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An Immigrant Revitalizing Neighborhoods in Baltimore | All Roads LTR Podcast | Ep. 53
38 Plays5 months ago
Today Matt sits down with Jacob Benzaquen—a Jewish immigrant from Venezuela, Baltimore-based property management entrepreneur, and a man with a global story. Jacob shares his remarkable journey from Venezuela to Miami, Israel, and ultimately Baltimore, offering a unique perspective on real estate, immigration, and the importance of building communities. In an increasingly divided world, Jacob's story is a true testament to resilience, opportunity, and the power of human connection.
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Transcript
Introduction to All Roads Lead to Real Estate
00:00:10
Speaker
All right, hello and welcome everybody. I am ah Matt Ryan and I am here for our lovely podcast, All Roads Lead to Real Estate. And I have a special guest today that I invited after speaking um at an engagement. I think I was talking with ah The Real Producers magazine. It's that's for like top real estate agents. And there was ah ah ah an event that all the vendors, the top vendors that are part of that association, in that group, and Jacob here as my guest,
00:00:38
Speaker
is one of those preferred
Unique Perspectives on Immigration
00:00:40
Speaker
vendors. And so we got to talking and I, i don't know, five, 10 minutes into the conversation said, i I don't want to have this conversation here off the air. I thought, why not invite you back?
00:00:49
Speaker
um It's a really unique conversation. I think of a very unique vantage point. And so Jacob ah is, I guess your full name is, and I just asked you how to pronounce it. That's how bad it is ah for me, but it's Benziken. So Jacob Benziken and he's with me Casa Title.
00:01:06
Speaker
And so you're here in Baltimore, Maryland, and you have a fascinating story. And you're also owner of a property management company with about 450 doors also here in the Baltimore, Maryland area.
00:01:18
Speaker
So you are fully integrated ah and certainly a valid guest here for the All Roads Lead to Real Estate podcast. But, you know, what I think is very fascinating and one of the reasons I truly wanted you in here is you have a ah fascinating um vantage point to see the administrative change we have in the United States with immigration because you are a Jewish immigrant.
00:01:43
Speaker
from Venezuela that has such a unique perspective on how the administration administration has influenced what's really happening in the real world, as opposed to just, let's say, the headlines that you might read in the news.
00:01:59
Speaker
So um I want to first off say thank you for joining me, Jacob. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I'm happy to be here. It's interesting for the last part that you said in terms of how the administration's policies are affecting our daily lives.
00:02:15
Speaker
in general i had a very wise mentor of mine once tell me that local and state politics ah affect their daily lives federal politics national politics they're important they affect your average citizen on a daily day-to-day basis i think if i were to talk to him now he might be changing his tune just based on the realities we're talking about today Well, and that's why I think this is a great conversation because I know i have so many because i I help everybody. Right. I'm a real estate agent. So I help some super, super conservative people.
00:02:50
Speaker
I help some people that are on both the right and the left. Right. So I help a mix of everyone. And the truth is I i kind of fall somewhere in the middle Because I can't help myself. I see truth and in what ah a lot of people say.
00:03:04
Speaker
i'm not um I really am not someone who's politically truly one-sided. I consider myself an independent, and i think I think if you think there's only one side that's right about everything, I think you're not critically thinking. That's kind of how I view at least.
00:03:17
Speaker
However, what you were mentioning to me about the immigration policies and specifically here in Maryland. So for people that are familiar with Baltimore, familiar with this area, it's like a it's just ah an eco-cosm ah of of what's going on, maybe potentially throughout the country.
00:03:35
Speaker
And being in ah someone that you know that is that came from ah different country that is able to then see what we're doing here, and you speak Spanish, and you you deal with a lot of people that are in this country, probably legally and illegally,
00:03:51
Speaker
And i think you've probably seen and heard a lot more than the majority of us specifically me. I know that to be true. And it's a conversation I don't think a lot of people are having. And I'm so tired of conversations where people just yell at each other and they're not listening.
00:04:04
Speaker
Or they're you know or that's so one-sided, it's not even a it just doesn't make sense. so that's why you're here. So I would love... to get an idea of of that. But first, I want to set it up to at least so people understand who you are and what your vantage point
Jacob Benziken's Family and Migration Journey
00:04:19
Speaker
comes from. So it's, you know, I i learned the other day when we spoke, you're, you you know, you're descendants from the Holocaust, right? And you had to go to Venezuela ah for safety.
00:04:33
Speaker
Is that correct? Well, it's partially it's partially correct. I would say,
00:04:40
Speaker
My parents, first of all, God bless them, and they should live long and healthy lives. I hope they get to see this. i hope that I'll make them proud when they do see it.
00:04:50
Speaker
my My mother is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. yeah My grandparents lived in Europe, in Romania and Czechoslovakia, and they survived some of the worst atrocities known to humankind.
00:05:02
Speaker
My father was born in Morocco. It's physically in Morocco, but it's a city called Melilla, which, not to get too technical about it, is technically Spanish territory.
00:05:16
Speaker
So when my father was born, he received a Spanish passport. After 1948, which was the establishment of the State of Israel, relationships between many Jews and who were living in Arab countries soured.
00:05:29
Speaker
And so it's true that there began an exodus out of a lot of those countries as a result of the fact that business started kind of waning.
00:05:41
Speaker
Some of those people who didn't feel so comfortable working with Jews that created a disharmony that wasn't there beforehand. And my father's family moved to Venezuela being that country.
00:05:56
Speaker
They spoke Spanish and the in the kind in Morocco slash Spain, and they found haven safe haven in Venezuela at the time. Obviously, this was in the 50s and 60s. It's a much different country now, and obviously, not to get too deep into that right now, but they found safe haven there. My parents met in Israel, and they settled in Venezuela, and that's where I was born.
00:06:23
Speaker
Got it. Wow. Interesting. So ah from what I understand, you moved you moved around a little bit, right? so it's So what's your journey after you were born in Venezuela? Right. So it's a I would say the way I describe it to people, it's a game of ping pong.
00:06:38
Speaker
My father is a rabbi, and the best way to describe what that entails is almost being an army brat, if you will. You go where the wind where the wind blows. So I was born of Venezuela.
00:06:49
Speaker
My parents then moved to Israel for a short period of time. then moved back to Venezuela. Then my father received a opportunity for a job in Panama.
00:07:00
Speaker
And lived in Panama in the late eighty s early 90s. I was able to experience and see the American invasion of Panama in at that time due to the war on drugs.
00:07:16
Speaker
How old were you at the time? I was eight years old and it's it's a funny... And you still remember it. I remember it vividly and I'll tell you why.
00:07:27
Speaker
I loved G.I. Joe as a kid. I would i would could not wait for cartoon to show up and G.I. Joe come on. And as a little kid, you start formulating certain realities based on the things you see and the things your parents tell you.
00:07:41
Speaker
And I had this image of what an American looked like. Looked like a six foot, blonde hair, blue eye guy with an m sixteen sure And then the United States Army invaded Panama.
00:07:54
Speaker
And these guys showed up. I don't remember exactly what they look like, but to me, they all look like G.I. Joe. So I have this vivid memory of seeing them stationed all all around the streets. so And unfortunately, we got to see a little bit of violence at an early age, which very scary.
00:08:12
Speaker
And at that time, my parents said, okay, we've seen enough. It's too much excitement for us. So they left. They went back to Venezuela for a short period of time. My dad had received a job in Miami.
00:08:25
Speaker
And that was our last ah last sort of trip. So there was lot of back and forth. Venezuela became sort of a central hub. I still have family in Venezuela. And I remember that country fondly and and well.
00:08:38
Speaker
And obviously it impacted a lot of how I view both but people from Venezuela and just a Latin America in general. And growing up in Miami, essentially, while it is technically in the United States,
00:08:54
Speaker
Miami very much has a ah Latin vibe right to the extent that there are certain neighborhoods that if you do not speak Spanish, you might get lost. yeah You can't function. no one there actually speaks English.
00:09:06
Speaker
Now, these are folks who have been there for years and years. It's just, ah that's the vibe. A lot of them obviously Cuban immigrants. And those that became sort of my second family. And how long were you in Florida? how How long was at home? My formative years, I would say nine years.
00:09:22
Speaker
Nine years of my life until I graduated high school. Then I went to Israel post high school to pursue a degree in Talmudic law, which that in itself is a nice story.
00:09:34
Speaker
And then after three years of living in Israel, I came back to the United States and I came to Baltimore and I've been here ever since. What in the world brought you to Baltimore from Israel?
00:09:45
Speaker
So at the time, i i wanted to continue to pursue my religious studies while at the same time pursuing a degree in business.
00:09:56
Speaker
And there aren't a lot of programs that provide sort of like a dual program, if you will. And that was, there is a school here called Near Israel Rabbinical College. It's in Owens Mills, Mount Wilson Lane. It's a beautiful campus.
00:10:10
Speaker
And you study during the day religious studies and at night you go to college. So people pursue different degrees, med school, law school. I personally pursued my MBA with Loyola.
00:10:22
Speaker
had great experience at Loyola. Really proud of the the work I did there. And from there, that's the rest of the story. I found my my wife, were We were set up by a matchmaker. That in itself is another story. That's so sort of more the Jewish Orthodox sure background.
00:10:39
Speaker
And we have lived here ever since 2002. two thousand and two So I guess I'm here for 23 years now. I know that amongst the natives, I will never be a true Baltimorean, although I can say Baltimore.
Human Interaction in a Digital Age
00:10:53
Speaker
yeah ball more right ball more my kids are ravens and oriole fans um but you know i think obviously there's a lot of rich history here and i'm really impressed by sort of the the story of my own story reflecting a lot of what i'm seeing and ball more particularly from the latino community which is kind of how we we connected Yeah, and so it's just our paths are so different. like art I mean, we're here together sitting in the same room, but it's I mean, I'm five generations in Maryland, and so we're farmers, and so we've been here stationary and very, i mean, I think if we traveled 20 miles in any direction, that was moving.
00:11:35
Speaker
you know, just in terms of just picking up tractor supplies. I mean, it was not, we didn't travel, we didn't see the rest of the world as a young man. And certainly my grandparents and great grandparents, that was not, we worked and it was very stationary. So I think I'm always interested to learn through other sets of eyes about the greater world. I've traveled quite a bit, but not, not to Israel yet, but, um but I think travel is just the most fascinating thing. And so you know Some of the decisions that are made that are above um and at you know the local level, it's just so there's so much conflicted information and there's so much politics involved. like there's It's just so it's so different than maybe what it could be.
00:12:18
Speaker
And so I'm one that still has hope and still can see opportunity and possibility in the way that you were describing how you can see a positive future and certain things that could still happen that could be really...
00:12:30
Speaker
well you know positive for our local community. I was very um you know i was very drawn to that because and think we don't give there an opportunity or a positive future but or or something to look forward to.
00:12:42
Speaker
like Why would people strive to do better or do something different? like Why fight it all? like There's so much negativity specifically right now. It's just where are we all go just going to curl up on her under the table and just hide for the next 10 years. It's just like...
00:12:56
Speaker
you know So I'm drawn to to kind of what you had to say, but you know with your perspective on all of this, you know i'm I'm curious because you you're in real estate, so you see it through the real estate lens, not just through ah traditional lens most people have.
00:13:12
Speaker
So real estate impacts us in meaningful ways, all of us, not just those of us that do it for a living. But what you know how how would you describe the day-to-day experience maybe today versus when you first arrived in Baltimore in the real estate lens through the eyes of someone not from this country originally?
00:13:35
Speaker
That's a great question. I would say before answering that, I want to just touch on what you said to sort of set up the question. And that is the fact that you're curious and you take the time and are creating a forum in which to have conversations, meaningful conversations,
00:13:59
Speaker
and even difficult conversations, I think it's beginning of what some of us who refuse to give up hope on humanity and on the world that we're living in, it starts with that.
00:14:12
Speaker
Sure, politics and i would say global events affect us, but we can't control that. What we can control is what happens within our four walls and what happens when we walk outside.
00:14:25
Speaker
And having those conversations are critical. I do believe that, and I wanna sound like the get off my lawn guy, the old guy, right? But I do believe that a lot of positives have obviously come with technology and the advent of technology.
00:14:44
Speaker
However, I think we have lost the ability to connect on a human level. And i think our bodies and minds, and if I can be so bold to say our souls,
00:14:55
Speaker
are meant to have a human connection with the other and that requires the ability to have honest conversations to be able to ask in a curious way and to be open to dialogue and to be open to hearing all sides of different things i think being behind the screen gives us, unfortunately, a lot of exposure to things that we may not have had exposure in the past.
00:15:19
Speaker
And it creates sort of a scary world where having that conversation becomes a ah a tremendous leap or a scary thing. i would say it's interesting. People come over to me knowing that um Latino and that I'm Jewish and I'm Orthodox and ah sheepishly want to ask me questions.
00:15:39
Speaker
I think maybe 20, 30 years ago, they wouldn't have been so sheepish. And maybe some people who don't ask questions would have been had the courage to ask questions. And I welcome those questions to me. The more I can expose people to my experience and to my thoughts and beliefs, and at the same time hear theirs, I'm better for it.
00:15:59
Speaker
And so I think that That is a very critical part of what this is. And I think as with anything where there are changes that are very dramatic, it's sort of like a bell curve. I think right now we might be at the height of this tension and lack of communication. And I think that it's having effects on how we live our lives, on mental to health our mental health.
00:16:23
Speaker
And I think there will come a point to where people will actually look forward to putting it down, putting the phone down and saying, hey, let's break bread, let's talk, let's have a meaningful conversation about difficult subjects that we might completely disagree on.
00:16:38
Speaker
and the And the reason why we'll we'll do that is because ultimately we can talk about real estate, we talk about any industry, can talk about all sorts of interesting topics. It's all about the human experience.
00:16:50
Speaker
we We all have fears, we all have concerns, we all have ambitions. There are things that bother us, are things that we really look forward to. And i think in that regard, all humans are the same.
00:17:03
Speaker
We are all the same. And while we may reach that in a different way, or some things may be more important on a certain scale than others,
00:17:15
Speaker
We all strive for validation. We all want to be able to grow mentally, financially. We all want to be able to find joy and meaning in our lives. And I think in that regard, doesn't really matter where you're from, what your political views are, what religious sexual orientation, none of that matters.
00:17:36
Speaker
We all want to be able to find meaning and be able to live joyful lives. And when we are able to sort of break through that, i think that is where meaningful connection happens.
Balancing Positivity and Global Awareness
00:17:46
Speaker
Well, I think the systems at large, the more I analyze what we listen to or what we're being, I guess what we're being fed, just generally speaking through the outlets. That's why I think the advent of not just podcast, the little guys like me that do this and you know you don't have millions of listeners, but you have a following. It's shocking how many listeners you get, even when you're just a local guy. It's because I think sometimes a hyper local voice is fascinating to listen to.
00:18:11
Speaker
um It's different than the national type of voice. But I think we have vastly more similarities in general. I think if people got off the keyboard, so so to speak, and actually met people, it's very different.
00:18:25
Speaker
That's why I pick up the phone. I don't like texting. i don't like i i You will never see me post on Twitter. it's just I'm not that kind of guy. um i think it's very negative, and my headspace is negative. I need to be positive.
00:18:37
Speaker
I think of positive. I think of opportunities versus... how there's horrible things. There's lots of horrible things happening in the world. That's unavoidably and inescapably true, but there's also a lot of positive things. And I think, um I think by and large, people are good.
00:18:53
Speaker
I think that is our inherent nature. I think we learn otherwise. i I would never agree with someone that thinks a child doesn't think of, does does that make sense? Like if you have children, you know what that looks like.
00:19:06
Speaker
They come into this world very positive, very joyous most of the time. um That's been my experience with my three. Yeah, i would I would agree with that. And I would just add, just because that's become a reality in my life recently, not recently, maybe six years ago, dogs.
00:19:22
Speaker
yeah I learned so much from dogs. yeah They are joyful. They are simple in terms of the things that make them happy. yeah And they're loyal.
00:19:33
Speaker
And while I don't necessarily ever wish to be a dog, I... I i think you just described me, by the way. i'm just about as simple as a dog. Yeah. I think there's so much to be learned from that.
00:19:47
Speaker
to me personally, ah come home and he's the first one to greet me. And he greets me with so much joy and happiness to see me. And to me, when I look at him, I say, that's what my kids deserve when they come home and I'm home.
00:20:02
Speaker
but for them to see the excitement in my eyes that, oh, I'm getting to see you, great. yeah How's your day? What were you doing? And so I agree with that. I think that children can teach us that as well.
00:20:15
Speaker
And they do it without all this premonition and all these assumptions. They just see you in in the way that I think some of us wish we would see each other.
00:20:27
Speaker
And there's what to learn about that. And and i think that I think you see that in terms of teachers of little kids, they just seem to be happy go lucky. I'm not saying that their jobs are easy, but yeah they're surrounded by just joy and lack of complexity, which I think sometimes we just add too much of that to our lives.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, but I think it's like I try to say it. it's You have to be an almost a balanced viewpoint where you have to add that aspect of positivity and joy to your life. But you also can't live with your head in the sand. I think that, you know, not being willing to recognize the difficult situation or just because your life is maybe more comfortable than others, you don't recognize that other people are struggling.
00:21:13
Speaker
And um so that's the balance. It's how do you not. That's why I don't, for example, go on social media almost ever. So it's for me, it's a recognition that I read. I read the news and I read balanced news. I don't read either extreme because that drives me bananas.
00:21:28
Speaker
um But kind of getting back to one of the the reasons you're here is just understanding what I want to know is what I kind of alluded to, like how what. What have you seen and witnessed through your own eyes, maybe when you first got to the country, first even just to Maryland in general? um How do you think you were received as someone that wasn't from here?
00:21:49
Speaker
And in in real estate, how was it easy to participate
Real Estate Ventures and Empathy
00:21:53
Speaker
in that process? Or did you feel like an outsider? or Do you still feel like an outsider? I'm just curious to see what your experience might have been 20 years ago and maybe how that's either changed in any capacity to kind of what it is today.
00:22:05
Speaker
Um, first, before I even get into immigration, all these other policy questions. It's a great question. I think as I get older, i start realizing that a lot of how others view me is reflective on how I view myself.
00:22:27
Speaker
So I think when you're young and maybe a little insecure, trying to make your way, that that that's the way it comes off. I think certainly you can attest to that. People in our industry, when they're really young, the way they come off in terms of their interactions, their confidence,
00:22:45
Speaker
Some of them are a rare exception, but for the most part, you look like a guy who just came out of college. Well, that's because I am. And so... Are you referencing when you have a little hint of success early, you kind of, the ego is huge?
00:22:58
Speaker
that what you're referencing? It's just, they come off a little know-it-all? Is that... A little bit, a little bit. And and again, I think that... life teaches you a lot of lessons if you're willing to listen and have your eyes open and be a active participant and so i would say that i certainly walked into real estate thinking i could conquer the world and the world gave me a lot of good lessons some of them were more difficult to swallow than others some humbling lessons huh yeah and i'm thankful for all of them at the time i wasn't because they affected my pocketbook and obviously
00:23:34
Speaker
you know, when you're starting out and at that time I was married with two small children and that that affects you significantly. And over time, you realize that the price you pay for those lessons were very small on your way towards bigger success.
00:23:49
Speaker
but obviously it's easy for us to say that in retrospect being able to see it at the time is a little bit more challenging and and that's where having i think a good foundation is very important and and what that means is is your home life is your relationships your friends your your colleagues all of that can really help you navigate through those challenging times in a way that you're able to take the lessons and improve and be able to be a ah ah better person. How were those times challenging? How would you characterize that?
00:24:27
Speaker
Is it just because you're young and you're in new new place trying to find your way? Yeah, i think I think trying to figure out what's my next step at at every point in time. what What's my next step and how do i think broader in in a broader sense?
00:24:42
Speaker
My first enter into real estate, I purchased 23 single family homes in the Druid Hill community off of a bank note. All I saw was numbers on a spreadsheet.
00:24:55
Speaker
you hadn't visited? Um, some of them, uh, some of the units, but not all of them. And certainly didn't do thorough walkthroughs. At the time, an opportunity showed up with an investor that a lot of cash in his pocket and was losing a lot of money the in the stock market.
00:25:12
Speaker
It was in 2010. And he said, the only place I've constantly made money was in real estate. Let's do it. And this note came up and the the dollars just looked so attractive.
00:25:25
Speaker
Okay, let's do it. Well, then it was then my job to execute in terms of renovating some of these houses, collecting rent, et cetera, et cetera. And that was an eye-opening experience.
00:25:36
Speaker
Came with a lot of heartache, lot of challenges, and a lot of lessons. I think most most importantly, the lessons I learned were on the human interaction side in terms of,
00:25:50
Speaker
There's people who are really struggling out there. There's people who have real life challenges. was that ah can consider Was that a Section 8 voucher programs? is that what would you Were you using those programs or were you was it market-based tenants?
00:26:02
Speaker
It was a mix. It was a mix. It was 23 single-family homes. I would say two-thirds of them were rented. Half of those were actually paying And so it was my job to stabilize the properties. big God. Yeah. Very, very tough, ah very tough, tough ordeal in my life. And I would say that now and and looking at and it back in retrospect, I learned more in the first year of doing that than I did in in three years at Loyola.
00:26:30
Speaker
Not to say that Loyola wasn't a great experience. It was incredible. But... Not but, and what I learned in terms of the human experience and how to deal with difficult situations, I learned a lot from those folks. Some of them took what life had given them and were able to overcome, and some of them didn't. And I learned empathy, and I learned to really appreciate, despite some the challenges I was facing at the time as a person,
00:27:01
Speaker
father and and a young husband that I was given a lot of opportunities that maybe some other people don't have. and so Again, it took a while to integrate that. i think mentally i understood that, for it to sort of integrate into the emotional side and then how that impacts the way you live and how you act. It takes a little bit of time.
00:27:23
Speaker
and And there's really nothing that time cannot do. Time really is helpful with a lot of these things. You can't force yourself to think differently.
00:27:36
Speaker
by just thinking differently from one day to the next. You have to take the time to think but along certain lines, actualize in in your actions a certain way, and then eventually becomes part of who you are. Interesting. so that was your initial start into, I guess, formal real estate,
Managing Multifamily Properties and Company Culture
00:27:54
Speaker
right? Managing those properties. Correct, correct, correct. um And then from there, I sort of migrated towards the multifamily world, small multifamily world. I bought my first purchase.
00:28:06
Speaker
my first multifamily asset in Mount Vernon. It's a nice neighborhood in Baltimore City, a lot of young professionals and students. And then from there, I started picking up a number of other so multifamily, small multifamilies.
00:28:20
Speaker
And I found myself with a little portfolio of multifamily properties with a full-time property manager and a full-time maintenance technician, and i had a realtor call me, one of the realtors who sold me one of my buildings, and he said, this was at this point 2014, no, it was 2015, and he said, Jacob, I'm selling these properties like hotcakes, but a lot to investors from DC, New York, Florida, California,
00:28:49
Speaker
and they need someone to manage these assets. The problem is these assets create a bit of a challenge in the sense that they require professional management, and that means maintenance, compliance, reporting,
00:29:07
Speaker
and the big guys don't want to deal with them. Why? Because you can't ah set up a full-time property manager 12-unit building. The numbers just don't work.
00:29:18
Speaker
So there's a lot of logistics involved. Obviously in 2025, we harness a lot of technology to be able to help with that. But at the time, it required a lot of being able to juggle multiple balls. So like anything else, any opportunity that showed up, I was young and naive and i said, sure, I'll handle that.
00:29:38
Speaker
And so I jumped into the property management business in 2015 and I've built it since then. And thank God that's going well. um do you do How much do you, in today's, I guess, world, a snapshot of ah Ford as to what it is today, how many do you have pe staff that are doing this full-time for you? Yeah, I... i was very, very heavily involved on a day-to-day basis. I've taken a bit of a step back in terms of setting up good processes and having really incredible people.
00:30:09
Speaker
It's to be successful, particularly in the property management business and in the property management business in Baltimore City, you need superstars. It's not enough to have decent people or even good people. You need superstars who can go to bat for you.
00:30:23
Speaker
And obviously that requires you being a good employer and lot of lessons learned between 2015 and now yeah in terms of how to be a good employer and what people value and beyond just the salary yeah and creating a good environment and a good culture.
00:30:40
Speaker
And so I think that that that is something that also took a lot of time to learn and to understand that we were joking around a little bit before we started that we're in this business because of the mental health aspect of it.
00:30:56
Speaker
And I truly believe that. I think that being successful in this business requires the ability to deal with the most stressful situations in a way where you are the calming voice.
00:31:06
Speaker
i would I always tell people it's House is a house. I've sold a lot of them at this point. And it's, it's to me, the most fascinating part, the part that keeps me engaged. It's the human aspect.
00:31:17
Speaker
It's the almost acting as an unlicensed psychiatrist. And I do manage a few properties, not as much as yours, not even close, but um and management is very time intensive. And I don't have the systems and processes to manage hundreds of units like you do. That to it's ah that is a very complex, my hat's off my hat goes off to you because That is challenging. I've been in the city.
00:31:40
Speaker
um do not If you're listening to this, do not call Matt Ryan to to help you ah manage your property in the city. Call Jacob. That is a whole different beast. um I'm happy to to help elsewhere, but not there.
00:31:52
Speaker
um It's challenging, and there's a lot of red tape. um It's a very tenant-friendly location. It is not a landlord-friendly location, and ah it's challenging. and i just I know, especially when you say you were young trying to figure out how to do it,
00:32:07
Speaker
It's brutal. And um yeah, so I've gone through those pains. And by the way, I sold all my properties in the city through that process because you have to be willing to really continue and fight through it and build and grow and make it worth it.
00:32:20
Speaker
I wasn't willing to build up enough assets in the city to make that journey worth it for me personally. So I divested from that personally, but lots of people that find success in that environment.
00:32:30
Speaker
I just did not feel like that was the path for me. But I know lots of people, including yourself, that have made ah quite a good living doing just that. Yeah, and I think your story is, i think, a common one that I hear.
00:32:45
Speaker
And I certainly hope... because as we've been talking now for a while, when you get down to it, if you were to sit and have a lunch with the mayor and with people who affect the day-to-day real estate and the investment, they're good people.
00:33:02
Speaker
yeah They're people who want what's best for the city. I think that being able to find ah right the right way to create an environment where people don't say what you say, but rather say, hey, my investments have grown and I've been able to find success is very, very important.
00:33:21
Speaker
I think that it requires a cultural change, which I'm always hopeful that will happen. But obviously when it comes to investments and particular real estate, ah ah person needs to be able to analyze them, putting aside the emotions and and hope doesn't necessarily ah play a big factor. Obviously there's always that little factor in the back. Hey, I hope I crushed this deal, but the numbers still have to make sense where even if your hope doesn't become a reality, you still have success.
00:33:56
Speaker
Well, and I think your odds of success go up dramatically when you have the experience to know what you're doing. It's that learning process. It's that initial, if I've learned anything, I am happy to write checks now that I didn't want to write previously. And one of those checks happened to be for property management folks that know what they're doing.
00:34:13
Speaker
One of them happened to be for people that, you saw, you know, shameless plug, but to real estate agents that actually know what they're doing. So there are lots of people that claim to be both of these things. And if they're not great,
00:34:25
Speaker
Not like you said, not average, not okay, not like not anything good, but great. They are so worth it. And it's same thing with an attorney, any professional, right? Anybody that you choose to hire, like look for someone that is exceedingly good at that, at their role and are actually happy in their role. Like you kind of get tell they get joy from it.
00:34:42
Speaker
They derive some of their, their person at, from it. Like I am what I do to a large extent. Like it's my family and my career that those are my things that are currently me. And so I think that's why I would like to say I'm really excellent in what I do because it it is, if you had a something negative to say about what I did for you as a client, it affects me personally. It's who I, like I self-identify with that at this point.
00:35:05
Speaker
Maybe that's not the case in 20 years, but today that is. And so I try to find people that identify with their career to some extent. and And I kind of feel like that's what I'm hearing from you to is to some extent.
00:35:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think that
00:35:22
Speaker
you see the value of what it is that you do, and you start understanding that you are an expert in what it is that you do, and you wanna surround yourself with other experts. Like you said, I love dealing with certain other vendors they're just really good at what they do they're not always the most expensive they're not always the been in business forever but they're really good at what they do and they find joy in what they do and so passion correct that i have uh one gentleman uh from nigeria and we use him to do hauling and and and trash
00:35:58
Speaker
He absolutely loves what he does and he is really good at it. And he's persistent and consistent and the guy owns a couple of investment properties as well.
00:36:11
Speaker
it's ah People a lot of times find that, well, if this is what I do, this is all that I do. And and the answer is no, find something that you're really passionate about and that you have the right skillset. sure Do it successfully.
Inspiring Real Estate Investment in Immigrant Communities
00:36:22
Speaker
Other opportunities will come along the way that won't limit you to just being that.
00:36:27
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So you can help people see the world of real estate investment that are not in this world at all. I will say um I'm very proud that I have helped lots of people to put their toes in this water that we have of real estate beyond just buying their home that they live in with their family.
00:36:46
Speaker
um i I just I love to discuss it. Not everyone wants to do it. That's not a journey everybody wants to take, but I always mention it. And I think it's incredible to be a part of why that might be something that they eventually do, because then it's one of the the things that they consider they're most proud of, like later down the road, that they've been able to do something they thought they'd never do.
00:37:06
Speaker
and i know i've had a i played a role in that and i think that's incredible um and it kind of goes back to something more specifically we said regarding immigration regarding baltimore one of the things you mentioned to me is that an idea that you have is to include that this opportunity of real estate to people that have immigrated to this country And do it in a, maybe a ah more structured approach or oh an approach that allows them the opportunity to improve properties, own real estate, and it can change really the outcome and the future of their family.
00:37:44
Speaker
um I think it's on, it's on, like no one can, can question the fact that real estate has a meaningful, um difference in someone's long-term net worth.
00:37:55
Speaker
And I think, have you ever seen a statistic between a renter and an owner at age 65 in terms of their net worth? It is dramatic. Traditionally, i think what's, and I'm going to butcher this, I'm sure you can Google the actual number, but it's like,
00:38:08
Speaker
$14,000 net worth for someone 65. It's like so low you wouldn't believe it if they're a renter. And if they're a property owner, it's like $485,000. I'm butchering the numbers, but it's in that in that same um line of thinking. And it's generally whatever the price of the average home is um in their areas, roughly what most people have in terms of their net worth. It's shocking.
00:38:31
Speaker
Right. Right, right. and So when you said that to me in terms of what we could do in a way to help Baltimore is to give these opportunities and it's not only helping the community, but helping the family trees. And it's so I want you to elaborate on that because you just touched on it and I stopped you in your tracks and said, you need to describe that here. yeah So I want to give you that opportunity.
00:38:51
Speaker
Yeah. So I would say just to sort of finish my journey in terms of where I am today. um I am a Vice President of Business Development for Mikasa Tidal. We're a title company, a local title company here in Baltimore. We do title all over the United States, but we mainly focus on on Maryland and the DMV area.
00:39:15
Speaker
And my my boss, who I consider a close friend, Mark Gaylor, is an incredible attorney and he's from Peru. And so we share, to a certain degree, a similar story in terms of both of us ah coming from South America and being able to come to this country and understand the opportunities of this country give us, it's probably a refrain that my kids are tired of hearing, but around our table when we discuss our lives and what's going on, and and then we also talk about gratitude and the blessings that we have, i try so hard to,
00:39:54
Speaker
explain it to them because they don't know any other reality. But this country gives people tremendous opportunities so to be what they want, how they want, where they want. And as an immigrant, I feel so incredibly grateful that I was able to see both sides of it. And and so I walk around understanding that, holy cow, I can do this if I want to.
00:40:20
Speaker
Many places that I've visited and friends that I know from different countries do not have that option, do not have those opportunities. So I think that when thinking in terms of why people make the arduous trip across hundreds of miles in unknown territories.
00:40:40
Speaker
Correct. People don't begin to understand that. um If you've been living here and and they come here because the opportunities that are here that we at times take for granted.
Role in Real Estate Transactions
00:40:52
Speaker
When I go to a nose game and that national anthem comes on, I to me that means something. It means freedoms that. many people don't have, both for me as an immigrant, as a Jewish person, it's an incredible blessing. And so that's something that I really try to give over to my kids and anyone who listen, really, people who listen and they say, oh, that's interesting, you're from here and here, and also haven't lived here your whole life. I said, no, and and this is an incredible country, even with all of its failings, even with all of its challenges, it's an incredible country. So,
00:41:30
Speaker
I think that what attracted me to work in the title business was sort of the I think the same the same sort of underlying principle that we've been talking about, which is being in the calming presence. And with any real estate transaction, title and closing is is the end of it.
00:41:49
Speaker
And there's so many different steps that lead up to that point. There's so many stakeholders, whether you're buying $100,000 investment you're buying a $20 million dollars apartment complex.
00:42:00
Speaker
There's so many different stakeholders, whether it's the mortgage brokers, the the lawyers, the real estate brokers, and everybody has a stake in this transaction. And being the final sort of step, and i know my timing might be off here, but you know i describe describe the best describe to people is you're landing a plane.
00:42:21
Speaker
And... People want to know that the pilot knows what he's doing and they're landing and in in in the right gate and they're going to get me home. And so to a large degree, we're dealing with high stressful situations and it's our job, particularly from a title business and even the management business, to be a calming voice, a voice of reason, and and be able to give people who might not have had the courage to jump into the real estate world, whether it be buying a home or
00:42:53
Speaker
investing to be able to say, hey, I got you. i'llll I'll help you get there. and so And so what I've seen since I've started in this business, since I've been in Baltimore, is the fact that the Latino community that has arrived here, and they are all over. They're in Baltimore City, County. I've visited people in and Frederick, in Annapolis. And you have a large group of your businesses in the Latino community, right? What percentage would you say?
00:43:20
Speaker
I would say at at least 50%. It's significant. And so what I see from the Latino community are people who have tremendous work ethic and live every day with a hope of being able to accomplish something and be able to give their children a better future than they they had or than they would have had had they stayed in their particular countries.
00:43:48
Speaker
And so i think that with that kind of mindset, what I've seen is the the fact that Latinos have created tremendous businesses, tremendous communities, and they have made their presence very much felt in the real estate world.
00:44:10
Speaker
And to a certain degree, i think cities like Baltimore that, like we said, have some challenging environments, in terms of investing and and maybe dissuade some people from investing because for them, the time and the effort and some of the headache might not be worth it you're an immigrant that showed up to to this country with a shirt ah on your back, nothing nothing really scares you.
00:44:36
Speaker
Even if things don't go well, so what? I'll start over over again. i did it once, why can't I do it again? And I think that kind of mentality is so important and is gives him ah ah gives the Latino community a distinct advantage in terms of investing in real estate.
00:44:56
Speaker
they don't really fear much in terms of what happens if it doesn't go well. And I think a lot of times we, Don't give ourselves opportunities to find joy in different things. Forget investment, even other things in life, because we're afraid of what if it doesn't go well. I mean, i we're in a beautiful studio here and I'm literally looking at some beautiful guitars.
00:45:22
Speaker
It took me a long time to finally have the courage to pick up the phone and call a guy and say, hey, I want you to teach me how to play guitar. I love music. I love singing. i sing in my synagogue and I said I'd love to learn how to play guitar.
00:45:36
Speaker
What stopped me? I'm i'm in my 40s. Probably just fear of not being able to do it. but I just turned 40 and guess who's taking lessons for the first time. So I'm right there with you, buddy. Amazing. It does take yeah it takes some ah courage and some... Talk about humble.
00:45:50
Speaker
you know You want to want to be slashed and it doesn't quite happen overnight. Yeah, i think I think it takes a certain courage to say, i don't know this, but i I can figure it out and I might not be the best ah at it, but that's okay.
00:46:02
Speaker
And I think that that's something that when I'm surrounded with latin ah with the Latino community that I've gotten to know, I feel that energy. I feel the sense of,
00:46:14
Speaker
Anything's possible. Let's do it. But my question is, if if the Latino community, and I've seen it, I work with them, right?
Latino Community's Impact on Real Estate
00:46:21
Speaker
So I have clients and I have, I have, i have ever like the Latino communities here, and by the way, they are, Latinos in general, are gonna be the most, they're gonna be the most populated, um what do you call that, a class of folks, right? Ethnicity in this country, very soon.
00:46:37
Speaker
So it's known no longer ah minority of the population, it'll be a majority. They will be the largest percentage of new homeowners in this country in the next 10 years, by far, it's Latinos.
00:46:49
Speaker
And they still are undervalued and underserved, still today. And it always shocks me and that it it's true. Everyone knows the facts I'm saying are 100% accurate. And so it's like if you're the first to be able to offer value and you're in the title side of business,
00:47:05
Speaker
I'm on the agent side. It's like I want to represent them. I want to give them these opportunities because they're going to get, one way or the other, it's going to happen, in my opinion. it's The writing's on the wall, so why not facilitate the opportunity to be part of that process?
00:47:19
Speaker
And so it's a business opportunity. that's but ah To your point, that's the great thing about America, right? It's definitely that opportunity is there. You have the vision. Give someone that opportunity, and everyone's going to, you'll have a profitable business. Find a way to help them win.
00:47:34
Speaker
And, but there's a lot of steps to make that happen. But I, what I get excited about is the idea that there's so much opportunity in Baltimore and other cities like it that need, that something has to change status quo for the next 50 years. If we don't change anything, is it, what's going to, what is it going to be any better?
00:47:51
Speaker
Like, and I feel like my whole life having been here forever, right? All these generations. Baltimore has always had that, oh, yes, like change is coming. Like i like we all are very hopeful. And then it's like a 20-year cycle of, well, that didn't work. And then there's there's all this corruption. And then there's this happened. And the money where did the money go? And, right, it's just like I've heard this cycle a billion times. it...
00:48:13
Speaker
it I think we're at an opportunity where they could actually change. And I think giving, like, I remember when they would sell blocks of homes for like $5. Do you remember that? Or a thousand bucks or whatever it was. It was like a nominal fee by a block, but you had to renovate.
00:48:28
Speaker
Right. And so I don't, are there any programs you're aware of? Is there, like, is anyone starting to do what you're suggesting or is this just a thought or is this just an idea? Well, I know there is a program the city called One House at a Time that sells a lot of these distressed assets by auction.
00:48:47
Speaker
I've been to a couple of those recently. It's filled with Latino investors. So, yes, I agree with your assessment in terms of we constantly hear, this is going to be a new dawn and New age where this politician and that.
00:49:06
Speaker
And to me, the answer is we cannot rely on those folks while, again, some of them are doing great work and they're doing important work.
00:49:17
Speaker
What's happening on the grassroots level is what's going to make a change. And like I said, there are certain neighborhoods. I'm sitting there in that auction. And again, I've had my experience with some of these neighborhoods and i'm I see a a property and an address go up and my first thought is,
00:49:37
Speaker
No, and and you see these folks jumping in with enthusiasm. And I said, you know what, sometimes it's the the naivete and the fact that I can do it.
00:49:52
Speaker
That that's sort of like simple, I'm gonna call simple-mindedness, but like simple thought process is what's gonna affect change. And you're already seeing it. There are neighborhoods that had no,
00:50:08
Speaker
no activity, no investment that are now seeing investments. We have at McCast's title, we have one client that bought a property in a very distressed neighborhood, then bought a second, and then bought a third, and his community and people heard about it, and they know that he's a good man.
00:50:27
Speaker
And it's it's actually husband and wife team, they're a powerhouse. And a couple people said, hey, you already own a a few. I'll i'll ah rent from you. They moved to neighborhood that maybe was on the outskirts of where they would have moved.
00:50:40
Speaker
Now he owns about 15 houses on two blocks. right and and And to me, that's... That's what's gonna improve and wanna call save the the city and and save cities like Baltimore.
00:50:54
Speaker
That is the way it's going to happen. and And amongst themselves, they they see a lot of opportunities and they're very optimistic about those opportunities.
00:51:04
Speaker
They're very joyful about the simple things in life. right and And so to me, that is how things are going to improve and change. Sure, happen to personally know David Bramble, who is a wonderful human being and he's a developer and he's all in a Baltimore city. He's told me numerous times Baltimore city is undervalued.
00:51:25
Speaker
and he's working on some tremendous projects. To me, it's not the success of his projects that going to change the trajectory of this city. It's really what's happening on the grassroots and granular level, the one-house-at-a-time kind of investments that are going to have a cosmic effect. And it might not happen now, or in two years, or in five years, but definitely when we look back, I would say in 15, 20 years, where we are going to see that.
00:51:51
Speaker
And so with that in mind, some of what's happening now with some of the immigration policies and some of the things that are happening now, I think are very concerning, and both from a human perspective and from an investment perspective as well.
00:52:05
Speaker
And if I have seen anything from this administration is the fact that they are hyper-focused on the budget and the wealth of this country, both from balancing or trying to stem some of the financial woes that the country finds itself in and and ensuring that the the financial power that this country wields on an international level continues to continues to to be present. And so there are times where I sort of find myself confused to what what what exactly is happening, what's the end game?
Challenges and Nuances of Immigration Policy
00:52:43
Speaker
We've obviously seen a tremendous amount of activity in terms of ICE and and immigration. and And again, i I don't want to do a deep dive into into politics, but certainly i can appreciate the importance of securing borders and making sure that we know who's coming in and and how it's happening and and making sure that people who all have bad intentions, you know, people who have criminal intentions and other and other sort of intentions are not part of, do not come to this country and and create negativity, whether it's drugs or anything else.
00:53:18
Speaker
At the same time, our our country right now is thriving and surviving and and thriving as a result of the Latino community. So... Well, we need immigration. And I think...
00:53:30
Speaker
We're a whole country of immigrants. Our birth rate is no different than most of these other areas, like the birth rate of most civilized countries that are that are well um that are prosperous. The longer you've been prosperous, the lower the birth rate. It's just these are facts.
00:53:45
Speaker
There's only two groups of individuals, honestly, groups, if you will, of people that continue to. that give birth more than than um than others, and it's really the religious communities, and it's ah really minority communities that are trying to better themselves.
00:54:02
Speaker
And then it's just, I've seen all these studies where if you've been, if your family socioeconomically continues to grow, you have less children, and that's proven out to be in Europe, that's proven all over the place, and it's gonna lead to the demise. Like you have like Japan that has one of the strongest immigration policies. They don't allow anybody. It's hard to get over there.
00:54:21
Speaker
and the it's collapsing, the infrastructure is gonna collapse in and on itself because of birth rate. And it's like I've heard people discuss it, and it's like like everyone says, oh, we have too many people on this planet. Well, there's there's two different things. It's like resources are one, but also the socioeconomic policies you have ah to support your country is another. We need a growing population. We need a growing tax base. We have, it's like all these things, and so I think we have to support immigration, but you have to know who's coming,
00:54:49
Speaker
And you have to, um I think, if you I would welcome people in in ah in ah and have an actual streamlined approach in but then ah give them the opportunity not to have to struggle and fight and become part of quote unquote a problem, but give them the opportunity to make everything better.
00:55:06
Speaker
And I think, because all people, most people want is an opportunity. Don't you think I think if you but if you don't give someone the opportunity, then yeah like I'm a father, yeah take away my opportunities in the way I currently have it.
00:55:19
Speaker
I'll do whatever it takes. And I'm no different than anybody else. Like I'm no better than anybody else either. i don't think any of us are like we're humans. so Right. So I think I think it's. Being smart enough to find a way to create opportunities for others that improve the general society at large, not just... Does that make sense? It's more of a layered approach.
00:55:39
Speaker
And i I have no answers to this because that's I would take a truly... you know Someone, this has to be their career this whole their passion, their everything. Right. But at least I think I have enough common sense to know you need to have some ah some version of that.
00:55:53
Speaker
And I know lots of people that are just kick everybody out. It's like a very that, you know, it's, you know, yeah, I think very dismissive approach. Yeah, I think I think, number one, we have to understand that.
00:56:07
Speaker
If we lived on this earth long enough, life is complex. There's nuance. And again, it gets back to not putting a 140 word soundbite on X. In order to really understand something and be able to truly get to the heart of something requires time because you need to talk things out and you need to be able to understand the nuance of things.
00:56:32
Speaker
I think people who are successful in life have that approach. and But that of requires patience. And I would say, including myself, but we don't have a lot of patience. We've lost it.
00:56:44
Speaker
The ability to get things instantaneously have has withered away our ability to be patient and to allow processes to to kind of come to fruition. I would say it's a complex problem.
00:56:57
Speaker
It is most certainly is, and it requires a lot of smart people to be able to put their heads together and be able to figure it out. And and i think that no matter what policies you put into place, nothing will be perfect.
00:57:11
Speaker
Why? Because you have to put policies a lot of times for the general public. And when you make a policy for the general public, individuals will get lost and will fall through the cracks.
00:57:23
Speaker
That is inevitable. That is just inevitable because we're human beings. There is no perfect system. AI may find it. I don't know. That is something- That's also really scary. Correct. that That is way beyond my pay grade and and something that I'm infinitely curious about, but very hesitant, like you said, in terms of just not knowing how it you know ah how it'll it'll go. But- Did you know, it's just, i had to add something, you just mentioned AI. just read, I'm not about AI and and the advancements and what's happening, but the current, for example, Grok, Grok 3, it's embedded in X. It has the largest ah compute power currently in the world.
00:58:01
Speaker
And it's growing in terms of biological age, in terms of our education level. um It used to be an infant, and now it's kind of like you know and like in that graduate level, like getting a professional degree is what I was described.
00:58:15
Speaker
And the compute power is so strong as of right now with Grok 3. Every 12 hours, basically like by the time you wake up in the morning, it's advanced five years in biological
AI Technology and Industry Impact
00:58:26
Speaker
years. like It went from 20 to 25 in terms of your knowledge.
00:58:30
Speaker
And the rate of growth will be so exponential. that i I was, you know, I listened to some pretty geeky stuff, as you might imagine, and they were describing by 2030, it will be unrecognizable to the average person.
00:58:44
Speaker
And what does that mean? It's it's just crazy. And just even our line of work, you're entitled, I'm in real estate. I don't, I don't think any of us should be so bold to say we know what's going to happen. That's why I think compassion for other humans, it's, it's, and not every country respects truth seeking.
00:59:00
Speaker
And I think being truth seeking with AI is very, very important and no one seems to care. It's a rush to the first position. so Yeah, because there's a lot of money involved. So obviously that that always will bring everybody to the forefront and yeah create a certain amount of recklessness, which again, like you said, is very is very scary.
00:59:18
Speaker
At the same time, i was listening to an interview of someone who has has become a um whistleblower, if you will. This is a person who was interesting. This woman, it was a woman, she um yeah is deaf, so she's using hand signals in this interview and an interpreter helping with the with the interview and she's a data scientist and using AI was able to
00:59:53
Speaker
a lot of a lot of relationships between some of our politicians and some of the, I guess, aid that the government was was giving out.
01:00:08
Speaker
and the fact that it was giving it out to a lot of these nonprofits that were being run by families and relationships of these politicians and how there's an inherent conflict of interest. And she said, ah use AI to go through hundreds and thousands of pages and documentation to be able to say, oh this person who happens to be cousins with that person who's the head of that NGO is receiving money and and and That therefore means that this person's sister-in-law, the positive sister-in-law, is the director of this and this organization that's inherently receiving money through, and and using AI to be able to get that. And to me, that was just mind-boggling. She said,
01:00:54
Speaker
She said being able to make that connection would have required, without AI, would have required hundreds of hours worth of work. and and And obviously, the fact that before AI, this obviously has been happening consistently is because if you layer things enough, you can get away with a lot of things. Wait until if they ever switch to blockchain and we actually know where the money is. Correct. Things will change. People who don't understand what blockchain is. It's it's a fascinating technology.
01:01:21
Speaker
If we did that with our taxpayer dollars, when you pay your taxes, I don't we would really know where this money is. And that's why, I don't know, it's ah it's a wild time. This is all
Conclusion: Chaos and Growth Opportunities
01:01:31
Speaker
I have to say. But idea you know I want to be respectful. It's been an hour. i could talk to you for the next two hours probably. um So I want to be respectful of your time. But it but you know I just think it's really fascinating to at least know and it's and it's encouraging to know that we have someone like you in Baltimore City that's managing properties. And I think I can...
01:01:51
Speaker
I feel like I've been in a you know a little touch of religion in the sense that your your studies and you even said this is what you listen to in podcasts. I think you're so you're spiritually connected, and I think it's it's something i can I noticed even when I met you the first time I met you. it's just a very It's an interesting thing. I think ah a lot of the spiritual guidance most people have is either absent entirely or it's faded because it's not, you know, I think the number of folks that I know locally that are religious or very, it's very few and far between these days compared to even when I was a child.
01:02:23
Speaker
And um so I think some of that seeking um hopefully will come back for folks. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that that I think it helps you to be compassionate. think it helps to view. i don't know. I think it helps to um craft your views or at least the thoughts that I've heard here today.
01:02:42
Speaker
um Some of that has gone through the prism of religious training. yeah yeah and i i think it comes down to a very basic idea and the idea is that every human being you know and and again i'm not here to espouse a person believing in one thing over another in terms of deities and religion and things like that i think we all have within us while we're alive a spirit and and a soul and that soul and that spirit is what
01:03:13
Speaker
pulls us towards meaning in life. Otherwise we would just be people who live and we die and and and and and that would be the end of it. And we need nourishment and and that's it. but But the fact that all of us seek something more, right validation, love, joy, all of that comes from something deep down inside of us. Call it your heart, call it your soul, call it whatever it is that you want.
01:03:38
Speaker
And I think that in that regard, the more you're able to be in touch with it internally in terms of how you function and and those around you, you're able to then look at other people in that way.
01:03:51
Speaker
and i think And I think that to me, that's the hopes in terms of how all this shakes out, which is, you know putting aside the investment and the real estate, which is important, obviously, and it affects our daily lives, you know these are hardworking folks, these are family folks, these are people who have hopes and ambitions and find joy in the in the and the meaningful things of life.
01:04:14
Speaker
And i want more than anything for them to be happy and successful. and And so to the entire Latino community, you know I think it's important that they know that we care about them, that we want them to be successful.
01:04:29
Speaker
um No matter where you are politically, I think i think it's important to know that Just like everybody else, they they have joy, they have they cry, they laugh, they sit around the table you know with family and do the same things that all of us do.
01:04:46
Speaker
And I think that once we find that commonality and find a way to sort of I think that, you know, the beginning of this whole administration, there's a lot of boom and a lot of ah banging.
01:05:01
Speaker
When things start calming down, I'm hoping that it'll create some sort of process and system so that people can feel like they can stay um if they you know meet certain criteria and that they can continue being able to be successful. And and contributing members of society, which I think, like you said, this country desperately needs. We need contributing members of society, contributing in terms of paying taxes, in terms of schools, in terms of doing certain jobs, um in terms of being um activists, all of it. we we need We need all of it, and everyone has something to contribute.
01:05:38
Speaker
And I think once we sort of take away the the names and the putting people into a certain group, and we just see each other as humans with a soul and with ambitions and with wanting to just find meaning in life, things will sort of normalize and calm itself. And obviously, that that's I pray for that every day.
01:05:59
Speaker
Well, that's a good way to and to to end this conversation for at least today. But I will say, no matter what your political stance are, the fact we have someone that's so polarizing, it creates I don't think I'd have this conversation a year ago on this platform.
01:06:14
Speaker
So I think it forces us to have conversation and forces us to us to reflect on what matters to us. and there is some benefit in chaos almost in the sense that you hopefully will have more, um i don't know, more a deeper perspective or deeper look into policy and what is right, and and might not be right now, but maybe we have people that might be more involved and more activist, and have, does that make sense, have more um influence, and it might make someone who wasn't involved in this at all potentially want to help it to be what they think it could be,
01:06:49
Speaker
And so I try to, once again, always remain positive and optimistic. And so I just, that's the that's the only optimistic vantage I can really take is that hopefully at the end of all the chaos is ah is a more humanistic approach that allows value, opportunity, and um safety for the country. So that's how I choose to look at it. And I think the way that you, you know, you were just so well-spoken and in articulate. So,
01:07:14
Speaker
Hopefully, people out there, if you're looking um and want to know someone here in Baltimore, Jacob's information will be on this podcast. And certainly for title work and for for property management and for spiritual guidance, Jacob is here. Oh, gosh.
01:07:29
Speaker
I'm not licensed for the last one, but I certainly am always happy to to talk and I find so much meaning in listening to people's stories. And just to sort of finish what the thought that said in terms of chaos, with any sort of chaos or uncertainty comes opportunity for growth.
01:07:50
Speaker
And that's, I think that's, it's how you choose to view it, right? So, oh, i don't know what's happening, all this crazy stuff. Okay, is an opportunity for me, you know I happen to know someone who is not documented.
01:08:03
Speaker
How can I be more compassionate? How can i listen to them a little bit longer today because they're on edge and be able to give them a little bit of peace of mind.
01:08:15
Speaker
That is to me is is is the important aspect of within chaos, yes, we are forced to have conversations that maybe we didn't wanna have or we weren't comfortable and that's a good thing. and we can also find opportunities to give and that i think is very meaningful very nice well we'll end it there thank you jacob so much for joining me today thanks for having me out this was unbelievable i wish i could do this all day every day if i find a way to make a good living out of just sitting and talking all day that would be fantastic they're not us but there lots of people do well my dad did he's a rabbi so you go there you go thank you so much for having me god i appreciate it all right