Interview with Ryan Curran – President

Top 1% of Real Estate Professionals in New Jersey and Broker/Owner of Curran Group Real Estate Services & Curran Commercial

Spring Lake, NJ

Curran Group Real Estate Services | Curran Commercial

 Curran Group President – Ryan Curran |   currangrouppresident |  ryancurran.currangrp.com

What inspired you to start in real estate and how did you motivate yourself to keep going?

Real Estate found me. It was 2009 and I was 26 years old and just trying to figure out what direction to take my career, but the economy just completely collapsed and the real estate market specifically was hit harder than any other sector. I had been finishing up the last four classes to get my Bachelors’s Degree in Business with a Minor in Economics and Graphic Design from Stockton University in New Jersey after a few years of hiatus away from academia. Fortunately, a friend of mines father and a Broker friend of his identified a very interesting market where the banks that we’re holding onto a lot of mortgages were people in default and they were quietly trying to get some of the debt off of their books and were selling distressed banknotes for pennies on the dollar to other financial institutions and/or high net worth individuals.

They approached me to help them infiltrate the banking system and analyze products so that we could package it and “broker” them between institutions. Since this was a new business that no one had ever seen before we decided to get our Real Estate Licenses in case the Federal Government came knocking on our doors and asked us what license we held to trade these notes. I learned so much during this time period and even though we were not tremendously successful, it was probably the most valuable experience in my working career. I learned how to get past gatekeepers of financial institutions that weren’t always welcoming when asked about their distressed assets, cold call potential clients about a new product that could have tremendous future value, and educate them why they should hear out my elevator pitch, analyze and evaluate real estate from an investment standpoint and really learn the numbers side of the business, and constantly learn as I go and build new and improved strategies that worked more efficiently based on failures and successes. It was the worst real estate market (and worst market in general) in my lifetime, but we found an opportunity, which was super exciting to me and kept me interested.

There were so many different nuances with every deal and managing relationships with every person was a totally different experience, some good, some bad, it was like a giant never-ending puzzle that never got boring. I am not a guy who likes to be put in a box or do cookie-cutter things so I saw that there was something to this real estate thing and I knew that this experience was going to be the perfect spot for a young kid to learn as much as possible and that this wasn’t even scratching the surface of the endless possibilities which could later in life lead to owning a brokerage, development, forming my own REIT or Fund. It was just the start I needed to get addicted to real estate.

Comparing your business from back then to now, what has been the main thing that allowed you to expand your business?

At first it was a grind. Sourcing clients in the market where I live is very competitive and I was working a full time 50+ hour a week job to keep food on the table so (a) I didn’t have as much time as a lot of my competitors did to allocate to prospecting and (b) a lot of my prospects would hold that against me, because they felt like they needed someone who was around 24/7 to service them. However, Real Estate for me has always been a relationship business more than anything else. I hear people all the time call this a sales job, but it’s not, it’s a service job. One of my mantras always has been and always will be “People Buy People”. Relationships have been the main thing that has allowed me to expand my business. My clients have never called me because of the company I worked at or because of the amount of experience I had… They called me because they knew what they were going to get when they hired me. They knew they were going to get someone who cares about their goals, who listens to what’s important to them, who is able to make their lives easier throughout the entire process by delivering solutions rather than problems, and who is going to work relentlessly until their transaction closes. Almost 99% of my business is through my personal network or a referral from that network. I’ve always held myself to a high standard and have had the mindset to give every single person the same amount of service no matter if it’s a $900 studio apartment rental or a $3M+ Waterfront Home. By having a humble attitude and helping everyone that I possibly could, my business has organically mushroomed and continues to mushroom simply because I have earned my clients trust. One thing that I thing is absolutely critical too, is that I have surrounded myself with partners that are equally as dedicated to the clients and the transaction as I am. My preferred lender, my preferred attorney, my preferred title company, they all hold themselves to the same standards and care about the clients as much as I do. Having a great team in place has been 1000% a key factor in me being able to scale my business to what it has become now. They allow me to have the time to do what I do best and not have to micromanage the transaction process. It’s a win/win/win when a good team is working together. With all that being said, it took me 3 years to break away from my other job and go full time into real estate, but the foundation that I built in my first few years and that level of hustling and grinding and maintaining relationships is something that will always be a part of my business model.

What’s the most profitable aspect of your business, why do you think this is and how can others apply this to what they are doing?

I was brought up in this business right after the crash occurred so the only thriving market was distress. I remembered what my real estate school teacher taught me which was that “there is no such thing as a bad market, but there is such thing as a bad agent”, which meant that there is always opportunity in real estate. I learned such a valuable lesson from that quote and the market conditions I was raised in because it showed me that the institutional capital is always very active no matter what the market conditions are and I learned that if I follow the money and stay limber and dynamic that I can react to trends and shift my strategy as quickly as the market conditions change. Even though I focus a lot on residential real estate and I have a very successful Residential Brokerage, today my most profitable aspect of my business has come as a direct result of following the money, the institutional capital. I saw what Amazon was doing and how the industrial real estate market was reacting and immediately realized I needed to be hanging out in that space. I took the skillet that I learned analyzing distressed asset portfolios and residential real estate and quickly applied it to assembling large tracks of land that was zoned properly for institutional sized developers to build large logistics and distribution facilities. By approaching farmers in the South Jersey/Sub Philly Market and explaining to them the value of their land, I was able to convince them to become sellers if I brought them a deal that was exciting and lucrative enough for them to sign a contract. So far in the short period of time I’ve shifted gears into that sector, I’ve closed over $51M+ in land sales with another $160M+ in the Pipeline. I put together projects where Amazon now has their largest fulfillment center in the State of New Jersey and also we are closing Q1 of 2022 on a project that will be the largest contiguous warehouse in the State of New Jersey.

When did you realize you were successful/made it and how did you feel/celebrate?

When I was able to quit my full time job and start solely focusing on real estate I knew I made it. The amount of dedication and “overtime” that I had put in and the sacrifices that I made to finally get to the point where I was comfortable to live the lifestyle that I want and not have to depend on anything else was finally paying off. No joke, I was easily putting in 80+ hour weeks on a regular basis between both jobs. For 3 years I was basically working around the clock only taking breaks to eat. I rarely had time for hobbies or vacation, I was obsessed with my long term vision of building my own real estate empire and I knew that I wasn’t getting any younger so I went after it as hard as I could while I still had a big swing in me. I knew that to achieve my vision that there would be lots of “short term pain for long term gain”. I celebrated by taking the risk of opening my own Brokerages (Curran Group Real Estate Services & Curran Commercial) and Title Insurance Company (Smart Title Insurance Company). Not only had I made a ton of terrific connections with clients, but I had learned that professional connections with other agents was equally important and that gaining their trust and respect would be of great value. So I developed a product in the form of a Brokerage, for agents with a similar entrepreneurial mindset to be themselves and do business in a way that’s suits them best. Today I continue to celebrate by having the privilege to provide a workplace where my company delivers a best in class agent experience and all the resources necessary to develop each entrepreneur into the best versions of themselves that they can be. I also get the opportunity to compete on a much larger stage in a market where all of the largest Brokerage Houses in the World are my competition. We have been able to stick to our vision of being more modern and tech savvy and have already in a short period of time caused disruption and have been making serious waves. Our market share increases every single day. That’s fun for me, I no longer consider what I do “work”, it’s a passion and it’s my Greater Purpose; to help others and to pack as much into the Stream of Life as I possibly can during the precious time we are given on this Earth.

Looking back, what could you have done sooner to get to that point quicker?

Honestly, I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished and the road it took me to get there. I left a lot out of my story in the previous questions, but I’ve had a pretty colorful past where there were a few “bugs on my windshield” from my journey with alcoholism and addiction when I got into this business. Without getting into detail, I had a very long period of time where I had no drivers license or car and I had certain restrictions on the professional licenses I was able to obtain until certain requirements were met. If I hadn’t had those self imposed and we’ll deserved restrictions I probably would be a lot further down the road than I am now, but honestly I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m not sure I would be the man I am today and I’m not sure I would have the life experience and the appreciation and understanding of how this world works if it wasn’t for the trials and tribulations that are my past. Everything happens for a reason and life hands you lessons every single day, you can either learn from them or continue to not adapt until life wins. I’ve been successfully active in recovery from alcoholism and addiction since 2008 and channel my extra energy into my vision of leaving the world a better place. I think one of my greatest attributes as a leader is my story, I had so many obstacles and every reason in the world to make excuses, but I pushed through it… So when agents tell me how hard it is and how they want to give up I can remind them that I was able to make Silver Circle of Excellence in my 2nd year in the business with no car and this was before Uber became popular. Or when agents tell me how hard it is to convert leads and how bad the leads are and how uncomfortable it is to get on the phone with strangers, I can remind them that my experience was that I felt the same exact way, however it’s been my experience that the leads are “only as good as the person answering the phone” and that if you have the mindset to push through that uncomfortability and get on the phone and physically speak to the person and then set up an appointment of some kind to meet them that it then becomes your business to lose.

What should other real estate entrepreneurs reading this be focusing on to expand their own business?

I think it all boils down to one thing, you were either born for this business or you weren’t. You need to be an entrepreneur, a risk-taker, have thick skin, and you have to be a fighter. You have to have a little bit of the mindset of “Figure It The F*** Out” in you. If someone has those characteristics they can be taught additional skill sets that can be stacked on top to make them a more well-rounded agent. Each agent is different, some people are connectors/networkers, some are social media marketing focused, some are cold callers, some are lead generation converters, some are more traditional door knockers… My company takes pride in treating each agent as an individual and figuring out which one of those skillets comes naturally to them that they’re very good at, then we use that as the engine to generate business, and then we build around that and attach different strategies on top of it so that they can scale their business. So long story short my answer is to be yourself, connect with people and build relationships the best way you know-how, and be consistent and always follow through.

How has social media and online marketing affected your real estate business? How much more success have you had now after implementing social media and online marketing efforts?

Social Media Marketing is something that is a core competency of mine and my company. It is the most powerful and most visible market platform available that goes directly to the consumer and it is for the most part “FREE” other than the few minutes of time it takes per day to come up with content. If you’re not using social media on an almost daily basis, I have a question for you, what are you thinking?!? From inception, my goal was to do social media better than any of my competitors and so far we have been super successful. There are two things to consider when using social media (1) Branding and (2) Marketing… Branding in my experience is more formal where recognition and creating a feeling people get when they see your content is the main focus so that they remember exactly who you are, Marketing in my experience can be more fun and more personal to show people exactly the services and the products that you can deliver for them and what it is exactly that you do. I try to mix it up a bit, I have templated content that is “Branded” so that there is immediate memory recognition and then I have more personal content that really humanizes and personalized the experience to make my content more exciting and let the public know that I’m a real person and can be relatable so that there is some kind of connection made that will hopefully lead to my phone ringing someday. I’m happy to say that I have personally received awards and so has my Company from PropertySpark. So thank you for that!! I regard you guys as the Gold Standard when it comes to Social Media Awards so it meant a lot to get that recognition. It was proof of concept that I am accomplishing both my personal goals and company goals.

How did you build your team?

Initially the first group that came into my Brokerage were “friends and family” agents that I knew in the business which was a perfect start for me and gave me the foundation to build around. Since then, I have hand picked my agents by identifying who is really shaking things up in the market and fits into our model. I look for agents that have a great online and social media presence who are actively promoting themselves in ways that are cutting edge and that are seemingly passionate about their craft… I can build around that. I am a monster when it comes to recruiting, ever since I was a 3 year old boy at the supermarket with my mother, when I saw something I liked (like a candy bar) I would not stop until I got it… I take that same mentality into my team building efforts. It’s so easy to connect these days with other professionals via Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., so whenever I see someone I like, I reach out and let them know how impressed I am with their business and how they promote themselves and I immediately make it clear that my intention is to get to know them and form a relationship we can talk about what we both have to offer one another and if it makes sense from there to come up with a game plan to help transition them to come onboard if it makes sense. I’m in a unique position compared to larger Brokerages where I’m in the process of scaling my Company so I have a lot to offer and can be very creative when structuring opportunities for agents. The platform I have developed has opportunity for single agents, team leaders, team members, office managers, office operators, and potentially more depending on what each individual persons vision is… I am constantly looking for talent where I can build around them to help them scale their business so that it’s a win/win situation where everyone is happy and a side effect to that is retention and a long term relationship.

How did you become a good leader?

I’ve had a very humble work experience prior to doing my own thing and had plenty of opportunities to see what poor leadership looked like, so I basically started off by reverse engineering myself into a leadership role by first determining all the things that I absolutely could not stand about prior leaders that I had either worked for or under and removed all of those characters traits and corporate policies from how I operate. I then took what worked the best in my experience and came up with the most efficient way to operate where people would be happy and more importantly be able to perform their best without being micromanaged and without red tape. One of the biggest mantras on my approach to managing people is “let the talent be talented”. Letting talented people be themselves and do what they do best and being the support system or platform they need to most efficiently attack the marketplace is what I do best and is what separates me from my competition. We are not a group that recruits everyone they can to make money off of fees or these silly downline/profit sharing ponzi schemes where culture becomes a toxic cespool… we are a group of very talent individuals that sell real estate and lots of it, we make our money out selling our competition by being the smartest and hardest working people in the marketplace and we all have fun doing it, we’ve created a culture where everyone respects and appreciates one another and there is a friendly competitiveness that makes everyone work just a little bit harder every single day. It’s a thing of beauty.

Did You Experience Failures? If So, What Did You Learn From Them?

Ha! One of the first things I teach my agents is that the highs and lows in this business are tremendous. It’s probably 85% failure and 15% success, especially in the Sellers Market we have been in the last few years. This business can be full of disappointments… family and friends will use other agents, your buyers offers won’t get accepted after multiple bidding war situations, deals will fall apart in inspections, and everything in-between…. You have to focus on the positives and driving results, we are in a results business where we don’t get paid and more importantly our clients don’t get what they want unless we perform all the way to the closing table. Perseverance, creativity, and working cooperatively and communicating openly with colleagues and clients can often be the difference between failure and success. Once in a deal the mindset needs to be that we are all “working on a common goal” to get to the closing table (obviously without jeopardizing our clients best interest).

Failure isn’t something that I personally accept. I view it as a challenge and an opportunity to learn and an experience to grow from. I’ll give you an example, in 2008 I was leaving a rehab facility that I had been mandatorily sent to, and upon successful completion of a 90 day program, every single thing that I owned at the time was handed back to me in a plastic garbage bag. Rather than use that as an excuse, I viewed it as the start of a new life and the beginning of my climb to the top. It could only go up from there right? But then it took a TON of action. Laser focus, constant improvement, relentless persist. One foot in front of the other for years and years. Blood, sweat, and years. What I learned is that as long as I have my health I can be knocked down all the way to the dregs of society and get back on the horse and keep riding. I learned that what makes me dangerous to my competition is they I can survive at the bottom so that when I calculate risk I’m not afraid of going back there because not only do I know I’m going to be OK, I know how to get out and get back on top and quickly. My life experience and my story by the age of 26 had taught me more about life and business and relationships than most people learn in a lifetime and for that I am forever grateful.

What do you consider the main differences between those people who have been successful in your industry and those who have failed?

Listening, attentiveness, nurturing, consistency, communication, and follow through are the keys to success. I see too many people that come into this business that are obsessed with “training” to the point where it becomes “paralysis by analysis”. This is an action business where there is no business without first getting a client. It’s all about getting in front of people and getting them to choose you to represent them. Some of the smartest and most analytical people I know never get out of the gate in real estate because they are too focused on having things perfect before they get the business, which is impossible because the only way to really learn is to gain hands in the dirt experience. It’s the “DOERS” of the world that are successful in this business. There are plenty of agents that are extremely successful in this business that are nowhere near the smartest people I’ve ever met, however they all have a few things in common, they all answer their phones no matter what, they all show up no matter what, and they all do those things consistently. A great new agent in my eyes is one that truly trusts me and my team to go out and get a client without having any experience whatsoever and then allows us to attach ourselves along side themselves for their first few deals until the contracts, process, and nuisances become boilerplate for them. There is no better way to learn this business than to get your hands dirty. Nike was on to something when they coined the phrase “Just do it”!

What’s Your Approach To Marketing?

Simply put, it’s to cast the largest net possible. I use all social media platforms, I am a huge networker, I am on the Board of a few Charitable Organizations and actively donate to others where I can, I shop local and promote local businesses, I’m involved in my children’s lives and activities, and I have multiple other streams of marketing including online and print. Any of or all of these things done consistently will get results. Marketing is a long-term game so being consistent is everything. I started with my “people buy people” approach with working my sphere of influence and social media and then reinvested the excess profits I made from that into other areas as my business began to grow.

I personally think that the most powerful marketing tool and the most underutilized of all the Social Media platforms is LinkedIn. I find that it’s the “silent assassin” of the bunch where you might not see a lot of interaction and maybe the connections I have on there aren’t very “visible”, but every time I go out or go to an event someone always says “hey I saw they you guys are killing it on LinkedIn”… In my opinion, there is no better place to market yourself to a group of professionals that are all commonly on a path of their own success than LinkedIn. After all, if you aren’t producing in your field then there’s a chance you aren’t a candidate for buying/selling/renting a home. I can’t say the same about Instagram and Facebook, it’s a much different dynamic.

Final Thoughts

I’d really like to thank PropertySpark for the opportunity to conduct this interview. As mentioned earlier in the interview I hold PropertySpark in the highest regard and am super appreciative of being included in the same circle along side many other super successful colleges of mine that you have featured.