Bjorn Farrugia: The Roger Federer of Luxury Real Estate

Follow along with Bjorn Farrugia at bjornfarrugia.com

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:28:06
Warren
Our next guest is special in every way. First, as a native of Australia to becoming a professional tennis player and then turning that burning competitive spirit and desire into becoming the Roger Federer of luxury real estate. He’s set records for the highest unit volume at Hilton & Hyland 4 years straight, sold over $300 million in 2021, and has represented some of the biggest home sales ever on the west side of Los Angeles.

00:00:29:00 – 00:00:35:06
Warren
Recently, he joined the new powerhouse luxury brokerage in L.A., Carolwood. Please welcome to the show, Bjorn Farrugia.

00:00:35:06 – 00:00:54:00
Bjorn
Being affiliated or even having my name next to Roger Federer is very I feel lucky. Hopefully I can get to that level. Being the luxury real estate Federer. Thanks for the warm introduction. Appreciate it. Great to meet you guys today.

00:00:54:23 – 00:01:07:11
Warren
Awesome to have you. Want to talk first about your name, Bjorn. And who’s the guy who’s the announcer for who’s the famous boxing announcer? Michael. What’s his name? You don’t talking about? He does that.

00:01:07:22 – 00:01:09:08
Bjorn
He’s got a very distinct voice.

00:01:09:08 – 00:01:21:23
Warren
I know. He introduces a boxing. Imagine you as a boxer, Bjorn. Right now entering the ring in the in the, you know, in the black shorts. Bjorn Farrugia.

00:01:22:18 – 00:01:29:18
Bjorn
What do you think that sounds like in my head every day when I wake up at 5:00, that’s that’s kind of how it goes off.

00:01:29:19 – 00:01:32:00
Warren
That’s how you do it, right? You get up and, you.

00:01:32:10 – 00:01:33:08
Bjorn
Know, I think introduce.

00:01:33:08 – 00:01:34:06
Warren
Yourself to the world.

00:01:35:15 – 00:01:40:13
Bjorn
Real estate. It’s like a bit of a boxing match, which goes at times. I get it.

00:01:42:03 – 00:01:44:13
Warren
Well, your named after a pro tennis player, is that right?

00:01:45:15 – 00:02:13:17
Bjorn
I was, yes. Bjorn Borg. My mom was very fond of him. She also like one of the guys from Abba, Bjorn Alfredson. And my mom liked them both, she thought they were handsome blokes. And then we to them, not about this. Then I started playing tennis was know very serendipitous, organic and like an accident wasn’t because Billie my mum played tennis was just because she liked the name and just kind of fell into it, to be honest.

00:02:14:20 – 00:02:19:08
Warren
Was tennis your only sport that you played when you were young or were you like a multi sport?

00:02:20:09 – 00:02:39:01
Bjorn
Quite a lot of sports might have played Australian football, a lot. I’m from Melbourne where kind of Australian football started, which is one of my favorite places in the world. I played like cricket, soccer, tennis and golf and a lot of sports and I would say tennis, golf and Australian football.

00:02:39:18 – 00:02:41:11
Warren
And Australian football. What was your position?

00:02:42:05 – 00:02:59:00
Bjorn
I was in the mid Rover Rovers kind of like in the midfield. I kind of get in the bottom of all the packs where the ball is and kind of create the plays. I would say pretty fast, nimble talking a lot, causing trouble, but also like people trying to catch you and trying to kill me at the same time.

00:02:59:00 – 00:02:59:06
Bjorn
So.

00:02:59:18 – 00:03:30:12
Warren
you know, it’s a fun fact, Bjorn. At UC Santa Barbara, I played rugby as we call it here American, not football, American rugby. So and I played rugby for about three months, got my butt kicked. I’m like, I’m not doing this. This is and I was the same guy, the guy who caught the ball and all the big dudes ran and just killed, you know, after a broken finger and something else injury every, every game.

00:03:30:12 – 00:03:35:20
Warren
I’m like, You know what? I’ll stick to guitar, you know, and, and, and stay out of trouble. But I.

00:03:36:03 – 00:03:58:12
Bjorn
I like that. I think in Australia it’s seasonal in the winter we play Australian football. So we did that in the summertime we play cricket and that’s what we did with all the people in the neighborhood. Aussie Rules. I played in America. Each state has a team and I played for the team in Atlanta and we played against the Australian team, against the American team.

00:03:58:22 – 00:04:17:09
Bjorn
I played football, I played at a pretty high level. I’ve got my ribs cracked, my cheekbone cracked. I mean, it’s just when you’re the little guy, everyone wants to kill you, but someone’s got to go there and get the ball. I always felt, you know, you can’t be scared. You got to go in hard because if you’re scared, that’s when you get injured.

00:04:17:20 – 00:04:30:10
Bjorn
You start going, go for the ball. It’s kind of like real estate. You got to dive in and go headfirst. You can’t really hold back and use that same mindset as well in everything which that’s great.

00:04:30:10 – 00:04:39:04
Warren
So when you were playing tennis, like, when did you know you were good? Like be like, Wow, I can maybe do something with this? Was there like a moment in time or.

00:04:40:20 – 00:05:01:12
Bjorn
I don’t know. It’s just a good question. You know, I always wanted to be Roger Federer or Stefan Edberg was also another famous tennis player of mine. Yeah. So and I fell I don’t know. I felt I connected to it and I felt that no, no, I was gifted in a lot of ways. And I felt that I always wanted to be a pro tennis player.

00:05:01:12 – 00:05:19:10
Bjorn
So I got a scholarship to come here and I tried my best, but I don’t I feel like I could do anything, but I kind of applied myself to the tennis was something that I just felt I’m hot smile. That’s the right word. You know, it’s it’s I was I’m a little guy inside. So that’s always hot on the tour.

00:05:19:10 – 00:05:21:20
Bjorn
But yeah, it’s kind of my.

00:05:21:23 – 00:05:22:21
Warren
So how tall are you?

00:05:23:13 – 00:05:24:03
Bjorn
Five, eight.

00:05:24:18 – 00:05:26:11
Warren
Five, eight. Okay. So what was your.

00:05:27:18 – 00:05:51:05
Bjorn
Most of the guys on the tour, like six one, six one, and he’s a little guy. You know, when they shooting the ball, you really they’re told that I can get it down hotter over the net so my little guy was tough in that regard, but I exceeded my expectations. I did amazing. Very blessed. Got to travel the world playing tennis and obviously got to come to the States, which has been a gift from God for sure.

00:05:52:10 – 00:06:04:04
Warren
It’s awesome. So when you played tennis, was your sort of competitive advantage? Was it speed? Were you just like that guy that would get terrible, like back and forth? And when you of that, was that your.

00:06:04:15 – 00:06:05:01
Bjorn
Speed.

00:06:05:03 – 00:06:06:05
Warren
Your thing versus power?

00:06:06:10 – 00:06:28:02
Bjorn
Speed like in America? Like I don’t know since I’ve ran big tennis academies here in the States, you know, I learned this word. It’s called tanking. And it’s kind of where people play and they don’t try. And I would say I was always the one who tried or every single point and every single ball to the best of my ability thing.

00:06:28:04 – 00:06:48:17
Bjorn
Rafa does this a lot. He try Rafael Nadal. He’s always trying his best and hardest and always that guy that was fast and quick and made a lot of tennis balls in the court and just never gave up. And that was my strength for sure. I think it’s kind of thing you can adapt that to anything. But yes, I was also, you know, a little global.

00:06:49:04 – 00:06:52:16
Bjorn
So, you know, that’s all I had.

00:06:52:16 – 00:07:03:02
Warren
Nice, nice, nice. So when did you when did you give up tennis? When was that? When was the sort of moment like, okay, I got to I got to stop doing this. It’s not happening. I need to do something else.

00:07:03:10 – 00:07:30:01
Bjorn
I played well. D1 junior college in South Georgia came in on collegiate scholarship. We finished two in the nation, you know, part of conference. And then I went to try and play after that, and I realized that I probably was not going to be Roger Federer or Stefan Edberg. And then I kind of ended up finishing school at day to day to college.

00:07:30:11 – 00:07:42:10
Bjorn
Outside of Atlanta, and then I snapped every single record and was depressed for two years and didn’t play you cool touch. It took me a long time to come to terms with it, but I realize I gave up everything and I wasn’t.

00:07:42:10 – 00:07:52:16
Warren
I mean, I’m sure it’s when you hit a level of professional level and you put in all that time and effort, blood, sweat and tears, right? It’s tough. I get hit.

00:07:52:23 – 00:08:09:07
Bjorn
Hard and I’ve got a lot of mates that golfers and high level golfers and that kind of same mentality. You know, once you get to a level, you realize you can you kind of then you kind of hate it because you kind of failed at it and it’s kind of rubbing it in your face every time you play.

00:08:09:07 – 00:08:29:21
Bjorn
And so I don’t know if you felt that with the rugby situation, but, you know, it was hard to get back into it. I love it now. I’m very connected to it and always trying to give back and support. Junior tennis. And I have a lot of clients that have kids that play tennis and always want to help them and to share some of the love of tennis that gave me so much.

00:08:29:21 – 00:08:39:18
Warren
Awesome. So how did so so we go from college tennis, we’re hanging up the racket and then what do we do? We’re going to to New York and getting the finance. Is that how worked for you?

00:08:40:06 – 00:09:04:13
Bjorn
Yeah, I taught tennis. They sent in when I was in college and some golf stuff. Then I always felt like I want to go to New York and make $1,000,000,000 and finance a dream. And not everyone’s, but mine was. So I went to the city, New York and I lived there for about three or four years, and it was a dangerous place.

00:09:04:19 – 00:09:29:04
Bjorn
I had a lot of fun, very fortunate. Anyone that could go there ever and live there and worked. I worked in 40 Wall Street, Trump Towers, right where the Nasdaq was like four buildings away from the Nasdaq. Wake up every morning like you go on the train. You’re like leaving with all the people and going to like shouting and screaming on the floor of the Nasdaq.

00:09:29:10 – 00:09:53:03
Bjorn
And I would go there at that time. I’d go to the Starbucks there and see them all was like crazy, fast paced. And I was raising money for a foreign exchange firm that invested in a dollars and euros francs and Australian dollars and American dollars. And it was an amazing experience to be there and do that. Anyone that can go there and live there for a little bit.

00:09:53:18 – 00:09:56:05
Bjorn
There’s no education better than that in my opinion.

00:09:57:07 – 00:10:01:12
Warren
Yeah, New York is one of those cities you don’t live in, you survive in.

00:10:02:03 – 00:10:03:06
Bjorn
Right? It was crazy.

00:10:03:23 – 00:10:17:03
Warren
I’ve only been there a handful of times, but like yeah, it’s one of those it’s, it’s hard. It’s a roll up your sleeves, you know and get dirty and grind 24/7.

00:10:17:03 – 00:10:38:07
Bjorn
You have to be connected there also I think you know if I did I was very green and naive and you know you look I’ll put my resume on Monster.com. I’m going to get a job. Yeah. So many people that are doing resourceful and unsavory things that you’re going to weed through that. Yeah, it’s just different. So I wish if I went in now, I’ll do it differently.

00:10:38:07 – 00:10:59:06
Bjorn
And, you know, if you got a little head start, you could. You could do really well there. You got to work hard. The last kind of like a part time job compared to your day when you’ll go to work at six in the morning and finish at nine. 10:00? Yeah, you go to work at six or seven and maybe you stop at six or seven, like in New York at work till like 1011.

00:10:59:13 – 00:11:14:06
Bjorn
And that’s just what it is, just different vibe, different culture, different people. It’s hard to make a lot of money there and it’s a hard life, I think as well. Not everyone does it. It’s tough. From what I saw.

00:11:14:06 – 00:11:43:20
Warren
In a way, Bjorn, your background is perfect, perfect setup for being a stud in real estate because you’ve got this competitive athletic background, right? Multiple sports, fierce competition, and then you go into the most competitive, fierce city in America, New York, in finance, which is tough, right? You find a way through that. So how do we then get into real estate?

00:11:43:20 – 00:12:07:08
Bjorn
I’ve started 4 companies since I’ve been here. In finance. I had a business in Atlanta with some Aussie mates, which we grew quite large, and then I had some big tennis academy here in California. One of my Aussie mates was kind of running and he really gave me an opportunity to come and work with him.

00:12:07:08 – 00:12:28:01
Bjorn
And I feel, you know, there’s three or four really key things to be successful in any business, I believe, and I think I have some of those strengths. I feel like, what are those? I know those are going to work hard. You know, you’ve got to want it, got to work hard. You’ve got to be good connecting with people.

00:12:28:16 – 00:12:44:20
Bjorn
And I think you’ve got to be able to pick up the phone and get in front of people that you can do those things and be relentless and not take no for an answer and just do it and do it every day and don’t stop. You know, you get some lot you create your own lot through hard work.

00:12:45:10 – 00:13:00:20
Bjorn
But I think if you can work hard, you beat like 80% of the people. In my opinion. You have to believe in yourself and you have to you have to be able to pick the phone up and reach out to people and not like not not take no for an answer. No, I came from nothing on you. No one.

00:13:01:09 – 00:13:15:05
Bjorn
I have no family. You can go to UCLA or USC. I was a member of any country clubs or anything. I just kind of felt like I wanted to do it and, you know, just applied. Some of the other businesses that I’ve done in the past. Real estate.

00:13:16:20 – 00:13:33:01
Warren
I couldn’t agree more with what you said, and you’ll appreciate this. My first job out of college, Bjorn, was selling insurance, life insurance as a 22 year old guy who wants to talk to a 22 year old about life insurance.

00:13:33:14 – 00:13:55:14
Bjorn
And totally tough. I mean, all those things you probably learned, like, you know, I know we have some similar things in common from my experience with you. And I feel you have some of those things. And I think you probably learned some of those things. What makes things magazines successful in, you know, a 22 year old when you don’t insurance, you don’t even realize when you’re great.

00:13:56:13 – 00:14:17:08
Warren
Now, I appreciate that. Yeah, I totally agree. And it is that overcoming your fear grind hard work, not being afraid to get in front of people and fail and fail and get back up and fail and get back up and and just keep doing it. Keep doing it and make you use it as a tool to make you stronger, not to weaken you, you know, get stronger because of it.

00:14:17:18 – 00:14:32:21
Bjorn
It’s it’s it’s hard. It’s hard for sure. I think at least tough at is different in New York. New York, they’ll tell you they won’t waste your time L.A. they’ll waste your time, and then you can get the deal. I’d rather like just tell me I’m not getting exactly like I means. Don’t want to waste my time.

00:14:33:03 – 00:14:39:20
Warren
L.A. will spin you. It’s a spin cycle where New York is just like a cut. It’s a it’s a scissor and cord cut.

00:14:39:20 – 00:14:59:13
Bjorn
Better bet, I think, in a lot of ways, because at least you just get straight to the point. Now, please, No wasting time being. So I tell me a lot in L.A. I feel being in the city you really like, it makes you Frank Sinatra. I like it. You know, the city that it’s an amazing city and New York.

00:14:59:13 – 00:15:17:21
Bjorn
New York. But like, if you have no money and you don’t have any connections there, like, you probably get run over this. It’s like that. As you know, anyone that’s been there knows that. It’s also like a blessing to be there because it’s such a fun place. And again, it was like tennis for me. Once I left, it nearly killed me.

00:15:17:21 – 00:15:30:11
Bjorn
I couldn’t go back for like two years. I just I was scared of it. It was like my it was like my family was so hard for me to go back. But now I’m very I’ve met my fiancee there. It’s been a blessing. It’s been great. I love it.

00:15:31:06 – 00:15:50:20
Warren
I have a funny New York story for you. My first my first time there, and I was young. I was working for a music magazine at the time, and they had a convention there called the CMJ Music Festival, and that was way back when. And so I go down to one of the Soho or something and also weekend.

00:15:50:20 – 00:15:51:23
Bjorn
So I still even.

00:15:51:23 – 00:16:09:04
Warren
Saw the cool. There was like a little gathering, like a record label thing. And I got into a cab on my way back. This is my first night, so I just flown in, got myself in the hotel, went to this thing and got in, left there, and I get in the cab and I say, I’m going to this hotel.

00:16:10:03 – 00:16:28:22
Warren
And he didn’t respond. So I said, Do you know where that is? And he he pulled over it. So we drove about 30 yards. He slammed the brakes on and he pulled over and he turned around and he said, Do I know where that F in place is? Do I You’re asking me you’re in my car. You’re asking me where I’m going.

00:16:29:11 – 00:16:32:10
Warren
Get out of here. Out. I’m taking you. I was like.

00:16:33:11 – 00:16:34:05
Bjorn
This is great.

00:16:34:12 – 00:16:46:16
Warren
Welcome to New York, man. You’re not in my car. So I got kicked out of the cab and I go, Okay, Note to self. Don’t ask the cabbie where if he knows where he’s going.

00:16:46:16 – 00:16:54:02
Bjorn
You trying to like he swore him back or something? He’d probably like, You know what? I get it. Okay, well, good. Move on, if you would have. You have push back.

00:16:54:05 – 00:16:56:18
Warren
Think I was a scared little California dude. Like.

00:16:57:07 – 00:17:10:09
Bjorn
I was like I was similar. Man came from Australia. Totally opposite of anyone in New York. But, you know, it was good for me. My my life and my career and my business and just in general, to be resilient.

00:17:12:10 – 00:17:15:23
Warren
So how do we get into okay, So you started with Keller Williams, right? Was it L.A..

00:17:16:17 – 00:17:42:22
Bjorn
Was in Brentwood? Keller Williams. Okay. I started I had a another business when I started and I wanted to get out of that business because I was working nonstop at this tennis academy. I had got tennis academy. So I started working part time with an agent team at Williams in Brentwood, actually, and no one that I know, but one person is still doing real estate in that office.

00:17:42:22 – 00:18:03:22
Bjorn
Really, from when I started, actually. Wow. And the person that I know that’s doing it kind of start at the same time as me and is still we’re very good friends and it was accident I didn’t speak to he was but it was good. Keller Williams at the start. I think any good agent that wants to get involved in real estate, I get a lot of calls and I’m like, work on a team and I start on a team.

00:18:03:22 – 00:18:23:18
Bjorn
I think Keller Williams is a great platform to start and get educated. I think I could some do do things differently to grow their agents. But, you know, everyone has a different model. But I think it’s a great platform. This is great. Some amazing books by people. Keller Williams and I think you got to work on a team at the start in my opinion.

00:18:23:22 – 00:18:45:11
Bjorn
But I started the work on a team. I was working part time 5 hours a week and kind of waned out of the business that I had a previously, which was a full time. I worked insane amount of hours and just kind of wanted to get in real estate and kind of waned out of my tennis business and went into the real finance.

00:18:45:22 – 00:19:06:20
Warren
So when you were getting full time into real estate and you’re like, okay, I’m going I’m diving in the deep end here. Did you have a strategy going in like, I’m going to focus on luxury or this neighborhood? Did you have a specific, like idea and plan in mind, or did you just say like, I’m just going to kind of stumble around with this team until I figure it out?

00:19:08:00 – 00:19:30:00
Bjorn
It’s a good question. You know, I felt that I felt like I lived in a place where there was a lot of high end real estate, so I was kind of blessed in that regards. The first deal I did, one of the first deal like it was $384,000 House in Santa Clarita, Valencia, which is far away from it.

00:19:30:08 – 00:20:02:12
Bjorn
Yeah, yeah, a little bit, a little further away. But I don’t know, I actually, I don’t know. I just kind of like dove in and just kind of back myself. And, you know, I always feel like I, I have about two or three people that I look up to in the real estate market today in L.A., So I still feel like I’m not selling like them, even though anywhere in the world I sell a lot of high end real estate, but I only have a few people that I kind of aspire to be.

00:20:03:08 – 00:20:04:23
Warren
Who are those? What would you, would you name?

00:20:04:23 – 00:20:24:12
Bjorn
Those are Yeah, I would say I would say probably the two people that I would say that I would name, I would say would be Drew Fenton. I always use his name because I think he holds he holds himself in the highest regard. And someone I look up to, he’s got an amazing reputation. He’s very measured poise. He knows what he does.

00:20:24:20 – 00:20:45:16
Bjorn
People, you know, they they like him and they know he’s a good person. And I think that’s really important, is very humble. And he’s like top one or two in L.A. I think he’s been he’s he’s really good. Santiago Arana, he’s here on the west Side. He’s been great to me. Look up to him a lot, being like a big brother to me.

00:20:46:04 – 00:21:07:06
Bjorn
And I could join in a lot of ways because, you know, we’re foreign and didn’t maybe come from different cloth. And someone that does some things that, you know, I do some things a little bit like. I think Kurt Rappaport is probably, you know, one of the biggest in L.A. as well. And someone that just does things in a different sphere than everyone else.

00:21:07:19 – 00:21:28:21
Bjorn
You just use what he does is like no one else. So I said, those those people, I think, you know, Jeff Hyland was someone that we looked up to a lot as he was very much like Drew in a lot of ways. And, you know, you know, always want to be humble. He was like that because very good to me as well, which, you know, is very good to me.

00:21:29:13 – 00:21:32:01
Bjorn
And just these is some of the people that I’ve mentioned.

00:21:32:03 – 00:21:53:18
Warren
That’s great. Those are those are awesome, awesome names. And we had Santiago on the podcast and yeah, he had a great story to tell on on how he almost didn’t make it in the real estate, how he had 300 bucks left in his pocket. He was about to take a job interview somewhere in Venice or something, and he turned around and just left and made the commitment.

00:21:53:18 – 00:21:59:19
Warren
There he was. And he’s been grinding and he’s, you know, same, same, same ethos.

00:22:00:05 – 00:22:31:07
Bjorn
You know, similar, similar. I mean, I got to New York, nearly died twice and I had $800. And then amazing. Atlanta is like, come down, I’ve got a job for you. So I went there and we started this company. And then I was in Atlanta for like three years and I save some money. And, you know, I met a girl in New York and wanted to come to she moved to L.A. and then I wanted to come to L.A. and one of my ex-girlfriends gave me a car and I drove across country by myself.

00:22:31:15 – 00:22:59:11
Bjorn
I had no phone. I just drove in the middle of Katrina, that kind of tsunami that happened just after. It was one of the best things. Driving cross-country by myself. Amazing. Kind of like therapeutically, your mind. There’s so many things going on, but no fun, just crazy things. I’m away. I stopped in Modesto, My car broke down. I stopped in to these hotels like a crack hotel.

00:22:59:16 – 00:23:20:21
Bjorn
I didn’t even know some guy tried to break into the hotel when I was there. Oh, man. And then I got to L.A., and I kind of. I wanted a job, and I started working at this gym, kind of just made some calls and saw an ad on Craigslist and just found out who they were. And I went, I said, I want a job.

00:23:20:21 – 00:23:23:11
Bjorn
Give me a job. And I just kind of started like, That.

00:23:25:09 – 00:23:29:17
Warren
Sounds like we need to make a documentary on your life. It’s way there’s too many.

00:23:30:02 – 00:23:30:12
Bjorn
Yes.

00:23:30:12 – 00:23:33:05
Warren
To too many interesting things going on with you, Bjorn.

00:23:33:12 – 00:23:43:19
Bjorn
Yes, I think there’s a lot of things, but I would say I’m very focused on one thing. Yeah. And that’s selling, you know, being the best that I could be in real estate. I think the volume.

00:23:43:19 – 00:24:08:05
Warren
I mean, the volume, some of the stats we mentioned earlier, I mean, having the highest transactions for you, the most competitive, arguably the most competitive or one of the most competitive brokerages in the country. Hilton Hyland with a lot of stars, a lot of A-list, you know, agents there for you to be, you know, year after year after year, number one, it’s a big deal.

00:24:08:18 – 00:24:44:08
Bjorn
Well, I think I was number one in the volume respect. Yeah. We sold me and my team more than probably two or three X, at least two X more than second person and second position. But you know, the people at Hilton & Hyland, like they’re like everyone says they’re the best actually Hilton & Hyland if you look at the numbers they sold which now is pretty much Carolwood. Carolwood is literally a young, fresh new age Hilton & Hyland with eight of the top ten agents at Hilton & Hyland going to Carolwood, Drew, like a lot of there, a lot of big players are there.

00:24:45:00 – 00:25:09:03
Bjorn
And, you know, we sell all the high end real estate in L.A. and very blessed to be around the people. So we’re like a family. You know, there are reputations important, and we don’t try to do anything to undermine each other or other people. But, you know, we like like Drew would sell like some of these. His numbers are only three or four X more than us.

00:25:09:18 – 00:25:32:09
Bjorn
And, you know, we’re dealing in the May and Steve and Johnny and some of the other agents there, Susan Smith, Brett lawyer, Joana Wilson, These are some of the best in L.A. that’s super connected to high net worth people. So coming there from Keller, Williams went to another brokerage, DC Banner, an architectural firm outgrew that. And then our funds are my business partner there.

00:25:32:09 – 00:25:45:18
Bjorn
And then just being at Hilton & Hyland, kind of climbing our way to the top couple spots to three spots was definitely I didn’t even know actually, I just kind of kept doing it and the volume kind of spoke for itself.

00:25:47:03 – 00:26:04:07
Warren
Carolwood It’s really interesting. The story, like, you know, how you guys started that and is it going to is the goal is to remain super boutique. They’re like not get a bunch of agents, just get really, really A-list agents and keep it small kind of thing. But big ball is.

00:26:04:07 – 00:26:28:14
Bjorn
Listen, I’m not a Drew and Nick, and Ed own the company but I feel you know we don’t want just any agent. We want the right reputation of people. We want the right people who are connected into our ethos family. And I feel like, you know, most brokerages want lots of people.

00:26:28:14 – 00:26:52:09
Bjorn
We want great people, but deal making, producing connected good people in our brokerage. We’ve only been in existence for three months. We have like 74 agents. We did no branding, no marketing. People called some of the founders and said, hey, we want to come. Some of the I think the great thing about us is on the west side, they call some of the other agents someone wants to join.

00:26:52:18 – 00:27:11:21
Bjorn
I call the other agents and say, hey, what do you think about this person and ask them? That’s really important to me because I don’t want to be affiliated with anyone that doesn’t have the reputation that I feel. I hold myself to like that would, you know, I don’t want to be affiliated with someone. That’s not our vibe.

00:27:12:08 – 00:27:24:05
Bjorn
And I’m sure there’ll be some people that going there. But I think I know Drew holds himself to a very high regard, and I know it does that as well. So I think that’s important to us. Sure. That answers your question.

00:27:24:16 – 00:27:25:12
Warren
Yeah, absolutely.

00:27:25:17 – 00:27:45:18
Bjorn
It’s great to get this last very fast, you know. Yeah, she was saying no to people. I believe we just try and say we need them as offices full and we feel lucky for sure. And then also also not was like not fun what happened at Hilton Island, how it kind of unraveled and we didn’t really want that to happen.

00:27:45:18 – 00:28:20:13
Bjorn
You know, everyone was very close and I was very close in the negotiation, I think with with people like Drew and Rick and one of my other mates, Zac Goldsmith, we were very intertwined in the deal. And it’s very sad how it went down, actually. But, you know, we have to make people decisions and move on and we’re fortunate and I think we feel lucky to, you know, take the next step and make it a fresh, young new age Hilton & Hyland just with our brand and, you know, just keep growing it, you know, for Jeff and see and make it our own.

00:28:22:01 – 00:28:39:05
Warren
Well there’s a lot of star power for there for sure. It’s going to magnetize other potential stars. So you guys are going to be in good shape and going to be one to watch for, for sure. Let’s talk about some of your your crazy big sales. You’ve got. Do I know you did You sold Russell Westbrook’s home, right, last year.

00:28:39:16 – 00:29:04:12
Bjorn
That it sold Russell’s house. Yeah, we sold that one. We are trending. I would say we’re trending. You making more deals like that? Yeah. We sold Russell’s house. We sold Russell. We had another house that we sold previously. Then, you know, we work with a lot of we sold we worked off Lou Ferrigno, The Hulk previously. We worked with a lot of entertainment people.

00:29:04:12 – 00:29:28:14
Bjorn
Also previously in This is some we have to sign NDAs to always talk about them. But I think, you know, we’ve been fortunate enough to connect to those people. I think it’s different connecting. You can’t cold call generally one of these people. Russell Westbrook probably not getting cold Cold, No, it’s just about connecting to the right spaces with the right people and building a reputation.

00:29:29:09 – 00:29:47:08
Bjorn
You know, like people speak. I think the sandbox is small, you know, West Side market, small people from Beverly Hills to Malibu. It’s a small space. People know who you are over time. And you know, then it’s very intertwined. So my opinion.

00:29:48:15 – 00:30:09:10
Warren
Yeah, definitely a small sandbox, like you said, a lot of, you know, high powered networking, you know, the Rolodexes you guys have between you, you know, is pretty amazing. You probably have the world’s, you know, most wealthy group of people in your in your databases. You know.

00:30:10:03 – 00:30:36:18
Bjorn
We do. We do. Somehow we do. I don’t even know how we had this One guy I’ve met recently got connected to him is in my database for some time. We wanted to buy a once a rent a house like $30,000, and we showed him a bunch of places for like six, eight months and he’d negotiate very tough.

00:30:36:18 – 00:31:01:10
Bjorn
The tough negotiator say the house is 40,000. He’d offer 25,000. And I’m like, Why didn’t you just get some money? I think he’s done well, sold his company for a lot of money and but it’s like we’re looking for a small little deal rental, like 40, 50,000. He’d like 30,050. Then we showed him this house at a nowhere.

00:31:01:14 – 00:31:21:05
Bjorn
Like 20 million came in. So he loved and bought it. Like, I’ll take it a million out of nowhere. Like it’s a rental. You don’t know who’s in the database. You don’t know where it’s going to come from, you know? And I think he you know, you heard about us sort of our name, but about what I’ve been doing here on the West side in particular.

00:31:21:18 – 00:31:34:17
Bjorn
And I think that gave us some trust. But that doing a rental for 30,000 to turn to like a $22 million sale was good. That doesn’t normally happen. Yeah, that’s for sure.

00:31:35:00 – 00:31:38:09
Warren
A nice surprise. A nice, nice sort of impression.

00:31:38:14 – 00:31:39:06
Bjorn
Refreshing.

00:31:40:17 – 00:31:46:23
Warren
For sure. What about the Australian market You are you developer There’s well you know, we have.

00:31:47:07 – 00:32:01:01
Bjorn
We have some real estate stuff going on in Australia for my family. You know, one of my life goals was to buy my mum house. So I did that and I bought the neighbor’s house that was close and I thought it made sense. So we’re doing some stuff there for my family. My little brother, he’s in real estate.

00:32:01:12 – 00:32:29:14
Bjorn
He’s been amazing. We have a company that would do that as well. I’m very close with Big Brother. It’s like my literally my big brother’s big property developer in Melbourne. It’s the biggest family owned office and he’s really guided me a lot through that process. We’re doing that, doing it here a little bit. We just built a house copying one of my favorite architects in the world and that was a fun project and looking to do more of that.

00:32:29:21 – 00:33:00:21
Bjorn
I think the way to make money in real estate is to buy real estate. Now we get to look at so many amazing deals. We got to, you know, have the courage and buy some real estate and try to invest in yourself, back yourself. We get to see what the buyers are looking for. And I think anyone that’s successful real estate or even a lot of successful clients have real estate investment bankers, basketball players, tennis players, golfers, hedge fund people, you know, finance people.

00:33:00:21 – 00:33:08:09
Bjorn
They all have some diversification of real sense. And trying to do that more, have some stuff in Melbourne going and some stuff here as well.

00:33:08:09 – 00:33:15:18
Warren
I have a super random question for you. I just thought of this now. I don’t know why do you know a lad name? Craig Roosevelt?

00:33:15:18 – 00:33:20:21
Bjorn
Rosie I don’t. I’ve heard of the name. I don’t, I don’t know enough. So you’re, you.

00:33:21:18 – 00:33:45:05
Warren
Know, he’s in Melbourne I believe, or he’s somewhere in Australia. He used to be the drummer one of the best drummers who voted the best drummer in Australia. Actually zero in my band, my old band back, back in the air. And he was amazing. He’s we still touch base. That’s when he Yeah, but I just thought yeah, he’s because he got into real estate and I think he owns his own brokerage now or he’s a developer.

00:33:45:12 – 00:33:46:08
Bjorn
I see.

00:33:46:08 – 00:33:48:04
Warren
But it might be different model.

00:33:48:04 – 00:34:10:06
Bjorn
Moreover, the brokers business is very different. A lot of people go into building after that, do the brokerage. I live next to the drama of Sting, actually, like Sting, the police actually live next to him. I met him the other day. Yes. Yeah. You sales. I live next to him, which is cool. But I didn’t know you were a drummer at a band.

00:34:10:06 – 00:34:11:07
Bjorn
I didn’t know that. That’s cool.

00:34:11:08 – 00:34:12:17
Warren
No. Yeah, well, guitar player.

00:34:13:08 – 00:34:21:03
Bjorn
Awesome. Everyone thinks I. Guys from Australia, you might know him. It’s a small place. You know this guy Craig Smith? I’m like, Nah, maybe.

00:34:23:15 – 00:34:44:13
Warren
You don’t know this guy. Rosie is funny. Maybe he’ll listen to this one day and go, Wow, I made it to the podcast. Well, he told me something interesting about that. Mark I don’t know if this is accurate or not, but he said that Australia, they don’t have buyers agents, right? When you when you’re on your.

00:34:45:09 – 00:35:04:09
Bjorn
So tell me about it. They call it a buyers advocate, which I think is a huge negative because in Australia homes are purchased more on an auction is not really inspection just put your hand up you try to buy it which is not fair to the buyer and it’s hard to negotiate. Actually, I think you should at least have an inspection.

00:35:04:22 – 00:35:27:12
Bjorn
My opinion and you also need someone to negotiate for you, I feel. So. Buyers advocates are becoming more prevalent there in Australia. It’s kind of a cultural thing. They don’t get it and they think they’re paying for something they don’t need. And my sister bought a property there and she’s the buyer’s advocate. She saved like that 10% is the by the agents are just trying to get the most for the money.

00:35:27:12 – 00:35:46:04
Bjorn
Who’s fighting for the actual buyer. If you don’t know you’re in a white collar, sophisticated, educated place you might know how to negotiate, but not everyone knows, right? So if you go to like some different locations, they don’t know any single agent said it’s worth 500. That’s what we got to pay. So it’s different for everywhere. But it’s.

00:35:46:04 – 00:35:59:03
Warren
Interesting, the whole market there is dual agency. It’s basically set up to double, double pump everything. And then it’s like in here, it’s like illegal or you. There’s a lot of problems you get into when you’re representing both sides, you know. I know you know what I mean?

00:35:59:15 – 00:36:20:18
Bjorn
Yeah, it is. I mean, I think the commissions like much less in Australia also it’s like 2% between one and two, I would say. I think that I think it’s much less I think here listen, do agencies, the seller’s open to doing it. I think it’s actually smart in a lot of ways here. You know, the seller should get a deal.

00:36:20:18 – 00:36:47:00
Bjorn
If they do it, they should net a bit more money. But a lot of buyers, you don’t know what they’re thinking. And if the agent trust you, you should be able to kind of negotiate, see both sides of the card to make a deal. You know, I can see how also you someone could interpret not the great way for the seller but you know it’s it’s agent choice fiduciary responsibility for the seller and you know double ended at this legal liability.

00:36:47:13 – 00:37:10:06
Bjorn
Yeah I don’t know it’s it’s tricky. We do it a lot actually in our chain but some sellers don’t do a lot of trust sales as well. So we elect not to do that in the trust. So she’s not worth the headache because, you know, there’s sometimes trust there is a lot of moving parts to save trauma. You know, real estate in L.A. is different to Melbourne, Australia.

00:37:10:09 – 00:37:11:07
Bjorn
Sure. Very different.

00:37:12:00 – 00:37:19:06
Warren
Houses. The super high end in Australia, like what’s the what would be like the highest priced home range?

00:37:19:06 – 00:37:50:05
Bjorn
Like some my mates build a house, so for $80 million last year the guy started a company, a gambling agency, all drive in like America and the Aussie guy went and bought the like on the best street, the biggest house that’s going to be gutted for 80 million. There’s not a lot of 80 mils. There’s some fifties and twenties and my mates just bought one for like seven, my mates building one for about 20, but there was an $80 million sale.

00:37:50:05 – 00:38:06:21
Bjorn
The, you know, if you buy good real estate on good locations, it’s kind of like money in the bank might, there’ll be some storms, there’ll be some weathering of markets, you can weather them and hold onto them. It’s money in the bank I feel.

00:38:08:08 – 00:38:32:02
Warren
Yeah, agree with it. So let’s talk about weathered markets or where are we? We’re in a real estate cycle, sort of pseudo. All right. We are. We are. Interest rates are up. Inventory has been been for the past year, right. There’s still money out there. What do you what do you see? What’s what’s your view of the market right now and, you know, in the next 18 months?

00:38:32:18 – 00:39:01:09
Bjorn
So I think it really depends on the location. I think under 5 million, the market’s changed a lot as if you’re buying a $2 million house and the interest rate was two and a half three. The payment was maybe six seven. Now it’s like 14 or 12. That person has been super affected. You know, we sold a lot of homes last year and our average price point is 3.7 million.

00:39:02:01 – 00:39:34:13
Bjorn
But I think between five and 50 million, that boy is not as affected by the interest rate. They’re more affected by where’s the market going, how’s the equity market? Are we going to a recession? I think they if it’s a good product between five and 50 million itself still we should have house in the Riviera and Pacific Palisades but ten five rare property not big with a view and pool and hanging off an edge on a big piece of land, you know, like blue chip, North Riviera, Pacific Palisades location.

00:39:34:14 – 00:39:56:19
Bjorn
It’s sold like a medium, you know, Ben Affleck And J.Lo is selling, buying a house on Sunset and Pacific Palisades as we speak. They’re in escrow for 34 million. The property was on the market for like less than a week. You know, blue chip, one acre property doesn’t you can’t replicate it. So I think if it’s good, the buyers are more value focused.

00:39:57:02 – 00:40:16:20
Bjorn
And instead of eight buyers, maybe this fall, but if it’s a good property and good location will sell the price. People are looking at the price a little bit more between five and 50, but it depends also with your price what location. If you’re looking in Santa monica, Brentwood, Palisades, that market in markets very insulated. It’s like a bubble.

00:40:17:08 – 00:40:39:18
Bjorn
The market still good but my vista we have a listing coming up markets differently on the 3 million still good between three and 5 million and my vistas kind of soft I think in Bel Air Beverly Hills homes that are on the market for 50 million buyers are getting them for 2030 million low thirties from 50 they would never get that.

00:40:40:07 – 00:41:08:08
Bjorn
You know the flats of Beverly Hills is still good I think Sunset Plaza Bird Street pretty soft yet people are trying to get more deals. You can probably negotiate more if sell as a more realistic valley. Still good but getting a little bit softer I feel you know I think Malibu’s gotten softer as well was very high you know but something still from 91 million in December on the 21st of December, something sell for 91 million in Malibu.

00:41:08:17 – 00:41:30:10
Bjorn
So rare represent the property. So really depends on where you are, what you spaces. I think during the middle America you know you’re selling in Atlanta Albuquerque, Key, Mississippi, Auburn, New Hampshire, you’re selling 3 to $5 million, 3 to $500000 homes. The markets change a lot because you got markets like the regular focus by like a jobs chain.

00:41:30:17 – 00:41:51:19
Bjorn
Maybe they get less hours. Maybe if the wife doesn’t work as much anymore or the businesses let go of a lot of people because they’re not doing as many sales. So those people have been affected a lot either as a business coach and I see a lot of different people in a lot of different markets. And I think our market in L.A. is a little bit insulated.

00:41:52:06 – 00:42:19:08
Bjorn
But, you know, it’s an exciting time as well. I think in a lot of ways, if you can weather the storm because I think a lot of people, a lot of agents will get squeezed out of the market because when the market’s going up, you put a sign up, Mark goes like that. You can sell immediately. But I think a lot of agents are already a lot of them like have gotten out of the market because they can’t survive and there’s less deals happening and it’s taking longer to make the deals.

00:42:20:02 – 00:42:39:11
Bjorn
And I think sellers want to work probably with more seasoned agents because they don’t have time to waste. And what we’ve tried and it’s not worked. So I think, you know, if you have good market share, you maybe can get you get more market share if you’re willing if you can get through the storm. But the market’s still good and depends really where you are.

00:42:41:00 – 00:42:55:14
Warren
Yeah, I’m a big proponent of that. Like when the chips are down, you if you can go all in, that’s when you gain share. These are rare offer you know very opportunistic times for the strategic and the focused right.

00:42:55:14 – 00:43:15:01
Bjorn
I agree I agree. I mean I feel like I don’t read the news. I don’t listen to what other people say. I don’t listen to the nonsense. It’s like I don’t want to clouding my cup. I want to keep it clear and clean. You know what I mean? Because like the news, great. Everyone’s like, read the news. I’m like, Why?

00:43:15:01 – 00:43:45:14
Bjorn
It’s not good, but it’s like 5600 buildings fell down in Turkey and Syria. Like, just think about that. 5600. That’s insane stereo. And think about that just like that’s not the most important thing. Like 33,000 people died. A people’s lives got decimated. And like so much real estate crumbled to the ground. You read that like, why am I going to get up and make calls every day?

00:43:45:23 – 00:44:06:07
Bjorn
You know, I’m already good. I’m in California. I can go to, like, I don’t know, Randy Georgia and bodies and have some food and chill out My family. You know. But what’s amazing, you know, people have been blessed to be where we are in the sun. It’s freezing cold today that if they’re playing a golf tournament here in Riviera and the Palisades, Tiger Woods is here.

00:44:06:18 – 00:44:28:08
Bjorn
You know, look, people buildings falling down in Syria and Turkey and stuff like that. The news is just kind of like, I don’t know, I kind of stay in my lane, do what I do, try to wake up every day and just try to do the best they can. Yeah, you can do it. And I think try to get some market share is important at this time, you know, and I think there’s also I study the market a lot.

00:44:28:11 – 00:44:51:02
Bjorn
You know I make it my business to know the market and know what’s going on. And I think that’s important if you want to be successful in the market. You know, I think anyone that’s successful knows this space in L.A. upside down, like Lloyd Blankfein ran, Goldman Sachs, like Stephen Schwarzman is like Blackstone guy. But I’ve met some amazing the CEO of BBDO.

00:44:51:02 – 00:45:08:17
Bjorn
He’s like my mentor, BBDO is like a huge ad agency in New York. These guys are like a it’s not a job. It’s kind of like a lifestyle. You have to brain age, sleep, dream that you want to like, have a life, have a family. I want to I love my family a lot, but you need to make it your own.

00:45:09:04 – 00:45:19:03
Bjorn
It’s not it’s not a you know, you need to if you want to succeed and be the best. My opinion, you know, the people that are doing it, they’re in it all in, in my opinion.

00:45:19:14 – 00:45:46:12
Warren
Yeah. Let’s change things up. Yawn. Now that we’ve we hit some heavy topics, let’s get to the lighter side. Let’s let’s talk about some things people might not know about you. We know tennis, we know finance. We know the Australian stuff. What Oh, what would what would some people be very surprised to know about you that they don’t you think?

00:45:46:12 – 00:45:48:19
Bjorn
It’s a good question. It’s a good question.

00:45:50:13 – 00:45:54:20
Warren
Good question. I guess my third good question. That’s I’m on fire here for this podcast.

00:45:54:20 – 00:46:10:06
Bjorn
And what would people know? But I don’t know. I think I like to drink camomile tea. That means anything to anyone by my grandma used to drink that. Nice.

00:46:10:23 – 00:46:13:18
Warren
Is that a is that a nighttime ritual pre bed.

00:46:13:18 – 00:46:40:06
Bjorn
Actually common morning to morning things in the morning because I’ve already got a lot of energy so I need to be calm and I think that keeps me but I think it’s important for me that you know, you want to treat people the way you want to be treated and be humble and, you know, try to do the right thing and share.

00:46:40:17 – 00:47:02:05
Bjorn
I think these are really important things. Give back, you know, help other people that never had a don’t have as much as the blessings that we have. I think these are some important things that I don’t know if anyone wants to know. Some of my kind of core kind of cut from the cloth values of mine for sure.

00:47:02:21 – 00:47:34:00
Warren
I think it’s cool. I know this is one of the things that we like to do on this podcast is, you know, people don’t know the the people behind the name a lot with with real estate, especially high end, you see the names, you know, you’ve got this sort of, you know, maybe thought about what this person’s like or but people don’t really know, you know, who, who Bjorn is and Santiago behind the sort of the million dollar listing, you know, kind of facade.

00:47:34:01 – 00:47:35:00
Warren
You know what I mean?

00:47:35:00 – 00:47:37:01
Bjorn
1 billion. 1 billion.

00:47:37:11 – 00:47:42:15
Warren
Yeah, yeah, 1 billion. Sorry, Just a s a minor.

00:47:42:15 – 00:47:43:02
Bjorn
I’m one.

00:47:43:02 – 00:47:44:18
Warren
Yeah. What are your lifetime sales, by the way?

00:47:45:22 – 00:48:07:20
Bjorn
I think we’ve done over a billion. I mean. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So I, to be honest, like, I don’t count because it’s not enough, so I just keep doing it and it doesn’t really matter because till I get to where I need to be and where I’m going to get to, I’m just we need more and we need to get more and we need to do more, but we need to do it the right way and share and be thankful.

00:48:08:08 – 00:48:24:16
Bjorn
And, you know, I think give back and be humble. And, you know, I think in some camomile tails for sure, I think that Roger Federer, if you see Roger Federer, that he’s a gentleman. Yeah, he doesn’t need to tell anyone. He’s the best man who knows the best.

00:48:24:23 – 00:48:25:06
Warren
Yeah.

00:48:25:13 – 00:48:42:12
Bjorn
You know, he went to Wimbledon recently. You know, I don’t know if you read the stories on Trevor Noah. He tried to get into the Wimbledon grounds and he was on that show, the Trevor Noah Show, the talk show. And he went to the grounds because he had like two or 3 hours. And he’s like, I’d go to Wimbledon, he’s in London and have some tea.

00:48:43:04 – 00:48:59:11
Bjorn
And he went to the gate and he said, Hey, I want to see if I can get in. And the lady was like, You got to you got to Google because it’s crazy cause the lady didn’t recognize him. She didn’t know who he was. And it was then he asked like three, four or five times, like, No, I’ve won the tournament a few times.

00:48:59:11 – 00:49:02:05
Bjorn
He’s one of like eight times, I guess a Roger Federer like.

00:49:02:06 – 00:49:03:00
Warren
Yeah, right.

00:49:03:07 – 00:49:24:05
Bjorn
She’s totally he actually went to the other gate and then the gossip columnist, the Federer you hear like he doesn’t need to go and tell people, right? Yeah. It’s like you go on to at least appointment with some of the biggest agents in L.A. I don’t really have to say a lot. I just go there and people know because they know who the people.

00:49:24:18 – 00:49:45:02
Bjorn
And I think they’re very humble. And I think I want to always be like that. And, you know, it takes a lot of work to get there. But I think always do the right thing, always treat people the way you want to be treated. I think that’s really important and always give back and share. And when people call you and ask for your opinion, you know, always be gracious and share your opinion.

00:49:45:02 – 00:50:08:08
Bjorn
Because once you know, I was like someone I start in real estate and you’re nothing. And good people guided me and helped me. But I, you know, I went to them and have found them because I wanted it. And I felt that. And people appreciate it, I think as well. Just some feedback and some thoughts on to other people out there trying to get in the game.

00:50:08:08 – 00:50:17:09
Warren
Very cool if you weren’t. So we talked about the if you weren’t doing real estate now and you had to do something else, what would you go back to? What do you think that would be?

00:50:18:10 – 00:50:39:01
Bjorn
I could go back. I’d probably I had a lot of fun in school. I would say. I wouldn’t say I was studying the hardest at the end. I tried, but at the last year of college I did. But I could have studied harder, came from a different background. So I did the best that I could do before I got, I would say I would have probably studied harder.

00:50:39:22 – 00:50:58:22
Bjorn
I have no regrets. I think if I did like investment banking was something I could do amazing. But, you know, I always wanted to be a professional tennis player. Mm hmm. I tried. So I have no regrets. Feel blessed. I feel lucky I’m here today. Yeah. I think when invest in real estate, always getting educated is so important.

00:50:59:17 – 00:51:16:22
Bjorn
You know, I learned a lot of I went to college, I got educated. But street smarts, I think are really important as well. But, you know, go back and do it again. Maybe if I could my mom could make me like a foot and a half or two feet taller. It would help my tennis game. So then I could be more like, You.

00:51:17:09 – 00:51:19:06
Warren
Have some trophies in your.

00:51:19:19 – 00:51:23:12
Bjorn
Life. Some trophies for sure. Study and have more. Some bigger one.

00:51:23:13 – 00:51:24:09
Warren
You know more, right?

00:51:24:18 – 00:51:29:18
Bjorn
If you’re lucky. But no matter. Nothing really different.

00:51:30:09 – 00:51:37:21
Warren
Tell them. Tell me a funny. Can’t believe this happened to me. Real estate story in your career. Make it a good one.

00:51:38:08 – 00:51:48:21
Bjorn
Make it a good mother. So many crazy stories. My. What were you wearing? The my of it. So many stories. I had scientist.

00:51:49:05 – 00:51:50:06
Warren
Lay one on me. Come on.

00:51:51:18 – 00:52:12:17
Bjorn
I always tell people on my team if the police haven’t called you, you probably shouldn’t be on the team because I think the way we are very we’re patiently persistent, but we’re aggressive. And one of my good mates, Gary Gaul, he said this great comment once he said, You’re not aggressive in L.A, you won’t make it. And you know what, gentlemen?

00:52:12:22 – 00:52:29:08
Bjorn
And we treat people the way you want to be treated, but we’re aggressive and we’re going after it because we want it and we cold call and we do some other things and we doorknock. And one day we went to this person’s house like more than five times. And then one day maybe the police may have shown up with a security.

00:52:30:07 – 00:53:08:16
Bjorn
And then I felt like, you know, we’re probably not going to call that lady anymore after that day. But, you know, other people, like once this bloke recently he told me he’s going to give me a listing and he’s I think this is a good story. And he told me he’s going to give me the listing. And then I saw the listing come on the market with another agent and I thought we were mates and I wrote him an email and he sent an email to the agent who listed it and the agent we listed was actually a cool guy and he called me and said some things which wasn’t warm and fuzzy conversation.

00:53:09:13 – 00:53:38:00
Bjorn
And I called my broker and they said, You want you can call Guy and know it happens. And I told them, I told the agent. I said, Listen, this bloke called, told me he’s giving me the listing like I like I wouldn’t write him an email. I have his email address, his number I’d spoken to him, have gone to his house, and then I found out that he that was his mate, good mate for a long time, and I would never tell it like it made you one of my best mates.

00:53:38:00 – 00:54:01:06
Bjorn
I wouldn’t tell someone else. I’m going to go give you the listing, give them the listing because we’re mates and it’s like a best mate. I just wouldn’t waste people’s time. That’s just me, boy. My broker called me at the hearing like this and found the and the agent screaming at me in the phone. And then I had a guy put on the market, got an escort, didn’t sell the listing, didn’t then it expired.

00:54:02:06 – 00:54:24:12
Bjorn
Then the seller reached out to me and said, Hey, it’s me, I want a listing. And I called the old agent. I said, Listen, if I make a deal, I’m letting you know. I’ll give you a little something. I’m not calling this guy out of respect for you. And so then anyway, so then when I got the listing, I listed it and I sold it.

00:54:24:12 – 00:54:43:19
Bjorn
And, you know, I mean, you don’t know, this is real estate. You Got cops calling you like people were looking at us on like, zoom Don’t come to my house. The brokers calling us and I’m saying, you know, we’re not to sit on the sidelines and wait for people to call us about trying to make a deal. Now we’re just that’s not who we are.

00:54:44:09 – 00:54:58:00
Bjorn
And if someone if you called me Warren, I got another call the other day. Now I’ve got so many stories I don’t even want to keep telling the good so many stories like this. But, you know, I think I don’t know.

00:54:58:11 – 00:55:00:22
Warren
The last one all the other day. Last one. What was it.

00:55:01:10 – 00:55:37:12
Bjorn
Lon? Look, I met this. These clients. This is a real estate story. Like agents, like seller’s buyers. They don’t always tell you exactly the maybe. Yeah. So you read between the lines always. Even if you trust them. I think we are right. Middle America. But mom and pop home family agent they different it. I’m listing a property in Santa Clarita This horse ranch one of my clients called me.

00:55:37:12 – 00:56:03:20
Bjorn
I’m coalescing with this guy out there. They’re different. Their loyal. They’re good people. Sort of. LA’s different. We had a listing in the Hollywood Hills. It was an expired listing. We reached out to the guy. He couldn’t sell it. We went and met him, and he. We told him, Look, hey, we sold a few expired listings. You should do this, this, this, And these guys are great.

00:56:03:20 – 00:56:26:09
Bjorn
Awesome. We gave him a few tips. Not all. Because if you give them all, then they’ll use them. Mm hmm. Funny. We gave him a few too many. He told his agents, used them and sold the property, which kind of run me the wrong way because I felt like it was also from the Commonwealth, who’s a commonwealth is like an English bloke.

00:56:26:21 – 00:56:47:23
Bjorn
Mm hmm. This guy, actually, I think he was Commonwealth Australia. Sure. So anyway, I had his number and then he bought a house on the West side and kind of probably the wrong way because I wouldn’t do that to someone. I wouldn’t use someone’s information and then with someone else, it’s wrong. It’s like a moral compass thing. I just don’t think that’s right.

00:56:48:10 – 00:57:11:23
Bjorn
Yeah. You know, if I tell you. And he said, Yeah, we’ll do it, we’ll do it, and then he didn’t. So. So then I sort of, I see the buyer all the time around in the hood again, small sandbox and I saw the buyer have his number sort of buy one of my open houses and then we started talking and then I had, you know, I have some property off market.

00:57:11:23 – 00:57:40:19
Bjorn
We sell a lot of property on market, off market. And I started while he and his wife were there and cousin started texting him some information on the property and he started engaging and he asked a bunch of questions and we were texting for the next day and a half and then I’ll get a call the next day from the agent that sold his previous house and saying that I’m trying to steal his clients and I’m just like, What’s it like?

00:57:40:19 – 00:58:01:01
Bjorn
I’m like, like, I appreciate you call. I apologize. You feel like that, but, like, I don’t need you. Call me and tell me what to do and how to do this. I would never steal anyone’s client. I have a few clients, and as you can see, he was telling me about his business and how it’s massive. And I’m like, You tell me your business is massive.

00:58:01:09 – 00:58:24:22
Bjorn
I know your business is not massive because I want to tell that. And Drew would never say nothing because, you know. Right, Right. No need to tell someone that. So anyway, but he said a bunch of stuff and like I was respectful to him. I kind of put him in his place nicely, but I was like, if your client didn’t want me to engaging, why didn’t you just say, Hey, Warren’s my client, Warren’s my agent.

00:58:24:22 – 00:58:35:18
Bjorn
And if he said that, I said, Warren’s great or good, I would not. But like, again, this is like the and I have to deal with headaches and people calling me. And this happens all the time.

00:58:36:01 – 00:58:37:16
Warren
So I have some advice for you, Bjorn.

00:58:38:00 – 00:58:38:18
Bjorn
Tell me what.

00:58:38:18 – 00:58:55:01
Warren
You need to do. Make this a little side hustle. Start challenging these guys to a game of tennis. Right. Well, say hey and lay some lay some cash on it. So let’s let’s let’s just play a nice gentlemen’s game of tennis and five grand to the winner. Everybody else.

00:58:55:20 – 00:59:03:15
Bjorn
It wouldn’t be a contest for my dad, for them, actually. Right. But, you know, I feel I don’t know. These people are crazy in real estate.

00:59:03:23 – 00:59:31:00
Warren
Yeah, they are. Well, it’s it’s almost competitive. It’s emotional, and it’s a humungous financial transaction. Right. So You got all these layers of emotion, you got money, you got distress, you got all this stuff. So and a lot of agents, like you said, they’re not doing the right thing. Their moral compass is not necessarily aligned either. They’re all about the money, all about the deal.

00:59:31:00 – 00:59:32:18
Warren
So they’re not doing the right things.

00:59:33:12 – 00:59:56:20
Bjorn
Sometimes 90% of agents make no money, 10% make all the money, and 50% of the 10% a super entrusted. So there’s not that many. There’s a lot of good people, but you want to find someone that you trust that’s going to do it the way I feel like do it. I try to see when I sell real estate, when I sell, I want to get the most money.

00:59:56:21 – 01:00:10:13
Bjorn
And when I buy, I want a deal and I try to help my client like that. You know, I try to help them like I would buy it and then I want to get a deal when I sell, I want I buy something. When I sell, I want the most money. So it’s again, kind of treat people the way you want to be treated.

01:00:10:13 – 01:00:31:00
Bjorn
But it’s hard to find a good agent that you can trust and a lot of them give us a bad name. Actually, my opinion, which is disappointing, but West Side agents are different. I think we’re very different now. I think the other side of town is a different vibe. Like on the west side, you want to wear a suit, like you’re always going to get a Lamborghini, the race, that SUV.

01:00:31:08 – 01:00:45:14
Bjorn
But if I drive down on the west Side, I look like an idiot. But you know, in the Hollywood Hills, you could drive that car. That’s kind of like the vibe just the same. It’s just a different vibe. So I think I’m just someone more insight and thoughts on that show, actually. That makes sense.

01:00:46:02 – 01:00:57:18
Warren
Yeah, that’s great, man. So let’s I want to be respectful for your time of your time here. We’ve had a great chat. Any closing thoughts? I’ve got a closing question, but any closing thoughts for you?

01:00:59:10 – 01:01:21:07
Bjorn
Closing thoughts. People that want to get into real estate should join in saying people should buy real estate. Nothing’s easy, it’s hard. The hardest business. Well done. Yeah. You got to live, breath, sleep, eat, dream real estate. It’s fun. It looks good when you get a listing like I just got a listing today. Took me two years of talking to these people.

01:01:21:20 – 01:01:46:08
Bjorn
Two years? I got another listing last year. I was talking to them since 2014. But that’s like, that’s kind of the tenacity and li what you what you need to be successful, but you need to work hard and you need to get educated. You need to know the market and you know, to get in the high end or they need to get good results.

01:01:46:08 – 01:02:03:23
Bjorn
And I think the reputation is important in the high end for sure. But, you know, nothing’s easy. Nothing comes without a lot of hard work. And I feel fortunate to have my amazing family and the people close to me. And I just keep trending in the right direction and just wake up every day and try to be like Roger. Best.

01:02:05:13 – 01:02:12:09
Warren
On that note, I think we did another park. You hit it over the net from a match set point. Well done.

01:02:12:23 – 01:02:38:19
Bjorn
We got a long way to go to be the king. But, you know, I think also you need to be happy and you need to have fun because the journey short and I think everyone knows someone, they got their life taken away from them. In the last two or three years. With COVID, this kind of Turkey Syria thing is a great example of, you know, we got to be blessed and make the most of the opportunity and try to find something that makes your heart smile and thank the man upstairs for everything.

01:02:38:19 – 01:02:45:15
Bjorn
And, you know, just try to be a good person. I think these are really important things and it’s helped me a lot in my journey. We’re lucky.

01:02:46:01 – 01:03:05:21
Warren
Well said, Bjorn. So I want to thank you for being a guest and for being the stand up guy that you are. And you shared a lot of great advice, a lot of great insight that hopefully some agents are listening to and we’ll take heed and work hard, Roll up your sleeves, be nice, be that genteel bulldog and like you are.

01:03:06:03 – 01:03:09:06
Warren
Yes, I was relentless, but a nice thing.

01:03:09:06 – 01:03:31:14
Bjorn
Yeah. And let’s see if anyone has any questions and they want to reach out. Feel free to reach out. Send an email. I’ve been share help where I can, you know, no question. I get a lot of calls and more about giving back and helping other people because once I was like everyone. So I think there’s a way to be patiently and persistent, which makes no sense and contradicts each other massively.

01:03:31:21 – 01:03:41:14
Bjorn
But that’s kind of the vibe for us and my team. And I appreciate you guys and the opportunity and, you know, keep doing good things out there and it was great to connect with you, of course.

01:03:42:10 – 01:03:48:19
Warren
Right on, Bjorn. All right. On that. We’ll end and you have a great rest of your year and continued success to you.

01:03:49:05 – 01:03:51:12
Bjorn
Thanks. I appreciate it. And you as well. Cheers.

01:03:51:17 – 01:03:55:02
Warren