Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Graham and Ian Vaz.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Graduated Boston University in 2003. Moved back to NYC to pursue a career in radio. I worked as a producer for ESPN Radio in NY for 5 years and then had an opportunity to move back to Boston to be a sports talk radio host, which I did for 2 years. While being on the air up here, I wasn’t exactly making Howard Stern money yet, and one of my friends suggested getting into real estate…that there was good money in it and you can make your own hours. At the time I was just looking for some secondary income…that was in 2008/2009. I got my license and started working about 30 hours a week at an office in Allston, where I was for almost 4 years. During that time the radio station I was working for was bought out by a Spanish speaking station and unfortunately I took French in high school. This led me into real estate full time. I wound up moving to a more professional office in Packard’s Corner in Allston, where I stayed for 3 years. During that time I met Ian Vaz (co-founder of Leopold & McMasters Realty). He was someone who was incredibly smart and always had big ideas. We both realized after working together that we could do something great together and decided to open Leopold & McMasters Realty in the fall of 2015. The name is actually derived from our ancestors. Leopold is his great grandfather and McMasters is the surname on my mother’s side. Arriving at the name is a funny story.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s never easy starting a business, but we had been planning this for over a year prior to opening. We got lucky to acquire a great initial group of agents and employees. Stephanie Reardon (our office manager) pretty much handles all of our financials…and keeps everyone in line! Between her and a great core group of people, we’ve been very fortunate.
The biggest adjustment on my end was going from being an agent and just worrying about myself, to having to worry about everyone else too.
Please tell us about Leopold & McMasters Realty.
We’re a hybrid office that specializes in both sales and rentals. We work (and have worked) with people all the way from someone renting a $600 studio in Fall River to buyers purchasing multimillion dollar properties, to investors looking to purchase portfolios in the 9 figure range.
We have a no asshole policy at Leopold & McMasters. We just won’t hire anyone who comes across that way. We are all good honest people who work hard …of course we all want to make money, but a lot of times real estate agents have such a negative stigma. People generally think agents are all liars & thieves. That’s not us at all.
Our brand is important to me. I’m proud that our clients had have such positive experiences…our yelp reviews, google reviews, Facebook reviews. Those mean a lot to me.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I definitely wouldn’t have gotten engaged, bought a house and opened a business in the same year! That was dumb! Planning a wedding is wayyyyyyyyy harder than all of this though that’s for sure!
Lesson learned…you have to do what’s best for the company/brand.
Contact Info:
- Address: Leopold & McMasters Realty
244 Brighton Ave Suite 106
Allston MA 02134 - Website: leopoldmcmastersrealty.com
- Phone: 617-208-8020
- Email: homes@lmcrealtyboston.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leopoldmcmasters/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeopoldMcMastersRealty/
- Twitter: twitter.com/LMCRealty
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/leopold-and-mcmasters-realty-allston
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Cynthia Feleppa
July 3, 2017 at 6:03 pm
Love the no asshole policy! Good feature.