The Mostly Real Estate Podcast, with Declan Spring

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Chris Brown has been selling homes in Las Vegas for 5 years and is widely respected as one of the top social media agents in the valley specializing in relocation and new-construction single-family homes. Chris is a Los Angeles native who moved to Las Vegas after spending three years in Orlando, Florida working in collegiate and professional sports. In the past year, Chris has sold nearly $10 million worth of real estate with 90% of his clients coming from social media.

After working as an agent on a team with EXP Realty Chris decided to depart and join the number #1 luxury brokerage Simply Vegas as a solo agent. During this transition, Chris committed to targeting his clients 100% through social media by displaying the local lifestyle clients get when they live in Las Vegas. With an audience of over 160,000 followers, Chris has found his niche as the "lifestyle specialist", his new way of prospecting future clients.

In our conversation we talk about, among other things, the primary differences between short form and long form video, and monetization metrics; why understanding what each media platform is best designed for is the key to growth and success; understanding that consumers turn to YouTube for instructional and ‘how-to’ specific content as opposed to general media which often generates more random entertainment content; the value of contracting with a professional strategist for long form video content; consistency.

Chris can be reached by email at [email protected] or on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at the handle @CB.LasVegas.

Chris Brown is a licensed NV REALTOR® NRED#188080

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Aman Daro has become a regular on the podcast, and with good reason. If you've ever received statistical charts from me or any Red Oak Realty agent showing aspects of the real estate market in the East Bay most likely they were conceived of and compiled by Aman Daro. Aman Daro is COO at Red Oak Realty but is more fondly thought of as "the data guy".
Has the real estate market started to recover?... Well, it's complicated...
In this conversation with Aman we talk all about the 2022 real estate market and how it played out since our last conversation in September 2022. Aman walks us through some of the key data points from the last quarter of 2022 and for the year so far, and offers possible scenarios for what we can expect between now and the end of spring. We talk about inflation and mortgage rates and how the unnerving rise of each coincided with the beginning of summer 2022, marking the beginning of a distinct market downturn. We also talk about Chat GPT.
I encourage you to listen to episode #5 of the podcast, my first conversation with Aman, to better understand his mission at Red Oak Realty and his approach to tracking data and uncovering market trends.

Aman Daro is CA licensed real estate agent DRE##1350412

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This episode means more to me than I can say. It's truly one of the great good fortunes of my life to count Edna Olmstead among my closest friends. Edna spent 28 years at Red Oak Realty before retiring about a decade ago. I was fortunate to join Red Oak and become her friend right before she retired. You'll forget as you listen to her that Edna is much older than you are! Edna laughs more than most people. Edna cares more than most people. Edna lives more than most people. I hope you'll enjoy this conversation. It was a joy to record.

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“A well thought out estate plan is an act of love for yourself and your beneficiaries”. So says my guest Loulena Miles.

In our conversation we cover the basics of estate planning, and the different main documents that are involved in an estate plan. We talk about how to refresh an estate plan and the hazards of do-it-yourself estate planning. We also spend some time talking about digital assets, and the importance of creating an advanced medical healthcare directive and thinking clearly about end of life care and beyond.

This conversation was originally recorded as a live Zoom presentation to a small audience and Loulena provided 3 documents to accompany her talk. The documents are available by clicking on the links below and I encourage you to download and/or print item #2, the Podcast Handout, and have it available as you listen to the talk.

1. Main Presentation Slides (simple)
2. Podcast Handout (detailed)
3. Biggest Mistakes People Make With Their Wills (WSJ - 2/16/2023)

Loulena Miles has been practicing law as a licensed California Attorney since 2003. She began her career in public policy in Washington DC working for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. Following completion of her law degree, graduating in the top of her class at Golden Gate University, she worked as the Staff Attorney at Tri-Valley CAREs practicing environmental law and public policy. She then worked in private practice as an Associate Attorney at Adams, Broadwell, Joseph and Cardozo in South San Francisco with a focus on administrative law. Most recently, before forming Miles and Torres Associates, Loulena assisted senior citizens with legal issues including maintaining housing, healthcare and financial solvency. She is a Strauss Scholar and a New Voices Ford Foundation Fellow. She presented at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India. She holds a certification in conflict resolution and mediation. She was awarded Witkin and Cali awards for top academic performance in Wills and Trusts, Criminal Law, Legal Research and Writing, Negotiations and Toxics Law and Policy. Loulena Miles is a member of East Bay Trust and Estate Lawyers and is currently serving on the nonprofit board of Tri-Valley CAREs.

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Andrew Butt is a candidate for City Council for District 2 in Richmond, California. He’s managing principal at Interactive Resources, his family’s architecture firm in Pt. Richmond. Andrew lives with his family in Point Richmond and has served as planning commissioner for the cities of El Cerrito and Richmond, and chaired the Richmond Design Review Board and El Cerrito Planning Commission. Andrew is also very involved in the local community through his volunteer work as board president of Point Richmond Music, which he co-founded, and serves on boards of several local non-profits, including the Early Childhood Mental Health Program, and the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Andrew is an old friend of mine so I thought this was a good opportunity to chat with someone I know and trust about local politics in the city I choose to call home. We talk about how Andrew and I met; his father, Mayor of Richmond, Tom Butt, in whose footsteps Andrew is clearly following in many ways; we talk about growing up in Richmond; City of Richmond history from about the second world war to the present and Andrew’s recollection of racial tension as he was growing up; the collapse of industry in the middle of the last century and its impact on the population; we touch on redlining; we talk about Andrew’s family’s history of public service; his studying for architecture in Arkansas and eventual return home to work at his family’s architecture firm in Pt. Richmond; we talk about Andrew’s start in community service in Richmond, the Point Richmond Music Summer Concert Series, his work as an appointee to the Planning Commission, and participation with the Design Review Board; we talk about NIMBYism and its contribution to the housing shortage; we talk about Andrew’s reasons for getting into local politics; we talk a good deal about the Point Molate and opposition to Andrew’s preferred vision for Point Molate from the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA, the political group currently holding power at City Council level; we talk about the Rosie The Riveter National Historic Park and other preservation efforts; the challenges of getting good information and unbiased reporting; we talk about Andrew’s influences (there's some mention of former Mayor of Richmond, David Pierce) and his vision for the City of Richmond and how it might look if there were a revitalization of Richmond’s downtown main streets; we go on in rapid fashion to talk about many aspects of City leadership that concern Andrew and are the reasons he has created a 10 point plan and sees now as being an important time for him to run for office; we talked about the challenges of social media and the false narratives prevalent in social media that Andrew feels he needs to address.