I had no idea that I was going to be in real estate, basically because I had a bad experience myself. Demarcus Hunter is a strategic, purpose-driven real estate entrepreneur and developer. Blending corporate precision with deep human connection, he builds development projects, leads a growing real estate team, and creates wealth-building opportunities rooted in advocacy, education, and community impact. So for folks that are listening, they hear the word real estate. to me it sounds a little scary what but folks like you make it seem less scary why is that no i mean real estate is for everyone it's the cornerstone of pretty much everyone's uh wealth portfolio and if it's not it should be i mean it's that one thing that if you don't do very much to it it still continues to go up in value year after year and keep close um i guess appreciation values with how the rest of the world is appreciating today. What advice would you give to someone just like you 20 years in the past, listening to this podcast or watching go, what would you tell them? Be open to the possibilities. So be limitless in your reach and always strive to make those strong connections that will solidify your foundation along the way. It spans the globe like a super high school internet. Elvis! Today, Apple is going to reinvent the farm. It's not over until I win. The Living Your Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy. That's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan. Open. Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream. Welcome back to another episode of the Legacy Makers podcast. I am your host, Ray Gutierrez for the Inside Success Network. Today joining me is Demarcus Hunter. He's got quite the twist when it comes to real estate. Demarcus, how are you? Doing great. How are you, Ray? Fantastic, man. Thanks for asking. So you just finished filming your episode for Legacy Makers. How do you feel? I feel great. So like, it's always great to get that story that's within you out there, you know, for everyone to see or everyone to hear. So I'm I'm really looking forward to seeing it there. Right on, brother. Well, you've got quite the story. You and I share grandma as our North Star. Talk about, you know, your grandma and how she's inspired you till this day. No, my grandmother instilled a lot of like life's lessons very early in life, you know, doing what's right. Even when people are, are, I guess, doing, doing the right thing, even when people aren't looking. So it's especially in the face of adversity, um, always telling me to, you know, fight the good fight. And then like standing up for me when like, you know, things that she recognizes as complete BS. Awesome, brother. Um, so talk about your journey. How does one get into real estate? Was it a happy accident or did you always know I'm going to sell homes to folks? Honestly, up until the day that I took the test, I had no idea that I was going to be in real estate. So I was firmly planted in corporate America, account manager traveling all around the world for a food, a food design and manufacturing company and like fell into real estate basically because I had a bad experience myself. Yikes. So there was a problem that needed to be solved. What was that problem? The problem was that they saw a person with a little bit of money in their bank account and some good credit. And they said let close this guy as quickly as possible before he wrecks either one of those two things So for folks that are listening that they hear the word real estate to me it sounds a little scary But folks like you make it seem less scary. Why is that? No, I mean, real estate is for everyone. It's the cornerstone of pretty much everyone's wealth portfolio. And if it's not, it should be. I mean, it's that one thing that if you don't do very much to it, it still continues to go up in value year after year and keep, you know, and keep close, I guess, appreciation values with how the rest of the world is appreciating today. So right on. So talk us, walk us through the onboarding process. How does a client get to you? And what are your the common pain points that your clients have? To get to me, a lot of clients and more and more it's coming in as just referrals, like word of mouth. They may have seen my name attached to some ad or like or some type of, you know, some blurb on, you know, some social media channel, Facebook, Instagram, whatever. But then as part of the onboarding process, I really want to see who the person is and not just like, OK, what they what's written on paper in front of me or what they've texted to me, but really see who the person is. So like, you know, what are their goals? What are their wants? What are they looking to achieve in life? And like really formulating that plan. Are you very selective with your clients or do you just kind of like open door policy to everyone come one, come all? Well, how are you? How do you select your clients? selecting clients, I have to see some commitment within them. So like, even if it's, you know, someone walks in and says, I want a $10 million house. I, you know, I, I recognize right away that if that person isn't committed to me, committed to the brand and the way that I'm, I'm working through this, then, then we're not going to be ultimately successful. So either they don't end up with a house. I don't end up with with a paycheck. So like, it's better to have that alignment up front. And really like soul searching, it's asking a few questions about them and seeing how openly they are openly they they answer those questions normally lets me know like the trajectory on which we're going. So right on. So where did you grow up again? I grew up in rural east texas so population 12 000 red dirt people that wave not because they necessarily know you but if they did know you and you and they didn't wave that well they would just hate to be so cold um and with that being like a large majority below the poverty line what was it like growing up there for you uh growing up i always felt like i was a square peg in a round hole so like dreams and aspirations that I had for myself. They weren't necessarily always the ones that were shared, you know, with those around me. I was maybe a little bit different, you know, where I was setting my sights, the things that interested me. But, you know, like having the support team around me that says, like, I don't really understand where he's coming from, but it's, but he seems to have conviction. He seems to have drive. And with that being said, like, you know, let me be supportive of him along the way right on um you mentioned uh chicago at some point i always every time we hear chicago i think of batman does bruce wayne live in chicago unfortunately bruce wayne does not live in chicago but but more importantly i live in chicago so yeah would you say you're kind of a bruce wayne of of uh real estate maybe ish yeah and i would say i would say like a a jack So like given my experiences in account management engineering at the lab bench in design like I you know if you throw a problem at me it most likely if I don know the exact answer right now give me an hour An hour Yeah It takes you about an hour for it to bake and kind of Yeah Well it takes me about an hour to put it down on paper So I had a professor back in college that said, OK, before you solve a problem, step one, define the problem. And it sounds so trivial, but so many people get get moving in a direction on trying to solve something that they don't realize that step one is really define what the problem is and then kind of like form formulate your plan of attack. Do you find it helpful writing it down? Because I never write anything down. Oh, it does. Like there are countless times where like I just go from front to back and I just start with a problem statement, the steps along the way that need to be that need to be accomplished. And then at the end, with that being said, then like the formulating the plan of attack. Right on. So walk us through the onboarding process again. I'm a client. I call you up. And how does this work? Do you meet me at the house or how does this entire process work? No. And so one of my adages, you know, I have many of them, you know, I meet my clients where they are, wherever they are. So like if, you know, if I see the drive, if I see the conviction in your voice and it's like, hey, I work graveyard shift. I drop off my kids at 730 in the morning by but 745 to like 915. I have time to speak before I like basically, you know, pass out for the night. I'm going to stick you firmly in that 745 to 915 window because, you know, you've made the first step in like basically approaching me and saying I need help. So the least I can do is like be there when, you know, at your time of need. How do you balance and how do you can separate church and state? I'm sure it takes a lot of vulnerability and some pieces of yourself to speak to clients, be it negative or positive. Like, how do you continue being a human being while taking all this on yourself? No, I have to remember at the end of the day that even with any job, I mean, this is a job, this is a profession, that it can be done with a little bit of sincerity, altruism, and just overall like goodwill. So with that being said, I also know that, you know, if I can't get that firm commitment from the client or if I just feel like something is just slightly off, then like, you know, basically I'm not I'm not checking out, but I'm not going to necessarily drive in with as much of my own chutzpah as I would as a person that's like, yeah, let's go. And like feeling exciting about about the search ahead. Right on. Back when our grandmothers bought their properties, the world was very different. Now it's about how many homes you own. Is that correct to still think that way? I mean, so one interesting fact is that it's the 70 over 70. So like 70% of all the real estate in the in the US is owned by people over the age of 70. Unfortunately, the first home that my grandmother owned, my aunt actually helped her to purchase it much later in life. But for her, I mean, I'll just say that generationally, like it's good to instill those ideas of like generational wealth, understanding of real estate, how it's acquired, how it's distributed, you know, how you can leverage it to get other things in life are very important. Well, some folks are kind of stuck not understanding that wealth is a mindset. Can you speak about that and how folks need to not think poorly? They need to think like, yeah, I'm going to send. It's, I would say, think big, but don't be crazy. So like, look at where you are right now and then set attainable goals that are just beyond where you think you are able to comfortably reach because we should always be reaching for that next star in life Very cool What do you recommend What do you tell What advice would you give to someone just like you 20 years 20 years in the past listening to this podcast or watching go What would you tell them? Or what would you tell your former self? My former self, I would say be open to the possibilities. So be limitless in your reach and always strive to make those strong connections that will solidify your foundation along the way. So we just finished your episode, your legacy makers episode. What does it mean to be a legacy maker? So to me, it means that, you know, looking forward, my efforts, my contributions left some lasting paradigm shift in society in some way, shape or form. So it doesn't have to be that like, OK, now because of the efforts I've done, you know, they've completely rewriting like, you know, real estate acts and, you know, Sherman antitrust laws or something of the sort. But if people in general just understand that real estate can be done a different way and that that there's more education and advocacy behind it, you know, realtor to client, managing broker to realtor, government organization to to brokerage. That will make me feel that like, OK, I've done my part in society and I've left that lasting change. Right on. Right on, brother. Um, how much of it is values that your grandmother instilled in you that you still are empowered today? I would say she's probably the largest driver of my business and just like how I run business. So, um, you know, she would have a lot of like a diff, a lot of different idioms, like, you know, you know, all money ain't good money. And so like, I really drive that in my business today. So if, if I smell, you know, BS, or if I smell something that's, that's a foul, like, you know, I'm, I'm okay pushing, you know, although I may be ready to eat, you know, if, if, you know, if that plate of food doesn't feel right, then I'm going to push it back into the middle of the table. Right on, Len. So what can you tell folks that are essentially in real estate and how can they essentially brand themselves so they don't feel so intimidating? Because when I think about real estate, I think about a lot of things that I'm not familiar with. So how does a real estate age and become approachable but also not phony oh let's see approachable but not phony um and this is this is definitely a lesson that i have i have learned and i'm learning more and more each day same is don't be afraid to step in front of the camera so like people want to see your trials and they want to see your tribulations they want to see when you like you know when you when you fall like in the sense like like literally like you trip in front of the camera and you're like oh shit and then like you know and then you step up and you're like oh you know throw your hands in the air like like you're an olympic hopeful gymnast or something because they want to see like okay in the face of adversity how do you shine exactly right on brother i really appreciate those words well what can people look forward to in your legacy makers episode any in a sneak peek uh sneak peek so a little bit more about my grandmother a little a lot more about how i came to the business um a little bit about my interesting background and how i came to real estate so like this is probably career number four with me and i do have a little bit of gray on my chin but like i'm still in my early to mid 40s so same yeah very cool well i appreciate your time and energy to marcus i'm eager to see your episode uh make sure to tune into our uh inside success network for his legacy makers episode again continue leaving a legacy i am ray gutierrez have a fantastic day
