Know when to hold ‘em

Barry Burnett:
It’s based upon the need of the organization and the anticipation of how long they will be serving in their marketplace

Lee Wochner:For many organizations, the most valuable asset on their books is their real estate.

But these days, many people work from home and pointedly don’t want to come to an office — so what is the value of that real estate? How should nonprofits treat their commercial space — as a place to work, or as an asset to be tapped to advance the mission of the organization? Conversely, is it a good time to buy a commercial space, rising interest rates be damned?

Few people are better qualified to answer these questions than real estate guru Barry Burnett. In a career stretching back 50 years, Barry has personally closed more than 4000 real estate transactions for clients across the United States and around the globe. At age 19, he was the youngest-ever director of the California Association of Realtors, setting him on a journey of business success matched with community leadership, for which he has received dozens of honors and awards while serving in leadership roles with countless nonprofits, community groups, and boards, panels, committees, and commissions.

Today, community servant and trusted advisor Barry Burnett shares his wisdom about real estate, living a life of service, and how he dealt with a devastating motorcycle accident… on “That’s What C! Said.”

Jaclyn Uloth:

Welcome to the podcast that lightens the tension when things sort of get hard…

That’s What C! Said, the Counterintuity podcast, featuring interviews with leaders and doers who have helped to make our world a better place through their actions — and especially through marketing, communications, and embracing change. Here’s host Lee Wochner.

Lee Wochner: 

Very nice to see you. It’s been too long. How are you doing?

Barry Burnett: 

I’m doing great. Thank you, Lee. You’re one of the guys I really enjoy. And it’s just, you’re right, it’s been too long.

Lee Wochner:

Oh, well, that’s sweet. So we had a lot to talk about and we’ve known each other for quite a while now, but I thought I’d start by asking about your career in real estate, especially since real estate has been in the news so much lately. So it’s certainly a pressing topic with lots of changes. So how did you get started in real estate?

Barry Burnett: 

I was at UCLA pre-med and realized that I was absolutely sincerely serious about getting married to Angela. And we just celebrated 50 years of marriage. And I was not going to, I just realized I was not going to put her through 10 to 12 more years of education while I finished the medical program. So I looked at other things that I could do and I saw something that was absolutely unlimited potential and that I didn’t have to have a massive inventory or a lot of cash to get into. So representing buyers and sellers and properties was a whole lot more strategic than selling jets or jewelry or expensive yachts or things along those lines. God forbid food. I had a friend who was a food broker and one of his biggest deals got stuck on a side spur and the entire corn rotted. So I looked at real estate and it was not rotten. And I got into real estate at 19.

Lee Wochner: 

And so do you have a 50 year career in real estate? Is that what I’m hearing?

Barry Burnett: 

They’re 51. Yeah.

Lee Wochner: 

That’s amazing. So you were, I believe, the youngest director ever of the nonprofit California Association of Realtors. Is that right? At age 19, you were a director?

Barry Burnett: 

Correct at 19 state director and then somebody noticed me and they made me a committee chairman the next year at 20. 

Lee Wochner: 

Um, that is, uh, and that’s a record, right? I mean, in 120, in the 120 years of the organization, they’ve had no one who was 19 at a director level other than Barry Burnett Is that right?

Barry Burnett: 

That’s what I understand, correct.

Lee Wochner: 

Okay, so, and I happen to, because I know you, I happen to know that you have clients across the US and internationally. I mean, you’re really quite a real estate guru.

Barry Burnett: 

I have had a blast and I love to serve. If I can do it, I’ll be happy to and if I can’t, I’ll let you know.

Lee Wochner: 

Okay, so the real estate markets changed enormously in recent times. We’ve had rising interest rates. We’ve had work from home opportunities that come into play. There are people who don’t want to go into an office. They just want to work from home or it’s hybrid or whatever. What’s been the impact of all of these changes in real estate?

Barry Burnett: 

Change is the norm. If anybody gets comfortable, they’re preparing to leave the business or preparing to mislead their clients. If you’re not always educating to the new variables, then you are not serving well. And I’ve spent 51 years as a servant. That’s all I am. I’m just a servant. Happens that I’m a very well-paid servant. But I have to do it by staying right on the edge of what’s happening. I was one of the first to be informed via the, uh, the first national, um, uh, web webinar on the, the lawsuit that was brought against the, uh, national association of realtors, um, in concert with the, uh, department of justice. So I was able to start to secondarily inform a lot of my, colleagues in the industry so that we can keep from doing dumb things.

Lee Wochner: 

And what’s the impact of that? So walk us through what that ruling was and what the impact is going to be.

Barry Burnett: 

The ruling was held as a basically a price fixing concern and they were saying that it’s a restraint of trade, possibly even a fair trade issue. So the National Association of Realtors who says we will not accept a claim of fault, but we will modify under this settlement agreement. The settlement agreement hasn’t yet been ratified by the DOJ, but the net effect is that a buyer may select their own representation independent of the seller offering compensation to the brokers. Some buyers think that that’s going to be an advantage to them. Maybe they get a better price. And the jury is way out. Nobody knows the net effect. But.. the realtors practicing in the industry are going to have to have a contract with each seller, and they’re also going to have to have a contract with each buyer if they want to be, you know, let’s say, for example, paid. It’s going to be very interesting. And it’s going to shake out a lot of people. It’s going to shake out a massive percentage of people who are not prepared to come to the table for the sake of service.

Lee Wochner: 

So in my mind, this reminds me of when I think when I was a boy or a young man, they allowed lawyers to advertise. We didn’t used to have all of the personal injury lawyers with billboards up and down the freeway. And then when the ruling came that no, they can advertise, suddenly the whole market shifted there and you see all of this marketing going on. And with this, I guess we don’t know yet what the impact is going to be in a transaction there’s 6% going being split between the two realtors. Is that right? And now it’s negotiable.

Barry Burnett: 

Well, it’s always been negotiable since day one. The contract that an agent has with the seller is for a percentage. And then about 15 years ago, they identified that they would tell the seller to be more transparent. They would tell the seller what they were going to pay in compensation to the other side, to the buyer’s agency. Before that, they could say charge, let’s say, 10 percent for sake of argument and they could keep 7% and only pay the other side 3%. Well, that’s not transparent. It’s not good service. It’s disingenuous. And so that has been taken off the table. But nationally, the percentages vary region by region. In Southern California, a lot of the transactions have, in the last 10 years, been handled because the prices are pretty solid. Have been handled at five percent and in a lot of cases the transactions are being negotiated down So I was at the Orange County Association of Realtors meeting this morning 20 new listings to be viewed by the brokers on a caravan broker tour and of those 20 Seven were at two and a half percent. One was at two and three quarters percent trying to create an inducement and the balance were at two percent offered as compensation now once the commission agreement is ratified by the Department of Justice once the agreement is ratified. It means that everyone will have to negotiate for themselves Irrespective of whether it’s offered by the seller, so it’s going to make a change in every single transaction. Bottom line is just going to be more paperwork, and if you’re transparent with your clients now Everybody’s going to be transparent with their clients then some people who can’t do that will Throw up their hands and leave

Lee Wochner: 

Okay. When you said change is the norm, that was my favorite part because you know, you and I have both worked in realms of change for a while. And yes, the change is the norm. So how has the marketing of real estate changed over the course of your career?

Barry Burnett: 

Originally, we could go door to door, and oddly enough, Lee, people were home. And that only happened momentarily when COVID hit, but of course they wouldn’t answer the door. So people had their telephone numbers listed, there were no do not call lists, there weren’t any multi spammers. You could actually communicate with people, you could talk to people in a genteel way in the grocery line. You could meet folks face to face and make a transaction. And bottom line, the only thing it is, is do people need the service of real estate do they need the service of an attorney do they need the service of a doctor if they don’t need it? The conversation has no legs so What you have to find out what agents fail to find out before they used to shove people in their cars and drag them from pillar To post is do they actually have a need or is it just sort of an orchestrated want? so you could show somebody a hundred houses and then they the very last, as they get out of your car, they say, yeah, that was great. I want the living room from this one, the family room from that, the pool from that one. Have you got that in pink? And after you pull your hair out, you say, okay, that’s gotta be much more professional. The only people I’ve ever been able to actually serve is people with legitimate needs. Them, I will always have time for and I will always be able to serve them. If it’s a legitimate need, I can fulfill it whether it’s finding a house, finding an office building, selling a duplex or selling a commercial space, any of that, if it’s a legitimate need, I can handle it.

Lee Wochner: 

So let’s talk about commercial real estate for a couple of minutes. So if you were advising nonprofits, right? Let’s talk about nonprofits. And, you know, real estate is the foundation of a lot of security, right, that gets built. And now we’re at this dynamic where, I mean, Counterintuity is a hybrid work office. I mean, some people come in every day, some people come in occasionally and work from home or work elsewhere. Years ago, we had somebody, she still works for us, but now she’s just in San Francisco, but she traveled the world and worked for us for a couple of years from wherever she was because things like video technology have made that possible. So would you, do you still advise nonprofits to buy commercial property or no?

Barry Burnett: 

Yes, I frequently do, but it’s based upon the need of the organization and the anticipation of how long they will be serving in their marketplace. For example, I was on the advisory board for the Salvation Army in Burbank for 17 years. About eight or 10 years ago, they sold the Salvation Army headquarters in Burbank. When I was asked, I said, do you still need the facility?

Can you otherwise use the funds more efficiently for other purposes that would better serve your mission? And when the answer from their central board was, yeah, we can use the funds to better serve the mission and we can consolidate, then it was time for them to sell that property. So they had a very heavily appreciated piece of real estate that sold for a lot of bucks that they were able to successfully use. There are some, however, organizations that once they sell, they can’t house themselves efficiently. So is it effective if they sell, they get a whole lot of cash, they blow through it, and now they haven’t got a roof over their heads? Well, in the case of one of the associations of realtors nearby, they sold their headquarters facility and they’ve been leasing since and how much money have they been throwing out because they thought they were going to have this massive wad of cash to be able to help their members, their association members. Well, it turns out that out of that association of about 700 licensees that were member participants, fewer than 30 of them that were at the time, that were members at the time that they sold the building are still members of that association. There’s been a lot of turnover. And now the newer members are saddled with the responsibility of paying higher dues, higher subscriptions, higher responsibilities to be able to cover their housing requirements. Every organization has a different story, a different need.

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah, you and I both know of another instance we’re not going to name where an organization sold its headquarters and then has been leasing ever since. And that was an example brought up many, many times and the money is gone. So your answer really is it depends, right? And for a nonprofit in particular, it’s what’s the best use of the money for your mission is what I’m hearing, right?

Barry Burnett: 

It is. Yes. And, and so for me, my responsibility is to hone my listening skills and to ask the right questions so that the, the decision makers can understand what the net effect is going to be for their mission. And some of them don’t know that they just think they want something and they want to see it done. And so they ask somebody who will just get it done. And that could be 180 out of phase.

Lee Wochner: 

Okay. So we’re based here in California. I know you work nationally and internationally, as do we, but I want to stay here in California for a moment with this discussion. There’s enormous demand for housing, and we here are working with agencies working on that problem in a variety of ways, and some of them rather successfully. But we don’t seem to have enough housing here in California. And it used to be that owning a home was the cornerstone of a person’s financial plan. And yet I think I saw that there’s this gap, there’s this terrible gap of people in their thirties and forties who can’t quite get into the market the way historically they were more easily able to get into the market. What does it take for people under age 40 to be able to buy a house these days?

Barry Burnett: 

Yes.

Barry Burnett: 

In the Spanish culture the word is ganas They have to have a deeply rooted gut-felt Desire and need to pursue it aggressively or the world will walk past them Here’s what I have experienced the California Association of Realtors publishes in affordability indices Every month and it identifies who of the workforce can afford to buy a median priced house. And that number fluctuates tremendously. And it’s not affordable to buy a dwelling, whether a condo or a single family home, or even in many neighborhoods, a manufactured home, a mobile home. I looked at two of them this morning that were in the seven and $800,000 range. They’re within two miles of the Pacific Ocean. And so, and it’s a significantly depreciating asset as opposed to a fixed building. So we are currently identified by the governor’s office as well as the California Association of Realtors. We are currently 2.4 million dwellings short of the actual need. And that was the published number in the census of 2010 as well. We are not making any gains, we’re not making any advances, but the state legislature has allowed a number of things that have overridden the city’s NIMBY not in my backyard scenario, compelling then to suggest, recommend, and try to enforce the growth of the housing industry. Excuse me. And unfortunately, a very high percentage of what’s being produced is for rental dwellings, not for ownership. Another case of the rich getting richer, and the poor being basically not having that many choices.

Lee Wochner: 

So my then wife and I bought our house in 1996. Now I’m gonna sound like Old Man River. In 1996 for $158,000. And now when you go online and look at that house, it’s 1.7 million.

Barry Burnett: 

And I told you 10 years ago, you should have gone to the county to register to change your last name to Genius.

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah, I should get on that because I need more self-confidence. That’s what I’m lacking in. Yeah, I think that was mostly the then wife’s doing, so hats off to her. So Barry, pulling out your crystal ball, this real estate thing, the reason I’m spending so much time in addition to you having so much expertise is that it is the discussion here in California and in other places around the country too. And in California, it’s tied to the homelessness crisis, which is horrible and hideous. And it’s also partly tied to the exodus of people. Pulling out your crystal ball, what do you see happening with real estate in the next five, 10 years? And we didn’t talk about interest rates, which have gone up, but what do you think is gonna happen in the next five, 10 years in California or elsewhere?

Barry Burnett: 

I’m gonna step back on the interest discussion and say that when in 1980 through approximately 1987 the interest rates Skyrocketed to over 20% and then slowly ratcheted down to 13 14 percent during that time period I helped Thousands of people get into dwellings, but I cheated I went to banks when the interest rate was at 17 and a half. I bought forward commitments to buy 20 million dollars at 14 percent so that I could deliver 14 percent to my clients and I was Yeah, well It was it was the smartest thing that I could have done and it wasn’t my fault somebody told me to do that so Fortunately I did that But the interest rate is not the zero killer the thing that’s zero killer is

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah, now who’s the genius? Now who’s the genius? You. 

Barry Burnett: 

Do people need to own their homes? Is there an economic benefit? Some people feel like there’s not an economic benefit if they’re going to be in the dwelling for under five years. Excuse me. Because they’re going to be paying to buy it, paying to sell it, and paying to relocate. And those costs can exceed a normal life cycle or economic cycle cost for doing business. On the other hand, you gain the sense of privacy, personal ownership, the fact that you’re not going to get a rent raise, that you can select who lives in the dwelling with you, all kinds of things along those lines. So everybody has to consider their own needs. I do see within the next five to ten years that the need will continue to accelerate, but we may see more inventory as the baby boomers. And I’m on the late cycle of the baby boom. I was born in 1953. So the people that were born in the late 30s are leaving us in droves. Many people leaving us that are in their over 75. And so that’s going to mean that their families will be selling their dwellings. Or they’ll be selling it in order to relocate so There will be a greater inventory as people that age out of the responsibilities of owning their home will turn and Leave them to others so that’s going to create an opportunity for say somebody who’s already owned It’s unusual and rare that somebody who is outside of the market now could step right into a median home. They almost always have to do a starter before they can trade up. So what’s a starter? Well, it’s generally what we’re seeing in Southern California. And the statistics identify a starter home is an hour and 45 minute average one way commute from downtown Los Angeles. Or an average one way commute of an hour and 20 minutes from downtown San Diego, or an average hour and 10 minute commute from downtown Santa Barbara. And then there from even to get to downtown San Bernardino, it’s an average for the median home, it’s an average 52 minute commute. So it’s just, it’s getting desperate from the commute standpoint. So transportation is going to be a big question and whether people can adjust to public transportation or how we adapt to that. We should have.

Lee Wochner: 

Hence the interest in work from home. Gee, if you’re white collar and you can just video in, you’ll save that 50 to 120 minutes of commute.

Barry Burnett: 

Of course. And that has allowed many communities prices to accelerate. Because the prices were theoretically suppressed on the fringes of a reasonable commute. Because people could not afford to pay the prices of an average house and pay for their fuel and vehicle cost. So now that they don’t have to necessarily commute as far, some of those prices have ratcheted up very quickly. And I usually quickly.

Lee Wochner: 

Ah, so by the way, thank you for the interest rates thing. You know, I tell my kids and I tell other young people when I was their age, just as you said, it was in the 20s. And my then business partner, when I was like 17 or 18, bought a new car, a Volkswagen station wagon at 26% interest, 26% interest for a car loan. But meanwhile, one of my closest friends, sons. Who is 40, talked about high interest rates, something he’s paying 7% on, and I go, Doug, there’s the problem. Your son thinks that the high interest rate.

Barry Burnett: 

Well, you know, we’re in the Hollywood area, so perception equals reality. So, well, we have to educate people to perceptions, but culturally, you know, the Western culture, if they perceive it, it must be true. So we have to, we have to educate.

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah, well, he’s in Minnesota, but yes.

Barry Burnett: 

Well, yeah, you could say that by human beings, right? You know, uh-oh, the sun is going away, so we have to sacrifice somebody to the volcano, right? I mean, that’s human, the story of humankind is, I see it and so, or I believe it. We’re gonna take a short break here, but when we come back, Barry and I will be talking about nonprofit service, which is how he and I met, what he’s learned as a committed community leader and making the most of adversity. Stick around.

Jaclyn Uloth:

Hi, this is Jaclyn with Counterintuity. 

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Lee Wochner: 

And we’re back with real estate guru and community leader Barry Burnett:. So so Barry, you’ve served on a on a number of nonprofit boards, committees, panels, et cetera. Right. And almost 20 years ago, we met through doing board service together. What makes for a good board member of a nonprofit?

Barry Burnett: 

Well, let me circle back and say that at one time in the 1990s, I was on 29 boards of directors and I was, I was chair of 17, either chair or president of 17 of them at the same time. Um, and the, the thing that really makes a difference is somebody who says, yes, I will. And understands that the one yes. Equals an additional 50 yeses because if you say yes, I’ll sit on the board it means yes. I’ll make the meetings yes I’ll take the phone calls yes. I’ll do the follow-up. Yes. I’ll write the letters yes. I’ll see the city yes I’ll see the elected officials yes. I will advocate for the sake of this This service organization otherwise they should say no that they can’t serve because what they’re saying is they won’t serve If you won’t serve if you’re not all in step aside someone who can do the work should be in that seat.

Lee Wochner: 

Wow, I’m going to play that clip for like every board member I know because that’s a discussion we have all the time on all those boards. And you know, it’s been a great wonderful part of my life doing board service. I’ve met you that way. I’ve met so many other great people. And you know, you go around your community, whether it’s local or wherever it is, and you hope you see some impact and it makes you feel pretty good, right? You made the day a little better for somebody.

Barry Burnett: 

Yep, and you do that if you have a heart to serve. If you’re doing it as a community service, because the judge said do this, and it’s better to be on that board than to pick up trash on the side of the freeway. No, sorry, that’s a disqualifier.

Lee Wochner: 

For you, what’s been the most personally fulfilling sort of service you’ve done?

Barry Burnett: 

It’s repeated thousands of times when I my heart is lifted when I see a light bulb go on. When I actually can physically or viscerally see a change in behavior or perspective When someone gets it That’s that’s the fulfillment And some of the great sadnesses are when people are in positions to be able to bring about positive impact when they use it for self-glorification or they whittle it away or dither it away or trash the reputation of that particular agency. That makes my heart bleed.

Lee Wochner: 

One of the boards I sit on, I have a friend who’s a church pastor, and one of the boards I sit on meets at his church. That’s where we meet every other month now, I think is the current schedule. And one time I got there early, and so I just ducked into this other meeting just to sit there and wait for the main room to open up. And it happened to be an AA meeting. There was an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that meets at the church. And I’ve sure known a lot of people with that problem, alcohol. And you know, AA has straightened out a whole bunch of people, and it was just nice to see, you know? It was nice to see and to know what’s happening at my friend’s church and the other good things that are going on at my friend’s church.

Barry Burnett: 

Just what I was saying, when you see the light go on, a life can change by conversation. And frequently in serving the public through boards and nonprofits, frequently that’s what you see. That’s certainly the objective for me.

Lee Wochner:

So you’ve been a board chair, as we know. What’s the toughest challenge you faced as a board chair or a director?

Barry Burnett: 

Keeping the rest of the board focused on mission. One of the reasons we go to these things is for the fellowship of our friends. But when the gavel drops, the tone has to be focused. And then when the meeting is adjourned, have your conversations. It’s hard to keep… It’s like… Cat in..among rocking chairs. It’s it’s really hard You you see it’s really hard to keep Less committed board members focused so that they don’t distract the work of the board

Lee Wochner: 

Um, what advice do you have?

Barry Burnett: 

Sometimes you have to call them out. And you try to do it gently in kindness. But sometimes you have to say, you know, Jim, I really would love to have part of that conversation. But do you have to have it now? Can you have it after we adjourn? What’s your opinion on this particular agenda item? Or Steve was talking and I want Steve can you restate what you said so Jim could join in? so sometimes you have to physically grab a hold of Somebody’s tongue and get them back on focus

Lee Wochner: 

Mm. One time, this was about, oh, 20, 28 years ago? Something like that. I had a fellow board member tell me, quote, you can kiss my ass, close quote. We did not become especially close friends after that. Yeah.

Barry Burnett: 

Wow, he brought his ego to the forefront, didn’t he?

Lee Wochner: 

Well, that’s exactly right. That’s right. That’s what he was about. Um, what advice do you have for, uh, for nonprofit leaders? Whether let’s talk about executives for a minute, right? You’ve worked with a lot of CEOs of nonprofits, executives, executive directors, what, what advice do you have for them?

Barry Burnett: 

Yes. they have to always be building. They have to always be enthusiastically encouraging their board members to get a hold of and advance the mission. They have to be encouraging them in their personal lives so that they don’t get entrapped by the day-to-day difficulties of the world and nullify their voice on that board. Sometimes you have to help them distance themselves from a faux pas that maybe the board member made in public in some other setting. Executives have to balance the tightrope of keeping their people on track. And then they also have to simultaneously find a way to get the funding necessary through grants or bequests or things along those lines. And those go hand in hand, actually, when you have a solid, strong, committed board. It’s much easier to raise funds because people have a sense that it’s going to be handled with integrity. If the funds aren’t, if they don’t know that the funds are going to absolutely be handled with integrity, then the exec, the CEO, the president, just really going to have a hard slog.

Lee Wochner: 

You and I know a number of people with great integrity. And I’ll tell you, someone we know named Vic many years ago got cheated by a partner. And a whole bunch of people got stiffed. And Vic himself worked for 10 years and paid it all back on his own. Because he felt that his integrity was tied to that. And I’ll tell you, you can teach skills, but integrity. If you don’t have integrity I just don’t know what you can do it just it means everything

Barry Burnett: 

Well, you can’t buy it back. In 1980, when the interest rates were at 1,000, and don’t make this public because my wife will not want to hear it again. In 1980, I had a bunch of investors who were going to come with me to a city in another state with their investment, and we’re going to convert an apartment building into condos right next to a major hospital system.

Barry Burnett: 

And we had everything all set up and all dialed in. And I was just busy, completely overwhelmed, little twins. I had multiple real estate offices. And I was just up to my eyeballs. So I brought a hold of somebody who was completely capable of handling a partnership scenario. But instead of handling the partnership, he embezzled a very large sum. And I saw exactly what our friend Vic saw and you can’t buy back your integrity. So I made sure that all of my investors were paid back and that I had to sell everything I owned and And and start From scratch and you know what? I do not regret it and my wife stayed with me. Although i’m not really quite sure why, because she said to start over with me a couple of times, and it’s not pleasant, but that’s what you do. And Vic, the fact that he is so honorable, and the fact that we both have the privilege of knowing him, that’s exciting to me. I wouldn’t want to be in a place where I was surrounded by scoundrels.

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah. So, you know, Barry, I mean, I’m going to tell you something. I part of my admiration for you is that you’re one of the strongest people I know. And I mean, strong character. So some time ago, let’s talk about adversity and challenge for a minute. You lost your leg in a motorcycle accident. Can you tell us about that, about what happened that you lost your leg?

Barry Burnett: 

It was 20 years ago last month. I went to see real estate on my motorcycle because you don’t have to look through the roof or through the pillars of the post. You don’t have to roll the windows down. And it was a beautiful February day and it was gorgeous. I was going 30 miles an hour in Pasadena, just below the Rose Bowl. Anybody who’s ever seen the Rose Parade in the nation knows right where that is. And I was just coming home.

Lee Wochner: 

Oh wow.

Barry Burnett: 

Going 30 miles an hour, somebody had dropped their transmission on a turn, and the transmission fluid was everywhere. And on a motorcycle, transmission fluid is not your friend. So at 30 miles an hour, I went into the guardrail, and I was still up, and that was a good thing. But as I came off, inertia pulled my foot off the floorboard into the guardrail stanchion, and It was cut off right then and there and dropped to the floor and I to the to the street surface and I left it 250 yards behind me Went to the middle of the bridge uh, because it was crossing that beautiful oriole bridge in pasadena and And I stopped the bike in the middle of the road Dialed 911 and set the phone aside pulled my belt off and set my tourniquet and the first person that was there prayed with me and I stayed conscious until the anesthesiologist put me under for the cleanup surgery, which actually didn’t go very well because in the surgery they gave me a staph infection in the bone marrow and they didn’t realize that it was anything other than just infection. So over two years I had eight amputations and it went from above where the top of your sock normally would be. It’s now four and a half inches above my right knee I don’t recommend it. It’s not much fun And it’s certainly not fun certainly not much as much fun as it says in the literature

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah. But I’ve known you. Wow. Certainly more. I’ve known you about 18 years, I think. And I’ve never heard you complain about it once.

Barry Burnett: 

Well, look, Lee, you and I, we know people with real problems. This is a transportation issue. If I treat it as any more than that, then that just demeans me and what I’m trying to accomplish.

Lee Wochner: 

Yeah, that’s the part I admire Barry. And the sense of humor goes a long way. So what did you learn from this experience other than just don’t drive through transmission oil?

Barry Burnett: 

Don’t tell anyone to ride or to not ride I just say you’ve got to count the cost of anything you do in your life. If you’ve broken every bone in your body, it’s probably not a good idea to drive motocross. On the other hand if you’ve got a messed up sciatica and your whole back has been Refused and rewired it’s probably not a good idea to be on the on a bowling league so you know you got to count the cost um I have way too much fun. I got way too much to do. So I just try to encourage people and where they are and what they’re doing to find ways to improve their lifestyle their skill set And how they interact with others?

Lee Wochner:

That’s a great answer, by the way. So how would you advise other people going through adversity? Like something unexpected happens that is not great. Do you have any advice for anybody? Because we all face that at some time or other. What advice would you give?

Barry Burnett: 

Everybody is going to have a dark cloud on their sunny day Everybody is going to have a flat tire a bad battery Get stuck in traffic everybody is going to have issues that they can get really upset about. But every single one of those turns out to have on the backside if you have a decent what do I do about it attitude they can see the divine appointment on the other side? There is going to be a divine appointment which will bring extraordinary Encouragement if they can just keep their focus grit their teeth and walk through it I got stuck right down by the hospital at the corner of Walt Disney Studios I was stuck in the middle of the intersection a year ago when it was 107 degrees out and there was the car was just dead and I couldn’t get out of the intersection and a one-legged man is not going to push it out of the intersection. So couldn’t do anything about it. So I sat there and smiled and waved as people honked and drove by and gave me all kinds of salutes. And so, you know, I was stuck in the intersection for an hour and a half. And then the tow truck driver wanted me to pay him personally and really exorbitant amount of money because he didn’t really like the fact that I was in that particular vehicle stuck at that location on a hot day. And I said, just drop me here on the curb. And he did. And he called me all sorts of names because I wouldn’t pay him extortion. And so at the end of that, I was there from 2 p.m. to 9.45 p.m. until a tow truck driver came about 40 miles to pick me up and drive me the 92 miles to my home and we had the most wonderful conversation. I’d have to say it was eye opening to say the least for the both of us. Me to his situation and him to mine and we have corresponded and stayed in touch. Well okay there are going to be things when you find adversity.

You can endure it then there will be a divine appointment if you can’t endure it well Give me a call. I’ll help you There’s always somebody who can help you get through adversity You can’t do it alone, and you can’t do it alone all the time. I certainly can’t

Lee Wochner: 

I do my best to be a practicing Stoic, right? And I remind myself there are things in my power and things outside my power and things within my control. I exert my power over and things outside my control, I let them go, I have no power over them. And the other thing, here’s something I’ve learned about myself in recent years. I’m not such a hothead. Maybe I was when I was a young man, but I’m not such a hothead anymore. And…

I don’t get angry too often and when I do or whatever it is, when I’m over it in 15 minutes. So I just sometimes, you know, I blow off a little steam, I wait the 15 minutes, it’s over and I just go back to what I’m doing. So I just wanna get to that no steam period of that and then I’ll be even better off.

Barry Burnett: 

I know my friend Lee only has a hard day when he’s in a strong wind and can’t get his cigar lit.

Lee Wochner: 

So Barry, what’s next for you? What are you up to these days? What are you doing next? 

Barry Burnett: 

Well, I’m mentoring a group of 25 men on a weekly basis and a number of times during the week, but we meet Wednesday nights for two hours. And that is a privilege for me to be able to encourage them on their lifestyle choices and in their faith walk and in their determination. I’m frequently giving them counsel on their environments their household their family their Spousal their work environments how to raise kids and things like that and I don’t know a lot of the answers and when I Stumped I say I don’t know let’s find out together and We tend to go to a source that I refer to constantly it means that’s the Bible, but I’m looking at involvement in a lot of lay ministerial environments right now, and I plan on traveling at least three times a year internationally with a fellow who is the president and CEO of a 75-year-old broadcasting organization. It’s called Far East Broadcasting Corporation. I’m gonna carry his luggage and help him get through his meeting schedule At least several times a year Odd places that I wouldn’t otherwise have a privilege of traveling places like Tajik Stan Kazakhstan Lahore Pakistan Indonesia I Gonna try to avoid Somalia, but we’ll see I’m gonna follow after my son who’s taught in Uganda and Kenya and South Africa So I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun plus my wife and I are really enjoying traveling ourselves together We just came back from 50 year anniversary and We went to Hawaii we were down in the Wailae area on the south end of Maui and Our greatest enjoyment together was snorkeling a couple of times is this one-legged guy with one fin on? Snorkeling with his wife holding on it was a back and we heard this most magnificent underwater symphony It was a pod of whales and they have completely different voices It was at least four voices with different cadences different tempers different Vocalizations it was stunning never forget that so traveling yes, but I will be God willing continuing in real estate at least until I get my 60-year pin. Then I might turn it over to my grandkids.

Lee Wochner: 

If people want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way they can reach you?

Barry Burnett: 

Barry at Barry Burnett: dot net Barry at Barry Burnet Net I respond to everything I’m all over it if it’s more than three hours before I respond to in to an email during a normal workday then I must be in meetings because my standard is to get back to people within a 20-minute cycle. So we’re in an emergency environment with so many ways of communicating, and I try to take other people’s time as being important. So I get back to them as quickly as I can without sacrificing others. Thank you for having me.

Lee Wochner: 

Well, of course, we’ll put that in the show notes too, so people can reach out if they have questions and people always have questions about real estate. If there’s one thing that you hope people take away from our little discussion here, what would it be?

Barry Burnett: 

If you want to serve in any capacity, at any level, in any industry, I have my training program and I’ve been fortunate and privileged to train at least 1200 real estate agents. I’ve copyrighted this. It is a six word training program and I’m going to give it to you free. You ready? Find a need. Fill the need. If you can find a need, then you can fill the need. Not find a want and fill the want. That’s more of an ego thing. But if you really want to have an effective life, find a need and fill the need.

Lee Wochner:

All right, Barry, a pleasure as always. I think I owe you a lunch.

Barry Burnett: 

I will take you up on it.

Lee Wochner: 

Let’s get that on the books. 

Jaclyn Uloth:

Thanks for listening! We’re glad you came. That’s What C! Said is produced by Lisa Pham and engineered by Joe Curet. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please like and follow the show. Visit Counterintuity.com to sign up and learn more. 

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