00:09.720 --> 00:12.240 Johny Fernandez: Brooklyn native Ralph DiBugnara works across the 00:12.240 --> 00:15.180 Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey. He's a real estate 00:15.180 --> 00:18.540 investor that started small and made it big. Here's how it 00:18.540 --> 00:19.020 happened. 00:19.020 --> 00:20.800 Ralph DiBugnara: I started investing in real estate in 00:20.830 --> 00:25.420 2003. So I rode the wave up, and then I rode the wave down, and 00:25.450 --> 00:28.720 then I started over again. So I've seen all sides of it, but 00:28.720 --> 00:31.270 even the properties I bought before the crash that I was able 00:31.270 --> 00:34.240 to have staying power with and hold on to I eventually pay 00:34.240 --> 00:37.210 dividends. So I think real estate, as a long term 00:37.210 --> 00:39.070 investment option is still the best option. 00:39.340 --> 00:41.230 Johny Fernandez: DiBugnara started working in the mortgage 00:41.230 --> 00:44.770 world in 2001. That was his introduction to the real estate 00:44.770 --> 00:45.190 world. 00:45.190 --> 00:47.670 Ralph DiBugnara: It was easy to access money to buy real estate. 00:47.670 --> 00:50.490 So you know my first purchase was I was like, I don't want to 00:50.490 --> 00:53.670 rent I'm going to buy. So at 23, I went to a property with my 00:53.670 --> 00:55.500 brother, and we bought something. And I owned that 00:55.500 --> 00:57.420 until I wanted to move into Manhattan. And then I sold it 00:57.420 --> 00:59.310 really, really quickly. And again, I didn't know anything 00:59.310 --> 01:00.840 about real estate, there was a lot of mistakes I could have 01:00.840 --> 01:03.840 made but that's when the market was really trending upward. So 01:03.840 --> 01:06.240 when I sold the property, I was able to make a profit pretty 01:06.240 --> 01:08.760 quickly. And then I took that money and I flipped it into more 01:08.760 --> 01:09.360 properties. 01:09.780 --> 01:12.240 Johny Fernandez: At the time, Ralph shared with me, he started 01:12.240 --> 01:16.320 to expand his portfolio and invest out of state. While it 01:16.320 --> 01:20.130 was smooth sailing at first, the 2008 housing crash followed. 01:20.130 --> 01:22.054 Ralph DiBugnara: I went from making a significant amount of 01:22.100 --> 01:24.817 money. I was a vice president at Deutsche Bank at the time, 01:24.863 --> 01:27.534 because they had acquired us as a company, I was running a 01:27.580 --> 01:30.251 pretty large division. And literally overnight, I lived on 01:30.297 --> 01:32.830 Maiden Lane, which is a block over from Wall Street, my 01:32.876 --> 01:35.824 company was on Main Lane, which is in the Federal Reserve in New 01:35.870 --> 01:38.357 York City. And I'll never forget, I was walking up the 01:38.403 --> 01:41.166 block and I got an email that said they're eliminating these 01:41.212 --> 01:44.114 products and mortgages. And it was like 90% of my business that 01:44.160 --> 01:46.923 were in those products. And I said this can't be right, this 01:46.969 --> 01:49.640 is wrong, somebody made a mistake. And sure enough, by the 01:49.686 --> 01:52.587 time I got to the office, it was right, I spent the rest of the 01:52.634 --> 01:55.167 day back in my apartment watching them market market it 01:55.213 --> 01:58.068 as interest was a freefall. So I went from, you know, making a 01:58.114 --> 02:00.739 significant amount into six figures to making nothing, it 02:00.785 --> 02:03.640 wasn't like a slow, like, like crawl out, it was like nothing. 02:03.686 --> 02:06.542 So you know, at that point, as a real estate investor, it gets 02:06.588 --> 02:09.397 very, very hard. So I went to the process where I didn't want 02:09.443 --> 02:12.299 to just give everything up. So I went through the modification 02:12.345 --> 02:15.292 processes and all that stuff to try to keep the properties and I 02:15.338 --> 02:18.240 was able to keep most of what I had. And, you know, start over. 02:18.480 --> 02:20.880 Johny Fernandez: Ralph says this experience is what shaped him 02:20.880 --> 02:24.090 into the investor that he is today. He told deBanked that 02:24.090 --> 02:26.700 it's important to be prepared and have a diverse plan of 02:26.700 --> 02:27.120 action. 02:27.120 --> 02:29.370 Ralph DiBugnara: My philosophy kind of changed a little bit 02:29.370 --> 02:32.130 when this year started, where I was I was really all long term 02:32.130 --> 02:34.200 investments and I was multifamilies are properties I 02:34.200 --> 02:37.410 can rent long term, whether it was a large scale multi, multi 02:37.410 --> 02:40.290 or single family too, I really had to start exploring the short 02:40.290 --> 02:43.110 term rental market, which is Airbnb and VRBO, and things like 02:43.110 --> 02:46.140 that, that kind of exploded this year. So it was something that I 02:46.140 --> 02:49.110 really say, okay, what is this? How do I pivot towards this? And 02:49.110 --> 02:51.150 that's what I started pivoting. And I think if you're looking to 02:51.150 --> 02:53.700 do it, it's a really, really good option, because it's a much 02:53.700 --> 02:56.610 higher return on your money, in my opinion, but it's a lot more 02:56.610 --> 02:56.970 work. 02:57.020 --> 02:59.360 Johny Fernandez: His advice for real estate freshmen is to ask 02:59.360 --> 03:02.030 for help, whether it's alternative finance or real 03:02.030 --> 03:03.680 estate, what advice would you give them someone that's just 03:03.680 --> 03:06.320 starting literally walking in and doesn't know what to do? 03:06.380 --> 03:08.090 Ralph DiBugnara: Yeah, I mean, listen, I think that it's a 03:08.120 --> 03:11.090 better business to be in than it ever was before, just because 03:11.540 --> 03:14.000 COVID sped everything up. And now there's so much information 03:14.000 --> 03:17.630 out there right now, it can be overwhelming. But that's why you 03:17.630 --> 03:19.880 start slow. And like I said, if you're from New York or New 03:19.880 --> 03:22.550 Jersey, buy, go buy a multifamily, you know, go buy a 03:22.550 --> 03:25.730 multifamily that you can live in and earn on, that's a good way 03:25.730 --> 03:28.220 to enter the market where you can make a lot of mistakes, and 03:28.220 --> 03:29.750 not completely lose your investment. You know what I 03:29.750 --> 03:31.880 mean, you can rent to the wrong, whatever, and it leaves you a 03:31.880 --> 03:34.280 lot of room for error, there's more access than there ever was 03:34.280 --> 03:36.860 before. And I think that that's really, really important that 03:36.860 --> 03:39.800 there wasn't, there wasn't that kind of access before and there 03:39.800 --> 03:43.670 is now. So I think that because things have gotten virtual, it 03:43.670 --> 03:45.680 is made it easier to get into the business. 03:45.930 --> 03:48.000 Johny Fernandez: He says to follow experts online that have 03:48.000 --> 03:50.070 already made mistakes and learn from them. 03:50.070 --> 03:51.830 Ralph DiBugnara: I would say to look for somebody in this 03:51.830 --> 03:54.260 business that can mentor them that made all the mistakes. When 03:54.260 --> 03:58.490 I went through the market crash in 2007, 2008. I didn't know 03:58.490 --> 04:00.800 anybody else outside of my company, there was no such thing 04:00.800 --> 04:03.440 as podcasts and audiobooks. And all this information out there 04:03.440 --> 04:05.960 or social media, so I could network myself, I had no 04:05.960 --> 04:09.500 network. Now you're in an in an area in an arena where this it's 04:09.500 --> 04:11.870 so easy to access people who have the information, right. So 04:11.870 --> 04:15.320 even me, I've been through a million mistakes like, find 04:15.320 --> 04:18.020 somebody that can give you the information to help you avoid 04:18.290 --> 04:20.180 the years and years it would take you to get up and running. 04:20.420 --> 04:22.340 Johny Fernandez: Ralph shared with me his predictions for the 04:22.340 --> 04:23.300 investment market. 04:23.300 --> 04:25.220 Ralph DiBugnara: You're gonna see values that continue to rise 04:25.250 --> 04:28.520 in one way shape or form because of bidding wars, because you 04:28.520 --> 04:30.440 know anything, there's a lack of supply, and you're gonna pay we 04:30.440 --> 04:33.680 pay a premium for. So I think if you're going to buy you have to 04:33.680 --> 04:35.870 look at it as a long term investment and have to look at 04:35.870 --> 04:39.110 something in five or six years. Is this where I want it? Is this 04:39.110 --> 04:40.970 still where I want to be? I don't think you can look at it 04:40.970 --> 04:44.750 as a year two or three market because even if you could buy a 04:44.750 --> 04:47.090 property and make a profit on it really really quickly if you're 04:47.090 --> 04:49.790 buying in a primary residence then where are you going? Unless 04:49.790 --> 04:51.650 you're moving to a different state, then you're going to pay 04:51.650 --> 04:53.870 a premium. So even selling for a premium, you still have to pay a 04:53.870 --> 04:56.570 premium. So unless you're looking to sell in one high 04:56.570 --> 04:58.850 value state and move to another state where it's a lower cost. 04:59.390 --> 05:01.430 You're kinda in the same position everybody else is. So I 05:01.430 --> 05:03.620 think you have to more than ever look into something over the 05:03.620 --> 05:06.740 long term. Because I think the trend for prices is still gonna 05:06.740 --> 05:09.740 rise. I think interest rates will stay low, at least till the 05:09.740 --> 05:11.600 end of the year, because I don't think they could take a raise 05:11.600 --> 05:13.880 right now. I think we're dealing with a very volatile market in 05:13.880 --> 05:17.090 general. And when you're dealing with a volatile market, again, 05:17.120 --> 05:19.730 we want to have staying power so I want to invest enough, the 05:19.730 --> 05:21.770 amount of money that I can have something that can stay in power 05:21.830 --> 05:24.500 because you have to have enough foresight to run in when 05:24.500 --> 05:26.330 everybody's running out just like anything else, as the 05:26.330 --> 05:29.600 market is a roller coaster, try to be diversified. Don't be in 05:29.600 --> 05:32.540 one thing or the other and don't run away when the market starts 05:32.540 --> 05:35.210 to dip because you're gonna have reactive markets where you're 05:35.210 --> 05:36.110 gonna have waves. 05:36.149 --> 05:38.600 Johny Fernandez: In Edgewater, New Jersey, I'm Johny Fernandez 05:38.654 --> 05:39.690 with deBanked News.