Real Estate Explained

White-Glove Development, Market Gaps, & What Investors Miss in DC with MJ Frazier

• Nick Bush

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In this week's episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush and co-host Glendon Grose sit down with MJ Frazier to unpack “white-glove” development in DC—what it really means, where the margins are, and why design (not just dollars) separates winners from the pack. 

MJ shares how his Razor Group operates as a concierge partner for investors—sourcing opportunities, collaborating with architects, doing on-site checks, and bringing product to market that buyers actually want. 

They dig into the realities behind DC projects: long permitting timelines, why condo conversions aren’t the layup they used to be, and how access to capital and relationships often matter more than experience when scaling from flips to ground-up or large rehabs.


You’ll also hear:

➡️ What “luxury as an experience” looks like at every price point—and how SERHANT’s brand fits into the DMV.

➡️ The design choices that keep historic charm while feeling modern (and why “same-same” spec finishes are costing developers time and money).

➡️ Why MJ is bullish on DC demand amid return-to-office shifts—and how investor oversaturation + look-alike product is creating market gaps.

➡️ Neighborhood talk: why he loves developing near Logan/DuPont/Shaw, the enduring pull of Capitol Hill and Georgetown, and what’s quietly heating up next.

Whether you’re an investor eyeing DC, an agent advising builders, or a buyer curious about where the city is headed, this conversation maps the opportunities—and the pitfalls—most people miss.

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SPEAKER_04:

Circle and right in between there, and he's like, There's a circle, and it's literally that's the logo. It's like S dot. And and I was like, There's a circle. And I'm like, How did you like come up with that? Just off the fly. It was super cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's interesting when you when you're talking um kind of like hot performers like that, because you know Carrie Shoel. Yeah. I hadn't, you know, Carrie Show's like one of the whales in the in the area around here. And I had never met her in like, you know, my whole career. And I went to one of those hyper fast events, and she got up on stage and started talking. And after the first minute, you're like, oh, okay.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's the same, like Jason Shepherd acts the same way. Yeah. When you just like he starts talking, it's just like, oh, okay. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I get why. I get why you're crushing, you know, you're running circles around everyone. Like you just have the thing. That's a really cool experience from like basically the, you know, at least marketed-wise, like, and I and I'm a fanboy too, like the best agent in the country. You know, he's like figured out the game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I uh I got I actually got into real estate because I was watching million dollar listing. It was one of the factors. Like I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but I definitely walked in my mom's living room and he would like made a$90,000 commission, and I was like, that's dope. I want to do like that. Yeah, let's see how to do that. So actually, I just discovered this is great, we get to go over the surhand agent of fair boys. I uh so I don't know if you guys know this, but I love million-dollar listing. I hate like the Bravo, like fix and flip shows, but I like watching the real estate sales show, right? Like ironically. And um, I discovered like two months ago um that I have Comcast. Is Xfinity Comcast? I think so now, yeah. Yeah, so I have Comcast, and um there's a million-dollar listing channel. So Comcast has these like like like basically like marathon channels. And so channel 4246 is just like I just randomly discovered it one day. It was like million-dollar listing, and it's just on like million-dollar listing reruns from the LA show in the news.

SPEAKER_04:

So you're like secretly his biggest fanboy across the world, and you secretly had me come on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this is all around. And uh, so like I like Josh Flag and everything, but I'm watching million dollar listing like all day now. But because it's really good, like in the background when you're not paying attention to the TV, it's just like good to be on. And then like when you feel like watching TV, you're just like, Oh, I can just watch this for a second because I'm like a TV watcher, I'm not, I'm not, I'm like a series watcher, I'm not like a you know, there's only like so much like ESPN like Sports Center I want to watch. And then my wife and I are like locking in on like shows, and so in the throughout the day, it's just like and like million dollar listening is just on in the background, and like I'm watching it, not watching it, watching it, not watching it.

SPEAKER_04:

So I know what it with million dollar listening. I mean, I was a fan, you know, yeah, and Ryan was like obviously my favorite person on the show too. But like my respect for him wasn't like, I mean, I respected him just as a person, but like my respect level for him went to another stratosphere when he released his first book. And I was like, Yeah, right, uh yeah, because you don't know, like, is this you know, is this guy just like a celebrity, you know, that like plays an agent on TV? And I read his book and I was like, my mind was blown with some of the concepts, you know, like just about having as many balls in the air at one time as possible and just keep adding balls in the air. Yeah, because some of those balls are gonna drop, but the more balls you have in the air, yeah, it's okay that some drop because you have more balls in the air. And like it sounds like such a simple concept, but uh, and there were so many others, you know, about building your brand, and there were it it totally opened my eyes to like, wow, this guy's a genius.

SPEAKER_01:

That follow up, follow through, follow back is legit too.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like this guy really knows what he's talking about. And you know, that was, I don't know, what, eight years ago uh that he wrote that book, or or maybe 10 years ago now. Yeah, uh, so it was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, let's intro you, bro. We just like going in. I was gonna say let's go to let's go. But this is how so I say this every I'm gonna stop saying this, bro. I'm always like, yo, we start cold like Joe Rogan, you know, but eventually we're not big stars yet. So we actually have to introduce ourselves. Um, the Joe Rogan guests. They don't have to do that. Well, speak for yourself. Well, yeah, you know, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm just kidding. So first I want to shout out, um, I never introduced myself because like whatever. But like, first I want to shout out my guy Glendon Gross, um, future co-host. Um, you know, he's been on the pod like six, seven times. We just did our first trial run, you know. We finished it 10 minutes ago. And now we got MJ in the seat. So um, you know, one of you guys can, I don't know who should introduce themselves first. Um, but Glendon, you can go ahead and then MJ, you can tell us who you are also.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And I'll I'll actually kind of segue into MJ. Um uh Glenn Gross here with Movement Mortgage. Uh, I've been in the business for eight years plus, going on nine, I think, something like that, depending on how you do math. Um, I love this stuff, man. I love talking real estate. We love chopping it up, we love laughing about it, arguing about it, fighting about it, debating it. Um and I've known MJ now for probably two or three years now. Getting getting to know him and watching him grow his business and his brand. Um, and he's gonna tell us more about where they're where they're going. Um, but yeah, MJ, tell us a little bit about Razor Group and you yourself and your brand.

SPEAKER_04:

Most important thing about me is this month I'm celebrating 15 years of marriage. Congrats with my beautiful wife, and I'm a girl dad, three girls. That's great. Those are the two most important things about me. Um, yeah, you know, uh Razor Group. Um, you know, Razor Group is gosh, we've we're eight people strong right now. Um and you know, we're we cover all the DMV, we cover Maryland, we cover DC and Virginia. If you do the DMV in order, I guess that's DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Um we cover the whole whole region, and um you know, we're all about values and also uh selling luxury. And and uh, you know, luxury to us is maybe different than what luxury is defined by some people. Um but everybody that's on the team really believes in what we do and and our luxury experience that we're trying to deliver to buyers and sellers and investors. And we've got three divisions. We do uh residential, which our residential division is you know, that's traditional real estate as we know it. You know, that's life stages, it's people moving up, people moving down, uh, people downsizing. It's really emotional, and we're like meeting people where they are. Um, whatever life is throwing at them, we're there to meet them there and we're there to go through that journey with them. And our second division is is commercial, and that's like launching businesses and helping launch businesses and playing a small part in businesses getting launched or expanding or creating jobs. Uh, and then our development division is where I spend a lot of my time in. Let me say that over again. Uh, our development division is where I spend a lot of my time in, and uh, that's really just about creation. You know, we're like creating the future, we're creating tomorrow. You know, we're looking at what the market is wanting, we're creating what the market wants for tomorrow that doesn't exist today. So uh that's razor group in a nutshell, you know, residential, commercial, and development, and we love it. Basically, if it's real estate, we know it and we love it and we want to sell it.

SPEAKER_01:

Um are you from this area?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm a country boy.

SPEAKER_01:

Where from where?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh outside of Richmond.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Like between Richmond and uh Mechanicsville. Mechanicsville.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh mechanicsville.

SPEAKER_04:

Mechanicsville. You know Mechanicsville?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, my um I have family in um from Stony Creek and then um and like Crew, Virginia, also like Blackstone, and then my roommate in college was from Goochland.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he had like 15.

SPEAKER_04:

Gooch's out in the country too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just grown so much now. Mechanicsville isn't really that country anymore, and Goochland is still a little bit country, but not really.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I'm hip to all of that Mechanicsville short pump, all that down there. Yeah, you know. So you're doing a lot of DC development, which could be like red taped up. Are you doing mostly DC development, Virginia development? Where are you guys doing that?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh I've done both, but uh right now really focused on DC. There's a lot of growth opportunity in DC.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so like I know it's like red taped up. Obviously, I was um I was KW Capital Poverty before, so being around Bo and the McKinney group, just kind of like having that on like lock was interesting to see. Um, but what are you what are you guys doing in DC? Are you just like is it ground up project for the investors? Like, what are you guys doing and and and how's that going?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, so right now we've got about 12 projects that we're overseeing um in DC. Um what's interesting about us is we don't do our own development. I have, I've done it myself, but I just saw this opportunity where investors and developers needed a white glove service where somebody could come in and say, hey, here's what you're looking for. Uh we'll represent you on the acquisition side, we'll tell you exactly what the market is wanting for this project, we'll partner with the architect, we'll we'll literally provide a white glove service for you and hand it to you on a silver platter. You just have to say yes and bring the cut construction side. Um, and then we sell it. And we do everything from single family, uh complete you know, redevelopment rebuilds all the way up to ground up kind of construction.

SPEAKER_01:

So you guys, you've really like kind of identified the the investment and and you bring it to the investor or the developer and say, like, hey, you're gonna make a ton of money if you do this. Like, do you want to do it and you just create the inventory for yourself?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, absolutely. And it's you know, it's and it's about a partnership at the end of the day, right? Because obviously we're bringing opportunities to investors where, yeah, they're making a pretty hefty profit. Um, but at the end of the day, they're they're looking to us to to lead the charge and making sure that it goes well and that it is what the market's wanting and that it's gonna be priced well. Um, and so when when we're looking at um handing a potential deal to one of our developer clients, I mean it really is a partnership because they know, hey, we're you know, we're my team's gonna make money in this, you're gonna make money, like we're all gonna win together. And at the end of the day, we're creating something that's gonna be a future home to a future buyer, and they're gonna create a lifetime of memories in that home too.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, this might be ignorant, but when you say white glove and we talk about luxury and you know, knowing Nick's background in hotels, the word that comes to mind for me when you're talking about that, because again, you're not just presenting the deal and then and then booking it on the other side, you're taking care of all the pages in the middle too. Like concierge service, basically, like we're we're concierging this thing for you, we're handling all the stuff so that nothing falls through the cracks and so that they're you know, like, because it's a complex machine, each one of them, right? It's not like each one is cookie cutter, it's gonna be this way every time. You're you're taking lefts and rights and pivoting, and so you're saying, and tell me if I'm wrong, but you're so you're saying kind of you guys concierge this thing or or handhold through the whole process.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not swinging any hammers. Uh you're not gonna see me digging up concrete or anything. Uh, but no, I mean we we've got tons of contacts that we can connect people to that do those things. But you know, what one of the examples of something that I just never saw is you'd have, you know, an investor, they'd be off, you know, in another state, sometimes another country, uh, and they're providing all the financing for a project, and they're not there day to day to oversee what the contractor's doing. And so we come in and do check-ins, every you know, we know the plans because we help create them with the architect. And so we can go in and say, wait a second, that bathroom isn't supposed to be there. Or hey, this is uh this is a single vanity because we see the plumbing, but this is supposed to be a double vanity. We can we can catch it really fast so that they can go in and make quick changes before it gets too late. Um, and and again, that like level of oversight that's all connected to the end result, which is selling it, um, is is critical to an investor because you know they they need that boots on the ground help to make sure that what's brought to market, buyers are really wanting to buy.

SPEAKER_01:

So these projects are huge, um, obviously. And and I think DC, you know, you kind of have the classic uh row house conversion where you take like a row house three level, you make like a four, four level, right, with the penthouse unit. And then there are some ground up projects also. Um, but what really and then you have just like a classic flipper, like, hey, I'm gonna buy this property and I'm gonna flip and I'll put it back on the market, right? But those are like three different types of investors um that I'm imagining are at three different stages of their career, uh, just like from like an understanding standpoint, like understanding the market and like financially. So, so how do you how does one go from, you know, maybe like being a flipper to someone who can actually do like a row house conversion or ground up project? Is is there um are the moving parts different? Like do you is the bandwidth that you need different um in those stages?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, the bigger the project, the more people you need, without question. Um, you know, I talked about a partnership earlier, and the bigger the project, the more people you need in partnership with you, um, either in the deal itself or um or just as part of the team overall. Um yeah, if you're doing a you know, if you're doing a rebuild of a single family home or a row home, you don't need a huge team, right? Like we can basically come in and provide a lot of the support you need. But yeah, when you're doing you know, condo conversion or you're doing a ground-up condo con, you know, a ground-up condo building of you know, 10 units, 20 units, 30 units, 50 units, whatever it is, uh, you need a whole team behind you. And, you know, to be honest with you, um, I've seen it where investors come in and have never done uh, you know, a ground up big condo construction and they get it done. I've also seen people come in and say, hey, look, I'm good with just a single family, you know, row home. I don't want to do anything bigger. The difference between the two is not experience a lot of times. The difference between the two, a lot of times, is just simply connections. Um, who they know, the access that they have to debt, um, and the access that they have to, you know, to capital and and other investors that want to be part of the project.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that access to debt is like key, right? How to raise money, like where you can go find money, because debt is really the key, right? Like who can I go in debt with real quick to uh to you know get the money to do this project? And I know Glendon, you have some, you have some folks that are kind of doing that nowadays, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean it it again, like MJ's talking about in various stages, you know, and one of the guys um that teaches uh investing in the area uh through the um Cash Flow Breakfast Club, Omni and Lee Johnson. I don't know if you guys you met that. Yeah, yeah, they're brilliant.

SPEAKER_04:

I had a Zoom call with Lee like a month ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Brilliant guys, and but they'll tell you that the first thing, they're like, just like any business, access to capital is the most important thing. You you have to be able to see the project through, and that takes money. Like you said, to the scale and size of the project, it doesn't really matter the bigger the project, the more money you're gonna need. Like it's just simple math, right? So then it's where you get the capital, and then how do you incentivize the person giving you the capital? Because if it's not your money, someone else wants their piece, right? But how do you do that judiciously in a way that everybody wins, right? And I guess you know, as you guys as agents, like that's where those negotiations really come into play, where it's like, how do we make this a win-win-win-win-win for everybody so that we all walk out of here with some money, also developing a neighborhood, also improving the life of a homeowner or home seller or whatever. Like everybody has to win, and that's the only way that really that the economics of scale work, right?

SPEAKER_01:

So are you are you coaching your um your clients through that or are you going with experienced investors and developers typically?

SPEAKER_04:

All of it. All of the above. Yeah, yeah. We have we have some you know brand new investors. In fact, last week I just met with somebody that was like, hey, you know, we we've known each other for years, but uh they they said, hey, look, we've seen what you do, we want to do it, we don't know how to do it. Can you coach us through it? Right. And so they're looking to us is to to help them start that process. Um and uh and then we you know we have very, very, very experienced developers and private equity firms and you know, people that really know what they're doing and are well funded across the board, right? Um but I think the the bigger, you know, the the bigger the institution, you know, like a private equity firm or you know, they're doing they're typically are doing bigger projects um because they have the means to do so.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I always like go back to that Magic Johnson clip when he was talking to um Maverick Carter, LeBron's guy, and they're just like, Maverick's like Magic's basically like I don't even get out of bed for the small deals, right? I only do the big deals. Billionaire Magic Johnson. But his point was he's like, it's gonna take the same amount of time um and kind of stress level. And I would argue that the smaller deals take have more stress involved, right? At least on our side, you know, and um and and he's like, I'm only going to do the big development deals, like or the big the big deals at all. Do you find like that's that's the case? Like bigger project, I don't know, like ground up 30 unit is a little easier than maybe like a row house conversion or or a typical flip.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, well, you know, I'll share a story. Uh I I did this presentation to uh a small group of investors that were thinking about doing investing in in DC. And one of them, you know, he he has a banking background and he knows probably just the who's who, right, in the banking industry. And he heard everything and he saw, and I was trying to show, like, hey, you take this much money and you can you can recycle that money over and over and over again and create this and do more projects and buy more properties. And he looked at me and he goes, Why isn't Blackstone doing this? Why isn't why aren't the why aren't the big banks doing this? And I said, just what you said. Uh because it's too small and uh it's too much work. So they do the big deals, they only do the big deals. But the reality is is there's there's a lot of opportunity for investors in building amazing single family homes in not just DC, I mean anywhere across the country. Uh, you know, people are wanting, like, you know, COVID, people wanted to move out to the country, right? Everybody worked from home and they're like, I want some space, I want a pool. We know how that happened. And now we're seeing more and more people moving back to the city. You have companies that are saying, hey, you got to come back to the office, the government saying you got to come back to the office in our area. You know, we're we've got we've got more federal government workers than, of course, anywhere else in the country. Um, and then all of the support to the government, all of the government contractors and just everybody that supports the government, which we all know we have clients that that fit in that bucket, and they're being told to come back to work. That hour and a half commute that they knew that they may have to have one day. Well, now that's a reality five days a week. And so people are moving closer. And so um, I'm really bullish on DC. I think DC is gonna be a great place for people to invest in. Um, you know, now and as more companies are starting to um require people to be in the office, uh, I think more and more and more we're gonna see people move either into the city or really close.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, let me, I gotta I gotta play devil's advocate as someone that moved out to the to the country.

SPEAKER_03:

You are in the country.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm in the country, yeah. I'm out there.

SPEAKER_03:

Um I'm not that far off though.

SPEAKER_00:

No, but but and again, this is probably just my ignorance to the city, but I just I find it so hard to imagine that in because DC is a small city in comparison to to other cities, right? Like geographically, it's just not a big footprint. How is how is with with the amount of competition and there's the lack of I mean to me there's just there there can't be that much opportunity there. It's just so small. So how is there? Like what like how is how how how are you able to do 12 projects in the city at one time, moving all those parts and there's still opportunity there? Like at some point I feel like there's just not any more homes for sale, there's not any more houses to develop, or there's not, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's just it's the turnover is constant.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, DC is being revitalized. So when I'm driving down the road in Capitol Hill, let's say, and I'm going to a project to check in on it, and I pass by house after house after house of these gorgeous Victorian grand, you know, grand homes that are incredible. And there's boarded up windows, or there's cracked windows, or there's peeling paint, and you can just tell they're tired. And there are families that want to move into those neighborhoods that don't want to move into a house like that. They want to move into an amazing rebuilt home where you're still getting the character, you're still getting the history, you're still getting homes that are built 130 years ago, 120 years ago, 100 years ago. Right. Um, and so they're out there. And it blows my mind when I drive to a project and then I see, I'm like, wait, what about that house? I need to knock on that door. What about this house? I need to knock on that door too. Uh, there's so much opportunity in DC.

SPEAKER_01:

Blows my mind. And you know, for me, that's like a pro and a con, right? And so I have a friend that lives in New York in um in uh Fort Fort Green, where the bar clays is, I think it's the neighborhood it's called. And he lives and they own a basement level condo, but it's in a but there's four units in the building, but it's actually like a beautiful brownstone, right? And I'm like, oh, they converted this brownstone into like a condo building, right? And so you're rolling around DC, you're in this house from Capitol Hill. It's like built in 1890, that's dope. But then, like next, you know, a few doors down or whatever, there's just like, oh, they turned this Victorian into like a four unit, right? And I'm just like, oh, it's taking away a little bit of the charm from the city. From the exterior, it looks great, right? But I love the historic um value that like those houses bring and like walking through Capitol Hill and being like, this is dope. Um, but I but there's obviously a ton of people and there's a density issue. You can only build, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, why are you hate? Why are we I don't what are you hating on the condo conversion? You don't you don't like it? You don't like you don't think it's you think it takes away from the value of the neighborhood?

SPEAKER_04:

I want while he's thinking of a response, I will tell you, I don't recommend condo conversions to any of my clients.

SPEAKER_01:

Really? Why is that?

SPEAKER_04:

Explain that for exactly the same reason that you said there's so much character in these homes that people honestly want. You know, they they want to keep that character if it's a 130-year-old home. Sure, they don't want the floors to creak in the same way that 130-year-old floors creak, but they want to walk in and brag to their friends, like, yeah, this house looks brand new, but it's actually 130 years old. Yeah, and a lot of houses in DC actually have stories behind them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And if you completely remove the character, if you completely remove the facade and what it looks like, that story goes away. So you're pro like ground up project versus ground-up project or revitalizing an existing single family home.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so you so like taking a single family and just making it dope again, basically.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, bringing life back into it, and of course modernizing it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you said a single family home?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, no, uh, one family would live in it, right?

SPEAKER_01:

But no, but I mean, are you saying like detached homes or also row houses?

SPEAKER_04:

I mean both.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I'm just I'm picking on those mostly row homes. Okay, row homes. I was like, because I was gonna say, where are you finding these detached in DC? Like all those inventory.

SPEAKER_04:

Those are few and far between.

SPEAKER_01:

How how difficult is it to um do a ground up project in DC? Because I mean it's not like there's a bunch of land sitting around, right?

SPEAKER_04:

So it's I mean, first of all, the opportunities are hardly available. Okay, and then once you find an opportunity, the permitting process can take a year, year and a half. I mean, you have crazy stories where you have you know, you have development projects that are two years in permitting. Um, so that permitting process honestly is a barrier of entry for a lot of developers because they just don't have the capital or they don't want to wait that long, right? Because you can't do anything, you're not making any money as a developer, as an investor, uh, while you're waiting a year or year and a half for permits to come in, right? Uh but you have to pay bank still if you're financing it. Um, and so that's why you don't see a ton of it because it is it is harder. I mean, that's like the big firms, that's when they're coming in and doing the ground up projects. Um, there are definitely investors that do the ground up projects, but it's just hard to do. Um so you know, one of the things I look for is is uh if we are looking at a ground up project, uh, we're looking for ones that are we call it shovel ready. So we can basically close on the property and put a shovel in the ground the next day. Okay, because they have the permits in place, all plans already stamped, ready to go. It's ready for construction.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, the best developer to ever run through DC is Donald Trump, bro. Um yeah, he flipped the old post office to the Trump Hotel, then he flipped the Trump Hotel to the Water Vistoria, and he made 100 million in like three years. Um, I've been in there when it was the Trump, but I haven't been in the the water of the street. I mean it looks the same. And then for the most part, and then every time we try, you know, you gotta spend$100 on a cocktail where you're sitting in the lobby. So but it was a good little happy nice, it's a nice bar there. It's a vibe, bro. Yeah, yeah, and you know, you're gonna meet some people there. I remember where I was like walking by in-laws, and they were like, I was like, you know, obviously not a Trump family. I was like, like Trump just sold the building for a hundred million. I was like, he's the greatest developer of all time. You know, like honestly, like a brilliant businessman. You can't take that away.

SPEAKER_04:

Even during like and I don't know if you know this, he never owned the building.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, he didn't own it, just his brand did he no one owned it.

SPEAKER_04:

The government owns that building. Oh, it's still the Opposite owned the lease rights.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. Dude is a beast. I remember doing that, you know, I didn't vote to the state.

SPEAKER_04:

So they just they sold the rights to the building.

SPEAKER_01:

That's his thing, right? Yeah, yeah, that's his thing.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I think he does a lot. But that's I mean, that's at the end of the day, like real estate developers and the really savvy real estate developers, they know so many different ways to do a deal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's it's all about doing the deal, right? Yeah, it's it's how do you get to the finish line? Yeah, what's the what's the end goal and then how do you get there, you know? Um, which I think is is is brilliant. I'm I'm still floored on this condo conversion thing, but I'm gonna let it go.

SPEAKER_01:

No, so I so my thing about the condo conversion is like, you know, obviously I like the historical aspect. And when you walk, when you're like in but just math, guys, math.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, let's say you take a row house and pick a neighborhood. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

Let's say, let's say uh I can't wait to go through this. All right, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, let's do this real quick. So again, because my mind is like on the map. Let's go, let's go Capital Hill Cap Hill, which is let's say what what can you get? A rundown place there for a million dollars, eight hundred thousand.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So let's say let's say a million dollars for easy math. Okay. Okay. Let's say that you could put 500 to make 500, 2 million, easy if you were just to convert it to do one of your nice clean it up, open it up, move a bathroom, move a kitchen, this or that, sell it, two million. Condo conversion, you can get 750 a unit.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. That's okay for the math.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's three million, yeah, right? So three million for a four unit. So I'm making an extra million by converting it to condos as a position.

SPEAKER_04:

Two main things.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

One, you don't have one kitchen, you have four kitchens. You don't have two bathrooms, you have eight bathrooms.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

You the cost of construction on those projects is massive. Yeah. Then the holding time is also massive.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, you you have like you're so the margin game just takes you apart. Yeah, it does. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And so that's why you saw, you saw, like just from the investment side, you saw Nick, I know you like I know what you do in DC, like you've seen it. You saw this influx of condo conversions over the past few years, you know, started five years ago or so, and and and then it slowed down. And the reason it slowed down is because the numbers don't work anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh, because the property values have increased to the point where, yeah, for a rundown house in Capitol Hill, yeah, it's a million dollars.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_04:

The numbers don't really work that well for the numbers to work. There's still condo conversions that are happening in Capitol Hill and other areas. Um, but I I'm seeing more, I don't know if you agree or if what if this is what you're seeing, but I'm seeing more like condo conversions that are happening now, more so in like I think people are taking risks to figure out where the hot up and coming areas are gonna be, but they're not necessarily hot and up and coming now. You know, like areas like Trinidad. Uh areas like Trinidad. Um, I don't know, what are some areas you see?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I'm gonna tell you Trinidad is gonna be developing forever, dude.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, that's what I'm saying. Like the hot and up and coming areas that are not yet hot and up and coming.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what's hot and up and coming? Riggs Park. Ooh. So, you know, Michigan Park and uh Brookland had this kind of whatever name. Yeah, Riggs Park is popping. I have a uh I have a client who has a house there, she's looking to buy and then sell. Um, she's just like getting ready. And I was looking at the comps and I'm like, there aren't a lot of comps, right? She's like in the mid-fives, you know. Um, you know what? She has a three-bed, two-bath, like semi-detached, right? Three levels. Um and I'm looking at the comps and I'm like, oh, there's not a lot of comps. And she bought for 500 in 2022, and the value hasn't grown that much. It's only probably worth like 550 at the top end now. But I so then I so when I'm looking at comps, I'm looking at the, and then I go down, like, what what was really selling? I was like, oh, like these were selling in the the the high threes. There's a bunch of high threes of this like style house. I was like, oh, that's because they need a full guts. This neighborhood is gonna develop soon. Like I know that like investors are now buying like her property from the you know, person who owned it for 40 years or it's got passed down in the 350, and they're gonna try to flip. Now the numbers aren't there to flip yet, but they will be in a couple years.

SPEAKER_00:

I had an agent agent that does flips as well. Uh, and they've always done Virginia, and then she took it, she took a crack at DC, and it was this she beautiful job, did a great job, and it sat and it sat and it sat. I think we know the same person. Yeah, yeah, you know them. Um, but you know, and she was looking at me to try to do like a uh uh DSCR refinance or just went to keep it because she's like the value is there, I'm just like three years ahead of this thing. So this is what I think is well, that's just the timing of it's also there, right? Where it's like if you're developing a neighborhood, if you're the first one. And all the other houses are still shit around you, you're kind of stuck because you're not comped out and you're you're you're asking people to take a risk to move into there before it's developed.

SPEAKER_04:

I was I always tell my clients, I was like, we don't want to be the first one to to develop a property in a neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I think that DC, so like DC's oversaturated with investors, right? Like oversaturated. I think it's also oversaturated with wholesalers that are trying to hit home runs every time, right?

SPEAKER_04:

Um and that's a whole side of the world that most people don't know about.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I think also right now, everyone is just building the same product. It's the same product.

SPEAKER_04:

It's got white earth floors, it's got black metal railing going up the stairs, the staircases on the right, like the kitchen looks the exact same.

SPEAKER_01:

There's nothing unique or creative about it. Yeah, and permitting is disgusting in DC. It takes so long.

SPEAKER_00:

I was gonna ask him about that, because yeah, the I mean, how that city's just tough to deal with in general, but for permitting is tough.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I've had contractors go out there that are just like, nah, like like people because because like I had a contractor tell me, he said it happened twice. He goes, I was standing at the house, someone was breaking into my truck, and like there's nothing I can do. He's like, You cannot do anything, or else you'll get like arrested if you like try to like prevent someone from doing that. So, like, sometimes you know, but then you have DC contractors, so I don't want to make that like the big thing, and I think it's just like cost, like, okay, I'm gonna borrow this money, then I have to go through the permanent process for like minimum six months, maybe to a year, and then it's like what's the market gonna be doing on the back end because this product is everywhere now, and then right now, also the condo market in DC, I think it's pretty soft. Um, so it's just you know, I don't know about that. You have to have like an expert that like knows like all of the moving parts and the real estate part to make sure that you're you're good on the back end, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, well, and talking about the design, like I completely agree with you. So we have a design bring LSD back.

SPEAKER_01:

No, like I don't know if you see if you see like uh I saw this one commercial where it was like if you look at like design from the sound, like in everything like architecture, cars, like why is it dope to see like a 68 Mustang? You're like yo, because they don't build those anymore. Like, like all the old schools are dope, right? Like, like because you're just like, oh, the next box new box, you know, like like I have a Range Rover, right? Like the Range Rover, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the new Jeep Grand Cherokeys, and the new Range Rovers, they just like squared out the front and made them boxes, right? Like, like, let's bring it back, you know, so we can bring back some of that. I know, I know. No, I'm not actually telling, I think I'm supposed to give a disclosure that I don't mean that, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, there's actually um, like even within Sir Hand, like we've done some some really cool uh marketing campaigns where we've taken these ads from you know from the 50s and the 60s and things that work super, super well and actually replicated um what they look like to sell property because that stuff works and it's different. Okay. So with us, what we do is so we actually we have a design team. So part of our process is we actually part of that hand holding that concierge service to our investors is we actually help them do all the design and the selections for the construction team so that what we're bringing to market doesn't look like what you're describing. Okay, right. But we actually put thought into it, you know, and and we can we can follow trends that are happening, but we don't want to go too trendy where you know we're we're sort of outbuilding the house uh to the buyers that are looking at it. Um, but also at the same time, you we're actually putting thought into it where like you can really tell the design was done by somebody that like really cared about the project.

SPEAKER_01:

So DC is an interesting city, right? Where it's just like, you know, it's like very liberal by voting, but like I think there's still a lot of conservative thinking people, right? Like there's not a bunch of creatives in DC. You go to the happy hour, people are like, what do you do for work, right? Like it's kind of our city. So you have all these like liberal people that are kind of like would prefer to live in a box though, right? Like, not like from a real estate standpoint, but it's again like it's a high net worth. Um, so what does the average DC buyer like from like a development standpoint? Like, what do they want you to build?

SPEAKER_04:

Not what a lot of developers are building. Okay. To your point, you know, like it's not to say like whiteout floors look good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So people like those. But aside from that, like people aren't wanting just the same cookie cutter new construction home that you find in DC. And I say new construction, it could be a hundred-year-old house. On the inside, it's new construction. Um, you know, buyers are you know, buyers looking at new construction when they see that those design details that are like extra thought. Uh I'm gonna give a shout out to somebody. Um Summit homes and my boy Chris with Summit, like they put out some incredible homes that are just like you can go in and you can see like, oh, this isn't like somebody really put thought into this home, and buyers really appreciate it, and it shows because they sell really, really well. Yeah. Um, you know, and then you have other development projects that sit on the market for you know six months and they've done six price reductions and then they pull it off the market and they have to refinance it because they didn't sell, right? Um so I I think that design is like a it's a secret sauce, honestly, in development, and you know, actually putting thought behind what this home is gonna look like in the beginning, not just at the end, but in the beginning, um, is so critically important so that people don't walk in and be like, oh, it's another one of these, you know. And I've talked to agents, I've talked to a lot of agents, in fact, that you know, they say, like, oh, is it another one of those, you know, is it another one of those new construction, but not new construction homes? Um, because you've seen it, like you've seen it a hundred times in DC. Um, but that's what we try not to build. Is we we really try to build homes that are um again, they're thoughtful. Yeah, you know, and also we we want to take we want to take the neighborhood into account too. Like if it's in Capitol Hill, I mean, Capitol Hill, the buyers in Capitol Hill would probably appreciate a more you know charming kind of yeah, a little bit more charming, you know, brings in the Victorian, uh, where you have a lot more traditional design cues, yeah. Rather than walking into this 120-year-old home and it's like completely marble inside with a waterfall island and LED uplighting everywhere, and they probably don't want that.

SPEAKER_01:

I really like what you guys are doing because you know it's it's it's not often because they're like a lot of skinny. Well, you know, you can do wide row house, but like when you really walk into one of those like four-level big row houses that one family's gonna live in. Tamar had one in Bloomingdale. Um, LaDroit had these, like they, you know, LeDroid has these. Um, I saw one in DuPont. You're just like, this house is beautiful. I call them city mansions, right? And it's like really great to walk into one of those. And I always think about well, if I bought one of these, if I had one of these, what would I want to do? I don't want to take all the character out of it, but I have to modernize. And what's the balance between um modernizing this and like keeping some of that charming character, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you got one going right now, I think, right? You were yeah, I mean, we've got one like saw a reel where you like clocked yourself going, walking from the front to the back, and it was like a 30-second walk.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like we've got this, we've got this massive Capitol Hill home that we're doing right now, and it's gonna be about 4,300 square feet total. 84 feet deep. Uh, from the front door to the back doors, 84 feet, which is like unheard of in DC. And it's you know, 18 feet wide. So it's a massive. Um, but that's what we're doing right now, is we're trying to figure out what we can save in this home because it's got multiple fireplaces. I mean, I had I think it's six fireplaces in this home. So we're like, we're trying to figure out like, hey, what can we keep to keep the original charm, but also still like modernizing the home. So um, but also too, it's like understanding what buyers of that type of property are gonna want. What we were talking about earlier.

SPEAKER_01:

We have to sell it eventually, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, we're gonna have to sell it. And so, like, for that house, because we have the space, like you sell in DC, this home is gonna have uh four bedrooms upstairs. It's a real home.

SPEAKER_01:

It's got four bedrooms upstairs, two ensuite.

SPEAKER_04:

So it's gonna have the primary suite, but it's also gonna have a secondary suite in the back. Um, the basement is gonna, it's an English basement, it's gonna have two bedrooms, two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms we're actually designing to be like a movie room. So you can use it as a bedroom, but it'll be a movie room. We're gonna even have a full second kitchen down there and a wine room. So, like we're trying to design this home for a buyer, and that home was three rental units.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04:

And we're taking it from three rental units and we're making it one massive single family home.

SPEAKER_00:

This is like my dream with an in-law suite, essentially.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, or they can rent it out or whatever they want. Yeah. But again, I don't know. I wouldn't personally want my tenant to have like a wine room and a movie theater. I want that for myself.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Crazy, man. See, there's there's that there's that awkward space that I'm just like, we should be saying words.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I got it. I'm just I wanted to see if we did we we got the period on that one? Can we move on to something else? I think we beat him down on development side. I want to know. Obviously, you went over to Sir Hant. Is that how you say it? Sir Hunt. Sir Hant? Sir Haunt. Um Sir Sir Hant.

SPEAKER_01:

I was gonna say, wait, Sir Hant, nah, nah, nah. I watched the show.

SPEAKER_00:

So I don't watch the show. I'm not I'm not a reality TV person. Um, but along the same lines is that, like, you know, what's the other one? Um, selling sunset and the those guys. That's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the reason I bring them up is that obviously, like, you have been leaning on the luxury side of things, and I think obviously this move is in line with that. But I always find it interesting in my my business on the mortgage side, where you know, what where's the definition of luxury, right? Like, technically all my mortgages are luxury mortgages because people are borrowing a lot of money and and buying a house, right?

SPEAKER_04:

If you look at it from a price point, every home in our area is luxury.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, or it could be again, it's like a it's a perspective thing, right? Like if it's your first home, you know, the luxury experience of owning a home, or and again, I get to the point where it's like you got what is it, uh, Sotheby's and Christie's and Compass. Washer Douglas Douglas Elleman Ellisman or whatever his name is, Ellen, you know. So the first question is what defines luxury in the landscape of real estate as opposed to not? Like some brands say they're luxury, but again, I've seen agents that are at Sotheby's, no offense to Sotheby's, but I've seen agents there that I'm like, that's not a luxury agent. Just because you're there doesn't necessarily mean you're luxury, right? Like, what do you get to where's the badge of honor in that, I guess?

SPEAKER_01:

And then the second question is I'm I'm uh I'm I'm interested in how you answer this question because I have a response. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. The the second question we can get to later, but but do you also think so? Obviously, he's coming here, Sir Sir Hant is coming here, Douglas Ellans coming here, uh Real Estate of America's coming. Like a lot of luxury brands from other geographics are coming here. Is this the new hotspot in real estate? The the DC market? Is it are are the guys from selling sunset going to be coming here too, you know, to try to tap into, you know, obviously he's doing it before they are, but is that is this should we be ready? Is this coming? Are they all coming? You know, because you obviously found out before all of us did.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Are the people banging down the doors to get into the market share of DC?

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, I I I definitely, I mean, I think so. Um, there's no question that DC is a hot market. And and I have this conversation, I've had this conversation with for years with clients about why the DC metro market for us, like if if it's a buyer, right? And you know what I tell them, I was like, well, the thing about New York, right? New York is the financial capital of the world. Arguably you could say San Francisco or the San Francisco area is like a tech hub of the world, right? Um, and that changes. But here's the thing at a moment's notice, you can change what the financial capital of the world is. At a moment's notice, and it's been happening over the course of the last five years, um, San Francisco isn't it doesn't have as much of a stronghold when the tech is a good thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Silicon Valley is not allowed.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, it's obviously a big deal still, but it's not quite. The thing about our market is we have three industries that physically cannot change. Physically you can't pick up the White House and move it somewhere. So our federal government is always gonna be based here. So what that then leads to is the federal government's always gonna be here. So therefore, the hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars that the government spends to support our government and to make our government run, those are all based here.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Right? So you have like Amazon and uh Google, and you have all these big tech firms that are moving either their headquarters here or they're moving like a secondary headquarters here, like Amazon HQ2, you know, you know all the properties. And then the cloud pretty much is in Loudoun County.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh 70% of the world's internet traffic runs through Northern Virginia. You can't change those characteristics. And so when you look at where to invest in real estate and where to buy in real estate, you're looking you know, if it were my money, I'd say, hey, I want to invest in the place that I know physically cannot change no matter what. So when you look at history, that's why our market here has been resilient through some downturns in the real estate market. Um, which you know, the real estate market has been affected by other things when there's been a downturn, like in you know, 2006 to 2009, like that time frame when when everything tanked, the whole worldwide economy was was really bad. Um our market was affected, but maybe some areas of the country had depreciation of like 50% or more. Uh, our market maybe depreciated 25%, right? And we recovered way faster. Yeah, um, and so that's that's why our market here is is so critical. And then also, too, you have so many uh really affluent people and really influential people that are moving to this area so that they can have access to all of those things. Uh Mark Zuckerberg actually just closed on a property uh last year in Palisades in DC. And it's all public, you know, it's public knowledge. Yeah, Bezos is. But he's building a little combo, uh, a little compound here. Um Bezos has a property here. Um, you know, and you know, Bezos' property is actually not too far away from DuPont Circle. Uh, I'll give you his address later. Just kidding, I don't know it. Uh, but no, it's it there, there's a lot of big personalities that are in the in the DC area. Um, and especially even when you go out to like the outskirts, when you go out to, you know, areas like you know, Fawkier County and Warrington and like southern Loudoun County and far out in Loudoun County.

SPEAKER_00:

That's where I'm at. Shout out, hey market.

SPEAKER_04:

You have you have you have these massive estates that are you know 50 acres, 100 acres, 200 acres, 500 acres, and no one knows who lives there. But if you did know, you'd say, huh. I didn't know they had a house here. Um, so that's that's why this market is I I think there's so much looking in, you know, so many people looking at this market, and um, you know, the smart people in the brokerage game are looking at at the DC market and saying, Yeah, we we want to be there.

SPEAKER_00:

Um so back to the brokerage game. Give us the luxury, give us the luxury answer.

SPEAKER_04:

The luxury answer, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So are they coming and what is luxury and what does that even mean?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. So so luck wait, who is who coming?

SPEAKER_00:

All these other luxury brands.

SPEAKER_04:

All these other luxury brands. Well, selling sunset, that's um Mauricio. Oppenheim group. Oh, it's Oppenheimer. That's Oppenheimer. Yeah, so uh no, I haven't heard anything about whether they're coming. So maybe somebody's gonna be able to do that. I know Douglas Element is coming. They're here already. Yeah, they're here already.

SPEAKER_01:

The agency is Mauricio's brand. They're here.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, the agency is here. And then um, so there are some bigger brands. What's unique about Sir Hant is you know, Sir Hant has an unprecedented following. And uh, we've got like 10 million followers across all our platforms, and that doesn't include all the millions and millions of people that watch the show that's on Netflix right now, owning Manhattan, uh, which season two is coming out in December. Uh that just got announced uh a few weeks ago. And who knows how many people that is? So, like our following, no one can touch it. And so, I mean, bring on uh, you know, all the other brokerages that want to come to the area, like we're fine. I mean, we need competition, like that keeps us all hungry, right? We need it keeps us hungry, it keeps us working hard. Um, because this is a great market to come into. Uh, but we feel really confident in you know what what Surhant is going to bring to the market, um, both in the luxury space, but also bringing a luxury experience to really all all price points. Um, you know, because it to us, that's what luxury is. Like luxury is about an experience uh that you have. And even if it's a you know,$400,000 condo, um, like with us and our team, I mean, you really have like we have a client experience manager who literally her role is to make sure that our clients have a great experience and that they are handheld and touched at like every single critical point throughout the transaction, so that it's not a transaction to them, that they really are experiencing buying a home. And to us that's what luxury is. Of course, you can define luxury. Define defining luxury is technically speaking, uh, the the uh the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing defines it as uh the top 10% of home sales in a county or in a market. So you can luxury you can define it that way. I don't really do that. You know, I mean I think I think luxury is it's about an experience that you go through, right? And and that buyer that's buying a$400,000 condo one day they probably will buy a million dollar property. They probably will buy a two million or three million dollar property. Um, and what we want to do is we want to create a great experience so that they remember us, that they had a great experience when they bought that$400,000 condo, so that when they go to buy, they go to sell that and they go to buy their$2 million forever home, uh, we're who they think of.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What are your thoughts on that? What were you gonna say? I mean, basically what he said, he said it way smarter than I would have said it. Um I think the only thing I'd I'd add to our our real estate market is that um, you know, kind of in with what you were summing up is we have a great city that has a lot of advantages, but we also have great suburbs as well. And our great suburbs extend an hour to an hour and a half outside of the city, true, and not just like surrounding, you know, Arlington, Alexandria, like those areas. Like you can go hour and a half out, and you're still you're still you're still around the 1%. And and also suburb, um, there's a ton of diversity here, and we have one of the best school school um, like our school districts often rank at at the Favrex County, Loudon County. We have the best school districts also. So it's great for families as well, and families of like affluent people, you know. Um, so I I think that is like another reason why it's it's great here. I think that when you see compass come and succeed, you know, by the their model, right? You're just like, oh, we can, there's room, there's room there. Um, and so I I think like brokerage, like who cares, right? It's just like the brokerage is coming because they feel like they can make money there. Of course, right? Um they can, sure. And then everybody will do their strategy on how to get the luxury agents over to the brokerage because you know, it's not like Compass um was just like attracting luxury, they just bought the luxury agents, right? And they've retained them, or you know, there's like an in and out, right? Um, I've never looked at Sirhan as like pure luxury, although he does sell a lot of um, you know, expensive homes. I look at them more as like development, kind of what MJ's describing. Um, but I know and I don't, and I'm not on the in inside of his experience, but I know that he's pitching like the luxury experience thing. But I I would say that luxury is not a price point, it is an experience. Like the difference between, you know, like a Ritz-Carlton where I worked, it does cost more than um, you know, the holiday end. But like when you go to the Ritz-Carlton, there's something completely different happening um than at the holiday end. Right. And it's and it's almost to sum it up. It's kind of like you can go to a restaurant and you can have to put your napkin down on your lap, or somebody can come put your napkin down on your lap. It's just two totally different calibrators.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, when you walk into the Ritz-Carlton and you go to your room, they don't have a different place to sleep. Yeah. It's a bed.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It's a bed, and they have a bathroom with a toilet and a shower. And you walk in and you check in. I mean, there's there's no difference in Holiday Inn versus the Ritz. But when you walk in, your experience, when you go through the front door, it's totally different.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It's totally different.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, MJ said it always just way smarter.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's it's relationship. You've heard I've told you this before, probably in one of our old podcasts that we've done. But like when I was in the restaurant business, that's where we used to train people, and we'd say, you know, you can get a beer and a burger anywhere, right? Yeah. It's yeah, it's why they come back, is the thing, right? Like what's the experience, like you said, the relationship, the emotion that's behind it, the the the uniqueness, because if it's just a beer and a burger, just go go to FUDRUKERS I go anywhere that, you know, wherever they're gonna go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Um well, and and to what you were saying earlier, where it's like uh where you were saying you you don't see Sir Hant as like luxury.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I get a disrespectful way, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

But it's it's like more of a development company. Um, it's been so interesting to see like what everybody's like once the announcement came out just a couple weeks ago, like what everybody's perception has been, right? And you know, some people are like, oh my gosh, like we love Sir Hant or we love Ryan or we love the show, whatever it is, right? I've been watching him for years. And we have some people that say, like, hey, that's cool, good for you, love you, but like I don't know anything about what that is. What's cool though is um there are within the Sir Hant brand, uh, I mean, there there are, I just looked at it yesterday actually. There's like seven, we have seven listings right now, over 60 million dollars in in New York and uh and in Florida and in other areas as well. Right now I've got a I've got a$12.5 million listing right now. I'm like, whoo, I have a$12.5 million listing. That is the 50th most expensive listing at the brokerage right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It it's it's insane the following that has been created through honestly what started, like we were talking earlier, like what started as this young little Ryan Serhan that had never released a book and never really done anything beyond just being an agent at on his team. I mean, he was on a team when he first got started, and and to see like what it's grown into uh is is I I mean it's like mind blowing, honestly.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember when he came out with Surhan, I was like, I'll join that brokerage, but mostly because they understand like the future, you know, like tech and branding and um he's like greater development. Um just to kind of put the button in on like the luxury experience and kind of giving like someone who I think that that does that the right way. Like what luxury like Daniel Hyder is luxury. That's luxury real estate. Like, I don't know anyone in this area who's doing like luxury real estate better like than Daniel Hyder. Yeah, like he presents it luxury, he dresses luxury, he looks luxurious. He the way he even talks about the listing is is from that he's doing luxury real estate, and everyone else is like selling more expensive homes. Like he's like from my opinion, he's like washing everyone. Um, as far as like luxury, you might sell more like expense, you might sell expensive homes, he's doing luxury real estate, and I don't know if there's anyone else doing it um in that way. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03:

Um almost across the country.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I don't I don't think I don't think there's anybody else. He's yeah. Um so I time is ticking down. I want you to run through kind of like your uh your favorite DC neighborhoods um just in general and to develop in, and then like the best DC neighborhoods, like the up-and-coming ones, like where you should be developing, kind of um those two.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. So one of my favorite neighborhoods in DC is the like Logan DuPont Shaw area. I love you. You know, where like you don't really know, you don't really know where it is, but it's like right in the middle of all that. I just love that area, and I think that's it's really up and coming, but it's already there. Like it is already up and coming. Um, you know, it's close to metros, you don't even have to have a car. But for an investor and for a developer, when you can find parking on a property, obviously it's a gold mine. Um, so I love that area. Love that area for development. Um, personally, my favorite neighborhood in DC, there's it sounds cliche, but there's no neighborhood like Capitol Hill. I mean, Capitol Hill to me just because it's so close to, you know, it's so close to obviously the Capitol building, it's so close to the mall, like it just feels so DC. But if you were to ask me like my favorite neighborhood throughout all of DC, I think I'm gonna, I'm probably gonna say Georgetown. I think Georgetown? I think Georgetown. Even still Georgetown? Georgetown. Georgetown. And there's a lot of there's a lot of cool stuff coming to Georgetown.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We gotta get you back on to talk about that. Georgetown.

SPEAKER_00:

DuPont is my favorite neighborhood. I mean, Georgetown, I think Georgetown is a is a great. I've got a lot of nostalgia from there from college days, and it was just a fun time, and it's a great area. I think it's probably due for an overhaul. Maybe that's why you're thinking you know, and it's and it's happening.

SPEAKER_04:

It's starting to happen. Yeah, it's starting to happen. Uh, I've got a listing there that um completely rebuilt home. Now that one actually truly is new construction. They literally took everything down and rebuilt it up, create a four-story home. Um, but uh yeah, I mean, there there definitely is a lot of smaller development happening in Georgetown, but there's some bigger development that's happening.

SPEAKER_01:

I think Georgetown used to be cool and now it sucks.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, hopefully we can try to. You know, I think Georgetown's lame now. But it wasn't bigger than I haven't been in forever, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, it used to be cool.

SPEAKER_04:

And then yeah, there's just the thing about Georgetown, there's nothing else like it. Now, if you ask me a different question, I don't consider it a neighborhood. If you ask me my favorite place in DC, without question, it's the wharf.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, we're gonna get you out of here, bro. No.

SPEAKER_04:

But see, I like I like the wharf. I like the wharf that's not the touristy wharf. Like, I like, you know, uh, I mean if I've had the the privilege of of selling in the condo buildings at the wharf. Like seeing the wharf from like a resident side is totally different.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, that's true.

SPEAKER_04:

Having access, like having access to boats at the wharf, like knowing the restaurants and building relationships with the servers and the managers that are there, like not the touristy wharf, but the wharf that's like a a the wharf experience for a resident that lives there.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00:

I wish that they yeah, we gotta end, sorry, but I wish that they figured out the traffic patterns when they developed that because they developed and it's great, but it is a traffic nightmare all the time. That's just southwest DC in general, yeah. Wow, man. Like we literally we were going to a show at the Anthem. We had a park like miles away, and we just took little scooters over, but we couldn't find parking in case.

SPEAKER_01:

That's because that's because you're a suburban now.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, MJ, where can they find you? How can they get in touch?

SPEAKER_04:

And uh uh at MJ Fraser with two R's at the end uh is my Instagram, and then at razor.group, R-A-Z-R.group uh is my company's name, and then obviously at surhant. Um and at now at surhant DC, at surhant, Virginia, and at surhant, Maryland.

SPEAKER_01:

Dope, dope. Thanks for joining us, bro. You're welcome. Yeah.

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Nick Bush

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