Meet the Man Selling Las Vegas' Most Luxurious Homes | Kamran Zand's $1B Real Estate Empire

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts, Pocky and Chris. We are people who are passionate about business, success, and culture. And this is our platform to showcase the people in our city who are making it happen. And on today's guest, we've had one of the most influential names in luxury real estate. He's helping shaping the high-end market in Las Vegas and beyond. He's the founder and CEO of Luxury Estates International, better known as L E I. So let's welcome to the circle. Mr. Cameron's. So you've been on my radar, man, for like six years, I think now, man. So shout out to a mutual friend, I think, is how you got on our radar, uh, James Loney.

Yeah, yeah. Good friend of mine. Thanks for uh thanks for having me. Yeah, I could be uh a value ad and uh contribute. Yeah, man.

So this real estate market has been absolutely crazy, man. How long have you been in real estate?

Gosh, man, I just turned 40 years old. Okay, and I've been doing this since I was like 19, so just over 20 years. Oh congrats. That's a longevity. I'm I'm I'm a veteran, what they call a kind of a veteran in the game now. Yeah, yeah.

How'd you get your start then? Were you starting did you start in Las Vegas or where'd you start?

Yeah,

From CPS Move To First Home

dude. So so like imagine just coming right out of high school, and well, just rewinding a little bit. I moved out here when I was like 15 or 16, right? And I moved to Las Vegas because we were living in California. My mom, single mom, welfare, and you know, she had things that got the best of her. And it wasn't until child protection services relocated me from my mom's possession to my grandparents in Las Vegas. My grandpa, hardworking entrepreneur, owned a landscaping company, and I was placed with them. And honestly, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It changed the whole trajectory of my life. My grandpa was like really hardworking, and you know, he really taught you what the you know what hard work what was and you know, with landscaping. And for me, he helped me like get my driver's license, get in school, get my diploma, get my do the whole thing, and he helped me let me work at his company. And yeah, I mean, I was shoveling rock, planting ponds, working in 110 degree weather, like that was it was I was grinding it out and finished high school, and you know, I started as like a day laborer to you know running his company. And gosh, man, I was like 18 at the time, and I had saved up like $10,000, which was a lot for me back then. And I bought a house. And my my uncle's significant other at the time sold me a house, and it was like a KB home in Mountain's Edge, and I saw how much she made, and I had no business buying this house, but this is like in oh you know, six when anybody else, dude. It was crazy. Like I had no business buying this house, but she made like five percent, it was like $25,000. They were paying these agents like a lot of money, and I was like, holy shit, I don't know if I can cuss. Holy shit, holy shit. If she could do that, I could do that, and I don't have to get dirty, I don't have to work in this 120-degree weather, and like it was just like all right, and she took me under her wing, and I thought I was gonna be you know a millionaire when I passed my test. I was just like, I made it, I got it. And little did I know, it was a lot harder than I thought. That house ended up foreclosing. I got to stay there for nine months before you know the bank had to give me cash for keys to get out. But during that time, I had gone all in on real estate. I, you know, separated from the landscaping business, which I was destined to take over, and I probably would have crushed it in that space if I stayed in it. But real estate was, you know, was the calling. And yeah, yeah, that you know, that first year was tough. I was eating noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, house foreclosed. At that time, my mom, I pulled her out of Barstow, California to live with me. I had my other little brother living with me, and I'm trying to hold it all together while this house is tanking and I'm not really selling anything. I'm you know, dabbling in open houses. And I got lucky with one open house, and that led to a sale, which helped me, you know, get afloat. But yeah, it was a it was a grind. Those first those first years were tough, man.

Yeah, and when you're kind of bridging that gap, you know, from stability, right? The sure thing, the work ethic, you but you also like one, you're building the the foundation, right? I'm assuming of that work ethic that I'm I'm sure helped you through the course of your career, but to go through those lean years to bridge that gap from stability to experience while also trying to establish that foundation of work ethic, you know, it seems like a very tough dynamic

Learning Hustle Through Constant Rejection

to be in. Like, what was those kind of early years like? And how do you think that that helped you move into that next space?

Yeah, so I remember it like it was like yesterday, like I was just, you know, getting like loss after loss after loss. I just couldn't figure out like why I can succeed. And I think I was like at one of my lowest points where like, you know, they say it rains, it pours, like shit was going down. I was like, oh man. And I just remember actually, it was one sales meeting at the time. There was this like professional coaching company came in and it was like the Mike Ferry organization, and they talked about you know, coal calling and door knocking and hitting up for sale by owners. And and apparently, if you go to this like superstar retreat in Palm Springs or Palm Desert at the time, there's there's real estate agents driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces, and I'm attending, I'm listening to all this, and I'm like, really? So I go to this website, and this guy kind of like looks like my grandpa and he has this work ethic, and you do this and do that. And I'm like, all right, I could do this, I'm a hard worker. So I like learn all these scripts, and I started calling, you know, for sale by owners and expired listings, and there was a few other agents in the office doing it, and I was starting to see a little bit of success, but something wasn't clicking. And after like X amount of like failed listing opportunities or failed listing pitches, I had to have like a self-talk with myself. I was like, if I want to be this freaking successful like Mike Ferry agent, like who do I need to become to be this agent? And what do I need to start doing differently? What habits do I need to create? What who do I need to become to be this person? And I started just doing things different, doing things different at that time. I had to like shift, like, I had to lose this like ghetto accent, lose this good goatee, get these tailors, these um suits tailored. I had to really polish and my my whole approach and get more knowledgeable about what was selling and what wasn't selling and why was that the case? And sooner or later I started getting more opportunities, and those opportunities start leading to success. And then I started like having some really good momentum. And I was like, okay, I got this figured out with some hard work, I'm gonna make it. And then the shit all just went down to overlook.

Cold Calling Banks For REO Deals

Everybody had perfect time to learn the lesson. I was like, well, all right, whatever I thought I had, it's all gone. These people, I would set six appointments a day for sale by owners, expired listings, and I would get ready to run all the comps on all the properties at the end of the day, and everyone was upside down. I was like, How am I gonna, you know, do I just can't do it, it doesn't make sense, it's not penciling out. And at that time, there was a big shift in the market, things weren't moving, and it was weird because like some of the agents in the office were you know getting part-time jobs at the nightclubs. I think like Privé was the nightclub on Planet Hollywood, and there's like a bunch of them, right? And all I knew was landscaping, so I kind of saw what if there's any opportunities for me to dabble in, make some money, and come back, but I didn't, I just stuck it out, and it was crazy. There was this, there was this this one agent. There was a couple of them actually, they were just doing very well in the real estate market. Even at that time when it was tough times. Well, they were crushing it, and what they were doing is they were partnering up with banks and they were getting all of these foreclosures, they were selling hundreds of properties, you know, a year. So me and some of the guys who were making these phone calls was like, well, let's stop calling for sale by owners and let's and expired listings. And and by the way, an expired listing is a listing that was listed with the real estate agent, didn't sell, and now it's back on the market. Anyways, or that they're they're not listed with anybody, so new agents can call them to try to get that business. Anyways, we we shifted from calling for sale by owners to to banks, to coal-calling banks, trying to get a hold of who asset managers were and fucking ching ching, the faucet turned on, and I'm in my early 20s making a million dollars a year. Never have I ever seen that kind of money, and I didn't know anything about workmen's comp or insurance, or I was just like making it happen and I needed help, and I was just calling friends hey, come help me go check this in property. Is anyone living there? Help me do these BPOs, broker price opinions. Sure enough, I had like six offices and 10 agents working for me, and 10 assistants, and I was just just just in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, yeah. I was in my early 20s, one of the top agents, and it was prudential at the time. Now it's Berkshire Hathaway. But now I was crushing it, man. Life was good. Had the six series BMW, had you know five or six rental properties producing rental income. Life, I thought you know, I made it. The suit was on polished, it was on point, and I lost everything again.

I feel like that kind of does give you a false sense of security when you go through that space. Like it feels like to me, like when you're in that I don't know, I feel like at least me personally, when you're going through these ebbs and flows of the economy and then the current rental market and the mortgage market, these things early on. I don't think you think about that, and but how impactful those things are to your career. Like, you know, what kind of lessons have you learned to be able to mitigate that, the ebbs and flows, and ensure that and wins are winning, but then when you're down, you're also prepared.

The Second Reset Taxes And Humility

I was down, and this one hurt because I had something and then I was losing everything like at a rapid what period was it was. You know, that was okay, oh eight, oh nine, oh ten, those were the good days for the R REOs, like real estate owned. This is when the banks had to, you know, get rid of properties. And then I think Obama at the time passed like some moratoriums and people got to stay in their houses. And like literally, that was 100% of my business, as well as the other a lot of other agents who pivoted to represent banks. And it was embarrassing. Like for me, I had to have these awkward conversations with one employee after another, like, hey, I can't afford you no more. It was like, it was just like a painful like separation after we had these good times. So that and then agents who were like so loyal and on board all just kind of disbanded and went their own way. Some of them got out of the business. Sure enough, I was like back to my by myself again. Yeah. You know, luckily I had some rental properties giving me some passive income, but it went from here all the way down to here. And, you know, if it wasn't for some of that passive income, like I was like, I still had to borrow money at times. Like, how do you go from, you know, making a million dollars a year to like, I'm borrowing money, you know? I don't, I need to, you know, and I had to sell some of those properties because no one told me I had to save money for taxes, I had to pay taxes. Like, what the so you always say it's it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you keep. Yeah.

So that's what it comes down to.

Big learning lesson for me, and and yeah, definitely very humbling.

Yeah. So

Studying Luxury Design To Get Fluent

how'd you transition to the luxury the market? Because that's a whole different whole different.

Yeah, and you don't know what you don't know, right? So I'm at my lowest point again, thinking, like, all right, how am I gonna reinvent myself? You know, I got all these properties I've sold, I got experience, I feel like I got the look, I got the suits, I got the BMW. Like, why can't I sell luxury real estate? So I was like, all right, I'm gonna go sell million-dollar homes. It took me like three years before I saw my first million-dollar home before I was.

I was about to say, you said that so fast. I'm like, that's extremely hard to be able to find that to be able to find out. What year was that? Like you got that first one.

I mean, oh gosh, man, maybe 12, maybe I don't know, 13, maybe 13. 2013. So not too far after this kind of downturn. I mean, it was like seven, eight, nine, ten were really good. And I felt like 11, 2011, it started kind of transitioning. And, you know, it took me two or three years before I sold the first one. And yeah, man, I was failing. I was trying everything. I was doing what I knew were those phone calls. I was like, okay, let me jump back on the phones and let me call for sale by owners of million-dollar properties.

But there weren't a lot of those because I was gonna ask you, how many calls do you think you were making to get that one?

Most people, you know, that level are hiring professional real estate agents. They're not trying to sell their home themselves. And, you know, there there could be expired listings, like some of these don't sell, they're off the market. Then you can make those calls, but there's not a whole lot. And then you end up just calling just listed in just neighborhoods and just cold calling. So nothing was really working. And I remember one phone call I made, and I'm not gonna say his name or what company he has, but he had a house in the ridges, and he gave me the timer of day. Like he was talking to me, like I I was like, you know, his advisor, and I was so embarrassed. Like he was talking about how he spent all this money remodeling this house in the ridges, and he spent 800,000 here, two million. This is and this was a back in the day. So him telling me, not only did he buy his house for a lot, he's spending a lot remodeling it, and he's talking about finishes and technology and all this. And I just wanted to hang up on him because I had no idea, I couldn't resonate, I couldn't understand why he was spending so much money. And I felt like if I hung up on him, he was gonna call me right back and say, Hey, did you hang up on me? And he would have uncovered that I didn't know that space. And after I got off that phone call, I said to myself, I'm never gonna be put in this situation again. I'm gonna learn everything I could possibly learn about the luxury space, how they're built, how these the technology in these homes, how they're constructed, who are the architects, who are the builders, where are these homes at? Like whatever I could possibly learn. And I did it. And I'm still it's it's uh, you're uh you're still learning. But you know, at that time I went to like tile yards and went to different, you know, I was Googling like who the architects were and understanding, you know, the difference between courts and quartzite and onyx and what could be backlit and all the technology and properties, savant, crushed on control four, you know, it's just learning as much as I can and that builded up my confidence. So obviously.

Learning the language changes everything.

When someone knows that you know, like you're you're in, like he gets it. You know, it's the same reason, like you know, in the car industry or the airplane industry or whatever, the watches, you know, it's like okay, he gets it, you know, and that's how I you know succeed in the luxury space. People know that I get it, probably even more than them. Like they have they paid for you know, a waterworks or dorm rock plumbing fixture, and they don't know, but I know that value. They just wrote a check, but I can confidently speak on this and convey that to buyers and you let them know, hey, this is a $2,500 bathroom faucet right here. I mean, this is really expensive versus you know a $500 you know, Kohler or whatnot. So, no, I'm I'm really good, I'm confident, and yeah, I have a passion for luxury design and and construction and all of that. And it and it shows. But

A BMW Service Visit Sparks Referral

so I had that call, I was I I learned this, and my first million dollar sale came from I had that black BMW six series, and I had to get a service, right? So I went to the BMW on it was right still there, Rainbow and Sahara, and this guy is a sales guy, his name is Mo, Italian guy, who's like a shit talker, and he was always trying to sell me a car. And he ended up selling me a car. But like he one day he asked me, he said, Hey Cameron, how's the how's the real estate market doing? And I said something different that I normally never would say. I said, you know, the luxury real estate market is is good, and here's what I'm seeing. And I can see him look at me different because I didn't just say, Oh, the real estate market's good. I said the luxury real estate market. And I he put me in a different category in his mind. I can see him like, okay, let me just put Cameron over here versus the other agents that I know. And I looked apart, I had the suits, I had the car, and so, anyways, two weeks later, he calls me and says, Hey, Cameron, I got this guy who wants to buy a multi-million dollar house, he's bought all these BMWs from me. Can you help him? And I'm like, Yeah, I can help him. Like, give me his information. I end up helping that guy, selling him a house in McDonald's Highlands for $1.6 million. After that, I knew it was game on. I was like, Oh, I got this.

And then especially when you get a referral. Yeah, a referral. And it goes back to the language. You felt the confidence and everything that you're bringing up. Yeah.

Well, and then more importantly, what I learned from that is like I've I completed the transaction, everybody's happy, and that was like the first million dollar deal I did. And I was like, Oh, I I can do this. That was the realization. And then the confidence went up, and then I got another opportunity, and another opportunity, and another opportunity, and then it was just game on. Can I ask you where at the time did you have your own company or you were working for a broker? I was at a brokerage where at that point I felt like I just needed to switch my environment to a more luxury-focused office because I felt like that was necessary to help differentiate me from the other 16,000 agents and assist me in getting more high-end listings. I needed a brand to latch on to. I didn't need accountability or, you know, do this, make these calls. No, I just needed the identity to align with where I was going. And then I ended up working at a small boutique firm for 12 months, and there were some things. I don't want to go too much into it because people can reverse engineer the whole thing. But like it's a small city too.

They're gonna figure it out.

I learned a lot from that, and I was like, you know, I can start my own company that gives me a little bit of the the big corporate office that I was at, combined with the boutique brand that I was at, and create something truly

Why He Founded LEI In Vegas

special. And that was gosh, 2014, so 12 years ago.

So that's when you launched LEI.

Yeah, I launched LEI.

Okay.

I wanted a company that complimented the business that I was going after and still ref, you know, showed that, you know, represented the clients that I was already already had. And I wanted it to help open up doors for me, but then I also wanted to do it for other real estate agents who were passionate about luxury, were already kind of had their feet wet and wanted to really pivot and really hone in on that that niche. And it did. You know, we're at 30 agents now, but I mean, some of the top agents in the city started with me or are still most of them are still with me. They never leave because they got such a good thing. We're non-franchised, non-affiliated, so you don't have to pay the whole 6% or whatever that is, and you get the best of both worlds. You get the boutique family office style, you know, brokerage without the fees, without the corporate shareholders, you know, having a say. And things stay local. The commissions stay local, the money spent here is local, it empowers local. If you don't, if you don't get it by now, I'm kind of like anti-franchise. I'm only like independent. I just feel like those back when real estate first started, there were no corporate franchises. It was the mom and pops who ran the city, they had the insight. They're the ones that they they ran it. And and even today, some of the top firms in the world are the boutique independent ones all throughout Beverly Hills, all throughout the major markets. There's those those top ones that aren't affiliated who crush it. So international, luxury station international, like where I'm going is I'm partnering with those independent family office offices. And we're putting a director together, and it's just gonna be a representative. If you're a uh an agent focused in the luxury space, you know, let's let's create this own international network where we can all align and communicate and maybe throw a conference. Like that's kind of like the long-term vision, but we've been just crushing it here in Las Vegas.

Right now you're based in it's Vegas and Beverly Hills, right? California?

Right now we're just Vegas. We have partners in different markets. Ah, okay. I have a client that wants to sell their house in Beverly Hills. I'm gonna go reach out to one of the agents that are in my network. I do So if I want to buy that $135 million site that I saw, I could buy from you. I'm gonna link you up with my buddy and then we'll I'll be indirectly there, but he'll he'll take you. Because like, here's the deal I can't be here, and I'm gonna say this, and you know, people call themselves the you know, the global advisor, and that's fine. Sure. But like if you're not living in that market, living and breathing and selling in, like, how are you gonna be an asset or be of value? Vegas, I got on point. You know, I know what's on market, I know what's off the market, I know who's who's behind the LLCs, I know, and I could provide value to any table I'm at, any conversation, and I know that. But like for another agent to come say that they're you know a representative of the Vegas market when they don't know anything, like, how is that even true? It's just a big disconnect for me. So I like to give people the respect that you you've lived there for 20 years, you've been selling there. This is your game. You know, I'll work with you and I'll introduce you to the client, but like that's I I can oversee it, but like, you know, the collaborations are important. Yeah, that's the we can collaborate, but I'm gonna tip my hat to you and let you share your knowledge to that of that market, Beverly Hills, New York, wherever, you know?

There's usually enough real estate trading in a specific location that it makes sense. Like the we just hone in on what you do well. But

Where High End Vegas Buyers Come From

yeah, you know, how do you think that customer experience shifts between the you know the luxury, right? Because if I'm selling a house, if I'm selling my $200,000 house versus selling a $35 million house, it's a very different dynamic and how that kind of whole process goes, or even from a buying position, I think it's probably the same.

You'll be surprised, man. It's not that much of that's good to know. It's actually still going from A to Z. You know, you can still finagle over furniture or like I mean, it's not the you're dealing with very well accomplished people who, you know, they may have, you know, a strong personality. And you know, here's the deal if you're if you think that I passed my real estate broker exam and I got 100% and I aced it, and you think that's gonna carry on into real world real estate transactions, you're gonna be mistaken. It's about the um, yeah, it's a people. It's like, can I take this poison from point A to point B and get them through here emotionally, fast, efficiently, without this shit blowing up on everyone? And that that's it. It's like, can you man, can you hang? Like, I'm do you know, I'm talking to the the cities, the world's some of the world's most accomplished people, and I need to be able to be versatile enough to know when to back off, know when to to to say this is how it needs to go, educate them on the process, because the process is probably different here than it is in New York or in Tokyo or whatever. They're relying on me to help them, you know.

Be that chameleon. Yeah. You definitely have been a versatile chameleon. I wanted to ask you, like, where are you seeing because we've shifted, right? Like, I've been in Vegas for 19 years. I'm trying to remember how how long have you been there now?

Uh 16, 17.

16 years. So this is home for both of us, right? We're both Midwest guys. Yeah. But what are you seeing the shift? Because you're starting to see a lot of, like you said, LLCs and things like that that are buying in Vegas. Where are you seeing a lot of this high-end luxury money coming from?

Yeah. So right now it's obviously it's coming from our feeder markets. It's coming from California. It's coming from you know, Seattle, it's coming from those, those are our feeder markets, and it's coming. And what's interesting is the ultra high-end is doing well. I mean, year over year, we're just selling so many more multimillion dollar properties. I mean, I'm negotiating and under a contract for two properties north of $20 million right now. And like never has that ever happened until you know, people have started building these huge caliber homes and communities were created to house these people who are transferring from other states to Las Vegas. What kind of industry are they in?

Are they in IT? Are they in other industries?

Yeah. Okay, let me think here. They're in tech, they're developers, they are entrepreneurs, they're in all types of. I can't even say it's one space. Like maybe in like northern Nevada, you got a lot more tech heavy, but it's all over, man. It's that that's the beauty of it. You know, if you have six significant accomplishments and and you know, it's not just a tax play, it's like this isn't people are finding this is a nice place to live, you know, for summer months. But other than that, man. Well, it's easy to live.

I mean, we were just talking about I was at a friend of mine's house, friend of mine's house, went to a friend of mine's birthday party last night, and we were talking about there, so many people from out of state, but this is just such an easy city to live. Yeah, it's the easiest city to live, and you go to other stuff, like you mentioned New York, I'm originally from Chicago. These are big markets, yeah, but it's just a small town in Vegas. And then you go to the city where you want to, which is a strip. Yeah.

And I notice here too, is like where even though like it seems on the I don't know, entry level, yeah, and kind of the lower middle class, I think they're having a very hard time affording like a lot of homes, and you're starting to see some contraction a little bit in some of those markets, but then you're seeing the luxury market, the number one sales in Vegas ever, they're blowing all these records out of the water. Like, yeah, it's almost like all that money is kind of funneling up to the top to purchase ultra luxury and kind of getting you know sucked away from a little bit from the bottom end of it. Like, are you seeing that like the spread get wider and wider between that luxury and kind of entry level?

So there's two things. I think the the sp there is a spread, but it's because of the influx of people who are you know very accomplished, who figured it out, who are making it, and that is creating that that larger gap where spending it versus like it's different here where they weren't here, so there wasn't you wouldn't see that con that much of a contrast.

That makes sense. Do you feel like the impact of professional sports is done a lot here? Well, obviously, with the formula once.

It's amazing, it's beautiful. And I hope that we get these this movie studio here and then the Sony and the the Hurst on the back burner right now, yeah. I hope so, man, because like that's gonna create. I mean, at least for the luxury market, you know, there's gonna for all the markets. I mean, it's gonna produce jobs, it's going to absorb some of our inventory on the market right now. I think that, you know, that with the sports and and everything else going on, it's just bringing more reasons for people to you know come here. For sure.

Yeah.

Staying Detached Setting Boundaries With Clients

What's the biggest mistake ambitious entrepreneurs make in relationships? Because I know you build with a lot of different people, but what do you think is the biggest mistake that they're making?

Well, there's a couple things. Like, number one, I think that some entrepreneurs, you know, everything is fluid, right? No one owns anybody. And at least in the real estate space, you know, people get attached to like a relationship, and you know, you don't own people, they go where they want to go, you know. And I see that in in business, but also especially in the real estate space. People get, you know, other agents can get emotional if a client shifts from someone that they were using to someone that they feel might be a better fit for this project. So for me, I would say, you know, just not be attached to anything and just kind of keep it moving and go with the flow.

Yeah. Yeah.

That sounds personal for you, right?

Because I know that that buzz happened all the time. See it on both sides, maybe. I can see you having a conversation probably with one of the your team members. Like, look, baby, chill out.

Because I had one, I did 10 deals with this person, and it's like, hey, we got a system. If it's broke, don't try to break it. And then they went with another route with someone else. And I was like, hey, no problem. Guess what? I'm getting the back. So they're I'm coming back, and they called me to help them again. So just everything is fluid, you know, just trying not to take anything personal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We got so much space in Vegas, man. Where do you see the next kind of build? Obviously, you talked about the ridges, you know, Summerland. We've got the Madonna Highlands. Yeah. We've got what is it, the the corridor on north of Summerlin?

Astra. So I think Astra at La Madre Peaks, that's the new. Where is that at? I've heard that name. So that's like the top of like Far Hills, like between like Far Hills Lake Meets.

By Red Rock, by in the Red Rock area.

Yep. It's gonna be it's all custom home sites. You know, those lots are starting at 1.9 all the way up to $10 million plus. Back in the day, we're like, this is ridges 2.0, and and you know, people are looking at that, but you still got the ridges. There's no more real lots left in there, so that's kind of built out. And then the summit club, that's like the pinnacle, right?

That's that's that's what do the houses go for in a summit club? No.

I mean, the lots are about to start at 10 million just for the dirt, and then to get a house, you know, you're probably like 20 million plus. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely bever the hills and couple of baggage stats. Well, that's when you start hearing that.

I mean, that's legit. That's a good thing.

That's a that's a bubble. That's like its own thing. Like the the community next door is the ridges, and they're not getting you know $2,500 a square foot. You know, they're probably getting you know $1,200 to $1,500 a square foot.

How many homes are in that area, like between summit and like ridges? Like how many homes do you think?

So the ridges are just under a thousand in the summit. There's about 250 like parcels. So do a lot of people like know each other within the same little ecosystems, like they're pretty much in the same little I mean, I'm in the summit, you know, three times a week, you know, whether I'm hanging out with friends, playing pickleball, or doing some real estate transactions. But a lot of people in the ridges bought in the summit and you know, still have that own a lot or building their custom home. And not just the ridges summit. I mean, it's all over is people coming from Queensridge and Tournament Hills, and if you've got the means, and it's sometimes a Summit isn't for everybody, doesn't you know resonate with some people, and that's totally fine. A lot of the neighborhoods who what are actually excelling are some of the classic traditional Summerland neighborhoods with the sidewalks and the tree-lined streets. You got people from coming from different states, and they're like, I like this. This reminds me of where I come from, versus you know, some of these new communities, they're you know, they had to remove the sidewalks so they can get more room for housing and stuff like that. So you see a lot of these his established Summerlin communities, you see blue dumpsters all up and down the street because everyone's renovating and you know bringing out where they wanted to go. Yeah, yeah.

Do you ever turn down deals if you're just dealing with somebody that's a pain in the butt? All the time, man. Yeah, not all the time.

I mean, I'm very grateful for every opportunity I get, but it's got to what what what cuts it off for you?

Did you like, look, I'm not gonna deal with this person?

I mean, I gotta like here's the deal, man. There was a coach that said, Hey Cameron, what's it gonna take for you to be the number one agent in Vegas? And I was like, I know what it's gonna take, and I'm not willing to to to give that because everything has a price and a payoff.

Yep.

You know, the the the payoff is like I get to be the number one agent, but like at what price? At what cost? Could be the cost of like my family, my relationship, my health, my own sanity, right? So it's like I'm very mindful of how much I'm working and how much I get to spend time because these kids I have three kids, five, three, and one. And these kids are growing up fast, man. Five, three, and one. Yep, yeah, great ages. Yeah, enjoy that. It's fun, man. We're wrestling every day.

Yeah, nine and eleven. He's got three girls. Yeah. So yeah, so it's yeah, it's no joke. Yeah. You don't get it back.

Yeah.

And like I just I wanna, the way I want to show up, there's I can't do it all. So I have to pick and choose. So I'm I'm a little bit more selective on who I'm working with at this point. And I gotta like the property and be passionate about it and really kind of vibe with them. I feel like I'm uh I think it's a luxury to have somebody like me. I'm not just what's the word, a commodity or something. You know, it's like, yeah, there's there's 16,000 agents or so. Like, you know, if I'm a fit, you will know. And you know, if you want me, you're getting hands-on, like, you know, personal attention, and and that's what I do. I deliver. I think I'm really you know good at it.

Yeah, and how do you like define intentions? Like said example. I'm like, hey, Cameron, I want a $30 million house. I can't afford a $30 million house. Like, how do you weed me out from somebody who can buy a $30 million house? You read both that's what I was getting at.

You'd be like, look, you can't, I can't forget you.

No, at this level, you gotta pre-qualify though. Okay, so yeah, there's a pre-qualification. Hey, do you have financials? Hey, the seller, you know, some of these homeowners aren't gonna let us into the property unless we are able to demonstrate some financial. A lot of these guys, I can just Google them and I'll know if they're good or not.

But it's like sometimes it's fake, fake Google, too.

Oh my god, there's some fake ones out there.

Chris is all dude. I am.

I'm trying to get the tour, I'm trying to get the tourists. Trying to find a pickleball camera. I have to be super careful and diligent because I'm bringing somebody in and like not only am I showing them houses, safety, but I'm gonna be showing them my friends' houses. And I know these a lot of these homeowners intimately, and I was like, I can't, I have to do it for their safety, my safety, but it's it's rare. And sometimes those one that one buyer will slip through the cracks and get all of us, they'll full up the whole town. And we'll, you know, some of us, the brokers will laugh and joke about it, like, dude, this guy just freaking played us all. There was one guy, man. I I was just like, this guy had the the craziest story, and he told it so descriptive, and I just like it, it just doesn't pencil out who you're saying you are the bastard child of, like, and I'm trying to run all the and like I could pick up the phone and call the head of this family and see and easily shoot it down.

But yeah, it's it's there's that's what I love about Las Vegas is between like three different people you could find out who this person really is behind that curtain. So we're just some cool open houses though. That'd be some nice open houses. One question

Smart Home Tech Versus Timeless Homes

I'm just I still wanted to ask you about just technology and things like that. So speaking of kids, because my kids will show me ridiculous things on YouTube. What is the coolest thing that you've seen in a home as far as technology or maybe what's coming that's that you're seeing that's just ridiculous?

I mean, here's I'm uh now this is where I'm aging. AI, we've got all the stuff. It's like now you can like touch the light switch and it'll monitor your temperature or your like like the there's sensors that can you know measure your body heat and adjust the thermostat based on how what the thermal reading is, and a lot of it's a little, you know, it's nice and cool to hear, but you know, I'm I'm I'm a little old-fashioned in that sense. I don't need all that. I like timeless design, you know, uh uh great quality, you know.

It's like the elegance seems like matches your brand.

Yeah, elegance and and you know, I don't need the fanciest thing that's super hard to work. I mean, personal, I mean I I appreciate it when it works, but yeah.

You said the key thing, because stuff breaks down, you got to call whatever. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, just for business advice and uh life advice, you sold, you know, obviously multiple homes, luxury homes, built a luxury brand, you work with some of the most successful people in the world. What's one lesson about wealth that you look at and you learn from over the years that can maybe might be able to help change somebody's life now that's listening?

Well, one lesson that I follow through is you know, that I keep in the back of my mind is like, you know, at the end of like what what's giving you what's the flex? What's true luxury, right? And you know, for me, it's not I don't need to be like, you know, having the you know later the Ferrari or the role, like for me it's like time. Like that's that's that that's luxury. And with time, you you get that through having passive income. And it's saving and it's investing and it's being able to create that passive income so you can passive income so you can ride out, you know, certain markets. But that's that's giving you the the ability to go play pickleball or go play golf or go travel, you having that passive income and it gives you the freedom to be creative. So wealth-wise, I'm always looking at you know what can I do to invest to create value and to to create what I feel is a luxury and it's in its time.

What's good about that is you lost it twice, right? So there's two or third times. And now you have three kids take advantage of it. Well now I gotta be more conservative, you know. And you got kids.

Yeah, three kids, yeah. So I'm more mindful of the spending, and yeah, I'm not, I'm not like I don't need all that to be happy, you know. It's like at the end of the day, what do we really need? And some of us are chasing something that, you know, okay, you get the new house or you get the new car, but like you're not, it's not necessarily making you happy. And what would make you happy? And it's like a lot of us already have everything we want to be happy. We really do. Yeah, but after basic survival mode, like, you know, we're we're good compared to a lot. I mean, this town can get you caught up in this rat race of trying to keep up with the Joneses. I agree. I had a I was on a Zoom call with my buddy, and I always remember this. He had this like picture behind him, and it said, like, stay in your lane. And I always remember that, and it's like, yeah, these guys, there's always gonna be someone else crushing it, doing something bigger and and better. And but like, you don't know the whole story about that person's life. You may just see this one thing, but who knows what they're going on personally or health-wise or whatever. So just focus on you, stay in your lane. I'm a firm believer, like, if you take care of yourself, everything else will come into place.

I agree.

Passive Income Time And What Comes Next

Transition a little bit about just about restaurants, but I'm curious. We always ask everybody this what's your favorite restaurant in Vegas?

Oh, dude. It depends on the type of food. I mean, I've always I've always liked the RF. Yeah, Javier's really good.

I think you're the second Jay Sean said Javier's. Yeah. That's my spot, man. And I was Javier's is great.

I lived on this, I lived at the Waldorf Astoria, I lived at Veer Towers before we had kids, and I would, when I was transitioning from being an agent to a broker, I would read this broker book and I would go to the walk to Javier's, sit at the bar, and just you know, just study there. And like that was just my spot, and I still to this day love that. What's your favorite thing? Because I've tried like a few different things on the menu, and I feel like everyone's.

Remember? Yeah. I thought I just thought about that.

Chipson's also the best, but like um, the the I get the chicken chop salad with the vinaigrette. Yeah, my wife likes the the fajitas, chicken fajitas, but yeah. Good too.

Jarvier's good. I've never had bad meal there. It's always it's always really good. I like it. So, what's next up for you? What else do you want to leave us out on? You so international play, collaborations, things like that. What's next for you?

Expanding this international directory, you know, uh finding the best independent operated, you know, real estate professionals in the luxury space, putting them on this directory and just figuring out how to collaborate and grow in that arena. Also, you know, for me, what's fulfilling is, you know, I've already selling the you know some of the coolest homes in town. Actually, you know, fulfillment is different now. It's like it's giving back. Like I can help these agents who were where I was under my office, you know, succeed. And it's cool watching, man. I could tell you stories. These some of these kids, I call them kids now, they're like, these guys are crushing it, man. They're doing exactly what I'm telling them to do, and they're they're making, they're doing very well, man. They're doing very well. And and it I get to live their success, you know, and I get I've created this vehicle that allows them to utilize to to succeed at a high level. We're not for everybody. I could snap my finger and hundreds of agents would want to come, but like it's not, it just wanted to be a fit and it would dilute the brand. But the ones who are, you know, already passionate about it and they they want to learn how I wanted to learn, how I wanted to get good at luxury, I could see that in them, then I feel like that's they can excel, you know.

You make me want to quit everything I'm doing and go work when you try to sell one of the $20 million house.

No, it's good to sit down with you, man, just to give a different perspective on the luxury side. So uh we appreciate you, man, hanging out with us, man. What's your social handles people can uh reach into? Cameron's in. Okay. And then what's the the you have a real estate uh social handle also?

Yeah, so it's at Luxury Estates Las Vegas, okay, and then at Luxury Estates International, INTL or something like that.

I just did my dream building looking at the website, baby. It's legit, man. So check check him out, man. He's got great things on there, man. We appreciate you sitting down with us, man. Thank you for having us. Yeah, check us out at baconcircle.com. Thank you, brother. Thank you, man. Good stuff. Good stuff.