Stop Chasing Get Rich Quick Real Estate | Nathan Barcosi on True Wealth & Long-Term Assets

Nathan Barkocy (00:00)
if your audience could take one thing away from this podcast, it would be that the importance of your network is number one. So getting in the right rooms, learning from people who have been where you want to be, that is the first step forward. So for someone who doesn’t think they have what it takes, they don’t have the money, they don’t have the…

the time, they don’t have the understanding to be able to build a real estate portfolio, to be able to start a business, to be able to invest into real assets. What they need to do is they need to get into the rooms of those people that have built those portfolios, they have built those businesses, and they need to learn from them.

Michelle Kesil (02:18)
everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil, and today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Nathan Barkocy who is a real estate professional focusing on multifamily portfolios, has a restoration business, and recently a published author as well. So really excited to have you here today, Nathan.

Nathan Barkocy (02:44)
Yeah, thank you for having me, Michelle. It’s always an honor to be with someone like yourself and speaking to the incredible audience that you’ve built.

Michelle Kesil (02:51)
Amazing, let’s dive in. So first off, for those not yet familiar with you and your work, can you share what your main focus is these days?

Nathan Barkocy (03:01)
Yeah, so as I’ve been explaining, my business focus has been real estate since day one. I was working with Josh McCallin, who’s the owner of Accountable Equity up in New Jersey, which is a large real estate syndication firm up there. And that was my first real job out of college, while I was still in college, and I was his assistant. So I really learned the long-term…

wealth strategies of developing a real estate portfolio, raising capital to do so and how, you know, that would be a great opportunity for me to move forward as a professional. And so when I was working with him, I used it kind of as paid mentorship and I would ask him so many questions and then the summer between junior and senior year of college, he actually fired me and he said, Nathan, you need to go start your own business. So talk about.

know, deer in the headlights, right? I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that that call to action to go start my own business, that was a strong call to action. So although I didn’t initially dive into it, I started studying how to raise capital more. I started studying how to invest into real estate and that’s when I did invest into my first luxury townhome portfolio in Fort Worth. And since then,

those townhomes weren’t properly developed. So I had to learn how to demo and rebuild townhomes. And so that launched me forward on developing my first real estate restoration business where we work on, I mean, single family and commercial properties that are damaged by, know, causes of nature. And then that launched me into a connection with Sharon Lecter, who’s the author of Rich Dad, co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.

with Robert Kiyosaki and she was the founder of the Rich Dad brand and so I reached out to her wanting to write a book and that’s what we’ve done now. So this book is Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth. It’s really redefining wealth for a new generation and that’s been the business ventures of my 26 year old life thus far.

Michelle Kesil (05:52)
Amazing. And what do you feel have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and run successfully?

Nathan Barkocy (06:04)
Yeah, this is a great question. I would say that the biggest thing for aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on is the mindset. My mindset was built through much fortitude and persistence and consistency because of my very young, younger years of life. When I was a 16 year old, I was a nationally ranked competitive cyclist. Top 10 in the nation and on my way to becoming an internationally renowned competitive cyclist.

I was state champion of New Mexico, like I said, going forward, winning these races, hitting all the goals necessary to achieve that Olympic dream. And then January of 2016, I was hit by a car at 60 miles an hour. And so that car shot me forward 100 feet and I sprawled on the ground unconscious. The officer who came to the site of the scene reported it as a fatality. And then I was rushed to the hospital after being dead on the scene.

I was in a coma for two weeks, but by God’s grace alone, I was able to open my eyes two weeks later and I was paralyzed. So since that time, there’s been a long recovery and I guess the persistence and the grit that is necessary to recover from losing your life, right? That really reshapes your mindset about what truly holds value and then what you should use, you know, as you move forward. So.

Why I wrote this book, Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth, is because I realized the importance of our time, right? Time is our most valuable asset. And then it’s what we do with our time and create ownership of your time, right? Time freedom. That’s how we can start creating our impact and building our legacy. And so I’ve done so through real estate because I’ve been leveraging my time as opposed to wasting it. I’ve been trying to focus every second of my life to having intentionality, purpose, and passion.

in all that I do and that’s been focused on real estate for the business ventures. And because I’ve been able to establish multiple streams of income at a young age, I’m very passionate about helping the younger generation understand how capital can be raised, how the generation of real assets is going to separate those who are just trading their time for money and helping us move forward so that we can.

We can steward the gift of money that God gives us so that we can go out and create our legacy through real assets.

Michelle Kesil (08:29)
That is so inspiring that you were able to take a hardship and create impact from it. So amazing on that end. And when you mention helping the younger generation create this generational wealth and assets, if someone is at stage zero and is maybe thinking,

I don’t have the money for this and I feel like that is one of the biggest blocks when you’re younger and are earlier on in your financial ⁓ growth journey. What would you say to that person?

Nathan Barkocy (09:08)
Yeah, this is a great question, Michelle. And

if your audience could take one thing away from this podcast, it would be that the importance of your network is number one. So getting in the right rooms, learning from people who have been where you want to be, that is the first step forward. So for someone who doesn’t think they have what it takes, they don’t have the money, they don’t have the…

the time, they don’t have the understanding to be able to build a real estate portfolio, to be able to start a business, to be able to invest into real assets. What they need to do is they need to get into the rooms of those people that have built those portfolios, they have built those businesses, and they need to learn from them.

Mentorship is the number one way to achieving true wealth.

because when you’re surrounding yourself with people who are where you want to be, you will get there as well. And that’s one thing, that is the biggest lesson that I’ve learned from my mentor, Sharon Lecter, because she’s always talked about the power of association. And that power of association is really having the network around you. My dad would always tell me, right, show me your network and I’ll show you your future, right? Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.

because if you’re in rooms with people that have raised the capital, with people that have built the portfolios, then you can learn from what they’ve done. You can learn from their mistakes, most importantly, and you can build the understanding that is necessary to create these portfolios because there’s an abundance of money out there, right? There’s many people, especially in America, that need to place their capital in…

⁓ in passive investments into syndications for tax purposes and then to build multiple streams of income. So the money is there. There’s an abundance of money. And so you can use OPM, other people’s money, to build those portfolios. And now not only are you creating that portfolio for yourself, you’re building wealth for many people. You’re able to provide multiple income streams for many people. You’re able to serve many people. And that goes into the true definition of true wealth, right?

because it’s about the community. It’s about helping others and serving others. I love people that are so focused on improving the lives of others because as a result, the byproduct will always be money. And so the money will come, the real assets will flow, they’ll cash flow, once you do have that passion and the service towards others.

Michelle Kesil (12:18)
Yeah, that’s such an amazing perspective on the power of networking and relationships. And how can someone start networking and building these relationships like it’s that same person up square zero.

Nathan Barkocy (12:34)
Yeah, square zero. Well, I would say it’s never been easier with our current marketplace right now. We have so many social media channels. We have so many Slack groups. We have so many people on school. Joining the right communities has never been easier. And a lot of those communities are virtual. So for example, I’m leading a group of proactive and aspiring entrepreneurs. It’s a community that’s called the True Wealth Community where

We have a lot of young and proactive aspiring entrepreneurs that have already started their businesses, but they’re looking to scale their business. They’re looking to increase the operational capacity of their business or multiple business ventures. And we have a large Rolodex of incredible, incredible high performers that have built their businesses to the billions. Like Alex Stern, Sharon Lecter, Aaron Young. I mean, some of these names are incredible. They’ve built massive brands and

They are able to learn from this Rolodex of people just because they’re willing to put themselves into the right room. there’s a certain part of your business career where you realize that it’s not about more content, it’s about proximity, right? It’s about getting close to these people. So what I would encourage someone from day one or from day zero is to…

to do research, right, to go out and look for those school communities, look for these groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, look for these virtual groups, get yourself involved with in-person networking, of course, and then leverage the wisdom and the experience of the people that are in those rooms to help boost you forward to that first step.

Michelle Kesil (14:15)
Amazing. Thank you for sharing that. That is so helpful. And what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Nathan Barkocy (14:26)
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s a tricky question because I am in the process of scaling my restoration business. also in the process of moving assets around with my real estate portfolio and making sure that I’m leveraging everything properly. But my main passion and my main focus right now is on that true wealth community because I see the importance right now, especially we need

the younger generation to come to an understanding as to how they can, they can properly manage this wealth transfer that’s occurring. We’re, we are in the midst of the largest wealth transfer in history.

And so we have a younger generation that’s walking into a large amount of capital ⁓ from this, from this wealth transfer, and they need to be able to know how to use that. Right. So that’s why I’m very, very passionate about building up this, this financial literacy for

proactive and aspiring entrepreneurs because they need to understand how to get this capital into real assets and build real wealth that’s generational because it will so easily be eaten up by this by the large corporate entities that are just so eager to consume their capital right and it’s in America especially it’s so easy for us to just hand our money over to these

you know, these managers of these accounts or, you know, these larger corporate entities, because that’s what everyone’s doing, right? And it’s, easier to become a millionaire if you’re investing into large corporate stocks than it is to start your own business, so to speak. I’ve heard that many times, but in reality, as a, as a startup entrepreneur myself, as a first, as a first generation entrepreneur, I think it is so important that, that people understand how to take those steps forward.

They get themselves in these rooms of those successful entrepreneurs because now is the time to learn how to manage this wealth transfer and how to build real assets for the next generation.

Michelle Kesil (17:13)
Absolutely. And where do you feel that most people make mistakes or go wrong? Or what is a mistake that you made that you learned from as well?

Nathan Barkocy (17:27)
Yeah, well, real estate, as you know, Michelle, real estate is not a get rich quick scheme, you know, and I think the biggest mistake is that there’s a lot of gurus out there, quote unquote, who will, you know, they’ll get you excited. They’ll say, real estate, the get rich quick, easy way to get into real estate, you know, the fix and flips, the really fast, get the cash fast type of deals, you know, and that’s.

Michelle Kesil (17:32)
Mm-hmm.

Nathan Barkocy (17:54)
That’s really, you know, in this book, old wealth, new wealth, true wealth, new wealth is really the concept of the modern day wealth generation that is the fast cash grabs. You know, it’s that crypto wave. It’s the, it’s the get rich quick scheme idea, you know, and, and it’s not wrong sometimes, right? Social media fame, you know, wearing the, wearing the Rolex, you know, while you’re driving your Bentley, that’s that happens for a lot of influencers now. And I think that, that there’s, there’s a big.

push for that type of new wealth, right? The fast wealth creation. The old wealth is where you focus on the long-term tax advantage wealth strategies like real estate, like whole life insurance, like leveraging multiple assets to build a real portfolio. But then true wealth is bringing those two together to create time freedom, right?

Multiple streams of income.

And what I would say

the biggest thing right now

that is a struggle for people that are trying to get into real estate is that they’ll be misled by different propaganda or different media streams that are trying to convince them that it is a get rich quick scheme, right? And it is easy to get into real estate. The number one advice that I would have for anyone who’s looking to get into real estate is to make sure that you have a team around you that has done it before.

Mistakes that I have made is that I’ve tried to do it on my own many times and and I’ve failed many many times and so You know, I think that the biggest lesson for someone who’s looking to get into real estate Or even for someone who’s looking to scale their portfolio in a successful manner is to get yourself into those rooms Get yourself a mentor get yourself a guide who has done it before you who has you know built that network around them

that has shown them how to be successful because that wisdom can only be transferred through guidance, right? Through mentorship. That’s not something that you’re gonna find in a book. That’s not something you’re gonna find in the classroom. That’s something that is built through experience and time.

Michelle Kesil (20:02)
Yeah, Mentorship and education is so important on this journey.

Nathan Barkocy (20:08)
Yeah, incredible. And there’s so many opportunities for people to get into real estate right now. think it’s an abundant asset class because real estate will always be a necessity. Real estate will always be a cash flowing asset class if you’re able to leverage it properly, right? If you’re able to raise the capital properly, if you’re able to pull the right strings and get the right teams involved.

And so it’s absolutely crucial right now that people come to a full understanding as to how they can do that and the best way to do that with the right margins and the right returns for their investors and not always thinking about themselves, but always thinking about the betterment of their investors, the betterment of their network, really looking out for their tenants and increasing the value of the property.

I think there’s a lot to learn in real estate and it’s hard to cover it in a 20 minute podcast, but I think the number one lesson, like I’ve said many times, is to ensure that you have a team around you that will guide you on how to be able to generate these real assets and these real portfolios so that you can create that abundance of wealth.

Michelle Kesil (21:19)
Absolutely. And are there any goals or opportunities that you’re working on or excited about for the rest of this year?

Nathan Barkocy (21:30)
Yeah, absolutely. Ever forward, right? We’re always, always pushing moving forward. My biggest focus right now for my time is building out the true wealth community, helping these proactive and aspiring entrepreneurs to successfully scale their businesses or scale their portfolios. Even working on increasing the financial literacy of the general public so that we can have more people that get into real assets and, ⁓ you know, start really building generational wealth. So that’s my, that’s my biggest passion right now and my

my purpose that I’m focusing on. I do have multiple opportunities with my real estate portfolio right now to do some 1031s, to exit my portfolio and get into other larger asset classes. And so it’s really focusing on building the teams that are able to sustain those portfolios, those properties, ⁓ leveraging the right tax advantages and the right steps forward to be able to scale those.

or that real estate portfolio. But I guess my main time focus right now is really building up this true wealth community and increasing the impact ⁓ of Sharon Lecter and myself and my whole team, Russell Gray and Michael Rubello and the whole team that’s building out the true wealth community so that we can increase the financial literacy of

the general public and also help this younger generation with all these proactive and aspiring entrepreneurs to get into real estate, to get into building a business and to creating true wealth.

Michelle Kesil (23:03)
Thank you for sharing.

Before we wrap up here, someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more. Where can people find you?

Nathan Barkocy (23:11)
Yeah, so anyone can find me at nathanbarkocy.com. So that’s Nathan, B-A-R-K-O-C-Y.com. And you can learn more about the True Wealth community at that website. You can see my speaking engagements. I have a lot of opportunities where I’m getting on stages and really motivating, you know, that ideal. ⁓

proactive and aspiring entrepreneur that’s listening in my audience so that they can move forward and they can begin their portfolios or they can scale their portfolios. So you can learn more about me and all that I’m doing at nathanbarkocy.com and our book Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth is available anywhere but you can find it at that website as well.

Michelle Kesil (23:54)
Perfect, we’ll appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Nathan Barkocy (23:58)
Thank you for having me, Michelle. It’s always an honor.

Michelle Kesil (24:00)
And for those tuning in, if you got value, make sure you have subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Nathan who are building real businesses. And we’ll see you on our next episode.