Antwan “Ish” Marby on Real Estate Discipline, Overcoming Arrogance, and Revitalizing Inner-City Communities

Shows like Flip or Flop and Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines have really glamorized the creativity and enjoyment that comes with buying a rundown home, fixing it, and then selling it for a profit. Some amateurs have ventured into this industry and have made a lucrative career out of it. But others, particularly when a market is stagnant, have lost their shirts. As a part of my series about the ‘5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Career Buying, Rehabbing, and Selling Properties’, I had the pleasure of interviewing Antwan “Ish” Marby.

Antwan “Ish” Marby is an entrepreneur and public figure with two decades of expertise in the real estate and construction fields. Ish has seen much success with both his real estate investment and property renovation businesses, but also aims to pass down the knowledge he’s attained in his 20-plus year career to up-and-coming real estate entrepreneurs. Most recently, Ish has become very well-known as one of the co-hosts of the №1 podcast, The Joe Budden Podcast where he shares his prospective on various topics to millions of fans.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

Growing up, I lived with my uncle who was a general contractor and a plumber. So, I’ve always been around construction since I was a child. But, my journey in real estate started with a summer job in college when I was an electrical engineering major. After I left college, the finance industry piqued my interest. I started studying for my series 7 because I wanted to be a stockbroker. That was my goal, initially.

One day, I was at home, and I was watching an infomercial for a real estate seminar on TV. It was a free, one-day real estate seminar. So, I signed up for it and attended the seminar. They were selling another seven classes, a seven-day real estate boot camp that would teach you all of these different facets of real estate investing. I continued to go the real estate seminar. That was my groundbreaking moment. I was already pursuing a role in finance, and I had a construction background. So, the two things just came together, and real estate was basically the marriage that was birthed from those two interests.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

When I was younger, I started getting a ton of money, but I didn’t have discipline. When you’re in your 20s and you start making good money, that’s an adjustment. And I was spending money just as fast as I was making it.

So, the lesson I took from that experience was, when you first make some money, keep that money because that’s your foundation investment capital. A ton of investors I know, personally, throw it all away as soon as they get that first lump sum of money. And they have to start from ground zero again to get back to that level.

When you have the discipline to save up enough money to get your first house or to put yourself in position to start to be an investor, it’s a great feeling. You may end up sacrificing a few fun nights out or vacations with your friends, but it’ll be worth it. Discipline and consistency are key to build your empire.

Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson quote is, “Sometimes you have to be willing to step off the ledge, you might realize that you’ve had wings all along.” That saying resonates with me because I had to have enough courage to step away from the safe corporate job in order to devote myself full time as an investor. And it was worth it.

A lot of us are scared of the unknown, but it could be the best decision you’ll ever make in your life. If I didn’t bet on myself and take that chance, I might not be where I am today.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m working on a multi-unit now in the town of Newark, NJ. It’s a three-family house that was badly damaged and in need of an extensive renovation. I’m looking forward to renovating this property and watch it go from a badly damage property to a freshly renovated residence for three new families to call home. Real estate is a twofold thing.

My focus is renovating property in the neighborhood that I grew up in which is Newark and its surrounding cities. By doing so, I find that you are definitely helping yourself, but you are also helping people. A lot of times, you are giving people in our communities safe and adequate housing. There are a ton of landlords that come into our communities, and they give people the bare minimum. I’m not doing that.

I literally go above and beyond for any of my projects. You can walk into a house and it feels like you’re going to fall through the floor. For me, it’s a gratifying feeling when you finish renovating a house and it looks brand new.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

A lot of the times, there’s a disconnect with regards to landlords and tenants. I think I’m a little more connected. I’ve had some of my tenants for 15 years. I watched their children grow up, they were almost family to me. I think that connection is a little rare because I care more than most about the people that I’m servicing.

I think that particular factor is a little unique. In this business, I’ve met people that don’t care about the product that they are giving to their potential tenants. I pride myself in providing safe, quality housing, especially in some of the inner-city neighborhoods where I’ve done work or I own property. Those things are paramount. I think you make people feel good about themselves when you are giving them a quality place to live. I genuinely care about my tenants and their families’ living conditions.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There’s no particular person but throughout my journey, I’ve met friends and I have close friends that are investors, too. We basically bounce information off of one another, it’s like a village. I have friends that are immensely successful in real estate investing. So, when I look around and I see people that are excelling in certain areas, that’s a motivation.

You are a successful business leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Humility is one. A lot of times, people are too proud to take criticism or advice. If I have a problem, I’m never too proud to pick up a phone and call someone that I think might guide me accordingly. Or call someone that can lend some advice or that might have experienced my particular situation. I’ve called upon my colleagues or advice because like we are Sometimes in business, we are arrogant. And that arrogance and that pride will almost be like a ceiling above your head because you can’t grow since you won’t humble yourself to ask for help.

But you also have to be persistent. Don’t take “No” for an answer. You kind of circumvent some of these things to get your desired result. A lot of times those “Nos” are people shutting the door in your face. You got to have a resilience. You need to have a little bit of tenacity to get to the next level. Your family and your friends oftentimes are some of the biggest critics, especially in the beginning.

When I left the seminars, I told all my friends and my family about what I learned and said, “We can do this.” They’re like, “It’s not possible. They’re just selling you on a class. If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it.” Those are a lot of the things that we hear from our family members and our friends that will literally dissuade us from trying to pursue our dreams or trying to embark on a business venture. I took it as motivation to prove those people wrong.

I work hard, I’m not I’m not scared to do the work. I’m not scared to get dirty. I’ve come home with face dirty from being up under furnaces. I’ve done all of that stuff from a construction standpoint and from a landlord standpoint. There’s a lot of landlords that can’t screw a screw in the wall. I’m the guy that I literally will go get dirty.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry? If you can please share a story or example.

Real estate has no cap. In a real estate, you can be a billionaire in a real estate game. Like, if you work for somebody, most industries, when you work for somebody, it’s capped. In real estate, as hard as you work, if you prepare yourself again, if you keep reading and you are getting abreast of all the new information the sky is the limit for you.

One of the bigger things that I like, if this is the route that you take in the real estate game, is real estate will provide passive income. So, where I said I work hard, a lot of times, that’s on the construction side. But there’s a lot of people that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a month, and that’s passive. They don’t do a thing, they don’t work, they don’t put in any hours to make that money. They’re literally making money while they sleep. You don’t even have to leave your house.

And then thirdly, this is really important. Real estate is one of the only businesses that you can start with no money or very little money. Most businesses, you have to start with your own capital. The real estate business, you can start with zero money or very little money and become a billionaire.

Most businesses, you need capital to put into that business before it yields you a return. The real estate business, you can go into the real estate business, you could buy a multifamily house that’s already rented out, and the day that you close, you can get a check and never have put a dime out of your pocket. In most industries and most businesses, you can’t do that. That’s really important.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples if possible.

Overall house prices are moving faster than incomes. I just actually saw a report where an ideal housing expense should be 30% of your income. On the coastal states, which is far East Coast, far West Coast, people are spending as much as 50% to 55% of their monthly income on housing. That’s a problem that I don’t see that could keep going in that trajectory. It could be catastrophic.

If you bought a house three years ago, that house might have been $300,000. Now that house is $500,000. Those rents have to increase just to sustain that property. The market is bigger than myself, so I don’t control the housing market. That’s the only concerning factor about my industry at the moment.

What advice would you give to other real estate leaders to help their teams to thrive and to create a really fantastic work culture?

Treat people that work with you and work under you with respect. I think from that perspective, it’s no different than running any other business. Oftentimes when we see people start to rise up in these industries, the respect level is different. The people that work with me, I respect the guys that do demolition and clean up, the same way that I respect my electricians or my plumbers or my roofers. You have to keep the employee morale up to be successful. You want people to want to work for or with you as opposed to just getting a check.

Ok, wonderful. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share with our readers your “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Career Buying, Rehabbing, and Selling Properties”?

1. You need to know your market. You can’t be successful if you don’t know your market because having that knowledge will help you make better decisions when it comes to investments. For example, a lot of people were running out to Cleveland because the houses were so cheap in Cleveland, but they didn’t know that the rent is $500 for a two bedroom in many parts of Cleveland. So you get out there, and you spend $70,000 for a two family house. But now you’re only getting back $1,100 in rent. It’s not a good investment. From the real estate perspective, you have to know your market. That’s paramount.
2. Also, you have to be able to be taught. I think there’s a real value in that and it goes understated sometimes. A lot of people aren’t teachable in this game that’s moving so rapidly and is ever changing. Every flip is different. Every rental is different. Every experience is different. There are some underlying things that will stay the same, but there are some other things that change. You need to be willing to really learn and sometimes be really willing to adapt and learn on the fly. A lot of people are rigid and they’re not malleable, and that’s a problem.
3. Having good interpersonal skills is a plus in this industry. You should be a people person with regards to your lenders, to your property managers, to all of these other components and cogs that makes your business run. People like to do business with people that they like. It makes life easier, and it makes business smoother. You have to be diplomatic. You need a level of decorum to conduct business. My company runs smoother because I have an array of vendors at my disposal due to the fact that I like to work with them, but they also enjoy working for me.
4. Again, discipline is essential in this game. You got to be able to save money. They say that luck is where opportunity meets preparation. A lot of times we make money, and we won’t put the money back into the business. Instead, we’ll go spend it on frivolous things. Saving for a rainy day or an unexpected new venture is important as an entrepreneur.
5. Also, you need to be tenacious and have a certain grit about you. When you’re an investor, you can make money in a down market where people are slowly buying houses. You can make money in a market where houses are flying off the shelf again. The parameters dictate how you invest, but they don’t stop you from investing. You just got to be tenacious and know that a lot of this stuff is cyclical, so it runs in cycles. You’ve got to be tenacious, persistent, stay the course and keep your head down and grind.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen other people make when they try their own hand at house flipping? Can you share any stories?

Yeah, I think that we get too emotionally invested sometimes in house flipping. It’s business, and your goal in any business is to make money. People get emotionally attached to what they’re doing. You can’t do that. You can’t go get the $40 a square foot tile, because it’s the most amazing thing that you’ve ever seen. You can’t go get the $1,000 toilet that has the back massage built into it with. All of those things don’t make for quality real estate investments. A lot of times people get too emotional, and that’s one of the things that I’ve seen new investors do. That’s a real big mistake.

From your experience, what can be done to avoid those errors?

You can renovate and get the results of a beautiful home without spending excessive money. Don’t spend money that you’re never going to get back. Get the $4 square foot floors instead of the $9 square foot floors. People get too emotionally invested after watching HGTV and it’s just a waste of money.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I think that we have to show people that, and I spoke on it briefly, these things are possible. They’re not far-fetched, wild fantasies. These are very tangible goals. Financial freedom is a very tangible goal. Some of these things are attainable, they’re not as hard as we think. What happens in a bunch of our communities, including the community I grew up in, is we don’t necessarily see representation of people that come from our communities in positions of property ownership. I would want to show the people that these things are attainable and are definitely real goals to strive for.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can follow me on Instagram @thatsthatish. You can also watch me on The Joe Budden Podcast every Wednesday and Saturday on YouTube.

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.

About The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of Empowered Investor. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. Empowered Investor helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason’s Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason’s podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind.

Starting with very little, Jason, while still in college at the age of 19, embarked on a career in real estate. While brokering properties for clients, he was investing in his own portfolio along the way. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he earned a number of prestigious industry awards and became a young multi-millionaire. Jason purchased a California real estate brokerage firm that was later acquired by Coldwell Banker. He combined his dedication and business talents to become a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and media personality. Over the years he developed his Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ where his innovative firm educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason’s sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his popular “Creating Wealth Podcast” inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.

While running his successful real estate and media businesses, Jason also believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal relationships. He established The Jason Hartman Foundation in 2005 to provide financial literacy education to young adults providing the all-important real world skills not taught in school which are the key to the financial stability and success of future generations. We’re in a global monetary crisis caused by decades of misguided policies and the cycle of financial dependence has to be broken, literacy and self-reliance are a good start. Visit JasonHartman.com for free materials and resources.