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Carl Agard - Don't Be A Customer, Cronie
Interview By: Melanie J Cornish
 Real Estate jargon is to many an incomprehensible language. Words like equity, mortgages and closing costs just don’t appeal to the Hip-Hop community as much as rims, rides and ice. This could be a reason as to why our generation opts to purchase products which depreciate in value as opposed to those that make us money.
Bed-Sty born and raised Carl Agard got in on real estate during the Brownstone Boom of the late nineties. He made enough money to get out of the hood, give back to it and migrate South. Moving down south encouraged him to tap in on the real estate explosion happening in Atlanta, as the rest of us watched the city emerge as the Hip-Hop capital of the South.
 Having noticed the lack of understanding into home owning by the African-American market he opted to take matters into his own hands and play role of teacher himself. His first book 'Getting the Real out of Real Estate' is geared to those who have no-one to guide them through the process of buying a home. Because Carl Agard is a person many of us can relate to as he came from the ground up to live his dream and encourages the rest of us to do the same, he speaks in terminology we understand and yet delivers information so valuable you need to take note.
Nobodysmiling.com : Can you give me a little background information on you?
Carl Agard : Basically I started real estate about ten years ago, I am 37 years old, bought my first property in downtown Brooklyn with no money down, you know the guy was retiring and just wanted to get rid of it. He had showed me his house and at the time I was doing party promotions but once I started seeing the money that was being made in real estate I just basically had all the people that would go to my parties buy property from me. Then I ended up becoming a real estate broker in Brooklyn and at that time in 1998 I was one of the youngest black real estate brokers in Brooklyn, I showed brownstones in Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
Nobodysmiling.com : That period in time was when the Brownstone boom was really taking place.
Carl Agard : Exactly and I was in the heart of it.
Nobodysmiling.com : Did you realize this was going to be as huge way of making money as it turned out to be?
 Carl Agard :Well I saw there was going to be some potential and I was telling people that now was the time to get in because a boom was about to happen. We were in our 20’s and I was trying to tell people ‘hey we need to get in real estate’ because none of us really had. I had no idea it was going to take off the way it did though because it really exploded afterwards. Something with the relocation of people locating from New York to Atlanta, as I saw the people that were moving needed someone they could relate to, so I decided to do that and I extended my offices to Atlanta.
Nobodysmiling.com : When did you open your offices in Atlanta?
Carl Agard : In 2001 and then for the last five years I have basically been going back and forth between New York and Atlanta doing real estate in both states and I go back to NY once a month and I have staff here in Atlanta and New York.
Nobodysmiling.com : What encouraged you to write this book?
Carl Agard : A few reasons, one being that I think there is a lack of knowledge in the African American community about buying real estate because a lot of time with first generation home buyers we don’t have anyone that can guide us through the whole process and the people that do are rip off artists, like I would see mortgage brokers charge higher prices to people and a part of what I wanted to do was educate people and show them that this was the right way of doing real estate, like you can get into real estate and make a lot of money. Also give my inside hints on being a real estate broker on how to buy and sell property from a black point of view, another point as well being that you go to Barnes and Noble and Borders book stores you don’t really see any books geared towards the African American community for real estate and they don’t have to deal with the things we need them to deal with which is lack of credit, lack of knowledge, lack of resources and funds and then also what to do after you buy property.
You know you buy a book from B & N about real estate and it will tell you the ins and outs of real estate but it is not going to tell you or be relevant to the community now that is coming up in age where they want to develop property and wealth. The Hip-hop community has a large buying power, a large base of people and you see that a lot of companies are catering to us and my book is aimed to the Hip-Hop community because now as we get in out thirties and forties we are trying to do well for ourselves and our kids, you know develop a legacy and we don’t have anyone talking to us.
Nobodysmiling.com : Why do you think that there is no one reaching out and trying to educate the African American community in regards to financial capabilities?
Carl Agard : It is because a lot of us are... than we think we are and we are very private, you know we don’t want to give out our information for whatever reason and there are not enough of us out there that are successful and the ones of us that are out there and are successful, we don’t have the medium to go out there and get more knowledge. You know we have more knowledge but like with me I had to get out there and create my own medium to get out there and promote my knowledge, I created my own publishing company and had to take care of distribution to get my book out there as I didn’t want to wait on a publishing company to get it out.
You know I have sold enough houses and I know enough people, I am a great networker, you know let me distribute myself through my website. You know just like an independent record label, just get the knowledge out there and if it blows up it blows up. But when I go out right now to black book stores and the distributors there are no books on self help finance for African-Americans of our age. Its either white people who write the books or older people who write the books and no-one can turn around and say ‘I can relate to this person.’ You know I want people to see I just had opportunity and I ran with it, so a third reason is that people can relate to me, I am from the projects in BK, I went to Syracuse University, I was in the streets, I used to boost clothes in HS. Went to college on a scholarship and basically turned my life around.
I got into real estate by mistake and I saw the wealth that was going with it. People were able to buy homes that had never been able to buy homes and I was able to renovate the community of Bed Sty, I was able to do the same in Atlanta, do stuff in St. Louis so I could say that besides making money I was able to help the community and help people that may never have had the opportunity to buy property. We needed information to get out from our point of view as I talk about credit issues that we tend to have.
Nobodysmiling.com : But when you look at the Hip-Hop community you see wealth being exemplified by dripping in diamonds, riding on a range with rims, you know it’s like the visual of wealth is required more by the Hip-Hop community.
Carl Agard : Yeah but you can get that stuff if you have property, let you buy your ride, let you go on vacations and clothes. As your property is appreciating every single day and also your property is letting you establish good credit as you are making your mortgage payments and your credit is getting better and you have that to fall back on if you wanted to open another business. You know I love stuff, I wear Gucci/Prada and ride nice cars but my properties is paying for it right now and if it wasn’t for those I wouldn’t be able to have those things and my credit is also staying up. Any time I can sell and cash out so I basically control my own destiny.
Nobodysmiling.com : So to encourage education in this area, how can that be achieved?
Carl Agard : You know we need to try and get more people like me so people can look at us and be able to relate to us, you know they can follow how we do things, as we tend to idolize people on the video screens as fantasy is potential reality. We just need to have more average people out there telling their stories and explain how they got there and others can too, as when I talk to a lot of people they say ‘hey I don’t think I can do it’ and they have a hundred and one reasons as to why they cant do it but they are able to do it, anyone can. Even in my book I say if you don’t have credit or the money you can get it; if you don’t have credit you can partner up with someone who has credit, or partner with someone who has money, has the knowledge, form a company with that person and then you are in real estate and then you can make money.
We tend to rule ourselves out the picture before we get started and then we tend to be on the outside looking in. Then we are jealous, all the haterism, you know anyone can do it. I did it when I was 25 and I just had basic credit and I had a good job but at that time it was hard even getting loans so I got the house and one thing led to another and I just try to show people I am an average person who wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I just saw an opportunity and I ran with it. You know we all seem to do the same things to make money, we want to do parties, be hustlers, own record labels, but we need to have more entrepreneurs. People should look to real estate a bit more.
Nobodysmiling.com : People always need a roof over their head.
Carl Agard : All day long and that is why it is taking off. Anyone can pick up the book and gain knowledge because like I tell people when I give seminars; most books right now are written by real estate investors and real estate investors have to get their properties from me a real estate broker, to sell their house, so I am giving you more information than investors are. I am a licensed real estate broker in the north and in the south and not too many brokers cover the north and the south. Anyone can pick up this book and read it and see that it could pertain to their own situation.
Nobodysmiling.com : You are selling the book on your website as well I believe?
Carl Agard : Yes you can buy it at http://www.carlagard.com
Nobodysmiling.com : We just saw Jay-Z boycott Cristal, if the Hip-hop community had saved their money as opposed to popping bottles of a brand who have made it apparent didn’t want our money and put it into something that could encourage a return on their money maybe we wouldn’t have reacted so badly to this move by the CEO of Cristal Frederic Rouzaud.
Carl Agard : You know what I still have people talk to me and get tears in their eyes about not getting in on the brownstone thing back in the nineties. You know people would say they couldn’t take the problems and it wouldn’t be for them, but who wouldn’t want to sit in a brownstone with equity of $800,000 which would allow them to own a business, do anything, retire, because they made a smart decision, You know people just sat back and watched and waited. My favorite saying is ‘There are three types of people in the world, those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that say what happened, what side of the fence are you?’ I like to be one of those who make things happen, I don’t want to wait, I want to be in the mix of things and I want to be able to say I was in the middle of the real estate boom from the beginning to the end and was able to make a lot of money from it and be able to share my wisdom to help people get into the middle of it too.
Nobodysmiling.com : So do you plan on putting more books out like this?
Carl Agard : Yes I plan on putting more books out which will be more detailed as there is so much that goes on in real estate, you know foreclosures, how to make money as a realtor, you know so many people go to real estate school, get a license and then quit.
Nobodysmiling.com : Why do they quit?
Carl Agard : Well they say their broker didn’t help them and the real estate industry is really every man for himself and I want to help show these people how to be successful and give them my knowledge and encourage them to make six figures, you know go out and develop a business. I mean those books will be published and distributed by my media company.
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