On this episode of the Passive Income Attorney podcast, Seth is joined by commercial real estate expert Daniel Farber, as Daniel shares how his family roots started in the legal field and over the years acquired over seven million square feet of commercial real estate. Daniel is the CEO of HLC Equity, a multi-generational real estate investment firm rooted in a family of attorneys that owns and operates real estate in over 25 states throughout the United States. Daniel shares his unique journey to financial freedom and gives you expert insights into his favorite markets and asset classes so you can invest like a pro. Enjoy!
“It’s all about the people you surround yourself with. It’s amazing what we are able to produce. . . and how we are able to move. . . Having great people has been a gamechanger.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect in this episode:
- Building a multi-generational real estate investment company like HLC Equity.
- How one investment can turn into multigenerational, legacy wealth.
- The importance of contrasting real estate as an investment and as a business.
- Pros and cons of moving from the retail sector to the multifamily sector.
- Daniel takes a deep dive into the outlook of the multifamily market and keeping up with the competition.
- Learn how to look for great markets for long-term investments.
- Learn the risks on the horizon in the real estate industry.
- And so much more!
ABOUT | DANIEL FARBER:
Daniel Farber is the CEO of HLC Equity. This multi-generational real estate investment firm has owned and operated real estate in over 25 states throughout the USA, having owned and managed over 7,000,000 gross square feet of commercial, residential, and development land. Daniel is responsible for leading the executive management teams on strategy and execution of growth for HLC Equity’s investment portfolio and leading the groups operating businesses and brands. Prior to his current role, Daniel led the group’s strategy and execution of transitioning HLC Equity from a private holding group into an institutional level sponsor of investment opportunities by developing HLC Equity’s co-investment platform while also expanding the group’s legacy investment portfolio and operating businesses.
FIND | DANIEL FARBER:
HLC Equity Website: www.hlcequity.com
Layers Website: https://layerslife.com/partners/
CONNECT | SETH BRADLEY:
Snag | The Freedom Blueprint: http://www.attorneybydesign.com
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Seth: [00:00:00] Welcome welcome Law Nation as always I hope you’re having a fantastic day and a fantastic week. Before we get started, if you’re thinking about your future and how to go about creating more time for you, take action now and join EPIC, our Esquire Passive Investor Club, by going to passiveincomeattorney.com and clicking “join the club.”
Look, we all start this investing journey somewhere, and maybe I’ll give you just enough motivation for you to take that next step and house hack into a duplex or you’ll buy a rental property or you’ll start an e-commerce store, or if you’ve listened carefully and you don’t have time for that, maybe you invest passively in an apartment building.
How far can that get you? Well far, really far. How about 7 million square feet of real estate in 25 different states? Or how about financial freedom so that you can practice or work part time or not at all to travel, to spend more time with the people you love and to live a lifestyle by design, how awesome would that.
It’s closer than you think. Our guest of honor, Daniel Farber is the CEO of HLC Equity, a multi-generational real estate investment firm rooted in a family of attorneys that has owned and operated real estate in over 25 states throughout the USA, having owned and managed over 7 million gross square feet of commercial, residential, and development land.
Can’t wait for this. Let’s go.
Seth: [00:02:18] Daniel what’s going on, man. Welcome to the show.
Daniel: [00:02:21] Hey there, happy Thursday. Happy Thursday. Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Seth: [00:02:21] Yeah, for sure, man. So let’s just jump right in brother. What’s your story? Tell us a little bit about your background.
Daniel: [00:02:32] Sure. Well, I’m have a pretty diverse background. Everything running from, uh, experience, uh, in, in the military to working as a journalist, to working as a strategic consult. In the technology space primarily. And, uh, you know, eventually it actually was never within my plans, but I eventually made my way into real estate and then eventually got into the family business, which is HLC equity.
And so that’s kind of where we are today. Um, you know, been working, you know, full-time heavily in real estate for, uh, well over a decade.
Seth: [00:03:06] Oh that’s awesome. That’s awesome, man. So I know you have a few businesses, but let’s start out with HLC Equity. Tell me a little bit about that, that current business.
Daniel: [00:03:14] Sure.
With pleasure. So HLC Equity, we’re a multi-generational real estate investment company. Um, traditionally we did a lot of kind of, uh, retail, um, shopping centers, what we call triple net lease assets and that type of thing. And that type of, uh, asset class. And then we eventually shifted into multifamily and to running multifamily assets.
But as of today, you know, we’re an owner operator been around for over 70 years. Um, and you know, just, just really, uh, have, uh, been fully entrenched in the real estate investment business for, for a long time.
Seth: [00:03:51] That’s really cool, man. 70 years is a long time to be in the, in the real estate game. Maybe dive in a little bit deeper into maybe the origins of the company and, and kind of that deep family history, just because a lot of times, you know, we talk about real estate as being a multi, you know, creating multi-generational wealth. And it seems like you guys have been able to do that.
Daniel: [00:04:10] Sure. Yeah. With pleasure. So, um, you know, interestingly enough, uh, a lot of the core. From the origins of the business actually came from the law practice. So, um, one of the founders of the company, um, Herman lips, that’s, he was a, a child of the depression, very hardworking individual who in the morning had a distribution business and the afternoon had a law practice.
And with the proceeds we buy real estate in the evening, um, that that’s kinda, you know, going back to, um, you know, Forties, even before that, to the forties and so forth, uh, fifties. Um, and it really actually the, the, some of the origins started in Arizona. So going out to places like the outskirts of Scottsdale finding land, and then using that, that legal, um, savvy to rezone the land and then sell it off and kind of like building, building from that, uh, you know, w eventually went into more kind of solid assets, like, uh, shopping centers and so forth.
Um, you know, and, and really if that was the, the beginning.
Seth: [00:05:19] That’s awesome. And I think a lot of our listeners can really relate to that, especially the attorneys. Uh, and we preach about that all the time. It’s to start out, you know, I think the best way to go about this is to use that active income because a lot of these folks.
Uh, that are listening or highly paid professionals already. So they already have a really high income. So why not take that active income and use that, uh, to invest in real estate, either passively or maybe even active lift, you haven’t have, you know, some extra time, uh, and that’s what your grandfather was able to do.
Daniel: [00:05:50] Right. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I think that it’s really important to differentiate between real estate, as an investment in real estate, as a business. Right. So as an investment, like the passive income is huge and it’s great. And back then, you know, there weren’t like all these platforms and all these syndications that existed.
Right. So then it was basically like, you know, if you wanted to get in real estate, you morally. Just had to go do it on your own. Right. I mean, sometimes, you know, um, and actually, you know, that, that was the case historically, with some of our family members that they went into partnerships and then they were able to passively earn income as well, which, which was very great and beneficial, but there weren’t nearly as many options as today.
And so I think. Definitely like a big part of that push was the idea that yes, we wanted to earn passive income, but you know, the time issue is a major thing, right? Because actively managing real estate is a full endeavor. So eventually, you know, he got out of law completely, uh, more or less, uh, he got out of all of his other businesses because it became a full-time thing.
But that, you know, that that’s, you’re talking about a very unique individual. Worked 20 hour days easily.
Seth: [00:06:58] And that’s the big thing. It, it it’s, you know, ask yourself how much time do you really have? I mean, if you have a full-time legal practice, especially at like a big farm or something where you’re just billing tons of hours, I mean, you don’t have time to, to really actively participate in real estate, at least not on a, any kind of scale.
Right.
Daniel: [00:07:16] A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, you know, today, what do you have options of just simply passively investing with an active manager? Um, it makes a lot more sense that I’ll even go further than that. And I’ll tell you, even though I’m an active manager, um, I, I make passive investments with other managers, you know, that may be doing something different in a different location or a different asset class or something else, I believe.
Yeah, because it’s really a no brainer. I mean, you know, there’s always risks associated with it. Um, just like any investment, but you know, just going out and buying a fourplex, right. Just as an exam. To do it well, and to do it right, is so complicated. And it’s so like, it seems easy, but you know, people that over the last few years they have done well doing it because the market has just gone up, but really to have like a solid investment and it’s really complicated and you need or management.
And so for, to be able to just pass it on and say, Hey, you know, I just want to kind, kinda sit back and watch it grow is, is very powerful. And, and the options are, you know, are plentiful.
Seth: [00:08:18] Yeah, for sure. And I think a lot of it comes down to getting people comfortable with the idea of investing passively.
They didn’t even know you could do it. I mean, really until the jobs act, I think what was that 2012 or somewhere in there when you were able to solicit and advertise for these sorts of things, it really kind of brought it to the mainstream and more people kind of started having access to these investments.
Um, people are still just getting comfortable with that idea. I mean, you know, back in your grandfather’s day or even 20 years ago, 10 years ago, it was like, you had to know somebody that knew somebody that syndicated, uh, so you, so you can participate in those deals passively. And there weren’t that many people that knew about it.
You had the, you know, be part of the country club or whatever. You had to know somebody special and have that connection to be able to participate. But nowadays, like you said, there’s, they’re, they’re all over the place. You’ve just got to immerse yourself in it. Get comfortable with the idea and, you know, you can get great returns and diversify out of the stock.
Daniel: [00:09:13] Right. No, a hundred percent. And, and I would just say like, from my own personal standpoint, you know, I do have some fear in terms of all of the advertisement and there’s definitely groups out there that advertise, you know, returns that are not realistic. And I have a fear of people being learned by these high double digit numbers.
And I think that it’s very important to say that. You know, the, the returns are what they are, right. The question needs to be, does this investment fit kind of like my risk profile in terms of, you know, do I want income producing multi-family or retail or industrial, whatever it may be. And then the other questions that are just crucial to me are who is the sponsor and have they been around for, you know, several years, preferably decades to have weathered economic downturns.
Um, and then, and then, uh, The, you know, the other factors that play into it is, is, is the, is the risk profile, what I’m looking for. And then also do they have skin in the game, which to me is also always huge. And so with our investments and our investors always appreciate we’re we’re, you know, many times the significant investor in our deals that we take a lion’s share of the equity sometimes.
So, so I think those are like the two really important factors.
Seth: [00:10:27] Yeah, for sure. I mean, that’s, that’s a great question to ask anytime before you invest in, into one of these deals, you know, do you have skin in the game? Are you investing in yourself? How much is the, you know, the general partnership investing?
You know, what percentage of the total raise is that, you know, just get a feel for if they’re actually really committed to this deal themselves, they’re putting their capital at risk as well, right?
Daniel: [00:10:46] rYeah, yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. And then the who the sponsor, the sponsor is, is key.
Seth: [00:10:54] Yeah, for sure. And, and you know, it, it takes a little bit of due diligence upfront.
I mean, we call this passive investing, but really, you know, it’s not completely passive, at least at the beginning, you’ve got to do your due diligence on the sponsor, the market, the deal. Um, but then after that, then it really does turn into a truly passive investment.
Daniel: [00:11:09] Yeah. A hundred percent it all. And I’ll say that, you know, I think with the groups that I invested passively, I literally just look, is this group, do I like this?
Do I like what they’re investing in. I don’t ask any questions about the deal because that’s what I’m paying them for. Right. And I know things can go wrong and there’s risks in everything. And you know, that’s why you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but, but those are the crucial questions.
Seth: [00:11:33] Yeah, that’s an interesting take man, because you are right though.
I mean, you can, you can manipulate those, the underwriting to make it spit out, whatever return you want. So you’ve gotta be careful as to not just look at this deal and this deal and say, oh, this has got a better IRR. So let’s go with this one. That’s not what you need to look at. You know, the sponsor, the track record, all that kind of stuff is, is way more important.
Daniel: [00:11:54] Yes. A hundred percent.
Seth: [00:11:56] Definitely. So kind of going back to how you guys moved out of the retail sector and, or not completely maybe, but it started to move to multifamily. Why did you make that pivot?
Daniel: [00:12:07] Yeah, a hundred percent. So yeah, they’ve been the net lease retail repost shop neighborhood shopping centers, and the net lease asset classes have their own unique advantages and disadvantage.
Um, some of the advantages are that, you know, if you get a good tenant in, that’s a good credit, you have, you know, solid streams of income. Right. And then the downside is, is that there’s not as much upside and a lot of the scenarios because you have a long-term lease, that’s locked in. And in a lot of times you can’t capture the upside for long.
So coming out of like the last recession, you know, 2008, 2009, we saw that there was going to be huge demand for multifamily multi-family was not nearly as, you know, hot and talked about back then. I mean, it’s always been a great asset class, but it wasn’t like you heard about it every second on social media.
And, um, and so, and so we felt, but we also felt like kind of between the demand inflation financing, it just made a lot of sense. So we started doing smaller size deals. Um, New York and Brooklyn and some other areas. And then we started looking at some other markets that, you know, made sense to us. So Dallas was one that we kind of picked up in 2015, um, Denver, uh, and that’s where we kind of like started really growing our, our platform in terms of, um, you know, doing larger scale deals.
And, and, and, you know, kind of like having more value, add more value, add approach where we’re able to get current income and current cashflow, but we’re able to also appreciate over the long-term as well.
Seth: [00:13:34] Gotcha. Gotcha. At what point did you start bringing in outside investors? Did you really keep everything tight to the vest for, for decades before you started bringing in outside cash?
Daniel: [00:13:43] Yeah, a hundred percent. So for decades it was, you know, either, either private dealings or else, or else a couple of partnerships with like some significant groups. And then really what, what as a growth strategy, those were our two shifts is let’s get into multi-family and also let’s offer this given we have track record.
We have the ability to co-invest. We have a great management team. Let’s use that and let’s, you know, partner with other investors. And then, you know, obviously the jobs act played into that and saying, look, we want to create a, build our relationships with everybody from, you know, a high net worth accredited investors to private equity groups, institutions, and so forth.
So really, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re blessed to have the full breadth of investors that come with us. Everything from wealth management to private equity. Um, and yeah, and so, you know, it’s really a growth strategy, but also a partnership we’re able to do more rebel to buy more buildings, and we’re able to also allow other people to benefit, um, you know, from our, from our track record.
Seth: [00:14:39] Right? Yeah. That’s the thing, I mean, you guys have been doing it for seven decades now, so you can bring in outside retail investors, or even at the retail level and bring folks in that, you know, they can participate with you knowing that you’ve got the experience and the track record, uh, to be able to perform and meet those needs.
Right, right. A hundred percent. Yeah. So, you know, you kind of alluded to a little bit how the multifamily market is starting to heat up. Well, it has been heating up for quite some time. I mean, what, what’s your overall multifamily market outlook.
Daniel: [00:15:08] Yeah, sure. So, you know, there, they’re definitely, I mean, I think that as an asset class, it’s extremely strong.
There’s huge demand. There’s been demands, you know, forever. They can’t be. Fast enough to meet the demand, right? So there’s a lack of supply with huge demand. So, so, so the fundamentals in terms of, you know, the, the demand and supply are very strong, um, obviously there’s, you know, serious concerns around, um, valuation, uh, and just the competitiveness.
And, you know, we’re seeing just like lots of other people. People are doing really crazy things, putting out crazy numbers. Um, and it’s a function of, you know, so much capital in the market, which exists in the stock market right now and everything from the stock market to crypto, though, to real estate.
And so I think those are concerning, but as an asset class, that multifamily. Um, you know, just in terms of the demand, I think that that’s kind of why it’s could be considered this safe Harbor. I will say that I hate saying that because I’m always fearful when people say, well, it’s the best asset class.
Cause somebody always needs a place to live. And as we’ve seen with, uh, you know, with the pandemic, I mean, nothing is a sure thing. Right? You have absolutely no idea who could have imagined that we can’t travel freely right now. And so it’s just like, I don’t like having those assumptions. In general, we feel very good about it.
But the main challenge though, is definitely pricing and valuation.
Seth: [00:16:26] Yeah, for sure. I mean, there’s so much competition and, you know, inflation of the numbers. Yeah. You know, looking at the same, like, let’s say, near downtown deals, multifamily big deals over a hundred units. And if you happen to see like the same return projected returns that you were seeing five years ago, there’s something wrong in there.
You’re like, you need to dig into the underwriting, you need to dig into the sponsor. And you know, you’re just seeing a lot of these inflated projected returns, and you’ve just got to be really careful on, you know, who you’re getting into bed with.
Daniel: [00:16:54] Yeah, a hundred percent, you know, I was, I was speaking to one of our investors in, and that we were talking about time horizon for investment.
And I said, you know, I am a very short-term thinker. Uh, our time, our investment horizon is 30 years. Right. So, so, so, so I think that, you know, in a day and age where you have, you know, these, all these platforms pushing like two year returns of IRR, you know, 20% and, and all of this stuff, I think what’s really important for fundamental investors is to change.
A that, that the expectations in terms of returns and B the time horizon. And so, you know, being long-term a long-term firm, I think that the main thing is, you know, the, we can pay. I don’t want to say we w we can pay the, create some of the crazy valuations we’ve seen, but we can pay because we’re paying your work.
We’re investing for 10 years, right. We’re not investing for them. So, and I think that that’s an important, uh, differentiator and also an important kind of outlook that we have to have just given the current reality, because nobody knows what’s going to be in two years or 10 years for that matter.
Seth: [00:17:57] Right.
So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s something I’m really curious about, especially lately, because I just started rethinking, you know, we, we got into this real estate game for the long game, right? Like we want to hold it forever. That’s, that’s usually our mindset going into it, but then we kind of get caught up in like, oh, well you can get your cap, all your capital.
Uh, in two or three years, and then, you know, it will be exiting in five and they, they basically turned these deals into a long, like a quick flip, basically dealing with it with an apartment complex instead of just a single family house. Um, I think we, like you said, need to really examine how we look at these deals.
And instead of looking at IRR, let’s look at like total return, let’s look at cash on cash return and dividends and things like that. Um, rather than saying, okay, we can get your money back in, in five years or three years or two years, but then you’ve got to find another great deal to put it into why not keep it in a great deal for 10 years, 15 years forever, as long as it’s still spinning off cashflow.
Daniel: [00:18:52] Yeah. A hundred percent. So I definitely think cashflow is the focus for us. The other thing is I can say, well, we look at back at our investments without a doubt. Well, we invested when it was a long-term play. It always panned out. 10 times better than if we would’ve done a short-term play. Even if the, the investment actually ended up being shorter term than we expected.
Right. So a lot of times when we were buying for the longterm, if that was our intention after even a year or two, that the, that the results became much better, but that’s because we added up a long-term out outlook on that.
Seth: [00:19:27] Right, right. Yeah. So I’ve heard, you mentioned a few different markets, so w where actually do you buy it?
Is it national? Are you really looking for any great market or where are you looking?
Daniel: [00:19:37] So on the retail side, you know, we’ve been in 25 states and we have a pretty national, uh, presence. Now, I think we’re a nine. We’ve also sold off a whole portfolio of our real estate of our retail. Um, the markets that we’re most active in right now is uncertain, you know, definitely, uh, data.
Denver. Um, and then, you know, we’re, we’re, we’ve been active in a couple other markets like Brooklyn and so forth, but really we’re, we’re looking into new markets now. So, um, whereas you know, 2015, we went into Dallas before it became, you know, as crazy as it is now. We’re, we’re, we’re looking in and we’re actually, you know, going into contract on it.
Uh, transactions into, into newer, newer markets, uh, that, you know, we feel are growth markets. Um, definitely we believe in the story of, you know, migration from the coast, trying to find affordability whether and so forth into the Southern states. So that’s definitely something that we’re, we’re, we’re focused on as well.
Seth: [00:20:34] For sure, for sure. Um, are there any other asset classes you guys are bullish or bearish on or, you know, considering entering in.
Daniel: [00:20:41] Yeah. You know, I mean, there definitely are. I think there’s, you know, we have some partners that are very big in self storage. I think that’s a great asset class. And you know, it’s one of the ones that you hear about a lot.
And obviously industrial is also very, it’s very, um, hot and we aren’t involved in industrial. I think that there’s a good case for it to be so attractive. But I also think that a lot of it is kind of pandemic related and the surgeon and e-commerce. And so we’ll see if that doesn’t. Yo keeps up in the next five years.
And then the other thing is just, you know, when you get into the industrial, a lot of times you get into some of the issues we had with our retail, right. Which is that great, you get a great lease and everything, but there, you’re not able to incrementally benefit from, from inflation, which you know, is, is a likely scenario in the next several years.
So, you know, I, I think that there are a lot of other interesting asset classes out there. Um, it’s just, you know, we, we, we focus kind of on certain areas to be really good at what.
Seth: [00:21:34] Yeah, I love that. I mean, you can’t be everywhere, but it’s good to just keep a, an overall feel on the markets and in a different types of asset classes that are out there so that you can take advantage of those, those next opportunities.
Um, I mean, I personally, I think there’s so much, uh, opportunity in hospitality right now, although it is starting to heat up. But, you know, those acids are selling at 40 cents on the dollar right now, due to the pandemic. But the thing is you can’t, you can’t get them finance. Right. So you’ve got to raise the, the equity to buy the whole thing, cash basically.
Um, but you know, opportunities like that are incredible and obviously senior living. That’s another one that’s going to be coming back roaring back after, after the pandemic finally goes away. Um, like you said, self storage is great. Mobile home parks, you know, explore, you know, what, you’re, what you’re interested in and get good.
Daniel: [00:22:23] Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, another, you know, big play that we’re seeing come out and it’s just a matter of time, I think content until it becomes overvalued, but as is, you know, hospitality to multi-family conversion. So we actually have been looking at several of those deals. I mean, the story makes sense.
Right. It makes perfect sense. You know, there’s there’s uh, but we, we actually just put out on our, on our blog, on our HLC insights blog, we just put out a postcard. What you need to look for when doing a multi-family conversion, because it’s more complicated than it seems, but you know, it definitely has potential.
And I know a lot of groups that are, that are doing it right now.
Seth: [00:22:57] So yeah. Now I know we talked about like a lot of the good things that can happen. Right. And a lot of the things you’re, you’re, you’re bullish on what are, what are maybe some of the risks or the, what are you leery of with respect to the real estate industry in the near future?
Daniel: [00:23:10] Sure. I mean, you know, I think that. Yeah, it was 2008 showed us real estate, you know, is still highly tied to the stock market, you know, and, and there’s just the overall economy. So I, I think that, that, you know, real estate, again, as an asset class, they’re not able to, you know, builders, aren’t able to build in order to keep up with the demand, especially in the multi-family space.
Um, but there, there, there, there is the overall economy, which is, you know, just, just crazy and has, you know, all fun. It’s unfortunate to say, but it seems like all fundamentals have been thrown out of the window. And we’re seeing that roll into the real estate industry as well. Right. Where people are paying just, you know, just wild amounts and doing, you know, just crazy things.
And it never ends well when, when they do that, which is why another reason why you can still benefit if you take a long-term approach and, you know, you just don’t take on too much of a high risk profile with.
Seth: [00:24:03] Right, right. Um, I want to switch gears just a little bit, because I want to talk about your, another one of your company’s layers.
Um, and I think I like to just give you a, um, maybe just give us an overview of.
Daniel: [00:24:15] Yeah, definitely. So as we started buying and managing our properties, our multi-family properties, we kept thinking, you know, like, is there a better model that we can create? You know, real estate is multi-family has been run the same exact way for so long.
It is efficient, but maybe there’s, you know, in every efficient market, there’s still some sight of, uh, innovation and disruption that you can, you can bring it across. And so we, uh, we started playing with all kinds of different models, both from, you know, to we, how can we be more community oriented? Maybe we can offer additional services.
And then we also kind of incorporated. Corporate housing and insert serve at what we call service departments, which is essentially furnishing the apartments and ask and offering services around it. So we built a consumer centric, brand consumer centric has into the, are our residents, our tenants at the multi-family properties.
And we now offer our layers brand and operating models. So it felt so if someone comes to our layer’s property, they can get a whole bunch of different services and they can also get, um, uh, a furnished apartment. And so that a furnished apartment side of our. Has actually proven to be quite lucrative because we’re able to continue to gain significant premiums, uh, and also offer a better service offering all, all
Seth: [00:25:26] together.
That’s cool. What are some of those services?
Daniel: [00:25:30] Um, well, there there’s the, our pre pandemic services and our during the pandemic services, because pre pandemic, it was everything from like, you know, uh, getting discounts and sponsor services and, and, you know, dog-walking services and all kinds of services just that people need laundry and so forth.
Um, and now, you know, with our service departments, we offer cleaning, we offer. Um, you know, uh, other concierge services sometimes it’s, you know, by demand. Um, but, but really there’s also like we’ve created a very, um, kind of like streamlined process to offer furnished apartments and the demand for these apartments, because we’ve built this marketing system that kind of like funnels it into our properties and our pipeline.
So we’ve been able to implement that at our property. And that has been really the primary service that people have needed. And there’s all kinds of demands. Everything from essential traveling workers that, you know, don’t want to stay in hotels, to corporate, to people who are buying homes or have some type of family, you know, mixed up.
There’s all kinds of different reasons. People want these, these up.
Seth: [00:26:34] Yeah, that’s awesome. It sounds like it’s just really overall, it’s just the goal is to make your clients more comfortable, whatever that, whatever those services might look like and you’ve had to stay flexible, uh, during the pandemic to tease your offerings.
Daniel: [00:26:47] Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And then during the pandemic it’s been, you know, because community is a big part of it, right? So people want to come, they want to feel part of a community, especially in this day and age, especially in a, you know, era of isolation the last year. And so, you know, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve.
Quickly pivoted to your, we had an app we had in community app and everything that we connect to everyone. And now we’re able to just do a lot more digital kind of community activities and stuff in order to keep an engaged community.
Seth: [00:27:16] Awesome. Awesome. All right, Daniel, before we jump into the freedom for one last golden nugget for our listeners.
Daniel: [00:27:21] I was thinking about this. Everybody says it. And so, you know, I, it’s just so true. Like people, the people that you surround yourself with, it’s just like, it’s amazing how, you know, like just what, what we’re able to produce in the production that we’re able to, to bring in how we’re able to move. Just because thankfully we have just an amazing team and just great people, um, has really been like a game changer.
And so I think everything from personal. To business, you know, it really is just the. Um, so yeah, it might, you know, you might read that in every business book, but you know, for what it’s worth, I found it extremely true.
Seth: [00:28:04] Yeah. It’s so true. I mean, the people that you surround yourself with really make or break you, I mean, you know, if you surround yourself with people that, that are successful, you’re going to end up being successful.
If you surround yourself with people that aren’t, you probably won’t be. I mean, it it’s, it’s crazy how that works. And even though people hear it over and over and over again, and they don’t necessarily act on it, right. They might just, they, they stay comfortable where they’re at. They don’t surround themselves with successful people.
And then they, you know, they’re upset because their, their lives don’t change. So they need to make it, uh, make a point to, to really start surrounding themselves with the people that they want to be.
Daniel: [00:28:40] Right. And I’ll just, I’ll just ask, I’ll go one bit beyond that. And I’ll just tell you that generally when I’m hiring, especially if it’s for a business development or like, like a, you know, general overall, um, executive position.
My main question that I’m asking. It is, is this person better than me? Because if they’re better than me, that I want to get them immediately. Right. And so that, like, you know, I mean, I think that it’s an important thing because you always want to make sure that the person, the people you bring on your team are going to up your auntie.
Right. That’s, that’s what it comes down to. Yeah.
Seth: [00:29:11] That’s a really forward way of thinking. Right. Because a lot of people would say, oh man, if I think they’ve got more potential than me, I’m not going to hire them because I don’t want them to take my place.
All right man. Let’s, let’s jump into the Freedom Four.
Seth: [00:29:27] So what’s the best thing you do to keep your mind and body.
Daniel: [00:29:32] Um, you know, my, my main things is first of all, as part of my Jewish tradition, I, I pray in the morning and, and then exercising. I don’t exercise as much as I’d like to, but whether it’s hiking or, you know, weights, I do it, you know, at least two times, if not more a week.
And that definitely, you know, with all the craziness and especially in a day and age where we’re on a screen way more than I’d like to admit, um, you know, it, it’s, it’s key.
Seth: [00:30:00] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. In an alternative universe where you weren’t involved in your current businesses, what would you be doing?
Daniel: [00:30:05] So without a doubt, uh, you know, I, I was, it would, it would be like journalism in some type of diplomatic work because that’s the direction that for a long time, I thought I was going until I realized what politics was all about. And then I decided I was like, I liked it. I liked the business world a little bit more, had enough of that.
Seth: [00:30:22] Right, right. Where were we at five years ago. And where do you see yourself in five years?
Daniel: [00:30:28] So five years ago, from a company standpoint, we were, um, you know, w we were just, uh, cut, uh, kinda trying to figure out what our, what our overall business plan was in our model. And so now I think that, you know, we have a very good vision and I see us expanding our investment portfolio and also expanding our layers kind of brand and footprint, both in terms of buying properties and running it through.
And our layers landline service, which offers a service to other landlords. So I expect those brands to be, you know, um, to be in several states. I mean, at least at least 12 different states by, by then.
Seth: [00:31:06] Very cool. Very cool. How has passive income made your life better?
Daniel: [00:31:11] Um, I mean, I just, you know, it, it, uh, has definitely allowed me to focus on.
The two that, you know, two, two or three things that are very important being, you know, family career and, you know, and also just living a healthy life while knowing that there’s some sort of stability, which is huge.
Seth: [00:31:30] Yeah, for sure. For sure. Passive income. That’s where it’s at, man. I think that’s maybe why he gravitated back away from the list.
Daniel: [00:31:38] Well, right. I, yeah, yeah. Yes. That’s for sure. That was a factor.
Seth: [00:31:43] Alright man. Dana, where can our listeners find out more? Yeah.
Daniel: [00:31:47] So, um, in the show notes, uh, we’re going to put a link to, um, HLC insights where we bring various insights on real estate and innovation because innovation within real estate is something we’re very big on.
So being able to find out, you know, more about investments and innovation, so we’ll, we’ll have that link. And also just to visit our site@hlcequity.com. We have our HLC direct, which is where our investors can go and they can sign up as you know, accredited investors as well. Um, that’s it.
Seth: [00:32:14] Awesome, man.
Appreciate you coming on today.
Daniel: [00:32:16] Great. Thank you very much.
Seth: [00:32:17] Thanks. Appreciate it.
All right, Dan, the man, you can easily tell he’s a true expert in the industry. What an intriguing family story of creating multi-generational wealth also loved his analysis on the multifamily as well as other commercial real estate industries.
Major key one passive investment or one property can lead to the next. And then to 10 and then 20, and then even thousands, it can lead to the creation of a family office that turns into a national real estate development company to create a real legacy through multi-generational wealth plant seeds now, and watch them grow.
To learn more about passive investing in alternative assets. Go to passiveincomeattorney.com and download the Freedom Blueprint. All right, catch you on the next one. Enjoy the journey!
