Relentlessly Taking Over Your Market Through Local Storytelling with Brett Rosenthal

[0:00] Welcome back to the REI agent. My guest today is Brett Rosenthal, a top producing Philadelphia realtor with Compass and HDTV featured agent who has built one of the most recognizable luxury real estate brands in the city. Brett works with both high end buyers and savvy investors across Philadelphia, bringing deep local market knowledge and a premium client experience to one of America’s most historically rich and consistently undervalued real estate markets. In a city that rarely gets the national spotlight it deserves, Brett has built a business that thrives precisely because he understands what makes Philly different. Brett, welcome to the REI agent podcast. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Are you a Phillies fan?

[0:42] I am. Baseball is probably my least favorite sport, but if I’m a baseball fan, I’m a Phillies fan. So some more Eagles or what are we? Eagles, Flyers. Those are my two top two teams. Sure. I had to ask because my dad is not too far from Philly and a diehard Phillies fan. Philly in general, but the Phillies are especially. Yeah. Brett, what got you into this wild world of real estate? Where’d you start? Um, it was a wild road to get here, but basically, um, uh, growing up my family with my parents, both sold real estate. Um, I guess it started with my mom and then she roped my dad into it. Um, my, one of my brothers also does it, has done it for a long time. And I was, uh, I actually wanted to get into law, like prosecution, um, dabbled in it for a while, loved it, didn’t make any money in it.

[1:41] Um, got into other aspects of law and I just like was bored out of my mind and hated my job. And, um, eventually just got into sales and finally caved in and said, I’m going to do real estate also. That’s interesting. I was just having a conversation about a few people, um, in my firm that were on track to be in law. Um, of one, I don’t think any of them actually like went to school for it. Uh, but both of them had kind of decided, you know what? I don’t know if I want to go through all that. And one of them had worked at two different firms. Um, you know, not again, not, not actually having a law degree, but, um, realizing that it was just, I don’t think that was for him. Did you, did you actually studied to get your like a degree or?

[2:24] Yeah, I did. I passed the bar exam, did it for a few years and actually in New York city at the time. Um, but, uh, yeah, then eventually just, uh, I’ve had enough. My parents always said I was really good at arguing and I should be a lawyer, but I think it would be the absolute worst, uh, career path for me. Yeah. I think it would, I would drown in that. Yeah. I think it was the, uh, sitting in an office all day doing the same thing over, at least the type of law. That I was ended up doing, which was like bankruptcy and foreclosure and real estate for big banks. Okay. I mean, I felt like I was a paper pusher and not really what I saw on TV. Sure. Sure. Okay. So then you decided, did you go to Philly then too? Is that where you grew up then? Is that where your family grew up?

[3:11] I grew up in Philly and outside of Philly. Um, after I lived in New York for about seven years, I ended up coming back to Philly and I, I did started real estate in Philly. Okay. Uh, where, so that did you go with your, your parents firm, the same brokerage? Initially, initially I was, yes. Cool. Um, I know a lot of people that had a family, a lot of people I talked to that had family in the business, uh, were like, there’s no way I’m going to do that when they were kids. Did you have that kind of experience or? I think, yeah, I definitely, like we used to sit at like dinner and like the phone just kept ringing and we used to hear fights on the phone and arguments and negotiations. And I think, I think none of us wanted to do it, but two of my, two of my, I have three brothers and me and one of the others both ended up in real estate. So it didn’t work, but we didn’t want to, I don’t think either of us wanted to.

[4:05] Yeah. Yeah. It’s funny how, how people end up, well, well, you know, the money is kind of good and just kind of addicting the thrill, the chase. And, you know, you’re always kind of solving.

[4:16] Um, Brett, Philadelphia is one of the largest cities in the U S but consistently flies under the radar in national real estate media. Do you think that actually helps the market stay affordable relatively relative to its fundamentals and what would most agents be surprised to learn about the luxury segment there? Um, yeah, so I definitely think it, um, I think recently it’s changed a little once the economy and the interest rates and everything, because I think people in like New York and DC are starting to really move away from those areas and hit look for the next option, which is often Philly. Um, as far as the luxury segment, the luxury segment, it’s always been here. Um, but it’s probably, there’s more than normal, but I think it’s way more affordable than the luxury market in any of the local.

[5:05] Bigger cities. So if you want a luxury house or a luxury condo, Philly is definitely still like affordable for luxury. That makes sense. I mean, you know, you think about we, so I’m, um, you know, further South of DC area. Um, and we, we’ve experienced people kind of, uh, some of the, you know, the, the, the job losses, uh, with the government job losses and some people kind of like, you know, trickling down to us, either wanting to move or being impacted by that in some regard. Um, so I could see how, uh, if people are kind of wanting to get out of DC anyway, that could be a really good opportunity, um, to, Hey, look, look what I could afford in Philly. Or, you know, in our case, the Shenandoah Valley, if they’re trying to escape the city.

[5:48] Uh, so that, that makes a ton of sense. Um, tell us about how, what, what led up to getting on HGTV and your experience there. Uh, so I guess by posting on social media so much and so often about so many different things other than real estate, um, but combining real estate, they found me on there and, um, just reached out to me saying, we’re coming to your area. We’re looking for, um, an agent that might have, um, a client, like a couple that maybe don’t agree on different houses. And we’d like the way you, you make your videos and stuff. So if, do you have anyone, if you happen to have anyone, um, you’d be a good fit. And I just happened, it was good timing because, uh, I did have a perfect situation and, uh, yeah, that’s how I got on.

[6:39] So you, you had to find people and be like, Hey, listen, um, you guys got to play up your marital disputes here. We’ve got a great opportunity. So yeah, the couple was that they weren’t married. They were going to, they were engaged to get married and they were looking for houses and they just disagreed naturally. So it was kind of a perfect fit. Yeah. That’s funny. We, um, you know, somebody in my firm also was, I think it was some sort of cabin show or something they were featured on. Um, and in that show, um, they had already bought the house. Um, and so they went and toured two other properties, um, that were just, I think just maybe bacon or something. Um, and then they toured the one that they also already bought and, you know, then decided that they wanted to buy that one.

[7:25] Is that how that this one works as well? Am I, am I ruining the magic for everybody? I don’t want to get sued or anything, but you’re on the right track. Yeah. Um, this is, this is insider baseball, I guess. I think, I don’t know how many agents watch HGTV religiously. I mean, yeah, I mean, I personally, I watched, I did watch it years ago and then I totally forgot about it. And then when they approached me, I was like, Oh, that’s still on. Um, but it’s, yeah, it’s been there forever. I don’t know. I feel like, like when you’re in the trenches, you know, 24 seven, you kind of almost want to, you know, a different source. Yeah.

[8:03] Yeah. Well, so how did that exposure affect your business then? And what do you think the honest truth is about whether TV and media exposure converts to real clients, um, or just mostly builds kind of a brand recognition? Um, so I did it. I did it cause I thought it’d be good for brand recognition or just to like, say I was on it and stuff like that. But the very next morning I get a call. Um, it’s a guy moving from, or his, his, his daughter was coming to a school in Philadelphia. Um, and they wanted, they saw me on TV and they said, we don’t have a realtor and we want to, we saw you last night. We want, we want to buy a house. Um, and it was the easiest sale I’ve ever had, um, in real estate.

[8:46] Actually, I shouldn’t say it hasn’t closed yet, but everything’s done and it’s about to, um, in a few weeks, but it was all from being seen on TV. Okay. So this was recent that this was aired. Uh, the show was on, uh, I want to say about six weeks ago. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then next, the very next morning I got that lead since then there hasn’t been much, but that one, but that one paid. Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s an awesome story in and of itself. Um, I gotta, I gotta random question for you next. Um, what, where’s the best, uh, Philly cheese steak in Philly?

[9:25] It’s, it’s like a question that nobody’s going to agree with, um, ever, but, um, I don’t eat, I don’t, I’m like the worst. I probably, I’ve recently gotten better, but I used to just not eat them just cause they’re not healthy. And, uh, I’m somewhat health conscious, but I’ve over the last couple, six months, I’d say I did try a couple. Um, uh, the one that I like the best is, uh, there’s like two. I like one’s called Del Rossi’s. Um, and the other is called skinny Joey’s. Both are good. Yeah. I get the marinara sauce on it. Is that, is that the right way? No, no, no marinara sauce at all. Actually just, uh, tons of cheese. We have, we have a local Philly bar. Um, these two brothers, uh, you know, they started off with a tent at like at breweries and that kind of stuff.

[10:11] Just grilled up Philly cheese steaks. And they have some pretty good ones. Um, and I, I, I don’t get the marinara, the pizza or whatever. I, but yeah, always next time I’m in Philly, I always, I gotta, I gotta have a real authentic one. Yeah. And yeah, you can’t have those every day. Uh, you work both with luxury buyers, uh, and real estate investors in Philly. How different are those clients conversations and then a market with strong historic inventory and revitalizing neighborhoods. What do you see as the best opportunity for investors right now? Um, so the difference is that the luxury people are basically coming there to live and want to find a really nice place to live and make it a really more like a home and a long, long-term investment.

[10:56] Um, so the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the

[11:56] midterm rentals is another kind of trending one. Is, is like the small multifamily game strong there? Like can you get an affordable fourplex, for example, that cash flows right away? Or I mean what’s, what kind of strategies would be available in Philadelphia? So fourplexes around here are hard to find. So if you do get one, if you can get one, it’s a good thing. Mostly here it’s duplex or triplex. And there’s not like, I wouldn’t say there’s like a ton of them. So everybody’s fighting over the same type ones. And sometimes you have to like shoot out into the areas that aren’t as popular to try to get them and hope that they develop. And some areas have, and some areas are just really slow to do that.

[12:46] Okay. I’ve heard a number of people will actually had a guy from DC do a section eight strategy. And it kind of blew my mind that they were, he was picking up properties, you know, that could be $700,000 before renovations. And, and making it into a section eight property. Do you see much section eight business there as well in Philadelphia? I do get some, but never were they’re paying $700 just to acquire the property. Usually more, more in the 150 to three range. That would be more what I would expect here. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it’s, it’s cause in those areas in DC the vouchers would pay for like, it would be pretty high. The rent would be a lot higher, especially if you could convert that property into like a, you know, five, six bedroom or whatever, then you can, you can get a, you can make the numbers work.

[13:45] But it just was, yeah. Kind of mind blown. Cause I was expecting, you know, how are you finding like $50,000, $200,000 properties in DC that you can section eight. Right. But, but yeah. Um, yeah. So, so what are some of your, um, yeah. Where do you have any crazy stories about, uh, the luxury market? I mean, do you, have you worked with, yeah, I don’t know. Any other fighting couples? Um, uh, so I’ve, yeah, I’ve definitely, I have two good stories for you. The fighting couple, um, was like a divorce situation where, uh, it was a really nice luxury house out in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And, um, the guy basically called me after signing the listing contract. He’s like, I don’t care what you have to do with her, get this house sold.

[14:33] And I knew that was a bad sign to begin with. And then, uh, we, we actually put it under contract really fast, but the process of dealing with her to get it to the finish line was horrible to the point where like the day before the closing, she’s like, I don’t think I can get all this stuff out of here. Would you mind staying over and help me out? Cause it was like an early closing early in the morning. I’m like, I can’t stay at your house. She like was basically asking me to sleep there. Um, so that was that. And then the most recent story, which is just kind of funny is in, um, I should say a luxury or an upscale area out in Bucks County in Philadelphia. I went on a listing point. It was actually last week.

[15:15] Um, the guy called me up the day before I went out, walked in the house. It was a strange situation. Um, he was basically up in his bedroom. Um, and he, he gave me a quick tour of the house and the entire house was just falling apart. There was like, it smelled like people were going to the, or pets. He had a couple of pets that were like, just going to the bathroom all over the house. There was like chicken bones and chicken wings all over the house. And he’s walking me through the house, telling me how like the kitchen renovated kitchen. I mean, the kitchen was like falling apart. And then he took me out to, uh, there was a pool and he goes, pool is swimmable. And the pool has like mold and like things were coming out from it.

[15:58] And there was like rats on the ground. And, and anyway, so he signed a listing contract with me and I listed it later that night with the best I could do with the pictures that I was able to get. Cause it wasn’t worth getting better pictures. Um, within an hour, I got like four different phone calls from four different listing agents who said they signed the listing contract with him also. And another person who said they actually have an agreement of sale that he agreed to sell the house. Um, and so I took it down the next day. And I started getting more calls from people more there must, he must have signed like seven contracts and probably just lost his mind. I don’t know what he was doing, but it was, it was interesting.

[16:45] I never saw anything like, and it was on such a nice street. It was just the one house on the nicest street that was like destroyed. Wow. On your, on your average day when you’re bouncing around, uh, between appointments, showings, listing appointments, um, going to the office to work, et cetera. Like how, how long are you driving? Like what’s your commute between, uh, point A to point B is do you say kind of in certain areas? Um, I’d say, I’d say most of my work is in the city of Philly. So I’m generally never driving more than a half hour in the city. If I have to go to some of the counties, it could be 50 minutes, I’d say. Okay. That’s not so bad. Yeah. And some days are nothing. It’s just all in house or in an office.

[17:29] Um, other days are point to point to point. Yeah. I could just imagine if you have, if you with traffic and stuff as well, could traffic, yeah. Could take a little bit. Um, yeah. What are, uh, what are some of the undiscovered gems of like, are there any good neighborhoods that you would say are, uh, yeah. Would people might overlook, um, that, you know, they should consider. I think. Um, I feel like that’s the key five, finding the uncovered gems. And right now, I don’t know if there’s like one specific one, but like, I always tell like investors, like shoot for right next to the area that just became popular because it’s probably going to be next. Um, and then there’s a couple areas in Philly where like people think that they’re going to be up and coming, but they’ve just taken forever.

[18:19] And it’s, if you can wait by there, but it might take longer than a couple of years. Um, so I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s one particular area. Some of the areas have like gotten pretty saturated already. Uh, that. How’s the market faring? Um, are, have you seen any, uh, decrease declines in prices? The prices have stayed the same, but the, the like time on the market has definitely gone up. Um, so, and there’s more, and I think there is more listings now than there was like a year ago. So like things are getting listed. And I mean, a couple of years ago they were gone within days. Now, now it’s like 20 some days is like the average 25 days. I think is the average. Yeah. So that’s, we, I think our days in the market’s a little bit faster, but we, um, I mean, cause we’re small, small market, there’s not a ton of options, but, um, we, we, uh, yeah, our, our median sales price has been, I think flat for like two years now.

[19:16] Um, so we haven’t seen any decreases. Uh, it’s, it’s interesting to talk to different people throughout the country. Um, some places are like, it’s, you know, doom and gloom. Like this is going to be the worst crash we’ve ever seen. Um, and luckily not most of them, most of the people I talked to are not like that, but, uh, yeah, I think Philly, I think Philly is not like that specifically because like DC and New York, the prices are just crazy and people are leaving. So for now, at least the prices have stayed or gone up even or even gone up slightly. Yeah. Sure. Um, Brett, what, uh, what gold nuggets do you have for our listeners? Um, I don’t know. I think if you’re an agent, don’t listen to what the agents from like 25 years ago or have been successful for 20 years are doing because it’s different today than it was then.

[20:05] And to get started, you got to do things differently. It doesn’t always have to be strictly talking about real estate. Um, basically like take over your market as far as like marketing and making videos about your area in different areas, the things to do because people, no matter how they find you or if they like you, they’re going to use you, whether you said one thing about real estate or not, I could say nothing about real estate ever. And just probably pick up some clients. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think especially people relocating to an area there, they’re probably on YouTube and all those kinds of things out about the community. So that makes a ton of sense. Um, right.

[20:45] What about a favorite book? Do you have one that you think is fundamental everybody should read, um, or one that you’re currently just enjoying? So, because I think I went to college and then law school and read 8 trillion books cause I had to read them. I’m not a book reader. I feel like I never have time to read them. I don’t read them. So like what I read is like, I go on the internet and I read a ton of stuff about the local area, about real estate in general, but there’s not like one book that I like have picked up in ages and say, everybody should read. Sure. Yeah. I’d like to write a book someday. That’s my next thing. There you go. Yeah. Um, and Brett, what, where can people find you?

[21:26] Um, are you on social media, Instagram, YouTube, et cetera? Yeah, I’m on all of them. Um, I’d say the easiest way is Instagram. I’m at top Philly realtor. Um, or on TikTok, Brett Rosenthal, realtor. Um, I’m also on YouTube and I have a podcast called the In Your Home Podcast, which is part about real estate, part about Philadelphia and a little about everything else. Awesome. Well, Brett, thanks so much for being on the show. It’s been a lot of fun talking. Thank you. No, thank you. Have a good day. Thanks for listening to the REI Agent. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week. Visit REIAgent.com for more content. Until next time, keep building the life you want.

[22:10] All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.