1
00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.240
Johny Fernandez: Brooklyn native
Ralph DiBugnara works across the

2
00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:15.180
Hudson River in Edgewater, New
Jersey. He's a real estate

3
00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:18.540
investor that started small and
made it big. Here's how it

4
00:00:18.540 --> 00:00:19.020
happened.

5
00:00:19.020 --> 00:00:20.800
Ralph DiBugnara: I started
investing in real estate in

6
00:00:20.830 --> 00:00:25.420
2003. So I rode the wave up, and
then I rode the wave down, and

7
00:00:25.450 --> 00:00:28.720
then I started over again. So
I've seen all sides of it, but

8
00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:31.270
even the properties I bought
before the crash that I was able

9
00:00:31.270 --> 00:00:34.240
to have staying power with and
hold on to I eventually pay

10
00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.210
dividends. So I think real
estate, as a long term

11
00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:39.070
investment option is still the
best option.

12
00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:41.230
Johny Fernandez: DiBugnara
started working in the mortgage

13
00:00:41.230 --> 00:00:44.770
world in 2001. That was his
introduction to the real estate

14
00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:45.190
world.

15
00:00:45.190 --> 00:00:47.670
Ralph DiBugnara: It was easy to
access money to buy real estate.

16
00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:50.490
So you know my first purchase
was I was like, I don't want to

17
00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:53.670
rent I'm going to buy. So at 23,
I went to a property with my

18
00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:55.500
brother, and we bought
something. And I owned that

19
00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:57.420
until I wanted to move into
Manhattan. And then I sold it

20
00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:59.310
really, really quickly. And
again, I didn't know anything

21
00:00:59.310 --> 00:01:00.840
about real estate, there was a
lot of mistakes I could have

22
00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.840
made but that's when the market
was really trending upward. So

23
00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.240
when I sold the property, I was
able to make a profit pretty

24
00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:08.760
quickly. And then I took that
money and I flipped it into more

25
00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:09.360
properties.

26
00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:12.240
Johny Fernandez: At the time,
Ralph shared with me, he started

27
00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:16.320
to expand his portfolio and
invest out of state. While it

28
00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:20.130
was smooth sailing at first, the
2008 housing crash followed.

29
00:01:20.130 --> 00:01:22.054
Ralph DiBugnara: I went from
making a significant amount of

30
00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:24.817
money. I was a vice president at
Deutsche Bank at the time,

31
00:01:24.863 --> 00:01:27.534
because they had acquired us as
a company, I was running a

32
00:01:27.580 --> 00:01:30.251
pretty large division. And
literally overnight, I lived on

33
00:01:30.297 --> 00:01:32.830
Maiden Lane, which is a block
over from Wall Street, my

34
00:01:32.876 --> 00:01:35.824
company was on Main Lane, which
is in the Federal Reserve in New

35
00:01:35.870 --> 00:01:38.357
York City. And I'll never
forget, I was walking up the

36
00:01:38.403 --> 00:01:41.166
block and I got an email that
said they're eliminating these

37
00:01:41.212 --> 00:01:44.114
products and mortgages. And it
was like 90% of my business that

38
00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:46.923
were in those products. And I
said this can't be right, this

39
00:01:46.969 --> 00:01:49.640
is wrong, somebody made a
mistake. And sure enough, by the

40
00:01:49.686 --> 00:01:52.587
time I got to the office, it was
right, I spent the rest of the

41
00:01:52.634 --> 00:01:55.167
day back in my apartment
watching them market market it

42
00:01:55.213 --> 00:01:58.068
as interest was a freefall. So I
went from, you know, making a

43
00:01:58.114 --> 00:02:00.739
significant amount into six
figures to making nothing, it

44
00:02:00.785 --> 00:02:03.640
wasn't like a slow, like, like
crawl out, it was like nothing.

45
00:02:03.686 --> 00:02:06.542
So you know, at that point, as a
real estate investor, it gets

46
00:02:06.588 --> 00:02:09.397
very, very hard. So I went to
the process where I didn't want

47
00:02:09.443 --> 00:02:12.299
to just give everything up. So I
went through the modification

48
00:02:12.345 --> 00:02:15.292
processes and all that stuff to
try to keep the properties and I

49
00:02:15.338 --> 00:02:18.240
was able to keep most of what I
had. And, you know, start over.

50
00:02:18.480 --> 00:02:20.880
Johny Fernandez: Ralph says this
experience is what shaped him

51
00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:24.090
into the investor that he is
today. He told deBanked that

52
00:02:24.090 --> 00:02:26.700
it's important to be prepared
and have a diverse plan of

53
00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:27.120
action.

54
00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.370
Ralph DiBugnara: My philosophy
kind of changed a little bit

55
00:02:29.370 --> 00:02:32.130
when this year started, where I
was I was really all long term

56
00:02:32.130 --> 00:02:34.200
investments and I was
multifamilies are properties I

57
00:02:34.200 --> 00:02:37.410
can rent long term, whether it
was a large scale multi, multi

58
00:02:37.410 --> 00:02:40.290
or single family too, I really
had to start exploring the short

59
00:02:40.290 --> 00:02:43.110
term rental market, which is
Airbnb and VRBO, and things like

60
00:02:43.110 --> 00:02:46.140
that, that kind of exploded this
year. So it was something that I

61
00:02:46.140 --> 00:02:49.110
really say, okay, what is this?
How do I pivot towards this? And

62
00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:51.150
that's what I started pivoting.
And I think if you're looking to

63
00:02:51.150 --> 00:02:53.700
do it, it's a really, really
good option, because it's a much

64
00:02:53.700 --> 00:02:56.610
higher return on your money, in
my opinion, but it's a lot more

65
00:02:56.610 --> 00:02:56.970
work.

66
00:02:57.020 --> 00:02:59.360
Johny Fernandez: His advice for
real estate freshmen is to ask

67
00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:02.030
for help, whether it's
alternative finance or real

68
00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:03.680
estate, what advice would you
give them someone that's just

69
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.320
starting literally walking in
and doesn't know what to do?

70
00:03:06.380 --> 00:03:08.090
Ralph DiBugnara: Yeah, I mean,
listen, I think that it's a

71
00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:11.090
better business to be in than it
ever was before, just because

72
00:03:11.540 --> 00:03:14.000
COVID sped everything up. And
now there's so much information

73
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.630
out there right now, it can be
overwhelming. But that's why you

74
00:03:17.630 --> 00:03:19.880
start slow. And like I said, if
you're from New York or New

75
00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:22.550
Jersey, buy, go buy a
multifamily, you know, go buy a

76
00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.730
multifamily that you can live in
and earn on, that's a good way

77
00:03:25.730 --> 00:03:28.220
to enter the market where you
can make a lot of mistakes, and

78
00:03:28.220 --> 00:03:29.750
not completely lose your
investment. You know what I

79
00:03:29.750 --> 00:03:31.880
mean, you can rent to the wrong,
whatever, and it leaves you a

80
00:03:31.880 --> 00:03:34.280
lot of room for error, there's
more access than there ever was

81
00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.860
before. And I think that that's
really, really important that

82
00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:39.800
there wasn't, there wasn't that
kind of access before and there

83
00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:43.670
is now. So I think that because
things have gotten virtual, it

84
00:03:43.670 --> 00:03:45.680
is made it easier to get into
the business.

85
00:03:45.930 --> 00:03:48.000
Johny Fernandez: He says to
follow experts online that have

86
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.070
already made mistakes and learn
from them.

87
00:03:50.070 --> 00:03:51.830
Ralph DiBugnara: I would say to
look for somebody in this

88
00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:54.260
business that can mentor them
that made all the mistakes. When

89
00:03:54.260 --> 00:03:58.490
I went through the market crash
in 2007, 2008. I didn't know

90
00:03:58.490 --> 00:04:00.800
anybody else outside of my
company, there was no such thing

91
00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.440
as podcasts and audiobooks. And
all this information out there

92
00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:05.960
or social media, so I could
network myself, I had no

93
00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:09.500
network. Now you're in an in an
area in an arena where this it's

94
00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:11.870
so easy to access people who
have the information, right. So

95
00:04:11.870 --> 00:04:15.320
even me, I've been through a
million mistakes like, find

96
00:04:15.320 --> 00:04:18.020
somebody that can give you the
information to help you avoid

97
00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:20.180
the years and years it would
take you to get up and running.

98
00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:22.340
Johny Fernandez: Ralph shared
with me his predictions for the

99
00:04:22.340 --> 00:04:23.300
investment market.

100
00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:25.220
Ralph DiBugnara: You're gonna
see values that continue to rise

101
00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:28.520
in one way shape or form because
of bidding wars, because you

102
00:04:28.520 --> 00:04:30.440
know anything, there's a lack of
supply, and you're gonna pay we

103
00:04:30.440 --> 00:04:33.680
pay a premium for. So I think if
you're going to buy you have to

104
00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.870
look at it as a long term
investment and have to look at

105
00:04:35.870 --> 00:04:39.110
something in five or six years.
Is this where I want it? Is this

106
00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:40.970
still where I want to be? I
don't think you can look at it

107
00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:44.750
as a year two or three market
because even if you could buy a

108
00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:47.090
property and make a profit on it
really really quickly if you're

109
00:04:47.090 --> 00:04:49.790
buying in a primary residence
then where are you going? Unless

110
00:04:49.790 --> 00:04:51.650
you're moving to a different
state, then you're going to pay

111
00:04:51.650 --> 00:04:53.870
a premium. So even selling for a
premium, you still have to pay a

112
00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:56.570
premium. So unless you're
looking to sell in one high

113
00:04:56.570 --> 00:04:58.850
value state and move to another
state where it's a lower cost.

114
00:04:59.390 --> 00:05:01.430
You're kinda in the same
position everybody else is. So I

115
00:05:01.430 --> 00:05:03.620
think you have to more than ever
look into something over the

116
00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:06.740
long term. Because I think the
trend for prices is still gonna

117
00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:09.740
rise. I think interest rates
will stay low, at least till the

118
00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:11.600
end of the year, because I don't
think they could take a raise

119
00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.880
right now. I think we're dealing
with a very volatile market in

120
00:05:13.880 --> 00:05:17.090
general. And when you're dealing
with a volatile market, again,

121
00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.730
we want to have staying power so
I want to invest enough, the

122
00:05:19.730 --> 00:05:21.770
amount of money that I can have
something that can stay in power

123
00:05:21.830 --> 00:05:24.500
because you have to have enough
foresight to run in when

124
00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:26.330
everybody's running out just
like anything else, as the

125
00:05:26.330 --> 00:05:29.600
market is a roller coaster, try
to be diversified. Don't be in

126
00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.540
one thing or the other and don't
run away when the market starts

127
00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:35.210
to dip because you're gonna have
reactive markets where you're

128
00:05:35.210 --> 00:05:36.110
gonna have waves.

129
00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:38.600
Johny Fernandez: In Edgewater,
New Jersey, I'm Johny Fernandez

130
00:05:38.654 --> 00:05:39.690
with deBanked News.