COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: EMILY WRIGHT OF SMART CITY LOCATING

October’s Community Spotlight brings Diana together with Emily Wright, Market Leader of Smart City Locating to talk about the company and their new Denver location inside Enterprise Coworking, how they came to find Enterprise as their home office, and more about the future of connecting renters with apartments through their hyper-personalized approach.

IT PAYS TO BE SOCIAL! For every referral who signs up through a partner’s unique reward link and works with a Smart City agent to apply to their dream apartment, the partner get’s a $50 credit deposited directly to their Amazon account within 5 business days! Click here for Smart City Locating Rewards!

For more information or to get started finding a space to be yourself, find us at SmartCityLocating.com to get started on your custom apartment search! 

TRANSCRIPT:

Diana: Hey everyone, today I’m joined by Emily Wright, Market Leader with Smart City. Emily, thank you so much for joining me and the Enterprise community today to tell us more about your wonderful team. Tell us a bit about Smart City and what you guys do.

Emily: Yeah, so Smart City is a hyper-personalized apartment locating service, and we work with our clients so closely to find them the best deals in the city and served on a silver platter. So I am Denver’s market leader. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to launch in Denver [00:00:30] from the ground up and we actually launched the beginning of May this year.

Diana: That’s awesome. It’s so cool. How long has Smart City been in business? Tell us a little bit of how you got started.

Emily: Yeah, so we launched in Austin of 2013 and it’s kind of a funny story about how my CEO started Smart City. She wanted to go to luxury real estate, but realized that none of her friends were millionaires. So they were apartment renters and they also had friends who are apartment renters and she [00:01:00] took it and ran with it to seven new markets and two more on the way. And we’re going to four hundred and fifty agents across the board by 2021.

Diana: Oh, my God, that is so exciting. What makes Smart City different than other companies in your industry?

Emily: So, I mean, we’re hyper personalized service that goes above and beyond for our clients, were real people were overachievers. We never settle until we find the perfect spot for them.

Diana: That’s so awesome. I see you guys in the space and you guys are [00:01:30] hustlers. Oh, yeah. I walk by and everyone is just on the phone, on email, doing everything, coming and going. It’s really good energy.

Emily: It’s fast paced, but our culture is also like, amazing. You’re not going to have an agent show up in a stuffy suit. Like we’re real people. We’re wearing graphic tees, like none of that corporate stuff. Like we’re having fun with our clients and it’s the only way we want it to be.

Diana: Yeah, definitely. I can feel the authenticity from every individual on your team.

Emily: Yeah, we definitely hire based on our core values.

Diana: That’s [00:02:00] wonderful. There has been amazing growth in your company. Tell us more about your company’s expansion into Denver’s market. What are some goals or achievements that Smart City has obtained recently? And what are you proud of and what would you like to mention for us?

Emily: Yeah, I’m so freaking proud of my team. I started in May with four agents and we’ve grown to twenty one and we’re going to forty five by next March. Right. So hyper growth is just going to be so incredible for our clients because it’s [00:02:30] just going to be give us more ability to work with more properties, find more deals and get better pricing for our clients. Something I’m also really proud of is that we’ve gotten to help 400 clients since we launched in May. And I can’t wait to see how many people we help in 2021.

Diana: That’s awesome. So exciting. Tell us why Smart City chose Enterprise Coworking to be their coworking home.

Emily: Of course, something about us is that we love a good deal. So when it came to shopping around different coworking [00:03:00] space, different office spaces, Enterprise had it all. You could have your you have your cake and eat it too for the right price. The amenities. The staff, can’t beat the cafe. Diana, you’re f***ing amazing. So it’s just it’s not only just a space to work, but you also have a community, the amenities. And it’s just it’s a nice place to spend your day.

Diana: I agree. I’ve been here for about four years, community manager here at Enterprise Coworking, and I just fell in love with it the minute I walked in the doors. [00:03:30] I think that this place has a polished professional sense where you can bring a client in and it’s impressive, but it also has that homey feel where you want to stay and get comfortable and meet friends.

Diana: So last question before we end off. What would you like our viewers to know about Smart City?

Emily: Yeah, I mean, reach out to us. Don’t take on finding an apartment alone. If you’re a homeowner and have friends moving to Denver and the service doesn’t fit [00:04:00] you specifically. We actually just rolled out our awards platform in Denver. So it’s at www.smartcitylocating.com/rewards and you can start making fifty dollars in Amazon credit for every client who you send our way and leases with us. So it’s a fun interactive. You can see where your friends are at in the process. And when you get that Amazon credit, it’s instantly downloaded. So it’s a really great reward platform and I think everyone should use it, you know.

Diana: Great. I’ll get more information about that from [00:04:30] you and we can plug that in our newsletter so that the members can learn more about that.

Emily: Absolutely. I would love that. Thank you.

Diana: Wow, Emily, this has been an awesome time getting to know you and Smart City. Thank you so much again for taking the time to sit down with me and the Enterprise community to tell us more about you. If you’d like more information about Smart City, you can get to their website at SmartCitylocating.com. Or if you’d like to connect with Emily or the team, you can email her directly at Ewright@SmartCitylocating.com.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: ADAM KEHL OF CAPITAL FUND 1

This month Lauren sits down with Enterprise Coworking Greenwood Village member Adam Kehl of Capital Fund 1 to discuss his role and company providing lending services to real estate investors.

TRANSCRIPT:

Lauren: Hey, guys, welcome back to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month, we’re talking to Adam Kehl, the Colorado director of operations of Capital Fund 1. Adam, thank you for taking the time to virtually sit down with us and talk about your company. Thank you, Lauren. Absolutely. Let’s get into it. So why don’t you tell me a little bit about Capital Fund one and what exactly you guys do?

Adam: Sure. Yeah. So we are a real estate hard money lender. It sounds a lot worse than it really is. What it means is we provide real estate investment loans on any type of real estate property. For most of our loans, They tend to be older properties that need a little TLC. So we take some money, we put it in there and we help investors flip it so they can sell it for a profit. We’re based in Scottsdale, Arizona, but we’ve expanded into Colorado. We also land in Texas and Oregon. Hard money gives real estate investors a competitive edge when making an offer. So it’s essentially a cash offer with a quick close. We can fund in a much shorter time window, something like twenty four to 48 hours, depending on when people need the money and we don’t underwrite the person at all. So if you’re buying a property, we don’t look at Lauren, we look at the property itself, what it’s worth today and what it’ll be worth once it’s improved.

Lauren: Wow, that’s really awesome. And so, how long have you guys been in business?

Adam: Yeah, our founders started the company in 2009 here in Phoenix on the heels of the Great Recession. He was a land developer at the time. So he would take tracts of land, buy them,entitle them, flip them to the big home builders so they could build out all the houses. After the Great Recession, He tried his hand in foreclosure, buying and flipping those, and he found that banks just weren’t lending money. So he found this need for real estate investors that they needed capital. So he started the fund with some of his own cash. And since then, it’s grown to one hundred and eighty million dollar fund. So in something like 11 years, we’ve had tremendous growth. And this has really allowed us to always have capital to fund any sort of deal. And we’re now the largest private money lender in Arizona. So it’s a it’s worked out very well for him.

Lauren: Wow. That’s an awesome story. I love that. So what makes your company different from other companies in your field.

Adam: Yeah, we have a unique competitive advantage in our speed of funding. So we have an in-house underwriting team that can take a property and give a real quote to somebody in twenty four hours. That goes over to our processing team where they can close that same loan in twenty four hours of titles ready to go. So most of our deals have a one week time period almost because of that. Speed and transparency have always been a couple of our strengths here. But we’re we’re also known for being very reliable. We’ve never missed a funding date. And we look at all of these properties through the lens of, you know, partner, if we were if we were looking at this, would we want to own it? And so we give honest feedback about these loans and we value it just like an investor would.

Lauren: That’s great, honesty’s the best policy. Love it. so why did you guys choose Enterprise Coworking?

Adam: Yeah, enterprise is great because it has two locations in twenty four hour access that’s really big for us starting out. So one of our employees lives up near the RiNo location. So if he wants to go and work there for the day, he certainly can. And then the location of Greenwood Village, which is where our office is has a great central location near home builders, title companies and all sorts of the industries we want to be around. So we love it for that.

Lauren: We’re so glad to have you guys for sure. So is there anything that you would like our viewers to know about Capital Fund One?

Adam: Yeah, we’re here to be just another tool in an investor’s tool belt. We give people the ability to put these cash three, five, 10 days close as is where is transactions together, And that really will let you stand out. Denver is a very competitive real estate market right now. And so being able to do that when you have a house that probably gets 10, offers yours with a quick five day close is really going to stand out because you’re going to make it so easy for the seller to be able to take it, take the transaction nice and smooth and get done and out within a week. The system is really reshaped investment real estate in Phoenix. We fund 30 million a month here in Phoenix and Arizona, greater Arizona as a whole. And it’s really reshaped the whole industry here.

Lauren: That’s awesome. That’s great.

Lauren: And thank you so much, Adam, for sitting down with us and telling us a little bit about Capital Fund one. We’re really excited to have you as a company here at Enterprise Coworking. We hope to see big things from you in the future. For more information on Capital Fund one, you can visit their website at www.capitalfund1.com.

This month down at Enterprise Coworking Greenwood Village Brittany sits down with our member Aaron Lebovic via Zoom to talk about his career in the real estate industry as a developer and agent, how he came to Enterprise Coworking, and how he’s dealing with the current pandemic, and then sheds his knowledge on Denver’s real estate market durring Covid-19 and after. Enjoy!

TRANSCRIPT:

Brittany: Hey everybody, this is Brittany from Enterprise Coworking here to talk with you, Aaron Lebovic for our May community spotlight. Aaron, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me virtually for this.

Aaron: Thanks for having me. Do you like my virtual background?

Brittany: Amazing. You couldn’t even tell the difference. Got a love the view. So to just start off, Would you mind telling us a little bit about what you do and your company?

[00:00:33] Arron: Yeah, happy to do it. Thanks so I’m a professional real estate agent full time. A little bit of background. I started off as a real estate investor back in 2002, between 2002 and 2009, I bought over one hundred and thirty homes, mostly at foreclosure auctions in four different states. And then in 2009, I started a software company tracking foreclosures throughout the state of Colorado and teaching classes. I’ve got two great business partners in that business and it’s still running today. And then in 2014, I found foreclosure filings were going down and traditional sales were going up. And I decided I can always be a foreclosure expert. I still co-own in that company that tracks foreclosures. And I offer teaching and consulting to real estate agents and investors. And also, I realized, you know, as a real estate agent, whether markets are going up or going down or in total chaos like they are right now, I can always find a way to serve my clients and be a great real estate agent.

Brittany: That’s awesome. You do a lot of stuff then.

[00:01:41] Aaron: Yeah, I’m actually in the top 5 percent of real estate agents in the country. I’m actually a really active real estate agent. It doesn’t seem like that at the co-working space. That’s kind of one thing I like about it. If I was at a traditional brokerage, which many real estate agents are, I would be bombarded all day long from other real estate agents saying got a second and I wouldn’t be able to have time to serve my clients. So I so I love being in the co-working space. It’s a place that I can focus. And it’s also a great place to meet other people who also need to buy and sell real estate that I can serve.

Brittany: Yeah, absolutely. You’ve actually received some business from working at Enterprise, right?

Aaron: I have. I’ve helped four people buy or sell homes as a result of folks I’ve met at the co-working space.

[00:02:28] Brittany: All right. Awesome. So you already touched on this. When did you get in to your foreclosure buyings, real estate investment and then realty?

Aaron: Yeah. I graduated from the University of Denver in 2002 and I had to decide what to do. And I was a mortgage broker for five minutes. It just didn’t fit me well what I wanted to accomplish. And at that time, my dad called me up and said, hey, you’re in. I’m buying foreclosed. I knew he was buying foreclosure auctions in Chicago, but I didn’t know there was an opportunity. I really want to go back to Chicago and work with him. But he said, hey, your brother’s leaving me. And he was the one that did all the work. I put up the money we partnered. And here’s your opportunity if you want to take his place. And so I said, yes. But honestly, I always knew I’d be moving back to Colorado.

Brittany: Yeah, it’s pretty great here. Chicago is cool. But you got to love Denver.

[00:03:27] Aaron: Right. Great place to visit. You need to live. So, yeah, that was back in 2002 that I became a real estate full time real estate investor.

Brittany: All right. Super impressive that you’re in the top 5 percent as well. Incredibly. Yeah. So you’ve also kind of touched on this one already. But what else drew you to Enterprise Coworking?

Aaron: Yeah. What I love about it first, it’s a modern space. I was at another co-working space before. And it was very closed off. Once you close the door, you’re not seeing anything that’s going on other than out your window if you had one. And and there was no opportunity to to really connect with other people in the space. I was told I’m not allowed to have a phone call in the lobby area. I was told there is no social events that I could plan, let alone attend. And so it’s really important to me about my co-working space that I can connect with others and see how I can serve them or also work with them in the businesses that they do.

[00:04:33] Brittany: Yeah, absolutely. You’re definitely a very active member. Which is I feel like the whole point of co-working, you know. Yeah. So the next question I have for you is, what are you doing to weather the storm that is covid-19? I know you’re home with two small children. So how’s that going?

Aaron: It’s hard. It’s really hard. First, props to my wife who thank God has a school, an education background. She’s doing an amazing job with our one year old Abby and three year old Ben. Really, it’s it’s also a blessing and the opportunity for me to slow down and spend more time with my kids. So I’m definitely not complaining, but. But it’s hard not being able to go on client appointments. To show homes right now, as of today, showings are not allowed before going under contract. So it’s it presents a unique situation for real estate agents. Luckily, I have a lot of experience in working with out of state home buyers and home sellers anyway. And so the process is not unfamiliar to me to use technology as a tool to connect with home buyers and homes sellers from a distance anyway. And I’m also really connected with what’s going on legally, what we can and can’t do. So right now, in this moment, as of this recording, showings are not allowed. But once a property goes under contract, inspections are allowed. And so being you know, right now I’ve got five homes under contract in four homes listed on the market. I’m seeing lots of ways buyers, agents are submitting offers and getting creative. And frankly, I’m using those strategies the best of the best strategies and techniques to help my clients who are looking at buying right now while still making sure they’re very well protected and they get their eyes on the property before closing.

Brittany: So the stay at home order ends on the 26th and now it’s a safer-at-home-Order. How does that affect the real estate market and what you do?

[00:06:47] Aaron: Well, the real estate market is is a big question and I’m grateful for my experience on the foreclosure side of the business. And as you can imagine, I’m having I’m teaching classes and having a lot of conversations with people asking what’s going to happen with the market. I I used to have a crystal ball, but it broke in two thousand eight. And there’s no there’s really no telling until we’re a couple months into things being loosened up. But here’s what I’m seeing. Right now, there were a lot of before Covid 19, There was low foreclosure filings, about 70 new foreclosure filings per week in the Denver metro area before Covid 19. What has happened is there is a total moratorium on new foreclosure filings for government backed loans, unoccupied properties, which is a majority of homes that are facing distress. The sooner we’re out of this Covid19 quarantine, the better it will be for our economy. I don’t know about you, Britney, but I’m looking forward to getting my hair cut professionally. Oh, yeah.

[00:08:01] Taking my wife on a date to a restaurant and being away from my kids for a little bit. And so I think that money will come into the economy and we’ll be able to build back up quickly, hopefully if if Covid 19 can remain or get under control even more. But the longer it takes for us to go out and spend money, the longer people will be on unemployment, not be able to make their mortgage or or rent payments. And that could put the economy into a tailspin as it relates to real estate. One thing that’s cool about Colorado specifically is that we were in a very strong seller’s market just before Covid 19, and we have been in a strong seller’s market, meaning sellers are in control and there’s competitive offers. Homes are selling very quickly. A balanced market would be considered six months of inventory, meaning if no other homes got listed, it would take six months for properties to sell. And for our inventory to be zero. Another way, similarly to say it is on average, it takes six months to sell a home. I’m usually even today listing homes, even in this Covid 19  market and getting many of my listings under contract in the first week and still. So it’s still a crazy strong seller’s market because just as many sellers are deciding to hold off as there are buyers that are deciding to hold off, and that’s still creating this equal Librium that we were facing of being in a seller’s market previously. So I think come next week when we’re able to show homes again, I think more homes are going to hit the market. I think buyers are going to come out of hibernation. And I still think we’re going to be in a strong real estate market here in the Denver metro area.

[00:09:48] Brittany: Oh, that’s good to hear. That makes me feel a lot better about everything that’s going on now. Kind of on like a lighter note, you kind of also touched on this one. Besides getting a haircut and going out on a date. What’s something that you’re looking forward to doing?

Aaron: So I always reserve Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings for my family. You know, as a real estate agent, a lot of clients need to see houses on nights and weekends, and I’m totally available for that.

But the weekend mornings are for my kids and I’m really excited to take my son back to soccer, to go swimming at my grandmas, my mom’s condo, their grandmother’s condo building has a swimming pool. So we love doing that with grandma just getting out and and doing the activities that my kids really enjoy.

[00:10:36] Brittany: I love that. Now, how can our members get in touch with you and how can they find out more information on an Aaron Lebovic and EXP Realty?

Aaron: Thanks. Yeah. So actually, if you Google my name A.A.R.O.N. L.E.B.O.V.I.C., I’m sure it will be written somewhere here in the article. Google me and you’ll find me and reviews. My cell phone number is 3 0 3 2 5 0 4 4 4 0. My business is not built through internet leads and knocking on doors, although I’ve certainly done that in the past. My business is solely reliant on my personal sphere and referrals from people just like you. I’ll take amazing care of anyone that gets in my way a full blown service regardless of the price point. I do represent all price points, including luxury and first time home buyer price points as well. So I’d really appreciate you reaching out and trusting me with your referrals.

Brittany: All right. Awesome. I love it. Thank you, Aaron, so much for sitting down with me today, telling me a little bit about yourself and EXP Realty. Super happy that you’re a part of the community and that everything is going all right with you. So if you’re watching this video, be sure to reach out to Aaron through his phone number. Or just Googling him if you have any homebuying or home selling questions. All right, you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much.