I spent a day with a blue-collar millionaire in NYC

Sam Parr 0:00 This place, how much did you spend on it again?

Mark O’Brien 0:02 2.8 to buy it, two million to build it.

Sam Parr 0:05 So that's 4.8 in, and you're gonna sell it for, what did you say? Six and a half?

Mark O’Brien 0:08 Six, 6.2.

Sam Parr 0:09 I saw this guy on Instagram the other day. His name's Mark O'Brien. He buys and restores and sells brownstone homes in New York City. I thought it sounded awesome, and I thought, "I don't wanna make my living using screens all the time. I wanna figure out how his life is, how his business is, the economics behind it." And so I called him up. I'm gonna spend the day with him, and we're gonna figure out all the numbers and if this is actually something cool to do. Is his business actually any good? Is his lifestyle any good? Do I wanna trade places with him? And at the end of this video, I'm gonna give him a Sam score. We're gonna look at the economics of his business. Does it make a lot of money? And then we're gonna have a lifestyle category, where we ask ourselves, is this actually something that you feel pride in? Is it a good lifestyle? So let's get to it. [horn honks] Oh. I [censored] up. I messed up. I can't even figure out how to use Apple Maps to get to where he lives, let alone build a freaking brownstone. All right, so let's go this way. [laughs] Okay. So he DM'd us where to meet him. It's 11:45. We're a few minutes away. We're gonna walk a couple blocks. This guy, he looks like the Dos Equis man, like the most interesting man alive. He's got these kinda like movie star good looks, and I don't know too much about him other than he looks awesome [laughs] and he has a cool job. And so where we're meeting is at his apartment, and then we're going to go to a town home that he's currently restoring, as well as a, uh, commercial, uh, property that he's restoring. I'm excited, but I'm a little nervous. I don't wanna look stupid because I know nothing about, like, construction. I'm wearing Red Wing boots, but the reality is is I'm cosplaying. I'm a yuppie guy who's trying to dress like a blue-collar guy, so like hopefully he doesn't call me out on that, but it's the truth. [laughs] Mark O'Brien. What's up, dude?

Mark O’Brien 1:51 Sam, what's up, my man?

Sam Parr 1:52 Hey, man.

Mark O’Brien 1:53 How are you?

Sam Parr 1:53 All right. So-

Mark O’Brien 1:53 Nice, nice to finally meet you. Yeah.

Sam Parr 1:55 Yes. We're gonna start with this place. So where are we now? This is your house?

Mark O’Brien 1:59 94 Bank Street. It's, it's, uh ... it's a project, and, uh ... but I'm living in it. So look, I usually buy things that, uh, that have rats in the cellar and holes in the roof and, um, water damage everywhere, mold and, and problems. But this one when I walked into it, I was like, "This is cute."

Sam Parr 2:17 How much did you pay for it?

Mark O’Brien 2:18 It's 100 ... It's 180 years old.

Sam Parr 2:19 It's 180?

Mark O’Brien 2:20 180 years old. I mean, it's super old.

Sam Parr 2:21 How much did you pay for this place?

Mark O’Brien 2:22 Five five.

Sam Parr 2:23 How much money are you gonna have to invest in it?

Mark O’Brien 2:25 At this stage, closer to six.

Sam Parr 2:27 How much can you sell it for?

Mark O’Brien 2:28 17.

Sam Parr 2:29 Can we see it?

Mark O’Brien 2:30 Yeah, let's go in.

Sam Parr 2:31 [upbeat music] Hey, really quick, guys, if you're interested in this, and if you're interested in that blue-collar lifestyle, which frankly I am, that's why I'm making this video, and you want to start a business in this space, we have put together this thing called a Blue-Collar Business Database. It's a database with hundreds of different business ideas where you can use your hands, you could start immediately. Lots of different metrics about why the business is potentially interesting. And so if you're interested in that, click the link below. Totally free. All right, now back to the episode.

Mark O’Brien 2:55 So when I walked in, these sh- these floors were shiny. I just ... You know, it just glistened. I thought, "I love the floors." I came in here. I love the fireplace. And speaking, we talked a little bit about buying the old furniture. Like, I'm really not fancy. I love just stacking my ... I love living-

Sam Parr 3:12 Oh, my God. [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 3:12 ... in the West Village, which is, which is super fancy, but I sta- I bring my ... The people are like, "You bring all that firewood in? Like, where are you gonna put it?" Like, like, this is the beauty of living in a, in a house-

Sam Parr 3:21 This is insane

Mark O’Brien 3:22 ... that's banged up, is, is-

Sam Parr 3:23 It's insane that a home that's gonna sell for $17 million, you are, uh-

Mark O’Brien 3:27 I'm stacking-

Sam Parr 3:27 That's, that's not how they're gonna use it.

Mark O’Brien 3:29 That's right.

Sam Parr 3:30 So when do you think this will be done, this project?

Mark O’Brien 3:32 So it's been two and a half years that I've been waiting for permits. You know, it's a landmark.

Sam Parr 3:36 Do you just sit and do nothing?

Mark O’Brien 3:37 No, it's, it's a lot of work of architects, engineers getting, uh, soil-bearing, -bearing tests. You know, they've got to break up the f- the foundation down below in the, in the cellar. And I can show it to you.

Sam Parr 3:49 Yeah.

Mark O’Brien 3:49 And then they, they want to see where's my neighbor's foundation. Where's the footing? Where, where's my footing compared to their footing?

Sam Parr 3:55 But it's like, uh, just getting the permits and doing all this regulatory stuff, it seems like that's like the thing that ... Uh, like, when people talk about, like, products that they're gonna sell on the internet, they think, "Oh, my product's amazing." I'm like, "Yeah, but, like, the reality is is you have to be a good marketer." 70% of the value is, like, are you good at, like, buying ads online?

Mark O’Brien 4:12 Yeah.

Sam Parr 4:12 With this it's like, well, I can build this amazing place. I can make a profit on it. I can do it cheaply. But it's like, yeah, but can you spend the years, like-

Mark O’Brien 4:20 Right

Sam Parr 4:20 ... jumping through the hoops of, like, getting approvals and all this other stuff that you didn't ... Like, it's-

Mark O’Brien 4:24 It's the cost to carry it. It's ... And time. Time will kill every deal and, and often it does.

Sam Parr 4:30 Can we see the rest?

Mark O’Brien 4:31 Yeah, yeah. [playful music] So and actually, so this is funny, because I'm using this as my bedroom because I, when I moved in I thought, "I'm gonna be here for six months, maybe a year, and then, um, it's gonna be a demolition site. I'm gonna restore all this, so there's gonna be, you know, plastic up everywhere and workers running around. So I'm gonna just keep the footprint here, and let's start working upstairs."

Sam Parr 4:53 I don't know much about real estate, but it ... the limited amount of stuff that I've done, it seems like everything costs way more and takes way more time.

Mark O’Brien 5:00 Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's just out of control. And it g- it's getting worse and worse. So this is my, my desk, my office. Look at this fireplace here, though. I mean, isn't that-

Sam Parr 5:08 Is this your brand?

Mark O’Brien 5:10 Oh, that's my vodka brand. Yeah. Broken, Broken Shed New Zealand Vodka. I make it from whey. 100% New Zealand products. Uh, water from New Zealand, whey from New Zealand, which is, uh, you know-

Sam Parr 5:21 This is a business that you own and started?

Mark O’Brien 5:23 Yeah. I spoke to a guy about this recently and, um, he was like, "Well, how did you, how did you get into real estate? Like, what, what was that thing that made you get into real estate?" And I said, "Desperation." Like, I had ... I, I j- I was freaking out. I had two and a half kids. I was living in Greenwich, Connecticut, in a house that I had no right-

Sam Parr 5:42 Was it a fancy house?

Mark O’Brien 5:43 No. It's wh- ... No. It w-

Sam Parr 5:44 So it was like a thing that you were gonna fix?

Mark O’Brien 5:45 Yes, exactly.

Sam Parr 5:46 Okay, so you-

Mark O’Brien 5:46 Well, it was something that I would've had somebody else fix.

Sam Parr 5:48 Right. Okay.

Mark O’Brien 5:49 'Cause I wasn't building houses yet. No.

Sam Parr 5:50 So you, it seems like maybe- Took a project that maybe was a little bit over your head, and then you're like, "Well, I have to make it work."

Mark O’Brien 5:56 Right. Yeah.

Sam Parr 5:56 Got it.

Mark O’Brien 5:57 Exactly.

Sam Parr 5:57 And did that work?

Mark O’Brien 5:58 Yes. Yeah. And that's kinda always how I've lived. So you're like-

Sam Parr 6:01 And that was, like, how you got into real estate.

Mark O’Brien 6:03 Yes. It was, it was... I w- I, I was completely over-leveraged. So I'm a big, big believer in, in leverage, and use other people's money, the bank's money. But it's a great way to go broke and get yourself in a lot of trouble. Uh, and I know people that have done that, and hasn't, hasn't worked out very well.

Sam Parr 6:19 Dude, that's like how so many great things happen, particularly I'm th- I just turned 37, but, like, I think about this all the time, like, if I lost it all... Okay, I have young kids. I'm now, like, a proper man. I have people who rely on me, and, like, if this go- It's like, it's my job to, like, f- you know, to take care of this group. It's, like, the most emasculating feeling ever of, like, shit, I have not taken care of the thing that I'm supposed to take care of. I feel behind, and now it's my back against the wall, and I have to... And it's like, well, that's the beginning of a great story.

Mark O’Brien 6:46 Yeah.

Sam Parr 6:47 Hopefully, it's, uh, gonna be a great story, but that's, like, a very scary, primal feeling. I have nightmares about that-

Mark O’Brien 6:52 Yeah

Sam Parr 6:52 ... as, like, a dad. Did you, um-

Mark O’Brien 6:54 Yeah, I think... Hey, should we also... Do, do you wanna walk out-

Sam Parr 6:56 Yeah

Mark O’Brien 6:56 ... step outside and... Um, oh, geez, now the sun's coming out.

Sam Parr 7:00 How many... So you've been doing this... How old are you?

Mark O’Brien 7:04 How old do you think?

Sam Parr 7:05 I don't know.

Mark O’Brien 7:06 Come on.

Sam Parr 7:06 55?

Mark O’Brien 7:10 I'm 51.

Sam Parr 7:11 51. I don't know, man. See, this is why I hate playing this game.

Mark O’Brien 7:13 No, I'm not. I'm 60, 63.

Sam Parr 7:16 Oh. [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 7:17 [laughs] Okay.

Sam Parr 7:19 I hate that game. Oh.

Mark O’Brien 7:20 So do I. I usually say, "Go fuck yourself. I'm not playing."

Sam Parr 7:23 [laughs] Your specialty, I think, is townhomes, right?

Mark O’Brien 7:25 Townhouses, brownstones, uh, rest- restoration.

Sam Parr 7:28 How many have you bought and sold?

Mark O’Brien 7:29 So this is my third, my third big project of, of restoring a brownstone. So 62 Green Avenue in Fort Greene, 428 Vanderbilt, and 94 Bank Street.

Sam Parr 7:39 Okay.

Mark O’Brien 7:39 And then I've got, and I've got other projects like in Crown Heights, one over here on Jane Street that I, I, um, act as the owner's rep. So I don't own it, but I, I, you know, run the, run the project.

Sam Parr 7:51 And then before that, you were just selling real estate.

Mark O’Brien 7:54 No, but borrowing against my house so I could buy another one.

Sam Parr 7:56 That's insane that you would get into this business without knowing anything about-

Mark O’Brien 7:59 And at a big, high level. I mean, you know-

Sam Parr 8:01 So did it-

Mark O’Brien 8:02 ... Greenwich, Connecticut

Sam Parr 8:02 ... so how much did you a- how much had you... You took a loan out. What was your-

Mark O’Brien 8:05 So, all right, so, so the f- the numbers on the first one, and the numbers back then were basically you, you buy for a million, build for a million, and sell for three million. So you make a million bucks. So this house was 800,000. I sp- I built it for about 800,000, and I made a lot of mistakes. I mean, crazy.

Sam Parr 8:23 So you were in it for one sixth.

Mark O’Brien 8:24 Yeah. And I sold it for, like, uh, two, two three or something.

Sam Parr 8:28 Over how much time?

Mark O’Brien 8:30 Uh, like, less than a year.

Sam Parr 8:32 So that's, like, a double, right?

Mark O’Brien 8:34 Yeah.

Sam Parr 8:34 Is that a double? Or is that a home run, right?

Mark O’Brien 8:36 Yeah. Uh, I mean, it could've been. Uh, but the next one I made a million bucks. I was like, "I-"

Sam Parr 8:40 That's a home run.

Mark O’Brien 8:41 I was like, "I like this."

Sam Parr 8:42 Okay, so you're like, "I'm good. I'm good at this now."

Mark O’Brien 8:44 So then I started doing more. I did four... I would get, like, four going at a time. I'd buy a piece of property. I would go... I'd run with my kids in a stroller, three of them, and, uh, I'd see an old lady, and I'd be like, "I love your house. I got these, all these kids. Look at these kids." I'm try- I'm always... I'm looking for something a little bit bigger. I live over on Rocky Point right now, looking for something bigger. And this woman pats, like, "Oh, yeah." And I go, "Hi, kids." And you know, "Yeah, well, give me your number." And I'd, and I'd give her a number, and I would do that. I'd put it in mailboxes. I just... It was a numbers game.

Sam Parr 9:11 So it's, it's kinda like boom and bust a little bit.

Mark O’Brien 9:13 Yes, very much. And it's funny, I, I mean-

Sam Parr 9:14 Does that make... Does that stress you out?

Mark O’Brien 9:16 Yeah, but I-

Sam Parr 9:17 [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 9:17 ... I've, I've gotten good at it, I think. You know, I do a lot of yoga.

Sam Parr 9:20 [laughs] I thought it was gonna be, like, hammer shit all day, and it's, like, fun.

Mark O’Brien 9:25 No.

Sam Parr 9:25 You wanna go see the Vanderbilt?

Mark O’Brien 9:26 Yeah. Yeah, let's hit it. [upbeat music]

Sam Parr 9:37 This is huge. How big is this one?

Mark O’Brien 9:39 Yeah, so this, this I bought, like, uh, two, two-ish years ago, so this is taking me way too long.

Sam Parr 9:47 What's the total square footage?

Mark O’Brien 9:48 So now it's, like, 4,500.

Sam Parr 9:51 Okay, so you paid 2.8. How much are you gonna put in?

Mark O’Brien 9:53 Uh, I'm putting in 1.8. That's turning it to more, like, 2 million.

Sam Parr 9:58 And what can you get for it?

Mark O’Brien 10:00 6.2.

Sam Parr 10:02 That's pretty slim.

Mark O’Brien 10:04 So check this out. This is, this is super cool. This, I just discovered it, like, maybe, maybe, uh, three months ago. I... It was, it had plastic vinyl floor over it, and I just assumed it was rotten. And I was going to sweep it out or something, and, and I pulled on, pulled on a piece of the plastic, and it came up. And I was like, "I wonder what's under there."

Sam Parr 10:27 And this would be, like, 100 years old, right?

Mark O’Brien 10:28 There was this glue paint on top of glue. Yeah, this is 140 years old. And, uh, so I s- I took my grinder out and started grinding, and man, I g- I'm finding... I find this. So look, some people say, "Yeah, it's, it's kinda banged up. You should really just put something over the top of it, nice Ann Sacks tile." I'm like, "I, I don't care." So I... This is all an extension here. So this... Two things that I do. I like to go up to the roof. I like to fini- or three things, the roof, the cellar, and I widen the staircase, so you can kinda tell that I... The, there's more of a gap, 'cause brownstones are notorious for being a little dark in the middle 'cause there's no windows in the middle typically. So I widen the staircase, and I put a lot of light and a bulkhead on the top.

Sam Parr 11:13 Oh.

Mark O’Brien 11:13 So you get light down the middle, and then this is all, you know, original, original.

Sam Parr 11:19 Uh, those bricks, are those original?

Mark O’Brien 11:21 Yeah. So, and this also-

Sam Parr 11:22 So these bricks are 140 years old?

Mark O’Brien 11:23 Yeah.

Sam Parr 11:24 That's pretty awesome.

Mark O’Brien 11:24 So that's another thing. I expose the bricks. So this has sheetrock on it when I buy it. So I rip the sheetrock down, or not sheetrock, plaster.

Sam Parr 11:31 Wow.

Mark O’Brien 11:32 But usually the plaster starts cracking, and it decays against the b- the brick wall.

Sam Parr 11:36 So 140 years ago was 1880, right? Yeah.

Mark O’Brien 11:38 Yeah. Uh-

Sam Parr 11:39 Or 1890.

Mark O’Brien 11:40 Yeah.

Sam Parr 11:41 So someone made that in 1890. That's pretty crazy.

Mark O’Brien 11:45 Yeah. Wait till you see the, the cellar. The cellar is literally rock, horsehair, and mud-

Sam Parr 11:50 Let's see it

Mark O’Brien 11:50 ... is the, is the, is the way they made these foundations anyway. So this is the... This is a typical rubble wall, right? So you've got, um- Rocks. Rocks and, and then-

Sam Parr 12:00 I grew up in a basement like this-

Mark O’Brien 12:01 There's-

Sam Parr 12:01 ... and it smelled exactly like this.

Mark O’Brien 12:03 Yeah. It's funny, I love it. Um, so I wanted to keep all that exposed, but I also think it's important to get as much usable space as you can, as much square footage.

Sam Parr 12:14 This will be finished?

Mark O’Brien 12:15 And this is basically free square footage, 'cause, you know, in terms of FAR-

Sam Parr 12:19 Yeah, you don't count basement

Mark O’Brien 12:19 ... floor area ratio, they don't count a basement 'cause it's below grade. So I try to make it... And right now you're not seeing it at the best. Um, I, I gotta put baseboard on, finish the floor, and, and really spruce it up so it feels like it's real space. It's not s- it's not a-

Sam Parr 12:33 So how much do you think this ho- home will sell for?

Mark O’Brien 12:35 Six two.

Sam Parr 12:36 What type of person would buy, uh, this house?

Mark O’Brien 12:38 What kind of person?

Sam Parr 12:39 Like, a, what would the job be?

Mark O’Brien 12:40 Um, probably like, you know... Yeah, I get a lot of creatives here in Brooklyn.

Sam Parr 12:45 Like actors.

Mark O’Brien 12:45 Fort Green. No, more like people like these days in social media and doing some, some kind of media business.

Sam Parr 12:51 That's crazy. Maybe you'll be buying a $6 million home in Brooklyn.

Mark O’Brien 12:55 So this is a rental basically. So you come under the stair.

Sam Parr 12:58 Oh, wow. I was wondering where-

Mark O’Brien 12:59 So there's your own, your own entrance here, and this will be, uh, like a $5,000 rental or in-law suite. So you come in, you've got a f- your fireplace, original, um, big open living room, kitchen, washer, dryer, bathroom, bedroom.

Sam Parr 13:22 Oh, and there we get the backyard.

Mark O’Brien 13:24 Bedroom. So two bedrooms, washer, dryer. I know it's in a weird place. And then a backyard. But I-

Sam Parr 13:32 So when will this be done? How much longer?

Mark O’Brien 13:34 Uh, I'm hoping to have this, you know, photos taken like in two weeks. So this will get... I'll put like a-

Sam Parr 13:40 What does photos mean?

Mark O’Brien 13:41 Like pictures to start marketing it.

Sam Parr 13:44 But it's not gonna be done in two weeks.

Mark O’Brien 13:46 No, but I can, I can start selling it and start marketing it.

Sam Parr 13:49 So when do you hope for this to be sold?

Mark O’Brien 13:51 Um, end of the summer.

Sam Parr 13:53 Oh, okay. And move in would be when?

Mark O’Brien 13:55 Like September.

Sam Parr 13:56 Oh, all right, cool. So you're nearing the end of a two-year project.

Mark O’Brien 13:59 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Parr 13:59 Two and a half year project.

Mark O’Brien 14:00 Yeah. So this gets, this will get pavers. Um, the, the-

Sam Parr 14:04 Do these guys work for you, or are they-

Mark O’Brien 14:06 Uh, they're subcontractors. So everybody these days is a subcontractor. Nobody's... Yeah, I'm not hiring a whole crew of people.

Sam Parr 14:12 But you're gonna come out of pocket with it.

Mark O’Brien 14:14 Yeah.

Sam Parr 14:16 Dude, there's so much risk.

Mark O’Brien 14:18 Yeah.

Sam Parr 14:18 All right. I work on, I work on a computer all day. This is my work, or this is weird, but talking to a mic. [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 14:27 We get it.

Sam Parr 14:28 I wanna do like this.

Mark O’Brien 14:30 You wanna bust, you wanna bust something. Let's see what we... Let's see if we got-

Sam Parr 14:33 Okay

Mark O’Brien 14:33 ... if we got something upstairs.

Sam Parr 14:34 All right. Let's see. [saw buzzing]

Mark O’Brien 14:38 What do you think? You wanna s-

Sam Parr 14:39 Yes, I'll do that.

Mark O’Brien 14:40 This gets, this gets you dirty, right? My man, can we... Can I, can I just... Uh, can I, can I get him to cut it or you, you wanna break it? Can he cut just for two, one minute? Just o- one, one minute. He's, he's not a spaz. Are you all right with this?

Sam Parr 14:55 Let's do it. [saw buzzing]

Mark O’Brien 14:56 [laughs] But you gotta just-

Sam Parr 14:59 Yeah

Mark O’Brien 14:59 ... you gotta just be careful-

Sam Parr 15:01 I got you

Mark O’Brien 15:01 ... when you, when you hit that.

Sam Parr 15:02 All right.

Mark O’Brien 15:02 You know, really hold it tight. Can he cut that?

Sam Parr 15:06 All the way through?

Mark O’Brien 15:08 All the way through. Right. All the way.

Sam Parr 15:13 Oh, my God. This is so dangerous.

Mark O’Brien 15:15 Watch out below. [saw buzzing] Uh, it's through.

Sam Parr 15:30 Good. So working-

Mark O’Brien 15:34 You're, you're hired

Sam Parr 15:35 ... what was he saying about the story about, uh, getting sued-

Mark O’Brien 15:39 Right

Sam Parr 15:39 ... for being too dangerous? [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 15:40 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if OSHA, if OSHA showed up.

Sam Parr 15:42 Fuck! [upbeat music] Thank you, sir. [laughs] I'm sorry to, uh, mess up your workstation, but-

Mark O’Brien 15:48 It's okay.

Sam Parr 15:48 Let's see. [hammer tapping] He's showing me how he worked out when he was in jail. [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 15:55 [laughs] That's right. [hammer tapping]

Sam Parr 16:03 Oh, there it is. That's pretty good. Oh, wow.

Mark O’Brien 16:08 So did I expect that?

Sam Parr 16:10 That... You should put that on your Hinge profile. All right. I'll try.

Mark O’Brien 16:16 Are you goofy with me? [ball thudding] Whoo.

Sam Parr 16:21 Not nearly as good, but I... [laughs]

Mark O’Brien 16:25 That's good and aggressive. You were just like right... 'Cause you, 'cause you can probably do it on your skateboard.

Sam Parr 16:29 No.

Mark O’Brien 16:29 Do you-

Sam Parr 16:30 I can't do that on my skateboard.

Mark O’Brien 16:31 No? You won't know till you try.

Sam Parr 16:32 Well, I know I can't do that. Okay. We looked at his Manhattan place. We just looked at his Brooklyn place. This place, how much did you spend on it again?

Mark O’Brien 16:41 2.8 to buy it, and then about two... I'm sorry, about 2 million to build it.

Sam Parr 16:46 So that's 4.8 in, and you're gonna sell it for, what did you say? Six and a half?

Mark O’Brien 16:49 Six, 6.2.

Sam Parr 16:51 6.2. And that's over three years.

Mark O’Brien 16:53 Right.

Sam Parr 16:53 So you'll make something like $500,000 a year. So if you wanna buy a $6 million 4,500 square feet, right-

Mark O’Brien 17:00 Yeah

Sam Parr 17:00 ... home in Fort Greene, this place is awesome.

Mark O’Brien 17:03 Around, around the corner from Spike, Spike Lee.

Sam Parr 17:06 Deal-

Mark O’Brien 17:06 What a good time for him, right?

Sam Parr 17:07 Deal, deal of the century. All right. Thank you. Very hospitable. We're gonna get on a subway. All right. God bless. See you soon. All right. Thank you for everything. I'll talk to you in a little bit. All right. We just got back to the office. Let's give this thing a score. Okay. So I've divided this thing up by business and lifestyle, because they're both important. We're gonna do money, machine, and moat. And first of all, I love Mark. I'm gonna hang out with Mark again. But in terms of money, this business was a pain in the butt, and I don't think it made that much money. I'm gonna give it a three. Basically, I think that he probably does something like 500,000 to a million dollars a year in income, but that's on a good year. On a bad year, he probably can, like lose money. And it, and it was just a lot of work for that amount of money. Second, machine. Can it run without him? And he has a team of people that he uses in most of his projects, but he's really like the catalyst for this whole thing working. I'm gonna give it another three. And for moat The biggest moat here is I don't think people are crazy enough to do this. But anyone with enough money could probably do it, and there's a lot of people in the city who can. I'm gonna give it a two. So what does that sum up to? An eight. So the business score, an eight out of 30. All right, now let's do lifestyle. So can you have pride in the product that you're making? Do you like the people who you work with and your customers? And does it provide any freedom? So for pride, he was very proud of what he was doing. I was actually proud for him. I thought it was amazing. I'm gonna give that one a nine. He said that sometimes he'll make stuff and, like, the buyer will just come in and, like, destroy it, which would really suck, but he still gets a nine. Now people, I met some of his coworkers, some of the guys doing work. It was awesome. They were really cool and lovely. I'm gonna give it a seven, just because some of the people who he sells his properties to, I probably don't wanna hang out with some of those folks. And now freedom. I'm gonna give this one a five. The reason I'm gonna do a five is because each project has an end date, so he could take some time off if he wanted to, but when he's there, like in the thick of it, it seems like Saturday and Sunday is included. He's always on the phone, like dealing with regulations and things like that. So the lifestyle score gets a 21 out of 30. All right, so here's what that adds up to. For business, he gets an eight. For lifestyle, a 21, 21, 21. [upbeat music]

Mark O’Brien 19:25 You wrote a 31.

Sam Parr 19:27 Ugh. For biz, he is gonna get an eight. Lifestyle, 21. Add all that up. What's that up to? That's 29. So Mark O'Brien, buying, restoring, selling brownstones. Sam score, 29. [upbeat music]