SPEAKER_00 0:00

Dude, it was like two days before state. I think keeper threw me. I tried to prevent it. Like I posted my arm out and I hyperextended my elbow. Dude, I had a ball like huge like this on my elbow, and that broke my heart. I could not participate. I wanted to participate either way. They wouldn't let me. I was out. That kind of shattered my whole perspective of life because wrestling was my life at that point. And that's why I showed up to school, just because I loved it so much. And I loved the competition. And it shattered me, bro.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Hey there, and welcome to the Woodburn Podcast, where we believe every story matters. And every neighbor has something worth sharing. I'm your host, Gilbert Lopez. I'll be sitting down with local business owners, community leaders, and hometown heroes right here in Woodburn. You'll discover amazing people in your own backyard. And a few more connected to the community we call home. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and YouTube at Woodburn Podcast to be the first to know about new episodes and announcements. Alright, welcome to another episode of the Whitburn Podcast. I am sitting down with my buddy, his Suzeano, and we go back to 2004, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, 2004, man. That's kind of where we met. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, yeah. But hey, thank you for joining us here today.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, dude, it's a pleasure seeing you again, man. Like every time I see you, it's a privilege of mine just because you're a big influence in my life in the 04. You want to tell them how we met?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

The wrestling met. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's hear from your perspective.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Okay. No, yeah. It was a big transition for me because I was like coming from Los Angeles, born and raised in Los Angeles, and shout out to Coach Cologne, who played a big influence on me joining the wrestling team.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

I I had a different mentality back then where being in a singlet wasn't something I was comfortable doing. And I also was just like, man, that's that's dude. I don't want to be seen in something like that. And at the end of the day, he was able to convince me. And I go up there in the mat and I I got my my rear handed to me by you, of all people. So after that, I fell in love with just what wrestling was. It was almost like fighting someone with a little bit of rules. And so you kind of had to stand on your own ground. And that appealed to me growing up in Los Angeles. And so that's kind of the the origins of kind of how we met, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Right. And just to piggyback what you were saying simply, it's very uncomfortable if you never grew up with it. And you're just showing your whole body in a map.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Really now we know what the ladies feel like when they're in their bikinis, huh?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

It's a little odd. It does it's very odd. It's not normal. It doesn't feel normal right away, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

And I I know a lot of people that didn't want to join wrestling because exactly that. They didn't want to wear a singlet. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

And that was me for a while until I I took that challenge on and I never looked back.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

So nice. So you mentioned that you grew up in LA. What what brought you to Woodburn?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Oh, that's a good question. When I was 11, my uncle went down there. He would visit us, probably on a yearly basis, because that's my mom's brother, right? And we used to we all grew up together. We used to live next door to each other. And then they relocated up here up north. And we stopped seeing them. Maybe, you know, once a year we start seeing them. And I grew up around these people, my cousins, and all of a sudden, like our best friends were gone. Uncle would come visit us once a year. And one day he just showed up and he's like, You guys gotta get out of here. It's dangerous. You guys are gonna, you know, lose a child one of these days. Because it was it was wild, man. It was drive-by's all the time, like every other day. We were just around a bunch of gang culture and just stupidity growing up. And we thought that was normal because that's kind of what we grew up up, seeing every single day. But when we look back now, it was not a normal upbringing. But eventually he he kind of just advocated for me to go up there and I just hitched a ride. And I never came back.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Really? What do you mean hitch a ride?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I just convinced them. I cried, I convinced my parents to let me go, and they they agreed to let me and my brother go up there just for a little bit, just to kind of check out Oregon. Okay. Uh, because I didn't know what Oregon was, and and and uh had never left Los Angeles other than to go down to TJ to visit an aunt and and in Mexico, right? It was only like three-hour drive away. So I hitched the ride. We drove up from Los Angeles to Oregon, and I fell in love. The trees, the atmosphere, everything was completely different, everything was mellow, chill compared to to Los Angeles. I saw my first white person out here because I grew up with just Mexican and black people, and that's that's all I knew, right? Yeah, and so like I had new friends, I was excited, I was I was a young kid. Relearning everything essentially. So when it was time to enroll in school, my uncle put me in school with my aunt, and they they they kind of housed me for the next two, three years. And I when my parents would call, I'd be like, Nope, I'm not going back. I'm not going back. And pretty much I I forced them to relocate. Oh because I wouldn't go back.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Maybe. Well, hey, thank you to your uncle.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, shout out to Lenchaso. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah. Well, I wouldn't have met you.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, no, for sure, man. Like just looking, looking back at these memories, these pictures, kind of how it's crazy to to think about how like those moments shaped us, right? Like they played a big influence in our lives and and who we are today. Yeah. And I can honestly sit here and tell you, like, wrestling changed my life. It taught me a lot of stuff about life that nothing else in life has been able to teach me. And some of the most important things, man, respect, you know, discipline, honoring those around you, you know, um, and stepping up and being a man when when things get tough. So you played a big influence on my life pushing me through through that season. Um, because we you're a senior and I was a freshman when I came in, right? Oh, yep. So I got I got a little bit of time with you and and got beat up. But the long socks, bro, that was influenced by Gilbert. Yeah, I took that from Gilbert and when he graduated, I kept I kept uh the long socks going.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

So I got that from my brother David.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Shout out to David.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

We kept it going for you, man. Yep, yeah. Cool, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

You got that bulldog. I like that singlet. I wish we had that when I was around.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

No, yeah. We actually uh Cologne, once again, he was talking to the athletic director and finally convinced them to increase our budget that one year, and we all got new singlets, dude. It was like those are sick, dude. I still got mine.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah, I remember the budget was really low sharing like singlets at one point.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Oh dang.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, this is like the middle school.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

I wasn't there. Yeah, this guy, I actually lost to this guy one time. That this match, I beat him up hard. I was uh I think I had like a cold or something that day, and I was just not feeling it. And then I faced him later in that season again, and I just beat the crap out of him. But I got my revenge, and that guy was a leg writer. Coming into wrestling, dude, I had no idea what leg writers can do. And that was like top-notch uh skill to have, and and this guy rode me and just I don't even remember if he tech'd me or pinned me the first battle, but uh later on in district for accounted, I smoked him. I got my revenge, so that's that's the thing about wrestling.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Like, you can always get your redemption, you'll see that person again.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, tell us about your story too, because I know you faced many opponents multiple times, and like, dude, you guys you had some wars, man.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I have. I have. I think that's for another day. Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, another day. This is about you here. Okay, okay. It's about you. Okay, so this is my memory, and I remember you walking in the wrestling room, and I knew your skill was in there, but your heart was there. Nice, dude. Yeah, dude, you did not give up.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

It was like a fight, man. It felt like a fight to me every single time, and it was a challenge, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, because I'm I was so used to wrestling people in the mat. And you know, you just like do a head snap and you know, you do a hard double, they break. Sure, yeah, yeah. You didn't break.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Oh, dude. Yeah, I appreciate that, Gil. That that means a lot coming from you, especially because like you were what are you Greco runner up, like you had USA Cobra under you, like you had skill, and you had like you started wrestling from a very young age, so you had a solid foundation and you were top three every every year, I think. So, like wrestling someone my size who was like way stronger, you had gorilla grip, bro. Like, I thought I was strong, and I was told a lot of times that I was very strong for my size, but you had like gorilla grip, dude. I was like, it was a challenge every time, so yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, so I did grow up wrestling since I was like seven, eight. And then you started when you were older, but yet you found some success. I want to show a clip.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

That was I took second of districts. I kind of, if I'm telling you the truth, I I kind of choked on when we were under the spotlight in front of everyone, and we were like the last match of the night.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Can you describe that a little bit more? Like the environment.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Oh, dude, it's sick. It's like you got a whole stadium or auditorium, a gym full of just packed. It's packed parents, friends, family, and by the time you're you're wrestling for first and second place, all the matches had already done their job. Like they've already wrestled. And so like they turn off all the lights and put the spotlight on you, and it's just quiet, and it's just you and this dude ballanting out. Yep. I could have beat this guy, and I needed to fine-tune a little bit of like my my single leg and my double leg. They were there, but I was just not cutting that corner, and he would take advantage of my little mistakes, those little mistakes that he he just would be capitalizing on, and he ended up winning by points, but uh there's no doubt in my mind I could have beat him. But yeah, I took second place that night.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Okay. So my top three go to state.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Top three go to state, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Okay, tell us what happened after that.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Oh, dude, brutal. This is kind of the beginning of the transition in my life. I I I play second state qualifying me for state. Right. And I remember everyone was just like giving me the hype like, dude, you're gonna be top three in state, dude. This is your senior year, we're gonna make this count. And I was just stoked because from the last time I saw you, my freshman year, now I'm a senior.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

And like I've been like you said, I've built some success, I've I've got some matches under me, some experience, and now I'm feeling confident in this singlet. Right now, when at first I didn't even want to put it on because I felt so uncomfortable, but now I felt like a champ, dude. I was starting to get that vibe and built that mindset, built that mindset, and uh shout out to Keepa and Nikita, who was two twins, Russian twins in our team who are also still good friends of ours. And we occasionally I ran into Nikita this morning, actually, and they they were very skilled and had alpha or what's it called? All phase, all phase wrestling camps on top of like what we were doing wrestling and wrestling tournaments. They did uh USA Cobra stuff like that. So they had a lot more skill than I did, and they were a lot heavier than me too. And we would just battle it out and train each other, and it got to the point where we couldn't take each other down, and it was so competitive. So I was always training with people heavier than me, stronger than me. And one day, dude, it was like two days before state. Okay, I think keeper threw me, and then like I tried to prevent it. Wizard, I made a mistake. I posted my arm out and I hyperextended my elbow, dude. I had a ball like huge like this on my elbow, and that broke my heart, dude. I could not participate, I wanted to participate either way. They wouldn't let me. You're out, I was out. That kind of shattered my whole perspective of life because all I knew at that point was like my love for the game. Yeah, wrestling was my life at that point, and that's why I showed up to school, just because I loved it so much, and I loved the competition, and it shattered me, bro. I dropped out of school, man, and I needed like one or two more credits, and honestly, I didn't graduate because of it, and then I got into like this crazy like drinking binge, smoking pot and doing being stupid, and then I just kind of snapped out of it. I was like, what am I doing? Right, what am I doing? And then I re-en re-enrolled, enrolled in school, and like I just needed like two credits, and it took me the whole entire year to wait to graduate and get my diploma, but I went back and that that little mistake just kind of destroyed my my my heart a little bit for a while.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah, yeah, it's the love for the game. Like you love wrestling so much, like this is like your life, and you finally make it to the very top. You're excited for it, it's state tournament. You have like that one week or two weeks off. Usually it's like a week between districts and state, and for that to happen, I wow, it break my heart when I heard it.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah, and it's it's something that people don't understand. It's it becomes a lifestyle at that point because it's not just like a a sport, it's not just like soccer or or football. You go out there and and you you work out, train, and and you go back home. Like, this is different because we're we're talking about weight classes, right? Yeah, we're talking about weight classes. Some people cut weight, yep. And I remember learning the discipline of cutting weight, dude. I used to cut 10 pounds at one point in one day. One day, and then go out there and wrestle and dominate. And like, I'm not a big guy to begin with, so like that would drain me, but it would teach me how to be a savage, and I learned that from you too, like cutting weight, the discipline, the training hard, and just not stopping, bro. And so it's it was a lifestyle. My mom would get mad at me because uh it'd be like dinner time, and she'd be like, Vanacomaters, come eat, and I'd be over there with this big bowl of salad, and I'm just like throwing hot sauce on it and just lime and trying to make it taste good, but it's just a bunch of rabbit food, right? Yeah, I'm just trying to try trying to make weight, and yeah, she didn't understand that. She was always pissed off, yelling at me, and but she didn't understand it, but that was a that was a passion of mine at that moment, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, yeah. Uh I can picture your mom like me, go vintage, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Even to this day. Bless them, bless them, you know. Yeah, shout out to Cordelia, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is in Woodburn, right? Yeah, that was a home match under the spotlight, too. Yeah, yeah. That was a good match too. That guy was very competitive. Um he be he also had beat me once, and then I came back and and beat him at home. So that was very meaningful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

I I noticed when I graduated, you got to had a bigger crowd. More people started watching wrestling. Yeah. Yeah, and looking at that picture, I'm like you can't really see it, but you know, you have a decent amount of people back there.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, it started to catch on, it started to trend, and I think just the support from the friends, yeah, the family, and just starting we had not only yourself after you graduated, but we had like three or four different athletes within our team who were actually very skilled. Yeah. And you you have your own relationship with them, you got to meet them, um, and a lot of them, you know, were were viewed as as top athletes who would be, you know, expected to take state either one of those years. And and either way, so we started getting support.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I love that. Yeah. I I watch you guys from afar. At that time, I had a full-time job, working two jobs, and looking back, I wish I would have been to some of those matches. Man, but I'm glad the sport's growing. Woodbird's had some success right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah. Especially the wrestling team, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, and I think they got like an all-women's wrestling team too, I think you were telling me, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Yeah, they have a woman's team now. My brother David is the first coach for the women's team.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Um once again, shout out to David, man, passing it, passing it to the to the next generation, man. Even the women, man, they they they're they can put it down.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

They can. Thank you, Haber.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Actually, speaking of women, I actually got pinned by a girl one time and she was she was a beast, man. Wait. I don't remember her name, but shout out to her because she she made me look like a fool out there.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah. She was strong too. And to say this on the podcast was Hey, the truth is the truth, man, no matter what. But I learned a lot through that. And then I seen her later on, and and uh either way, long story short, man, it was it was a good experience.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yeah, well, women's sports and wrestling, it's really growing a lot. It's it's amazing. They have their own state tournament now.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Really? Yeah. Wow, that's impressive.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Now there's a lot of good talent out there, especially when they start them young, you know what I mean? Yeah. So for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

And then after high school, you found a new passion.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Dude, I like I was comparing wrestling to to fighting, and then literally fighting opened up.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Look at that picture.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

It was on my radar, and then when I found out that they actually had that stuff going on, I mean, shout out to UFC and like all the old school, you know, pride and and stuff like that that you know made the way and and essentially modern day gladiators being broadcasted on TV, right? Yeah. So man, I had a lot of a lot of athletes that I used to to watch and follow, and that created a passion within me to want to try that out. And yeah, I I did. I participated. I as soon as I got out of high school, I wasn't even 18 years old. They didn't let me fight until I turned 18, which was my first fight in Salem. We sold out the the armor, Salem Armory, and I fought on my birthday, bro. Turn birthday. On my birthday to turn 18. It was crazy. And I ended up winning, which was a perfect birthday gift, but that was a brutal fight though. That was a brutal fight. We we just beat the crap out of each other and bloody face, everything. And you look stacked, dude. I was I was I was training with some big dudes, and my weight class was 125, and that was just like some of the beginnings of 125 flyweight, and they act the UFC actually got rid of it for a little while, I think, if I remember correctly, and then brought it back. So we're little guys. This guy, I think he was uh I think he cut so much weight, he was probably naturally like 150, 150. 160. He was a big dude. He actually threw me, and usually I'm not being thrown around like a rag doll, you know. But I I got him down on the ground and I pounded him for like three minutes.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

So you were training with some big dogs out there.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I started off with a small team and then I ended up here in Woodburne, actually, just across the street from us. Where I started my first MMA journey and kind of where I started learning how to integrate my my wrestling and to jujitsu, learning jujitsu, and for some reason it just clipped with me really nicely. I was a natural people wrestlers like you like yourself, you know you don't like to be on your back. No, but for some reason I felt comfortable. I understood it a little bit differently, and I felt comfortable on the back and sweeping people, and and I didn't panic when I was on my back, I stayed relaxed, and and it transitioned from from wrestling to jujitsu to boxing. I've always had a boxing passion. I used to watch boxing growing up as a kid. I'm sure every Mexican grew up watching Chavez, Chavez, you know, a bunch of these other fighters are savages, right? And that turned into also taking on Muay Thai, and those were my disciplines. And yeah, we got some real real big hitters there. We got some pros. We got Chelsea, we got V Vinnie Mahagales, and we got Tommy Leesman, all pros. We got a few other guys. This girl right here, she was a beast, she was tiny, and she she ended up fighting for Invicta when Invicta first started coming around and all women's MMA fighting. So there's there's a few other people in there that I'm forgetting their names of right now. Please forgive me, but some people, man, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, the big name, Chel Sonnen. He fought for the UFC. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

He yeah, he's a local, man. He's a local. I spent a lot of time around him and I got to meet him and his family. And I'm friends with one of his his cousins, Sid Sonnen. Shout out to Sid and the Sonnen fan family. Yeah, super awesome dude. Great family. Amazing experience, man.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, I'm not sure if you know, but Ty Sonnen, his cousin. He coached for Woodburn for a few years. He coached me for I think a year or two.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Okay, yeah, yeah. I don't know him, but good dude. Yeah, all the Sonnen family. Yep. It's a little bit blurry, but yeah, we got some pros in there again. Once again, Yushi No Kami used to fly in specifically to train with Cho from Japan. Literally, he would bring his whole team. And man, a lot of awesome people there. It was it was Awesome to just be a part of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Like, how was it in the room like with that much talent?

SPEAKER_00 22:32

It was inspiring, man, because like we'd go out there and just go into these sessions and just battle it out for hours. And when I mean hours, I mean it literally. And it made me a different athlete. And uh, and then having one or two people just my size and everyone else was completely bigger, it made me even more of a savage. So it was impressive. It was it was a shock at first, but it took me a little while to to readjust that to that competitiveness. The cardio was completely different, it was very demanding, but it taught me a lot of mental strength and cardio. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Iron sharpens iron. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Bro, this picture, I love this picture.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Dude, that was my birthday. That was my birthday, the the one I was just telling you about that night. I had a black eye. I don't know if you can tell, but shout out to uh Justin Walls who kicked me during practice in the freaking eye, gave me a black eye like two days before my fight, and so I had a what's you getting hurt before big tournament? Dude, we go hard, man. I used to go hard. You know, people are always trying to take me out because I was smaller, but I got that dog in me, you know. So I gotta show them up. So this is before your fight or after the fight? That was after my fight, and I had won that fight, and they they they laid me with this little octagon as a as a prize somewhere in it there, and then they told me to pose for for this NorthwestGladiator.com was kind of like a a scene, uh like a not a newspaper, but they were just covering fighters at that time.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Local fighters.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

But from from that picture to this picture. Look at this friendly neighborhood. Handsome young manna.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Yeah, dude. No, man, there's been a big transition. Like we adult, right? We adult, and we have to figure out where we're gonna go, what type of careers we're gonna take on, and felt like just having a normal job wasn't good enough for me. And I decided to take that risk and become a real estate uh broker, and uh I've been doing it ever since, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah, so so what drew you into real estate?

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, no, just my upbringing, you know, growing up in renting apartments, my parents renting everywhere we were, you know, apartment to apartment, and just I didn't understand it really, but as I got older, I I knew that I wanted to be the person that they rented from. I wanted to own my own and house people. I wanted to to give that opportunity not only to me and my family, but to to own something for ourselves because we are always renting. And that's kind of what drew me into real estate and and wanting seeing that vision of wanting to have more, being able to acquire it and also help other people too. Okay. Yeah, there's a will, there's a way, right? So trying to learn from those who have succeeded before us for sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah. And I know you've been doing it for a few years, but do you recall your first deal? Like that emotion, like how was it?

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, that one has a special place with me in my heart. And I think every agent probably does too, right? I've been licensed for five years now, and uh the very first deal was with this dude who was under foreclosure, but he wouldn't tell me. We listed the house, I was the listing agent. I listed the house and we got an offer in two days in cash offer. I think it was like $70,000 under asking. Oh, dude. And so we immediately rejected it, right? Yeah. And two days later, we get another offer in. It was a finance offer, and I told him to take it. It was good. He wanted me to reject it, but then a prelim we took the I I advised my client to to take the offer. Okay. Learning a few days later that a prelim title report was ordered, which is which happens which every with every deal that gets accepted, they kind of uncover whether the the property is transferable or not. Okay. I found out that he was under foreclosure. Oh no. After having several conversations with him, trying to figure out if there's anything that I needed to know before we went on the market, he was always assuring me that there was nothing wrong. Uh, I found out that, hey, your property is about to get sold at the Marion County steps in an auction because you're under foreclosure. So we cannot take this deal, and it was in like gonna be in like 15, 20, 30 days or something crazy. Oh gee. It was gonna happen quick. And so we had to make this close no matter what. So that one's special to me because l knowing a little bit about his circumstances in that moment, kind of threw a curveball at the deal, and had an opportunity to help someone get back on their feet, make sure they didn't lose everything, put some money back in their pocket and give them a fresh start. So it really means a lot to me that I was able to help him through the finish line and just put some more money in his pocket and give him a fresh start.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

It's amazing. I would imagine he was embarrassed to share that information with you or just had a lot going on, or I'm sure it happens a lot, or does that happen a lot?

SPEAKER_00 27:43

It happens a lot, absolutely. Uh finance conversations with people regarding their finances is not a common conversation. Any like it's it's weird even within your own family, right? Have you ever had a conversation with your brother or your own family? How much money do you or how much money do you have in the bank? Or hey, I'm struggling with this, or I'm in debt. Yeah, no, those aren't light conversations to have with anyone, not even your partner, right? No, it's so I'm assuming that looking back, he's probably was ashamed or he was embarrassed, or and especially having a grown man look at someone like myself who I get this a lot. You look like a little kid. Would you know, right? So, like that's an objection that I get a lot. And so I was in a position to help someone and say, hey, look, let's let's get this done, let's help you out and get you out of this rut. And that was it was a very meaningful deal for me, but also in a positive way for him to have an exit route for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Thing I like about you, you're really well informed. Like, I'll ask you about a topic and you go really in detail. Like, I'll get my answer.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

I appreciate it. Yeah, no, yeah. I I think it's important to not only be educated, but to help educate those who don't have the information at hand to them. And first I have to start with myself and engulf myself and and pursue it with a passion so that I know what I'm talking about and I'm not misleading people. Real estate is a vehicle that could help people not only acquire properties or sell properties, but there's a lot of money involved. And you can harm someone's future easily if you don't know what you're doing. You can lose people's earnest money if you don't know what you're doing. If you don't know your contractual agreements, your timelines, and your windows when you can safely exit a deal, that means that you're putting your client in harm. Yeah. So I try to stay educated. I try to to understand what I'm getting myself into all the time and and clearly express that to my clients so that they know that they're working with a professional and not just some you know dirtbag Joe over there, you know. Which there is a lot in this uh industry. Yeah, and it didn't real estate is notorious for that. Oh yeah, yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah, yeah. Now, if you're listening and you're thinking about maybe selling your house or buying a home, and it can be scary. Absolutely. There's so many agents out there, like who gotta choose?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

No, there's there's a plethora of agents out there, they're all you know from all walks of life, some local, some coming from different places and just dominating the market, you know. It's not an easy game. And so I appreciate you once again having me out here, putting my face out there. Woodburn is a place where I've been for 25 years now. That the Hubbard community, all the Marion County area, I'm really familiar, familiar with. And so this is kind of my my territory that I navigate through. So there is a lot of information out there, there is a lot of steps, there is a lot of things that people need to do to prep their homes before hitting the market. A lot of legwork, pre-approvals need to be issue for for buyers and and understanding what is required from them.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

So it's not just something Can you elaborate more about that pre-approval?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Yeah, yeah. Oftentimes people, one of the biggest hurdles with first-time home buyers is people do the process backwards. Okay. It's the most frustrating thing. But through the process, I'm I'm also learning how to educate people, how to speak with different types of people, and how to put the message across so that they understand without me just kind of rambling like I'm doing now. But I've created a free resource guide that I like to sit with my clients with and and kind of just show them the basic steps, step by step, so they understand what is expected and what documents are needed, and how to get to that next step, getting a pre-approval issued. So having good relationships with people, communicating clearly with them, understanding the expectations and what is required from them, and also involving lenders and having that open discussion with them and because it regards their finances. So it's part of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Okay. What would be the first step you recommend they do?

SPEAKER_00 31:54

The first step is obviously talking to the agent to understand what the first step really is, which is you know, getting your finances in order. Yeah. You know, what are they gonna what is the lender gonna require from you, right? So some of the stuff that they require mainly is, you know, your W-2s, the two years of tax returns, right? You know, your driver's license, social security, whatever, and just the basic stuff like that. And obviously, like they want to check your credit. If you're financing, they want to make sure that you can qualify for something based off of your credit. Make sure you don't have too much debt. And and that's that's pretty much it. There's and I think two two basic pay stubs of your most recent pay. So they will check your bank accounts, they want to see if you have savings, they want to make sure that you have money in the bank and what your spending looks like. So you're not getting yourself into a pickle, right? And you can actually afford the home that you're trying to buy. They can go back two years, yeah. Two years, two years of employment history, and as long as you have that on paper, you're pretty much set good credit, 580 and above. Anything below that, you know, you might have to just put more money down. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Yeah, 580, that's not bad. Not that bad. It's achievable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So you sell houses and you went through the whole process yourself. Have to buy a home. Yeah. And describe this picture for me.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Shout out to my wife, my lovely life, wife, uh, Callan. Yeah, this was a moment where we received our first keys to our very own home. And that was a very special moment. We still live at this house, but we have completely flipped it. And pretty soon we're hulking to make it a rental, start on another one. But it's part of the part of the the vision, right? Acquiring your own home, being able to to to live that dream and making it a reality with your partner, and been a lot of hard hard work and you know, and but amazing to to come from the background, what I've had to to to go through to to be able to acquire my first home, right? And is definitely very meaningful to me for sure. Yeah. Now you're helping people accomplish that dream. It's so special. Like I get to do that and help people, you know, have those those moments for themselves, and I get to be that vehicle to help them do that. So it's super special to me.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

You want to talk about the the broker that you work for?

SPEAKER_00 34:25

I work for Real Broker, part of the operative group. So a real broker is a digitally based company. So just to dumb it down a little bit, it just means that wherever I have a laptop and internet access connection, I can do business. I can write contracts anywhere in the state of Oregon. And I'm part of a team too. Um, shout out to Dan and Ed for giving you an opportunity to be part of the operator group. Amazing team. We're in a trajectory right now to be top three in the whole entire state. So they're savages, man. They're experts in not only flips and investment properties, and but we help a lot of people sell and buy buy homes for sure. Investors are just normal people. Yeah. Yeah, it's they they work hard and they're building an army, man, for sure. Something special.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

So uh you sent me a picture that you were doing door to door for the mailers, and I couldn't put it up there for some reason. But dude, going door to door is hard. Is that what you had to do when you first started?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

It's part of the process. It's an old school method. Not much people are doing it nowadays, but I think that going door to door does take some grit. There is a lot of rejection, a lot of you know, that takes place. But also I think it's important to get your face out there to be integrated into the community. Yep, to know who your neighbors are. And for me, yeah, it might generate a lead or two. Um but I need to make sure that I'm I'm seeing who's my neighbor, who's talking, you know, about the real estate agent who lives in the neighborhood. I want them to be saying, Oh, it's Jesus, it's me, it's Chewie, you know, and so that's kind of what I do from time to time. I don't do it all the time, but it's one of the avenues that I use to to get my face out there for sure. And you speak Spanish too. And I do speak Spanish, so I mean it kind of helps. Um, sometimes we get Spanish speaking people only, and I try to help them, and and there's a lack of representation in the Hispanic community that I'm trying to help, and being bilingual actually helps because a lot of people don't know what resources are available to them. So I get to to share that with them. It's it's a it's a huge privilege for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Yeah, I remember when my parents bought their first home in 1997, and it was a scary time because they didn't speak English. Luckily, they found a good brand that helped them with the process, find a good realtor. Yeah. And the realtor didn't speak Spanish. And then you do. Yeah, you can speak to your people.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

No, I can. And and that makes it even more special because I get to represent them and and help them guide them through the process and try to ease the stress. Especially, I can't imagine, you know, giving into these contractual agreements that have you know your finances involved involved and and not knowing what the other guy on the other side is saying. Yeah. You're just like winging it and they're signing papers, having no clue what you're signing. And you wouldn't believe it, but it does happen. So me being able to speak to people and and ease their their their mind is very helpful for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Bro, you sent me this picture today. Tell me more about it.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Dude, that was a cool night, man. That was the same night on my birthday. So that was a beautiful gift to myself. Not only winning the match, this particular individual later on wanted to fight me again. And I wish I would got the opportunity to because he had like four or five different belts. He he held like five different titles, and and I reached reached out to him and see how he was doing. And he's like, dude, we need to run it back. Okay. We need to run it back. And you're the toughest guy I've ever faced. And he was like, he was a pro at that time, and he was just like killing it. But I smoked him. I have a video on Facebook if you guys want to watch it. But it was a fun night. It was definitely a fun night. And to make the sort the story even sweeter, wouldn't wood uh Woodburn Independent reached out and wanted to do a little article for me. And sweet. That was awesome, dude. I was on the newspaper, and that was a cool little highlight of my life right there. That little moment.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

That's an amazing picture.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

It's a shot. Good angle. Shout out to the camera guy.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, no, I I need to put it in a frame before it gets too destroyed. It's it's a little beat up already.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

So you know, we both lived here for for a very long time, and Woodburn's just blowing up. Yeah. Like why do you think it's happening here in Woodburn? Like what's what's happening here?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, Woodburn is growing substantially. Uh we're seeing a ton of different builders come in and and just start building new homes, right? Making new communities, expanding the growth boundaries, and and uh you know, Amazon recently acquired a chunk of property out here, yeah, and it's huge. It's uh let me let me look up how big it is because it's it's ridiculously big. Huge yeah I'm gonna see what the Google says real quick. But so okay, so Amazon facility in Woodburn, the largest fulfillment center in the Pacific Northwest. So it's 3.8 million square feet and it's five stories high. 3.8 million square feet, and they have a 30-mile compare system and is heavily automated with robots. Wow. I actually know a few people at one of my tenants actually works there, and she tells me how crazy and freaky it is because robots are coming to you non-stop to do the work, and they're just dropping off packages, and you're supposed to do all this stuff with payer bill really, and they're just keeping them just busy all day. So she says it's very laborist, but they pay well and they're willing to compensate. But it's it's it's allowed people to to start coming in from different places, and more housing is required. So we got builders out here just building, giving good incentives to people to inhabit their homes, providing better interest rates than what the market is producing, and allowing people to kind of just become homeowners out here. So yeah, Woodburn is growing big time, right? For sure.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Yeah. How many employees are there right now, do you know?

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Oh, dude, that's a good question. I mean, we can look it up. And they said it's at approximately uh 1,500 people worth there, and they're planning on growing up to uh 3,000, 3,500. But currently about 1,500 employees. A lot of people there being, you know, given jobs or and stimulating the economy here. Means more homes, more homes, more more paychecks, more spending, yeah, bigger growth in the city. And we're starting to see it take effect now, and and we're I've never seen Woodburn this big, and I've never seen the diversity come to this point. Um it's kind of cool, man.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Yeah, there's traffic like like two o'clock.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Yeah, yeah, that's new. New parks, new traffic, new homes. Yeah. They're actually putting the money back into the cities, and we're see we're starting to see beautiful homes being built. So yeah. Woodburn, besides the Woodburn outlets, that's what they usually are known for, is is becoming a hub. You know, people are coming out here for employment, which is odd, you know. So people are trying to buy homes, selling homes constantly, and the market's hot constantly, no matter what.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Yeah. Now, for anybody listening that wants to get a hold of you and maybe work with you, yeah. What is the best way for them to reach you?

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Yeah. My phone number is 503-9510856. Oftentimes on Instagram, people reach out to me to on Instagram and Facebook. Instagram, the official Ariano A-R-E-L-L-A-N-O. And for Facebook is Official Ariano instead of the official Ariano. So you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, you can reach out, you can reach out via email as well, Jesus at the operative group.com. And yeah, reach out anytime, guys.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Awesome, awesome. Any final advice for the Woodburn community?

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Oh man, just keep plugging away, keep working hard. I'm seeing a lot of dreams being realized out here. People that we grew up with are becoming successful, they're finding their way. It's inspiring in all aspects of life. And you know, attending Woodburn High, we were like the the school that nobody wanted to deal with. No one wanted to come to Woodburn. But there's a lot of cool stories that are coming out from here, and I think it's important to to kind of share these little stories and and be a part of it too, kind of, you know. But it's happening. Keep grinding, keep nostarring, you know. It's uh every day is a battle, but we have to show up no matter what. Just keep showing up.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Love it. Hi, brother. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Yes, sir. See you again too. Yes, sir. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Well, that's the wrap for today's episode. Thank you for listening to the Woodburn Podcast. If you enjoyed it, share it with a neighbor and make sure to follow us on Instagram and YouTube at Woodfirm Podcast. Until next time, stay safe and watch out for those novels.