I’m really proud and excited to say that one of my closest and dearest friends joins me and us on So Money today. Her name is Kathy Braddock. She is a 30-year real estate industry veteran and one of the top, top real estate entrepreneurs in the country. A lot of you have been writing in, wanting to learn more about real estate. Here is your chance.

Kathy is currently a managing director at William Raveis, New York City. It’s the 100th office of William Raveis’ real estate mortgage and insurance firm, the largest family-owned real estate company in the northeast. During her esteemed career in real estate, Kathy helped form and built some of New York’s most distinguished real estate firms. She co-founded Rutenberg realty, which grew from the ground up with zero agents, into the sixth largest residential brokerage in the Big Apple.

I quote Kathy extensively in my first book You’re So Money – a lot of you have that – and in it she gives spot-on advice for first-time homebuyers. She for me has been just an ongoing friend and consultant when it comes to purchasing my own pieces of property. So if you’re interested in becoming homeowners or selling your home, Kathy has got all the intel.

And I just love this woman. She was born and raised in New York City, which I always find exciting to me, people who call New York City their birthplace. In addition to being a wildly successful businesswoman, Kathy is admirably independent, a road traveler, a mom to two awesome young guys.

I first met her when I was a producer at NY1 News. I booked Kathy on a nightly business program regularly and she was and continues to be my go-to source for all things real estate, and lately all things life. She is my surrogate big sister in the city.

Three key takeaways:

• Whether buying real estate is still a part of the American dream. I asked this, flat out: “Is it really part of the equation anymore?”
• The financial passport, she says all of us need to qualify for buying a home these days. And that passport, the anatomy of that passport, is a lot different than what it was 10 or 15 years ago.
• Why we shouldn’t assume the bank is always right when pre-qualifying us for a mortgage. Really? Even still today banks are maybe over-lending? Might be.

If you would like to learn more about Kathy Braddock, visit her company’s website www.raveis.com.

One of my favorite quotes from our interview: “They say buyers are liars and that’s really not true.” – Click to Tweet