Bruce Norris is an active investor, hard money lender, and real estate educator with over 35 years experience. Bruce has been involved in more than 2,000 real estate transactions as a buyer, seller, builder, and money partner.
Renowned for his ability to forecast long-term real estate market trends and timing, the release of The California Comeback report in 1997 gained him much notoriety. The accuracy of the extensive report led many California investors to financial freedom. His January 2006 release, The California Crash, was an in-depth look into the California market correction and the statistics behind Bruce’s predictions.
Bruce is also the host of the award-winning series, I Survived Real Estate. The events bring together leaders from numerous real estate sectors to discuss legislation, regulation, stimulus-related issues, and solutions to the current market. The events have also helped raise over $1,000,000 for charity since it began in 2008.
Bruce currently serves on the Executive Board for the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California. He was awarded Educator of the Year by Think Realty in 2018.
Episode:
Narrator  This is The Norris Group’s real estate investor radio show the award-winning show dedicated to thought leaders shaping the real estate industry and local experts revealing their insider tips to succeed in an ever -changing real estate market hosted by author, investor, and hard money lender, Bruce Norris.
Joey Romero  You know, it’s funny how, you know, through the years, you know, you’ve, you’ve started your business and your kids always, you know, always going to be part of it, just the fact because it’s what you’re doing. So like, like, my, like, my kids can’t wait to invest. You know, they know what I’ve done here in The Norris group they know, you know, the knowledge that I have, and the things like that they’re like, oh, you know, like my Lucas, he wants to be a doctor. And he’s like, but you know, I’m gonna, I’m gonna buy houses, I’m gonna buy houses, you know. And so, it’s really cool. And it’s, you know, you start a business and you start slowly, you know, rot your your sons into the business, too.
Bruce Norris  Well, Greg had great expertise already in building. He was, worked as an electrician then became a journeyman then became a superintendent of major projects in LA, like high rise stuff. So, he knew construction, for him to do 93 houses was a vacation. That’s no joke. For me, it was overwhelming for him. Yeah, I got this. So that was, that was great. So you know, when Greg came to do that, that was, that was a big deal for the company. And then he got into the trustee sale business and took care of all of that. So I never had to see any houses. He was so good at looking at the house and knowing how much it would cost to fix. It’s crazy. You know, I don’t know that anybody’s ever done what he’s done. He literally could walk through a house and then go in the car and make the list of what the cost was and what the parts were, order the parts from Home Depot and have them delivered on a pallet. Who does that? Crazy. When you bid our work, you were building, you were bidding the labor portion of the job. There was no profit margin on the parts. We bought them at cost. I wouldn’t have known to do that. There’s no way.
Joey Romero  Well, it’s funny, because, you know, he went so hard, and so fast that he retired before you did.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, yeah, that’s right. He’s in his last year of law school man.
Joey Romero  He’s doing it because he wants to.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, well, he’s got the rental stuff and all that. That’s what he does now. But yeah, that’s having the sons come into the business that wasn’t, wasn’t part of their plan, wasn’t part of my plan. It just happened that the parts intertwined. And the same with Aaron, you know, when Aaron came on board, it was a pivotal moment for, for the company, I had started to speak nationally. And I can’t say that I enjoyed it. And I also really thought, well, I have to dumb down the information. I know, because it’s really specific to California. And I decided I didn’t want to do that at the time, we had a promoter who was promoting the seminars, and I basically said, we’re not going to go national, we are going to stay in California and on that space, like nobody else. And they were pretty upset. But when Aaron came over, we created five courses that were to direct hit to the California market that no one could compete with. They didn’t have the specificity of this chart in California means you do this activity as a buyer. No one could touch it. And the way Aaron made the books look was just insane. They, nobody could touch the quality of our, our materials. And yeah, it was it was fun, fun to be a part of that I read. The California crash book was the first one that came out that 400 page book.
Joey Romero  Well, the comeback was the first one.
Bruce Norris  Well, the comeback was not put together by Aaron. That’s why it looked the wayit did.
Joey Romero  That this PDF black and white that I’m holding over here.
Bruce Norris  That’s right. Yeah. So when the crash came out, it was I remember the audience and there were just you could hear audible gasps that they opened up the book. It was like Welcome to Goldman Sachs man, it was so cool. And so yeah, Aaron come aboard changed the direction of the education business, the quality of everything he touched, and then we get into the charity event, because that’s what Aaron’s dream was. And yeah, you know, that’s, that’s the cool thing about having your son’s out of you know, I’m sure that’s the same one thing Aaron wanted to do was make sure he added value to the company now that he worked for a dad that was successful. Well, Aaron and Greg made Bruce Norris more successful than he would have ever been. I get a lot of credit, because I own the company, but a lot of the brain work and the talent came from my son’s and, and Joey, I know that Aaron admired your character, and that’s how you joined you didn’t know anything about our business. He just knew who you are. And, hey, that’s, that’s why we have the reputation we do. You know, you know, it makes me think about, you know, the doors that, you know, us giving back opened up for our company and for the radio show, would you ever dream that you would have met some of the people that you would have met? If it wasn’t for I Survived or things like that? No, I would never have happened, it would never have happened. When I got invited to go, I think Doug Duncan invited me to a one on one meeting with either the President or the CEO of Fannie Mae. So I’m flying to Washington, DC, you know, I’m just like, this is pretty cool. A guy with a high school diploma is going to have a one on one meeting with the top guy of the top lending in the world. That was crazy. Been a fun journey.
Joey Romero  Yeah, absolutely. You know, and it’s been a journey that’s helped, you know, raise over a million dollars for, you know, charities over the years. And it’s, you know, it’s gonna be fun to do it again, at the end of the year, in October, October 27 everybody, so don’t forget about that. You know, one of the things he always talk about is, you know, being super competitive, but along with being that, it’s not just being competitive, but it’s being competitive with the right kind of people, right?
Bruce Norris  Yeah, I’ve, been fortunate to just hang around people that have raised the bar in my life. John Stephenson being one. Sensei Pal at USKO and other Michael Neal, who is a sensei there, too, but you know, he was in the property management business. I worked out with him, really intense, guys. I mean, really intense guys that wanted to get great at something. And when you hung around them, first of all, you had to hang in there. Michael O’Neill and I worked out with weights first time, and I came back the next day, and he had a he had this almost puzzled smile on his face. I said, What’s that about? He said, You’re the only one that’s ever come back. Well, that’s where I want to be, you know, where it’s not easy. So and we had other people come in, Hey, can I join you? And yeah, they were throwing up in the trash can, you know, about 45 minutes later? And it was, but if they came back the next day? Oh, respect, you know, you’re we’re all in with you about.
Joey Romero  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  So, yeah. Intentionally looking for those people that inspire you is a smart idea. Really, it really is. Because sometimes you just, you don’t think on that level until you see it, and then go, Hmm, okay. I mean, I think if he can do that, I can do that.
Joey Romero  You know, these guys become your de facto fraternity, right?
Bruce Norris  Yeah, absolutely. You know, I just went to Florida flew overnight, spent a fair amount of money to attend a meeting. Why? Because John Stephenson had taken a picture with this guy and send it to me on my phone. And as a guy is Patrick Bet-David with Valuetainment. I really love what they’re up to. I really love their intent. And I wanted to meet him. I wanted to earn the right to be on their podcast, okay. So his top guy just sent me a text this morning, Joey really did. Yeah, he really did. It was it was very cool. I can’t open it right now. But he said, I really love your material. And so cool. So now I know that he’s serious, he wouldn’t have given me his email, because these guys are like, really? Yeah. So he gave me his direct email. So I sent him some information. And I told him what my intent was, you know, my, I got two things I’d love to do. I’d love to be on earn the right to be on your podcast. And number two, I’d love to be a regular contributor to what you guys, the conclusions you come to, you know, I’d love to be part of the filter that so I think that’s I think that’s going to happen, man. That’s pretty cool. Well and also a repetitive theme. So you’re right, California has exaggerations, but when you look at you’ve put together the charts, the National chart if you do a moodometer rhymes just at a lower level.
Joey Romero  Well, because nationally, you know, real estate doesn’t take the huge swings, right. But California always has. And so it’s been a different you know, you’ve had a look at things differently. And you know, people get so caught up with the recency you know, they get recency bias, right, but you’re not you’re looking at 30 and 40 years of data. Yep.
Bruce Norris  Okay, as Florida, so okay, that’s perfect. Why? Well, because of the human is participating in doing the same thing. Are they more likely to buy when it’s rock bottom? No. They’re more likely to buy when it’s the crazy mode of 2020.
Joey Romero  Isn’t that funny? How we think about that? It’s like, you’re getting a great deal. Okay, well, hold on. What? Why am I getting this great deal? Like what’s wrong with it?
Bruce Norris  Oh, wow. Absolutely. I remember speaking in front of clubs. And this was I mean, right at the pits. 2009. Were Marina Valley houses were were 365. Greg was buying them for 65 grand? Why were we buying 65 grand out of the MLS? Because no one else wanted it at 66. Think about that, two years before that it was a bidding war to get it for 365 and 300 grand later. Oh, no, I’m gonna wait that till it comes down. Really? Are you kidding? But it’s that emotional cycle. If you can understand that, then you can avoid a lot of stuff and see, see what’s interesting. Last year’s report and this year report really are dealing with something we’ve never had before. And that’s what’s kind of fun, Uncharted Territory. So we’ve got we’ll talk about that one go over the over the seminar, but we’ve just got this unbelievable gift, where everybody owes money a two or 3% mortgages. When interest rates literally have gone up by what now they’re 7%, they were two and a half if almost tripled Joey and you have so little price damage, because that stuff is not coming on the market. And so it’s a lifesaver, but it’s also, then you have to think the other part is okay. And that’s why the moodometer is a really cool tool because we can play with that we did in the seminar at that last chapter, we played out, okay, what if everybody gets a raise? That’s three or four, whatever percent and take that out, and then say, let’s say their mood is gone, gone back to normal something at 40 we can look at the probable price. That’s a really cool toy, you know?
Joey Romero  So, I just thought of just something really quick as you’re talking about us, Chloe’s started her journey with USKO when she was, you know, 13 years old. And now she’s this Sunday, she’s gonna turn 16. So that’s the the age group where you’re considered kind of like the adult, you know, so they’re, you know, if she would have been younger, she would have been testing for a black belt already, but they’re gonna make her test, she’s testing on Friday for her brown belt. Wow. So she’s, she’s close. She’s close. That was our deal. She said, You know, I want a BW Bug dad. That’s what, that’s the car I want. I said, Well, you get your black belt. And that’s what I’ll get you. So she stuck to it.
Bruce Norris  Very cool. Well, place to take karate, you know, you’re you’re it’s not just the karate, you’re with great human beings and a great family. That’s what attracted me to that place was watching. And it was a kid. I think I told you the story. There was a tournament, I had entered a karate tournament when I was a white belt. And a kid came in and threw up in the trash can. And I had my heart went out to him, because I kind of felt the same. I said, are you okay? And he looks at me. He says, Yeah, just pre fight nerves. Oh, my gosh, I love this place, you know.
Joey Romero  You know one of the last things that we’re gonna talk about here on the show is, you know, things happen, you know, unexpected, especially, you know, in the business that we’re in, you know, you’re gonna buy a house in sight unseen. And sometimes they come with a little headache, and sometimes they come with the major problems. And it’s always been something that I’ve always heard from us, you get into, you know, you get into this mode, and I’ll let you, you know, talk about it and, you know, say what you call it?
Bruce Norris  Well, you know, it’s, it’s just one of those things where again, I think the reputation of the business to me, is everything. And there’s been a few instances where you just go, Oh, wow. I’ll tell the one story about the service gentleman. We’ve educated a lot of people sometimes they call up and they have a wholesale deal. And this is one of those cases house in Riverside where someone called me up and said they had paid $90,000 for the house hadn’t closed it yet I was just going to take their, their place, give them 10 grand. And we went through the journey of let’s have a termite inspection, let’s do a rehab estimate. And I ended up buying the house I never fixed it kind of sat there for a month or two business was busy for me. I didn’t get to the house. I just said let’s put in the MLS. So we sold it made 50 grand or something. And I never thought I’d hear about again. A year later, I get a phone call is a realtor that had sold the property said Bruce did you know there was a violent death on the property? No. Well, there was in the owner is really upset. He wasn’t told about it, because he’s in the military. And the guy that shot himself was also in the military. And I was just like, oh my gosh, so I called up the guy that told me the house and said, Did you know there was a violent death in the property? He said, Yes. And I told you that in writing in the contract. And I was just like, if you had a moodometer mine had gone down to minus one. I mean, that’s the most sad, upset I’ve ever been in business because I felt like there was a human being across town that thought I intentionally hurt him. And I have never felt that in my life. And I mean, I walked out the door started the car drove there. Unfortunately, he was there. I mean, that’s just one of those things. What if he’s not there, well he was there? And he’s on the porch, I walk up, I said, Are you Gustavo? He said, Yes. And I said, I’m Bruce Norris. He says your name sounds familiar. I said, I’m the guy that bought the house sold it to the guy that fixed it sold it to you. And I just found out that somebody had killed himself on the property. But it also found out that I was told that in writing at the time, I bought the house and I didn’t see it. So, I’m here to tell you that I’m really sorry, that that occurred. And I understand you’re upset. You just direct it to me. The other people had nothing to do with it, no way they could have known. And he looked at me and he just said, I cannot believe you just said that. And he said let’s go inside. And we started talking about and he was emotional. And man, I gave him a hug. And I said, I’m looking for the metal right now, buddy. I said, let me just buy the house for me. I’ll pay you full price, pay off your loan, get your VA loan back to get another house. He said you would do that? And I said, Oh heck yeah, I would do that. And he again, he was emotional. And a few minutes. Give me a couple of minutes. So, he was he was out of the room for what seemed like an eternity or one of those moments where you go, Okay, what’s next? I have no idea. He comes back. And he’s got two metals. And he tells me the story of both of them. And then he says, I want you to have one of these because what you did today was the gutsiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And there it is.
Joey Romero There it is. You know, I always, thought it was just a picture of just a metal but the picture that we used to have in the slides was actually ‘the’ metal.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, well, and then I get that next morning, I get these emails that I still have with the metal. This is from Gustavo. My morning, good morning Bruce, my mornings used to be filled with depression and worry about my future. Today begins a new day for me filled with hope and ambition for my future. Your courage changed my life. God bless you. And then his sister sends me this. Mr. Norris, my brother Gustavo told me of your meeting yesterday. All I can say is a big heartfelt thank you. I think he may have just saved his life. And for that I’m eternally grateful. So it yeah, I’m getting an emotional because it’s just interesting when you face down. Like the most threatening thing you’ve ever had to deal in with business, to have it come out to be the most positive moment in your business life. What do you do with that, man? You I guess you teach it and go, You know what, if you ever have one of those? That’s what you do. Because it doesn’t matter if it turns out bad. You did what you were supposed to do. You know, and you know, you’ve got kids, wouldn’t you want your business to have that reputation? I mean, when you can’t, it just you never want to have this happen where your kid works for your business and he was taught to be honest the whole time. And then this event happens and you Okay, yeah, but we, we can’t do that in business, you know, we have to do this. I never wanted to under that sentence. I never wanted him to see that model, because it wasn’t who we were. And if you stand up, man, you might get surprised, at the most the best day of your life instead of the worst.
Joey Romero  Well, you know, and what’s really cool, Bruce is that, you know, I’m sure you’ve heard it in the past. And, you know, these stories, these lessons as they resonate with you, it like, how cool is it when an investor comes in? Hey, I had a Gustavo moment. Yeah, had a Garden Grove moment, you know, and that’s really when you’re like, alright, man, I’m, we’re making a difference with the things that we do, you know?
Bruce Norris  Yeah. Oh, yeah, it’s been an unbelievable journey, from a guy that got fired five times in a row to barely getting hired by the property buying company to starting, you know, The Norris group. Very grateful. That’s all I got to say, you know, get to work with people like you and the whole staff. Our reputation is just, yeah, it’s been a dream, what can you say, really has been a dream.
Joey Romero  So, as we’re, you know, getting close to halfway through the year, a couple of things come to mind is, you know, we’re almost there where you’re, you know, you told us, hey, you know, this is probably the, you know, now probably, but this is last year, you know, I’m going to work work. Yeah. So, I’m really looking forward to what we’re still going to do. The rest of this year, we have the boot camp, we have I Survived Real Estate, you know, we’re still going to have, you know, our quarterly updates for the VIP subscribers. But the other thing, you know, July 1 is not only the first of the day, that marks the halfway point of the year, but it’s always forever going to be ingrained in my mind. As the, you know, the day that we lost, Aaron.
Bruce Norris  Yeah.
Joey Romero  And now I’m gonna get emotional. I want to dedicate this show to him. Because I know he’s looking down on both of us smiling, and knowing that we’re carrying on not only your legacy, but the legacy that he has, because everything, folks, everything that I do, you guys always give me so much praise. And so much like Joey, thank you so much for everything you’re doing. You know, the emails, the communication, all that. None of this is possible, because just like you have the abundance mentality and teaching everything, Aaron taught me literally everything that I know, in this business. And so everything that I do from the emails to producing the documents for you, is because if, he didn’t hoard that, he wanted that, too. He wanted me to learn everything I could, because that’s just who he was. And I’ll be forever grateful for that. And just knowing that he was in my life for, I met him 2009. So I knew him before I worked here for a pretty long time getting to work with him side by side, going to coffee every day, that was our thing. It didn’t feel like work, but yet, we kick some butt, but we would really, it was always his fear of being light. You know, he always wanted to overwhelm you with value, whether it was his presentation, whether it was the stuff that we were doing for you that you were gonna present and you know, the documents, the seminars, like he just wanted to make everybody go, of course, it’s great. It’s The Norris Group.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, well, it’s that part of the Norris group was great, because he touched it. Up until he touched it. We had good information with maybe great information. But the presentation was pretty much like everybody else’s. When Aaron showed up, that changed. Everybody was chasing us. I kept recording for years until I sold the building, there was a guy who was trying to get me to take his course to teach everybody to run to the back of the room and buy stuff, which is the business model I hated the most. And he finally kind of out of exasperation, he said, at least send me your materials. And let me help give you some guidelines on that. And I couldn’t wait to send it because Aaron had already touched it. So one of my favorite recordings ever, the guy calls me back after he gets some materials Bruce, I got your materials, oh my God. And he told me he says you don’t have to teach this to individual people. You could take this to corporate America and make big big bucks and I just like no, not what I do. Don’t care.
Joey Romero  You know, they’re talking about how chat GPT is gonna change the world, right? Well, Aaron Norris was a chat GPT before chat GPT.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, with a personality and I think a level of human caring that was unprecedented is in for people that I, I saw, you know, his pictures on the wall and what’s, uh, probably, I just have happy, happy memories, you know, so I can go there. And I have a smile on my face most of the time when I think of Aaron because that’s all I had following him where he was before I went was always such a pleasure. Oh, you’re Aaron Norris’ dad? Oh my God, we love him, you know, who gets that? I don’t know that my dad ever got to hear that.
Joey Romero  You know, he’s certainly the person, the best person I’ve ever met. And they’ll probably ever meet with the biggest heart that I’ll ever all ever know. And, you know, I told my son, you know, I told you, you know, the story about the purple bracelet in the senior pictures. And I said, Hey, you know, you don’t have to wear that, you know, for your pictures if you want. You don’t want to. And you know, he hasn’t taken it off Bruce, you know? And he said, No, Dad, I know. I know the impact that Aaron had in your life. And it’s important to me.
Bruce Norris  Wow.
Joey Romero  And I told him, I said, Lucas, I said, I hope in your lifetime, you just get one friend. Just one friend that looks like Aaron.
Bruce Norris  Amen.
Joey Romero  Well, this, this is why we do what we do. You know, it’s, it’s the stories, it’s the people that we help. And that’s why I wanted to put this on the radio show for people to enjoy. I know, they know, they’ve heard some of these stories, but there’s gonna be some new investors that are gonna, you know, we get I get emails still Bruce, I had like to become part of your mailing, you know, because there’s still new people that that the older people are telling, not old, I mean by old by more experienced people that are saying, Hey, you gotta follow The Norris Group, you gotta follow The Norris Group. So there’s still new investors that are coming into the business. And so I hope that this hits home for the guys that have followed us for 20 years and the guys that are just starting to follow us and that’s why I thought it was important that we put it on the radio show.
Bruce Norris  You know, it’s funny Joey about stories and retelling ones that people have heard. I attended Jim Rohn seminar every year. When he didn’t tell me tell a story. I was like, I needed to hear that story, man.
Joey Romero  He felt cheated.
Bruce Norris  I even had it on tape and I wanted to hear it live, you know.
Joey Romero  That’s great. Well, thank you, everybody. We appreciate everything that you guys do to to keep us go with the messages and the emails and I’m sure you get them to Bruce. All the time, and we really appreciate it here.
Bruce Norris  Thank you Joey. Enjoyed it.
Narrator  For more information on hard money, loans and upcoming events with The Norris Group, check out thenorrisgroup.com. For information on passive investing with trust deeds, visit tngtrustdeeds.com.
Aaron Norris  The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669. For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.