Building Luxury Real Estate Developments: The Future of High-End Communities With Kevin Palka

Kevin Palka (00:00)
Whether you’re just starting out, if anybody listening to this is just starting out or you’ve been there for a while, it’s being honest with yourself on where you are, right? So when you come across a difficult situation or you have a failure, being an entrepreneur, realizing that that’s part of it, you’re going to fail. And that’s actually a good thing. And it took me the longest time to realize.

That it’s actually a good thing because that’s how you grow. That’s how you’re able to learn.

Meghan Escobar (01:57)
Hello everyone, welcome back to Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Meghan Escobar. And today I have the pleasure of sitting down with an incredible guest. He goes by the name of Kevin Palka. He’s got a lot of experience folks and he’s got ⁓ quite the insight on ultra luxury living. He’s got a couple of companies that he runs around that.

And I’m excited to dive in here with him for him to tell you guys more about that. And I think our audience will definitely get some great insights from your journey and the way that you’ve built your businesses, Kevin, has been ⁓ very inspiring. So thank you so much again and taking the time to be here. So let’s go ahead and dive in. Of course. So first and foremost, for the people that may not be familiar with your world’s

Kevin Palka (02:44)
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Meghan Escobar (02:51)
what is ultra luxury living. Give us a 30,000 foot view of what your main focus is these days and the areas of the markets that you’re operating in.

Kevin Palka (03:03)
Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, it’s so I operate a diversified ⁓ portfolio of three companies of private equity and ultra luxury real estate and lifestyle experience real estate. We build ⁓ ultra luxury homes in Paradise Valley in Scottsdale, Arizona under Kevin David Holmes. We also operate Miami and Texas as well.

secondly, we have Octane Reserve, which is a ⁓ auto country club, auto storage office combined for what we call a luxury, ultra-luxury lifestyle real estate experience. we have properties in Vegas that we’re building, ⁓ Arizona, Scottsdale, and also we’re focused in Florida, Boca Ratan, and West Palm Beach right now, with a you know, hopefully have about five locations coming out of the ground this year.

Which is very exciting. And we also focus on land entitlement and developments of mixed-use properties throughout the Carolinas and Florida and whatnot. And the ultra-luxury space is really just that. It’s providing a ⁓ a platform for not just ultra-luxury people, but providing them a lifestyle experience which relates to just incredible products and spaces where people live, work, play. ⁓ high-end buyers that you know are quite honestly cash buyers.

And the ultra luxury market in in Arizona, for example, has just grown so substantially that, you know, we have all cash buyers. It’s really, really exceptional. So we’re building properties that are approximately 10 to 12,000 square feet, ⁓ that have amazing views of Camelback Mountain and Mummy Mountain, and just you know, I think people also focus on like the home ⁓ wellness space where we have coal plunges and

You know, red light therapy and Zen gardens and things for people to really better their lives and live healthier. ⁓ and then on the octane reserve side, it’s really about having a place, a new work concept where people can also have community and country club with auto co storage. And that community is very interesting because they’re able to have cars and coffee and just create really good experiences for their families.

and also have a place to go outside of their home. So it’s a different culture, it’s a different world. ⁓ but you know, it’s like what you see on TV. It’s about feeling good about yourself and creating ⁓ something that really ⁓ people love to go to. And I think people need that in today’s day and age. ⁓ they need a place to go to that creates community and we need to see more of that, and that’s what we do.

Meghan Escobar (06:29)
Yeah, I love that. know, Kevin, what caught my attention about the way that you approach your businesses is you called it the four B’s, which is something that totally aligns, ⁓ just totally aligns and resonates for me. Body being balanced in business. Again.

You said it, you said it the best, know, something we need more of is community and applying these four B’s I think is essential to creating a community style living. So talk to us a little bit about what that means to you and why you approach your businesses in this way.

Kevin Palka (07:11)
Yeah, excellent question. So, you know, about what we do, it’s more about just building buildings. It’s about building community, like I just said, building companies, building our culture, our people. So in order for our companies to really do well and provide a good product and service to the marketplace, it all starts right here. It starts every morning by looking in the mirror and taking an inventory of where you are as a person. Everything that a company represents is a

Direct reflection of the founder, who is me in my case, and that the people he leads and runs. And part of what we do is we empower our people under the four B’s, body, which is taking care of your body. Do you work out? Do you eat healthy? Empowering that if you’re feeding your body and treating it like a Ferrari and putting the right fuel in your body, meaning food, you know, you’re really going to feel better, right?

And then that translates into your performance, your energy, and what your mood is, ⁓ and your ability to self-assess and see how you’re doing on a daily basis. A true leadership to me, how I lead my people, is really about empowering them to make a decision when it comes time to making a decision. ⁓ there is no there is no such thing as ⁓ pull

Indecision because when you’re indecisive, that’s what stagnates corporations because their people aren’t empowered to make those decisions quickly. So we empower people to make decisions and communicate that. In being, it’s about your spirituality and being able to ⁓ respond to a higher power, whatever that is for you, and being able to connect daily with that higher power, which brings that stillness to your body, which also helps you perform well. And the third B is

balance, which is your relationship with your wife and your kids. And we do family events with our teams. We always constantly check in every Monday at our weekly huddles. You know, what’s going on in your world? What is happening? What do you need support with? So we’re supporting our people on a personal level through body being in balance. And all of that supports the business. So you can’t have the fourth B without the first three. So taking care of those

is what takes care of the business and ultimately produces a great product to the marketplace.

Meghan Escobar (09:28)
incredible stuff. Really think our listeners will be able to take some knowledge and advice from that. listen, every operator that I know has a moment where things got real. And you mentioned prior to 42, you made some mistakes and, you know, before you decided to grab some mentors and coaches. But I think it’s important for anybody who is an entrepreneur.

to hear about some of the bad stuff, right? Maybe a deal that had gone sideways or a time, Kevin, that you had to pivot really fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments?

Kevin Palka (10:43)
Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ you know, like we’ve been talking about, you know, I think p whether you’re just starting out, if you know, anybody listening to this is just starting out or you’ve been there for a while, it’s being honest with yourself on where you are, right? So when you come across a difficult situation or you have a failure, you know, being an entrepreneur, realizing that that’s part of it, you’re going to fail. And that’s actually a good thing. And it took me the longest time to realize.

That it’s actually a good thing because that’s how you grow. That’s how you’re able to learn.

And you can speed that up by hiring mentors and coaches. But there’s been times in business. I mean, for example, I remember a property I had in Washington, DC back in 2017. We had purchased it and we had to go through a rezoning. And it was a corner lot in with a on the on an alley. ⁓ and in DC, you have a lot of that. And you know, we were told in the beginning that.

You know, we’d have no problem rezoning it. We were going through it. And then in the process of rezoning it, they actually changed the zoning code. And in doing so, this property that we were had a hard money loan on at the time ⁓ and had significant carry costs every month was burning a hole in my pocket. And, you know, at that time we were much smaller than we are now. But there were a lot of challenges with it where I had to go before the town council and actually, you know.

like spill the beans on where we are and really get raw with them on why is this happening, what are the facts, and really getting to the nitty-gritty of, you know, that they changed the zoning code and we were grandfathered in. But having to prove my case is the point. And really bringing raw facts to this town council meeting on where we were, but it took it took 18 months to get there. So I was, you know,

c carrying this heavy, you know, mortgage on a hard money loan. And it took twice as long. And the pro the project you know, it made money, but it didn’t make what it was supposed to make originally. And that was a huge learning lesson for me. But what happened was is the guy that loaned me the hard money actually became an investor in my next deal.

Because he saw that I had perseverance. He saw that I didn’t give up. He saw that I kept going. And the reason I was able to do that was because of my daily reflection and the time and my faith and all of that put together. But you have to learn from those experiences and learn how to pivot from them quickly. But we got an investor out of that. That from that time on, we started our fund and we learned how to raise capital from that point on. So

It was such an enduring and stressful situation, but was in an inflection point in my career for growth. And I wouldn’t be sitting here today if we didn’t have that happen.

Meghan Escobar (13:28)
Wow, thank you for sharing that. think it’s super important. you said something really powerful there. ⁓ You have to fail, you know, and that’s a fear that I think every entrepreneur or every person that’s considering, know, leaving the formal job to, you know, doing something on their own is it comes up. And what you just explained was a literal failure turning into a win.

Kevin Palka (13:56)
Yes, yes, absolutely.

Meghan Escobar (13:58)
That’s huge. You know, I think that’s the kind of stuff that people don’t talk about enough in these cases of, you know, becoming of what the becoming is when you want to jump into entrepreneurship. And it truly is what separates folks who are here to dabble and at the first sight of, you know, a fail. You know, are you going to surrender and throw the flag in or are you going to keep going? know, let me ask you this. What are you most focused on?

Kevin Palka (14:23)
Absolutely.

Meghan Escobar (14:27)
Solving next you seem like quite the problem solver and you know always looking for the next best thing So what is that for you Kevin?

Kevin Palka (15:17)
Yeah, and you know, for me it’s you know, we’re rolling out our new ultra luxury products in different markets right now. That’s a lot of fun just because ⁓ I really enjoy creating and designing cool buildings. But what’s been more fun is you know, I’ve gotten to the point where my teams are making the decisions now. Like we’ve empowered our people to make decisions. So everybody talks about scaling. The only way you’re able to scale is to let go.

Of and empower your team, coach your team, and build you know, we build buildings, but we really build people and build companies that endure over time. It’s a long-term play. Real estate is a long-term play. You have to be patient. ⁓ you know, whereas a few years ago we do multi-family, and those are five-year plays, right? Five, six-year plays for multi-family. But right now we’re doing the ultra-luxury deals.

Where our investors and our teams were building projects and turning them in 12 to 16 months, and then the return is quicker. That’s a lot more exciting. Octane Reserve, our auto ⁓ condo storage plays, are also 14 to 16 month plays, and they’re cool products. Who doesn’t love cars, right? Who doesn’t love community? You mesh all that together and provide an ultra-luxury product. It’s just a feel-good.

⁓ it’s just a feel-good product to the marketplace. And I think we need more of that, more people with everything going on in the world. We need to have more community and more fun. And that’s what these products do. ⁓ so the real estate is the vehicle, the people behind it is what we do. The company behind it is what we do is building those companies that provides not only a great product in the marketplace, a great return to the investors, but it brings great joy to the people buying them and to our teams. So there’s tremendous value right now in those.

⁓ lifestyle ultra luxury investments and process. It’s a shorter turnaround. It’s a really cool product. And you know, from that, you know, our teams are just really excited about it. And we you know, we get in the office, everybody’s got a smile on their face, you know, and it’s just that’s what it’s about, right? Everybody’s happy. So it’s a lot of fun right now.

Meghan Escobar (17:28)
That’s awesome. And so it sounds like that next move could really help you guys compound things to the next level or maybe create a little chaos in between depending on how it’s played. But I’m sure that it’s all going to be fun. ⁓ As you mentioned, know, creating the space for the need. The need is there. And, you know, a lot of our listeners are

either very early on in their journey or they are looking to level up on what’s the next best thing. And I really think that they’ll benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Kevin Palka (18:11)
that’s a great question. You know, it is learn in the beginning when I first started out, again, being really honest here, it was more scripted, right? It was it was because I had to put the thought when early on in the career is there’s the old saying, you know, you gotta fake it till you make it, right? That’s the wrong way to go about it. You know, really just be authentic and be you. Do you. and here’s even the bigger lift is partner or

Hire a mentor or partner with somebody who is experienced in real estate on your first deal. And if it’s your second deal, same thing. You know, ride the coattails of somebody who’s been there and done it. That’s why I hire coaches and mentors, is because they’ve been there and done it. They’ve built companies, they’ve lost companies. And I’m able to collapse time by partnering with folks like that. So over the last, you know, ⁓ I’ve been in this business a long time, 30 years or so, you know, we’ve

really learned how to collapse time and you do that by being authentic, you know, looking in the mirror every day. When like part of that body being in balance, you know, protocol is looking in the mirror every day and being truthful with yourself with where you are. You can’t really get to where you want to go if you’re lying to yourself because it’s like programming the wrong coordinates into a GPS. You’re not going to get to your location. Being authentic, being truthful, being honest, and most importantly being a good person that stands for something, has integrity

You will get there. There’s no doubt about it, but you have to start. You have to just get out there. There, the having being or waiting for the right time is a myth that there’s no right time. You just have to get into the fire and move and don’t stop. And when you have those failures, you know, have the ⁓ ability to let go of your ego and ask for help and talk to somebody about it. Get coaching, get counsel, and it will help you improve your results.

Meghan Escobar (20:04)
That’s a really great way to look at it. And I 100 % agree with you. Relationships are everything in this space. And relationships are everything in business in general. But you said something. Another powerful thing is you got to get right with yourself. The first relationship that you need to create is the one with yourself. And then every other one will follow. ⁓

Kevin Palka (20:25)
Well said.

Meghan Escobar (20:31)
But again, you know, also making sure that you’re connecting with the right people because you don’t know everything, right? And so when you get into the rooms with the people who can teach you how to do things the right way and just being open to that, I think is super important as well. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Before we wrap, you know, if somebody wanted to reach out to you, Kevin, and connect with you, maybe learn from you, you know.

What would be the best way for someone to reach you is that email, phone, socials.

Kevin Palka (21:05)
Yeah, there’s so many ⁓ options. we could list all of those. ⁓ I would encourage anybody to go to @KevinDavidHomes on Instagram. They can follow us and send me a direct message through there. You can also go to investmvp.com. That’s an apparatus for our investor portal, which has information on how to connect with all of our teams. ⁓ or they can email me [email protected]. Either one of those works. And you know, we always love connecting with people and it’s just it’s just fun, you know.

I think we’re in a unique time right now where, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity for everybody. There’s enough to go around for everybody. So, ⁓ and that’s the mentality we have, and that’s what works too, is just, you know, being able to share openly and ⁓ will be the willingness to work and help people.

Meghan Escobar (21:52)
Yeah, pain shared is pain divided. I wrote that one down.

Kevin Palka (21:56)
Yes, absolutely, a hundred percent.

Meghan Escobar (21:58)
Perfect. Well, listen, Kevin, again, I appreciate your time. I appreciate your story. And more importantly, your perspective on the way that you approach your businesses, I think is absolutely incredible. And we need more people in this space who are doing things the right way, being authentic and being vulnerable. So thank you again so much for being here. And for those of you that are tuning in,

If you got any value from this, please make sure to hit subscribe. We’ve got more conversations coming in with operators, just like Kevin, who are out here building real businesses in real time with real people. We will see you on the next episode.