Hello, good morning. Welcome to Labors for Neighbors, the show about doing labors for yourself, but also labors for yourself that benefit others. And most of them do benefit others.
You and I are friends from the New York City Rescue Mission, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, time flies. You are a donor to the mission before me and after me and during me. I was there 10 years. You fell in love with the mission in the 90s and still support them. You and I did an interview yesterday and this is a follow-up interview. You mentioned a book that you have published and you also mentioned a second book that you published called Get Off the Couch. It's a great name and it begs the question, Joe Baratta, I can't imagine, you know, you're such an industrial fellow and a go-getter and a good time non-waster. You use your time wisely. I find that to be the case and have found that to be the case. Was there ever a time when you sat on the couch?
Yeah, it's very easy to get nice and comfortable and, you know, get up, get dressed, go to work, come home, watch TV, eat dinner, watch TV, and then the next morning get up, get dressed, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch TV. And that seems to be a very typical cycle for a lot of people. You know, people that... and I was self-employed and I found that what inspired me to write this book...
Wait, wait. You were self-employed in what capacity and doing what?
I've been self-employed since 1985.
But you were doing what at that time?
I was a general contractor first, and then at some point in 1999 I took a real estate course and became a real estate agent and became a broker almost immediately. As soon as I was legally allowed to, I became a broker.
What does a broker mean when you became a broker immediately? Which means you did what immediately?
Well, if you get a real estate license in New York, you have to work for a brokerage. And so after one year and a certain amount of sales, you could start your own brokerage after becoming a broker.
So which means you can hire someone, which means people can work for you.
Yeah, so I am a brokerage.
Does anyone have a brokerage and they're the only broker?
Yeah, I guess there's a handful of people that do that. You could do that, you just can't make much money that way.
Because every sale depends on you. I have 100 plus people out there that are doing sales.
I want to ask how you divide that up. You have 117 agents, they're not brokers, they're agents. And how do you divide up the spoils? How do you divide up the territory? How does that work?
They are required to generate their own clients and their own business. I mean, if somebody goes to the website and clicks through and looks for an agent, they can stumble on somebody. But the hard part of real estate is finding clients. That's the tough part of the job.
Do you have a website where 117 are listed or no?
Not all 117, but I do have a website. It's josephbarataandcompany.com.
But overwhelmingly I'm hearing that it has very little to do with facade. It has 99% to do with gumption, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears of the individual agents and their finding leads.
Yeah, it's a people business. You know, people like to deal with people they know, like, and trust. No one's going to list their $2 million house with somebody who just got out of real estate school, doesn't know what they're doing, or some person who's just a miserable human being. Nobody wants to work with them.
And the agents, is this all residential or commercial as well?
And is there anything that you don't do regarding sales?
No. You could sell a mall.
If somebody wanted to buy one or list one with us, we would be happy. I haven't had any come by my way, but a strip mall for sure. You know, I mean, the Palisades Mall, I don't think so, but I would be honored if somebody wanted me to. But on a smaller scale, yeah.
If you list a house with... and what's the name of your company?
It is Joseph Baratta and Company Realty.
