Episode 39 - Started Young, Built Big: Joey Portale’s Practical Real Estate Tips
Is real estate success all about timing, or is it about who you surround yourself with?
In this episode, Stephen Husted sits down with real estate investor and top agent Joey Portale, a Willow Glen native who started his real estate journey before he could even legally drink. From buying his first property in high school to navigating the 2008 crash, Joey’s story is full of wild deals, valuable lessons, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right mentors. Joey also shares how he built his business to 50+ deals a year—only to realize that more isn’t always better. He opens up about finding the sweet spot in real estate, learning from failure, and what’s next for his career.
Stephen and Joey discussed:
00:00 – First Steps into Real Estate
05:46 – The First Investment Property
12:16 – Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
18:42 – Family and Community
25:59 – Education and Career Path
34:54 – Discovering a Passion for Real Estate
36:20 – The Challenges of Flipping a House
37:48 – Navigating the 2007 Market Crash
42:30 – Starting Fresh in San Jose
49:05 – The Importance of Collaboration
49:52 – Reflecting on the Impact of COVID-19
53:42 – Balancing Success and Personal Life
TRANSCRIPT
∎ Teaser / Highlighted Clip
[Joey Portale] (0:00 - 0:18)
My dad always was one to just kind of old school was like make your money and save your money. Don't waste your money ever I remember standing in Home Depot Looking at like toilets and fixtures and faucets and I'm like, I'm literally spending money I know I'm not gonna get it back.
[Stephen Husted] (0:18 - 0:18)
Like oh, wow.
[Joey Portale] (0:19 - 0:23)
I have to lose money just to not lose more money, right?
[Stephen Husted] (0:23 - 0:25)
I mean, I'm putting money in to lose it.
[Joey Portale] (0:25 - 0:53)
Yeah Guarantee, I'm gonna buy this thing People feel like oh, I'm better than you and it's like, I mean all this stuff it shit Yeah, like we have no control of like how much income we're making. It's just we're lucky to be in it So I think the part that was harder is when you realize like not everybody's rooting for each other you know, even though like we all need each other to cooperate with
∎ Podcast Intro:
[Stephen Husted] (0:53 - 2:46)
Brace yourself for a wild ride into the unexpected. This ain't your typical success show I'm here talking to real folks who've been through it all skipping the fancy business talk for authentic stories We're diving into childhood dreams teenage escapades and everything in between No scripts just the stories that truly mold success Each episode takes you on a journey through those breakthrough moments that paved their way no fluff just genuine stories So whether you're chasing dreams or just love a good story buckle up for wisdom laughs and the unexpected This is the breakthrough podcast where success is a journey not just some fancy destination Don't miss out hit the subscribe button now and join our breakthrough crew I got some incredible stories to share and you won't want to miss a single one.
∎ Guest Introduction:
Today, I have an incredible guest for you I'm sitting down with Joey Portelli a realtor investor all-around passionate real estate entrepreneur with deep roots in the Willow Glen community Joey has an amazing story. He started out investing in real estate as a teenager Navigating deals alongside his family and learning hands-on lessons that have shaped his career over the years He's become a trusted name in his community combining his love for problem-solving People and finding great deals in this episode. We dive into Joey's journey from high school investments to run his own Successful real estate business He shares some unforgettable lessons learned from his family and mentors what it's like balancing big projects like a 22 property Portfolio and his vision for creating healthy Sustainable growth in his career.
This conversation is full of wisdom relatable experiences Actionable insights for anyone passionate about real estate or building a career with purpose. You don't want to miss it Let's dive in
∎ Podcast Proper:
Joey.
[Joey Portale] (2:46 - 2:47)
How's it going?
[Stephen Husted] (2:49 - 3:39)
So, I'm glad you can jump on today I think the last time we met We had our own little mini podcast out in front of Glen Una. Yeah for like 30 minutes We should have recorded that part. Yeah, that's always how it goes, you know, I've had you know in the past We either will talk in the very beginning of the podcast with my guests, you know a little bit and we'll start having this conversation I'm like, oh, hold on
Let's jump in. Let's start recording The minute you start recording, you know the conversation, you know can go completely different it's like a freeze-up like oh gosh, here we go So yeah. Yeah
Well, hopefully you can get down into some of the things we talked about that day What do you remember we did talk about? I know we talked about some of your first investment properties, right? You have with your family and yeah, that was a big part of it, right?
[Joey Portale] (3:39 - 6:20)
Yeah, we started talking about first time getting into real estate or getting like how did I get my license and yeah Dad and his two other buddies were an influence and actually how I teamed up with my brother buying our first investment property together So yeah, let's start there. Yeah Give us a little background on on your first little investment journey and where that started I mean it kind of goes like pretty far back I got blessed to have good parents and even good grandparents but my dad always was Wanted just kind of old school is like make your money and save your money. Don't waste your money ever And so some good advice it was little advice and it was hard at the time because you're in high school and I was working at a Grocery store at Nob Hill Las Gadas as a first job bagging $6.83 and some weird number and working long hours right after school But also I've worked with my dad during summer as a contractor and that was like the family business my brother and him are still currently doing it, but Kind of starts way back then because my dad would just say save your money So it was hard in high school because you're saving your money I was driving the family van and luckily only had a cassette player in that van.
So I never bought any CDs. Yeah But what it did allow me to do is by the time I was a senior I had saved up roughly around like $15,000 and as a high school kid that felt pretty good to have some money saved and Long time in 2000 Okay. Yeah, and so It actually took us we went on our little family trip every year.
We'd go to bass lake And we'd get these little real estate magazines that are like the little newspaper stand I saw a house in fresno for $30,000 of my house of only $30,000 for a house dad And uh, I was like we need to get out here and take a look at this And I think my dad still has that little pamphlet that we grabbed so it kind of got us driving out there for the first time to start looking at property in fresno because At the time we couldn't buy anything in san jose um that led us to connecting with my dad's good friend joe wickersham And then another one of his good friends don hoag, which has also played both of those men have played a huge influence on my life, too But yeah, we did did a little trip out to fresno drove around took a look at these different homes And that kind of got me excited to like feel like hopeful that I could actually buy something
[Stephen Husted] (6:20 - 6:36)
Yeah, especially if you had that if you had the money saved Yeah, you probably had that light bulb moment like oh I can actually I can afford this like I can make this happen So what did you do you saw that house?
Did you did you go look at it and like what what happened after that?
[Joey Portale] (6:36 - 7:02)
It was kind of like a neat day just exploring around just kind of finding out we never you know Wasn't something we knew about we just kind of like drove around took a look at different things different neighborhoods But my dad's friend joe wickersham Was connected to another real estate agent bob wigginton, which is also connected to sydney arena here in san jose It's just a long a lot of long good stories a lot of wow
[Stephen Husted] (7:02 - 7:05)
Family, there's a lot of different people now. I thought that's cool.
[Joey Portale] (7:05 - 7:32)
Okay. Yeah, a lot of different people that play in it but we went and looked at a 26 unit apartment complex like on the border of clovis and fresno and That was our first my dad and his friend teamed up buying it and then my dad allowed me to you know buy in At basically like a five percent of the whole deal so that's So what was the what was the purchase price on that?
[Stephen Husted] (7:33 - 7:33)
Do you remember?
[Joey Portale] (7:34 - 7:43)
Well, I remember like clearly but I think it was like somewhere around like 585 000 For how many units? 26 unit.
[Stephen Husted] (7:43 - 7:43)
Oh, wow.
[Joey Portale] (7:44 - 8:04)
Yeah, and then his bread we pull up and it was like it stretched from corner to corner And his friend joe wickersham was a super funny guy. He was like Can you believe he just bought a whole city block like when we first showed up? and at the time you're like this is I mean, it's it's unbelievable how much property you got for the price point
[Stephen Husted] (8:05 - 8:08)
Wow, I wonder I want to how and you guys don't own that property
[Joey Portale] (8:09 - 8:26)
We sold it it kind of got things started my dad he's a contractor He was like you can't even build this building for this price so that was like kind of a factor that he always played into is like You can't build it and you can't insurance for can't insure it for that like the rebuild cost So it must be a good deal
[Stephen Husted] (8:27 - 8:41)
Yeah, so what so walk me through do you remember? When you guys purchased it and and then what you had to do to it And then did you hire a property management? Did you guys self-manage like?
You know, there's a lot to this I bet.
[Joey Portale] (8:41 - 9:47)
Yeah. No, it was cool It was really nice because like my dad it was probably like I would say one of my best, you know Educations of my life just you know, it's a long drive. It's like two and a half three hours to drive down there But it was fun it was like fun watching my dad and his friends, you know Be a part of it.
It was a lot of like stumbling through it Like we were my dad would made it hands-on. So we'd go down there. Somebody moves out.
We went down there Worked on it or I was cleaning like old refrigerators Yeah, and this stinks, but i'll do it Or there was a lot of pine trees So you're on the roof blowing off the roof or sweeping off all the pine needles to make sure you can maintain the roof so management because it was Larger you had over 16 units on-site manager Ron and sue which is another fun story. Yeah You have and then we self-managed it too Joe wickersham was more on the hands-on with the tenants and then my dad's role was kind of more on the construction side You know in the maintenance of it.
[Stephen Husted] (9:48 - 9:48)
That's a good combo
[Joey Portale] (9:48 - 10:34)
It was a great combo and it was good joe has a great personality He was able to connect with a lot of the tenants and my dad has the whole role He's always wanted to like just stay behind the scenes and get the work done so it kind of my Joe would kind of play cover and talk to all the tenants and my dad and I would just get in and trying to clean up the units and Even my brother would come down. I mean brother.
He's the Worker he gets things done. So he would come down and help too. So it was a good time to be in the car with my dad to have a dedicated time because I'm one of four kids.
So there was a lot of That you don't really have a lot of hours together. So driving was good it was nice watching my dad connect with his friend and He's figuring it out as we go too.
[Stephen Husted] (10:35 - 11:12)
So a lot of like learning lessons on the first one And that's what it's all about It's really It is all you know, I tell that to people all the time I'm, like look you, you know, I have people reach out to me on instagram or facebook. Like how do you get started? I'm, like you just start Like really like you just start you start and you figure it out and you make mistakes and you learn from your mistakes And then over time you it starts to compound, you know, and it they're just you can have a mentor You can do all these different things But in the day you really just have to get your hands dirty and get into it
[Joey Portale] (11:12 - 11:16)
Yeah, and it's kind of nice not knowing what the problems are so you look at it.
[Stephen Husted] (11:16 - 11:17)
Yes
[Joey Portale] (11:18 - 11:35)
And he's looking at like man would have been like all of them are 100% rented with this amount of money Like you just you think with all positive thoughts and then you get in and you cut you learn and you get worn out as you go But like it's you would never get into it if you knew all the problems right away
[Stephen Husted] (11:36 - 12:19)
100% I had a lady on a few months back who bought a apartment complex She lives in la and she bought an apartment complex in stockton Yeah, and it was like, oh these numbers are so attractive and all this stuff and she had the wildest stories It was like during covet and tenant stock paint like she had every issue you could think of and she would just tell me stories and they were just over the top She's like what can go wrong everything went wrong Yeah, and then once you're in it you're in it you like you you then that's that's when it turns into I think rental properties teach you a lot about problem solving Yeah, don't don't you agree?
[Joey Portale] (12:19 - 13:10)
Yeah, I mean it teaches you a lot about problem solving I mean it gives you a big perspective on like, you know, you have 26 different families you're working with 26 different personalities and Their stress points are different than ours and you know, just being able to manage different people, you know and people in their homes and stress which kind of had eventually led me to my career a handful of years later, but It was a nice thing to be young enough to sit back and watch A lot and not having to be the lead on it to be a yeah, you got to observe Yeah, how old were you? I mean I think technically I was 18, but I was basically turning, you know Oh, no, I was 18 at that time when I bought with my brother. I just turned My brother and I bought one the next year and I was or I was still 18 Turning 19.
[Stephen Husted] (13:10 - 13:27)
So yeah 18 When I first started do you remember anything about like cash flow and tenants paying or not paying? Like did you hear stories about that too? Because you were on your side with your dad So you guys were more on the the turning phases of things or repairs for the most?
[Joey Portale] (13:27 - 14:26)
Yeah, then you'd hear yeah You'd hear like, you know tenants paying or not paying or you're trying to get you know Maybe they partially pay and you're trying to collect. I mean, I think the rents were I'm guessing I think remember somewhere like six hundred dollars a unit. It wasn't like a it was you're chasing down You know hundred dollar bills here and there and right a lot of stress for the I know On their end probably a lot more stress trying to you know, collect money and paying attention to all the details But but my dad had always said like if you're buying like you get like this one percent rule I hope I get it right.
It's like if your rent covers like You know your monthly rent Covers your one percent of the price per unit Yeah, so if it was a hundred thousand dollars per unit then the rent was a thousand dollars a month. That's a good deal There's just a little like quick math problem Like to you say, yeah, yeah, that's good That's interesting that he brought that up back then too.
[Stephen Husted] (14:26 - 14:34)
Yeah, the one percent rule is kind of go-to metric for the most part And everybody has different ones, but that is a that is definitely one of them.
[Joey Portale] (14:34 - 15:06)
So yeah, that's cool and you remembered that he's really smart and it's like But he's calm. He's not like a one to pressure you anything and he's like you can think things out It's crazy because you're like, how do you like he's almost never wrong and hopefully he doesn't watch this Like I told myself Yeah, but it was like such a like I think it was an easy way to teach me like quickly versus getting into like all the details of like really the Nitty-gritty. It was just like we're in the car real quick.
He could say it simple.
[Stephen Husted] (15:07 - 15:24)
It's something I could Capture and like understand like fast which made it easy Do you remember any other conversations you had with your dad in the car that was a lot of time in there Do you remember some some that stuck in your head that you, you know carry forever?
[Joey Portale] (15:25 - 16:17)
yeah, I think the part of like I think it's like more of like the observing side of like watching him and Joe Wickersham talk and people will let know the Wickersham's are like if they know joe, it's like a big personality But it's like he's really really like he's unbelievable smart. So it's like He jokes around a lot, but it was just like a fun thing Watching my dad Lean on him And knowing that he picked the right person to team up with and so it was watching my dad More like more than the conversation is watching my dad going like, okay, I trust him I'll follow through on that and then it's like he's like they've kind of designated roles where my dad had his Spot in it and then his friend had the other the management spot now that was like More than the conversation we're just watching it all play out, right
[Stephen Husted] (16:18 - 16:40)
Yeah, that's a really good point about the partnership part. You know, you need to Really have a lot of trust in your in your partners Yeah, and they typically all have and you really want your partners to have different skill sets Yeah, then from yours, you know, like it's really important in a partnership that Everybody has their unique skills so to speak
[Joey Portale] (16:40 - 16:46)
And like if one's not greater than the other they're both like yeah It was nice watching them lean into each other's strengths.
[Stephen Husted] (16:47 - 16:54)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they mesh well So on that one, how long did you guys keep it?
And do you remember what you sold it for?
[Joey Portale] (16:54 - 17:42)
I think we kept it. I mean I wouldn't should write these numbers down we kept it for a couple years because close and Fresno it has these little windows at times where it gets a little bit of a hot run and then it like almost Goes backwards like it's yeah They're like resets, I think it's sold for at a million or over a million so somewhere around there um Because I put in a couple years in a couple years in a few years Because I was 18.
I moved down to southern california So maybe it was four year range because I think I moved I used the money when I moved down to Southern california school and I was right around at 22. Yeah, so maybe four year range Okay, that was that's good. It was a good that was a good return.
[Stephen Husted] (17:42 - 17:56)
Yeah, it was a great return And did everything did you remember? What got done on? The property like all the capex items or were just some cosmetic work.
Do you like really remember what was really done to it?
[Joey Portale] (17:57 - 18:48)
That one was like more cosmetic work. This is more like the cosmetic work. It was just and then like Increasing rents and I think We saw this little run in fresno where the numbers make you get cash flow One of the things my dad would say is like this one already cash flows out of the gates That's what he would say like right away like out of the gates already cash flows So it is a good deal and I remember even another thing.
He said is like even breaking even is a good deal So if it cash flows It's even better, you know, yeah, that's like the icing on the cake part. Yeah metric of it, you know Because usually even if it takes a few years to finally like break even it's still good and then continuing to pour forward the cash flows even better, so The name would say yeah, the numbers make sense. Yeah.
Well one-liners that like kind of stick to you.
[Stephen Husted] (18:48 - 18:51)
Yeah, that's good And then when you sold that what was the next?
[Joey Portale] (18:52 - 19:59)
play so the next play for It kind of like Kind of split up my dad and his friend joe wickersham and then don hope came into play So it was like three different guys And they ended up buying a 40 unit apartment complex and then at the time my brother and I my brother He's he's always like a couple years ahead of me or now even more way more ahead of me But he was 17. I was 19 and we bought our first fourplex together my brother and I so When we sold my apartment complex with my dad and joe wickersham I actually took the cash myself and then I used that to go live in southern california to go through college So that was like my Room and board that allowed me to have those years of life down there Going to school for at the time. I started like with management then I thought about accounting and I was like, nope That's not for me.
And I finally got a degree in finance So and once I found the finance classes, I was like this is fun because the investing side and the numbers side.
[Stephen Husted] (19:59 - 20:11)
Yeah definitely, which Definitely helped in in your real estate journey moving forward And even like personal like journey like if i'm making money, where should I put it or you know?
[Joey Portale] (20:11 - 20:15)
It definitely has played all those pieces in those years played a big factor in my life
[Stephen Husted] (20:15 - 20:32)
Yeah, that's a whole nother little topic we could talk about because that's that's a big when you're when you become an agent you know you get these commission checks and If no one's ever taught you how to like put money aside for your taxes or savings or whatever, you know You just will run out and buy a mercedes and call it a day.
[Joey Portale] (20:33 - 21:11)
Yeah Yeah, and it's like, you know, I think that was also with my dad like our discipline was like just making sure that you're able to like yeah not go off and buy a Real nice car right away, even though that's like something I wanted But kind of getting back to that question earlier was my dad And his two friends bought a 40-unit apartment complex and kind of did the same thing like fixed it and flipped it over the years Yeah, fresno we kind of did like our first maybe five Maybe five to seven years was like fresno just because the numbers made sense.
[Stephen Husted] (21:11 - 21:46)
Yeah, there's a guy on youtube I think it's michael his last name starts with a k and i'm spacing on his last name, but Um, I was following him a lot Like back in like 2018 19, but I think he invests strictly out in fred well, I don't know if it's strictly in just in fresno, but I know fresno was his backyard so to speak, but He had a great youtube channel information Yeah, yeah, he really liked he liked fresno Yeah, and he would talk about when the market was getting you know getting hot or he's concerned about it Cooling off.
I just remember all these different things from it
[Joey Portale] (21:46 - 22:33)
yeah, and it was like a nice cycle to watch that because that was like My brother and I when my dad went off with joe withersham and don hoag Don hoag had bought like four fourplexes in a row and He ended up selling one of the four to my brother and I And that like I had saved again money over the next year My brother was I mean, he's always been a great saver and continued to still be And we were that was our first property. We were able to buy together and so in 2002 like I said, I had it was you know a couple days about a yeah, a couple days before my 19th birthday like I bought that with my brother. So my brother is 17.
I technically was like 19.
[Stephen Husted] (22:34 - 22:56)
So we were you were young man Did you realize now that if you look back you were pretty young? I mean, i'm sure it felt Normal to you because you you had these older men Um kind of paving the the way so to speak Yeah, but you're young like high school high school and of high school, I mean that's Yeah, high school good.
[Joey Portale] (22:56 - 23:02)
I graduated 2000. So like 20. Yeah 2000 when you're out of high school, then yeah Yeah, two years.
[Stephen Husted] (23:02 - 23:04)
So like that's impressive
[Joey Portale] (23:04 - 23:17)
He's out of high school. Yeah bought property. Yeah, that's crazy Yeah, I think my brother was in high school when he bought the fourplex which is I don't think he could even sign work That's insane That's so crazy.
[Stephen Husted] (23:17 - 23:19)
Yeah Yeah, that's great.
[Joey Portale] (23:19 - 24:24)
And that's and that really speaks volumes about who you surround yourself with Yeah, to be honest is like my life is a testament to like the I have good older men in front of me You know, I mean I have an amazing mom. I have like amazing grandpa. I mean I good You know older is better than me like my parents are good.
My grandparents are good and you know my dad's friends pouring into us because another thing my dad would always say is like The best gift like one of his friends could do is pour into your kids, you know that was like another thing i'm ever hearing in the truck because he was Watching joe and don really like lean into my brother's name is mario. My dad's name is mario Our whole family's name is mario. Yeah And joe and joey's but uh That was another thing.
I watched my dad's appreciation for his friends You know that are older than us pouring into my brother and I so we did get a you know Head start, but my dad always says but you guys listened you didn't you know, you know My dad never like forced anything on us.
[Stephen Husted] (24:24 - 24:29)
It was just more of like I'm gonna plant the seed and see if that works.
[Joey Portale] (24:29 - 26:00)
Yeah, because I kind of really where it starts it's like the funniest little story was I had I had always drove the family van. That was my car in high school I bought it from my parents for like I think it was 700 or 900 dollars just because Like they're gonna get rid of it. I'm like i'll buy it What kind of van was it?
Was it like those 80s van? Oh chrysler play with chrysler minivan with the wood on the side. So Pretty impressive.
Yeah. Yeah But it was a great car to have at the time But I had saved my money and I wanted to buy a chevy top I was like, I finally wanted like a cooler car. I thought And my dad said he's all you could either, you know, use this money to buy a car or you could invest in real estate And I was like, yeah, and he's not telling me what to do But I kind of i'm like I hear what you're saying Like giving some options and so he didn't want me to like he allowed me to make the choice and it was like I was like, all right.
I think I know what he's saying So it was nice to not feel pressured into it so it kind of it really was my choice with his guidance which is super valuable But yeah, we had good Good parents good dad good dad's friends my grandparents. My grandpa's are great you know grandma's great like I had a lot of like Things to watch ahead of us. Is it tell me where your whole family is based out of Willow glen, I mean we literally live in this like It sounds funny but it's like a It's like two miles zone pretty much And but that's pretty normal, right joey.
[Stephen Husted] (26:00 - 26:01)
I mean if you think about it, we're here.
[Joey Portale] (26:02 - 26:37)
We're all kind of that way and it's Yeah, I think perfectly fine I think I counted like I had to do like another article earlier this year and it was like I think we had like 40 over 40 family members within a two mile radius it was like My cousin lived around the corner my great uncle lived across from him. My other cousin was in the court. So it was like To us as a kid.
It was normal when I look back I I know it was a special back then but even you know greater appreciation as you get older, but yeah Yeah Calls it like you got to stay in the zone.
[Stephen Husted] (26:37 - 27:33)
Yeah yeah, but it was it I mean Willow glen now that I always look back because I grew up on la mirada. Oh, yeah Yeah, so that was my parents first house They they bought that my my uncle was a broker. My uncle worked with chris trappen.
He's uncle. Oh, wow In willow glen on lincoln, so They bought that house And they lived we lived in there for like five years and then they bought in blossom valley at the arcadia homes Yeah over by gunnarsson and he was like You guys you're gonna go broke you're gonna lose this house It's so much money and it was like 30 grand for them which for them back then that was a lot of money Yeah, so, you know Stayed there for a while, but then I ended up back in willow glen on milton so I stayed there for you know, like it's always been coming back to willow glen and because quite frankly It's just a great place to live in general.
[Joey Portale] (27:34 - 28:13)
Yeah, it's a great. I mean It's a nice amazing community to grow up in as a kid i'm like friends with a ton of my friends since elementary school And I think they have a like same appreciation for it too. Like they just love growing up here as an adult I mean, obviously things change and it's like even a different perspective as an adult, but it's still I still love it.
I still I live Pretty much less than a mile than my parents, you know, my I like my little house little morning Yeah, so everything is I like it it works good for me Yeah, you probably you It'd have to take a lot for you to have to move away.
[Stephen Husted] (28:13 - 28:13)
Would you agree?
[Joey Portale] (28:14 - 28:14)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (28:14 - 28:53)
Yeah. Yeah, you know and I say this a lot because we have rental properties, you know Throughout the united states and our newest is in seattle and I go out to seattle and I go I really like it here It's beautiful. It's got puget sound.
It's got the mounds It's just really great and then i'm like, oh god, I don't know if I can handle the weather Yeah, you know like i'll take all the things and check it Okay, how does this compare to you know living in willow glen and what do I get at willow glen? I can you know, I can go on a run during the winter time I can ride my bike up mountain, you know, like I got I got the beach by me. I have the mounds close by You know It's it's hard.
[Joey Portale] (28:53 - 29:18)
It's hard. That's even my dad always says he's like, oh, yeah Everybody wants to move to a place when they go on vacation anytime you go on vacation like I want to live here He's like, yeah, you're on vacation. Of course.
You want to live there, of course Of course it's in it's like we have a pretty good spotlight Yeah, you wear a sweatshirt in the morning and you take it off in the afternoon like pretty simple Yeah, yeah as far as growing up here Do you have any memory?
[Stephen Husted] (29:18 - 29:22)
What are your childhood memories of willow glen and just activities and things like that?
[Joey Portale] (29:23 - 31:11)
It was like a I mean again, I got a pretty special childhood like I am thankful for that too. It's like my parents did a good job with keeping family close, but I had my Both grandparents like right around the corner or like when I sit around the corner like a few neighborhoods over it just was simple like it was a very simple time like One of my favorite cousins or like my best friend is like jared. He lived around the corner from me And like he's one of three and we just writer, you know we were always back and forth between his house and then my other cousins were in the court like my cousin, sarah, rachel and johnny were right there, too, so and then I could just keep going on a list of all the different kids, but like childhood memories would be Like I spent a lot of time going to willow glen like high school even as a kid It's like you ride your bike over there or you're Like a little fifth grader trying to climb up on the roofs just because that was exciting or you oh, yeah like it's just like it was an area where you could just kind of Wander around and it was close enough where my parents let us Like kind of roam around which is nice. Where'd you go to school? I kind of bounced around a lot but like elementary school, you know Uh books in elementary and then I went to san jose christian for junior high, which was a lot smaller school and that was like A school I really really loved but it was like just a smaller group of kids because I was used to a bigger school and then I made a I wanted to go back to willow glen high school because all my friends that I played sports with and everybody was Going there So I went to willow glen high school freshman year Then I lost the bet of my mom and then I went to valley christian high school
[Stephen Husted] (31:13 - 31:19)
So, wait what you lost a bet I hear about this bet well, I was just my mom was like
[Joey Portale] (31:20 - 33:23)
A school wasn't really like a A big priority. I mean the school work wasn't you know, I like the social side of it.
I like the sports side of it but yeah Wasn't paying attention doing too much. Yeah Freshman year and I was playing sports, but I had like my friends close by so a lot of distractions, but she wanted me to go to valley i'm happy how it all worked out and i'm Like super thankful. I went to willow glen too because i'm friends with my friends there.
But yeah, I didn't Perform at the level I needed to so she's like you're out you're moving to valley and i'm like, all right So, how did that play out once you did? um It worked out good It was like a neat Luckily, I had my cousin jared or like my cousin. I grew up as a little kid with he was already at valley christian freshman year so when I came sophomore year I already had a group to kind of mold into and I was like, uh, I was a skateboarder kid.
So then he was a The punk rocker kid. So we had like the skateboarders and punk rockers all the like a little yeah little group Yeah, so it just kind of like it molded in great and it was like an easy like you already kind of stepped right into like a little group and at that time that was like 20 over 24 years that was like 26 years ago. It's like that was It sounds funny to say but like skateboarding and punk rock that was not To most people it was like looked down upon so like that's true We just had our little group and it was a nice group and i'm still friends with a lot of my I mean I really am still friends with Pretty much that whole group.
You're friends with the kids you grew up with for the most part yeah, yeah, there is the elementary school kid that books and i'm still like there's so many of them like i'm still friends with which is nice and it's nice because I get to like We get talking. It's the same life. We like it's easy to like a lot of familiar points from growing up sports families Holidays so yeah, it was good.
Yeah, i'm still friends with them.
[Stephen Husted] (33:23 - 33:28)
What year did you get into? Uh, what year did you get your license?
[Joey Portale] (33:28 - 35:45)
I got my license 2007 march 2007 And how what made you go that route? it was a blend of Well, it's kind of old school trying to save my money to be honest, but I was like well Hey, if i'm gonna buy properties I'm gonna try to get a discount on them. So Probably the way I was raised.
It's like hey if I could save money, let's go that route. But by the time I turned I was 24 when I got my license At 20 Yeah 24 But it was kind of like a blend between like I like the searching for properties and I like the people side and I was in my upper division finance class because I took a while to get through college, but It was a blend of those three things where it's like I like searching I really love like looking for a good deal. Like that was like I still like doing that.
Yeah facebook marketplace, but That's a whole nother podcast and I like And I like the people side of it. I like getting to like figure out The problem solving or how to get through things And then the finance side was like well, I think this is at the time I wasn't really into the stock market. I still really not but it's like the real estate just like I got lucky to like actually Love it.
So it was easy to kind of pursue What do you remember when you got your license when you first started so did you start at colwell banker So I was in huntington beach in 2007 I was down there for five years. So basically 2002 a little on and off and come back for summertime and go back So from 2002 to 2007, I was in huntington beach or okay Long beach down to you know, huntington beach But I got my I remember getting my license and just going like But and I was that was the year I was graduating. I'm like, I just want to get to work like even though I enjoyed my upper division like finance classes and it was finally like where I enjoyed school once I found something I liked I was just I just wanted to work so It was kind of easy to jump into What do you remember?
[Stephen Husted] (35:46 - 35:55)
So when you got your license, did you have a did you have a mentor? Did you have somebody you partnered up with like how did that? How did that come about?
[Joey Portale] (35:56 - 36:12)
So I got my license and I was then I got on with colwell banker down in huntington beach and then Literally like two weeks later. I bought a house in costa mesa to flip And that did not work.
[Stephen Husted] (36:12 - 36:31)
Okay, good. Let's hear about this Because that's the part and to to be fair, I mean If you get into real estate and you're buying properties You you're gonna have some bad ones. It's just the reality Yeah of the game Right.
[Joey Portale] (36:31 - 39:09)
Yeah, and it's like you're making a decision at 24 again with like Every time I bought a real estate at work. So this would this is gonna be the same thing But it was a pretty neat again. Another little education time.
It's like I have another friend. He always said like it's yeah, you're that was your tuition like you lost money, but that was your Tuition. Yeah, that was your internship.
Yeah, it was big time It was march 2007 I got my license and I Bought a short sale. Well, I didn't really know what a short sale was and I wasn't even representing myself because of my license I had just taken the test. I was waiting for it to get up So I wasn't even part of a brokerage at the time So I went with the listing agent and they double ended the deal And it was a short sale so I was committed I didn't know what that meant But I had already put my deposit down And the property didn't even close until may so but in 2007 right in march The subprime markets fell apart, right?
Oh, here we go And I remember being in my upper division like finance classes at that time And all the teachers like this is a big deal. This is like And a lot of these teachers were already retired they were already in the finance world they're coming back to teach and kind of like sharing their knowledge with the class and I remember to my teachers like this is gonna be bad. I was like, oh my gosh I just bought a house and I can't get out of it I was like, oh no, so It allowed me to pay attention at school a lot more because I was like wanting to learn everything just Since I had my money on the table now Or my money on the market and then I closed in may My dad and brother would come down like they would drive down from san jose so like they would do that Like basically load up the whole truck Come down and help me work on it like week after week and this is like a six hour drive at least, right? Yeah, like some dedication there.
Yeah family had your back. Oh, I mean I would it be like That commitment they both it was unbelievable at the time. They're like they're helping me out.
It's like my dad knew I was in a pickle like he could tell like when he pulled up to the house He's like if I saw this I would have told you not to buy it and i'm like Now um But it was a good time having them down. They got to meet all my roommates. It was kind of a nice Time because we all worked together like my roommates helped me out.
[Stephen Husted] (39:09 - 39:31)
My dad and brother helped me out but at the end of the day like You know, I lost all my money I had saved on that project and so let's break down how you lost it did you Lose it because you had you're carrying it too long or was it because the market was starting to shift? And what you thought you were going to sell it for? That changed.
[Joey Portale] (39:31 - 41:32)
Yeah, so kind of like the simple basics of it. It was a great little neighborhood in costa Mesa because it's a cool like city and I loved it and I thought maybe at the time Maybe i'll move into it and live down here longer but I always had in my heart knowing I wanted to be back in san jose and I was like once I graduate I'll probably most likely move back. But the simple side of it was I bought it.
I thought it'd make eighty thousand dollars on the deal based off the comps the six months comps behind us But as I got into it the market accelerated downwards so quickly That like I remember like month after month going like I make 50 this be good And I remember like finally I think it was august or september. We still weren't done with the project But it was I remember standing in home depot Looking at like toilets and fixtures and faucets and i'm like i'm literally spending money And I know i'm not gonna get it back like oh wow I have to lose money just to not lose more money, right You know i'm putting money in to lose it. Yeah.
Yeah Guarantee i'm gonna buy this thing. I already lost money on this But the market turned I lost money on the sale and I lost money like the commissions that were paid out like after everything said and done it was I got I mean It closed in november So I even got lucky to get out of it before it really accelerated downward Because it got really bad Yeah, I mean everybody talks about 2008, but 2007 is where the problem started, right? And then 2008 you're seeing it go down And really it didn't even I mean the lowest it got was like I would track the numbers It was like 2010 to 2012 is where you got the real good deals because values dropped even lower than 2008 and 9 Yeah, I mean it just kind of it snowballed and people are just like oh And then you had a bunch of people that were in houses
[Stephen Husted] (41:32 - 41:38)
They're like, okay the value is down 200 grand Why am I gonna live in here? They'd let go of their house. Yeah, it was like a domino
[Joey Portale] (41:39 - 42:09)
Yeah, and I even looked back like I think it was 2010 And 11 like you look at like what like properties were selling in the neighborhood It was I sold it for like 70 or 716 and it Ended up Like the market was like down to like 550 in the neighborhood, you know, and I was like i'm thankful I got out and only lost this amount of money versus that amount of money, so it all played its role and it Forced me back. I ran out all my money.
[Stephen Husted] (42:09 - 42:18)
So I had to move back in with mom and dad and okay So you came back so you came back and then Is that where'd you end up once you got back into san jose?
[Joey Portale] (42:19 - 42:33)
So I was already at coldwell baker in huntington beach But this is kind of like the next like great piece of my life. My dad had another friend paul vertaldo I mean Most people know him in the industry, but he's just the best So I went cool.
[Stephen Husted] (42:34 - 42:47)
He's a cool guy Oh, he's uh, i've always liked him like from the very minute, you know, I met him like I like That says it's saying a lot I don't like everybody that's for sure But he's like, yeah, like he's calm.
[Joey Portale] (42:47 - 43:24)
He's a competitor. You don't even know that he could He's yeah, he wants to win but he's quiet about it He's like so encouraging all the time. So it was like I remember going to One of his open houses, which was actually My friend kevin franzen's grandparents house that he was hosting the open house.
It was like a friend of mine since I was a little kid Paul was selling their family home and I talked him in the kitchen with my dad about getting into real estate And if you know paul it's like oh yeah, yeah come in that'd be good very simple but like That was his that's exactly how he talks to right.
[Stephen Husted] (43:24 - 43:27)
Well, you said that too That was perfect.
[Joey Portale] (43:27 - 44:02)
Yeah and then even at that office it felt comfortable because Like I already knew like Monica farns where you had patrick and monica. You know marciano You had ruby there's so many people. I already kind of knew from my Friend my parents friends from willow glen.
So it just felt like an easy place to step into so but having mainly like having paul there and then eventually like that office was a very Very special office, you know when I look back on it, but it did A lot of great like so many great agents out of there.
[Stephen Husted] (44:03 - 44:04)
That was the one on willow, right?
[Joey Portale] (44:05 - 44:15)
Ours is the one on meridian so meridian. Oh Like you had two you had willow street then you had meridian yeah right over by the post office.
[Stephen Husted] (44:15 - 44:19)
Yeah, exactly Yeah, is that where kip was at that one too, right?
[Joey Portale] (44:20 - 46:20)
Oh, yeah. Kip was there. Marianne brown joe brown Like there was just like I could go on and on but it was like a neat Like it was a great spot to start at like so I was 25 when I started so I basically went in there I Signed on but I was 25.
So I talked to the manager. I'm like i'm gonna do commercial and i'm gonna do residential i'm gonna do it all and he's like Woke at me like basically get out of here figure out what you want to do and then come back and so I Went and got a job in commercial. I got hired on a friday And then they fired me on a monday I didn't work but it was it was up in berling game and I told him I wouldn't move up there the commercial guy And he's like no like we need somebody like here in town and I was like, that's a long drive And then he he called me up and said no we're gonna pick somebody here in town.
So That gave me my answer. So and I got the cold banker. I was like, all right, i'll do residential full-time There you go So I started yeah, I committed in december But I made my first day at work with january so Can you tell us a little bit about your first deal?
so again kind of going back oh first deal was my My mom's good friend diana and dave williams and she needed to sell a house on cresmont and it was like It was a listing and i'm like you guys are like Just like again If you meet my parents, you'll understand why I had this like good support. They're good to their friends and she's like hey your mom's always taking care of me or like family like I want my home and I was at the time I was like super grateful and then I look back on it. I'm like 2008 and you're using like a 25 year old to like List your home and it's his first deal.
[Stephen Husted] (46:20 - 46:35)
That's a pretty big Like deal they trusted you trusted you they trusted your family. Yeah, you got the support from the the office that you had Yeah Called it like lean on and other agents would help me out.
[Joey Portale] (46:35 - 47:45)
How'd that deal go? it actually worked out pretty good like pretty good meaning like It it was a tough time. That was 2008.
Yeah, it was 2008 and it was early on So it was before april. I remember I think it closed around april time but it was It it sold and at the time i'm like, oh, this was nice It you know it took it I think it was like i'm assuming I remember something like that I'm, like the 30 or 40 day marker on the market because at the time it was like 60 days on market was normal So like it all within a like reasonable range When I look backwards on it, I was like that was a like miracle that it all worked out, right?
Yeah, they had sold I lifted their home. They sold that in willow glen and then they had to find another house in willow glen. So it was like like two big deals for me right like right away So, yeah, that's a good that's a good Good starting point Do you remember anything about real estate when you got into it that you really didn't like I was like 25 So it's pretty naive and pretty on the positive side of things.
[Stephen Husted] (47:45 - 47:47)
Mm-hmm. How about us when time went on?
[Joey Portale] (47:48 - 48:44)
I would say And again, it's almost like stepping out of the cobalt banker Like I had a very encouraging office like a lot of agents that would help us out I think over time it's that part of like you're like what like We're all on the same team as agents, you know it's like I think the part I didn't like is I could see like more division between agents or like People feeling like oh i'm better than you and it's like I mean all this stuff could shift Yeah, like we have no control of like how much income we're making it's just we're lucky to be in it, so I think the part that was harder is when you realize like Not everybody's rooting for each other, you know, even though like we all need each other to cooperate with I mean the easier us agents work with each other the easier these deals go, you know and I think That was hard to watch like more division between the agents and stuff like that you know
[Stephen Husted] (48:45 - 49:33)
Do you feel it's changed a little bit more now because there's a lot of brokers out there that are more Well, they coin, you know, they like to collaborate more.
Do you feel like it's changed a little I mean I feel like the cycle from when I forgot because I got my license at 2008 and I know exactly what you were just saying So I know exactly what and it's funny now I have no problem at all reaching out to Agents that I know some that I don't even talk to all the time. I mean look before you and I spoke I met you a couple times. Yeah, I had no problem just going.
Hey, you know, I trust Joey I'm gonna reach out to him, you know, Paul brought you up. You came over, you know, I mean, I just feel like Collaborating and getting other people's opinions. It's such a powerful thing.
It's there's no weakness in it at all No, not at all.
[Joey Portale] (49:33 - 50:56)
I think after COVID I think it really like COVID kind of showed that we needed to stick together more Because it was something that we all like collectively were affecting our Like individual lives. Yeah, and almost like I always say there's a Marianne Brown. She's like one of my like super good friends and Me and her were the only 25 year olds when we were like in 2008 So it was like she understood my stresses.
She understood my the scary things or the winds like right understood that I think 2020 Like COVID years. I think all of us agents I think everybody in life but like you're in this industry. Everybody kind of understands each other like oh we do need each other to like get through this or I think a lot more collaboration sort of happening because it's like well what's going on over here?
Like we needed each other in our feedback a lot more so I think that time brought us more like back together and getting back on the toe like calling each other and like Yes, it's like yeah I think that it took away a lot of the maybe humbled a lot of people and it Took away. I hope some of you guys are out there like that's normal, but I think it really brought Like we need to lean on each other to find out like kind of create an insecurity in everybody. Well, what's happening?
What do you do? What do we need to do? Like what's happening on your end?
so
[Stephen Husted] (50:57 - 51:21)
Some of it was not even related to real estate, but it got it kind of transpired into real estate Do you know I mean like I remember a couple agents, you know That didn't that weren't married or didn't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend that were kind of you know Hermits in their house and going through that or they're they're the ones that Get a lot of open houses and their whole business was built on open houses.
Now that's gone.
[Joey Portale] (51:21 - 51:21)
Yep.
[Stephen Husted] (51:22 - 51:51)
That was mine Yeah, you know, I mean like oh and how did they you know or changing from Figuring out technology during open houses, you know Like all these different things started moving it quicker and a lot of people had to adapt Yeah, it's weird Interesting about cope that coveted period of time Even though we're kind of all segregated. We're way more connected I was having people I was having phone calls with people. I haven't talked to like at all I mean it was the most and we would talk longer too, which was interesting
[Joey Portale] (51:51 - 52:59)
which was nice because I think covid at least for me gave me the space to have like Prior to covid it was just go go go go go and like covid slowed us to down to have like I mean at least for me like deeper conversations and I live i'm single live at my house alone So it's like anytime I could talk to anybody and yeah, you're like, oh you're gonna talk forever I'm, like, yeah, I am because I don't talk to anybody all day But it really and then even like the willow glen tour it was I mean i've always loved that tour like mike gage moniker so great at running it and it's like That is such a special group But we did like the zoom call and I have this picture of the screen of all of us on here I'm, like it that thing grew and grew and grew because we all like that was the only time we could like connect with each other so Right a lot of like good that came out of that. I mean, obviously you don't want people to get sick or go through tough times, but it kind of like I think it made people re-evaluate like what's important and It was refreshing after we got through the My ultimate struggles, you know, yeah I think real estate feels good right now for me at least
[Stephen Husted] (52:59 - 53:23)
what if you know this as far as Shifts and like how you do business now and what are you going through right now? You're you're very successful You got you really dialed in in willow glen people know you got a good reputation.
So what do you What do you? Where do you see yourself like five years from now? I'm, like, what are you trying to work on in your business to improve and just grow?
[Joey Portale] (53:24 - 54:05)
Yeah, I kind of feel like To be honest right now. I'm in like a stuck Position because I'm I could have stuck or maybe call it paused. I actually feel more stuck than paused because I don't know what's What I want to do.
I feel like i'm at a Spot where like I have to do something new and what's next? Um kind of give you a little behind the scene the last handful of years I got blessed to have Quite a bit of business, but I had one year I did 50 deals and that was like It just it drained my I mean it was great income, but it was like probably my least happy year of my life or career
[Stephen Husted] (54:05 - 54:06)
so interesting
[Joey Portale] (54:07 - 57:01)
and then So prior to that I did like 37 deals then 50 And then I said I don't want to do any more than 20 for the next year and I'd end up doing 25 years But at 25 deals, I felt like I could give the best quality I had my personal time with my family and friends. I was less isolated.
So I like the 25 deal range Which but I have an amazing assistant jenna lima is like unbelievable I have a software I built during covet or like A software I built that is an amazing crm. So like it allowed me to like fine-tune my time So where i'm having a hard time right now is like do I want to get So big again because there's always that excitement like I love willa glenn What if I could be the patrick and monica or the r.c Koth or the valerie mean of this town or jordan mott like you get these big names And then i'm having a hard time like do I want? To be that busy.
I kind of want to do healthy business for me, too You want to balance it you want to balance? Yeah, I want to be able to have longer conversations with my clients get better quality Like better quality for my own life. I threw my back out.
So I haven't really worked out It's like I want to i'm having a hard time to get motivated there. I think this winter time This is when I usually do my brainstorming and planning for the next year just in this little Pickle, I started a team which i'm happy with like I have two more agents. So there's three Of four of us total so jenny and then two other agents And I feel like that could take a good spot if everybody has coverage for each other How's that been are you do you What made you go the direction to start a team?
I got again another blessing this year. I had a seller These two brothers that were investors selling 22 houses and we had to sell them all in a three-week period so we had 22 listings plus my other I think I had 27 Listings on the market at one time in june or july And it was overwhelming but I had like every we had a good they were part like one was my tc One was like a field agent and I have jenny as like a director of operations. So I was like I needed all Four of us to get the job done and they were all workers and committed and said yes So it made me feel like okay if I do Do more business I have this so I trust these people and I have good support with it and I think they appreciated learning and seeing a lot of behind the scenes, so That like watching them grow is like exciting for me, too I just I don't know what to do.
I've learned like How do I lead a team?
[Stephen Husted] (57:01 - 57:16)
It's a new it's a new role i've never been in So these brothers had how many so was this? family Passed down from family and they had all these different properties Were these the ones that were all in like willow glen kind of by?
[Joey Portale] (57:17 - 57:59)
off brace There well one was on brace. Yeah there but they were all over them. They were like santa clara count.
So when gilroy to Lv so we had one out in elviso Yeah, kind of all over the place which made it fun, but it was like it was We had to like launch them all at the same time to match the 10 31, you know, like Have all of them. We had like I think 10 or 11 closings all in one day. It was a lot of pieces like We launched all in one in a one month or a three week period because they wanted to launch all of them in one day and i'm like i'm gonna I won't be able to manage all these calls.
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (57:59 - 58:06)
Yeah. It's funny that you bring that up I remember looking because I saw that there was one over on brace that had the land, right?
[Joey Portale] (58:07 - 58:17)
that was actually that was a personal deal that was going that was uh, Another like just another client of mine. That was like not a part of that portfolio But it was the same on the same street as one of their other ones.
[Stephen Husted] (58:18 - 58:38)
Yeah Yeah, I remember looking at it on a sunday and then I called your phone and it said if it's sunday I'll be calling you back on monday. I'm like, all right. Well, it's It's sunday Okay, who who's gonna do you remember who that buyer is going to do with that that piece of land They're going to develop it out.
It was kind of an like a pie, right?
[Joey Portale] (58:39 - 59:02)
Yeah, I mean, I think it was one of the coolest properties like I mean It was like a little like you go there as like a little kid. You feel like a sandlocker like man This is an amazing like piece of property I never knew about and it's like was tucked away and you could still walk to downtown from what I understand the buyers are buying Buying and building their house for their own life, which is nice Sets back and they have a good space behind them, too Yeah
[Stephen Husted] (59:02 - 59:13)
Yeah, and then there was a big there was that to the right of it had that whole lot had all that space right there too, but that wasn't part of that Of the lot that you sold right that was different
[Joey Portale] (59:14 - 59:39)
No from what I understood It was like at the end of brace that was like before the there's a church right behind it on the other side of the wall and like my Sellers grew up there as little kids and they said they used to Play baseball and hit out into this field. So it was like and like then you actually hit golf balls, too so it was like a that's crazy like piece of willow glen history and I love all that old school like Oh, yeah Of the town.
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (59:39 - 59:45)
Oh, yeah, absolutely All right. I'll give you a little quiz here. What was your favorite?
What's your what's your favorite breakfast place?
[Joey Portale] (59:46 - 59:49)
In willow glen, I like san jose cafe for me.
[Stephen Husted] (59:49 - 59:50)
There you go.
[Joey Portale] (59:50 - 1:00:02)
It's a cafe Yeah, my mom showed me this and i'm like, I know all these spots and then she showed me that i'm like, oh man This place is awesome. Yeah, I like loose in las cadiz I've been there.
[Stephen Husted] (1:00:02 - 1:00:23)
Oh, yeah. Yeah Yeah San jose cafe. I I'm definitely bills But I don't know I bounce around between bills and johns.
So it just really depends Yeah, I feel like you just had so many different ones. You had san jose cafe bills Johns I just would rotate Yeah between there.
[Joey Portale] (1:00:23 - 1:00:40)
Yeah And as a little kid like those were like my parents like they would always talk about bills or my mom My manly mom would talk about johns because she knew their family and yes like And then I think my or my aunt did work at bills. So it was like those are obviously the staples of willow glen Totally.
[Stephen Husted] (1:00:40 - 1:00:53)
Yeah, just supporting the the the local businesses there. So What do you what are you envisioning For moving forward so now you're in the you're going in the winter like what do you what do you think you're gonna gravitate towards?
[Joey Portale] (1:00:53 - 1:01:44)
Yeah winter time. It's kind of I love this part about real estate for me. It's like You're kind of working from third week of january to like pretty much november 1st and then it slows down for me at least I get this little quiet time.
So I think i'll take this Like this is kind of what I look at what I want for the next you know year in life and Luckily i've been Since I started I've written down my goals every year So I have every year my goals since I started and it's in a little folder I have I think this year has been the hardest one to find out what's next I think I really do want to like foster this team and pour into them. That's kind of what i'm feeling right now Okay, but yeah, that's like kind of where my heart is We'll see what happens like in a month or two from now what the direction yeah could have a different direction.
[Stephen Husted] (1:01:44 - 1:01:45)
Who knows?
[Joey Portale] (1:01:45 - 1:02:25)
Yeah, I think I just haven't had like to be honest like much quiet time Things have been going going going and I think I need to like say push pause Again, luckily our market kind of quiets down in this time Anyway, so it's like a time to you know, rethink evaluate i'm also 42 So it's like what do I want? in my 40s health wise life-wise Relationship wise with like My family too like my parents and i'm not married. I don't have any kids but just outside family and friends like I love my friends.
So it's like how do I get everybody's Busy, so how do we get more time there?
[Stephen Husted] (1:02:25 - 1:02:37)
Yeah, that's great. So when the audience find you Find me Find you in willow glen Yeah, so you find me in willow glen, I mean Again, kind of my life.
[Joey Portale] (1:02:38 - 1:02:54)
I work at compass right, you know close to downtown willow glen, which is nice We're pretty much downtown willow glen. So everything's like You find me on linkedin. It's like I live in like a like I said still operate almost in a two mile radius.
So all right here in town Absolutely.
[Stephen Husted] (1:02:54 - 1:03:29)
Well, I can i'll put i'll put your info in the in the show notes for everybody too So if anybody needs a great local willow glen agent They can give you a call i'm glad that we were able to sit down I just remember when we we were talking out in front of glen una and And it was just funny because we did that was our like little intro podcast. And so it's good that we you know got this one done and And hopefully we got you know audio and everything was good. So Yeah, I think I think we won on it Yeah, I think we did it talk about your life.
[Joey Portale] (1:03:29 - 1:03:30)
I gotta interview you.
[Stephen Husted] (1:03:30 - 1:03:56)
Okay Great We'll do that in the next one. We'll do that in the next one for sure All right, buddy well Thanks a lot man for joining and thanks for all your insights by the way on glen and I really appreciated that that really Really helped me out and I took everything to heart for what you Suggested and it played out correctly. So I appreciate it and you did a good job on that one A little timing a little luck A little everything happened.
[Joey Portale] (1:03:56 - 1:04:09)
I think he did a good job put in I think the person that bought it appreciates it I've been walking by it this morning. I'm like you still have the lawn mode like you didn't quit after you You know, you got in the contract, which is nice. So it still looks good.
[Stephen Husted] (1:04:09 - 1:04:14)
Yeah, so thank you All right, buddy. Well, you have a good rest of your day and i'll be chatting with you soon Okay.
[Joey Portale] (1:04:14 - 1:04:15)
All right.
[Stephen Husted] (1:04:15 - 1:04:45)
See ya
∎ Podcast Outro:
Thank you for tuning into our show where we hope you found inspiration and gained valuable insights If you enjoyed this conversation and want to stay updated on our latest episodes Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and share it with others who might benefit from it We appreciate your support and look forward to bringing you more candid conversations and breakthrough moments in the future until next time Take care And keep exploring new ideas and strategies
