Andrew Lasky (00:00.886)
Everybody welcome back to another episode of the commissions and cashflow show. I am your host, Andrew Lasky. Today we have a very special guest, Elliot Lee. Elliot, welcome to the show, brother.

Elliot Lee (00:17.466)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's nice to be here, man. Thank you for the invitation.

Andrew Lasky (00:21.214)
Absolutely. So Elliot, you are a top realtor here in Miami. Your niche is the ultra luxury pre-construction. Tell the audience, you know, how you got started and where you are today.

Elliot Lee (00:38.202)
Thanks. Thanks, Drew. it's actually it's kind of a rather simple story. I started with very humble beginnings. I came here for college, university, got my real estate license and just started doing rentals, man, you know. And then I was helping university students with with small leases. And then a year later, I started getting into international sales.

And then I stumbled upon new construction sales, actually. And since then it's become my niche and it's something that I'm working on. It's an industry that I'm very, very passionate about. know, it's definitely the area of focus of mine for the last 10 years. And it's really interesting to see a different way of doing real estate as opposed to just, you know, selling a house, for example.

Andrew Lasky (01:36.142)
Yeah, so like, let's talk about the sales process with pre-construction because it really is so different than selling a house where the physical product is already there. I mean, this isn't even built yet. It's a concept. I mean, you need to really be like a visionary to see like what the final project is going to end up like. So tell the audience like what that sales process looks like on your end.

Elliot Lee (02:04.944)
Right. Well, so I want to start off by mentioning this story of one of my first clients that purchased new construction. And we looked at a condo that you're probably familiar with. It's called the Brickell City Center 2013 before it was it was just tennis courts. And now it's like a whole four story mall and two huge condo buildings, a hotel and two office towers. And basically

Andrew Lasky (02:18.924)
Mm-hmm

Elliot Lee (02:33.678)
What I realized in that process was that buyers really have no idea. They don't really know a lot about new construction, right? Like if you go into a house, you could, it's tangible. You could touch the walls, right? You could see the finishes. You could see the bathroom, the kitchens, right? You see the views, but a new development, you don't see any of that. A lot of the times you go into a sales center, they bring you food, they bring you drinks, they show you a really cool movie and video. And then you kind of make a decision from there.

But then how do you tell as a buyer if that building is going to look like the photo, for example, the one that I have behind me, how do you know it's going to look exactly like that? Right. Or is it going to look like something else? And then when you buy off of floor plans, sometimes it could be deceiving because the floor plan looks great. But then when you get into it, maybe you can only fit like a twin size bed, right. But on the drawing, it shows a king size bed. Right. So like, there's a lot of things I realized that are unknown for, for the buyers.

And from there, I realized that it's an area that I could bring a lot of value to. And over the years, I've learned a lot of ins and outs about the new construction development. And so I got into it with the focus to help buyers understand new development.

Andrew Lasky (03:50.222)
So yeah, let's actually talk about a project that you're working on right now. So you're the sales director of the Dolce and Gabbana building. And I just learned moments ago that it's going to be the tallest building here in Miami, which is super cool. So walk us through how a buyer from putting the deposit down to the timeline of actually getting delivery of the unit, what does that look like for the buyer?

Elliot Lee (04:19.598)
Right. So for new development, it differs from existing homes because it's not built yet, right, as previously mentioned. So the deposit structure is actually paid in installments as opposed to needing to pay the entirety of the purchase price of a home within 30 days or 60 days of closing. In new development, a lot of the times commonly could take two, three, four years to build a building depending on how big it is, how tall it is.

how complex the engineering process is. so buyer's advantage is that instead of paying, you know, a hundred percent of the purchase price within 30 days, you spread out a hundred percent of that purchase price within the lifetime of the development. So say our building, for example, which is going to be one of Miami's only super talls ever built in history is going to take anywhere from three and a half to four years to complete from the beginning of

the groundbreaking process to delivery of the units. And so what buyers get to enjoy actually is to pay installments. instead of paying everything upfront, they only have to pay, say, for example, a small portion of it, like 10 % when they sign a contract and then another 10 % as the building, you know, as, we enter into the demolition process and then another 10 % when we go groundbreaking, you know, and then 10 % when we go top off. so

So there are a lot of advantages to the buyer. So say for example, if they put in the beginning 10 % at contract, as the development sells, they can build equity naturally without having to lift a finger. So putting in 10 % of the purchase price, they're leveraging 100 % of what the property would be worth while that 10 % is growing equity based off of the 100 % of that purchase price. So say if it's whatever.

$2 million property, they would have to put $200,000 down. But let's say that property in the next few years appreciates to $2.5 million. They made $500,000 in equity, but they've only have $200,000 in the game, right? And they slowly fill that up in a series of years. And so there's different mechanics and structure to how

Elliot Lee (06:42.5)
buyers kind of make their deposits and purchase the new development. And there's advantages too.

Andrew Lasky (06:51.138)
Now what happens, because there's a lot of change going on in the economy right now. You know, we're seeing unemployment, you know, kick back up. What happens if somebody is in the process of purchasing a unit and they've already put, let's say 20 to 30 % down and then they can no longer make those payments? Can they transfer that paper to somebody else and have them take over? And is it at the new

equitable value that they've built up or what does that process look like?

Elliot Lee (07:27.6)
So in new development, to make a very simple answer, the answer is no, you cannot transfer your rights to somebody else. And the reason is because back in 2008, a lot of developers, with the subprime mortgage crisis when the market collapsed, a lot of it was due to the fact that developers was only requiring buyers to put a 10 % deposit down.

Back in those days, those units were like $350,000, right? So for them to put $35,000 is very easy for them to say, hey, I'm just gonna let it go. When, if a bubble pops and that's exactly what happened in LA. And that's what caused the collapse of the entire real estate market throughout the entire country. So moving forward, what's happening now is that in our development cycle, the...

there's a chain reaction where from the top down government level, they're requiring banks to have a certain amount of, there's strict requirements for banks to hit in order for the banks to give the construction loan to the developers. Then the developers have requirements for the buyers for them to complete so that the entire string of process is a lot more, let's say it's a lot more tight than it used to be in the past due to

regulations and market fluctuations. And so to make it a little bit more simple, developers right now are requiring anywhere from 40 to 50 % of buyer deposits by the time the building is done. So I would go to a traditional house that you purchase, perhaps you could just put 20 % down. new development, it is not like that. In new development, you have to put 40 to 50 % down by the time the building is finished. Now, when the building is finished,

Andrew Lasky (09:06.844)
wow.

Elliot Lee (09:23.056)
in the last 30 days, you can get a loan for the final 50 % or you can leverage the loan to get 80 % or 90 % and put some money back into your pocket. Right? So that's sort of how it works in new development. But there's also another side to the coin that a lot of people don't, um, don't realize. And that's where we can add a lot of value. For example, new development is very similar to commercial real. I mean, it is commercial real estate in a way, right? It's multifamily. And so in commercial real estate,

What happens is when you buy something like a shopping center, you force the appreciation by doing a paint job, Or whatsoever. In new development, it's exactly the same. But the difference is that in new development, we do it by every tiers of units. So say, for example, we sell 10 units, we bring the purchase prices up 2.5%. And each time 10 units sell, we bring the prices up. We bring the prices up. We bring the prices up.

So a unit that might've been going for 2 million from the beginning, by the time we finish our development at the top off, we have to sell that at 3.5 or $4 million. So the people that come in at 2 million that put down that 10%, they get to enjoy that ride up process, but it's not done by themselves. They don't have to paint anything. They don't have to do anything, right? They don't have to pay taxes. They don't have to pay HOA because that cost is all the developers costs. And so...

They basically piggyback off the developer as the developer raises prices and sells without having really to do anything. So that 10 % is building out of leverage. Right? So that's kind of like the difference.

Andrew Lasky (10:58.702)
That's amazing. So yeah, obviously if you're if you're the first one in, you're going to be able to enjoy that equity build over the three or four years, however long it takes, either sell all the units or actually, you know, the the building come to completion. But your buyers, do they ever get a little nervous since the sale cycle is so long? Like, you have a story about how how buyers react over, you know, three, four years when

Elliot Lee (11:12.4)
Right.

Elliot Lee (11:21.146)
Yes.

Elliot Lee (11:26.062)
Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of our, so, so the way our process works is after a contract is signed, we give a 15 day period, which is a rescission period, a two week period by law that every developer must give. And that two week period, the buyer has the right to look over all of the condominium documents. They give it to their attorneys and they have the right to review everything and say, you know what, Elliot, I don't, I don't want to purchase anymore. This is not something that I want. I want to back out at that point.

We give them back the security deposit or the initial deposit that they made, say for example, the 10 % or whatever it is. Then we, there's no risk for the buyer. And then we walk away from the table and then, you know, there's, shake our heads, right? But after that 15 days is done, that deposit is considered a hard deposit, meaning that it gets locked into escrow so that the developer can then go on to confidently build the product. Right? So.

There's a little bit of risk in everything that we do in life. Every business, there's a risk. market fluctuations is a very normal part of that process. on one side of the coin, if you go through with that, with the process and the development finishes, you get to enjoy probably 30 to 40 % on appreciation without lifting a finger, having a brand new property where you don't have to have any maintenance or management for the next seven to 10 years. Right.

Andrew Lasky (12:30.286)
Mm-hmm.

Elliot Lee (12:50.35)
On the flip side of that coin, say for example, if the market does take a turn for the worst, the developer is still obligated by contract to have to finish that development, right? Developers most of the time is very well funded and this is the reason why, again, it comes down to educating the buyer, right? Who the developer is in a project is so paramount to what purchase the buyer makes because

Andrew Lasky (13:18.709)
Yes.

Elliot Lee (13:19.532)
If the developer is safe, for example, a first time developer has never done it before. What are the risks? Right. Buyers don't know. Well, the risk is that the developer maybe goes belly up. Maybe the developer doesn't have enough finances. And so the decides to cancel the development, right. Takes all the money in escrow, moves to another country in the Bahamas and disappears. Right. Things like crazy things like that. But I mean, that's I'm saying that's like worse than worst case scenario. Right. Which

In the United States, you don't really see that happening very much. And we have laws and legal protection to fight against things like that for the general population. But to kind of mitigate all of that, since it's a huge headache anyway, the most important part is to really vet who the developer is. For example, the Doce Gabbana residences for us were represented by JDS Development Group. They are a major, major player out of

New York, and this is not a sales pitch to you, right? I'm just kind of educating how the process works. They have built multiple projects that are on Central Park, like overlooking Central Park on Billionaire's Row. They're known for building super tall towers. completed, they've already completed their first project in Miami. They have multiple projects in New York. So they have a track record of completing projects through all of the development cycles in the last 20, 30 years, right? So.

A lot of these developers that are more experienced know how to weather the storm. They've already calculated into their soft costs and construction and their hard construction costs. What the, of these factors that, that are in mind with the market, right? Going up and down. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you, Hey, Drew, there's no, absolutely no risk. Right. but there's also a way to mitigate as much of that risk as you can to make a, you know, educated decision and an educated purchase. Yeah.

Andrew Lasky (14:58.958)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Lasky (15:13.044)
Yeah, so really, it's just betting out the developer. And once you are confident that they're going to be able to complete the project, you want to get in as quick as possible so that you enjoy that appreciation. And I'm sure even if you get in late, those people, they still get to enjoy some appreciation. But, you know, as markets do turn, getting in as early as possible, it kind of protects you from any downturn that we're kind of even seeing like right now.

Like we see like in the in the headlines, you know, the the condo market in all of Florida is taking a hit. But you know, the the construction or the pre construction buildings that you sell. I mean, these are like very, very unique, high net worth people are coming in and purchasing these. And I want to talk about the the buyers of who's actually buying these. They're not first time homeowners, I'm assuming, right? These are

maybe a second home. Now, are these people that are local? Are they coming from New York? Are they international? Like where is it a mix? Like, you know, the people that you're working with, where are they coming from?

Elliot Lee (16:26.8)
So we have a big mix right now. Most of it is international. We have the American market, of course. So we have your usual suspects like New York and Miami and Chicago. And of course, from COVID, we have California coming here now, which was never the case before that. But more so recently, we are working a lot with Mexican buyers. As you know, South Florida predominantly that Latin America, Latin American markets.

So Mexico is a big market for us. Brazil's a very big market for us. We actually just sold one of our duplexes for 17 million last week to a Brazilian buyer and a Brazilian entrepreneur. most of these buyers, they are CEOs and heads of businesses to be able to purchase at this type of pricing. And in our market,

You know, you have a headline for everything nowadays. There's negative headlines every day. There's positive headlines every day, right? Like there are headlines that we have an unprecedented amount of people moving into Florida every single day. On the other hand, we have headlines saying that all the market is crashing and dipping. then when you look at all of the market, actually on, if you go onto Zillow or MLS and you look at the market, you'll kind of be surprised. it's not dropping as much as I thought. Right. So, really

What it boils down to is that since COVID, we have become a very hyper segmented market. Where you are, which location, what neighborhood, is it a building, is it a condo, is it the price point, right? Like how unique it is. What kind of product is this? Is it a single family? Is it commercial? All of these factors play such a huge differential role into the real estate market that there really is not.

a one size fits all kind of an answer anymore. It's the pre-construction market actually does better than the resale market right now. Even though we're heading into the summer season and traditionally summer season is just a little bit slower. but you know, buyer demand right now is that a lot of people, at least on the residential side, they don't want to deal with needing to, to, get a contractor and fix up a home. Right? If you want to talk about

Andrew Lasky (18:48.483)
Mm-hmm.

Elliot Lee (18:50.224)
Um, demand buyers right now are looking for a property that is already completed, that is already fixed up. They can move in, bring in all their clothes and don't have to worry about anything. And this is where the buyer behavior is. And so we're getting a lot of success on that because we're a fully chunky product. we offer furniture and finishes and everything, you know, basically a toothbrush just to move in and you're ready to live in it. Right. And so we get a lot of good responses from there. Um,

But that's not to say that in the regular markets, is there some, is it a buyer's market in a lot of parts? Let's just say condo market, for example, a lot of it is a buyer's market right now. But we also have a lot of sellers who are not bending as much as what people would imagine because let's face it, in the last few years, we've had 3 % mortgage rates, less than 3 % mortgage rates. So a lot of people are actually just very comfortable right now. They said,

If I can get a price, if I can get a deal, I'll sell it. If not, I'll just sit on my 3%. What's the big deal?

Andrew Lasky (19:54.592)
Yep. It's funny because the other day I was having a conversation with somebody and they were saying how the buyers believe that it's 2008. The sellers think it's still 2021, 2022. And they're stuck here in 2025 with very low volume, you know, with deals that they're doing this year. So I just thought that that was, you know, pretty interesting as we're kind of at like a stalemate.

where sellers will sell but they don't need to just yet.

Elliot Lee (20:30.084)
Well, I love that you brought that up because that's been a huge contention, right? A lot of people are saying it's going to be like 2008. One key information that I think is important for people to understand, and this is where data comes in, that's very important for people to know. Back in 2008, when we had the subprime mortgage crisis, at least in the market of Miami, we had 60,000 new construction units being added to the pipeline. Okay. I'm talking new units that, that

developers are building to add to the growing population that's coming in. And we did not have enough demand to absorb all of that supply. Additionally, with the subprime crisis, the market crashed. In the last development cycle, which was in, we consider back in 2014, that number was around 20,000. So about a third of the amount of supply that was in 2008. In this development cycle,

we have about 14,000 units only. So when you compare 60,000 new development units to 14,000 units, it's really, it's a sliver. Plus we have a growing population of people that are moving to Florida, right? And so a lot of these data points for people to know, I think is very important because it's not as rocky as the headlines make it.

Andrew Lasky (21:37.518)
Sliver.

Andrew Lasky (21:55.245)
Mm-hmm.

Elliot Lee (21:56.238)
You know, and a lot of these condo buildings, as you may know, they take three, four years to complete. As of right now, there are no new inventory that's really coming online. It's really just people that are launching projects that are going to be completed in 2027, 28, 29 and 2030. So for the next two years, we have no new, no new units that's coming onto the market. Two, a year and a half ago, I think there was a, U S census came out with a report that it was like,

a thousand people moving into Florida per day. Right now, that number is at a thousand three hundred per day. Yeah. So the demand and the supply is actually still not, it's still not there yet because of course, Miami is the top performing city in the top performing state, one of the top performing states in the entire United States. So I think that it's very hard to make a determination, but

Andrew Lasky (22:32.683)
wow.

Elliot Lee (22:55.192)
Of course, perception is reality. And if you have headlines that are telling you that the market is crashing, well, perhaps in the next few years, it's going to cause a lot of buyers to not buy. Will that affect the market? Yes, it really could. You know, but as of where the data points are, it's not it's not as bad as people think.

Andrew Lasky (23:07.278)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Lasky (23:14.04)
Yeah. Now, Elliot, you are like the go-to guy when it comes to pre-construction and you you've earned the role as the sales director for the Dolce & Gabbana building. And yeah, look, you might have some leads in that brand that's bringing people to you, but you earned that role through years and years and years of producing. So if I'm a brand new agent listening to this,

you know, how can I ensure that I'm going to be successful if I wanted to jump into the pre construction niche? Like, what are you doing to market to these buyers because they're coming from international they're coming from, you know, different states, they're typically higher net worth individuals that might, you know, be a little bit more not strict, but they're you know, they want to make sure things are done properly. So what's like your like secret sauce?

Elliot Lee (24:11.268)
You know, it's funny. I actually just listened to this podcast that I think you would find really interesting, Drew. And the podcast is by Simon Sinek, or I'm not really sure how you pronounce his name, but he made a really good point in this podcast where he said that for all of us, we really need to find out our why in terms of everything that we do. So not the what and not the how, not like

Andrew Lasky (24:23.266)
OK.

Elliot Lee (24:39.052)
What is it that you want? I want to make a million dollars in two years or in one year, right? That's okay. That's a goal, right? But what is the vision? Like, why do you want to make a million dollars? Right. And so he had this really, really cool story about this one, one person that he sat down with that was going to give a pitch on his, on his brand new company and said like, Hey, this is all the trajectory. And in every normal definition, this pitch would have been a perfect pitch. But I remember him saying that he asked him one question.

So what is your vision? And the gentleman was like, I mean, I already told you, right? like, you like, just like get all, got really annoyed. Like I already told you, I just told you the pitch. He's like, no, that's the goal, right? But why are you doing it? Like, what is your vision? And so after a while, the guy kind of sat back and he, and he, you started seeing like, he described that there was a smile on his face and he said, I want to empower,

I want to empower all of the next generation of children to have the financial literacy that our parents didn't have. Right? And so that part of the process is really important. If you're getting into something like new development or sales or anything that you do in life, it's not so much the what and the how, it's the vision. It's the purpose of why you do what you do. Right? And so my entire outlook on

on getting into the real estate and yeah, there's like 60,000 realtors, know, and realtors sometimes have a very bad name because they're just sleazy salespeople, right? And all of that to me is just noise. and for me, it's always been like, look, I realized that there's a way that you can help buyers make educated decisions based off of things that they don't know. So the niche of real, of new development was, was an area where I didn't go into say, Hey, look, let me just sell these.

$5 million units so that I can make a commission check. For me it was, well, look, this is a building that's going to be built in four years. We don't know what it looks like. Right? So how can I make sure that the buyer is going to make a good decision? He's going to spend $5 million, man. That's not pocket change. Right? So it's a lot of money for, for just a residence that somebody is going to live in. So my entire outlook has always been a very long-term purpose driven. want to create value for people just like, just like you drew.

Andrew Lasky (26:49.486)
It's a lot of money.

Elliot Lee (27:02.736)
Right? Like you want to create lasting wealth for people who's investing in two commercial assets, the way that you're doing your business. And it's a long-term vision that we both have. And I think going into a business, having that sort of long-term outlook may not be the fast, you know, like instant gratification that everybody's looking for, but it is 150 % the way that you can build a sustainable

long-term business in a way that people will want to follow that leadership that you have it's because of the vision that you have and so if you approach life and you approach any business in my opinion with the thought of Having a purpose. I think you could be successful in anything that you do because everything else is just consistency determination discipline, right? the secret sauce is is in my opinion to To figure out what is the reason you're doing

Andrew Lasky (27:56.119)
Mm-hmm.

Elliot Lee (27:56.13)
If you're doing this because you want to make a buck, well, you'll probably get there. But if you want to create a legacy, if you want to create something that is long-term, if you want to create extraordinary results, it's more than just about money.

Andrew Lasky (28:10.914)
Yeah, I like when you have something that's bigger than yourself. And when you have those hardships, you know, you remember why you're actually doing this in the first place. Because yeah, if it is all about money, once you get money, you'll realize like, wow, this is so unfulfilling. You know, if it's not something that you actually care about and are fighting for day in and day out when you get knocked down. It's kind of like, okay, now you're just going like through the motions.

Elliot Lee (28:22.16)
Yeah.

Elliot Lee (28:39.598)
Yeah. Yeah. But, know, I also believe that that vision and the purpose does change as you get more mature and you get into the business. So for example, in the beginning, when I started new development, it was to teach buyers how to look at, make smart decisions to purchase. And now that I've become more on the developer consulting side of, you know, helping guide developers into selling their projects, my purpose now has also shifted because I believe that there is, the market is changing.

And because, as you know, I've been in this business for 15 years. I know a lot about the sales processes that I think some people that first start out might not know. And I realize a lot of inefficiencies in the system. And I believe that there is a better way to, for developers to sell their buildings. I believe that there's a way that you can change, revolutionize the market and how developers can bring their product out to the world.

And a lot of people might hate on me for saying this, but developers jobs are very, very difficult. is not, you know, for people that are on the outside, they see this building going up and they say, well, of course this developer has got a ton of money, you know, but when you're on the inside of the development, there's so many moving pieces that can cause this development to fail. And so when you see a building rise from zero to completion,

you realize how much work it goes into it because there's the sales of it, right? There's the construction loans of it. There's the engineering team, there's the architect teams, there's the development teams, right? There's the contractors. Any of these components that fall apart, there's the marketing, there's the raising the capital, right? So any of these little components that fall apart, the entire development is done. And at the end of the day, developers are providing housing to the market.

Yes, a lot of people will say developers are greedy, but at the end of the day, their jobs are not that, are not that easy, right? Like a lot of the times developers cannot sleep at night because it's so difficult, especially when you have tariffs that are 50 % on steel and aluminum from, you know, that's coming in. raises a lot of costs and a lot of headaches that the developers have to bear while at the same time, making sure that the buyers that bought into the development and the vision stay happy. So.

Andrew Lasky (31:02.818)
Mm-hmm.

Elliot Lee (31:03.566)
In my opinion, think that there, you know, the inefficiencies that I see, I think that there's a better way that can help developers, okay, realize their vision and their dreams of building their buildings in a way that can help them save. But at the same time, it can help them deliver something that is a better quality to the buyers at a faster time and a cheaper cost. so, that's kind of been the shift in my purpose and what I've seen lately.

that I could bring to the development table. And so, you know, I'm approaching my career in a way that I don't, I'm not looking at it from just the sellout of the tallest building in Miami. I'm looking at it in a way of, look, I think that there's a better way that you can do business in this industry, you know.

Andrew Lasky (31:50.092)
Yeah. It's funny that you said that, you know, a lot of people think that developers are greedy because to the average person, yeah, they really do believe that they believe that these developers have so much money and that they're just building these. Yeah. I mean, look, it's high risk, high reward. You're providing a lot of value. So you get paid to the problems that you're solving. Right. And as a developer, you know, you're providing more supply to the marketplace.

Elliot Lee (32:02.928)
Which they do. mean, don't get me wrong.

Andrew Lasky (32:19.372)
which we all know, if there's more supply, prices overall should come down. Like right now we're in a time where everyone's talking about affordable housing. Well, the more units that get built, essentially, the prices should come down relatively. So it's funny how people think that just because developers are making a lot of money that they're doing harm.

to the everyday person when in reality it's actually like the opposite. So Elliot, we're now getting to the final part of our show. This has been extremely insightful for our audience. So I'm now gonna go on to the final four. These are the same four questions that we ask every single guest that comes on the show. So the first one is what is your favorite sales book or sales movie?

Elliot Lee (33:19.386)
So I have to say my favorite sales book has really always been The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Yeah, that book is something that, you know, it's interesting. I listen to it. You know, I read it. I've read it maybe three times. And every time I read it, there's always different things that I find that I missed in the past.

Andrew Lasky (33:31.79)
Great book. Stephen Colby, right? Very good book.

Elliot Lee (33:47.56)
So that's one really great one. And there's this new one that I, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of it, but it's, it's, it's a, and especially because now I'm in leadership, right? In a leadership executive role, I have to really understand the personalities of my team members and all of that. So, so that's been my recently new favorite book under, you know, it's a, it's a personality book. It tells you about people's personality and stuff.

Andrew Lasky (34:13.678)
That's awesome. Question number two, and you kind of answered this before, but I'm curious if you're gonna go with a different answer this time. What's one sales strategy or tactic that completely changed sales for you? I know you said purpose and why before, but I'm just curious if there's another answer that you have as well.

Elliot Lee (34:34.192)
I mean, if you're talking about straight sales strategy, for me, the best way is to just provide value. Massive, massive amounts of value. Give information. And that's it. Provide value.

Andrew Lasky (34:48.416)
I love it. love it. Question number three, what's your favorite purchase that you've ever made with a commission check?

Elliot Lee (34:57.07)
Well, I mean, that's got to be my the first primary home that I purchased, which was my favorite emotionally, but it was the worst based on tax benefits because you can't write anything off.

Andrew Lasky (35:10.165)
yeah, it's not like an investment.

Elliot Lee (35:11.76)
It's not like an investment.

Andrew Lasky (35:14.744)
but very, very necessary and a good milestone.

Elliot Lee (35:17.39)
Yeah, yeah, investment property, it's gotta be the purchase of the investment property or the purchase of my home, for sure.

Andrew Lasky (35:27.102)
Awesome. And then last question, knowing what you know now, if you had to start all over again, what's the first thing that you would do to get yourself back to where you are today?

Elliot Lee (35:40.876)
I might not get into real estate. I might not be a realtor. You know, I'm not sure. I definitely want to be involved in the real estate industry. I probably would have chosen to go the commercial real estate route the way that you're going.

Andrew Lasky (35:44.448)
Interesting. Okay, what would you do?

Andrew Lasky (35:58.634)
Interesting, OK, do you have an asset class like in mind or just commercial in general?

Elliot Lee (36:03.156)
And then, know, units, storage units, mobile home parks, that's probably the way that I would have gone. Yeah.

Andrew Lasky (36:11.818)
Okay. Is that due to the fact that it's kind of like, you know, less management intensive than other asset classes? Because, you mobile home parks and self storage, you know, it's like, hey, you purchase it, there's not really much to operate as far as like toilets or things like that. Is that kind of

Elliot Lee (36:31.236)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's very scalable, right? In residential real estate, the team is what's scalable, but the product is the same. In commercial real estate, the portfolio that you build for, let's say, storage units is, in my opinion, a lot more scalable. it's a lot more scalable, not just in the product side, but in the side of your network. You could scale your network to know more people in the industry that can get you more off-market deals.

So right now, a lot of my networks is developers that build multifamily, right? And buyers that buy residential. So I get a lot of inventory of off-market homes that people don't usually get to or foreclosures and things like that. But I don't have inventory for commercial real estate. So I'm just being very honest and raw. I would probably jump into commercial real estate.

Andrew Lasky (37:22.474)
Okay, I love it. And then Elliot, if people want to learn more about you, where can they find you?

Elliot Lee (37:28.432)
They can find me on Instagram. My handle is at Elliot period leads one of the scores. Um, and, you know, you can reach me by my cell phone email and, uh, you know, if they're interested in purchasing this beautiful tower behind me, you know, they can also DM me, you know, get in touch with me.

Andrew Lasky (37:46.702)
Awesome. Elliot, just because the audio cut out, say that. I'm going to ask you. I'm going to redo that just because your audio cut out. So Elliot, thank you so much. If people want to learn more about you, where can they find you?

Elliot Lee (37:52.56)
Okay.

Elliot Lee (38:00.404)
They can find me on my Instagram handle. it's at Elliot period Lee two underscores or they could call me or send me an email if they want to ask me any questions or if they're interested in checking out that they'll check about the residences. You can always DM me.

Andrew Lasky (38:17.236)
Awesome. Elliot, thank you so much, brother. I'll talk to you soon.

Elliot Lee (38:20.558)
Thanks, Drew. Always nice to see you,

Andrew Lasky (38:22.754)
You as well.