Home » Agents » Meet the TripleMint Team: Keyan Sanai

Meet the TripleMint Team: Keyan Sanai

by | Feb 8, 2016

This week we sat down with Real Estate Specialist Keyan Sanai and learned about his upbringing and a hilarious interview with our CEO David Walker. Look out for his mixtape, coming soon.

Where are you from?

I’m from a little suburb outside of Poughkeepsie called Hopewell Junction and went to a school called John Jay High School, but I tell people I’m from Poughkeepsie. So I’m from Poughkeepsie, although I don’t like to admit that in public too often.

Why not?

Poughkeepsie is in an interesting place – I am from Poughkeepsie and it’s fantastic. Is that what you want to hear? 

Everything upstate is spread out so there was nothing to do in Hopewell Junction. Instead, we’d go out to dinner in Poughkeepsie because it’s fifteen minutes away. So you tell everyone you’re from Poughkeepsie – the 845 area code. It’s definitely beautiful but a really terrible area. But I love it because it’s where I’m from€¦ but if I could have been from somewhere else€¦ next question.header

What was your family like?

My family is a good crazy. They’re very loving and supportive and I don’t think there’s been a time in the past day that I haven’t felt supported by my family. I’m mostly Persian. A lot of Persian people work in real estate, so when I meet people a lot of them are like oh you’re Persian and you work in real estate and I’m like, no it’s different. Persians are stereotyped as trying to haggle you or hustle you. Immediately, no matter what anyone says, people usually abide by stereotypes. So when someone finds out that I’m Persian they think I’m trying to screw them on a deal. I always have to precede with an apology. My family is very close and loving yet at the same time I think my dad was harder on me than anyone else has ever been in my life. But at the end of the day, I know that if I asked for something like ten grand for calf implants, he would make it happen. I know my dad has my back and supports me no matter what. I text with my dad everyday. I think it’s so strange when people don’t talk to their parents. Blood only comes around one time. I’ve never talked to my dad about girls but we still talk everyday because he’s my dad and I love him.

So some family was involved in Real Estate: growing up, did you know you wanted to get involved in the Real Estate world?

I’m still trying to drop my mixtape Derek, you know? I give every client I close deals with a copy of my mixtape and say play this in your home, it’s finna be lit.

In seriousness, I didn’t know I wanted to be in Real Estate right away but I knew I did not want to work in Real Estate with Persians because their reputation is tough but I’m definitely a fair person, and to say that they are fair to outsiders is not a fair statement. When it comes to everyone in my family, coming to America with very little, they really started from the bottom and now the whole team€¦ is here.

That’s pretty awesome.

It’s cool and it makes me wake up every day and think man, life is not that hard for me. I think a lot of people whose parents come from other countries and struggle to build it up, the parents look at the kids and think, Are you kidding, try harder. You’re life isn’t that hard. Granted, it’s all about perspective. I’m still waiting for my trust fund to kick in. I was waiting at 18, waiting at 22, waiting at 25. I was like, Dad, where’s the money? He said, Keyan we don’t have any.

What’s your favorite neighborhood in the city and what makes it so appealing?

If I say one area and you guys put this on the web, people won’t want to contact me about the East Village because ,he said the Upper West Side. So, everywhere.

Alright, we’re done. Bye!

Okay, see you later!

But really.

I’m gonna be politically correct here and say every area has its own intricacies. But they really do. It depends on what you love. Personally, if I could live anywhere, it would be the Upper West Side. Why? Because it has the old-school architecture and a residential feel but you’re still in Manhattan and there’s still a lot to do. And they have that movie theater. The one with the reclining seats. Why would you want to live anywhere else?

Is there a dream Upper West Side apartment you’re eyeing?

Every time I show up there and pass the brownstones so it would have to be one of them. Luckily, I do some part-time tennis coaching and one of the families owns a whole brownstone up there. Every time I walk in I think to myself, this would be okay. I could habitate. There’s nothing wrong with the East Side there are just fewer subways.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I still work out a lot, still coach two kids in tennis. I haven’t been able to do that as much because I’ve been working on the weekends a little more. Because of the discipline and regimen from my college tennis past I still work out all the time – honestly it’s probably detrimental to my health. I’ll be walking around the city all day and need to work out. If I don’t, I’ll feel strange. I’ll feel like I haven’t showered in weeks.

I definitely enjoy coaching these kids. I went through the process of competition myself, and to see them go through it is really funny or ironic. Just like how older real estate agents see me going through the process, I see these sixteen year old kids going through their process. When they play tournaments I think to myself, why is he standing behind the baseline, why isn’t he kicking his second serve. Or things like that. But it’s only now that I see it and back then I didn’t. Hindsight is 20/20 in life. I also like to eat unhealthy things, but only on the weekends. I have what they call cheat meals.

You know most people have cheat meals every day€¦

Most people have cheat meals every day. Actually, I just ate one of those mini chocolate chip muffins…

Are you okay?!?!

I’m flying high off that muffin.

Any particularly funny stories from TripleMint you want to share?

I interviewed with David. They told me that they wanted me to come in and meet with David. So I thought, awesome, since he’s the CEO. At the time, I had already worn all three of my blazers because I had already come in three times. I didn’t want to repeat the same coat. So I borrowed one from my friend Vin who’s about the same height but a lot slimmer – he works in fashion. Naturally, I figured I shouldn’t eat before this interview because I’m gonna look bloated. I ate a greek yogurt at noon and some water before my interview at 4pm thinking he’s the CEO, he’s not going to spend more than 15 minutes with me. When I got to the office, David was in a meeting so I met with the team first – four different people for twenty minutes. I’m exhausted. And then David came in! David is a super intelligent, charismatic guy. Meanwhile I’m sitting there reminding myself to breathe. Just breathe. And I’m meeting with the CEO of this company who’ll probably one day be on the cover of Fortune – I really do believe it. I’d say he should run for office but then he’d be wasting his time and talent.

So David starts asking me these questions and then finally asks, Where do you see yourself in five years? At this point I’m tired, my stomach hurts and I’m lightheaded. I respond, where do you see me in five years? He just looks at me like, What an idiot. But he says, that’s a great question. (I’m thinking, no it’s not, I just haven’t eaten in 6 hours to fit into this coat)

That is legendary.

I was waiting for him to say, not here, you should leave.

What did he say?

I think he was in shock – who is this kid? Who let him in here?

That is very bold.

He said something like, hopefully part of the team. Somehow, after that, they still hired me.

Tell me something many people might not know about you

I don’t look like a sick athlete, but I spent most of my life playing tennis. I played D1 at Loyola University for all four years and I didn’t expect to do that. I went in my first year thinking I would play second or third string, but I ended up playing as the first seat and got my butt kicked for the first two years. I got destroyed. My record was like 500, which isn’t good, especially if you’re competitive. I got completely thrown into it, which was cool. But, I’m very competitive so the losses definitely hurt.

Because of my personality people always assume that I’m an alcoholic. But, I actually don’t drink alcohol and I never have. I’ve never been drunk nor had a buzz. I don’t think I’ve even had a sip of a beer. I mean it smells so terrible I don’t see how people drink it, let alone take a sip. I would rather have a coca-cola. I think not drinking definitely gives me an edge. If you read about anyone from Akon to Lebron James, they’re not drinking during the season and they’re not partying. When they win the championship they do, so when I sell a $50 million apartment€¦ maybe. I probably still won’t have a drink because I’ll feel like what got me to sell that penthouse was my focus and discipline.

Walk us through your day-to-day schedule.

I wake up and I do about one thousand pushups. I do curls with 80-pound dumbbells.

Is this at the office or while you’re on showings?

In all seriousness, everyday is different when you’re a real estate agent.  This job isn’t for everyone because you never know if and when your next paycheck is coming. You have to be competitive. You can’t be complacent. I could have woken up later than I did, but that means someone’s got the jump on me. That means someone’s ahead of me and I don’t want that. You’re trying to schedule as many showings as possible at all times. I think for me the big thing that I focus on is customer satisfaction and client care. We all know that real estate agents are really terrible so we’re not at a level playing field. Every time I meet someone I have to convince them that I’m not a jerk and I’m not there to rip them off because they’ve had so many bad experiences. It’s kind of like an uphill battle that we are fighting. I’ve had people say to me, I’m going to go with the no fee places because I don’t want to use an agent.  I’ve used one and he did nothing for me To this, I will respond, Look I understand that and that totally resonates with me, but just give me one chance.  I’ve turned a lot of those people. Not because I’m some genius (my test scores show that I’m not) but because I care. Because I’m going to come there and call you and go over the lease with you and come to lease signings with you. At the end of the day just caring puts you ahead of everyone else. Consumers just assume that you don’t care. You can make money and still be a good person and I think David and Phil really believe that.

Ready to make a move?
Let’s get started.

Explore Listings