Real Takk Podcast

Episode 47: Compass IPO Story, Problems with the NYC Rental Market, WSJ Article on NYC Co-Op Boards Explaining Why They Deny Buyers

Welcome to another episode of The Real Takk Pod!  Today I jump on a qucik recording by myself to tell my story & discuss the following: 
1. Compass IPO Day: Behind the scene, the story leading up to IPO day.  The financial twists & turns which affected the markets, and almost our IPO!
2. Rental problems in NYC: As a consumer, why it can be so frustrating to secure housing in NYC. The constant battle of data, brokers, owners, and the consumer that gets mixed in between.  
3. Coop Board Rejection: NYC Co-Op Boards Would Have to Explain Why They Deny Buyers, Under New Bill
Our next episode will feature Tom Dunn from Vail Colorado, our newest market & another top leader in the real estate industry!  Stay tuned & enjoy!
Follow me on IG @Takkyamaguchi Twitter: @takkyamaguchi 

Episode 46: Jared Kleinstein of Streeteasy 1.0, How It All Started, The Beginnings, Up to The Acquisition

Pleased to have my friend & Ex-industry colleague Jared Kleinstein on the pod.  Jared is the Founder & CEO of Denver-based agency Fresh Tape Media, a Denver Based creative agency that makes videos, photos, & experiences for brands, sports properties, and media companies.  His team runs a network of over 150+ of the top creators: shooters, editors, designers, writers, & social media influencers to help create media for his clients, some of them includes the Washington Capitals, Denver Broncos, NASCAR, Formula 1, the Arizona Cardinals, the CO Rockies, NFL, NBA, NCAA Basketball, MLB, Facebook & Twitter, just to name a few.   Fresh Tape has done videos on Zion Williamson when he entered the NBA draft,  took on the NCAA College football playoffs content during Media Day and Game Day, providing their social media platform with unique content to post during the finals to drive social conversation, produced the MLB 1 on 1 series with the Mariners Dee Gordon & Nelson Cruz where they vlog behind the scenes in the locker room and produced content for the CAPS as Ovechkin became the 8th player in NHL history to record 700 career goals.  
 
So WHY on earth would Jared come on my real estate podcast?  I’d say the answer is two folds:  1st, Jared was one of the original members of Streeteaasy, where he spent more than 7 years with the founding team to help build out the aggregator BEFORE Zillow purchased them for $50M back in 2013.  2nd: His knowledge of video content creation & social media is more important than ever for all small & large businesses, including real estate.  We’ll delve more into that later.  
 
A few more fun facts about Jared: 
Worked as the head of sports & International content strategy at Twitter 
Was the Founder & CEO of Tebowing.com which was the worlds largest database for tebowing photos 
He was a Vail ski instructor for 7 years 
You can follow Jared on IG & twitter at @jarzod & @frestapemedia
 

Episode 45: Greg Hart, Chief Product Officer of Compass & Ex-Amazon VP Of Alexa, Echo, Speech, and Advisor to Jeff Bezos

Greg Hart joins The Real Takk Podcast.  Greg is the Chief Product Officer of Compass.  Prior to joining our team, Greg led a 23 year career at Amazon, and most recently headed the e-commerce giant’s video streaming service.  Greg has been at the forefront of Amazon's transformation since 1997. During his tenure, he led the development and launch of their cutting edge tech of the past 20 years. He began his Amazon career in books, then moved on to product management roles including the VP of amazon video, VP of amazon echo & speech, VP & technical advisor to Jeff Bezos, & Director of videos games & software.  Now at Compass, Greg will be responsible for driving all aspects of our integrated product offering, overseeing the company's growing team of Product Managers, User Researchers and Product Marketers.  LETS GO ENJOY THIS EPISODE! 
 

Episode 44: Brittanie Rockhill, Top Broker of Aspen Colorado

I welcome Brittanie Rockhill to The Real Takk Podcast.  Brittanie is a consummate professional who quickly rose to the ranks of being the #1 agent in GCI (Gross Commission Income) for Douglas Elliman in the State of Colorado for two years in a row.  Born into one of 5 children in Colorado Springs, she learned the value of hard work through her father who still runs his own business to date.  Brittanie graduated college with a double major through qualifying for two scholarships while juggling multiple jobs at night & on weekends.  Upon entering the real estate world, she honed her skills through a mentor, then quickly became one of the most recognizable figures in the real estate brokerage industry.  (But this is no overnight success story!). Please follow her journey here.  Enjoy this episode! You may follow Brittanie on Instagram at @brittanie.rockhill.aspen or find her on FB at Brittanie Rockhill.  

Episode 43: Mike Coscetta, Chief Sales & Strategy Officer at Compass, Ex-Cutco Knives Regional Manager, Ex-Global Head of Sales @ SQUARE

Mike is the Chief Sales & Strategy Officer at Compass. Growing up in Long Island, Mike started his sales career as a Cut Co knives salesman, going door to door selling knives & eventually rising to the division manager position, responsible for the entire NYC metro & surrounding areas.   After working as the VP of sales & marketing for Structured Web, mike moved to SF to join Square, a company founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, where he advanced to become the Global Head of Sales, responsible for growing the sales and business development organization from 40 to 200+ people across 5 major countries, accounting for $1 billion in annual revenue.  At present day, Mike works with us at Compass, with his primary goal is the growth of brokers' revenue throughout the nation.
 
 
 

Episode 42: The Miami Real Estate Market is Hot! How & Why? Top Miami Broker Levi Meyer Reveals His Business

Levi Meyer is back on The Real Takk Pod to catch up on all things Florida real estate.  Why are so many New Yorkers buying real estate there?  What's selling? What's not?  Where's the demand?  Who are the buyers?  How does he find $85K/month rental in a market where no rental inventory?  Levi reveals his secrets & shares his thoughts on where things are headed.  We also delve into his recent trip to Aspen Colorado where he stayed at the iconic 2 Mile Ranch, a 244 acre property at consists of 7 custom homes, 22 bedrooms, 3 developable home sites, and 2 miles of Woody Creek frontage. (+ some furry animals that roam through every now & then!) 
 
Levi is a native Floridian 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. Check out Levi on his personal IG at @levimeyerre and his business IG at: @themeyergroupRE 
 
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Episode 41: Gordon Golub, Senior Managing Director of Compass, Ex-Citi Habitats Executive, Manager, Mentor, & Friend

Gordon is the Senior Managing Director of Compass.  He comes on the Real Takk Podcast to discuss his early days at Citi Habitats, old NYC, early days of Urban Compass, lessons he's learned in life, & what the future may hold for Compass.  He is my manager, mentor, colleague, friend, & truly a salt of the earth type person.  As a veteran broker myself, I can say with confidence that I am happy to have him in my corner during the ups & downs of operating our real estate business in NYC.  Follow Gordon on IG @golubgordon & on Linkedin. 

Episode 40:Trump Taxes, Why Amazon Pays No Fed Tax, Need to Know if You Have Startup Equity / Shares

Pleased to have my good friend Will Geeslin, CPA of the Geeslin Group on the 40th Episode of The Real Takk Podcast.  Will was our first corporate accountant at Compass, formally known as Urban Compass. Will & I connected in the summer of 2014 back at our Union Square West office when there were only 25/30 brokers, and just a few dozen staff members.  Prior to joining forces, Will worked at E&Y for 2 years honing his skills as a number cruncher.  Hailing form Atlanta Georgia Will was an ex-resident of the warren house condo in Murray Hill, has ran the NYC Marathon, & is a proud alumnus of Auburn & the Auburn Tigers Football program.  (Go Jason Campbell) 
 
FWIW:  This is not a Pro-Trump or Pro Biden pod. We’re here to discuss the birds-eye view of accounting practices that are common for real estate developers, owners, & operators as well as common misconceptions that people who earn a salary may NOT be aware of when media blasts companies like Amazon for “not paying federal taxes” (subjective look vs objective look) 
 
The Topics We Cover:  Trump's Taxes 
-“As a RE Developer, Trump paying $750 shown on his income tax? There is a reasonable explanation of how he got there” 
-Why does Trump have one of the more complicated tax returns of any President? 
-The beautify of real estate is that you get a huge non-cash deduction for what is called “depreciation” 
- What is the media not talking about when it comes to Trump paying just $750 in taxes? 
-If a business owner doesn’t want to sell a business, the goal is to show as little income as possible. 
-Bulk of developers & landlords earns schedule E, real estate related income, but taxable income for developers does not correlate to wealth. 
 
Tax evasion is bad, Tax avoidance is good: Amazon & Other Successful Tech Giants 
Amazon pays no federal income tax. Many politicians blast the fact that it’s not fair that a multi-billion dollar company pays “NO TAXES”.  It’s easy for media outlets to blast any company in tech that they ‘pay no taxes” in 280 characters via Twitter or on social, but if you think about it, does amazon really pay no taxes?  AOC & other politicians blasted them for planning hq2 in NYC b/c they don’t pay any taxes, but do these politicians really understand corporate accounting laws? So what’s really happening here? 
(Talking points) 
-Amazon never made money. If you spend more money than you make, you won’t have taxable income. 
-In short summary: “People get hung up on MNC's / Conglomerates. These organizations do not live & die by our rules. “
 
Real Estate Brokers & How They Should Pay / Manage Taxes 
#1 thing, no matter what stage you are in your career, the challenge is recording keeping. You get to the EOY and you run your biz, you get that big fat 1099 at the EOY, you spent all this money in marketing, transport, meals, etc. IC people get in trouble at EOY trying to find their expenses. You are going to make really aggressive and take deductions that you didn’t take deductions, or you don’t have enough records and you PAY MORE TAXES than you need to.  
It’s that first year you owe taxes, everybody has that one year you get punched in the face. 
Good CPA is part of your team.  They need to be there to help brokers with tax planning. Taxes are like healthcare, you can be reactive, or be proactive. 
 
Part 5: Startup Equity: 
Startup equity: We talk briefly about equity that is given out by tech firms. (public or private) Qualified VS  Non-qualified stock options, their tax implications, exercising your equity, and what you should know as far as your tax obligations may be based on your strike price, etc. 
 
You may follow will on IG at @Wgeeslin & his company website at https://www.geeslingroup.com/
 

Episode 39:Rory Golod, Compass GM of the Tri-State Region (NY, NJ, CT)

The Real Takk Pod welcomes Rory Golod, Compass GM of the Tri-State Region!  Rory was born in Long Island NY.  As a kid he excelled in speaking at the young age of 3, conversing with adults & having 'adult' conversations with his peers.  As a youth, he also excelled in music, playing the guitar, saxophone, & clarinet up to HS. 
Rory obtained his bachelor's degree in business at the University of Richmond in my great state of Virginia, then moved to the city to work at Yext, a tech company operating in the area of online brand management.  After that Rory worked at Bloomberg as a Global Analyst, then transferred to VP of Biz Dev at fancy.com an e-commerce marketplace & social shopping platform.  Rory joined Compass on Dec. 2014 as a business development manager, then worked his way up to become chief of staff to the CEO & our guy Rob Reffkin.  On October 2018, Rory became the GM & President of Compass NY, and now runs our day to day operations of our offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn Westchester & Long Island. 
Some topics covered on this episode: 
-Rory's go-to restaurant in NYC & Why
-How would you recruit a top accent in the biz right now?
-Biggest misconception about the real estate industry amongst your friends that aren’t in real estate
-If you could give yourself advice in your 20’s, both personally & professionally, what would you tell the young Rory Golod? 
-Looking into the future of Compass, going public, raising money, & the market during times of COVID.  
You may follow Rory at: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-golod-29b47413
IG: @mightyror

Episode 38: Sean Hughes, from Underdog to Wonderdog

I welcome on my good friend Sean Hughes on episode 38. Sean & I started our careers around the same time in the late 2000s. He was the very first agent to join TOWN Real Estate, a firm that unfortunately closed its doors back in 2018. Before Compass was even an idea, Town at the time, was home to nearly 600 agents & WAS the quintessential Manhattan brokerage: bold, loud, growth-obsessed, and provocative.  Sean touches on the early days of TOWN, leading up to its final hours. 
 
A New Jersey native, we got back to his roots growing up poor, his struggles in school, all the way up to the present day where he represents deals in Manhattan, & along with his development project in New Jersey.