Carl Gambino: LA’s Celebrity A-List Real Estate Influencer

Since recording this podcast, Carl Gabino joined the Compass Team. 

Carl Gambino: [00:00:00] I do remember when I was 18 I met this guy in New York. He had a very successful like marketing business and he was very into sales and self-development, and he gave me all these books and he basically was like. He kinda just showed me and taught me that like you didn’t have to be mediocre, and it was like about the way you think.

And you could really ask for whatever you want and you can get it if you believed it.

Warren Dow: [00:00:46] Welcome to the DIGS Influencer Podcast—The Titans of Real Estate. The show that provides direct access to the real estate industry’s top movers and shakers as they share invaluable insight on how to best navigate and succeed in any market. I’m your host, Warren Dow, founder and CEO of m3 Media and publisher of DIGS Magazine.

You’ve heard it before. Stories of how people create their own opportunities in life to find success. Carlo Gambino is one such story. Moving up the ranks in LA real estate at an astonishing pace while representing some of the biggest names in Hollywood. It’s a great story and I know you’re going to enjoy it.

Today’s guest is a top-performing agent at Westside Estate Agency in Beverly Hills and at the young age of 34 has already become one of Ellie’s top agents having represented alias clientele such as Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Harry styles, Travis Scott, Nick Jonas, and Sophie Turner, just to name a few.

Please welcome to the show, Carl Gambino.

Carl Gambino: [00:01:58] Hi, how are you?

Warren Dow: [00:01:59] Good,

Carl Gambino: [00:02:00] thank you for having me.

Warren Dow: [00:02:01] Of course. Of course.

So we’re, we’re broadcasting on Canon Drive and Beverly Hills. Nice balmy 80-degree day. So it’s, let’s have some fun with this thing. So let’s start from the beginning. Carl, you grew up in New Jersey.

What was that like?

Carl Gambino: [00:02:18] Boring. Not exciting.

I was born in New York. I grew up in New Jersey. It was kind of like very suburban, small town. Everyone knew everyone. My family all lived in Soho. My grandmothers, all my cousins. So I kind of always had this like chip on my shoulder that I should have been living in New York.

And the second I was old enough, like 18 I move back to New York.

Warren Dow: [00:02:43] You’re trying to get the Jersey stain off of you?

Carl Gambino: [00:02:44] Yeah, exactly. I to say though, if you research, like, especially in entertainment, there’s like randomly a ton of people from New Jersey,

Warren Dow: [00:02:53] right? Bon Jovi.

Carl Gambino: [00:02:55] It’s like Bon Jovi. Bradley Cooper.

There’s so many.

Warren Dow: [00:02:59] So Jersey is more working class, right? Blue collar.

Carl Gambino: [00:03:01] Yeah. Like when I was younger, like we didn’t even know a millionaire.

Warren Dow: [00:03:06] Well. So where does your parents do for work?

Carl Gambino: [00:03:09] My dad was a banker and he started as a teller and the Empire State Building when he was 19 so we, he just worked his way up.

He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s been in banking over 30 years. We always had everything we needed. We didn’t come from money at all though. My mother was a teacher.

Warren Dow: [00:03:27] Okay. And do you, do you have any siblings?

Carl Gambino: [00:03:30] Yeah, I have a younger brother. He’s actually developmentally delayed, so he’s special ed. My mom stopped working and just stayed home with us when we were growing up.

Warren Dow: [00:03:39] So the two of you, and are your parents still around?

Carl Gambino: [00:03:42] Yeah. And they’re married still. Okay.

Warren Dow: [00:03:43] And they live in New York?

Carl Gambino: [00:03:44] They live in New Jersey. My grandmothers and cousins and stuff live in New York.

Warren Dow: [00:03:50] Gotcha. Okay, cool. So do you have a formative story about your childhood that, was there anything or even in your, just in your life that, that you remember that gave you pause or insight into sort of who you are and what you do today?

Is there anything that you can remember?

Carl Gambino: [00:04:06] Not so much in my child hood. I do remember when I was 18 I met this guy in New York. He had a very successful like marketing business and he was very into sales and self-development, and he gave me all these books and he basically, it was like, he kind of just showed me and taught me that like, you didn’t have to be mediocre.

And it was like about the way you think, and you could really ask for whatever you want and you can get it if you believed it. And that was kind of, I remember thinking like, wow, like I come from this kind of limiting old school Guido background, and this was like the first time where I was like, wow, like you don’t have to just get a job doing anything and like work nine to five for the rest of your life.

Warren Dow: [00:04:53] Did he give you the Napoleon Hill book?

Carl Gambino: [00:04:55] Yeah, I’ve read every single one of them. He also gave me like cassette tapes of how to master the art of selling by Tom Hopkins. Like it was before they were even on CD. And I’ve read Napoleon Hill thinking grow rich like a million times. I love that book.

Warren Dow: [00:05:09] Yeah, it’s a classic. For sure. So, so did you have any like, early aspirations as a kid? Like, Hey, I want to, when I grow up, I want to be this, I want to do this. Or was it, did you have any sort of those kinds of thoughts or are you just kinda making your way?

Carl Gambino: [00:05:23] I mean, I was definitely, I loved music. I thought a lot about being in the music business or, and playing in bands and stuff like that.

I do remember like as a child having like really, really strong ambition always and wanting to be at like. And ultra high level, but like kind of like pushing it back down because of what I just said about how I was brought up and that like when I met that guy, it was the first time where I would like, actually it was weird.

It was like almost like I was ashamed of it cause it was like not where I came from.

Warren Dow: [00:05:56] Are you a Capricorn by the way?

Carl Gambino: [00:05:57] No, Leo. Okay,

Warren Dow: [00:06:00] so let’s talk about how you got into real estate. And I heard. There you, you had a funny Wolf on wall street type moment when you first got into real estate. Tell us about that.

Carl Gambino: [00:06:12] So after I met that guy, he was like, you should do sales because it doesn’t limit like what you can make. And I had all these friends and cousins that were like, no, you need to go to college and get a job. And I kind of was like, I hated school. And I was completely down with the fact where I like wouldn’t limit my income.

And I was selling accounting services in the empire state building, and I hated it. And I, I actually smoked cigarettes at the time, and I would like go outside for a smoke break and all these tourists would be like, “do you know where the empire state building is?” And I’d be like, “you’re fucking leaning on it” and look up.

Yeah. And I met this guy at an event and he was like this, like flashy, like Sharky salesman. Like it was almost like an SNL skit.

And he was like, “what do you do?”

And I was like, “I’m selling accounting services”.

He’s like, “I do real estate. I saw multifamily buildings, we make millions of dollars.”

And he’s like, “come to my office on one day.”

And I was like, you know, like what do I have to lose? This guy’s absurd, but I want there, he even had like the license plate that said closer, like on his Mercedes and. They really did have this like chop shop, multifamily brokage that made millions of dollars. And I started there and basically they gave you a book in a phone and they’re like, call every landlord in Manhattan.

You didn’t even have a computer. And you have these like big landlord books that you just like flipped through and called all day long and they would track your calls. So you had to make like 500 phone calls a day. And I mean, that just made me like. Kind of immune to rejection after a certain point.

Warren Dow: [00:07:45] I had a similar experience I want to share with you because I sold insurance or did a college, same thing.

I had one, I could afford one bad suit. So I had one suit and I ended up little office. You know, they gave me a pencil and a phone book and a phone and they said go, you know, start calling people. It was humbling, but it was exciting at the same time cause it’s like you have to build something out of nothing.

Carl Gambino: [00:08:09] Yeah, that’s exactly what

Warren Dow: [00:08:10] I said. Nothing. So the rejection is kind of like, you know, bring it on. I’m just going to keep getting rejected and keep until, wow, I got something I got, you know, somebody wants to talk to me. Cool. But those gave me layers and layers of confidence and learning how to communicate.

Carl Gambino: [00:08:26] Yeah, and it was, that’s exactly what it was like for me. I had like these huge oversized suit. Actually, I also in the summers did residential leasing in New York, which is another like super shady business where you post these ads on line and you get like. 1 million phone calls and we would post like rent controlled two bedroom in the West village, and then you’d be like, “Oh, that rented, but I have this, this and this.”

And you’d be like, the best thing to do is come in the office. We’ll go through all of the things, like all the new listings. We’ll take you out and you have to get them to come to the office, hating you for kind of being phony. They have to pay this astronomical fee. The tenant pays 15% of the annual rent in New York.

To liking you to doing a deal that day and walking into the bank. So between that and the multifamily phone sells, it was like the greatest sales training I could have ever experienced.

Warren Dow: [00:09:16] So what year was that?

Carl Gambino: [00:09:18] I’m 34 now. I was 22

Warren Dow: [00:09:21] that’s when you basically officially started? Yes. 22 years old. And what was your first sale?

Was it a w? Was it a, was it more of a lease or

Carl Gambino: [00:09:29] why? I did it a ton of leases. So I guess the first thing I did was residential leases, but my first actual sell was I sold a fi, a seven unit building in park slope in Brooklyn. Pros. It was like 1,000,005 50 which at the time to me it was like $1 billion. It was

Warren Dow: [00:09:48] like so worth.

Now you think four?

Carl Gambino: [00:09:49] he’s actually, I saw the guy not that long ago, and he’s getting offers at four

Warren Dow: [00:09:54] nice. That’s real estate for you, right? Yeah. Okay, so how long were you in New York doing that? How long was that gig?

Carl Gambino: [00:10:02] Probably from 22 to 26

Warren Dow: [00:10:07] okay, so he’s been about four years and. Was it still just buildings, more commercial stuff, like

Carl Gambino: [00:10:13] a combination of both.

Then the market crashed and. I basically had all these friends that were, this is random, but I had all these friends that were selling electric and natural gas and oil too, and I would refer them to properties and I ended up making more money from that than the actual real estate. So I had this like, brilliant idea.

I thought to start a commodities brokerage, and I made deals with all like Suez and all these major energy companies. And I called them and was like, let us sell them for you. Like electric natural gas, oil at fixed contracts, and we would sell it to like supermarkets, restaurants, office buildings, through all the contacts I had made in real estate, and I did that for about a year.

It was actually really successful. I convinced these like old school Italian dudes that were in real estate to open an office with me and Chelsea and I was kind of miserable. I just like wasn’t as passionate about it that I was at real estate. That was the one thing about real estate. I guess I do remember my older friend growing up in high school would drive me around and I would make them like, show me the bigger houses in New Jersey.

And he used to say to me like, you should get in real estate when you were, when you’re older. And I always had some sort of passion for it and this like energy thing I didn’t care about and I was kind of miserable. And I went to them and was like, look, I’ll give you all my shares of the company. I’ll gift it to you and just give me the commission I’m owed, which was like 30 to 50,000 I don’t remember my now wife and I were together for four years in New York.

We broke up, she moved to LA. She says, I followed her here, but I was actually gonna move anyway, and I like just left and gifted my shares to the company and came to LA.

Warren Dow: [00:11:54] So are you guys in? So she’s your wife.

Carl Gambino: [00:11:56] We got back together.

Warren Dow: [00:11:57] Tell us that story while we’re on it. That’s interesting.

Carl Gambino: [00:11:59] So we broke up for a year.

I really didn’t think we would ever speak again. And, she called me and was like, “I have a flat tire.”

And I’m basically like, “what the fuck are you calling me for?”

And she’s like,” I don’t know who to call.”

And I was, she, I was like, “you know what’s random is I’m actually moving to LA,” which she was in shock.

Cause like I said, I come from an old school, Italian family. Like you never leave your family. I didn’t know anyone in the West coast.

And she was like, “you can come stay with me and see where you want to live.”

And I stayed with her. She wrote me the super long letter, how we were just friends and I was sleeping on the couch. I ripped it up after like one page and then we got back together. And I’ve been together ever since. And we have a baby now.

Warren Dow: [00:12:40] That’s a cool story. Whole story. So, okay, so we get into LA. So what’s your first gig? Like? How do you, so

Carl Gambino: [00:12:46] I got a job just doing anything. I was working for this developer at, he was building this celebrity’s house.

I knew nothing about construction. He just generally, someone referred me to him. It was $12 an hour. I could like barely pay my bills. And I called him and he’s like, your name’s Carl Gambino. And I was like, yeah. And he’s like, at least the cement will be delivered on time. He’s like, you’re hired. And I didn’t know anything, like I said, about construction.

And that guy used to be one of the biggest developers in Beverly Hills. He did the Buster Keaton estate and all of these houses.

And he kept telling me, he’s like, “you should get your real estate license in LA. If you’ve done well in New York, you could do really well in LA. And he’s like, I’ll introduce you to this guy, Kurt Rappaport.”

And I actually at the time had no idea who that was, and I didn’t know anything about LA real estate, and he kind of pushed me to get my license, which I did. And it’s kinda,

Warren Dow: [00:13:40] so how did you meet Kurt? So tell us about that first meeting. So did you,

Carl Gambino: [00:13:43] so he introduced me to him. I forgot over text or something, and basically I called Kerr and he’s like, yeah, come to my office, we’ll set up a meeting about you potentially working here.

And then he then became like very difficult to get in touch with. And like I said, I come from that background of like harassing people to meet and I just kept following up with him over and over and over. And. A Friday night at like 9:00 PM he called me and was like, come to my office now I’m Beverly Hills.

And I said to my wife, I’m like, it’s like 9:00 PM and she’s like, go. So like I went to the office, I, I like wore a suit. I brought a resume and he kinda like, just looked at me and we talked for like 10 minutes. He like threw the resume in the garbage and was like, look, you’d be great. Start here on Monday.

And then I came in on Monday and the other owner, Steven Shapiro was like, who the fuck are you? And. Kind of the rest is history from there. And I was introduced to other agencies as well, but I at that point, did a bunch of research about them. And Kurt is probably the most successful agent in history, and I wanted to work with them and see them do like a hundred million dollar deals, get both sides on a daily basis.

So I was desensitized to it.

Warren Dow: [00:15:00] So tell us about your first sale. So you, you get, so you start working. And how long did it take you to get your first sale and what was that

Carl Gambino: [00:15:08] in LA? So there was, I was also doing like creative things in between. I was even like walking dogs to pay my bills and I was writing and then I met this agent and I kept asking, like harassing him to rep me as a writer.

And he’s like. I’m never going to rep you. I rep Woody Allen, but he’s like, I am what? I’m looking for a house. So I started showing him like as my license was in the mail, like coming to me and I ended up selling him a house. I met some other kid in like a writing slash acting class. I ran out of money from the first deal with the agent.

It was like 1,000,001. I didn’t pay taxes. Then I ended up having to pay later on. I. Then met this kid. I made like 13 grand, sold him another house. I ran out of money. Then one of the guys who I walked the dog for is this big developer in LA, like commercial developer, and I was like, let me show you houses.

And he’s like, you’re my dog Walker. Like, no. And I’m like, I’ve done this before. I had worked at Marcus and Millichap for awhile too, in Manhattan. I switched there eventually and I was like, I’ve worked there. And I’m like, you know everyone, you know everything. If you, if. We find something. It’s not like you’re not capable of navigating through the deal.

I was like, just let me show you. And he’s like, fine. I’m working with the biggest agents in LA. I ended up finding him something for five five he went in escrow and then he canceled. I was like devastated, and then found them something immediately in Bel air for six to 50. And I like my rent. Everything was behind all my bills and we ended up closing and I think I made like 109,000 and then I’m like a very obsessive person.

And then from there I was like, Oh my God. And I worked seven days a week from that moment

Warren Dow: [00:16:51] on to just go, wow, this is it. This is like, you get $100,000 check. And you’re like, okay, I get it. This is, I want more of this.

Carl Gambino: [00:16:59] It’s like, I want a million dollar

Warren Dow: [00:17:00] chair. Yeah. Now I’m just going to one 10 of these and let’s, let’s, let’s go.

It’s on. So when did you, okay, tell us. That’s wild. So it was 6 million. So when did you, when was your first $10 million sale?

Carl Gambino: [00:17:11] I think maybe the following year after that I sold something for like 13 to 50. And then again it was like, wow, like now this is the same job as $1 million sale. And that’s the thing that like about this business.

Like obviously the clientele is very different and that certain times at a higher level they’re more sophisticated or certain times they’re not. But the one thing I really noticed is like mainly about belief in your ability and networking and believing you can do it. Cause it’s literally like if you sell a $50 million house or a $1 million house, like the actual.

Steps to take action through it are the same. I mean, the money’s more valuable to someone selling a million dollar house. So in a sense, it could even be easier at points to do a larger sale because they know what they want and the money’s not as valuable to them.

Warren Dow: [00:17:56] So let’s talk about your personal growth trajectory.

Cause you’ve been, it’s amazing. And like this year, 2019 you’re going to sell well over a hundred million. What were the, what was the last year?

Carl Gambino: [00:18:08] I think I did around 75 million. I also do it in New York still. So what I did was I switched my license to this guy named Adam Modlin in New York. He’s an agent that Kurt works with a lot.

He’s one of the most successful agents in New York. So. What was, what started happening is like by me doing LA high end residential, I was getting more and more business in New York. So if it’s buyers, I’ll fly back with them. I’m actually selling an apartment on Mott right now. If it’s listings, I call this that with Adam.

So between New York and LA last year I would say it was around 75 million and then this year it’s going to be well over a hundred million.

Warren Dow: [00:18:43] So it’s amazing. And the vest very short amount of time. And how, how did you get hooked up with so many celebrity clientele? Cause you’ve got like. This Rolodex of all these who’s who, the people that you’re representing, how did you break into that?

That very, very elite group.

Carl Gambino: [00:18:59] I think it’s just like anything else. It’s like about networking and who you meet and going out in LA. And then I kinda was fortunate that two of my best friends were singers and they helped me in the beginning by giving me like my, one of them, some of my first listings in LA.

And it kinda from there you meet their business managers and if they understand like your capability and that you’re great with discretion, they’ll refer you other clients. And then

Warren Dow: [00:19:24] you’re talking about the Jonas brothers.

Carl Gambino: [00:19:26] I mean, one of them,

Warren Dow: [00:19:27] yeah, one of them. So how did you meet them?

Carl Gambino: [00:19:29] They’ve just been my friends forever, and one of them, Joe was actually like, great, and gave me my first listing in LA and he’s my son’s godfather, and it was like, that was very fortunate.

And then I had another like indie singer that was a friend of mine. Then I started selling a bunch of property too. And then like I said, it just parlayed from there.

Warren Dow: [00:19:46] And did you meet Joe in LA? Yes. So you met all these. People in LA 

Carl Gambino: [00:19:51] him I knew of years ago in New York, like another singer. But basically when I came to LA, I didn’t know anyone in LA.

Warren Dow: [00:19:57] That’s great. So what a networking story too. I mean, the way, the fact that you

Carl Gambino: [00:20:02] will, the other thing is like, celebrities have access to the best of everything, so if you like work with them. It really puts you in this like humble, great light that like people start to want to work with you in a sense of, they’re like, Oh, if they’re using them, then they must be very good at their job because they can use anyone and they have access to the best of everything.

So that was something I kind of noticed too.

Warren Dow: [00:20:25] All right, so let’s talk about the hyper competitive world of LA real estate. You know, we’re talking about all these celebrities and you know, all these list clients. This is arguably the most, you know, or one of the priciest markets anywhere in the world.

What’s different about working with celebrity clients? I’m sure. Discretion and privacy is huge is what other, what are the other things working with, you know, this, this type of client?

Carl Gambino: [00:20:53] I just think like discretion and privacy is a major aspect of it, like you said. And I think also just being available, like always being available.

Like I answered my answer, my phone at all times and unfortunately like my wife will get furious, but that’s like part of the job and just like I said, just always being available.

Warren Dow: [00:21:13] So, well, first question I have for you is like if you know that one of these big 20 $30 million plus estates is, is about to go on sale, I mean, is you, do these clientele, these elite celebrities, are they interviewing a bunch of agents or are they going to sort of whoever’s in their very close network or their business manager?

Carl Gambino: [00:21:35] I think it’s, it’s probably a mix. I think a lot of the ones I work with are. Already relationships that I have that there you want to be like their go to person for real estate. And I think there’s other times where we definitely, I know there’s times where we go against other agents and then the business managers are the one who pick, cause the people are very far removed from it.

It’s just varies per situation I think just to tell you like what you do if you’re, if you’re selling a celebrity house, it’s like. You would usually meet or talk with their team about marketing and press and everything they want to do. If they want to, extremely discreet, if they want it off market, some people want it out there because it could help the house sell it.

It just really depends on the actual client. And I think it’s also, you have to be hyper careful because there’s crazy fans that show up to open houses and you have to remove all their personal items and you have to really like understand who’s coming in the homes.

Warren Dow: [00:22:32] And there’s so many fun stories which I want to get to later.

Cause like we interviewed Mauricio and the agency and he was telling us about, you know, showing Prince homes and how he would like sit in the car in the driveway to get a vibe of the house. And if he didn’t have the vibe, he wouldn’t go in and it’d be like, this house is not for me without even seeing it.

You just have to get given his mental place and be like, feel it. You know? So like it was an interesting story. You have any stories like that and with buyers or seller?

Carl Gambino: [00:23:04] Not so much like a vibe feel. I’ve just had crazy things happen with like paparazzi and. Clients running out with like jackets on their head or like pulling up to a house I sold and like there’s someone with their bags packed being like, Hey, I’m moving in this house with them.

And just like wild things like that. People like jumping fences and stalkers and like the whole privacy aspect of it is, it’s really true and it can be really dangerous for them if like they’re exposed and people don’t understand that. Like people sell them out and just want press for themselves to advance.

And it’s. Like a really dangerous thing

Warren Dow: [00:23:39] must make it harder to sell the property to cause if, if, if it’s all about privacy and discretion and you don’t really push it on the open market, you know, with obviously a brokers or public open and doing a bunch of press, I mean, I’m sure they don’t want people praying through their house.

Obviously for a free tour of Madonna’s house, it’s an open house on Saturday from two to four. It doesn’t work like that.

Carl Gambino: [00:24:01] Yeah. I mean, we do a private brokers open where it’s other top agents or like highly qualified clients. And you know, one time I have a story actually I was doing a private brokers open on celebrity’s house and there was this girl walking around like a younger girl and I was like, I’m sorry, are you with an agent or how can I help you?

And she’s like, Oh, my agent sent me, he’s so-and-so who I did know. So I kinda just walked the house with her and she was like, Hey, my mom wants to come back. At 3:00 PM and the broker’s open was from 11 to two and I was like, actually, you can’t, like the client’s coming back at two, so please have her come like within those hours.

And then she calls her mom and I could hear the mom like screaming on the phone and she just kept asking. She’s like, is there any way? And I was like, no, absolutely not. Like she has to come back at that time. And then like maybe an hour later the door flies open and it’s Sharon Osborne. And she’s like, where’s Carl?

Like, who’s Carl? And I was like, Oh my God. By the way, I would have let her come later on. Just told the client I didn’t know. And then she ended up being like super cool and walked her through the house and, but like that’s how it is. I was like, not sure if the girl was like a random fan or she that ended up being Sharon’s daughter who is very interested.

They actually were going to buy it, but then someone else came that day and bought it.

Warren Dow: [00:25:20] Oh really? I mean, I can only imagine the stories that you must have dealing with this, this type of clientele. So.

Carl Gambino: [00:25:27] The worst thing is when you’re showing a house in, like the celebrity bus drives up and they’re like announcing

Warren Dow: [00:25:32] on MC

Carl Gambino: [00:25:33] and you’re like, Oh, like the client’s like, damn, whoever the buyers is like, do I have to deal with this shit while I live here?

Warren Dow: [00:25:40] So let’s, let’s go back to sort of your trajectory and your experience. What, what do you think? So, so far in your career has been the biggest failure or mistake or sort of like a lesson learned moment for you.

Carl Gambino: [00:25:54] I think being too trusting. Like I, there was one client I showed for a long time and then they bought a house through another agent.

I think things like that where you could just never be too trusting. Like it’s just a business of like whatever’s best, you know, works. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s some clients that are really honorable and really loyal, but I think there’s many massive blows throughout it. And I think. The reason you can earn a very high income is because it’s not an easy business.

And that’s not actually a lot of the times with the general public thinks like they think it’s like a very easy thing that anyone can do and we could be replaced by robots or whatever, but I think failure is actually really important for success.

Warren Dow: [00:26:42] That’s good though. And what advice would you give your younger self today, even though you’re, you’re only 34 Carl, but what would you give to your younger 26 year old self

Carl Gambino: [00:26:51] to figure out a way to like elevate your thinking to the absolute highest level and to like write down what you want and read it out loud and obsess about it.

And, cause I think my biggest thing, and it continues, it’s like with just getting out of limited sinking and it’s like, if you believe you could sell. Like, even right now, I have like whatever it is, 60 $70 million in escrow. It’s like maybe two years ago. In my mind, that was impossible. So I think just elevating your thinking at the most rapid level

Warren Dow: [00:27:21] possible.

That’s great. That’s, that’s, that’s healthy and profound. And you also have. The $60 million listing right now, right? You have a child’s house on Mapleton

Carl Gambino: [00:27:30] 69 seven 50 wow. Get it right.

Warren Dow: [00:27:34] Yeah. Sorry. Seven 50 that’s like 69 seven 50 that’s amazing. How’s that house?

Carl Gambino: [00:27:40] Is it, it’s incredible. They built it over 10 years.

They imported stone and door like the doors, the ceilings from everywhere, from all over the world. It’s modeled off different museums. They’re prolific art collectors. The whole house is set up to, for the art to hang like a gallery. It’s really unlike anything I’ve ever seen in I in LA.

Warren Dow: [00:28:00] You know what’s interesting, this just kind of reminds me of another sort of how this market representing this, this clientele and these types of homes are so different because you have to create a story around these homes.

They are so unique and they have such. Story elements like the fireplace was imported from, you know, one of a kind and from France and dah, dah, dah. Right. All these things. It’s not just cookie cutter, you know, five bedroom, four bath, square feet, pool, entertainment. You know, this has a story. This porcelain floor in the dining room has a story, you know?

Right.

Carl Gambino: [00:28:38] Yeah, no, it actually. In a sense makes it challenging because it becomes more specific. I mean, the amount of buyers

Warren Dow: [00:28:46] you have to, yeah. And you have to basically do a lot more sort of storytelling because it literally needs to be told it. These are like one of MCI and artifacts or the way they built a house.

And so it creates another whole layer of sort of complexity on how to bring it to market and, and, and talk about it. Right.

Carl Gambino: [00:29:04] Yeah, absolutely. I, I. Am specifically excited about this house because it’s just so unique. And like I said, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen where it’s not like one of these cookie cutter or modern boxes in the Hills that was just like the same generic way to sell it.

And it’s challenging but exciting.

Warren Dow: [00:29:21] So who buys that house? Like who’s, give me a little buyer persona on that.

Carl Gambino: [00:29:26] Hey, I think it really depends. It could be like a major art collector as well. It could be. So far we’ve had, we’ve had a couple of like great showings with people from Asia. We’ve had some tech people come.

I think there’s, it’s really just someone that really understands like the quality of it and taste, and I do think someone that’s into art would work really well just because of the way the house is set up and it’s like ceiling height and how you can hang like a gallery. It’s just incredible for art.

Warren Dow: [00:29:54] Do these, do these buyers on, on these mega listings, do they. Often say, Hey, I want to keep what’s in the house too. Cause it’s done up so nicely. Like

Carl Gambino: [00:30:03] I’ve seen that pretty often actually. Yeah.

Warren Dow: [00:30:05] Think it happens more than half the

Carl Gambino: [00:30:06] time. I would say 50 50 probably half the time.

Warren Dow: [00:30:11] Cause it makes sense, right?

Because if you have a huge, huge mansion in, it’s vacant and bare.

Carl Gambino: [00:30:18] Yeah, that’s, I mean, the section’s really expensive

Warren Dow: [00:30:20] too, and it could be a year long project to get it figured out.

Carl Gambino: [00:30:24] Right. What I’m selling the house now for 20 and it’s a huge house and basically they’re removing all the staging and like the client’s not gonna move in for a couple of months till they can figure everything out.

The furniture getting it set up. Yeah.

Warren Dow: [00:30:40] What are your thoughts on this whole, you know. Well, reality TV, real estate, LA real estate sort of scene that’s going on. I

Carl Gambino: [00:30:50] mean, it’s, I did do one episode recently on a show with Alex Rodriguez on CNBC, but besides that, I haven’t done anything with reality TV. That was more like a respected business network where we went on him and I were like training someone as a real estate advisor.

I don’t know. The whole like million dollar listing thing is just not my vibe. And I think that it’s great for the agents that are on it, and I think they get a lot of business from it. It’s, and I respect them and do deals with a lot of them, and it’s just, it’s just not what I do. And I think a lot of the clients I work with wouldn’t work with me if I were doing that.

Warren Dow: [00:31:28] You know, I like to ask those question to two people that are at your level in terms of who deal with this, who could be on that, that kind of a show. And because my perception is. It has the potential to create a false narrative on, geez, look how easy this is. I just have to get my license and I can sell $10 million homes and like, like so easy.

I just try around in my roles and, and yeah,

Carl Gambino: [00:31:53] it makes it look like deals are like happening nonstop and their transactions that are just very quick and easy. I think a lot of it’s scripted too and not real.

Warren Dow: [00:32:03] Right. I don’t think you’re alone and how you perceive that in the market. What do you think about this whole I buyer?

Are you, are you familiar with that term? I buyer  the whole sort of prop tech?

Carl Gambino: [00:32:14] Yes. 100% I’ve read maybe 50 articles on it. I think that I understand what they’re trying to achieve. I think if you read any of the interviews with a lot of the people that own the companies, they specifically say that they’re not trying to weed out.

All real estate agents. I think there’s a market they’re trying to weed out, and I think in the ultra high end, just as stockbrokers, how people say stockbrokers became obsolete, there’s still a niche, ultra high end consultancy, and I think that’s the same for real estate. And I think that it might affect it in that way where.

Maybe it drives down fees in the lower end or, or like eliminates a certain type of agent. But I think there’ll always be use for like an ultra high end niche consultancy.

Warren Dow: [00:33:01] Yeah, I agree with you and I think it, I mean, it works. It works really well. And markets like Phoenix right now, it’s a perfect like test market, very homogenized track home where it all comes down to the, to the valuation algorithms.

Right. The more they can perfect the valuation and make that very narrow, you know, error factor.

Carl Gambino: [00:33:22] Well that’s why it works in other industries. Like I just bought a car online, like things like that, but they’re, they’re all the same and you understand the value and a home is very different. Like a lot of it is an emotional purchase.

Someone might pay 50 million for a house and then the neighboring house sells for 4 million because it’s a tear down. Like. The Zestimate. Everyone, clients constantly bring that up to me. They’d be like, Oh, my house does. Estimates says this, but like the Playboy mansion was divestment was $2 million. It sold for 100 million.

Like they don’t know what’s actually happening inside of the house. There’s a lot of aspects to it where it’s different than other businesses where it’s eliminating everything else and like, yeah, even though now you could do stock trades for seven bucks, they used to be a hundred grand. That’s different.

It’s a stock that’s valued at a certain price that you’re tracking and yes, if it’s all new construction or tract houses or things like that, or condos, which is Al LA is not as much of a condo city. I mean there are condos, but it’s more homes. It’s just a different market for that.

Warren Dow: [00:34:24] Yeah, I agree. So let’s get back to the agent in the competitive sort of profile.

I mean, LA, with all these high profile listings and brokerages. And these top producing agents are super high concentration. Do you think the competition, the competition here is more intense than in like New York or other markets? You think this is like the most competitive market?

Carl Gambino: [00:34:46] LA? I think it’s one of the most, I dunno, I think New York is extremely competitive and it’s like harder to survive in New York.

It’s more expensive to live. Yeah. I think there’s a very small amount of people. I like the LA real estate business at the top is very small and there’s maybe 2030 people that are absolutely at the top of it that are excellent and sharps or whatever you want to call them. I think in New York there’s more of those, like there’s more competition of people that operate at an extremely high level.

Warren Dow: [00:35:19] So coral, I want to put you on the spot a little bit and create a fictitious competitive scenario. Let’s say today you have a listing presentation for $35 million state, and Bellaire. And prior to the meeting, the seller tells you that she has met with and for fun. I’ll use first names and you’ll know who these people are.

Sally Santiago, Valerie, Aaron, drew, Joyce, David, Brandon, and rainy. I could keep going, but you get my point. Why should they hire you?

Carl Gambino: [00:35:48] Because they’ll actually get me and not an assistant and I’ll work seven days a week and not sleep until the house assault.

Warren Dow: [00:35:55] I don’t think you need to go further.

Well-stated you think that’s common in this with these big teams that you, as you’re referring to, like if someone has a huge team of people. You think it’s getting, it gets harder to get to the actual superstar agent to get them personally involved.

Carl Gambino: [00:36:14] They almost the only have a certain amount of time and capacity, and that’s why they have huge teams.

I mean, Steven Shapiro, one of the owners of our agency, that’s one thing he always says, it’s like, tell clients if they’re hiring us, they’re actually getting you.

Warren Dow: [00:36:29] And some of these mega agents have 2 billion. Enlisting inventory. I mean, I couldn’t imagine carrying that volume of listing inventory.

Carl Gambino: [00:36:41] Well, that’s something as well.

Like clients will say to me, they’ll, they’ll say like, all of this person has $100 million in listings, but like, is that good? Is it good that they have a bunch of listings that aren’t selling? Like, why is that good? It’s like, I don’t know, I kind of pride myself on like getting listings and selling them at like a high closing rate.

I don’t want like a million listings just sitting around.

Warren Dow: [00:37:05] Yeah. So let’s go back to this, the commission thing real quick, cause I sent, one question I forgot to ask you is when it gets time on these big, big listings, these big multi multimillion dollar listings to talk about the commission part. Is that something that you gulp and you go, Oh gosh, here we go.

We’ve got to talk about. Commission. Like is that a pain point or how do you

Carl Gambino: [00:37:26] know? I think when I was like a younger salesman and in any business, like I was afraid to talk about money and I think it’s more about like confidence and how you value your time. And now I just look at it as like a part of the business and it’s like, you know what?

Your time is worth just like a doctor or a lawyer. And I say that to people at times. I’m like, would you negotiate with them? Like would you go to the dentist? Maybe some people negotiate the dentist side, but I mean like your doctor or whatever. It’s like. It just goes with the stigma where people like think real estate agents make too much money and it’s an easy job that anyone can do.

And it’s kinda just like eliminating that thought and like really valuing your time.

Warren Dow: [00:38:04] That was great. Well said. So enough about real estate for a moment. Let’s have some fun. Shall we? You were sons, we’ve talked about this. Your son’s godfather is Joe Jonas of the Jonas brothers fame. And when, and where did you meet Joe?

How did that come about?

Carl Gambino: [00:38:19] You know, everyone asks me this and I get like furious and I tell him all the time and I’m like, everyone just like makes it like I’m successful cause you. But he’s really like my closest friend and I love him. And that’s why I asked him. I’ve met him years ago when I first moved to LA.

And he’s just like the most humble, nicest, sweetest person. And I wanted him to like be around my son and yeah, watch them grow up.

Warren Dow: [00:38:42] That’s cool. Sorry, I had to ask you a question. It was only the 843rd time that you’ve been asked, so when, I have to apologize again, but any relation to the original godfather Carlo Gambino.

Carl Gambino: [00:38:56] Not that I know of. And if so, like distant relation and my name and Italian is Carlo Gambino, which is ridiculous. And I’ve been asked that a billion times as well. Like I’ll even go like in the airport and they’ll be like, Oh, are you related to the mafia? And like, you should play it up

Warren Dow: [00:39:12] and

Carl Gambino: [00:39:12] say, yeah, actually just like, it’s ridiculous.

Like if my name was dumb or would they be like, Oh, are you Jeffrey Dahmer son? It’s just like,

Warren Dow: [00:39:19] well, it’s just, it’s an interesting, your real name’s Carlo Gambino is obviously. The godfather, right? I mean, it’s, it’s so, it’s a natural,

Carl Gambino: [00:39:27] now I get it again, why? It happens

Warren Dow: [00:39:29] and it’s, it’s funny how I studied organized crime in college.

It was my favorite class. They had like the history of organized crime in America who was like the most fascinating class I took in college

Carl Gambino: [00:39:41] and read like tons of books on it is really fascinating.

Warren Dow: [00:39:44] It’s totally, it’s like the entrepreneurial. Spirit and how like this whole country was like, not the whole country, but like a portion of it was built and especially with all through the, all these ethnicities that immigrated from Europe and the Italians and the Irish and like prohibition and that.

It’s so, it’s amazing sort of how that all

Carl Gambino: [00:40:03] developed. I know it’s so interesting, AFT and think like in a funny way, how it would work if in real estate, if that’s how it was now. Like you just walk into someone’s listening and be like, now this is my mistake.

Warren Dow: [00:40:13] Right. Or you have to pay me to list your home on this block.

Don’t you know that you can’t sell a home in this neighborhood without paying me? That’s, that could be your new thing. You know,

Carl Gambino: [00:40:23] you’re signed to have the name and

Warren Dow: [00:40:24] everything. Totally. You gonna play it up. Just show up

Carl Gambino: [00:40:26] at people’s open houses and be like, this is mine now.

Warren Dow: [00:40:28] Yeah. You got to get an office like with a desk at the very back of the, you know, and you’ll have to take appointments.

How did you do me a favor?

Carl Gambino: [00:40:35] Where the neighborhood my family’s from. It’s just like something that existed and it’s kind of wild that it did. And like they put their ran and like how violent it was and, and now it’s like pretty much almost nonexistent.

Warren Dow: [00:40:48] Yeah. Well it’s now it’s, it’s just changed colors.

Right? So like organized crime is still is absolutely around on wall street. You know, in pharmaceutical co like it’s just different. It’s just people are breaking the law and they’re doing different crap. It’s just, it’s not the old school, like, you know, break, break some legs and, you know, towards the place.

So what do you do for fun besides sell $60 million homes?

Carl Gambino: [00:41:15] I think I need to like have more fun actually. I think I have like just working, barely have any hobbies. I mean, I sometimes go to shows a lot of the times for my clients. I really enjoy that. Spending time with my son. 

Warren Dow: [00:41:29] or do you live in Beverly Hills?

Carl Gambino: [00:41:31] No, I bought a house in studio city.

Warren Dow: [00:41:33] Okay, so you’re city. And so what’s a typical day like for you? Like today you’re doing a podcast, like what? Do you have any showings later.

Carl Gambino: [00:41:40] Yeah. I think it, I mean, it varies per day. That’s part of what I like about real estate. It’s like sometimes you like can’t breathe.

You’re so busy and, which is most of the time now, but like I liked that it changes per day. I have a bunch of showings this afternoon. Every day is different. Really. Like someday. The one thing that’s consistent is like the second I touch my phone, I’m going to just like nonstop working.

Warren Dow: [00:42:01] So we’ve already answered my, my next question.

Do you travel a lot? The answer is not really right.

Carl Gambino: [00:42:06] You would know actually that to tell you the truth, that’s like the one thing I force myself to do because I love traveling and it’s the reason I worked so hard. I mean, I go to New York a lot for work, but I travel. I like every year, like to take like 15 to 16 days and go to added like a time where.

Like it kind of slows down and go to Italy or Spain or my family’s obviously from Italy. I love Italy. I love Europe. This year we went to France and Italy.

Warren Dow: [00:42:35] I want to go to Italy so bad. I’m Canadian. I was born in Toronto. My parents moved here when I was about two and a half, so I was one basically raised Southern California.

I’d never been to Europe how I want to go, and my dad has Scottish roots as well. And if they’d been to Scotland a million times and I’m like, ah, I want to get, get out of here and go see the world. But I’m, you know,

Carl Gambino: [00:42:57] I love it so much. I can’t explain it. When I get there, it’s like, I feel like it’s where I’m supposed to be.

It’s weird. I went to Pulia this like part of Italy, like the Southern tip this summer or two summers in a row and I love it there. It’s just beautiful. And the food is incredible.

Warren Dow: [00:43:12] That’s interesting you say that because I think I feel the same when I’m in Canada, especially like British Columbia. We travel there a lot.

Vancouver Island. And it’s must be in our DNA, like are you’re Italian. You know when you’re, when you’re back, quote unquote home you, you sense it. You know, like that’s your DNA is from there. You know what I mean?

Carl Gambino: [00:43:32] There were some weird, the first time I went to Italy, I went to Rome and I remember like stepping off the plane and immediately feeling that,

Warren Dow: [00:43:38] yeah, I feel the same when I’m in Canada.

It’s like this weird sense of a belonging or just like, I don’t know, it’s just weird.

Carl Gambino: [00:43:47] Actually, there’s a huge amount of Canadians moving here. Like I have a big Canadian clientele, especially from Toronto. Yeah. The one thing we didn’t talk about that I wanted to tell you is I think the San Fernando Valley is on fire and not in like negative terms.

Like I think it’s, it’s a great investment and yeah.

Warren Dow: [00:44:05] Be specific aware

Carl Gambino: [00:44:06] where incentives from Encino to studio city and even North Hollywood. I just really believe in it. Like I’m selling a house off market now in Encino for 20 which is I a sale in the history. I’m selling a second one for 14 one which is I guess also the highest in history.

Warren Dow: [00:44:21] Well, you know, it’s interesting you say that because Encino used to be the spot.

Carl Gambino: [00:44:26] I know like back that day,

Warren Dow: [00:44:28] way back and there will be Michael JAG, his parents lived in Encino, like back over there. And I remember, cause I grew up in West Lake village. We used to drive because they had better restaurants, like in down in the Valley, and we would, for fun, we’d tour some of those streets to see those mega, you know, back then in the 70s mega mansions.

Oh, Michael Jackson’s, you know?

Carl Gambino: [00:44:47] Yeah. Now all of a sudden I’m getting a lot of clients that were, were Beverly Hills buyers that are like, why not drive 20 minutes, get double the land and how size have privacy ton of restaurants are opening there. They’re opening Erewhon on. And the sportsman lodge and Equinox in city of cities slash like the border of Sherman Oaks.

I just really believe in it. I bought a house there. That’s cool.

Warren Dow: [00:45:10] That’s good. There’s your market tidbit for the day.

Carl Gambino: [00:45:12] You get way more for your money and it’s not that far away.

Warren Dow: [00:45:16] One of the things, it’s interesting you say that, cause like we, I live in Redondo beach. Our office is in Hermosa beach, South Bay, and you get a lot of this like, okay, everything’s priced out.

Everything’s done like Manhattan beach game over. It’s over. So where’s it going next? Like it kind of like, it’s either going a little bit North, so like we’re Donda was having this whole rent. Even North Redondo is having a Renaissance Inglewood with the whole stadium like this. Like Elsa Gundo is Whoa.

Crazy up

Carl Gambino: [00:45:42] battling. People ask me why I’m in LA as opposed to New York. And I met with this like very big art dealer that was huge in New York recently. And. I asked him that question and he was like, the same reason you’re here. He’s like, because it’s where everything’s happening. He’s like, yeah, and then I started to think about it, and it’s true, like when I first moved here, it was like basically just entertainment.

Now it’s tech now. It’s like every industry you could possibly think of

Warren Dow: [00:46:07] Hollywood,

Carl Gambino: [00:46:08] the restaurant business is exploding and hospitality, and I just think it’s a great place to invest and I don’t know, I just really believe in the Valley and hear the buzz and feel it.

Warren Dow: [00:46:18] Yeah, I agree. And I think it’s like.

Well, he has always been sort of the place, but I think now it’s, it’s bell play. It’s like internationally. It’s the,

Carl Gambino: [00:46:26] it was never on the same level in my eyes as New York before and now it is

Warren Dow: [00:46:31] New York and like the Hamptons and that whole, that whole vibe. Yeah, I totally agree. So let’s talk about the industry real quick, or the market.

Like how do you, how has the market been this year and we still

Carl Gambino: [00:46:40] are still flying. It’s been one of the. Best years I’ve ever had. What I am noticing though is it’s like a strange marketplace where if something’s like really well done, it flies off the shelf and multiples and then if it’s like mediocre or not.

Unique in the sense of it being like high quality. It could sit. So there’s like this major disconnect in like where buyers and sellers are in the market cause they’re still seeing big deals happening immediately and multiples. But that’s for a specific product. So like the sellers think it’s a sellers market and the buyers think it’s a buyer’s market and it’s causing like a middle inventory to just sit.

Warren Dow: [00:47:18] Yeah. Real estate is cyclical, right? Every 10 years ish,

Carl Gambino: [00:47:21] or they say seven but now they’re expanding.

Warren Dow: [00:47:23] We’ll say seven to 10 was the, was the safe  you know,

Carl Gambino: [00:47:28] everyone asks you that question. If you think the market’s going to crash, and I really don’t know. I mean usually we fall in New York, New York has been slower, but then again, I’m having buyers buying up New York cause they’re like, it’s great to buy.

I hope no matter what. Like I always have clients wanting to buy and sell. Just because first of all, a lot of entertainment based clients have to move anyway, and then when the market drops, then there’s opportunity.

Warren Dow: [00:47:53] There’s been some crazy spec development, right? There’s one what they’re talking about bringing out for 500 million.

Carl Gambino: [00:47:59] That’s ridiculous. But

Warren Dow: [00:48:00] I think just all PR and BS,

Carl Gambino: [00:48:04] I think he would probably take 150 or 200 million for that, but I think there’s a. Over abundance of inventory of a certain type of spec build like those modern boxes or

Warren Dow: [00:48:17] $30 million,

Carl Gambino: [00:48:19] like, like if you look in the 15 to $25 million market in the Hills of Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills, like almost every house looks the same.

Warren Dow: [00:48:26] Yeah. Well, it’s because the developers are making 15 million bucks a pop and buying the land for 11. Whatever they were, you know,

Carl Gambino: [00:48:33] and we’ll now I’m saying there’s a turn in, they’re actually sitting, and then like I showed someone yesterday, we went from like three to five 30 and we looked from like 10 to 25 million.

And like I said, every single one of those houses look exactly the same to the point where the clients are almost like, should I just buy a fixer and do it myself so I have something that’s different?

Warren Dow: [00:48:53] Yeah. Are you seeing international buying and buyers? Is it still strong or is that starting to  two part question.

Is it still strong and are they the sort of the precursor of things to come? If they slow, does that mean, Oh. Here comes the slow, or

Carl Gambino: [00:49:13] I think there’s always been, I mean there’s definitely international buying in Los Angeles, but I think there’s been some sort of like misconception that they drive the Los Angeles real estate market, and I don’t think it’s true.

I think a huge portion of the major sales in Los Angeles are Americans, and I have seen a slow down in it, especially from. Chinese buyers because it’s been hard to move money out of China, but I don’t think one way or another international buying like dictates where the market goes.

Warren Dow: [00:49:43] Okay, let’s talk about marketing.

Something that I love and I’m serious about our company digs. We produce magazines of course, and podcasts, but we’re really, you know, our DNA is, we’re, we’re marketing and we’re marketing specific to this niche of, of real estate. And I, I find it fascinating with all just the prop tech and everything.

Like I’ve always envisioned myself in what I do being you, and being like, how can I make Carl and how can I make whoever. Relevant and growing and a better marketing person. What’s your take on, on marketing for agents? Like, another quick thing is like, I’m big on branding, especially in this content bubble that we’re living in.

You know, and we’ve, we’ve commoditized everything. So branding, I think. Even though it’s old school is kind of like new school. It’s harder to brand now and build brand, but it’s all about trust. What are your thoughts on,

Carl Gambino: [00:50:37] I think I’m probably the worst person to ask this question to. So if my wife owns an experiential marketing agency and she constantly is like, you do no marketing or.

Advertising, like obviously we market the listings, but for my own personal branding and like my whole business is basically been like word of mouth and just me out meeting people. Yeah. And

Warren Dow: [00:50:58] that’s marketing though.

Carl Gambino: [00:51:00] Yeah. I just mean like, I’m not one to really, I just have like an old school approach that’s not compass is way or things like that.

Warren Dow: [00:51:10] Well said. You run a compass, I meant to ask you about compass. So, I mean, they’re sort of all the rage and all the, they have a huge investment with SoftBank. They’re acquiring companies, they’re hiring top agents. What are your thoughts on, on, so like, you know, do you see, where do you see them in five years?

Carl Gambino: [00:51:29] I, you know, I’m really unsure with the whole WIWORK thing. I mean, I definitely respect them and the business they’re building. And I remember when I first started in residential leasing in New York, they were called urban compass and they were like these kids with iPads in book bags that were like trying to break into this market that we were like.

Hustling and they didn’t succeed actually, and then they switched to cells. I mean, I really don’t know. I don’t know where they’re going to be in five years. I think they could be the biggest agency in the world or be gone. So it’s like a, a real like, I don’t actually know.

Warren Dow: [00:52:01] And how important you think, I’m always interested to like big agents like yourself.

How important. Is it for sellers? Which broker you have behind you, or is it all about the agent? Like is it,

Carl Gambino: [00:52:12] I think it’s a lot about the agent. I mean, I think if like this brand for instance, like West side estate agency is known for like ultra high end sales and luxury. I think that helps in a sense. But like they’re also.

Our agents at Keller Williams that do tons and tons of business. I think it’s the most important thing is about like the actual agent itself. Like a lot of my clients don’t even know where I work, actually.

Warren Dow: [00:52:36] Yeah. No. Nor do they necessarily

Carl Gambino: [00:52:38] care. Yeah. Yeah. But like all to LA people know.

Warren Dow: [00:52:43] All right. Some closing thoughts.

Uh, if you could have one superpower, what would it be? Carl.

Carl Gambino: [00:52:47] To read the future,

Warren Dow: [00:52:49] to know the future, to know the future. All right. I like it. What could you tell our audience that they would be super surprised to hear about you or know about you?

Carl Gambino: [00:53:21] I love that. I love that French movie, the Intouchables. I think it’s amazing. It’s a true story. It’s cool. One of my favorite films.

Warren Dow: [00:53:29] What about architectural style? You have one favorite.

Carl Gambino: [00:53:33] I like really well done, authentic Spanish, like really beautiful, authentic Spanish.

Warren Dow: [00:53:40] Now. I love that too. It’s cloning like just, yeah.

Carl Gambino: [00:53:44] Clifford may like, but I don’t know. I have appreciation for a lot, a lot of architecture, but I really like very well done, not authentic Spanish.

Warren Dow: [00:53:55] Very cool. Awesome. Do you have any other closing thoughts you want to tell our audience or no,

Carl Gambino: [00:54:01] I guess I would just say that anyone that wants to get into the business and like that really has a passion for real estate that I think it’s possible for anyone to get to like the.

A high level. It’s just like about how you think in belief in your ability. And I feel like there’s a lot of people I meet that like I would even consider hiring, but then they’re like, you know, like I can never meet those type of clients or do those type of deals, or like, I’ll never be Curt or someone like that.

And I just think it’s a shame because you’ve

Warren Dow: [00:54:32] put those limiting factors on you then you’ve, you’ve just done yourself in. Exactly. You can never stretch or be beyond. Yeah. I agree. I think your mind, and this is a cliche, is your most powerful thing, but it’s like there is something just of throwing fear aside and just doing it, aiming high and just going like, why not?

Why can’t it be you? Why? There’s no reason.

Carl Gambino: [00:54:58] Yeah, I completely agree. Awesome. Well thank you.

Warren Dow: [00:55:02] Well, thank you. I think, uh, this has been enlightening and it was great to hear your story a bit and shed light on the, on the LA, you know, real estate scene. And so I should be. I think the next two or three years is going to be a really interesting ride for LA real estate, for real estate period.

But let’s see how we, with the whole geopolitical and we got elections, we got, we’ve got the cycle. That’s going to be an interesting time. So with that we will say goodbye and thank

Carl Gambino: [00:55:28] you. Thanks.

Warren Dow: [00:55:29] Thanks, bro.

And that wraps up this episode. Thank you for tuning in and we hope you found some value. Please share, subscribe, and leave a review. Find us on iTunes and your favorite podcast provider. Until next time.