Real Takk Podcast

Episode 17: Martin Newman, Condos & Cars, Town Real Estate, The Foundation, The Beginning, The Formative Years

If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. not to sound cliche, but nothing is ever handed out. In most of any business,  some things aren’t even in the open for you to grab in the first place.   You have to seek it out and put yourself out there. In an industry where every listing, buyer, client, and business opportunity is extremely coveted, a high level of hustle is always required at any stage in your career. Who knows where Marty would have been right now if he didn’t make an effort to gather courage to get in front of a camera and create “Condos & Cars with Martin Newman”. The moral of the story is, whatever you don’t do, won’t come to life. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. What other metaphors do you need?  It’s so universal because it’s so true. So be bold, spark that conversation, and show that enthusiasm that you have.
 
Martin & I met about 9 years ago in 2011 at Town residential.  We were in our mid 20’s, both hustling our exclusive rental listings, running up walk ups, and figuring out ways on growing our business.  Williamsburg wasn’t much of a neighborhood then, and the Hudson Yards was still a vacant parking lot for the MTA trains. 
 
Martin hails from CT, and moved to NYC after graduating Southern CT state university.  His love for real estate began in his late teens after operating his own property management business. He joined Compass in 2018, and recently founded his own social media channel condos and cars.  He lives in the west village with his girlfriend, but has also lived in North Williamsburg, South Williamsburg, & Union Square. You may follow him on IG at @martinnewman & his Youtube Channel “Condos & cars with Martin Newman.”

Episode 16: Levi Meyer Representing Compass of Miami

We’re kicking off 2020 in the best way possible on my platform.  Last week, I had the opportunity to get my good friend Lane Johnson from Aspen, and today, we have our South Beach / Miami extraordinaire Levi Meyer joining me on what will be an awesome episode of Real Takk.  
Like I said before, behind every business individual, there is a subconscious library of influences that shapes who we are. It’s easy to forget that our ideas are actually the manifestations of our life experiences. Our business work ethic & style is an outward expression of our past & current habits.  Whether you’re running a real estate business engrossed in the fabric & culture of Aspen Colorado & its people, hiking up the Highland Bowl, hanging out at The Nell, taking clients out to Cloud 9, and skiing / fishing the back country while navigating the thousands of acres of White River National Forest like your back yard, or you’re a surfer broker that frequents Montauk & sips cocktails with clients at Gurneys , Real estate & any business in general is a summary of exactly that.  And speaking of subconscious library of influences that shapes who you are as a business person, Levi is part of the cultural fabric of just that, but in Miami Florida.  While he is a super broker in his own way, listing trophy properties like the Porsche Design Tower #2901, & closing waterfront lots & beachside homes off south beach, he can be seen hanging out at 1-800 lucky at The Wynwood, & taking his family on his boat through the ocean channels of Miami.  
 
Levi & I met in Aspen in the summer of 2014 when we opened up our first Compass office in Colorado.  He’s not a winter guy what so ever, so I’m happy to have met him in a city where the primary activities are known for winter sports.  
 
He’s a Miami native that understands & appreciates the diverse & ever-changing landscape of South Florida.  Throughout his dynamic real estate career, Levi has received numerous accolades including annual ‘Top Producer’, and ‘‘Most Innovative Marketing’ as well as media recognition for several record breaking sales.  He’s 1 of 10 siblings, (he has 4 sisters & 5 brothers) grew up in his younger years in Virginia, and prior to real estate had stint as a Defense Contracting Manager working alongside the Department of Defense, sourcing $50M in goods to the US DOD in Iraq & Afghanistan.  Levi is father of two & wife to Lauren.  You may follow his personal IG at @levimeyerre and his business IG at: @themeyergroupRE
 

Episode 15: Lane Johnson, Representing Aspen Colorado, Where the Beer Flows like Wine

We closed out 19 right with the last interview with my guy Lane Johnson.  Every businessperson is comprised of a subconscious library of influences that shapes who you are as a business person.  Lane is part of the cultural fabric of Aspen Colorado.  While he is a super broker in his own way, listing a $24M compound that brings 8 homes on the property this year (2020), to $15M homes on red mountain, he’s also a dedicated skier, camper, raft guide, & a sponsored Lulu Lemon Athlete Ambassador.  He teaches a skinning class in the morning, where he’ll lead a group up Buttermilk mountain in 7 degree weather, taking visitors on hidden shrine tours hidden tree runs of Ajax mountain, all while showing the most prime mansions & condos in the Aspen Core market. 
Lane & I met here in Aspen in the summer of 2014 when we opened up our first Compass office in Colorado. If you're interested in the real estate market in the Aspen area, or simply want to explore what life is like in Aspen, Lane comes with a wealth of incredible knowledge & definitely someone you should speak to.  You may follow him on IG at @lanerjohnson, or simply email him at Lane@compass.com 
 

Episode 14: The Wydler Brothers of Compass, DC, MD, & VA

Welcome to the latest edition of the Real Takk Podcast.  Today we bring on The Wydler Brothers, which consist of brothers Hans and Steve Wydler, along with 18 agents & 6 support staff.  These guys have a brotherly banter that is infectious, a wealth of real estate & leadership knowledge, and an overall sense of integrity that they both bring to their business practice. Give this one a listen.  
They’ve been selling residential real estate for almost 20 years in the DMV  (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area. They’ve built the highest producing team in the DMV, & has  become the top 25 teams in the  U.S. according to The Wall St. Journal.  
Hans has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Yale University.  He lives in Bethesda with his wife and their two children. He started his career is a Director of Online Classified for the WaPo in 1994, & after a few years working in other tech related firms he joined Long & Forster in 2001.  (& for those that don’t know they’re an affiliate of Christie's based near where we are in Chantilly VA & founded in Fairfax county.) 
Steve is a reformed transactional lawyer turned real estate broker. He lives in McLean with his two daughters & an Aussie Doodle. Steve graduated from Dartmouth, was top of his class at New York City's International Bartenders School, and received a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. Upon graduation he worked as an Associate at Pillsbury Winthrop, then become assistant general counsel for AOL in 1998 for almost 10 years. He joined real estate in 2012 after founding FiveStreet, a real estate lead conversion tool that helps optimize real estate brokers consumer interactions online. 
 
 
Please follow them on IG at @wydlerbrothers 

Episode 13: Megan Probst Representing Compass South Florida

It's my pleasure to have Megan Probst on my show today!  Megan is a Broker Associate at Compass representing our South Florida office! She joined our Compass team over two years ago after working as VP of sales & marketing for Florida developer "Invesca Development Group", where she spearheaded the launch of their sales & marketing platform, as well as experienced representing their new development as part of their in house sales team, representing over $500M worth of residential & commercial mixed use projects along Pompano Beach & Plantation FL.  
Megan was born in Jamaica, but grew up in South Florida where she gained intimate knowledge of cities spanning across West Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade. In this episode we cover topics from how she got into our business, where she is going next, what you should invest in if you had an investment budget of $1M-$5M, and the up & coming areas of South Florida.  You want to be in the know, so give this a listen!
You may follow her at @meganrobst_compass on instagram, as well as Megan Probst on FB & youtube channel.  

Episode 12: Nick Svensson Representing Santa Barbara & Montecito California

This is a special episode.  If you want to meet a real life Viking, Nick is your guy.  Nick Svensson has been a licensed Agent & real estate professional since 1996, when they used to show homes in carriages led by horses  :)  Upon graduation from UCSB in 95, Nick drew early success with his first agency Fred Sands Realtors, then later joining Sotheby's International Realty in Montecito as one of the top 3% brokers out of 43K brokers nation wide. 
Born in Linköping, Sweden; Nick arrived in Santa Barbara at a mere 5 months old. While he has been excited to call Santa Barbara home since 1972; he still keeps his Swedish roots intact and is fluent in the language.
Nick & I first met in Aspen Colorado during the summer of 2016 when we opened our first Colorado flagship office there.  I'm proud to call Nick a friend, mentor, colleague, and as Reffkin our CEO would say, someone I am extremely proud to be on the same team with.

Episode 11: NYC Attorney Andrew Jorges on Building Financials, Good Deals & Bad

Happy to introduce my guy Andrew on this Real Takk pod episode.  Andrew Jorges is The Takk Team attorney representing the our clients on both the buy & sell side, & even litigation of certain aspects of a real estate deal.  As a Penn State grad majoring in Accounting, he was employed with KPMG for a year before jumping back into law school at the Cardozo School of Law in 2009.  Upon graduation, he practiced law at a small midtown shop that specialized in residential & commercial transactions, and then transitioned to one of NYC’s premiere real estate law firms known as ALB, PC. Ranked as super lawyers rising star, andrew has transacted over a thousand buy side & sell side deals during his career.  I can tell you from my personal experience, having dealt with a few dozen attorneys, most won’t compete with the level of skills Andrew can bring to the table. Just like brokers, NOT all attorneys were created equal. Some attorneys will disappear when the deal gets tough, or stop responding to emails once they get their retainer, or have their pride get in the way of closing a transaction.  Andrews been a great resource for our clients and am happy to have you on today.
 

Episode 10: Brian Renzenbrink, Software Engineer & Engineering Manager at Compass

Excited to bring in my next guest Mr. Brian Renzenbrink! Brain is a software engineer by trade, an early engineer at Compass that now leads our Infrastructure Automation Team.  At Compass, he’s responsible for technical infrastructure projects that build our internal flywheel to make our product and engineering better.  
We discuss a range of topics including early days with Rob Reffkin and his vision, how you should look at equity in a startup, what rights you have as a shareholder, defining Compass's version of "Dev Ops", and his role as managing the Engineering Teams workflow.  
 
Brain is a graduate from upstate NY, a transplant from Cincinnati Ohio, & desperately trying to retain his youth playing soccer every week & going to live shows. Brian is known known as a role model at Compass, and the young Ethan Hawke look alike.  Brian is proud to say he is both a big & little at Big Brothers Big Sisters, a national mentorship charity program.  Please follow him @BrenzenB  on IG" 
 
 
Takk Yamaguchi
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
110 5th Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York NY 10011
m: 646.397.0749
efax: 646.485.7576
Web | Team
 
NEW YORK | BROOKLYN | EAST HAMPTON | BRIDGEHAMPTON | SOUTHAMPTON | SAG HARBOR | WASHINGTON DC | CHEVY CHASE | BOSTON | CAMBRIDGE | MIAMI | COCONUT GROVE | BEVERLY HILLS | MALIBU | PASADENA | MONTECITO | SANTA BARBARA | BASALT | ASPEN | SAN FRANCISCO

Episode 9: Daisy Dolan, Senior Strategic Growth Manager with Compass

Daisy is one of the top Strategic Growth Managers at Compass.  What exactly is Strategic Growth?  She is directly responsible to be the face of the company, and the engine of our market expansion.  We discuss her up bringing, (a true New Yorker), background before joining our team, her morning routine to stay in top shape mentally & physically, & shares with us what she's seen with top brokers and what they all have in common.  This is an exciting episode & a must listen. 

Episode 8: Naomi Klein, Real Estate Broker & Founder of Compass Beverly Hills Office

Excited to host my guest Naomi Klein from Compass LA!  Hailing from farm town Bakersfield California, Naomi is the founder of our Beverly Hills office at Compass.  She has closed over $350 million dollars worth of residential, multi family & investment properties, with an impressive portfolio of clients in both LA & NYC.  Get the inside scope on her emphasis & importance of leveraging social media to build her brand & business, how she built her real estate network, & how she deals with professional athletes like Mercedes Lewis formally with with Jacksonville Jags, Rickie Nolasco formally with the Dodgers & Angels & currently an Arizona Diamondback, as well as Chad Gaudan with the Yankees & entertainers like Juicy J with 36 Mafia.  This is a fun one so please give it a listen!