This week we sat down with Associate Real Estate Specialist Michael DeSena and Real Estate Specialist Eric Rivera. We talked families, New York, California and what it’s like working with childhood friends. Did we mention they’re childhood friends? Read on below:
Where are you guys from?
Eric: Queens, New York. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens.
Mike:Â If we go back that far I was born in Bushwick.
Describe your families.
M: Wanna go first?
E: No, you go first you’ll take up a ton of time.
M: I spend at least every day with some part of my extended family. I have twenty-something first cousins, a ton of aunts and uncles. We eat every Sunday dinner together.
Are you Italian?
M: My dad is Italian, my mom is from Uruguay. We’re a big, loud family. Everybody’s always happily fighting in some way. And always eating. That’s probably the most important thing.
Eric, what is your family like?
E: I’ve got a little brother, who’s thirteen. My parents are fifty-five. And my grandparents live four houses down. I’m closest to my cousins from Boston. They used to live here. Our family is kind of spread out. Most of my dad’s side is in Puerto Rico, and he has fifteen brothers and sisters. I have six aunts on my mom’s side. One lives on the Upper East Side, the others live in North Carolina, Westchester and Massachusetts. So we gather around together five times a year for big events. And I’ll go visit them all the time. It’s very similar to Mike’s family when we get together – just seventy-five fewer people.
So it’s just chaos?
E: A lot of dancing. We like to dance.
How did you guys meet?
M: Wow this feels like a relationship session.
I’m your marriage counselor.
M: We went to Middle School in Saint Stanislaus School in Maspeth, Queens. Shout out to Maspeth. I was there since Kindergarten and he came in 4th grade?
E: January of 4th grade.
M: Let’s just say, he wasn’t cool when he came. Everybody beat him up.
E: We actually weren’t friends when I first met him. In 7th or 8th grade we started hanging out and eventually ended up in the same friend group. We went to the same  high school with four other friends and finished high school together.
M: We went to different colleges, but both stayed in the city.
E: And we both stayed home, so we live 5 minutes away from each other.
That’s beautiful. So how did you two both end up at TripleMint?
M: Both of us have Real Estate backgrounds. I worked at a law firm in the accounting department. I was on lunch and walking around and saw a real estate office (not TripleMint), so I walked in and the boss was in there and she said, “are you looking for a job?” I said, “Yeah I saw you on Linkedin.” She invited me for an interview the following week and I got a job. I worked there and I told Eric that he should try it out – “there’s nothing to lose. It’s fun and awesome and you make a lot of money and everyone here is really cool and great.” So he started at that company. That company closed in the summer, which was crazy. She came up to me on a Wednesday and said, “Hey, I’m closing the company.” To which I responded, “when?” “Friday.” She had a relationship with David and Phil and gave a recommendation for both of us and we interviewed with TripleMint and, obviously, got the job. So we’ve been here since around August. Best damn thing that ever happened.
E: He started working at that other company and seeing what he was doing- I said to myself, “hey, let’s see what it’s like.” So I interned there until I got my license and I really liked it.
M: You get to meet interesting people and dress like a boss.
E: Two things that we like.
M: A lot.
Are you both 22?
M: Yeah. How old are you?
21. What’s your favorite neighborhood and why? And what’s your dream apartment?
E: I’d have to say the West Village. I really love it – I went to NYU so I spent four years around there. I love the vibe and how quiet streets can be. But at the same time you can walk over and be at a strip club or the grungiest bar possible. But then you can walk next door and pay $400 for a steak. That diversity is amazing to me. I love Washington Square Park. It’s the single weirdest place in the world. You go there and see naked people while Leonardo DiCaprio walks down the street.
Wow that happened?
E: No, I just saw Alec Baldwin. That area has a lot of actors.
What is your goal with Real Estate, Mike?
M: My goal is to be in this for as long as possible and make money, then own some buildings. And then I want to be a second grade teacher at the public school in my neighborhood. That’s what I want to do. I love kids and I really want to teach young kids.
And your favorite neighborhood?
M: Williamsburg, no question. I live in Queens, but growing up, I spent 75-80% of my time in Brooklyn. I used to go every day to my grandma’s house or aunt’s house. So I spent four or five days and nights a week in Brooklyn. I just love the culture clash and what’s been going on recently. It’s changed so much. Total gentrification is out of control but you still get the old world feel. Where my aunt lives now is where the old people live who have been there for a hundred years – old Italians and Spanish people. And then you go a couple blocks and there are these cool dive bars or artisanal doughnut shops. It’s where I feel like I fit in the most. Plus I grew up there so I was there through the change.
Awwww.
E: What’s your second favorite?
M: I don’t know. That’s a good question.
E: I know that my second favorite is Williamsburg.
M: Probably Chelsea. Maybe Soho. Oh and my dream apartment is 85 North 3rd Street Apartment 302.
E: I don’t have a favorite apartment yet.
M: It’s $3.5M. I will – this is on tape – I will buy that apartment at some point in my life. Guarantee it. I don’t care if it inflates to $20M, I will buy it. 85 North 3rd. 2,500 square feet. F***ing awesome.
Are you going to stay in New York all your life?
E: I would want to leave and explore something else, but I’m also working so hard to make a name for myself in New York that I don’t want to let it go to waste.
M: There are only two other cities I would ever live in. One is a country: Aruba. Maybe for 3 months a year. Second one would be Green Bay, Wisconsin. I’m a Green Bay Packers fan.
E: What a miserable, cold place.
You would go there for the Football team?
M: I’m a die hard Packers fan and I would love it there. But then again, why would anyone want to leave New York City. It’s the greatest city in the world. Everything and anything you want is here.
More like why would anyone want to leave California? (Note: Erica is from California)
M: Yeah, yeah.. there’s a drought..
E: You gotta think long term. You guys are concerned you can’t water plants. I like to water my plants and take warm showers.
You can water plants!
E: This is a typical New York thing to say, but California – if it were healthy as a place I would definitely live there. But all we hear about is forest fires. I would live in San Francisco if I lived in California.
M: Ugh. It’s windy and foggy and raining.
E: But it’s the perfect temperature – 50 to 70.
Okay, you’re saying bad things but Eric is showing me he secretly wants to live in California, if we had water.
E: Yeah, if you had water.
M: I wouldn’t even bother.
E: Boston would be the only other city that I’d realistically live in.
I heard that TripleMint is planning on expanding to Boston.
E: The first thing I thought was, “maybe I could do that.” But then I remembered that the best real estate is here.
M: New York City is the greatest city in the world! We have everything! Nothing closes. You can go anywhere anytime you want. What else could you want? Except my Dad said he doesn’t want to shovel snow at 80 years old. I told him he should live in a condo.
E: That’s the benefit of a condo, or living in an apartment in New York City.
M: Or, he just gets some guy to come do it.
Check out Part II of our chat with Mike and Eric tomorrow on Julep. They’ll share some funny TripleMint stories and talk about what they like to do in their free time.
