Meet Emmitt Hayes | Real Estate Broker & Business Man

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emmitt Hayes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emmitt, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is very tricky. When I was in college my Finance professor used to always tell me low risk brings low reward and high risk high reward. Risk plays a big part in my business, not only do I have a realty company, Hayes Realty, but I also have an investment company where we buy, rehab, and resale single family homes. I’ve always considered myself a risk taker in business but not so much in life. I took a lot of business risks or investments that didn’t pan out and usually it was because I was hoping for the best instead of letting the actual numbers do the talking. Over the years of taking so many losses I became more of a calculated risk taker. That meant I’m going to number crunch a potential deal 5 or 6 times, I’ll be very conservative with the numbers, and I’m going to see if the worse case scenario happens is it still a deal. Being a calculated risk taker has allowed me to get back to winning on deals instead of loosing or breaking even. In life I was never a big risk taker but there was one life risk I took that changed my life. That risk was packing up everything and moving to Los Angeles to purse my dreams of real estate and entrepreneurship. If I didn’t do that I wouldn’t be where I’m at now and I’m so grateful for taking that risk.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Hayes Realty is a full service real estate company who helps people create wealth through homeownership. The thing that sets us apart from others is not only do we help people achieve homeownership but we also teach financial education so that clients can keep that house for the long haul. It’s easy to buy a house but you need to make the right financial decisions moving forward so that you never lose that home to foreclosure. The best thing is I have first hand experience on what not to do and what to expect when you buy a home. For example most people don’t think about it but your monthly utilities are going to be significantly higher for a home versus an apartment. You have to be ready for those increased expenses when buying a home!

I got to where I’m at today by never giving up. It has been far from easy, throughout the years I have lost everything and had to start over on more then one occasion. Back when the market crashed in 2007 I lost several homes to foreclosure and even had to file bankruptcy. During all those bad times I realized that these weren’t losses they were lessons. I had to pay my dues in this real estate game and make sure I learned from every mistake. One big lesson I learned was Don’t throw good money after bad! Once you realize you can’t afford it anymore let it go, don’t throw good money trying to save a sinking ship. Another lesson is, It may not be your fault but it’s your responsibility. Some things happen in life that are beyond your control but it’s still your responsibility to figure out how to navigate through the situation and make the best decision for you and your family.

We want the world to know it’s still genuine people out here in the real estate game who truly want to help other people win. Not only that all the advice we give comes from a place of knowing because we made all those wrong choices in the past that we tell people not to make, we have thrown good money after bad, we have carried the weight of the world on our shoulders with mounting debt and trying to pay mortgages we couldn’t afford. We know where that road leads and we want people to go the other direction. We want to see everyone win!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m definitely not one of those guys who sets up an itinerary when friends come in town. Usually to get drinks and hang out I’ll go to Killer Shrimp in Marina Del Rey or the Stand House in Manhattan Beach. Both of those spots have a good vibe and are laid back. I always tell my friends if you haven’t been to Hollywood Blvd, go down there and people watch. It’s crazy all the different walks of life down there. It’s the simple things in life that bring the best pleasure and be the most fun.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve been blessed to have parents and a brother who have been very supportive of me and my endeavors. No matter how many bad decisions or losses I took they always continued to support me and believe in me. There has also been a mentor of mine who really helped me in real estate, his name is Joe Allen. When I first moved to LA finding good people in real estate with a genuine heart where hard to come by. I came across Joe because he was calling about a listing I had. I realized that he was a property finder for an investor and we must have talked for about an hour on that initial call. Anyone who knows Joe, knows he can talk and so can I. Over the next few years Joe and I would talk weekly about investing in real estate and various different scenarios in real estate. Sometimes I would argue with him about deals and Joe would always keep his cool. He would let me rant and rave and then would be like, “Hey man I’m just trying to help you.” He’s a numbers guy and helped me to become a calculated risk taker when it came my real estate investments. I owe a lot of my success to the mentorship, knowledge, and game given to me by Joe.

Website: www.hayesrealtyla.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hayesrealty100

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmitt-hayes-86b29117

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ehayesrealty/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hayesrealty

Other: Hayes Realty Real Estate Podcast https://hayesrealtyla.libsyn.com/website