KGCI: Real Estate on Air - PHH with Nabeel Gilani.

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Well, welcome everyone to the power half hour every single Wednesday. We interview a top agent in North America. And today we have no other than Mr. Nabil Galani. Hello, sir. Thank you for coming to our show. Thank you, John. Thank you so much for having me. Hello, everyone.

Hope everyone's having a good day so far. Thank you, thank you. And Nabil just came back from World Cup. Total bucket listing. First of all, I guess what was a good day? that like what was that experience like oh um yeah definitely incredible experience um you know for me i uh i grew up playing uh playing soccer since i was like you know a kid like i probably would say i i learned how to dribble before walking um so for me it's yeah for me it's just been amazing to actually go

and you know watch a sport that i love and and uh truly an experience of a lifetime That is amazing. And guys, you know, Nabil is a very busy realtor. And he found time to pursue his bucket list, his passion. And, you know, you can too. We work, right, to live our life. We don't live to work. So congratulations on making that happen for yourself.

So, yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself, Nabil. How did you get started in real estate? So, yeah, I mean, I still consider myself a pretty young guy. but I feel like I got into the industry pretty early. So I got licensed right at high school, 19 years old. I struggle to find a career that I enjoyed. And so at that point, real estate for me, there was a couple different factors that grasp me to the industry.

And I think the first one is I love people. I find that I can connect with people from all various different backgrounds. The second thing was just having the freedom of, you know, your own, your own job, your own lifestyle. The sky is the limit, you know, if you want to go and make a few line box a year, you can, as we all know. And if you want to just also kind of have a really good balanced life as well, you can do that.

So there's a lot of things that stood out to me. And so I just went and got licensed and I jumped right into it. That's awesome, man. So how many years now in real estate? It's been seven years now. Seven years, man. So you're still a really, really young guy at 26 years old, a ton of experience now in real estate here. And when you started, you know, because I hear this all the time because a lot of younger agents are joining the real estate business these days.

I don't have any people who want to buy or sell. What do you say to that? You know what? You got to go and find those people. They're just not going to call you. They're not going to trust you. I had family and friends who I had spoken to before I got in my license and they're like, you know, don't worry when to get your license.

I'll buy, I'll buy from you. And I got my license and, you know, and they just didn't trust me. And so you're going to get that. It's almost as if I always tell people, people want to work with you when you're too busy for them. If that makes sense, it's kind of weird. But that's kind of, it's kind of the mentality when I got into the industry. It's like you almost have to go find. other clients and then those people are going to realize that hey nebile's too busy for me now you know

he doesn't need my business and now i kind of want to work with him right um it's weird how it works but yeah it's crazy yeah so i found i found that i yeah so sorry go ahead there's a bit of a leg oh no problem yeah no i i found that uh it's a very interesting dynamic but that's just the reality of the of the situation right and you can't you can't let that bother you or get to you just have to kind of you know as you know you just kind of got to learn from it and and keep moving forward right absolutely and you know as a young agent I think that is the mentality and that is what we experience even when I started I started at 26 how old you are right now and I still was getting those types of thoughts from my family and friends right they didn't

trust me because I was a young kid. So I really had to prove myself, so to speak. And one of my mentors, Daryl Rutherford, he said, if you need it, you can't have it. And when you don't need it, you can have all that you want. And I think that applies to what we're talking about right now. So if you didn't get business from your family and friends, where did you get your business from? Good question, John.

So for me, I found the number one thing that helped me was open houses. So every Saturday and Sunday, I would just feed off a couple agents. I started off at Remax. I did join a mentor. I highly recommend any new agents getting into the business. Just learn from a mentor, like don't, even if you're not going to get paid anything, just because the money is, you know, the experience you're going to get is invaluable. For me, the experience I got was like getting a paycheck.

you know, so, so I did open houses every Saturday and Sunday and then it was only a matter of time that I, you know, a client walked in. They were looking for something and boom. And, you know, that, that client fast forward is actually still a client today, seven years later. It's crazy how that works, right? So I've actually done like maybe five or six transactions of them so far. So, So that's kind of what I did. I just did open houses. And that's how I got my business going. That's, it sounds so simple.

And agents these days ask me, where are you getting your business? Where who should I call? I'm like, do open houses. I'm like, yeah, really. Go do all the open houses you can. If you don't have listings, you know, call someone in your brokerage who has listings and just do them. Yeah. Just do them.

you know, that client today is still a client, right? And you just put it into work and you didn't beg your family and friends. They wouldn't give you business anyways, guys. It's as simple as that, going out there and putting in the work. So how long did it take from when you got started at 19 years old, how long did it take for you to get your first transaction as a 19 year old? So it took me for my first, I think it was my first eight months. I didn't do a deal.

It kind of sucked because I almost at that point, like I was already in a deficit in my business. You know, with all the fees you have, I was, you know, I was, yeah, I was already losing money. So I'm like, okay, gosh, I got to get a, at that point, I'm like, I need to get a deal done. So I got, you know, I got lucky, but I also, you know, just worked out.

So I met that client and I did a deal after eight months. And then my second year, I managed to do another about two or three deals. So it wasn't much, but it kept me going. So at that point, like, I had reached three years in the business and I was still just breaking even, you know, if you were looking at the numbers. And then my fourth year was when it, you know, finally started to kind of become a real profitable business. But really, the first three years was just like, you know, it was just, it was just a lot of learning. and it didn't really feel like a prop, like I didn't feel like a realtor if that makes sense.

Yeah. You know, it's kind of. A lot of days I feel like I'm not a realtor, you know? When you're not taking listings or you're like, oh, wait a minute, nothing's going on. You don't feel like a realtor. You're like, well, what am I doing here? Exactly. But geez, Nabil, kudos to you because eight months without deals, most people would have quit.

Yeah. Right? And then even in second year, you did two to three and then it was just a little bit, little bit, little bit, guys, it took four years for Nabil to be profitable as a realtor. Four years. The main question I have right now is why didn't you quit? Well, that's a good question, John. Because to be honest, it did occur. I'm not getting at you every day in my mind. I'm like, you know what? Like, is this a right care of for me? Am I doing things right? I had a lot of, you know, we all had to. You know, we all had to. struggle, right? So for me, I've always been a key attribute that I've always lived by as patience. You know, you've got to be patient and whatever you do. Like, you can't, as much as I want to be, you know, a million dollar agent one day in my career, that's, that's the goal. I just know it's not going to come overnight. You know, it's, if it came to me overnight, it's just, it's not worth it. And it's to, you know, everyone would be a million dollar agent, right? So for me, I've just

always had that patient mentality where you know you got to you got to be patient you got to put in the work and you got to fall in love with the uh the journey right so that's why i didn't quit i always told myself that i've you know you got to keep going right hey guys if you're going through a tough time right now tell yourself you have to keep going and you got to love the journey it isn't really about the money or the results if you don't enjoy the journey the money won't come if you don't enjoy the journey. Exactly. Four years, guys, to become profitable as a realtor.

Can you imagine what was going on in Nabil's head? Man, kudos to you for not quitting. And guys, patience. Patience in a Latin root word is patente. This is what my other mentors taught me is suffering. So Nabil suffered for four years, guys. How long have you suffered before you'll quit? Nabil never quit.

still here today, right? So big congratulations. I didn't know about your story. That's absolutely inspiring. And I think really, really inspiring to a lot of young agents today. Because we're in that market right now. If you just got in, it's not easy. It's not like the dream market of 2020, 2021. So as a younger agent, what advice do you have for people just like yourself, 19, 20, 21? And they're going through that grind right now, not making any money, what advice do you have for those agents? It's a good question. I think the advice that I have is, is you got to, you know, if the deals are not going to come right away, you need to enable yourself to learn and grow because at the end of the day, you are your, you know, you are your business. So you have to, you got to learn every day and

you need to grow and be better every day. So whether it's sitting down in front of the laptop, I kid you not and just learning the market, you know, what's selling in what areas, just product knowledge, understanding the markets, you know,

from not just a local standpoint, but from even worldwide, like just to know what's going on. And so, and you're going to thank yourself because you'll have a conversation in the future with a client, and you're just going to wow them, or you'll be at an open house,

and you'll be able to speak with confidence. And I think that will help you get those clients. And it will help you, it'll just help you be confident, right? Like once you get to that point of when you kind of, you know, you kind of know everything and you're confident, that's going to help you grow. So my advice is just to keep learning. Don't stop learning. As soon as you stop learning, that's when you're going to, you're just doing yourself a disadvantage.

Yeah, absolutely. You guys, you got to keep learning, especially the younger age. Obviously don't read the news too much, but you need to know what's going on in the world to be able to advise your clients whether or not this is a good time to buy or sell. What are the market stats like? Really know your product. You really know what the market is doing. What's selling?

What's not selling? Right? So when you're at the open house, because you're doing an open house anyway, Saturday, Sunday, two open houses a day, you need to have those educated conversations. And that's when you get an opportunity to earn a client. So that's what Nabil did as a younger agent. And that's how he's successful today. Patience, right?

Keep learning and keep grinding. Four years. I want to reiterate again, four years become profitable. Right. Nabil, so when did you get into, this is switching gears now, when did you get into luxury real estate for yourself? So I switched brokerages and I found myself into luxury. segment. I now have a business partner and a colleague who I'm sure you've also heard of. So she's

very into the luxury game. And so this was a change in my career. I got this opportunity to, you know, leave my mentor at that time and join this team. And this is another thing that I want to reiterate is, you know, you've got to, if you want to grow, you've got to also change, right? Like, what you know, you can't, as soon as you find yourself making a change and you're scared, if you have fear of making that change, that's the right choice for you. You know, you got to do it. So I was,

I was scared. Like, I felt like I was jumping into the end of a swimming pool, you know, and I was like drowning. Yeah. But I did it. And so I found myself joining like a team that,

you know, what we went from doing maybe, I don't know, 10 to 20 deals to now doing like almost like at that point, like maybe 75 to 100 deals. So it was a big change, a lot more fast pace. different product luxury.

I was starting to learn about the luxury game now. So that's kind of what happened. But it was awesome. I learned so much every day. And then I got to a point where I was very confident and also just doing these deals by myself. So I joined that luxury team. And then we had worked together for about a few years,

like maybe three years doing mostly luxury. out in the West, North Shore, West Vancouver. North Shore. Yeah. Yeah, North Shore. So North Vancouver and West Vancouver. Yeah. So as a younger agent, you know, four years in the business, then you jumped into luxury.

So if you want to learn about luxury, join a luxury team. It's okay. Right. And learn from there. What I'm getting from you is always had a mentor. Even when you had a mentor, it doesn't mean that everything is fine and dandy. All is like, all is well and easy. that doesn't not mean that.

It means that you still need to put in the grind. You still need to be patient all at the same time having someone guiding you. Right. So years and years of now, three years of luxury, as we all know now that you switch to EXP, I get a lot of questions about this. Luxury does not exist at EXP. What do you say to that? I've heard it too.

And my perception on this is, you know, and I'll be really honest, John, I don't know if I'm a lot to be this honest. But nowadays, it all comes down to you. So if you want to call yourself a luxury agent, you're a luxury agent. I mean, if you feel like you have the knowledge and the mindset and the, you know, the marketing background and whatever it takes to sell luxury, then you can do it. So it doesn't matter what brokerage you're with. Like people might say, hey, XB is not luxury, but that doesn't mean that you can't sell luxury.

So what? Right. So that's kind of what I've practiced and what I've gone by. So, you know, and I understand luxury is a different game. But to be honest with you guys, it's really not. It's the same. Whether you're selling a $300,000 or a condo or a $20 million dollar waterfront house, it's the same. It's still a transaction.

You know, there's still going to be emotions running. There's, you know, I understand it might take a little bit more extra care in detail for the, for the mansion. But at the end of the day, it's all the same. I love how you're so matter of fact and so stoic about everything. It's actually very inspiring. And it's no problem, guys. It's just luxury. It's the same.

You know, it is from, let's say, 300,000 to 3 million to like 30 million. It is a little different, but Nabil just got himself involved with the team to learn. and then once he stepped into that luxury agent identity, then he was like, you know what, I am a luxury agent. It doesn't matter what company. But I want to ask you this. How do you become worthy for a luxury listing? So this will kind of go opposite of what I said before, John.

So it is the same, but I will be honest. It's luxury is not for everyone. Okay. So, you know, you have to make a disdainting. decision. Thank you. Yeah. You got to make a decision whether or not you want to be a luxury agent.

And I think it does, it takes a lot of effort and going that extra mile. So, you know, for some of our luxury properties, you know, your photo shoots, your video shoots, you might like, you know, till two, three in the morning, countless nights at the property doing the shoots, you know, even to a point where when you have certain clientele, you're checking up on their property on a daily weekly basis. You know, so really having to manage your client's property, you know, going there to shut down every day. Like, you know, some showings could take maybe three or four or five hours for one showing, you know, turning on all the lights, the house. Like, you know, so that might not be for everyone, right?

Like you might not want to spend three or four hours doing a showing. And guess what? After the showing, they'll call you and say, I'm sorry, my client, you know, clients aren't into the house. So it's like, oh, I don't get my four or five hours back. But so that's that's the thing. Luxury isn't for everyone, you know. I really appreciate you being honest about that. And the work and the time that you put in.

And it's, I believe that no effort is wasted. No time is wasted in real estate. Everything that we do is going towards one word, an experience. You are now more experienced than you were. that time is not wasted, right? So, you know, with that being said, do you feel like it is a lot harder to sell luxury real estate? A lot harder.

I don't think so now because, like you said, I've got the experience now. And from every showing, every listing appointment, you know, whether it's gone successful or not, I've still taken that experience into my next, you know, into my next appointment or next showing. So everything, you learn from everything and that makes you a better agent. It just makes you more experienced, you know, if you've gone into a listing appointment and you, you know, it didn't necessarily go well.

You kind of know how to adapt and how to change things. So it's always about using your past experiences to just keep getting better. Wow. Keep getting better. Keep learning through those experiences. The five hours that you were there were not wasted. You learned, which you can take to the next client and the next client and the next client. What I'm hearing right now is it's just, it takes a lot more time. It takes a little bit more effort, right? It's just, again, a lot of patience with luxury real estate. And this is a matter of fact, but you have to choose, first choose to become a luxury agent. right and and and he said this very honest is that it's not for everyone it's not for everyone but if you decide to you can do it just like anything else if you decide to then anything is possible right yeah so nobiel with the interest rates going up today 50 basis points all that what are your thoughts on that how will that affect the market do you think here in greater vancouver um you know what i think

I think it was bound to happen. And, you know, I always tell a lot of my clients that at the end of the day, like, you know, it's healthy for markets. I mean, we can't, we've always had good years in our real estate market in Vancouver. But it's sustainable for the market for this to happen. And so I think, you know, we will see, as we've continued to see, we'll always see buyers a bit skeptical, you know, obviously tightening the margins, buyers will always be skeptical on buying. And you'll always see a lot of buyers waiting for that right time to time the market, but we all know that that's not realistic.

So I think, you know, what I've always said is, in my opinion, I still think Vancouver is one of the best places to live in the world. We still have a supply and demand issue, land of scarce, you know, inventory. So I think that we'll still, it will be a little. little bit soft for the next couple months, but just with where we're going into the future, I think that we will rebound. I don't see crazy 30% increases anymore like we did in the past, but I still think we'll, you know, Vancouver will still always continue to grow a little bit. So that's kind of my perception. And it's going to be interesting to see. I know there's no

subject free offers right now anymore. I've read that the other day, right? There's going to be like a three-day rescission period. So that's going to be interesting. You know, lots of different factors from when I started to now. It's crazy how much has changed. Yeah, foreign buyer ban in time come January, rescission period. All these changes that the government's trying to implement to kind of simmer the market. And I think it has worked.

Even with the news of it, it has simmered down the market. But what we know for sure is that 2023, we have 450. 50,000 people moving into BC, 24, 465,000, and 2025, another 500,000 people moving into BC, and we have lack of inventory and land is scarce, just like you said. So I think the future is bright, a little bit off topic, but coming back to you, Nabil, what do you think your five-year vision looks like? What would you like to do? That's a good question.

for me I think I'm I'm content. I'm not happy, but I'm content with what I've achieved so far. I've always been someone that's been very hard on myself in terms of getting to where I want to get. But I think that's a good quality to have. You know, you can never be. I mean, you can be,

but you also need to keep growing and getting better every day. But I'm content with what I've achieved so far, but I think for me the next five years are going to be really important. So for me, it's about how, it's about getting to that next level. And I feel like I haven't attained my freedom yet. So even though I did go to the World Cup, I still found that I haven't reached that point of freedom. So for me, I, I want to keep the team going. I'm part of a team now.

I have a few agents. So keep the team going. And if I could, this is bold, but we want to, I want to quadruple business in five years. So if we could keep doubling and then maybe go like a quadruple. get a quadruple in five years, I think that would be the goal. So right now, at least to get about a half a million in sales by, you know, by five years would be the goal. But I love it, man.

That's absolutely inspiring. Again, it's so matter of fact, I like to quadruple. You know, people when they say quadruple, they're like, quadruple my business. You're never too high, never too low, very stoic. I love that about you. And what you said was really, really good. And Abil, you're content. but I'm not happy, right?

You're content, you're ambitious. You're hungry to grow, but you're content with what you have now. I think that's the greatest quality that real estate agents should have is gratitude for what you already have. So you have that. I guess another question for you is, and how do you keep your emotions so in between the lines and so stoic all the time? It doesn't seem like you get too emotional.

Yeah, I think, I mean, it's just for me, I think there's a couple things that have always kept me like that. And it's just, it's kind of where my roots are where I've come from. I've always been, I've always tried to be a person of integrity, just be humble. And, you know, like there's so much happening around the world, which, you know, we all know of. And so the fact that I, you know, I live in Vancouver and I get to do what I love and it's all real estate, I can't, I can't ask for much more. You know, so it's just that.

And, yeah, just being. passionate about what I do. So just thoroughly happy that I found a career that I love and I enjoy and it can give me what I want. So that's that's just where to what it comes from. Doesn't need to be as hard as people claim it to be. You know what I mean? It's like it's simple if you if you really think about it. It really is. Real estate is simple. We always say but it's not easy. And you know what you're so grateful for what you have as a profession here in real estate the opportunity that it provides us I think gratitude is huge and you just keep going you don't stop and you keep learning and you keep your head down and being a man of integrity I think that's really

really good quality as well for for real estate agents so man I'm just blown away and inspired by who you are nobile thank you so much for being here today one last piece of of wisdom for us to take into 2023, what would it be? I'm going to go into the integrity part. For any new agents, you know, that, that are listening and, you know, you might have, and I will tell you, we've all had clients, you'll have a client who wants to buy specific piece of property or, you know, whatever it may be, but genuinely inside, you might not feel it's right for them.

And you know you can get a deal done. You know you can get your paycheck, you know, but don't do it. Just wait. And I guarantee you a better deal will come around and they're going to be happier. So it's just a matter of putting your clients first, putting your clients first. That's the, that's the 2020. Putting your clients first. Yeah.

Putting your clients first. And from the great Russell Peters, be a man, do the right thing. Do the right thing. Do the right thing, guys. Nabil, how do we reach out to you? How do we join your team? I mean, I'm pretty, what's it called? Active on Instagram.

So Nabil Glani is my Instagram. If you could just, you know, shoot me a follow and reach out. I'm always happy to help. And yeah. Guys, follow Nabil for his journey. And if you want to buy or sell with him in the North Shore, he's your guy. Guys, what a phenomenal guy. Thank you for being here today, Nabil,

for your contribution and we'll look forward to seeing you in 2023 all the best to you thank you thanks so much john keep keep uh keep becoming i mean sorry keep continuing to be a beast as you always are thank you okay thanks john all the best man take care guys have a good day thank you too bye bye