Unlocking Real Estate's Legal Secrets with Attorney Vincent Verdiramo | 113

I invite you to an insightful conversation with close friend and seasoned attorney Vincent Verdiramo in this episode. Get ready for an engaging exploration of the multifaceted landscape of real estate and its legal dimensions.

Vincent and I delve into the critical topic of due diligence in real estate transactions. We leave no stone unturned, from property inspections to title insurance and environmental concerns. Discover why these elements are the backbone of a successful real estate deal.

Clear, written agreements are essential, especially in family or friend partnerships. Tune in as they emphasize the significance of well-structured agreements to avoid potential disputes and complications.

Urban real estate takes center stage as they dissect the complexities of Airbnb rentals. Uncover the legal challenges and regulations surrounding these properties that have become increasingly popular. Whether you're a host or a guest, you'll gain valuable insights that can protect your interests.

We also highlight lawyers' vital role in real estate transactions in New Jersey and Colorado. Learn why engaging legal professionals is paramount to ensure your transactions are properly structured and safeguarded.

This episode is a goldmine of knowledge for anyone in the real estate market. Don't miss this opportunity to bolster your real estate expertise with a legal edge.

Please don't hesitate to reach out for more information on specific topics covered in the episode. Your journey into the legal side of real estate starts here!

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Disclaimer:

Please note that the legal information shared in this podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitute for consulting with a licensed attorney for specific legal matters. Past performance does not indicate future results; every legal case is unique. Consult your own attorney for personalized legal advice.

Transcript

00;00;00;06 - 00;00;18;13
Contiguglia
Welcome to the Don't Skip the legal podcast I'm Andy Contiguglia and I just call this being in the field I guess I'm in San Diego. I'm at a legal a lawyer conference and of course my very close friend Vinny Verdiramo is here and this guy.

00;00;18;21 - 00;00;19;18
Vinny
From New Jersey.

00;00;19;18 - 00;00;49;03
Contiguglia
There you go from New Jersey. I think a moment. But we sort of we're in this opportunity now with sort of the building of this podcast and looking at and helping businesses in our law practice. I saw it interviewing Vinny, who has a strong connection to say, businesses that broke the law and representing them in it has a lot.

00;00;49;03 - 00;00;53;08
Vinny
Of personal sense. It's strictly as an attorney, as an attorney.

00;00;53;10 - 00;00;58;01
Contiguglia
So Vinny, why do you introduce yourselves to the listeners and tell everybody who you are?

00;00;58;03 - 00;01;14;07
Vinny
I like Vinny Verdiramo Jersey City, New Jersey Firm is Verdiramo and Verdiramo. I was lucky enough to get out of law school and into practice with my dad, who practices this day.

00;01;14;09 - 00;01;15;06
Contiguglia
How old is your dad now?

00;01;15;06 - 00;01;16;09
Vinny
He's 86.

00;01;16;12 - 00;01;17;17
Contiguglia
Too gracious.

00;01;17;19 - 00;01;37;16
Vinny
Yeah, he's 86. And, you know, he started the firm in 1965 and practiced a lot of criminal law and real estate and personal injury law related stuff, litigation. And then 86, I joined him and I've been there ever since.

00;01;37;18 - 00;01;47;11
Contiguglia
And how did you feel sort of working with your dad? I mean, I look back at my kids and I'm like, I don't think I want my kids working for me or with me, but that must've been a great experience for you.

00;01;47;17 - 00;01;53;11
Vinny
It has been and continues to be. Yeah, a priceless experience.

00;01;53;11 - 00;02;01;27
Contiguglia
So you you entered the practice of law working with your dad at we're going to say your dad was a high profile lawyer in Jersey City at that time, wasn't it?

00;02;02;03 - 00;02;21;19
Vinny
Yeah, but I started actually working for my dad when I was like 12 years old. I used to take the bus and from Secaucus to Jersey City and do filing in his office. So, yeah, I've been around his law firm. You would say I was bred for this job? Yeah, since I was about 12.

00;02;21;22 - 00;02;34;03
Contiguglia
It's great. And you had some incredible experiences, I think, with some of the clientele that your dad represented. Could you tell tell me a little bit more about.

00;02;34;03 - 00;02;34;16
Vinny
Where you what.

00;02;34;17 - 00;02;36;16
Contiguglia
Kind of law practice.

00;02;36;19 - 00;02;38;00
Vinny
You are at the pool table for.

00;02;38;00 - 00;02;38;09
Contiguglia
Both.

00;02;38;11 - 00;02;40;06
Vinny
Tables. You at the pool tables.

00;02;40;09 - 00;02;44;17
Contiguglia
But this is this is like this is I grew up being a lawyer.

00;02;44;20 - 00;03;07;04
Vinny
Many of us, my dad, my dad, my dad had a pretty high profile criminal practice. It all started with a believe it or not, he got a not guilty verdict where the police officer testified that he saw my dad's client with a gun in the other man's mouth, and somehow I got another not guilty on it. Pretty good.

00;03;07;07 - 00;03;25;11
Vinny
Pretty good. That's pretty good. And so he built a real good practice, did very well. And as a result, yeah, he had lots of interesting people that stepped off the path. And, you know, some of them were good people that messed up and some of them were just bad people.

00;03;25;11 - 00;03;31;24
Contiguglia
Yeah. And he built a practice also. He made a name for himself in New Jersey representing what he's going to do.

00;03;31;24 - 00;03;34;07
Vinny
Yeah, he did a lot of that type of work in federal court.

00;03;34;07 - 00;03;36;15
Contiguglia
Yeah. So let's the reason.

00;03;36;15 - 00;03;40;27
Vinny
I think but I would say it was kind of a crazy thing to happen to a young man, but just leave it at that.

00;03;40;27 - 00;03;55;21
Contiguglia
Grown up. But grown up, yeah. As against the son working in your father's criminal sense. Yes. That's pretty remarkable. A cop. Not necessarily accomplishment per se, but just a hell of a way to start your legal career. Yeah.

00;03;55;23 - 00;03;58;09
Vinny
Well, I tell the full story.

00;03;58;12 - 00;03;59;15
Contiguglia
It's due to the pool story.

00;03;59;16 - 00;04;19;28
Vinny
The pool, the playing pool. So when I was in high school, if I got a bad grade, you know, there was punishment. Where you grew up at a time when parents are strict, Very strict. I won't to tell you right now. My dad was very, very strict. But I got to see that my report card was in high school, and so I was grounded, which means I wasn't leaving the house after I, you know, come home.

00;04;19;28 - 00;04;39;06
Vinny
And that was it. And the one good thing was they had a pool table in the basement. So I just I played a lot of pool lot a lot of pool. One day my dad would have clients come to the house sometimes and things. One time this guy came that came in and today you playing pool. And I'm like, Yeah, I was just shooting.

00;04;39;06 - 00;05;03;15
Vinny
Ball Tail is like, that's like, I think, yeah, sure. So he racked up, he then ran the table, three straight racks. I never touched the ball like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Three tables. And then he's like, Oh, son, take it easy. And he goes back up the stairs. And later on I saw my dad and I was like, Who is that guy?

00;05;03;18 - 00;05;16;04
Vinny
And he goes, Oh, until his name, I can't remember. And then he said, He's been charged with a triple murder. No, thanks. Yeah, that's good to know. That's the guy.

00;05;16;07 - 00;05;17;28
Contiguglia
That know three tables.

00;05;18;00 - 00;05;27;04
Vinny
Like, you know, like that was that was old school. Dad's old school. It's great. And God bless him.

00;05;27;07 - 00;05;35;27
Contiguglia
And you've been able to sort of build your own law practice as well. Yeah. Part of the. Tell us about the kind of work that you are doing nowadays. As a lawyer.

00;05;36;00 - 00;06;03;10
Vinny
I have a nice little practice that it's it's real estate, it's litigation. It's unfortunately the occasional First Amendment case used to be more active. But you know, that work ebbs and flows. And I have to think that the fact that it slowed down is due to the successes that we've had and that I hope we continue to be able to maintain real estate from being important.

00;06;03;12 - 00;06;13;04
Vinny
Real estate is what got me through COVID. I mean, I always had a pretty good real estate practice, but real estate is what got me through COVID, because the weirdest thing was the whole world shut down and Hudson County real estate exploded.

00;06;13;06 - 00;06;18;17
Contiguglia
Yeah, everybody started building or buying properties near in go with, you know, interest rates were like nothing.

00;06;18;18 - 00;06;39;11
Vinny
Yeah they were giving money away and people wanted to participate. A lot of people jumped into that market. And the weird thing about this market, as opposed to, let's say the 2008 market when that crash happened, it happened because all those values have been pumped up, but the people were qualified for the loans and it was like, who put nothing down at the closing table, right?

00;06;39;12 - 00;06;59;10
Vinny
Crazy. Yeah. You know, getting home equity lines at the same time to buying a house. It's like what? You mean you just bought the place? You know, where's the equity? But this is what was driving that market. It was crazy. Now the numbers are much, much higher and the down payments are like 400,000, 500,000, $600,000. So it's very real.

00;06;59;13 - 00;07;04;11
Contiguglia
Is a lot of your practice nowadays representing people with real estate transactions?

00;07;04;11 - 00;07;19;03
Vinny
It's yeah, it's happening. But yeah, certainly for the last several years I mean I still do a lot of criminal and municipal court work and that sort of thing and obviously but it's COVID like, say what you were saying about the spectacle of it.

00;07;19;03 - 00;07;32;04
Contiguglia
Yeah, yeah, that's it. You built your real estate practice during court. Well, you had a lot of real estate, but real estate was really kicking off in the middle of COVID. You managed to keep your law practice thriving through that.

00;07;32;04 - 00;07;34;28
Vinny
And surviving is a better word.

00;07;35;00 - 00;07;36;10
Contiguglia
I think everybody will survive.

00;07;36;12 - 00;07;40;25
Vinny
Anybody thrived except the real estate developers. They did, but they had a different story.

00;07;40;25 - 00;07;47;29
Contiguglia
Go Well, tell me about the types of real estate businesses that you are representing. Are these like individual people? I have I have every.

00;07;47;29 - 00;08;00;12
Vinny
Friend from I have everything from first time homebuyers or sellers. I have real estate. It has to get sold pursuant to divorce.

00;08;00;15 - 00;08;11;23
Contiguglia
But let me ask you this. Or states help me understand why why would I just as Joe Citizen, need to have an attorney when I'm buying my first house?

00;08;11;24 - 00;08;16;02
Vinny
Because for most it's not. Everyone is the largest transaction of their entire life.

00;08;16;02 - 00;08;20;11
Contiguglia
Right. But wouldn't that be covered by my realtor when my realtor be the one protecting me through that?

00;08;20;11 - 00;08;42;28
Vinny
A realtor is not representing you even when it's the buyer's broker, there's still an inherent conflict of interest. Always. As much as real estate agents are incredibly important to the transaction. I'm not saying that they not people should be independently represented by counsel because there are inherent conflicts of interest that happen all the time in a real estate transaction.

00;08;43;00 - 00;08;53;01
Vinny
Not to mention, you know, any number of substantive issues involved with either the home's construction, the state of the title, etc..

00;08;53;03 - 00;09;23;22
Contiguglia
And when you're representing these individuals are you listen to step away from the first time homebuyer situation. But in a situation nowadays where, like I represent a number of people who are involved and they team up with their their brother, they team up with their sister and they put together sort of these real estate partnerships, these Real estate LLC, is to go out and buy properties for Airbnb or to fix and then flip them in to do all those things where you engage those values.

00;09;23;24 - 00;09;52;00
Vinny
Okay, I do a lot of that and for all of the above type of clients doing that. So my classic example is one guy's got some money, the other guy's got some money, third guy's got some money, throw it together. They're either all builders or one of them, or two of them are builders and they can identify property to purchase and either either demo it and then build something new or rehabilitate what's there.

00;09;52;02 - 00;10;15;06
Vinny
A lot of that depends on a designation from a historical commission, but that's that's one way that it goes. Other times you have situations out of states that things need to be sold. And then there's this clients that want to sell like portfolios. You've got clients that have significant assets and they may want to divest some of it.

00;10;15;08 - 00;10;30;09
Vinny
And then you talk about 1031 exchanges and all that. Other things are real important in commercial real estate transactions. Absolutely. Depending on the type of client and most of the people that are there take advantage of that tax code. It's just the greatest thing for them. Yeah, well.

00;10;30;09 - 00;10;41;14
Contiguglia
What I've always realized is even in situations where everybody is really close in the building of that company, so like I represent right now, a husband, a wife and a brother, the three of them together.

00;10;41;14 - 00;10;42;20
Vinny
In an LLC is an.

00;10;42;20 - 00;10;58;27
Contiguglia
LLC. Absolutely. It was one of those things where they were like they knew they needed to do it. They didn't. They didn't know why they needed to do it, but they called me up and they're like, Listen, we don't know why, but we think this is what we need to do. And I'm like, Listen, Zach, that you guys are approaching this now.

00;10;58;27 - 00;11;08;07
Contiguglia
Here you are with a, you know, your husband and your brother working with you. That creates its own set of chaos in the business world. You could, but.

00;11;08;08 - 00;11;10;05
Vinny
It certainly has a potential for that. Yeah, but they're going.

00;11;10;05 - 00;11;11;02
Contiguglia
To up in there could also.

00;11;11;02 - 00;11;11;26
Vinny
Work out beautifully.

00;11;11;26 - 00;11;17;07
Contiguglia
But yeah, but they want to put together an operating agreement. Help the three of us.

00;11;17;11 - 00;11;18;05
Vinny
At being smart.

00;11;18;07 - 00;11;21;13
Contiguglia
Yeah. So how'd that work? Well that, you know.

00;11;21;15 - 00;11;49;20
Vinny
Yeah, everybody, even. Well, first of all, any kind of lender is going to require an operating agreement. So depending on the relationship with the people in the in, in the venture and the level of trust and other bonds, they'll dictate to you. I mean, there are some people that, for purposes of a real estate transaction, can get away with a down dirty, you know, pro forma operating agreement that they still want you to prepare and is still required by the lenders in other transactions.

00;11;49;20 - 00;12;07;04
Vinny
The interrelationship of the amount of contribution and everything else. So it's a more involved agreement. But either way, yeah, everybody getting into that kind of a deal should have an LLC. Of course, and they should and they should have a written and advised upon LLC.

00;12;07;07 - 00;12;13;16
Contiguglia
Have you ever dealt with sort of the ramifications of people who didn't follow that rule?

00;12;13;18 - 00;12;36;00
Vinny
Yeah, it's called litigation. You know, I mean, good paper makes good partners. Yeah, that's something I was taught from by my dad and it's important you is it's a good idea to get everything down in writing. And even despite the fact that you're in a family relationship with people or partners, etc., every deal needs its own LLC because it just protects them.

00;12;36;02 - 00;12;38;10
Contiguglia
Defines your roles and responsibilities.

00;12;38;15 - 00;12;52;18
Vinny
What really just has more to do with, you know, because lots of the company people that I work with have been clients of the firm for 20, 30 years, right? So you make those forms to them and they do different deals with different people.

00;12;52;21 - 00;13;01;22
Contiguglia
You know, Do you ever represent like buyers? I mean, it sounds like you're doing sort of both sides of the transaction at times, but never.

00;13;01;22 - 00;13;03;03
Vinny
In the same transaction. No, no.

00;13;03;03 - 00;13;03;16
Contiguglia
That would be.

00;13;03;16 - 00;13;29;13
Vinny
That would be that would be a massive ethics violation. Yes. No, no, no, no. One side or the other, but not both of which. Amazing, though, that raises an issue for your listeners. Yeah. Some of you can be told. Sure, we can both use the same lawyer. No, you can't. In fact, very first day of law school, real property class Professor Cornwall, 1983, probably in early September.

00;13;29;13 - 00;13;39;15
Vinny
I don't remember the date. First words out of his mouth. You will be asked to represent both sides of a real estate transaction. You can't do that. So the first thing I learned in law school.

00;13;39;18 - 00;13;41;01
Contiguglia
You are lucky.

00;13;41;04 - 00;13;42;02
Vinny
Now.

00;13;42;04 - 00;13;43;22
Contiguglia
Basically acceptance and consideration.

00;13;43;22 - 00;13;47;05
Vinny
Oh yeah, that's professor called.

00;13;47;07 - 00;13;52;28
Contiguglia
But do you take a different approach when you're representing the buyer side versus the side side?

00;13;52;28 - 00;13;55;13
Vinny
Different different concepts, different things, what you have to watch out.

00;13;55;13 - 00;13;59;15
Contiguglia
So how do you So I think in many situations.

00;13;59;18 - 00;14;22;10
Vinny
Before we go any further on transactions, especially a small law firm, because I want to give your listeners and I'm a small offer which myself to from paralegals, a receptionist. My dad comes in, but he's pretty much retired now. Right. But so shout out to assistants, paralegals, law clerks. I couldn't be me without the people that have worked with me for all these years.

00;14;22;15 - 00;14;24;20
Contiguglia
So your importance in building a good.

00;14;24;20 - 00;14;36;14
Vinny
Yeah, man. Oh, got. And especially in real estate, this is massively important. If you don't have a good real estate paralegal, don't do real estate work.

00;14;36;16 - 00;14;43;07
Contiguglia
What is a good real estate really going to do differently than a bad one?

00;14;43;10 - 00;15;05;25
Vinny
Yeah, well, I guess the most important thing is responsiveness, promptness, attention to detail, knowledge of the subject, servicing the client, you know, being tight with the title companies, moving the paper, making sure that different boxes get checked off to all bring it in for a smooth closing. Well, I think.

00;15;05;25 - 00;15;33;21
Contiguglia
What people misunderstand in a real estate transaction, I mean, they show up at the closing table, it's at the title company, and the title company just puts sign here, sign here, sign here. Everything in front, they're showing up and they're doing the, you know, the signature component of it. For those of us on the other side going through that, that is just massive amounts of time, reviewing all the paperwork, making sure it's, you know, representing everybody's interests for the most part.

00;15;33;24 - 00;15;40;04
Vinny
As the buyer's the counsel. Yeah, Yeah. Well, no, no, no, no. Just because you have a good real estate paralegal doesn't mean you don't read the contract.

00;15;40;09 - 00;15;41;15
Contiguglia
No, I didn't suggest that.

00;15;41;15 - 00;16;03;17
Vinny
I know I did, but it's a partnership is what was my point. You've got to have people you can rely on in your office. Yeah, I see. No and no. Real estate agents can't give you legal advice. They shouldn't give you legal advice, although a lot do. Smart ones don't. Smart ones refer clients to attorneys that they know what they know.

00;16;03;17 - 00;16;06;11
Vinny
Talk about, you know.

00;16;06;13 - 00;16;23;11
Contiguglia
So let's get back to the organization. As you know, these real estate LLC that we're talking about. How are you? How are you typically seeing these structured for people? What kind of work? What are you putting together? You're putting them together as LLC is. Are you doing corporations or partnerships?

00;16;23;13 - 00;16;40;06
Vinny
You know, truthfully, it seems like everybody wants to do an LLC, and I think a lot of that comes from their accountants, and that's fine. I mean, if that's the way they want to proceed. And I think it gives me adequate the consumer protection that they're looking for statutorily or else it makes sense.

00;16;40;06 - 00;16;47;05
Contiguglia
They're so easy to operate. And, you know, the rules are lax. You know, every state's going to have a little bit of an escort.

00;16;47;12 - 00;17;07;16
Vinny
I mean, it'd be like but again, I think it comes back to I think it comes back to the to the accountant. And if and you know, if that's how the market wants to move, I'm not going to look, I don't know that my normal client is a small partnership is any better in an LLC or in an S corp.

00;17;07;18 - 00;17;08;16
Contiguglia
That's for people like.

00;17;08;16 - 00;17;26;09
Vinny
Me, you know, tax tax people, you know, like, yeah, I'm not I'm not a tax attorney. I don't give tax advice to my understanding an LLC and an escort practice function very, very similarly. But the accountants on behalf of their clients, who are my clients, recommended they're in an LLC. So we put them in. And also.

00;17;26;10 - 00;17;54;08
Contiguglia
That's right. So let's say you're representing a small group of we'll call them like real estate investors or real estate business partnership. How would we want to define that? You know, take my situation. You've got the husband, the wife or the brother and now what do you do in a situation where you know there's something wrong with the seller?

00;17;54;10 - 00;18;04;10
Contiguglia
And when I mean that you sort of have this gut that something's not sitting right. What are you looking at when you're looking into, like doing your due diligence? Give me an example what.

00;18;04;10 - 00;18;06;07
Vinny
You're referring to, like because that's pretty.

00;18;06;07 - 00;18;10;08
Contiguglia
Abstract situation that you that you had with the fake paperwork.

00;18;10;12 - 00;18;37;09
Vinny
All that, but that at a time. All right. Well, we didn't do your listeners don't know what we're referring to now. I recently got a transfer. Okay. This brings up another point. Before even getting into the facts, always get title insurance. Is anyone like a realtor who tells you you can do a deal without title insurance? And that's obscene.

00;18;37;09 - 00;19;00;16
Vinny
If anybody, whether it's a realtor, anybody else, always, always, always get title insurance. I know in a lot of states like Florida and elsewhere, there's a bunch of states where people only use title companies. I don't agree with that. Again, there's an issue for title policies that they title companies, but that's a whole other thing. I always think you should be represented by counsel.

00;19;00;16 - 00;19;08;20
Vinny
But yeah, about the operating agreements actually get the operating agreement and don't rely just on the title company and always be represented by counsel.

00;19;08;22 - 00;19;19;14
Contiguglia
So how do you approach or tell a story? You're representing a group of buyers on a piece of property. This was just recently. Recently what happened? How what about this situation?

00;19;19;17 - 00;19;46;11
Vinny
There's the Internet is an ugly thing, okay? And I'm not going to give away names or locations or anything, but something for everybody to watch out for because apparently it's very prevalent. And why you should always purchase title insurance because you're relying on the title company to ensure that you know who you're getting your property from and you're paying money to is actually the person who owns it, amongst other issues, judgments, etc..

00;19;46;13 - 00;20;07;12
Vinny
But yeah, I recently had a deal where my client found a piece of property online, which is yet another thing to be concerned about. And subsequently I was contacted by an attorney on behalf of the seller of that property. Who had you not seen that seemingly reputable law firm? Everything seemed to be clicking on the other side. Nothing out of the ordinary.

00;20;07;19 - 00;20;31;26
Vinny
Speaking with those attorneys contract comes in. We review it typically in New Jersey when a standard contract comes in and that's prepared by or by people, either by themselves or by real estate broker attorneys to, you know, decline it, reject it, subject to agreement on all this and stipulation that we then exchange and negotiate. So worked all of that out.

00;20;31;29 - 00;20;52;11
Vinny
Everything normal. No problem. The thing now is on closing the old session closing everybody getting around the table doesn't exist anymore. It's all done through the title company. It's all done through overnight mail. I can't even imagine the amount of money and checks that like FedEx handles on a daily day, that it must be just the most ridiculous number.

00;20;52;13 - 00;21;11;28
Vinny
But anyway, because even if the closing took place three times three towns away, the check from my client is sent either by wire or by FedEx to the office, you know. So that's how that stuff works these days. You got to have title insurance, though, because. Oh.

00;21;12;00 - 00;21;14;10
Contiguglia
But what happened in your particular case.

00;21;14;12 - 00;21;17;25
Vinny
Clive? The a piece of property we do all through everything, right? I just.

00;21;17;25 - 00;21;20;25
Contiguglia
Describe it. Good. We closed.

00;21;20;27 - 00;21;23;19
Vinny
We closed with the title company through the mail.

00;21;23;22 - 00;21;26;09
Contiguglia
What happened?

00;21;26;11 - 00;22;03;20
Vinny
We find out. And it's a long story about how we found out and I can't get into it to the greatest extent. So we start to wonder, Hey, that deal we did a couple of weeks ago with that legit deal and through a whole series of circuit, you know, back and forth and a lot of investigate, etc., we determined that the owner of the property who was listed on all the documents as being within city a signed the deed in front of a notary in Texas.

00;22;03;22 - 00;22;37;13
Vinny
Now, the whole thing is that's what you're relying on the title company for you. They're acting as the closing agent. You're paying them to do this and take on that liability. One thing we saw short, it turns out that the deed tendered by the seller who lives in a but it signs the document in bay and we're talking 2000 miles away from each other and there and apparently the the notary didn't get the proper ID supposed to get a photo of the person's I.D. that didn't happen.

00;22;37;16 - 00;23;03;03
Vinny
So the title company, you know, they rely on the people, then they they they made a mistake. They were defrauded. And as a result of the insurance my client bought, we were reimbursed. But the whole thing is finding property on the Internet at estate, signing agents, you know, things that should make you start to blink and never, ever give out your wiring information over the telephone ever.

00;23;03;10 - 00;23;04;17
Vinny
And double verify it.

00;23;04;20 - 00;23;08;04
Contiguglia
Yeah. I had a client that was sort of I know.

00;23;08;04 - 00;23;10;02
Vinny
That sounds obvious now, but.

00;23;10;05 - 00;23;39;09
Contiguglia
Well, yeah, I had a client who was in a similar situation and went to go, you know, wire money for a real estate transaction and somehow the money and not the money, but like the communication someone had hacked the system basically, and found out and then started playing this role play in and he got scammed into you know, sending money to these people like I think he he was smart enough to realize that it was happening.

00;23;39;09 - 00;23;44;22
Contiguglia
I don't think he actually went through the transaction, but it was one of those things. But yeah, there's all kinds of there's.

00;23;44;22 - 00;24;07;10
Vinny
All kinds of phone scams. I mean, I'm sure he's done a show about that. People call up grandparents to like pay off ransom on their grandkids and crazy shit like that, Right? You know, like gum. But yeah, I mean, this is a scam is the sophistication of it, I thought was remarkable that and you know, now, in fact, you want to laugh.

00;24;07;10 - 00;24;29;06
Vinny
It's crazy. We're talking about it tonight. I got a phone call earlier today during our conference. I stepped out of the room and it was the owner of the property that my client supposedly bought. But it was a fraudulent transfer. Right. And we got the money back. A deed needs to get filed to take the title out of my client's name back into the woman who was the quote unquote, real seller.

00;24;29;09 - 00;24;57;03
Vinny
Because the real seller's property is now in my client's name. Yes. So she called me today, and because she tried to pay her taxes, she went to the town to pay your taxes and the property stole my client's name. So I promised her we'd get it resolved. Well, it's not her fault. It's not my client's fault. There's just some really sophisticated people out there that it's a.

00;24;57;06 - 00;25;33;29
Vinny
Look, they got passed to law firms, and then what's wild? A couple of weeks after that, different client completely goes into property, goes into a contract for a piece of land that I was actually familiar with because it's in my neighborhood where my office is. And they're getting it. And we proceed with that transaction. And then in the midst of that transaction, we get a call from the attorney for the real owner of the property saying that they had heard somehow that somebody was trying to say that they were selling their property and they were letting us know that it's not a real deal.

00;25;34;01 - 00;26;03;23
Vinny
So we quashed that one before you. It happened, Right. Thank God. So this is something that's happening and it's happening in hot real estate markets on available property. You just got to be super careful. Yeah. Best thing to do, Deal with a reputable real estate agent. You know, they to develop a relationship with a good realtor. And once you do that, someone is knowledgeable in the market that you're interested in, whether it's commercial or residential, you just get a good relationship with a good broker.

00;26;03;24 - 00;26;28;11
Contiguglia
I think that is a good segue way through into the next, you know, piece of this, which is do you ever see your clients get a little overconfident in the way that they are going about their investments or making hasty or unwise investment decisions? When you see that happening, or better yet, what do you see happening or situations like that?

00;26;28;11 - 00;26;51;12
Vinny
The firm in the real estate sector. Yeah. Okay. So we're talking about real estate. I just want to put a caveat on everything I'm about to say. I don't give investment advice. Okay? I don't ever tell a client that's a good investment. I will tell clients in my in my opinion, that something is a bad investment. Right. If it's very glaring.

00;26;51;12 - 00;26;53;24
Contiguglia
Well, we're not there to give investment advice.

00;26;53;24 - 00;26;57;09
Vinny
Right. I'm not giving you advice. Yeah. I'm not sure about whether legally.

00;26;57;09 - 00;26;58;01
Contiguglia
This is a.

00;26;58;07 - 00;27;23;28
Vinny
Good transaction. And sometimes people ask me about like my my opinion on the market and I can just report accurately, you know, recent deals in my office, you know. So yeah. And without really a lot of specifics but I represented somebody in the highest over on, you know, whatever avenue and they just sold a piece of property for X-Y-Z, you know, without that.

00;27;23;28 - 00;27;37;29
Vinny
But when you do enough real estate, you know, you sort of know what the value is in the market. What I've been blown away by is just how it just keeps going up. And I mean, I was born and raised in Jersey City. The idea that real estate would be worth what it is now just blows my mind, Blows my mind.

00;27;38;06 - 00;27;42;01
Vinny
I wish I had known. I wish I had had the foresight for this 20 years ago.

00;27;42;03 - 00;27;44;22
Contiguglia
You would. But more property.

00;27;44;24 - 00;28;05;21
Vinny
You know, hindsight is 2020 and calm is a sucker, right? But, you know. Yeah, I wish I knew, but nobody would have known what happened. You know, real estate was always a nice investment, right? But nobody would have ever realized what was about to happen because of COVID. COVID changed everything in the real estate market.

00;28;05;24 - 00;28;13;24
Contiguglia
And I think that whole industry is yeah, it's changed immensely because of that.

00;28;13;27 - 00;28;36;18
Vinny
It you know, it seems it's cooling off now. It was. Yeah. And just, you know, where I am, you know, Jersey City has become the seventh borough. Hoboken used to be hot and still is hot. Hoboken is a great place. But what's happened in Jersey City in the last ten years, it's crazy. Well, it's.

00;28;36;21 - 00;28;37;29
Contiguglia
The seventh borough of.

00;28;38;06 - 00;28;44;24
Vinny
It is It's the seventh borough of New York City. Yeah. In so many respects. And Jersey City itself is quite large.

00;28;44;28 - 00;28;45;27
Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;28;45;29 - 00;29;11;04
Vinny
Yeah. It's a big town going all the way down to the tip of Greenville. Bye bye. They own then you realize they own goes that whole distance and then over the bridge to Staten Island. Right. But and then from, you know, like I said, the tip of Bayonne all the way up to where Jersey City meets Union City, you know, And then like very quickly thereafter, North Bergen, it addresses I don't know, was it like 11 or 12, 13 miles from one side to the other?

00;29;11;07 - 00;29;18;15
Vinny
A lot of it's I think it's New Jersey's second or third largest city. Yeah.

00;29;18;18 - 00;29;21;23
Contiguglia
I missed that part of the country.

00;29;21;25 - 00;29;22;17
Vinny
Oh, come on.

00;29;22;17 - 00;29;23;14
Contiguglia
Oh, brother.

00;29;23;16 - 00;29;40;27
Vinny
That's where your family's friends, where you went to law school. I try and know. And maybe one of these days I'll even get this organization we belong to to come one day. We'll certainly keep trying. I feel like a lonely chain cheerleader stuck in a closet somewhere. But anyway.

00;29;41;00 - 00;29;42;22
Contiguglia
For everybody that's going to Jersey City.

00;29;42;22 - 00;30;01;10
Vinny
Yeah, Jersey. And they all look at me, and yet they're like, Manhattan is too much money. It's too expensive for us. Like Jersey. Just come on over here. It's another subway stop. Honestly, it's another subway stop. And we and you know what? In so many respects, the way I look at it, it is no reason to go to New York anymore.

00;30;01;17 - 00;30;28;02
Vinny
There's so many great restaurants, so many cool things to do. And did you hear about the the congestion pricing? They're going to do Manhattan now. They have this in Paris, they have this in London, They have this in Rome, maybe even Milan. Also, it's a thing where on certain days, if you were in a car and you go into a certain zone, there's a surcharge on top of and they call it congestion pricing.

00;30;28;05 - 00;30;42;28
Vinny
And the idea is, is to reduce the traffic load. So now you're paying at the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel. Now, I don't know what is it, $17, $18. I got the easy pass. I'm not exactly positive, but yeah, it's something like that 1680 to.

00;30;42;28 - 00;30;44;25
Contiguglia
Go into Manhattan. Right. That you have, right.

00;30;45;00 - 00;30;59;18
Vinny
Yeah. Right, exactly. They get you out for free. Yeah but if but for the traffic and, but now apparently they're going to hit you with like a $50 charge if you go anywhere, like south of a certain street, I think it's like 60.

00;30;59;21 - 00;31;03;19
Contiguglia
Four and certain time of day. No, no at all.

00;31;03;24 - 00;31;15;15
Vinny
I think it's that's it. I'm not positive. Don't hold me to that. But yeah, like 50 bucks to go to Manhattan on top of the toll unless you're like, you know, up in the Bronx.

00;31;15;17 - 00;31;20;23
Contiguglia
I keep wondering why I want to go back to that place. There's no better place on the planet.

00;31;20;23 - 00;31;25;10
Vinny
That now, to my knowledge, that doesn't exist anywhere in the United States, not even L.A..

00;31;25;12 - 00;31;38;29
Contiguglia
I remember when I was down in South America, in Ecuador, they had this thing called leaky leaky blocker. And like different days of the week in Costa Rica. Yeah, something like that. And like if you're.

00;31;39;04 - 00;31;49;04
Vinny
Yeah. Whether you order even whether you can go in. Yeah, exactly. And they tell you that the night before on the news and shit and like everybody has a calendar. Yeah. That's how it is in Costa Rica.

00;31;49;07 - 00;32;11;25
Contiguglia
All right, let's get back to talking about the real estate business. What do you what are the types of issues that you see among business owners? So, like for me, I represent companies and I don't always represent the individuals in that business in an individual capacity unless it's like a, you know, a one person owned LLC or something.

00;32;11;25 - 00;32;13;10
Vinny
Like it depends on the size of the company.

00;32;13;13 - 00;32;24;11
Contiguglia
In representing corporations and representing LLC is what do you see in terms of things that make successful companies the nature of the communication between the owners?

00;32;24;14 - 00;32;48;10
Vinny
You know what, in a small LLC, again, I'm going to use the family group, the friends group that are buying and selling real estate and, you know, flipping houses and things like that, which is a big, big business back where I am still to this day, the the success is going to be about trust. It's going to be about communication.

00;32;48;10 - 00;33;11;18
Vinny
Is it anything that you normally expect? And it's the people that like say one thing to one guy and another guy to another guy. The other thing that you see sometimes is some people are way too trusting. I've been made aware of of like any number of transactions where the proper documentation wasn't prepared. Right. So, you know, people came to me about these things long after it happened.

00;33;11;21 - 00;33;28;13
Vinny
And going back to what I said before, good paper makes good partners. If you're willing to give a person X number of dollars, it's not unreasonable for you to get something back in writing. Acknowledging that, acknowledging the terms. And, you know, contracts have been held to be enforceable that were written on the back of a napkin.

00;33;28;13 - 00;33;38;11
Contiguglia
They're bed contracts are still binding. Yeah, well, the case that we study in law school, Lucey versus Zimmer, is that whole case about. Yeah in the contract on the on the market.

00;33;38;14 - 00;33;49;09
Vinny
Yeah. Just just it's not insulting to say, hey, can we get it in writing? It's your money. It's the effort of your hard work.

00;33;49;11 - 00;34;07;26
Contiguglia
I think you need to take it a step further. So I was meeting with a client the other day and he comes in and he shows me the contract. He was talking about a breach of contract. He sits down, he shows me this contract. And one thing I always ask my client is, All right, tell me what this contract means in your own words.

00;34;07;26 - 00;34;18;14
Contiguglia
Because when you and I sit and we read through a contract, we know what to look for. We know what the terms mean. We know the obligations of everybody in there because.

00;34;18;15 - 00;34;23;13
Vinny
So how did you just phrase that? What your dreams are? What are you looking for? What? How did you phrase that?

00;34;23;13 - 00;34;27;08
Contiguglia
Now? What are your goals and your your obligation? Yeah. Hoping to accomplish.

00;34;27;08 - 00;34;48;14
Vinny
The goals we are these days and says Vinny, I found a piece of property on X Street. This is the price, It's me, me, X, Y and z. Same deal like we did over blah blah, blah. Make up the paperwork contracts are going to be covered over. I'll call you later. That's a typical conversation with a lot of my clients.

00;34;48;14 - 00;34;49;04
Vinny
These this.

00;34;49;07 - 00;34;51;27
Contiguglia
But you should be doing that. The point that I'm trying to make it and know.

00;34;51;29 - 00;35;25;27
Vinny
But the point is this I know where you're going with the question unless I'm wrong, you've got to know your client first, right? So the only way to answer the question appropriately is what's your relationship with your client? And, you know, don't be afraid to say to people when it's obvious that they put all their money together and they've been working shit jobs and now they've got the money to make a down payment on the house, to say to them, you know, like, you really do need to get a home inspection.

00;35;25;29 - 00;35;35;21
Vinny
Yes you have to get title insurance, you know, and then when when the home inspection report comes in, making doing the right thing on that.

00;35;35;23 - 00;35;52;27
Contiguglia
All those steps and what I see a lot happening and maybe you do too is people coming in, they say, hey, I signed this contract, but they they say, hey, I got this contract and they bring it in. They give it to you. And I always ask them saying, all right, what does this contract mean to you? What is your interpretation of this?

00;35;52;27 - 00;36;16;22
Contiguglia
Well, it's it's supposed to have A, B, C, and D in it. And then when you read through it, you go, yeah, this contract doesn't have any of that shit. So, hey, kudos to you for being smart and getting yourself a written contract. But in utilizing legal services, what could that client have done in order to help understand that contract better hire you?

00;36;16;22 - 00;36;17;26
Contiguglia
HIRE Yeah.

00;36;17;28 - 00;36;42;28
Vinny
Yeah, that that's certainly true. I thought you were talking about, you know, in the field what they should be doing that to, you know, because by the time I want a client that's sophisticated enough that by the time I have the contract they've done and this is even with first time homebuyers, that they've gone and looked at a bunch of places, that they really know what they want, etc., sometimes, you know, depending on the markets, it'll depend on the contract you get into.

00;36;43;00 - 00;37;05;26
Vinny
I mean, you'll have contract during good times, you'll get a contract in that there's zero contingencies. I don't care if I got to knock the place down, I want this piece of property and then in bad times it's let's, let's argue about like whether the light switch in the bathroom works. You can get to that level, you know, So you have to have somebody that you're working with 100%.

00;37;05;28 - 00;37;37;06
Contiguglia
Within the organizations themselves. I find that, you know, if they're all if the owners are all in the same page, it helps, I think, make a smoother transaction. I mean, you really I think in ownership of business, in business ownership, you need to make sure that everybody shares the same vision, shares the same mission. And I think that's even the same thing in terms of, you know, buying real estate like this, these small little business partnerships and making sure that everybody understands what their goals and obligations are within that organization.

00;37;37;06 - 00;38;09;25
Contiguglia
Because if they're misaligned, some people want to buy homes or buy real estate, want to build on it, and they want to rent them out, some people want to be able to do Airbnb short term rentals, others want to, oh, take this really bad broken down house, fix it up and flip it for a profit. Each of those is a very different direction for one to take and just because you and I want to go into real estate together, you got to make sure that you're on the same page again.

00;38;09;25 - 00;38;34;16
Vinny
It goes back to what I've said several times. It's all about getting it in writing. Make sure everybody's clear. It's, you know, more importantly, sometimes the paper might be more important in a family situation, a close friendship situation. If you would be like, I like this. My guy is my family's and my my cousin, my sister, my whatever they might need.

00;38;34;18 - 00;38;38;27
Vinny
The better paper more than your sophisticated, normal guy that's doing business.

00;38;39;04 - 00;38;39;27
Contiguglia
Why do you think that?

00;38;39;27 - 00;39;05;25
Vinny
Because I've seen some really ugly family sites over 38 years, you know, all over the ownership or like, you know, mom and dad die without a will or a will that appointed the brother slash sister, you know, to be the executor and that person is consumed with grief.

00;39;05;28 - 00;39;07;04
Contiguglia
Can't execute their response.

00;39;07;04 - 00;39;28;02
Vinny
Can't be the executor of the estate for a horrible case in my office right now where a man was was deceased and nobody knew for over two years until they found the man's body. In the last two years, you know, over two years.

00;39;28;05 - 00;39;33;02
Contiguglia
Nobody decided to go and check on him or anything such that it's totally said.

00;39;33;05 - 00;39;37;14
Vinny
Let's first Head Start. I'll never say the name of the people or where it happened.

00;39;37;21 - 00;39;39;13
Contiguglia
That of course, it's.

00;39;39;15 - 00;39;46;08
Vinny
Yeah, that happened. And I'm like, I talk about like I said, the more it.

00;39;46;10 - 00;40;01;14
Contiguglia
Works for me. What are you finding in terms of things that are going bad? Let's let's talk about a couple of war stories. Any any other real estate stories that that have come up throughout your years of practice that people can learn from so they don't get themselves in a similar.

00;40;01;14 - 00;40;30;20
Vinny
Well, it depends on where your listeners are. There's always local conditions on real estate, dependent on the geography and the history of the land and what has taken place. There has always been farmland. Yeah. Was it a gas station? You know, was the manufacturing facility, was it a car garage, Was it a dry cleaners? You know, places that oftentimes historically have environmental contamination?

00;40;30;22 - 00;40;55;11
Vinny
If you're a commercial person thinking about into commercial and, you know, there's a lot down the corner that you want to buy and redevelop and do something cool with, you got to know whether it was a gas station or not, you know, and if you and the best thing to do when you're going to do commercial property, I think especially when you're going to convert the use since you don't really know what the prior use was, where you think you do, but maybe you're not.

00;40;55;13 - 00;41;06;14
Vinny
You've got to get a Phase one environmental test done. Phase one report. Anybody that does commercial work and doesn't do that, that's a mistake.

00;41;06;17 - 00;41;31;08
Contiguglia
I think people believe that engaging in these business transactions, these real estate transactions, is something that is easy to do on their own. I mean, you talk about contracts and paperwork and things like that, but the real estate transactions I see people mostly doing are not involving attorneys. They're using really I.

00;41;31;10 - 00;41;33;03
Vinny
That's a geographic thing.

00;41;33;05 - 00;41;39;03
Contiguglia
Now, you see that. So you see people the real estate deals out east. Yeah, but you just can't.

00;41;39;05 - 00;41;45;06
Vinny
You always have a lawyer in New York. You always have a new lawyer in New Jersey. Connecticut, Massachusetts.

00;41;45;08 - 00;41;47;02
Contiguglia
See, in Colorado.

00;41;47;04 - 00;41;49;15
Vinny
I see the title companies have taken over that business.

00;41;49;15 - 00;41;50;03
Contiguglia
Yeah, pretty.

00;41;50;03 - 00;41;58;21
Vinny
Much. But now. But. Okay, but how are they then dealing with a purchaser of a multifamily dwelling?

00;41;58;24 - 00;42;03;11
Contiguglia
Well, that's you know, I mean, use the bank. You'll have the title company. No, but you'll have.

00;42;03;13 - 00;42;43;02
Vinny
Follow the record. Is that property rent controlled? Is that property bearing the appropriate certificates of inspection from the state whatever bureau whatever in charge of expecting you know is is the builder that built it. You know, if it's a new condominium development or his license is still active and certified. Yeah this this countless countless things that need to be you know oh does the building have any violation shines on it is the rent that's legally to be able to be charged registered with the appropriate rent control, you know, unless it's exempt or you know.

00;42;43;02 - 00;42;45;18
Contiguglia
It's in the property. Yeah. Lady, your rent.

00;42;45;18 - 00;42;51;00
Vinny
Where are the leases where you know, this is so. Yeah. I mean is the title company doing that.

00;42;51;00 - 00;42;57;19
Contiguglia
For, you know. No. No. So you're, we're looking over mashing over a couple different things and the example that you gave is like a mold, but.

00;42;57;19 - 00;43;02;02
Vinny
You see some a matching over it because that's what a real estate deal is back.

00;43;02;02 - 00;43;03;05
Contiguglia
East right?

00;43;03;07 - 00;43;05;21
Vinny
If it's different out west, I apologize.

00;43;05;21 - 00;43;31;12
Contiguglia
I'm saying no, no, no, don't, don't. Because there are people all over it listening to this. And I think it's a good distinction because there are certainly real estate transactions that I've done in Colorado that involves exactly those things, those due diligence points. That's sure that like, listen, if I'm going to buy this building for $10 million, part of what I need to understand is making sure that the rent I'm getting from the other tenants in the building are going to be able to accommodate.

00;43;31;12 - 00;43;35;27
Contiguglia
So different than doing an acquisition of another business, you know, just switching it out.

00;43;36;00 - 00;43;54;00
Vinny
That gets back to an issue you were talking about earlier, Like, why do you hire the lawyer? Yeah, because in the contract you've got to make sure that there's the appropriate due diligence clauses and the ability for your client to do the kind of test I was talking about before the phase one, you might have to do invasive drilling.

00;43;54;02 - 00;44;07;29
Vinny
And and a lot of times they come up with hydrocarbons, and if they come up with hydrocarbons, then you have to send that soil sample into the state and they have to come out and they've got to do remediation. When they start basically digging until they find clean dirt.

00;44;08;01 - 00;44;09;06
Contiguglia
There's a storage.

00;44;09;06 - 00;44;36;18
Vinny
Test. Yes. Well, a USB clause is standard in New Jersey. Yeah. In our and then practice changed years ago. It was perfectly okay to open up the tank, clean it so that it wiped out clean so it would sand close it up and then leave the tank right in the ground. And those were called abandoned certified tanks. And now in New Jersey, most lenders want them out.

00;44;36;21 - 00;45;01;16
Vinny
So practically every deal, whether it's commercial or residential, has an oil tank sweep clause in it where another expert that client should hire definitely is to do a tank sweep on the property to make sure there's no oil tank in the ground. And you know that that standard out here is mostly where you work. It's mostly gas or the underground tanks Don't.

00;45;01;23 - 00;45;08;25
Contiguglia
No, there's the fuel tanks. There are underground tanks. Propane and stuff are usually above ground.

00;45;08;25 - 00;45;14;14
Vinny
Propane Yeah. So yeah, there's no propane used by me because it's urban, you know.

00;45;14;14 - 00;45;47;14
Contiguglia
So from Europe we're talking about some big properties. I mean, maybe like, you know, ranches, rural properties, I think in the city. But what I'm seeing also in in the Colorado market, you know, these small business partnerships being put together and people going out and wanting to buy a number of different properties for Airbnb and making sure that, you know, the deals that I'm getting involved in and that respect, you know, it's it's you're buying a residential property even though those for a purpose you're not buying necessarily a multi component.

00;45;47;14 - 00;46;01;26
Vinny
That deal business that deal amongst partners assuming it's in an LLC should just have a clear LLC about division of responsibility, especially. Okay. But now here's a bigger issue in the Airbnb.

00;46;01;28 - 00;46;02;25
Contiguglia
Thing.

00;46;02;27 - 00;46;27;16
Vinny
That was a big driver in the market, okay? Especially during COVID, you had some pretty big hedge funds from corporations that then bought a property to make them B&Bs right? And then you've got the, you know, the young couple that had some spare cash and thought they could roll it into a new property and they buy a new property and they're going to run it as an Airbnb in an urban environment.

00;46;27;16 - 00;46;41;02
Vinny
This is very common in Jersey City right now. Lots of jurisdictions are looking at litigation regulations, rather, that make that illegal or limit the amount of time or.

00;46;41;02 - 00;46;43;01
Contiguglia
The number of property that you can own.

00;46;43;04 - 00;47;00;15
Vinny
Well, that's a Fifth Amendment taking. I think that's completely different. I'd be happy to litigate that one. Who the hell's the government to tell me how many things I can own? But I mean, that that's I think that's a lay up constitutionally. And if it's not, America has changed and we're done.

00;47;00;19 - 00;47;03;15
Contiguglia
Let's get back to the other the other piece that you were talking about now.

00;47;03;17 - 00;47;31;08
Vinny
Don't even know this important point. Airbnb, is if you made that investment and you're in a jurisdiction that is looking to outlaw them, it really behooves you to join you organizations that are being formed in those cities to fight that type of change of legislation in that town, because otherwise, you know, that money you were counting on is gone and or are you going to break the law and pay the consequences?

00;47;31;11 - 00;47;37;16
Contiguglia
All right. Well, Vin, listen, we've been at this for almost an hour. It's great to.

00;47;37;18 - 00;47;40;29
Vinny
I don't think I said anything that's going to help. Well, obviously.

00;47;41;01 - 00;47;42;28
Contiguglia
That's good. I don't know what you think.

00;47;43;00 - 00;47;44;19
Vinny
I think I want the conversation.

00;47;44;19 - 00;47;46;01
Contiguglia
I think when I hear you.

00;47;46;02 - 00;48;17;13
Vinny
That good stuff now, I think everything I said was obvious. And if it wasn't and you learn something cool, the real estate's great. I've seen some clients do very, very well in it. You know, it's I think real estate represents America. I want to sound like and this isn't going to get political, believe me. I think that I've seen every ethnic group that ever made it in this country or people come from Italy.

00;48;17;15 - 00;48;43;08
Vinny
Right. You know, you get off the boat or wherever you come from, you work hard in this country and you make investments. And usually those people's first investment was real estate, you know, And from that, you know, family fortunes and legacies and and and security and prosperity and the immigrant experience. So it's really important that, you know, we make sure as a country that, you know, people can still buy real estate.

00;48;43;10 - 00;48;59;29
Vinny
And a lot of people are getting priced out of the market now. Yeah, family's kids and shit. And I worry about the next generation being able to purchase real estate, but it is clearly the way to build wealth. And this just do it and do it right the way we tried to talk about it today.

00;49;00;03 - 00;49;08;23
Contiguglia
Well, good evening again. Thank you. And if people want to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you? Yeah, that's website.

00;49;08;28 - 00;49;10;16
Vinny
You know what? I don't have a website.

00;49;10;23 - 00;49;13;15
Contiguglia
What? Don't have a website?

00;49;13;18 - 00;49;15;27
Vinny
You. That's real. That's true. I mind time.

00;49;15;27 - 00;49;16;23
Contiguglia
No reason to doubt.

00;49;16;23 - 00;49;41;03
Vinny
You know, my whole business is referral the I'm not kidding around thank God for my clients. I guess I'm doing something right. That's good. I don't even have a website. I don't do any I don't do any marketing. I'm busy. Thank God the folks that I have keep me busy. I don't want to be a big sis.

00;49;41;05 - 00;49;41;18
Contiguglia
There you go.

00;49;41;21 - 00;49;44;08
Vinny
I just like practice law and helping the people that are my clients.

00;49;44;10 - 00;49;45;05
Contiguglia
I think that's all I am.

00;49;45;05 - 00;49;47;28
Vinny
And I'm a jersey city. If you want to find me, I'm in Jersey City.

00;49;47;29 - 00;49;48;17
Contiguglia
There you go.

00;49;48;17 - 00;49;51;22
Vinny
That's pretty much the only guy named Vinny that's worth a shit. Serge.

00;49;51;22 - 00;49;55;12
Contiguglia
Call me. I mean, always a pleasure.

00;49;55;18 - 00;49;57;23
Vinny
All right, man. Catch up with you. Love you. You too.