Real estate was never
the point. Freedom was.
I was born in Pittsburgh's inner city. My parents struggled with addiction, and there were points where we were basically homeless. Nothing was handed to me — I learned early that if something was going to change, I had to be the one to change it.
Real estate became my path out. I got licensed as an agent and went all in, eventually becoming one of the top-producing agents in Pittsburgh — over $500 million in personal sales — and I owned a RE/MAX franchise that won awards across the region.
I wasn't chasing real estate for its own sake. I was chasing freedom — for myself, and later, for the people I could bring with me.
That's what led me to shift from selling homes for others to acquiring and building something of my own: over 300 single-family homes in six years, and eventually co-founding CityLife Residential with Casey Quinn in 2019.
CityLife has acquired 950+ units and $100M+ in real estate, and has been named one of Pittsburgh's Best Places to Work five years running and one of the city's fastest-growing companies. I've always believed the team and the culture come first — the numbers are just what happens when you get the people right.
As Visionary of CityLife Home Buyers, that usually starts with finding deals through the BRRRR method — but it doesn't end there. I mentor people using both the wins and the mistakes I've made over the years, sharing what I've learned about EOS, real estate investing, and how to actually underwrite a deal. Helping people grow professionally is more of what I offer now than any single transaction.
I believe real estate can create millionaires — it did for me, and I've made it a priority to help others get there too. I've helped create 12+ millionaires through real estate, including several members of my own team.
Because I know where I come from, affordable housing isn't a talking point for me — it's personal. A few hundred of our units serve Section 8 tenants, and over the years I've supported organizations like Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Isaiah Project, Animal Friends, YinzGiving, and the South Side Chamber of Commerce to help make sure opportunity doesn't stay locked behind a zip code.
I'm also a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, because the biggest lever in any business isn't the deal — it's the people running it. I'm also Founder & CEO of BRRRR Simply, where my team and I built an AI-powered deal analyzer app from scratch, now averaging 100+ downloads a day, because I believe in building tools, not just closing deals.
I'm a husband to Sabrina and dad to Sienna and Bryson, and that's shifted my focus — toward building things that outlast me, and toward helping other people and organizations find their own version of the freedom real estate gave me.
I'm not married to real estate. I'm married to building — people, systems, and vision that win.
