Buy Dirt While Others Run: Wisdom from a Florida Real Estate Veteran with Carl Christian

Carl Christian came to the United States from Haiti in August 2000. He went to FIU. A friend pointed him at a brother-in-law who taught real estate. Carl was hesitant — "I don't like to sell things and wait for commission." The brother-in-law refused to let him say no. Twenty years later Carl runs four businesses under the Nice brand, and an entire chapter of his memoir is dedicated to that one man, who is no longer alive. "Everything I've achieved was just because of that one conversation." The Nice operation is four companies: The Nice Agent (the brokerage), Nice Property Management, Nice Tax Company, and Nice Construction Management. Carl's wife runs property management. A former employee who became a partner runs the tax company. Carl's high school friends run the construction arm and the brokerage office. The stated company value is "love," and Carl means it operationally — if you don't love the people you're doing it with and for, don't be in it. He's based in Pembroke Pines, Florida. His very first property was bought sight-unseen for $370K in the mid-2000s, dropped to $190K by 2009-2010, and is worth $850K today. He hasn't sold. He spent the next decade in single family rehabs out of the court auctions earning 20% to 30% returns, and is now transitioning toward multifamily with a five-year plan to layer in subdivision development as his last act. What landed in this conversation: The South Florida barbell. A $920K listing in Pembroke Pines just got a cash offer at $950K in two days. A $775K listing 10 minutes away has been sitting for three months. High-end product is moving because money keeps flowing into South Florida from out of state. The $300K to $500K buyer is priced out — they can't afford what's on the shelf, and what's affordable isn't there. Meanwhile Central Florida (Orlando, Haines City, Lakeland, Tampa) is dropping fast. The metro and the submarket matter more right now than the asset class. Florida multifamily insurance, in real numbers. A six-unit in Miami, two stories, roughly 10,000 square feet. Wind insurance alone runs $18,000 a year and has to be written through Lloyd's of London. Add hazard and liability and two of the six units are paying just for the policy. Carl is trying to refinance the property and can't pull cash out because the insurance load crushes the underwriting. His advice for operators in this environment: stomach the pain, lean on your network, and remember the people who survived 2008. The morning we recorded he had just gotten word that a problematic city lien on another property had been approved and a separate agent issue had resolved overnight — both after weeks of stress. "Sooner or later something great will happen." Buy dirt. Carl's favorite story is about a Miami family during the Great Depression who bought up beachfront land everyone said was worthless because you couldn't grow crops on sand. Three generations later that family owns nearly a small city on the beach. Gary Keller, of Keller Williams, has worn t-shirts that read "Buy Dirt" for the same reason. Carl's five-year plan ends with subdivision development — buying the dirt is the last move, and the longest-compounding one. "They are not making any more." Excitement kills deals. Carl overpaid for a 3.5 acre parcel in Fort Pierce, paid the architect, paid for full plans — and then learned the city wouldn't allow subdivision on lots under five acres. He recovered by offering the eventual buyer owner financing instead of demanding cash up front, taking the long view to get out clean. The lesson stays with him: "Excitement is like being angry or being in love. You don't know what you're doing." Never pull the trigger from that state. The advice Carl heard on his own podcast from a guest named James, that he can't shake: "I try every day to be the person I needed 20 years ago." Close your eyes and picture who you were two decades ago. The person you needed to show up didn't. Be that person for someone else now. The story that anchors it for Carl: he just handed an entire flip deal to one of his agents — a woman who had never bought a property in her life and was struggling. The morning we recorded, she got approved for the mortgage. "This is what I wake up for every single day." On running four companies without spreading himself thin, Carl points to Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited for the technician-versus-entrepreneur distinction. He's currently reading Raging Referrals by Brandon Barnum — the 3-2-1-1 system (touch 3 existing relationships daily, add 2 new contacts to your database, refer 1 person to a business, end every day with 1 referral received). Carl's own memoir, This Is The Nice Life of Carl Christian, covers his first 40 years. Books mentioned: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Find it on Amazon. Raging Referrals by Brandon Barnum. Find it on Amazon. This Is The Nice Life of Carl Christian by Carl Christian. Find it on Amazon. Get in touch: theniceagent.com. Real Estate Underground with Ed Mathews. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, at clarkst.com/podcast or elevista.com/podcast Elevista - Speed as a Service™Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors. 🎧 Subscribe to Real Estate Underground for weekly insights on building wealth through real estate, without sacrificing your sanity.Additional Resources:Clark St Capital -> Passive real estate investments for busy business owners and executivesElevista -> AI SaaS for real estate investorsClark St Academy on YouTube -> Learn how to invest in real estateSocial Media:LinkedIn -> Ed Mathews (President at Clark St and Elevista)Heads up: If you find this week's book intriguing and you buy using our link, we receive a small commission that helps support the show. Thank you!