what do you look for if you were to rent an apartment?

[Ryan Serhant]

Well, I look for like one. The quality of the landlord is always important.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Even if you're paying a little bit more money, that quality of that landlord, somebody that you know, someone who potentially hopefully has a website.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

That's the quality you're going to get from somebody that has a reputation.

[Vivienne]

I could have used this information earlier in my 20s because I moved into a roach infested walk up and like the landlord was like a guy.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, exactly. And they don't. And it's not even just the roaches. Right. It's the, hey, my plumbing doesn't work.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

No one picks up the phone.

[Vivienne]

Right.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's like my microwave doesn't work. No one picks up the phone. But the minute you don't pay your rent, they're going to collections, you know, and so you don't want that. So I would always pay a little bit more money to have a landlord that is a known entity. Remember, there are programs out there now. Like a really, really good friend of mine, his name is Ankur Jain. Oh, my God.

[Vivienne]

I love. He was just on this podcast.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. So he started Bilt, right?

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so outside of getting rewards on rent, one of the bigger missions for Bilt is a pathway to homeownership.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So eventually it's like, okay, how do you get those points towards like cash back towards an eventual down payment. Now, like, are you going to get 100 grand in cash back to put down 10% on a million dollar house? You got to pay a lot of rent to do that. But at least it's something.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right. At least it's something. And you feel like, okay, I'm actually building up to get somewhere that way. But I am complete. We do a lot of rentals. We do rentals all day long. We rent out entire buildings. We do full lease ups everywhere. And I appreciate that rent is flexible.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

That you can move at any time. At the end of the day, what's your risk? Your risk is a one month security deposit in most instances. Right. Really?

[Vivienne]

It was two when I moved out of the cockroach apartment. But yeah, it's brutal.

[Ryan Serhant]

So sometimes. Right. That's. That's worth the price of freedom.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

If you just want to be free, if you want to be able to bounce on a moment's notice, you know, all things considered, you have a lease. If you want to be able to not be locked into something because you have no idea what's going on with your job or Life. Or that girl that might want you to move to la. Like, yeah, you should rent. Do not be stressed to purchase. But if I look at the way that wealth is created in the United States and internationally. But let's just say the United States for the last 350 years, it's through real estate ownership.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Whether it's a condo, a co op, a small multifamily building, or a piece of land.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, it. It just is what it is. They're not making more land.

[Vivienne]

It was, like, the bastion of the middle class back in the day, and now we're like, oh, shoot. Like, can any of us.

[Ryan Serhant]

Well, remember, there is, like. It's also not lost on me, you know, the way that we've all been educated into thinking that we need everything all the time. Whether it's, you need to eat breakfast, because Kellogg lobbied for us to believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

[Vivienne]

And, like, sugary cereal is not, in fact, good for you.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right, Exactly. It's also not lost on me that people buying homes then went to banks, and banks were like, okay, how can we make more money on people who buy homes? Let's give them loans, and then we'll sell those loans, and then we'll resell those loans and resell, and then we'll sell them insurance, and then we'll. We'll sell them different services and, wow, how much money can we make on one singular transaction? That's. That's also not lost on me. The American dream is a marketing scheme.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, I understand that. I'm not a lunatic. Like, I totally get it. But I also have seen people completely change their lives with homeownership.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I've sold apartments to people for a million bucks, and I've sold it for them for two. Like I said, I've watched people double their money and, like, be like, oh, my God, this is the most amazing thing I've ever done in my whole life. I've also seen people buy apartments for a lot of money and then have to sell them and lose a lot of money, too. So you have to understand the risk.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. Speaking. You mentioned, you know, you might want to have flexibility with your rent because of a girl.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

You ended up up marrying the girl and buying a beautiful home in Brooklyn and basically gutting out the entire place, which was a product that all of us followed on tv, but it seemed to take a really long time. Like, do you have any advice for people who are doing renovations?

[Ryan Serhant]

Never do it. Ever. Never.

[Vivienne]

Ryan. That's not the advice we wanted.

[Ryan Serhant]

Listen, like, I actually. The first apartment that I bought with Amelia, we bought a penthouse in soho. And I got renovated that, too.

[Vivienne]

So you love renovating.

[Ryan Serhant]

I don't. I just. Just. I like things being perfect. And it wasn't perfect.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

And I wanted to make it my own. Also, I see. Whatever, Adrian. Also, I see. I see real estate all day, every day. And so I also know what's good and I know what's sellable.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so, you know, the penthouse apartment we bought in. In SoHo was, like, kind of funky, and I did the.

[Vivienne]

Was it like a loft?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, it's a condo. It's kind of a condo loft. Like, the elevator opens up into the full floor apartment kind of thing. Three bedroom plus home, office. Great apartment. I paid 3.7. It's the first apartment I ever bought, and I gutted it because at first I was just going to do the kitchen in one bathroom, but then when you do that, then you're like, I might as well do the second. Okay, I'm going to do the third bath, actually. Now I got to move the laundry bucket, rip up the floors, take the ceiling down. We are gutting this thing and doing it fast. And then when I bought the townhouse later on, you know, it's this big house. It's 8,000 square feet. And I had a budget in my head and a time in my head that it was going to take to do it. And I was like, all right, we're just going to combine. It was a two family house. I'm going to make it a single family. Redo the kitchen and the primary floor. Yeah.

[Vivienne]

Oh, so it wasn't a plan to redo the whole thing?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, never. No, because that's what happens. Okay. That's what happens. That's where they get you. Because then once you do that, then you're like, oh, well, now it's a single family. So now, per code, we need to have a full sprinkler system through the house. I'm like, shit. That's right. What does that mean? Well, all the ceilings in the whole house have to come down in order to run a sprinkler. Like. Okay, got it. Which means all the moldings have to come down. Okay, got it. Which means now we have to redo all insulation. Okay, got it. All right, well, I also want to put an elevator in this house. Great. The cost of an elevator is 250,000. Okay, let me budget that.

[Vivienne]

What?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yep. To do an elevator in House is 250, but that's just the elevator. What you don't factor in is the fact that now the whole entire house has to be restructurally supported to handle the elevator. And the entire shaft now has to be fireproofed. So all in the steel. Plus now I have to rip up all the floors. I had to bring in 26 steel beams.

[Vivienne]

Why?

[Ryan Serhant]

For investment value. Oh. If I have a six story house that's 8,000 square feet, I can't resell it if it doesn't have an elevator. And I use the shit out of that elevator. It's all like luggage. Like.

[Vivienne]

Yes, that's really, really fair.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, cleaning products, all that stuff. And so. And for the investment value of it. So that elevator was like a million dollars, you know, all in. And so that house took me the budget. It went from being 1x to 4x and the time went from being one year to get that house done to being four years.

[Vivienne]

So wait, so you bought this home and didn't move in for four years?

[Ryan Serhant]

Bought it in 2018. We moved in fully. Fully, fully in the summer of 2022. Yeah. Yeah. Good luck with your home, Renault. Right. Go watch all the HGTV that you want. Right. Maybe if I was in Lubbock, Texas. Okay. Where I can flip a house in 32 days, it's a little bit different, but in New York City.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's a process. You spend a year in planning and design and permitting.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like going to the department of buildings here is a. It's a process.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. So it was a, it was a process, but it's great now.

[Vivienne]

Okay. We love the new place now.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

So it sounds like you had a very wild renovation experience. Would you say that for most people you would recommend instead of like gut renovating, like going with a designer or just like not getting a cookie cutter but like having a little bit of a template.

[Ryan Serhant]

I listen, my experience was unique. Plus we also filmed it for a TV show and it like. And I think I'm just a lunatic. I, I would say if you have a great deal, then you should renovate your house. Like a classic estate sale is what everyone looks for. It's. It's what they used to look for. The cost of construction post Covid is has really, really gone through the roof. You know, like if you're going to do a normal renovation in New York City right now, it's going to cost you $1,000 a square foot, foot baseline. So you have a 2,000 square foot apartment that's like a two bedroom with a den, it's going to cost you $2 million to renovate. Okay. So. And that is your baseline. That's what you got to budget for. Yeah. New York's expensive. And so, you know, you have to just factor in. Does the math make sense? So it's, you do the renovation budget in your head and then add on your base cost, plus the financing costs, plus the carry over the term of the renovation. Does that all in cost comp out for what the fully finished house is worth on the market today?

[Vivienne]

Like, will someone else pay for those renovations?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Like if you buy something for a million dollars.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And you put a million into it, does that house. And you have $50,000 of expenses.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Could you sell it for two and a quarter and get out and break even? If, if you absolutely can't, then you just have to know you're doing this renovation for yourself. Yeah, Right. If you think it would be a stretch, but it'll be close, then by the time you're fully done, you know, inflation, like, everything is worth more. You know, it's, it's crazy, it's brutal. But I think value add is an amazing thing. Like, I, I complain about it, but I do love coming into my house because it is the perfect house now.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And like, I do enjoy picking finishes and like really making something your own. But it is not for the faint of heart or the weak of wallet.

[Vivienne]

That is a brutal story for a more regular person if they are looking to buy a home. What are just like three hot tips? I think you mentioned one being estate sales. Can you tell us a little bit about that and then anything else you've got? But before we get into that, I want to take a quick second to talk a little about food. And if we're being honest, I am no Gordon Ramsay. I am not a chef at home. I'm not a great cook. But with hellofresh, I get farm fresh, pre portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to my doorstep. And I get to skip trips to the grocery store and count on hellofresh to make home cooking really easy, fun, and affordable. That's why it's America's number one meal kit. Basically, I made a New Year's resolution to save money, eat better, and stress less. And hellofresh is there to help me do just that. You can say hello to the most delicious year yet with fresh ingredients and chef crafted recipes at a price you'll like delivered right to your door. Not only does that help me save time, but it also helps Me save money. These quick, convenient recipes are delivered right to you. You just choose your meals and select your delivery date. And then HelloFresh handles the ME planning and the shopping. So all you have to do is open your weekly box of pre portioned ingredients and step by step recipes to get cooking. I personally am a huge fan of the Korean bibimbap and my fiance prefers a nice burger with a little bit of baked potatoes on the side. But with hellofresh, both of us can get exactly what we want. We just have to alternate who decides what we're eating. I'm also obsessed with the fact that HelloFresh is giving all subscribers free breakfast. And that means you'll enjoy a totally free breakfast item with every single HelloFresh delivery that is totally worth waking up early for. Go to hellofresh.com rich bff free and use code rich bff free for free. Breakfast for life. One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That's free breakfast for [e-mail] Rich BFF free with code Rich BFF free free.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. So estate sales are the term you give to a home that is being sold by the estate of someone who's passed away. So it's the kids, the siblings.

[Vivienne]

So we're getting a home from a dead guy?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, people die all the time. Yeah.

[Vivienne]

Okay, that's fine.

[Ryan Serhant]

And they haven't renovated their houses, right? Yeah, they don't, you know, what do you think? What do you think? They don't blow up the house, right? And then the family is like, I don't want to move in here. Grandpa didn't renovate this house for. It's been the Same way since 1952. What are we gonna do with it? You sell it. And you sell it at a discount because it needs a full gut renovation. That's a gem. You know, people look for that good boat. We work with agent always. There's agents here. All they do is estate sales. You know, there's, there's renovators, there's, you know, leased all of the renovated home. His, like specialty is helping people find estate sales and making them their own. And that's really where you can find those, those good bones. Not dead people bones, but like dead, you know, property bones.

[Vivienne]

Cool.

[Ryan Serhant]

Those also trying to find value add. Like, like it's, you know, if are you finding something that has a low bedroom count, but a large square footage so that maybe the living room is actually way too big. Because remember, people buy per foot or they'll pay per acre, but in Their brain. They're also. They don't shop that way. They shop based on the number of bedrooms they need.

[Vivienne]

Right.

[Ryan Serhant]

So you're also thinking about, okay, what's the price per bedroom? So there's a lot of houses that might be tough to sell because they're 3,000 square feet in two bedrooms because that's the way the current owners use it. Maybe it's beautiful and it's great, Great. But you might be able to chop that up and turn it into five beds. So you go to sell it, you have a 3,000 square foot house across five bedrooms, and you did a finished basement. That's. That's a real value add that someone will pay exponentially more for, because by the time you go to sell it, someone isn't comping to the square footage. They're comping to rooms. What other five bedrooms can I get in this price range? And you might be an amazing deal. So, like, my townhouse, I made sure I had as many bedrooms as I possibly could. And we have eight bedrooms in a townhouse in Brooklyn. So that when I go to sell it, whenever that might be, I want somebody who needs a big bedroom count that is over the dropdown menu. You can't search for eight bedrooms. Right, Right. You can search for five plus.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So I like. I mean, I'm deep in that.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

Oh, that's so smart. Are there any other, like, secret hacks we need to know about?

[Ryan Serhant]

What? Increase bedroom counts. You want to make sure that you're buying state sales.

[Vivienne]

Increasing the bedroom count if you're going to do anything.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yep. You always want to focus on light and air. Light.

[Vivienne]

Wait, explain.

[Ryan Serhant]

Lightning and air. So if you're buying an apartment, just because it's a good deal doesn't mean you should still buy the apartment facing a wall. Right. It's a good deal for a reason. Sometimes things are cheap for a reason.

[Vivienne]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

So don't get too excited about a great deal. It's like the same thing with anything. Like, yeah, you can go get that knockoff phone, but it's the pair. It's cheap for a reason.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sometimes it's okay. Just like with rent, it's okay to pay a little bit more to get something of, like, real quality. I would also say to look on the fringe of locations. Like, you know, you go to Tribeca in New York City now, there's like a penthouse that's selling today for $50 million. Yeah, but 20 years ago, that wasn't the case. 40 years ago, you wouldn't even Go to Tribeca.

[Vivienne]

It was dicey.

[Ryan Serhant]

Always. So what neighborhood are you looking in? Where. I know you want to be on that block, but maybe you could be on the fringe of the block. Block. Maybe you can be on the other side of town. Because eventually gentrification always comes into play. The real estate market will always expand. Always. And so where can you be where you can ride that wave? I. I've done that with every purchase I've ever made, and it works out every single time.

[Vivienne]

That is great advice, especially. And I feel good about myself because we bought on the fringe.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Vivienne]

Of a neighborhood that we're hoping will just become soho.

[Ryan Serhant]

Would you buy?

[Vivienne]

No, I. Nolita. That. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Well, Nolita. You're fine. Nolita's awesome.

[Vivienne]

In fairness, I feel like we're a little souther of Nolita.

[Ryan Serhant]

So you're like Chinatown Nolita.

[Vivienne]

We're like a little Italy.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Okay.

[Vivienne]

No, yeah, yeah. Like, not Nolita.

[Ryan Serhant]

Okay. We're actually not even in New York.

[Vivienne]

Actually.

[Ryan Serhant]

I can see Nolita from.

[Vivienne]

Actually, we're in Jersey City.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, exactly.

[Vivienne]

But I do want to take a quick pivot it to stop talking about houses and actually talk about Sirhan. Not your last name, but the company you've built. I mean, it is. I wouldn't say it's particularly difficult to become a real estate broker. Right. Like, so many people do it. You have to pass some licensing exams. You get a couple reps under your belt. You can park your license at somebody else's shop.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sure.

[Vivienne]

I can't think of anybody else who's actually started their own firm yet.

[Ryan Serhant]

Not recently. Yeah, no, they have in the past. You know, like, Barbara Corcoran started Corcoran. Corcoran, like, a long time ago.

[Vivienne]

Yeah. Like Douglas and Elliman.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah. They're not here anymore.

[Vivienne]

Yeah, that was a. That was a minute ago. But, like, how was that?

[Ryan Serhant]

This is my version of doing what you're. Listen what you're doing. Right. You started with one video.

[Vivienne]

One video.

[Ryan Serhant]

And then you wrote that for a little while. And then you're like, you know what? I feel comfortable enough. I'm going to leave my job and I'm going to go do this now for a long time. So for me, like, I started with one rental that then turned into one sale that then turned into one building that then turned into a TV show that then turned into one, two, three spin off shows that then turned into one, two,. This is book number three. And I brand it, like, certainly started book one. I've always been somebody who's wanted more and wanted to, like, push the boundaries of what's possible and. And take swings like we talked about earlier. Like, let's take a swing. All right. I. I built a sales team of 65 people, right? We did a billion and a half in sales a year. So. Great. What next? Yeah, let's go start our own thing. Let's try to shake up an industry. Let' be disruptive for good. Let's. Let's do things the way I want to do them, and let's build real enterprise value and real equity. If I. If it works, it'll be great. If it doesn't work, I'm. But I'll figure it out.

[Vivienne]

Did you actually think that, or were you like, oh, I can always just go back somewhere else.

[Ryan Serhant]

I mean, I can, but it comes down to that. Like, when you're public, you know, when.

[Vivienne]

Things are good a little bit.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Like, I. There's. Listen, you know, Adrian and I talked about it a long time ago. Like. Like, the only way to really take a swing at something is to cut the net. Right? Burn your boats. That's it. You got no parachute. You gotta swim.

[Vivienne]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I wouldn't jump out of the plane with no parachute. But, like, you know, I understand that, you know, we. We have to swim. You're gonna figure it out. We're gonna have good markets, we're bad markets. We have good years, we're bad years. But as long as we stay true to the mission and just keep building. I mean, this is a real estate company built through content, you know, we are a content to commerce real estate firm. I mean, it's. It's, you know, crazy.

[Vivienne]

I love that. Okay, we're moving into the lightning round. These are all fun, spicy questions. Don't think too hard, but just give me your best answer.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sure.

[Vivienne]

Okay. What is the biggest commission check you ever made?

[Ryan Serhant]

Single commission check from a single.

[Vivienne]

Just one.

[Ryan Serhant]

Because we sell entire buildings and then they get. That doesn't count.

[Vivienne]

Just one.

[Ryan Serhant]

$3 million. Wow.

[Vivienne]

Oh, my God. How much of that did you get to keep?

[Ryan Serhant]

I own the company. It's $3 million.

[Vivienne]

Oh, sick. Okay, so you did that. That relatively recently?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, I sold a. I sold a house for $134 million.

[Vivienne]

Wow. That's some, like, fu money. That's impressive. That's like, crazy.

[Ryan Serhant]

Do you know what my overhead is? It is not that fu. Yeah, you're like, I need all the sales possible. Okay. I take that, and I'm like, thank you so much for investing in my business. Goodbye. I'm going to sell the next one right now.

[Vivienne]

If you weren't a real estate agent, what would you do for a living? Don't say hand model. Don't say hand model.

[Ryan Serhant]

Make TikTok videos with you. I'd be your Wall street street boy. Boy, exactly. That's what I would do.

[Vivienne]

Where would you live if not New York City?

[Ryan Serhant]

My wife loves London, so we would probably live in London.

[Vivienne]

Okay, love that. What are you most proud of? Your biggest success?

[Ryan Serhant]

My daughter's awesome, so I am most proud of Xena. She's four. She's hilarious, she's super smart. And so I have a big part in her life. She's half me and I guess also. So I would. I would. I don't want to say the company. I would say the people.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

At the company. Like, really?

[Vivienne]

Honestly, you guys, the producers are currently in the room, like, laughing.

[Ryan Serhant]

No. Oh, no, not the producers. What I would say is the, like, the agents that are here, like, we've been a company now for like three years in one day. And there are people that took a big risk on me year one. Like junior agents, people that came over who are like, did you. Are you starting your own company? In a pandemic? Really? Okay if I join you? You screwed this up. Like, this could really suck for all of us. I'm like, yeah, you want to do it? Let's do it. And now those agents are, you know, multimillion dollar producers with huge teams. They're selling through content, doing virtual deals in Africa. Like, they've. They've really taken the resources that I created in my brain and turned them into real business that has completely changed their lives and their lifestyles and. And you know, I see that and it's just, just, I don't know, it makes me really, really proud and really, really cool to see.

[Vivienne]

Cool. What would you say to Xena if she got a little bit older and she said she wanted to get into real estate?

[Ryan Serhant]

I would say, let's go. Yeah, let's. Let's go. Why not? Yeah, Whatever she wants to do, if she really, really wants to do it, you know, she can. Although I feel like she's gonna be one of those kids who like, comes to dad's work and then by the time she's ready to get a job, she's gonna be sick of it.

[Vivienne]

She's gonna be like, I don't want to do this.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, she's gonna be like, dude, I don't want to work seven days a week. Week. You're Stuck. Your phone has a strap on it so you never have to let go of it. I don't want to do that, dad. You know, like, I. I am a product of my environment and I don't think Xena is really going to want to do that. But we'll see if she wants to do it. I think she could crush it.

[Vivienne]

She might turn out like 50 of people under the age of 18 right now and their number one job is YouTuber.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, listen, she could be, I don't know, you know, I named her Xena.

[Vivienne]

Yeah, maybe she could like a warrior.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, but like, you know, what's Zendaya's last name?

[Vivienne]

Right?

[Ryan Serhant]

That's right. I'm assuming it exists. Yeah, right, right. Xena will just go by Xena.

[Vivienne]

Okay, cool. I like that. And very last question. What is the most important personal branding lesson that you want everybody at home to know?

[Ryan Serhant]

Consistency. You know, we. If I think about personal branding, I think about like really three pillars. Okay. And it's funny you bring that up because I just wrote a book on it.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

It comes out February 6th. So you should go to brandatlikesurihant dot. I think about really developing a core identity that's authentic to you.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

All the warts and all the negativity and everything. Right. What is core to you? Because your core identity, if you believe it to your core, you step out into the world and you use your voice, use your face, you make content, you go to events, you go to dinners. That now is the world's perception of you. And then you go home. Now that perception the world has of you becomes your reputation. Right. People talk about you behind your back. And they do that over and over and over and over and over again. And then when people talk about you without using your name name, that is then your brand. Right. She's that super high energy girl that was on Wall street that then got into content. And I know her through tick tock. Okay. Now that's like your brand being spoken about through other people. Yeah, I totally. I'll buy her book, right? Rich af. I'll buy that because I love seeing her. That's your brand at work. So what is that? Core identity and really, really owning it. So, like part of my core identity was, okay, I'm young and I have a full head of gray hair. I will own that.

[Vivienne]

Ryan really won't let that go on this episode.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, it's not this episode. It's just like you talk about brands, so, you know, how do people know you? Yeah, right. What? What is it? Adrian wears a stupid hat all the time. Oh, just kidding. It's not stupid.

[Vivienne]

This entire afternoon has just been fully Adrian.

[Ryan Serhant]

I do it out of love. Honestly, if I didn't care about him, I wouldn't talk about it. There's plenty of people here I don't give a shit about. I don't talk about them. I don't make fun of them at all.

[Vivienne]

Brutal.

[Ryan Serhant]

Just kidding. Just kidding. So what is that Core identity? Really, really owning it, then creating consistent content. And it doesn't have to be on camera. Like what you do and what I do. Right. Maybe your thing is thought leadership. Maybe it's LinkedIn. Maybe it's AI generated blog posts that you build into a personal website that you then run SEO against to drive people to your website because you think people are coming to you to find places for brunch, but then you're selling them crochet kits, whatever your thing might be. But staying really consistent and not paying attention to views. Right? Staying consistent, consistent, consistent. You know, like we. A friend of mine is Mark Manson. He wrote a book called the Subtle Art of Not Giving a. I sold his penthouse for a lot of money in Tribeca. That guy sells a lot of books and he made blog posts forever. You just write everything. And then one day he wrote a blog post called the Subtle Art of Not Giving a. And it took off and he was like, found it, figured it out.

[Vivienne]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Book life changed. And then third pillar is shout it from a mountaintop. Meaning really amplify all successes. So if you have a video that goes, goes buyer, you amplify that, you. You latch onto it. What was that topic? It was GameStop. 40 videos a day. Right. You latch onto it, it's working. So don't reinvent the wheel tomorrow. Latch onto what's working until it stops working. Yeah, right. Hire a publicist as one of your first employees that you're going to use. Get out there, get in local newspapers, be that thought leader that when people think of that thing you want to be thought of, they're also associating you. Right. That's associated marketing. Do collaborations. Hello.

[Vivienne]

Yeah, hello.

[Ryan Serhant]

Get out there and be seen. And that's what I want people to think about when they think about building a personal brand. There's a lot more that we go into in the book and everything else that we do. But I think anybody can build a brand today and anybody can sell anything if you put your mind to it.

[Vivienne]

I love that so much. And obviously we have brand it like Sir Hand coming out. What day?

[Ryan Serhant]

February 6th.

[Vivienne]

February 6th. You can get this anywhere books are sold. You can get [e-mail] Amazon just go get it. Yeah, just go get it.

[Ryan Serhant]

Pre order it. Go.

[Vivienne]

But Ryan, tell us where everybody else can find you. Otherwise, aside from the book, at Ryan Sirhant.

[Ryan Serhant]

At all places. At all places. And if you want to buy, sell or rent a home, go to sirhant.com.

[Vivienne]

Had to plug that. I love it. Thank you so much for being here.

[Ryan Serhant]

Thank you.

[Vivienne]

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill. If you like this episode, make sure to leave a rating and a review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a financial question you want answered? In the future, you can leave me a voicemail or text me at 908-858-3410. Make sure to follow me at YourRichBFF across social media for even more relatable financial content. Special thanks to my team at AudioBoom as well as Range Media and WME. See you next week. Bye.