The Alimond Show
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The Alimond Show
George Lopez of Generation Next Realty - From Military Service to Real Estate Leadership: Building Dreams, Giving Back to Belize, and Crafting a Legacy with Heart
George Lopez, co-owner of Generation Next Realty, shares his powerful journey from military retiree to real estate mogul. Discover how George, alongside his wife, has built a thriving business specializing in residential and commercial properties, as well as investment opportunities. Through heartfelt anecdotes, George discusses their dedication to giving back to their native Belize through donations and scholarships, while also offering a sneak peek into their innovative marketing strategies that leverage social media to stay ahead of the curve.
Dive into an inspiring conversation on the importance of family, legacy, and leadership. George unveils their ambitious five-year plan to expand their real estate investments and build a team to enhance client service. Get to know the personal side of the Lopez family, from their love of walks and sports to their passion for reggae music and their upcoming trip for Garifuna Settlement Day. Learn about the value of homeownership, the significance of equity building, and their empowering new home buyer workshops. The episode wraps up with a thought-provoking discussion on leadership and accountability, encapsulated by the memorable mantra, "To whom much is given, much is required."
My name is George Lopez and the name of our business is the Generation Next Realty. We provide residential as well as commercial real estate for our clients. We also help people out with investments. You know, if folks want to fix their properties or purchase properties that are old and want to turn it into something new, we can help them with that as well.
Speaker 2:Love that and talk to me about your team. How many people are on your team?
Speaker 1:We have a wife and husband team.
Speaker 2:Wow, dynamic, me and my wife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are the power couple. We've been doing real estate now for the last six and a half, going on seven years. We've helped quite a few people in the Hampton Roads area and around the country and around the world basically.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Congratulations to that. I'd like to know a little bit of a backstory about you guys, or you, or how you got started into the real estate industry and what got you interested and what led you to where you are today.
Speaker 1:Great question. I served 30 years in the military, retired almost nine years ago, thank you and thank you. And my wife and I met and we talked about what we wanted to do into retirement and now we real estate, you know, came to mind and we got involved around 2018, the beginning of 2018. And we took it from there. You know, the first year was a little rough because, you know, you got to get to learn the business and once we, you know, got into a rhythm, you know, it took off. We did really well during COVID. When COVID came, we did well. We were able to adapt, yes, and overcome. We helped quite a few people, military in our area as well. We love to help people. We love to give back.
Speaker 2:As a matter of fact, yeah, talk to me about that.
Speaker 1:After every closing, we give a percentage of our closing to different organizations around the country and different organizations where we come from, in Belize, because we are originally from Belize, nice, so we provide scholarships for some of the kids in my town, in my wife's town as well. Love that. Yeah, we have about 25 different organizations that we donate to after every close.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and talk to me a little bit about why that's so important for you and your wife to give back to the community.
Speaker 1:No, we realized that we did not get to where we are on our own. We realized that a lot of people helped us along the way and we wanted to do the same thing, you know, for the young boys and young girls coming up, especially people in disenfranchised communities. You know that's where 95% of our donations go to people in disenfranchised communities, especially people back home, because you know, belize is a is a developing country and they need all the resources that they can get from us. Lots of countries in Central America are pretty much the same, yes, and so whatever we can do out here to help our people, you know we do that.
Speaker 2:That's so touching. Thank you for sharing that. I love that and maybe we can give some visibility to the people in the towns in Belize. So thanks again for bringing that to my attention.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 2:And what are some marketing strategies that you guys are using or implementing in your business to show people the services that you're doing? So even just listing the houses like are you on Instagram, youtube? Talk to me about what's working for you.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that you asked that question because my wife is a she's a guru when it comes to marketing.
Speaker 1:Nice, perfect, she has an amazing team that markets everything from Facebook to Instagram to you name it. She knows, because she's a guru and we market, or they market at least. Well, every day. Yeah, yeah, they market every day, and I do my thing on the side as well. You know, I get into Facebook and I do my short videos. I would you know, put get into Facebook and I do my short videos. I would, you know, put some messages out there on my story, yeah, and so we're out there. You know, 24, 7, 7 days a week, because you want people to know about you. That's right. You know, unfortunately, the last year or two, a lot of people dropped out of the real estate market because of the high interest rates and so a lot of sellers were not selling, a lot of buyers were not buying and a lot of agents dropped out of the market. But we stayed. We're still in there. We're durable, we're tough as nails, we're very resilient In it to win it.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, and so we're here to help people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that, I love the messaging and I love the perseverance and. I love that wifey. Yes, the guru Shout out to wifey, she's actually here for moral support.
Speaker 1:Yes, she is Thank you, baby, I appreciate you, love it, love you, love you.
Speaker 2:All right. So what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the real estate industry in the next few years, and how do you think they can be addressed?
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a good question when it comes to buyers and sellers. At first, buyers had to well. They didn't have to worry about paying their agents a fee.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But now it seems like buyers are going to be responsible for paying their agents a fee, so that's going to be a big change in the near future. Technically, buyers don't pay their agents. The fee came from the seller.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But now that's going to be different. The fee is going to be coming from the buyer, yeah, so they're going to have to work some things around that as we move forward, especially for military.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I want to touch on your military background. Do you feel like that's giving you a whole other perspective, also being a real estate agent, with helping military families and helping them with like moving and the struggle of it all?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I am what they call an MRP military relocation personnel. Okay, because I've been serving for so long, or I had served for 30 years. I know the language, I know what's required when it comes to a move and so, knowing what I know, I'm able to help or agents like myself are able to help our military personnel to make their transaction a whole lot easier. Yes, okay, I'm also educated in the VA home loan. Okay. One good thing about the VA home loan is that there's no money down, unlike FHA and not conventional. Yeah, there is a certain percentage down For FHA it's 3% to 5%, and not conventional. There is a certain percentage down For FHA it's 3% to 5%, and not conventional it's 5%. Okay, but with a VA loan, there's no money down.
Speaker 2:You heard it here first people yes yes, no money down.
Speaker 1:So I recommend to our military personnel no money down and you can start using it after 60 to 90 days. You can start using. As long as you're eligible, you can start using a VA loan. Beautiful, thanks for sharing that. And then, oh and, by the way, you can use it multiple times as well, Cause a lot of people think that they could only use it one time. Right, and a lot of people tend to wait until they're retired before they use their B alone. You can use it at least 60 to 90 days after you get in.
Speaker 2:Okay, good to know. Thank you, you're welcome. And then, what factors should buyers consider when choosing between urban, suburban or rural living, in your opinion?
Speaker 1:Well, I think that buyers should do their homework, know exactly what they want. Do they want to live in the city? Do they want to live in the country? Do they want single-family home? Do they want a condo? Do they want you know? Whatever they want, they need to do their homework. But if they're not sure what they want, they can always have a conversation with the realtor and the realtor is going to let them know or help. Not let them know, but help them, advise them, recommend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, guide them.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly, guide them through the process. You also want to talk with your lender. A lender can help with that as well, especially in the area of finances, and a little bit has to do with the credit personnel as well. So the credit personnel, the lender and the real estate, those are three key professions, or three key people that you want to talk with to make sure that you have a smooth real estate transaction.
Speaker 2:Love that Great answer, Thank you. And then let's see what is the role of a real estate agent in the negotiation process and how can you maximize value for your clients?
Speaker 1:Well, one of the things that I would strongly recommend is for a buyer to look for an agent that is qualified an agent to know what he or she is doing, the type of transactions that they've conducted. But basically, do your homework to know who is going to help you. Yes, one of the things that I noticed a lot well, not a lot, but some buyers they go with somebody that they know, or they go with a family member and they may not necessarily know what they're doing. They just go with a friend because that's my friend, they just go with a cousin because that's my cousin, and they think that that person is going to do a good job for them. You want somebody who's going to represent you. You want somebody who knows what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Even when it comes to buying a brand new home, right, even when it comes to you know someone who's buying a brand new home, a lot of times people would go to a brand new home site and when they get there, they wouldn't take their buyer's agent. They would meet the agent at that new residential property. Yeah, and that agent may not necessarily be there in their best interest, you know what I mean. Yeah, so it would be best if they take their own agent, so their agent could ask questions and represent them thoroughly. Yeah, instead of using the new residence agent.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no. Yeah that of using the new residence agent? Absolutely no. Yeah, that's right. I want to talk a little bit about technology or maybe AI.
Speaker 1:Have you implemented any of that in your workings and do the ai? Okay, yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. I just get on a video and I talk to the people and I let them know you're talking to somebody live or somebody live yeah to you okay. So you see what I write, you hear what I say. There's nothing to do with ai, but my wife, with the technology that she uses, she does implement AI in her profession.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I always like to ask and see like are they in the know, are they behind? Are they 10 steps ahead? So, thank, you.
Speaker 1:She knows what she's doing.
Speaker 2:Love it. Good, that's what we want. And then how do you say organize and manage your time effectively as a real estate agent, especially when dealing with multiple clients and transactions Like any tips or advice.
Speaker 1:That is a good question. Great question, because a lot of time people tend to get lost in the sauce. One advice that we usually get is that do not mix movement for progress. Okay, do not mix movement for progress. Okay, do not mix movement for progress.
Speaker 2:That's a good one.
Speaker 1:Not just because you're making calls or you're doing this or you're doing that means that you're progressing. One of the things that I try to do is to prioritize my top three and I try to go with those top three every day or sometimes when I remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's always good to have a plan, block your time and, whether it's making calls or showing houses or whatever you have to do that day, yeah, but it's always good to do time management. Yes, absolutely. That's very important because the day can go past you without you being productive.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you can say that again. I've had too many times where I'm just like I'm going to do this later and then when I look at the clock I'm like, oh wow, Oops, so time management Time management, prioritizing getting the work done, being disciplined with a task and not getting caught up with distractions, because we can easily get distracted with our cell phones.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yes, I know a little bit about that sometimes. Let's see. And then, how do you stay up to date on the latest trends and developments in the real estate market, and what resources do you like to rely on?
Speaker 1:Every day. You know when I wake up, I tend to look up. You know what's going on in my community when it comes to real estate, like, for example, a couple of days ago. We found out that the interest rate had dropped half a percent.
Speaker 2:I heard, I just heard that someone else told me that today yes, Interest rate had dropped half a percent.
Speaker 1:So I listened to the news, I read articles and I also you know my wife and I, you know we would usually talk about. You know what's happening in the in the real estate market so we can stay abreast of what's going on. But you don't want to not pay attention to what's going on in the market because if you do, you're going to fall apart.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, absolutely. You're right about that. It's always good to stay up to date because I feel, like you guys, for real estate agents, you guys it's always changing a lot like something every other week, so it's like you have to be on top of it. We have to. Yeah, that's right. And where do you see yourselves in the next five years? Any room for expansion, maybe hiring, some more help or different location? Any thoughts to that?
Speaker 1:The next five years we plan on growing our, our business. We plan on getting involved in more real estate investments. You more buildings, getting more properties, so we can have passive residual income.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So purchasing old properties, fixing them up and selling them. Purchasing old properties, fixing them up and putting them on rental for properties and, at the same time, building our team to help us to buy, sell and invest in real estate.
Speaker 2:Love it. And now, what do you and the wifey like to do when you're not working and helping clients and selling, buying homes? What do you like to do to unwind? Who are you guys outside of?
Speaker 1:this we like to walk in the neighborhood. You know, in the evenings we like watching movies, watching TV, we like watching Family Feud.
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 1:We love to watch Family Feud. We love to watch sports. You know she's a sports mom, I'm a sports dad and you know we try to find a happy medium. Yes, because there are things that you know she likes to watch that I don't like and certain things that I like watching she doesn't like that's totally normal yeah. It's cool. But in the evenings we would go walking, you know. We would have dinner together. We would watch a movie together. I love that Music.
Speaker 2:You would watch a movie together. I love that Music.
Speaker 1:You know we like reggae because you know that's our, one of our. You know music from home.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we would dance. You know, dance together, just the two of us and you know. Have a good time.
Speaker 2:Love it and do you guys travel back home, sometimes just to visit.
Speaker 1:No, we haven't traveled back home yet yeah.
Speaker 1:It's been a while. We plan on going this year though. Yeah, we plan on going this year. We already bought our tickets. So around November is um, our cultural, cultural, um event month. So we'll be home for uh, what we call uh Garifuna Settlement Day. Yeah, uh, where experience our culture, which includes the food, the music, the clothing, the people, the vibe, the people. Yes, yes, get to know you know how big the community has grown or the communities have grown, but basically, get around and meet. You know some of our friends from way back.
Speaker 2:I love that. That sounds so good. It probably feels so nice and good to just come back home and just catch up and all that good stuff. So I love how you implement that in your work too, by giving back. I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact, about 10 days ago, we had a huge event in Brooklyn. Okay, the Empowered Lifestyle Network had sponsored well, not sponsored, but they marketed the event the Belize Park Fest. They marketed the event and it was a huge success. We had over 700 people in attendance.
Speaker 1:Wow, yes yes, yes, yes. And so the Empowered Lifestyle Network, which is responsible for marketing, you know, our real estate products or our real estate business, has been doing a phenomenal job. Like I said, we had over 700 people and we got to meet a lot of people that I had not seen in years. Yeah, one of the guys that I met, rodwell Ferguson. He and I graduated back in 1978. And we hadn't seen each other from, you know, around that time, so it was just a joy to get to see him. The same thing's going to happen when we go down in November.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure your wife will get good behind the scenes footage to share online good reunions, all that good stuff Love that. And is there anything that I have not touched on that maybe you would like for our listeners to know about you and your wife, whether it's something personal, whether it's about your business. What would you like to share?
Speaker 1:Well, one of the things that I want to share is that for people to get more involved in purchasing houses, becoming homeowners. I know it's tough out there right now with inflation, it's hard to purchase a home, but home ownership is the way to go. We've been taught to get a job, rent an apartment and a lot of times people get caught up into renting. They would stay as a rental, stay renting for years and they would forget about home ownership. But with home ownership you get to have equity. You tend to have equity and you can do a lot with equity. You can make some renovations on the house, you can purchase another property, you can purchase a vehicle. I mean, you could do so much with the equity.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So my advice is to become homeowners. We do new home buyer workshops.
Speaker 2:Nice, when do you hold those?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we do home buyer workshops like every other month. Okay, we're getting ready to do another one next month, in the month of October.
Speaker 2:Where can people check this out if they're interested?
Speaker 1:Yes, new home buyer workshops. We are going to be doing it. Pardon me, generation Next Realty yeah, just go to Generationnextrealtycom, yeah, generationnextrealtycom for the information. We're going to have it live as well as virtual.
Speaker 2:Nice yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:We're going to have real estate agents, we're going to have a lender, a credit restoration person, a financial planner and different other professions that are involved with the home buying process, because buying a home is not just buying a home. There's a lot more involved in the process. You want somebody to help you to save money. You want somebody to help you to maintain your credit. You want somebody to help you with different things that pertain to the home.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. It's a huge process, absolutely, and so there are lots of professions, professionals, involved in the process. And, lastly, what we do is huge because we're very spiritual people. We go as what the Bible says that a good man shall leave an inheritance for his children's children. And so what we do is not just here, is not just for the here and the now, it's for our children and our grandchildren. That's why we call our business Generation Next, because it's for the next generation. Wow, now we know the little story behind the name, right? You know, real estate is a tangible assets and with tangible assets, they appreciate in value, whereas, you know, some things depreciate in value. So you always want to invest in things that appreciate in value, like gold and silver, like fine arts. You know, real estate, those things appreciate appreciated value.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no. Thank you so much, and the way you said that and put it in perspective like that, you're right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like. These are things that appreciate up in time.
Speaker 1:And our children and our grandchildren are going to be grateful. We are setting them up just right because we're doing the work now.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And they won't have to work as hard as we did, you know, when we were younger.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because we're preparing a path for them.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's so beautiful that you guys are looking out for your kids like that.
Speaker 1:That's the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's supposed to be, but some people I don't want to say any names- Tell me about it.
Speaker 1:But no, yeah, we have come across people that say, oh hell, no, I work my ass off to be where I'm at. They're gonna have to do the same thing. I'm like, no, oh yeah, help them out, you know, yeah but, um, yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2:I I love that mindset and I love that you said that, because I totally agree with that as well. And now my final question is going to be and it's one that I like to ask everybody, because I love hearing the answers that everybody gives me You're in trouble now. Do you or your wife have a saying, a mantra or a quote that you guys have used as inspiration for yourself or has inspired you in any way? What is that quote or mantra? And, yeah, if you wouldn't mind sharing that with our listeners?
Speaker 1:Do we have one? Babe? We have many. Share me one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If you want to come and say it no, you don't want to Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, you see, to whom much is given, much is required, and that's the leadership that comes from a leadership perspective, right, because we are leaders in our own right. You know, I'm the dad, she's the mom, I'm grandfather, she's grandmother, and so, yeah, to whom much is given, much is yeah, and so we are standard bearers. You know, we set the standards, basically, yeah, and so we do realize that people are watching us, not just our children, our grandchildren, but, you know, people in the community, yeah, on Facebook or social media, they're watching us. Yes, and so, being the people that we are, we realize that, you know, we have to set some very high standards.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And to whom much is given. Much is required, Love it Well.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for sharing that and shout out to Wifey for coming through with the quote. Right right right, yes, well, thank you so much for being here. You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you.