The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Ryan Serhant Talks Real Estate & Owning Manhattan Series With Tricia Lee & Jeffrey St. Arromand

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

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Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help! That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast

Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Lauren Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app,

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We have Ryan Serhan, Trisha Lee, and Jeffrey St. Armand. Welcome. Did I say your last name right? You did. You said it right. All right. Just making sure. Welcome.

How's it going, everybody? Good. We're good. Great, man. Thanks. Start with you, Ryan. So if you don't know Ryan Serhan, of course, for Million Dollar Listing,

you are a huge real estate agent across the country. What made you leave? You look like you used to lead a boy band. I tried, man. It didn't work. I did a soap opera when I first moved to New York City. That's why I first moved to New York in 2006. They killed me off. My grandmother killed me, actually, and then I ran out of money

and that's why I got into real estate back in 2008. Smart man. So you left Million Dollar Listing. Why? What happened with Million Dollar Listing? We did it for 10 years. We were nominated for two Emmys. I built my whole career off the back of that TV show and it was a total accident. I went to an open casting call with 3,000 real estate agents in 2010. That's how that show happened. Really? But yeah, then in 2020, I started my own company and Bravo said, listen, million dollar listing is a format, right? It follows three agents as you do deals. That's what people expect. It doesn't follow two agents doing deals and then one guy running his own company. So what do you want to do? And I said, maybe this is time to move on to

the next chapter. So then I immediately called Netflix and I said, hey, listen, I have an idea. Start my own company. I just took down this building in Soho. I'm gonna wrap my name in it. I've got a lot of crazy, crazy agents that are gonna start working for me. Like the people- Say crazy one more time.

That's just so heavy. Say crazy one more time. Say crazy one more time. And they said, listen, make a presentation, send it over to us. We did and we started shooting that show in 2022 and here we are two years later. Now you guys make being a real estate agent look easy, right? But it's not that easy. It's not easy. It's not easy. So how did you guys get your start? Not Ryan, you get your

start in Tricia and Jeffrey in real estate. Yeah, well, we're both from different careers. Jeff is a producer, Emmy Award winning producer. Multiple Emmy Awards, just to be clear. He carried them around with him everywhere. Talk that talk. Let's make it clear. They're everywhere, trust. And I ran businesses in Brooklyn. So we were both transitioning at the same time when we met.

We both thought that real estate was the next thing. We were coming out of a recession. It just made natural sense to us. And we met in real estate. And Ryan reached out maybe five years into my career and was like, we should meet, you know, this is this is something we should do. I didn't even realize he had started a new firm. And then I started studying that and we met. And next thing I know, I'm in front of a casting crew

and they're following us around. And I do think you're going to see real real estate here because I don't know how to like sugarcoat anything for you. Our job is hard and we work our asses off. So you will see that there's no way to make that look different. No, I was just saying, and Trisha's being super modest. She had multiple polish bars is the name of the brand. It was a big brand in Brooklyn. She had a huge following. So it was

just the perfect synergy of the entrepreneur spirit that she has and me with the television and the marketing background. So it was a good mix. And then going through everything to get to Serhant. We ultimately came to Serhant, and it was just like a good fit with having studios there, what Ryan provides there. It really makes our stuff different. And to Trisha's point about the show, the show is as real as it gets.

And we could speak to it not being easy, because it wasn't easy for us. It's like, how old are we, like seven, eight years in? It took a while to get to this point. It wasn't like overnight, all of a sudden we're selling multiple million, five, $10 million property. Yeah, you start. My first house was a $100,000 sale. It took six months for it to happen.

How long ago was that? That was eight years ago. Wow. I worked on that longer and harder than any other deal. Exactly. I made no money. People don't understand. So my daughter recently graduated from NYU,

and she jumped into the real estate game. It's like having another wife that doesn't leave, right? It's just because she doesn't get paid unless she sells something. Exactly. And if it takes two months, it's two months of not getting paid, of paying for cars, paying for gas, showing people properties. It's a lot. Envy can take two years sometimes. Yeah, it takes a lot of work.

But I feel bad for her. But the good thing about it is she loves it, so she wants to do it. So how long did it take for you to sell your first property? I didn't do any business for six months, and I worked every single day while running my beauty business at the same time. So I had a 7 a.m. to 11 o'clock schedule for six months, and I didn't make a dollar.

Jeff? I would say somewhere around the same time. The big difference is that I'm like a year ahead. I'm going to have two years. So as she was going through that, I was like, listen, it'll come together. Just keep doing what you're doing. I was like, I hate it here. Yeah, she's like, I'm not getting any results.

Something's happening. I was like, listen, you're going to do a lot better than people who are in the business right now. Just keep head down. Keep going. And that's the same thing I tell your daughter. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be challenges. But just if you're in it and you really learn the business, and that's what's really key,

learn the business and know it. Because this isn't like, again, this isn't fake. We know the business. Yeah. They try to make it look like what he does on TV is the job. And it's like, that's just a portion of what's actually happening. If you sit down with him and have a business conversation, he's going to blow you away far more than anything he does on television.

Did you watch any of Ryan's shows before y'all started? No, not until Holiday Season. What? You've never watched any of the other shows? I did watch the first season. And then I didn't think it was fair to because I was getting to know the real person and then I was like,

well, let me just judge that, not what I see on TV. Yeah, maybe good. Maybe don't watch it. But he's pretty intense on and off TV. So I don't know. He's not pretty. He's extremely intense on TV and off TV. Like, it's always let's go, let's go, let's go. Yeah, but the new show is different.

Like, I made $9,000 my first year. You know, $9,100 trying to do real estate in New York City. It's hard. Yeah, but you're already filthy rich, though. No, no way. Oh, you mean back in the day. It's back in the day. Oh, back in the day.

Back in the day. Back in the day. Like, when I first, yeah, I i first yeah i mean 2000 i mean it was just it was brutal like that's 85 percent of the people that get into real estate in new york quit within nine months it's just too hard man and is that living here is way too expensive and so one thing we really tried to push forward on this show on owning manhattan it was a deal that we made with netflix was like what is reality tv 3.0 like what's the evolution of tv shows how do you get people to look up from their phone? You know, everyone's got attention deficit. Everyone's got TikTok brain, right?

Everyone's looking. So how do you get people to pay attention? How do you surprise the audience? And how do we show them something that's very real and very maybe uncomfortable? Like nothing fake, no bullshit, like real deals and a lot of loss as well and keep them wanting more. Otherwise let's not make it.

You know, that was my deal. Like I don't need to go make another TV show. Let's go do real business. And it was a super stressful two years, and now it's out for the world to see. So let's see what people think. Can you lose yourself in the reality TV of it all? Like, can you forget what got you here?

I think so. I mean, I can only speak to my experience. Who are you, Jeffrey? Yes, who are you? But I think, you know, the thing about it is we're, and you'll see this in the show, there's like less experienced agents and more experienced agents. So we're a little bit more, not only experienced agents, but just life experiences. So it's not like we're brand new going into something and we have like a TV background.

So you kind of know what it is. So I can say for us, it's a little different. But I can see how someone else, you know else just get caught up in the modern day. I want to be an influencer. I don't even want to do real estate anymore and try to have a whole different career. But for us, I think we're in a different space. And I think we chose to do this at a time in our life where we know who we are. So an audience is not able to tell us who we are.

And for me, I just wanted to be myself. I was like, if I can show up as myself every day, then I'm good doing it. But I didn't want to fit into what they thought I should be. Now, COVID was lovely for a lot of real estate agents, right? Interest rates were low. Everybody was buying. Banks were giving everybody money to get it. But now it's changed.

Interest rates are high as I don't know what. So how is the business now for a lot of people? And what do you tell real estate agents now that are out there? And it's difficult, right? Banks are taking a lot to give people money. You got to give your damn near your right arm to get a loan, you know? Interest rates are super duper high.

So what do you tell agents now? I say stick it out because I feel like I came in when it was going up. And when I came in, it was like you showed something once and you had an offer. But at the entire time, I said, it will not always be like this. This is cyclical.

So I was mentally prepared for where we are now. I don't take it that bad because I knew it couldn't always stay good. And in bad times is when really the cream rises to the top. So this opportunity right now, if you really, again, really know the business, learn the business, you can take advantage of it now. I mean, there's a lot of things you could like really guide your clients with like 40 year mortgages. That's an option to try to deal with the higher interest rates, you you know putting more down conceivably if you can refinance down the road you know there's different options you can do and give give good direction but for the real estate agent it's just like head down

and keep going because everyone's right now i would imagine a lot of people i don't know the exact number i'm certain you do right a lot of people have left real estate with the rates being as high as it is yeah hundreds of thousands yeah yeah Yeah. So is a global pandemic worth the low interest rates? We had a wonderful year and a half of business. I'd take a week purge every year, like a COVID remembrance week. You know, 0% interest rates for five days. You're not allowed to leave your house. Just see what happens.

Just see what happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The first day we were allowed to go back to work, I had 11 showings. Like when we were allowed to go after that seven month break or that seven month hold, I had 11 showings day one.

There were real estate agents in the city who had like emergency gear on just in case the police pointed, because you know, real estate in New York, you were not an essential worker. Right. And they were trying to get you.

They were trying to like make you stay inside. It was complete insanity. But yeah, listen, we,, if you were to say, hey, I want to find a really, really resilient person who can kind of stick through the tough times and the good times. Let's go make that person in a box. You wouldn't put them in a happy box, right? That doesn't make resilient people. You'd put them in like a really tough box. And that's exactly what we're in right now.

We're in a tough market. So if you can forge yourself through this, the good times do come. What goes up must come down. What goes down must go back up again. It's just back and forth and back and forth. Now you created your own brokerage. How difficult was that leaving, being comfortable with somebody else to now you have to pay for everything. You're paying for the rent. You're paying for marketing. You're paying for everything. How difficult was that? Super difficult. I had made the plan to do it in 2019 and I said, I'm going to start my own company at the beginning of 2020 because that's going to be the beginning of a new decade for me. I think about my life in terms of every year is a chapter and every decade is a section of my book.

Okay, so the next section of my book is going to be starting my own company and running my own thing. It's going to be fine. It's all going to be fine. And then people start getting sick in China, you know, Italy shuts down. I'm like, oh, I now I've already committed to doing this. And so it was, it was pretty terrifying. Um, but, but it was all for the best because everything got so much cheaper. You know, I was able to get an entire building in Soho for our first office at the same price that I was looking at like one floor in another office building because the market came to a screeching halt, right?

Buyers roared back and there was a lot of eyeballs on us when we started the company. I think why Netflix was also interested in making a show with us because everyone else left. Everyone left New York. Everyone left New York. Everyone left New York. They all went to country houses. They all went to Florida, which is fine.

It's great. We do a lot of business in Florida. We love Florida. But everyone left, and we were by ourselves, working every day, sneaking down Broadway to get to our office so that we wouldn't get caught. It was insane to build something. But yeah, the overhead's real, man.

Sometimes I remember the name of my employees. Other times I remember how much they cost. You know? Like what's your, like you've got, because it's real, you know? And so one thing we try to do with the employees is help them understand their direct correlation to revenue. So you're not just paying people,

and it's a big lesson that I've learned in setting really, really clear expectations from the get-go. Because if you don't set clear expectations with people that work with you, all you're doing is setting future resentment. Right. And so that's been huge.

But yeah, man, like payroll, leases, insurance, man, like legal bills, like what? Like it's just, it's never ending when you want to run your own thing. And ignorance is bliss that way, maybe. I mean, good though okay so far so good let me ask you about now now what about your families right so we've seen your family on million dollar listing how your family grew and your families it takes a lot because you leave your family a lot right because when somebody wants to show in or they want to see a property you can't say hey babe i

know we had dinner date but you know because this might be you know a million dollar profit this might be a couple hundred thousand dollars so how is how is raising kids and having a family doing real estate? For us, we work together, Jeff and I. And I'm the only like balance in the relationship. He'll be working if his eyes are open. And I'm kind of a workaholic. So there's not much help. But we have boundaries.

There's certain times of the day where we have to shut down. But we're on vacation and hiding out. We go to the bathroom and we're gone for 40 minutes. Everybody knows you're doing a deal and you're not supposed to be on your phone. Oh, you said going to the bathroom. I was like, you know what's going on in your bathroom. No, we hide. Well, I usually hide out. Like I'll say I'm going to the spa, but it's like, I'm talking, I'm doing calls because the rule is you're not supposed to be working. Right. But we both cheat all the time. I remember we were on a cruise in the Mediterranean last year. Yeah. I need a fax both cheat all the time when it comes to that. I remember we were on a cruise in the Mediterranean last year.

Yeah. I need a fax. I need a fax. Right around the time when we started shooting the show, which is a whole other reason that we should talk about. That's why we missed out on the Central Park Tower incident. Oh, yeah. Because you were.

On the cruise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep going on those cruise, man. Yeah, I know. That cruise almost caused us $250 billion. But even in that moment, there was times we stepped away and I'd try to send a text or something, send an email. And then we don't want to catch each other.

So I'm lying to you, you're lying to me. Everybody knows everybody's working. And I don't think this one has any of that. What about you, Ryan? You got a wife and kids. How do you balance that? Because I've seen a couple times where your wife was upset. Like, no, this is our time.

And you're like, but this is a deal. Yeah, it's hard, man. I mean, when you're in sales, you get addicted to it, you know, because you don't get a salary. There are no benefits and you're only as good as your last deal. And you can always say, well, when is enough enough?

And sure, you can set a goal for yourself for the year. But then that next phone call, like you want to pick it up. You want to see because your life can change. You know, you know, we started Sir hint at the end of 2020. It's like, I just want to make I went on rental appointments, because I gotta pay bills. Now. COVID shut down all of our markets. It was awful, especially in New York, right? There were bodies, you know, that we had the Red Cross

ship, there were tents in the park, it was nuts. I went on a rental appointment on the Upper East Side. And my wife's like, wear gloves. Wear your hazmat suit. This is pre-vaccines. Met a guy that wanted to rent an apartment on the Upper East Side. Had a big budget, $30,000 to $40,000 to $50,000 a month. Started talking to him.

Decided not to rent something. Decided, you know what? Maybe I will go buy something in Florida. And that was a Monday. By Friday, we were in contract on a house that was asking $140 million. So had I not picked up that rental call, I never would have done a nine-figure sale that at that time in 2020, going into 2021, was the largest transaction in the history of the state of Florida and the top five deal in the United States.

You hear that? Tell her that can, that can happen. I remember this moment. I remember that. But that can, you know, those things can happen, but you do have to set boundaries and you, especially have to set boundaries with people that are not your family. You know, it's not about telling your wife, your kids like, Hey, daddy's at home now. So let's pay attention to each other. Right. It's not, you know, it's not about telling your wife. It's not about telling your wife and your kids that, Hey, daddy's at home now. So let's pay attention to each other. Um, uh, it's about telling your clients like, Hey, just so you know, um, you know, Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays from

six to eight, I'm with my daughter. I put her down Saturdays, like Saturdays for me or dadder days. Like I don't, unless it's life threatening, I'm really focused on, on Zena. That's her name. She's five and being there for her. And then she knows, dad goes to work the next day. I don't think she knows what I do. You asked her. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary?

Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete.

Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Kaperburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Why can't I trade my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong?

No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help. We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan-Stan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about.

It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories

from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you.

Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself and leaning into her dreams. I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, it was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Like grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey there, my little creeps. It's your favorite ghost host, Teresa. And guess what? Haunting is back, dropping just in time for spooky season. Now, I know you've probably been wandering the mortal plane, wondering when I'd be back to fill your ears with deliciously unsettling stories. Well, wonder no more, because we've got a ghoulishly good lineup ready for you. Let's just say things get a bit extra.

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Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. It took drama and mayhem to an entirely new level. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, every backstab, blackmail and explosion, and every single wig removal together. Secrets are revealed as we rewatch every moment with you. Special guests from back in the day will be dropping by. You know who they are. Sydney, Allison, and Joe are back together on Still the Place with a trip down memory lane and back to Melrose Place. So listen

to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Be like, Daddy sells and dances. I'm like, I don't know. He tapes it. Yeah, exactly. He films it. She'll take my phone and she'll pick it up and look at my phone and be like, Hi, I'm Zina Serhant.

Thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe. And I'm like, no, no, it's happening. Terrible. So how do you guys deal with, because of course you're on the show, so people know who you are. How do you deal with people that just want to, don't necessarily want to buy something, but just want to hang out? That has to happen a lot. I mean, it's happened to me. I mean, Million Dollar Listing first aired in 2012. So it's happened to me now for 12 years. These guys are going to have to go through it now for the first time ever. And you got to be super careful, right?

Like wasting your time is terrible. What's worse is when people have like malicious intent. And they do. Like especially- Has it happened with you before? Oh yeah, absolutely. We've had FBI involved. We've had stalkers. Yeah, man.

We had to move offices once. Like our home addresses are scrubbed. You don't hurt anybody. Yeah, but people get obsessed. People impersonate him every day. People get obsessed. They watch TV shows. And Bravo is American for the most part.

And then the show aired around the world. But reality TV, you do get very vulnerable and authentic. And you let these cameras into your life for a year. And they see your ups and downs. And then with social now, everyone feels like they know you and Netflix I mean the show dropped today to 270 million people in 190 countries our voices are dubbed in over 20 different languages it that's a lot right all in all in one day so one you gotta be careful but two like if you're not Googleable you got to show me something right you know you got a view

I had a guy from a different country. I won't say what country, but, you know, reached out to me kind of right at the beginning of Million Dollar Listing and totally seemed like he was going to try to kill me or sell my body into oil drums or something. You know, and I'm like, this is not real. This is not real. He sent me a photo of his accountant as his proof of funds. I'm like, this is not good. This is not great, not great. Turns out, we ended up doing a deal together

for $8.3 million almost a year later after it was the most traumatizing experience of my life. He just liked to drink and was on Zillow one night and hit me up. And then I was just, I follow up relentlessly. The guy makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year in another country in a really weird way. And it is what it is. So like sometimes you just never know. And that's, that's part of that addiction, right? Of like sales. You just never know who's going to call. What's the one deal for each one of you that you lost that it

burns you to this day that you knew you should have sold? Oh God, I'm going to tattoo it on my butt probably. One of my first closings, I got to the closing so excited and the seller on the other side of the table I'd never met and she was a former beauty client and I wasn't at the time marketing myself. And as we got up to leave, she was like, this should have been your deal. And I was like, okay. And that's when I kind of lit a fire under myself to start marketing myself and putting myself out because she's like, I don't even know this guy that's selling my house. This should have been your deal. I was with the buyer, but I wasn't sharing to the world what I was doing. And luckily it was my first deal. So that changed everything for me. Now you can't see enough of me.

Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, there was a deal. It was a deal that was, uh, it was an interesting deal. It was a Brownstone. Um, it was like a $5 million Brownstone. And, uh, the guy was acquiring a different company, but he put money down for it. And he had to sell the rest of the company in effort to get the deal. So down payments now, I think put, what, $400,000 down, down payment, you know, went hard,

which means if it doesn't close, you lose the money. Lose the money, yep. And he just couldn't sell the company. And so we're here, and we're're spending we this is something i never do but i had like the buyers and the seller come together they were like great friends everyone loved each other they were you know bartering services to extend the period and then at the 11th hour he just couldn't sell the company and yeah i felt bad and he knew it and he lost lost $400,000. Beautiful home in Bed-Stuy. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. We were selling a building at the end of 2019,

going into 2020 before we started the company. We had contracts out, everything. It was $880 million. I'd never done a deal like that before. The commission was 1%, so it was $8.8 million. And then COVID hits. And the money was coming out of the Middle East. The price of oil starts to tank. The buyers say, hey, we just need a little bit of time. We need a little bit of time. We need a little bit of time. Deal slowly falls apart. I worked on it for a year.

I think about that deal every day. $880 million. I feel like I'm going to think about it every day. I feel like that was, it's like a life-changing sale. You know what I mean, especially when I was starting my own company, I'm like, all right, so that's going to be my seed money. I'm bootstrapped. Like we, we, you know, we're not backed by anybody else. We build, you know, for agents, by agents, with agents. Like I am a real estate agent. So I think the agents that work with us, I understand their world because I'm in it with

them all day long. That was a brutal one. That sucked. One day, though. One day. I got to ask you guys, being black, is it more difficult to get people to come in and say, to trust in you guys than anybody else?

Far more. Far more. Why would you say that? Because you work with who you identify with. That's just what people do. Like if every agent sat down and thought about their last five clients, they probably look something like them. And so people that we work with typically look like us.

And you know the economic wealth gap as well as anyone else in this room. So the likelihood of us working with clients that own two and three and four and $8 million homes shrinks down to less than 5% probably, less than 2%. So it's just harder for us to build volume, drastically harder for us to build volume. And I think for us, that's part of like,

we lean into our you know, our sphere and we really worked out, worked out as hard as we can to really get the business, right? And then in the show itself, it's part of our transition from leaning into our core, which is our Brooklyn audience,

and then going into Manhattan. That's the show, Owning Manhattan. So it's like transitioning from still servicing that base, but knowing that we want to go to a different tier and then starting to do that. And then at that point we have all the experience, you know, and then we can speak to whatever the market is to whomever we're speaking to. And then they kind of understand.

It's like, you can be a Brooklyn rock star. That's great. But it's like, you know, at a certain point you have a conversation, you're like, Ryan, I want to do these other things. Help me, you know? And I think that's how this came together because we were both working at another firm. And then we came over and we were like, okay, this is how we want our business to shift. And we sat down and did a planning session with him

about how we could grow that business. I still have to come to your cookout. You really do. You have one invite. What was it, the ally? You're an ally and you have an admission to one cookout. One cookout. It's a little ticket. He has it on his

wall. We might do it for Labor Day. You got it. But only one. If it's this year, make sure you use it this year. He's invited to one cookout. You better not bring him to Brooklyn on Labor Day. I live in Brooklyn. If you're going to Brooklyn, have him in the Parkway.

Put him right in the Parkway. My first day on the Parkway was last year. Brian's like, I don't know what you ride to Brooklyn, you have them in the parkway. Put it right in the parkway. Put it right on the parkway. Right in the parkway. My first day on the parkway was last year. Brian's like, I don't know what the parkway is, but stay away from it later today. Stay away from it

later today. I would advise. I also got to ask, when it comes to everything that you do, do you start off small because, you know, thinking about real estate,

right, there's always that one person, right? I remember buying my first house was probably $300,000, $400,000, right? But then you stay with that agent to your million-dollar house to the next one. So do you still stay small or is it one of those things like, no, I'm not doing that?

Listen, it completely depends, right? This business is all about relationships. We're not actually in the real estate business. We're not developers. We're not contractors. We're in the people business. We help people. We connect those people to buyers.

We connect those people to sellers. I think especially when you're early on in your career, you take everything because you never know. That $2,000 rental client that's going to drag you around and you don't get paid by the hour. You don't get paid a salary, right? That person, maybe her uncle, her brother, who she knows, her future girlfriend or boyfriend could be an amazing client. It's all about those relationships. And there's a thousand stories to tell that way. I run the brokerage now, and that's really what owning Manhattan is about. It's running the company, the stresses of running the company, and then the agents that work with me. And so depending on deal price and all that, I mean, almost every deal I do now, except for maybe one or two a year, I do with our agents. I'm doing with Jeff and Tricia. I'm doing with the other agents that you'll see on the show and other agents that are

at our company who are highly specialized and have domain expertise and kind of what they sell you know that way we can expand our business as much as we possibly can got two last questions one how do you um do things outside the box right you know because there's always a whole way of doing things right you know there's a you old way of doing things, right? You know, there's, you know, back in the day, there was mailers. You send out mailers and there was cold calls. And how do you step outside the box to make sure that, you know, you reach out to some of these YouTubers out there or these TikTokers that,

you know, people, you know, my parents would be like, a little TikTok, but a little TikTok can make a couple hundred million. Exactly. So how do you step out the box to make sure that you're reaching not just your typical people, but things outside the box as well? So I made my first YouTube video of a property tour in 2015. So nine years ago.

And the entire industry laughed at me. There was even an article that got written about it that was like, dumb Ryan and his vanity. He's already on a TV show and now he needs to do more. But what no one else pays attention to, and I guess I just didn't talk about it as much back then.

It's like, you all think of doing this for me. The viewer of that video is 13 years old and they have control of the dinner table. And at dinner, mom and dad are going to talk about moving because dad's got a new job or they're going to a new school. And that kid is going to say, okay, can we call that guy Ryan? Because he does these really cool property tours on YouTube. And today it's TikTok and Instagram and YouTube shorts, right? And Twitter X and Facebook and all the international ones that we do and Netflix. That's the reason we do this stuff.

And so it's really setting up. Like if you look at our company, we are a media company that sells real estate, right, to the benefit of our buyers, our sellers, and our developers. And we've always thought outside the box. Now everyone's copying us, which is fine. They just don't do it nearly as well as we do. I've seen people jump in pools. I've seen people jump over fire. I was like, people are really trying to sell some houses now. But the thing about it really, it's storytelling. And not everyone thinks they can tell a story or get a camera and just shoot something,

but it's really storytelling that conveys with that buyer or seller. And that's really what we do well. If someone asks, what's our secret sauce? That's what it is. So you can try to recreate it wherever, but you're not going to get the same the same finished product and i think the most competitive agents really focus on sir hands so either they're watching everything we're doing or they're trying to join the firm so i feel like the entire culture of the of the company are people like us that will think outside the box that are used to people making fun of the things that you do until it becomes the trend like that's been my career you know i mean that's been my entire all of my careers have been that way. Like, what does she think

this is until that becomes the next way of doing things? So that's a part of it. Yeah. We're also working hard. I mean, I'll say this for me. One of our big, big missions at the beginning was to really change the face of this industry, right? The average real estate agent, not just in New York, but in the nation is 55 and she's white. And that is not America, right? The average real estate agent, not just in New York, but in the nation is 55 and she's white. And that is not America, right? That's not the world. That's definitely not New York City. And we do a significant amount of work through our education business, which is called sellit.com with inner city schools and teaching them like, I know everyone else told you, you can't do what we do, but you can, and you'll probably be way better than everybody else. So let's do it. And it's really important to me that the face of, of people who are successful in this business are projected out there so that like the future adults of tomorrow see this and are going

to emulate the same way. There's like little kids from Texas and cowboy boots who've watched me for 10 years saying like, Oh, Ryan did it. I can do it too. I am so excited about what our industry is going to look like 10 years from now because of what Jeff and Trisha are going to put out there starting today. Well, Owning Manhattan is out right now on Netflix. Go check it out. Last question. Well, actually two more questions. One, the political commentary and everything that's going on in politics now, does that help and hurt or does that hurt? And also for a real estate agent that's watching right now, right? That's maybe just thinking about getting into it and loves property, loves houses. What do each one of you tell them? So let's start with the political. Does political help or hurt? What's

going on right now with everything? Honestly, we're going through a rerun right now. So you know what's going to happen either way, right? And that's all you really got to focus on. And it's probably not going to change your personal life a whole lot. It might change what you see on your newsfeed. It might change what people talk about around you. But is it going to change the fact that you still need a house? Is it going to change the fact that you still got to have a job and provide for your family?

Probably not. And so just focus on yourself, do what you do best, right? Have a get up and go mindset every single day. And, you know, be an agent of change in your own way, you know, if you want to be, you know, as salespeople, it's always hard, though, because you can't, you know, we want to work with people on every side of the spectrum. So it's tricky for us to really pick a, you know, to pick a side, but you got to stay authentic and true to yourself as much as you can. Now, the real estate agents out there that's looking for a job and thinking about jumping into this crazy industry, they see Ryan's fancy cars, they see him with the celebrities,

they see him doing the cool videos, they see him in the million dollar properties, they see you at the cool parties and all you guys at the cool parties. What do you tell an agent that's thinking about getting into this game right now? What advice would you give the younger you? Learn the business. Everything else is just icing. It's like a cake, essentially. You've got to learn the foundation

of the business. You talked about before about mailers and cold calling. All that stuff is still key and still essential. You do that coupled with the new stuff. So learn the business inside out. And I think Tricia- Learn the product. A lot of people are so focused on promoting themselves,

they're not trying to learn the product. You're not talking to people that don't know their way around a rooftop, mechanical room. If it's in my house, I know what it is and I know how to fix it. That's a huge part of it, I think, because you're dealing with a client that you're supposed to help and guide.

How can you guide somebody to do something you're not familiar with? So I think studying and understanding the product is really important. And honestly, follow me for a day because there are parties and people are jumping in pool and that's great. But we also need to walk this rooftop. Careful what you just said. I'm going to see Trisha in like a week from now and be like, why? Who are these people following me? I don't know.

I told everyone to follow me. They're literally physically following me. Actually, let me run that back. No, no, I can't take it back. It's forever. It's forever. But like we work. We work.

Like, you know, I'm driving all over from Brooklyn to Manhattan. We're walking and we're touring things and it's 100 degrees and you're in the basement and you're trying to figure out like what's the best price and is everything that's being presented to you really what it is? And so the product itself, these 130-year-old homes that we sell, study that. Focus on that. Understanding how finance plays a part of that. It's really more textbook, I think, the work.

And then the celebration is what people typically see on TV. This is a different opportunity. You're going to see the work here. Now, Ryan, what do you say to a young agent, a young yourself getting into this industry? I say kind of what Jeff and Tricia just said, which is you should first, you should intern, you should follow somebody, you should be on a team and you should follow and see what they really do and see if you really want to do that work because it's never what you think it is. You can't watch suits and be like, you know what? I'm going to go be a lawyer. You want to know what it's really like to be a lawyer.

You're going to sit and you're going to read and you're going to type for 18 hours a day with a bottle of Advil, right? That's, that's what it really means to be a lawyer. And that's not what they show on TV. So go follow someone and make sure you understand the first three years in the business. You're not going to make any money. If you're okay with that, if you're okay with working holidays, working birthdays, working seven days a week, working in rain, snow, sleet, the middle of the heat to build something massive for you that no one will ever be able to take away

from you where there literally is no ceiling because no one's ever going to tell you, hey, you sold too much, right? But they're also not going to pat you on the back when you sold nothing and you got to go get another job. If you're okay with that, give yourself those three years and you can be incredibly successful in this business. This business rewards hard work. All right. Well, Owning Manhattan, check it out right now on Netflix. And I appreciate you guys. Thank you so much. Absolutely. All right. Ryan Serhan, Trisha Lee, Jeffrey St. Almond. We appreciate you guys. Thanks, guys.

It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together.

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