George Schiaffino’s Real Estate Wisdom: Wholesale & Retail Mastery

George Schiaffino (00:00)
it is really about that’s where the money is made. When we can take a changing market and know what we’re about to do. Like AI is now coming on, there’s a lot of new different innovations that you need to take advantage of. It’s all about the motivated sellers.

Quentin (01:47)
everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And today I am joined by a wealth of knowledge. This is somebody who’s been in the game for a very long time. ⁓ I can’t even listen. I don’t even want to tie him down to just one industry because listen, he’s done it all. He’s been in a lot of different spaces. He has a wealth of knowledge. He done worked with the investors. He done worked with the brokers. He, listen.

Once she gets talking, you’re gonna see what I’m talking about. So I just want you guys to buckle up and listen to my friend, Mr. Schiaffino who’s here to just talk about us, to talk to us about a lot of stuff. ⁓ Mr. George, how you feeling today,

George Schiaffino (02:36)
feel great, how about you?

Quentin (02:37)
I’m good, I ain’t oversold, I think I’m spot on. You got a lot you can talk about, correct?

George Schiaffino (02:45)
I’m a humble man, I’m not better than anyone else. I’ve just been doing it a little longer, that’s all.

Quentin (02:50)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Well, listen, I know our listeners are going to take away from your approach. I think you mentioned, you you talked about auctioneers, right? You talked about being, you know, setting people up for the commercial space and how to look at how commercial investing is starting to boom. And so I really just want to dive in and I just want

to, of course, if people, they’re getting to know you for the first time. So I just want you to tell them what’s your main focus these days. And if you don’t mind telling them what markets you’re operating in.

George Schiaffino (03:26)
I typically focus in Maryland. I could expand if I wanted to, but I want to dominate in the area that I am first. Sometimes you can spread yourself so thin, you chase too many rabbits, you won’t catch any. So it’s important to focus on winning in your turf first. And then once you’re able to do that, you can expand. ⁓ Even when I opened up my real estate companies, as I told you earlier, I had a real estate company with over 100 agents in the 70s, actually.

So, you know, I’ve really been in the retail part of the business, but I always understood in the 80s, I opened up an auction company that was very successful. So I understood both the wholesale and the retail side and how they can work together in a beautiful way. I saw that immediately even in the 80s. And even though real estate people, you know, are going to fight that, you know, they need to embrace it. And I’ll tell you, investors need to embrace it as well.

because where the markets are going, you can take advantage of both.

Quentin (04:32)
I love it, man. I love it. What caught my attention is how you set you on the retail side of it and how these markets, when they shift, right, it’s going to open them up. I think one of the things that we were talking about before we got on is that things are changing, right? Like things are changing, the market is shifting, and we got to be able to adapt, right? And I know, yeah.

Go ahead, yeah, go ahead.

George Schiaffino (05:02)
Well,

and again,

it is really about that’s where the money is made.

When we can take a changing market and know what we’re about to do. Like AI is now coming on, there’s a lot of new different innovations that you need to take advantage of. It’s all about the motivated sellers.

So it’s always been about that. Even in my retail spot when I did this, I opened up a company in 07 with no agents.

And by 2009, I had close to 700 agents. it’s it the reason I was able to do that several reasons was because in 07 the market was a disaster. So a lot of people were looking for where do I go? What do I do? Because I’ve never seen this before. So I’ve been around when it was 17 % rates of interest. My guys made a lot of money. And I go into how I was able to make an enormous amount of money when you saw all the old the big realtors all went under.

So it’s literally, actually I wrote an article, a whale in shallow water is amusing to the shrimp. Sometimes being lean and mean is the way to be and way to go. Now I built big companies, I had like 700 realtors, but I did it in a way because I had the right product. So it all starts with whatever you’re doing, whether you’re a wholesale, real estate, whatever you’re in, you’ve got to have a better product than your competition.

Quentin (06:56)
Mmm.

I love it, I love it. And of course that’s not easy always in this climate, what’s going on. I know one of the things you said is that you gotta be willing to learn new tricks. Like you gotta have an open mind to doing things a new way. So let me ask you, with things constantly changing in the shifts that you’ve made, what keeps your machine running smoothly these days?

George Schiaffino (07:32)
Well, I love, you know, what I love is to solve a problem. You know, in real estate, whether you’re in retail or a wholesale, if we can solve the problem of our customer or client, we make money. In real estate, it’s the exact same way. You know, putting puzzles together, you know, and each puzzle’s different. That’s the art and the beauty of real estate. It got me early on in my career. I knew I could actually help people.

make money at that problem and it wasn’t work anymore. that’s why I’m never going to quit ever, never. I love it.

Quentin (08:09)
I love it. So of course, you know, everybody, know, within, you know, this, this comment, you know, within this space, they have a moment when things kind of get real, maybe a deal went sideways or a time you had to pivot fast. mind sharing one of those stories?

George Schiaffino (08:25)
Well, you know, there’s always times and I, you know, can tell early in my career when money was a little lean, you know, I focused on money. And what I learned early in my career was not the focus on the money was the focus on the customer, the client that I was dealing with, getting, making sure that I solve their issues, took care of my money problems. If I focused on the money, then basically I’m throwing mud in the water. That’s why even people that have

Merrill problems, have money, they have all these things. You kind of have to put them in departments. Literally, you’ve to focus on the job at hand, take care of what’s there, but don’t let the outside influences affect your business. It’s very hard to do. But then if you have mentorship, you have people that have like minds, it’s a lot easier to do that. So if I lose a deal, I’m ultimately, I have so many things and so many deals in the hopper. That’s why one big deal,

Quentin (09:05)
Yeah. Yeah.

George Schiaffino (09:20)
versus five small deals, I’ll take five small deals over that one big deal all the time.

Quentin (09:27)
I love it. I love it, man. See, that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about. Like you saying, like you got that mindset. Listen, if I can’t get the big deal, I’m going translate these small deals into revenue that’s going to keep us building and moving forward. Right. And so I love it.

George Schiaffino (09:40)
I

want the mentality of my people because what I’m doing now is I’m the retail with the wholesale side. So where they can mesh together and really can be a powerful team where everybody can make so much more money. And more so than even that, we can help so many more people.

Quentin (10:36)
You said you’re blending the retail with the wholesale. I absolutely love that.

George Schiaffino (10:40)
And I’m saying that because

many times in most cases over the years, retail has run the industry. So in other words, retail has been this. But now we’ve changed that around. Now it’s the wholesale that’s really running the business. your deals that and the reason why that is, is because rates over the last what four or five, six years have been like two, 3%. Now it’s 7%. Those people that had those loans at 3 % are not selling.

So that’s causing the market, there’s not as many properties on the market. Well, our focus has always had to be, but now it’s even more so to get those motivated sellers and there’s tons of them.

Quentin (11:20)
Yeah.

I love it, man. I love it. See, that’s what separates folks from people that do just dab on people that’s kind of in it for the long term. Like your mindset, the mindset you’re talking about, the pivots that you’re making, the strategy that you’re using. And I love it, man. So let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? Like what’s your next real goal?

George Schiaffino (11:44)
Well, like I said, my goal right now, I built very large companies, real estate companies. I build teams. My value set is that I can help people build their business. So it’s always been my nature to be able to pay forward and to give back. So I really want people to make it in this business. It’s not an easy business to make it in. That’s why support and help ⁓ is important to be able to thrust that.

I am building a strong wholesale side, creating a lead flow for my guys as well as my retail side because many of my deals that come from the retail come from wholesale. So we’ve got to be able to blend and be able to find out again when I talk to a seller, what’s their needs and can I fill their needs? And the more things that I can do, the more chances I have of getting their business. You know, I like the alternative close if you will. ABC, I got

I can do this for you, I can do this for you, can do this for you. Whichever one they choose, I win. So, alternative clothes is a wonderful way to do it. So, the more product lines you can have, the more you can help your people.

Quentin (12:56)
love it, man. I love it. I love it. I love it. You’re building a strong wholesale side is what I heard you say. You you’re blending the realtor with the wholesale. Like you’re making moves, man. And of course, as you know, you’ve been in it long enough, the next move can either compound things or create total chaos, depending on how you play it. And so.

George Schiaffino (13:18)
Well, sometimes chaos is not a bad thing. ⁓

Quentin (13:22)
You

know what? And you’re absolutely right. I didn’t even want to present it as a bad thing. It’s just there’s beauty in the chaos, right? But until you get the systems in place, sometimes it just seems like everything is kind of erratic. it’s really not, you’re just learning how to build it, bring it in, focus it in, and find the beauty in the things that seemingly is out of place, right? It’s just an opportunity. That’s all it is. It’s just an opportunity. And I think that’s something that you…

hit on earlier is that you adapt by responding. That’s how I synthesize kind of what you said. You adapt by responding. So if it’s chaos, listen, I’m going to adapt and I’m going to respond and I’m going put it in a place that way we can make the moves we need to. And I think you’re doing exactly that with building a strong wholesale team and focusing on the different things that you’re doing. So I love it, man.

George Schiaffino (14:11)
But I

want a strong retail team because I know that the market is being run by the wholesale side. but there ultimately I will feed the retail side as well. You I typically in any of your business or my business, your business, whatever, whatever business you’re in, you typically have a plan before you start. You know, in 07, I had one agent in 07. I opened up in 07 because the market was in the tank.

So I went the opposite of what the masses did because I knew all the realtors were leaving. I was now coming on because I have the answers. So I had a great product. It was up to me to market that. I won by design. So I literally planned my attack and I did it. Now I may, you know, along the way be able to pull the truck down the wrong road, pull it back, go another way. But you’ve got to be good enough to be able to do that.

You have to try things and see if they work. And if they don’t, then you have to you have to change. You have to adjust to whatever you’re building.

You know, going up the mountain, straight up the mountain, people don’t go straight up the mountain. Sometimes you go sideways, sometimes you gotta go down a little bit. You know, you gotta adjust. But you know what, the goal is still going up the mountain.

Quentin (16:00)
Absolutely, absolutely. Now listen, a lot of people listening, they’re early in their journey or they’re looking to level up, right? And I think they have benefit hearing this from you when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you.

George Schiaffino (16:17)
⁓ i can tell you the more products i can bring in i’ve been very fortunate to i have a nonprofit i help a lot of people you know i even my books my books kind of i write books i’m working on my third right now and they all say the same thing from the same model and i think i’ll my books is making millions by helping millions just help people money flows and and that’s my philosophy that’s what i did it when i was in my early twenties and now i’m not twenty anymore so ultimately it’s not going to change you know when i get back

Quentin (16:38)
Yeah.

Yeah

George Schiaffino (16:47)
and pay forward, comes back tenfold.

Quentin (16:51)
Man, I love that. It’s almost like, you know, you reap what you sow, right? When you reap it, it’ll come back. If you reap buntifully, it’ll come back to you buntifully. So I love the way you’re talking about servitude, serving others, making sure that you’re planting that seed. I think you said, and if I quoted you right, make millions by helping millions. Make millions by helping millions.

George Schiaffino (17:18)
period.

Quentin (17:19)
And I mean, that’s nothing, period,

there we go. Period. I love that, man. Listen, and you know, you can’t fake building these relationships. You can’t fake having the servant’s, you know, attitude and heart and wanting to help people, you know? And so my hats off to you, Mr. George, for that. Now listen, I really only got two questions. So before I get to the, two more questions, before I get to the last question.

I kind of want to open the floor up for you. Is there anything kind of you’ve been musing lately, like any kind of encouragement you want to give the people? I mean, I know you got years full of just, you know, experience, but is there anything you feel like maybe the audience listening, maybe just need to hear and you feel like you want to deliver that message to them?

George Schiaffino (18:03)
Well, the thing that I can tell you that I will share, you know, you know,

Sometimes in the beginning of learning anything, there’s a learning curve that you have to go through even if it’s a year, two years, five years. The key of it is, know, if you have a passion, you must have a passion for what you’re doing. You know, and I can tell you the more knowledge you have, the more passion you can get about it. So really grasping that knowledge, but don’t let me tell you who stops most people in their tracks is themselves. So I can tell you I really work on focus on internal

So that, know, be that person. Look, you when I started in real estate, I had many talks in that mirror and said, you know, you better grow up, man. You’re you’re there eating you up, you know, and so you got it. You got it. You got to dig deep within in the core of yourself to say, I’m not going to I’m not going to be stopped.

Quentin (18:56)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it, man. I love it. There he is, everyone, Mr. George Schiaffino. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?

George Schiaffino (19:14)
You can call me. Look, that’s one of the things with all my realtors. I’ve had thousands of realtors. I do nonprofit work. I have thousands of people that work under me. You know, and one of the things that’s most important, I have my cell phone, which is 443-807-3245. I’m available. So you’ve got to make yourself available. You know, and I dodge no callers. So even the toughest of calls that you make, and that’s probably another little tidbit,

is make that call first. Don’t let that bad call cause you to have a terrible day. Get the medicine out first, you’ll have a better day. Because sometimes the bite is not as bad as the bark. So ultimately get that thing done and you’ll feel much better about your business.

Quentin (20:02)
I love it, I love it. Well, listen, Mr. George, I appreciate your time. I appreciate your story. I appreciate your perspective. We definitely need more people like you that’s doing it the right way with the mindset that you have, with the perception, perspective that you have. And so again, thank you so much for being with us today.

George Schiaffino (20:22)
You’re very welcome and that’s my nature is always to give back and help others. So it’s not about the money making because money takes care of itself when you help the other. So I’m open to help anyone to trust wherever they want to go. I enjoy that part of my life.

Quentin (20:39)
I love it. love it. Thank you so much, Mr. Schiaffino. And listen, for yours, listen, you’re tuning in. If you’ve seen me enough and heard us enough, listen, make sure that you are subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these conversations. And so thank you so much for tuning in. Mr. Schiaffino, Mr. George, thank you so much for what you’re doing and building your business. Listen, until the next episode, everybody, please have an incredible day.

George Schiaffino (20:41)
like that.