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Show Summary
In this conversation, Ben Carmona discusses his unwavering commitment to success and the importance of perseverance in the face of challenges. He emphasizes that failure is not an option for him, which fuels his motivation to help others and provide for his family and clients.
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Ben Carmona (00:00)
And this group, whether it’s your audience listening, whether it’s you or your parents, this group, they’re tired of active management. They do not want to manage their real estate anymore. They don’t want one more phone call. They don’t want to deal with it. They are in retirement mode. And they’re looking for ways to exit, sell their investment property.⁓ and defer paying taxes on the sale, and that’s by way of 1031 exchange, and find a passive investment solution that will, again, will remove them from the active management, get them into passive, hopefully increase their income and give them the opportunity to spend more time with their family or doing what they love.
Quentin (02:24)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. Y’all know what I’m gonna say. I’m excited. I’m excited to be here. I am excited about my guests and y’all know I say it and if you follow me enough, you know it’s true. By the end of the podcast, you’re gonna see exactly what I’m talking about, why I’m excited about my guests. And this is no different. This gentleman, listen, he comes with 20 years of experience at what he does. He’s very good at what he does.zero down his niche, he know how to serve his clients, he know how to protect his clients. And so I’m so excited for you to get a chance to peek through his lens, see how he do things, why he do things. And so I want to introduce you guys to Mr. Carmona. Mr. Ben, how you doing today,
Ben Carmona (03:11)
Yeah, doing great, Quentin. Love it. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Your energy got me fired up, so I look forward to talking to the audience and you.Quentin (03:20)
Man, I appreciate it. ⁓ And listen, this is me trying to even reserve my energy. Sometimes, know, when I get very excited, my voice get very squeaky. So I got to like make sure that I got to bring it down a little bit so that I don’t sound like Alvin and the Chick Munks when I’m talking. But ⁓ I am, man. I’m excited. And I thank you for recognizing the energy. And I mean it. I’m sincerely excited about what you’re about to give to our audience. And so Mr. Ben, I’ll be honest, man. I want to dive right in. I would love for you to tell us.What’s your main focus these days? Even if you want to tell us a little bit maybe about how you got started. Now we talk about what markets you serve. So you can talk about what markets you serve and where you are, where you’re located, but just pretty much submerge us into your world. Take us in, man. Let us know the things that you do and how you serve your clients.
Ben Carmona (04:08)
Yeah.Yeah, I appreciate that. And that’s a very open-ended question. I can ramble, my friend. ⁓ But I will take a pause. Well, again, my name’s Ben Carmona. I live in Southern California, which is opposite coast from ⁓ Euclinton, ⁓ Orange County specifically. ⁓ Married two kids, two young kids, two little rugrats. ⁓ Married for…
Quentin (04:16)
Hahaha.Ben Carmona (04:37)
almost 13 years, I can’t believe it. ⁓ I’m a, you know, by by trade, I’m a financial advisor. ⁓ But I’m not your traditional financial advisor that that’s in that that specializes in stocks and bonds and mutual funds and annuities insurance. I’ve I specialize in this is really the only thing that I’mQuentin (04:39)
Mmm, beautiful.Ben Carmona (05:51)
really good at it like real estate.syndications, if you will. I’ve been in this space, know, went to school San Diego State, majored in real estate finance, grew up in a family that was real estate finance oriented. I mean, I was doing really, I don’t know, maybe they’re, you know, brokers price opinion, BPOs, with my dad when I was like seven. I remember it was like amazing. So I was always passionate about investments in real estate.
⁓ But I ended up in this very niche industry within the financial services world. ⁓ And ⁓ I’ve been here ever since. Now today, my company, Perch Wealth, ⁓ I have a partner, business partner. I also have 10 other advisors that ⁓ operate or carry the Perch Wealth flag along with staff and employees and whatnot. ⁓
You know, we serve real estate owners accredited, meaning, you know, a million dollar net worth, excluding your personal residence. Or as I was telling you, Quentin, you you say high net worth. Who knows what the heck high net worth is today. you know, accredited high net worth investors that have owned real estate that have worked their tails off for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years to accumulate the wealth that they’ve
Quentin (07:09)
Yeah.Ben Carmona (07:23)
a mast and those folks, our clients are tired of active management. They’re just tired of active management. They don’t want one more phone call from a tenant. They don’t want to have to reach out to a tenant to shake them down for rent. They don’t want to have to deal with the termites, the trash, the toilets, you all those things. And these are our clients. These are our people. And I’ll expand on that. Prior to starting Perch Wealth, representing clients,I spent 15 years ⁓ prior to helping clients with their investments. And it’s really 1031 exchanges, right? We want to touch on 1031 exchanges. There’s a lot to go into, but we should touch on that at the very least. But prior to helping clients with their 1031 exchanges to defer taxes, ⁓ I spent 15 years on the investment syndication side of the business.
Quentin (08:02)
Yeah.Ben Carmona (08:21)
So I was involved in acquiring ⁓ institutional quality real estate, ⁓ structuring all sorts of real estate offerings, whether it’s REITs, real estate investment trusts, business development companies, Delaware statutory trust, which is really the primary, I guess you say vehicle today, tenant common deal, everything under the sun. I lived on the product structuring, product manufacturing syndication side.Quentin (08:41)
GoodBen Carmona (08:50)
And so the investments that we now offer our clients today are those that I used to build, right? And I’ll take a pause there for you. I mean, I can keep rolling, you…Quentin (08:59)
Yeah. Man, you listen right here. Listen, listen.Man, I appreciate the pause, but I also appreciate the journey, man. The wealth of knowledge you just gave us. You just really just walked us right into what you do, how you do it. And so I appreciate that. ⁓ I’m going to ask the question. Let’s keep moving forward. ⁓ Because what you just said is a lot, man. love.
Ben Carmona (09:22)
Yeah.Quentin (09:28)
that I didn’t even know, it’s first time I’m real estate, finance, and major. I didn’t even know that was a thing. so, I mean, in just listening to your journey, how you just got to where you are, I guess my question is, I know it hasn’t been always easy, so what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly? What keeps you in that system of running things as smoothly as possible?Ben Carmona (09:36)
Yep.say that ⁓ I am the would say I’m the least smooth operating person in the world. For your audience like ⁓ shit excuse me
Quentin (10:01)
Okay. Okay. Appreciate you. No, you’re good.Ben Carmona (10:43)
I’m not how do I even answer that question? You know look I guess it comes down to personality like there is failure is not an option right if you want to talk about just moving forward ⁓ failure has never been an option for me period.Quentin (10:54)
Yeah. Yeah.Ben Carmona (10:58)
And that’s what keeps me running smooth as choppy. I wouldn’t say smooth by any means, but as choppy as it. But, you know, ⁓ that’s what that’s what keeps me going and giving back and helping people and providing for my family and our clients. I mean, that’s what keeps me going. I didn’t even go into this and probably don’t even want me to go into this. But, you know, I am going through a very challenging time right now.And there’s always going to be challenging times, right? You just have to, you got to forge forward, right? Trust in God. This is a test. This is one more learning experience. This this is making me stronger, right? You just keep going. You just always got to do the right thing. I mean, I was raised, you know, you work hard, you’re honest, you do the right thing and everything works out. So that’s how I, I would,
Quentin (11:34)
Yeah. Woo! Come on, Yes, sir.Yeah.
Ben Carmona (11:55)
from the business segment, got a little personal, but that would be my answer to that.Quentin (11:57)
Yeah. No, you’re fine.Yeah. And I’m glad, I’m glad, listen, listen, I’m gonna go where, if you want to go there, I kind of want to go there. It’s up to you. But this was literally going to be my next question is that, you know, we always show people the success, but we don’t show people the journey to get to success. And this is one segment that I like to show the journey. So literally my next question was going to be there are moments and times when things get real.
when things go sideways, when you have to pivot fast. And I was gonna ask you if you mind sharing a story like that. Now, you know, I’m putting it out there and if you would love to share, we would love to know.
Ben Carmona (12:38)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was… ⁓I am blessed, I’ll just say that, to start.
⁓ But yeah, yeah, I mean look there’s always there’s always there’s always ⁓ so many There’s always challenges in life, right? I mean it goes back to the prior questions like how do you get through them? You just have to keep going you just have to go you have to go through them you have to take in whatever you’re dealt and and and and and make it work ⁓ I’m sorry. I just kind of repeated
Quentin (13:02)
Yeah. Yeah.Ben Carmona (13:20)
how do you want me to expand on that? I’m happy to expand on however you’d like.Quentin (13:24)
Listen, it’s up to you. The point I’m trying to get through, I always kind of give this session a moment to breathe because like I said, within business, we’re always going through something. There’s always something that we have to get over. And people that’s watching this, are in different journeys within their business. Some are just starting off, some are right in the thick of overcoming the obstacle. And so I just wanted to give them a chanceBen Carmona (13:33)
Yep.Quentin (13:53)
a view, a lens of how it looks to go through the process of a hard time to get to success. But I’m not trying to pry if you know, can you illustrate? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, right.Ben Carmona (13:55)
Yep. ⁓ yeah. Yeah.No, no, no, no, no, I’m good. I’m good with that. Yeah, I want to help the audience. I don’t care. Look, I’m an open book to
a fault, my friend. You can ask me anything you want. But be careful what you ask me, because I’ll just spit it out. ⁓
Quentin (14:11)
Yeah. ⁓on the beat, you just give me a, let me know and then I’ll beep it out real quick. You know how they give that, that sense to me. Just let me know and I’ll lean on the beat sign, you know? Yeah.
Ben Carmona (14:24)
That’s right, that’s right. I mean, look,you know, there are the things that I’ll just say and we’re going again away from business. But I asked my dad, you know, maybe five years ago, said, you know, why don’t you you’ve been in business all your lives, all your life. You’ve been in the corporate world. How do you why don’t you tell me how dirty
it is out in that world. mean, the immoral and ethical behavior, the lying, the politics, it’s brutal.
And some people are more in tune to handling it. ⁓ If you’re emotionally sensitive, which is I would categorize myself and you care, like it’s tough. just being, you know, for the younger audience, like
Quentin (15:55)
Mm-hmm.Ben Carmona (15:59)
It’s unfortunately good and bad. You’ve got to forge forward. You’ve got to get through it.Yeah, you just have to persevere, right? That’s what it’s all about. You just have to persevere. And I’ll just say, because I don’t think, and stop me, Quentin, if you want, but I didn’t really define what it is we do. Should I touch on it? I talked about my experience at real estate syndication. What the heck do we do? But I’ll pass it back to you before.
Quentin (16:28)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.Yeah,
let’s get back, that’s key in on a business. So instead of just defining what you do, I want you to do also, let me ask you like this, what are you most focused on scaling next? Like what’s the next real goal for you?
Ben Carmona (16:50)
Yeah, and we talked about this prior to the call. ⁓ You know, look, the field that I’m in is I’m again 20 years and I’m unique and it’s not from I’m saying from a boastful standpoint, but I just know the industry that I work within and live in. I know it so well. And so I got a great team, amazing people. But as you and I were talking, it’s to scale.It ⁓ requires ⁓ to give up control, essentially, right? And hand things off. And it’s always been, not because I’m a controlling person, I want everybody to do well and I want them to do their thing. It’s tough when you’ve lived and breathed a space for 20 years and everybody else around you has not. And you want things done right, a certain way. ⁓
But that’s the next step, and I’m there. ⁓ Yeah, that’s what I, is that what you, is that what the, yeah.
Quentin (17:56)
Listen,I’m asking the question, you answered it that whatever way you feel, whatever way comes natural to you. So no, I appreciate that, man. I guess now I’ll talk a little bit about relationships because I know you have a partner. believe, I think you say you had 18 advisors. I know you love serving people, helping people, helping out your clients. So when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?
Ben Carmona (17:59)
Yeah. Yeah.Mm-hmm. Sure.
Yeah, that is it just I would say that is that is what I excel in if you will because you know, again, you know, I care about people genuinely and like I care about taking care of them and so a client isn’t a transaction to me. They’re they’re a friend. They are they are people. They are someone that I care for dearly and deeply for.
And so, you know, it’s good and bad. mean, some of the most successful guys in their respective markets ⁓ are those that don’t really care. They got the gift of gab, right? They can talk all day long. They sound good. They look good. They’ll close you all day long, but they don’t care. And after whether the deal goes bad or not, they don’t care, right? For someone like me and others,
like me and many others, such as me. Like I care. And so you say relationship, that’s what it’s about, right? Like when I talk to people, I can talk to you, honest, genuine. don’t care what you may, not that I don’t care, but I’m just gonna be authentic. I’m not gonna be, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, I’m gonna be authentic, period. I don’t care, there’s no.
Quentin (19:39)
⁓ Fine, you know what, Ben? I don’t care either, Ben. No, I’m joking, I’m joking.Ben Carmona (19:48)
There’s no outside manipulation or ways to get through you. If you screw me, I get screwed and I’ve been screwed lots of times by others because that I want to trust you, I want to believe in you, I want to like you, I want to love you. ⁓ And that’s how I’ve thrived in relationships. you think about, you sometimes I think, maybe I shouldn’t be this way because you get trampled on, but I don’t know any other way.Those are my relationships. And when it comes to business, I mean, whether it be in our world, CPAs, attorneys, real estate brokers, realtors, like anybody that is connected with clients that own investment property, those are our centers of influence. And those are the relationships that we cultivate and build.
Quentin (20:37)
Absolutely. No, I love it. I love it. Listen, before we wrap, I want to give you a chance to speak to kind of your ideal client, right? Like talk to the person that and let them know why you, why I choose you, why partner up with you. I’m not sure what kind of language you use within your system, but talk to the people that maybe want to know more about you and maybe connect with you, maybe collaborate with you.talk to them and then also tell them how they can collaborate with you and connect with you.
Ben Carmona (21:09)
⁓Yeah, I appreciate it. And so this is like what we do. ⁓ My prototypical client, our clients are again, ⁓ the baby boomers or seniors, right? In the older demographic, those that have worked their tails off to accumulate ⁓ wealth over 20 to 50 years. And a lot of that wealth or some of that wealth is in real estate that they historically managed.
And this group, whether it’s your audience listening, whether it’s you or your parents, this group, they’re tired of active management. They do not want to manage their real estate anymore. They don’t want one more phone call. They don’t want to deal with it. They are in retirement mode. And they’re looking for ways to exit, sell their investment property.
⁓ and defer paying taxes on the sale, and that’s by way of 1031 exchange, and find a passive investment solution that will, again, will remove them from the active management, get them into passive, hopefully increase their income and give them the opportunity to spend more time with their family or doing what they love.
those are our prototypical clients.
accredited, higher net worth, own investment property for quite some time, you’re tired of management, you’re looking for options to avoid taxes and collect passive income. Yeah, that’s my mark.
Quentin (22:45)
Gotcha.I love it, man. Listen, tell them how can they reach out to you? How can they connect with you? Collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, Mr. Ben.
Ben Carmona (22:53)
Yeah.Sure, sure. I give out myself. I’ve done a lot of podcasts, but I give out my cell phone every time and I’ll do it again. My cell phone is 818-269-4972. You can call me. I’ll always get back to you or you can go to our website and reach out to anybody. mean, www.perchwealth.com. Perch is not after the fish, which we can talk about. That’s the number one question I get. Why don’t you name your company after a fish? It’s not. Perch, higher ground.
⁓ But perchwealth.com, amazing team, amazing people. So whether it’s me or through the website, we’d love to speak to you anytime.
Quentin (23:37)
I love it. Mr. Benjamin, thank you so much, man. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your story. Thank you for your perspective. This has been a pleasure, my friend. So thank you so much for being here today.Ben Carmona (23:40)
Yeah.Yeah,
is mine. Thank you so much. Thanks, Quentin.
Quentin (23:51)
Absolutely. Well,listen, listen, here we go. We at the end. told you guys, y’all is going to get great wealth, great value out of this conversation. So please just go ahead and hit the subscribe button. Just go ahead and hit it. That way when we come up, you can come right on in. So Mr. Ben, I thank you again so much, sir. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time. Y’all have a good one.
