What is the relationship and how did you get started with Simon? Could you talk about some of the initial meetings and how you started with offerings that were presented to you?
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Ryan Mucci
Ryan Mucci is co-founder and President of Allure Window Décor, and a leading-edge entrepreneur. His almost 20 years of experience includes the formation and operation of multiple organizations in the home decor industry with extensive knowledge in the retail sector. Ryan has a strong passion for real estate investing which he continues to pursue in his spare time. Ryan’s core values are focused on honesty and integrity. He genuinely believes that a prosperous business is a direct result of client satisfaction. Ryan is dedicated in his effort to ensure that each client experience is everlasting.
What is the relationship and how did you get started with Simon? Could you talk about some of the initial meetings and how you started with offerings that were presented to you?
I met Simon and therefore TCS through a good friend who had already been investing with Simon for a number of years and a number of properties. I understand this to be the way that most clients are exposed to TCS and to Simon. Sort of like an insider’s club and you need to be brought in by a member. In reality, TCS is very open to new clients that are qualified regardless of how they come across the firm, but it feels good to talk about being part of a private club and getting access to deals that others don’t.
For everyone, the past few years have been a trying period of time, what has been the biggest insight or takeaway for you or your business that has come from the pandemic hitting the globe and then the more recent inflationary period with monetary policy fixes?
Times were extremely busy during and after the pandemic for me personally and my business. From a TCS perspective I truly saw the value firsthand, as did many others across the globe, of having hard assets like real estate during these post-pandemic inflationary times. Don’t let the short term be scary, in the long run hard assets like properties will continue to go up in value.
This time we are living in right now, financially and economically, has just cemented that for me personally. There is so much in the media about values and GDP etc., but if you own assets that are gaining in value, it makes the sleep at night through these times much easier.
What about away from the office, what do you like to do when not working?
I’m all about family so there is nothing better than spending time with family and friends; whether that be up here or in Naples, Florida where we like to spend some winter time.
I’m a massive cycling aficionado and just love everything about the sport; it tests me and I feel rewarded by it when I pour everything into a race and the training for the race and I complete it with a good result. It has taught me so much about life and resiliency, which I have brought across to my parenting and my business. Speaking of parenting, there is no greater joy to me than following my daughters all over the place and watching them ply their craft in their sporting passion, Volleyball.
You have a long-standing career in home decor and as an entrepreneur, what is the back story of how you started with the sector?
Silly story, I was an 18 year old kid who was operating a landscape maintenance business, still living at home with my mom. A young guy in his late 20’s/early 30’s moved in directly across the street and gutted the house and put in a beautiful, landscaped pool area. Once that was completed, the high-end cars, motorcycles, and other toys started to show up over the following years. I was so intrigued and blown away that it motivated me to want to know how he did it! I became friends with him and asked what he did to be able to have all that he did - he said, I am in the blinds business and the rest is history.
I bought my first property at 21 in Barrie while living at home and quickly learned how rental properties can generate wealth, my portfolio grew from that point forward.
As a leader in your field, you need to give a lot of advice; what advice would you give to someone that is looking to invest in the condo market, what would be the top considerations that they should be focused on?
My experience has shown that the pre-construction condo market is a great place to invest as your money can grown long term on an investment that is worth so much more than you have put down, without having as much money in the game. Focus on the returns that you can obtain on your initial investment, not necessarily the purchase price. Keep it simple and work the deposit into something bigger, then you have the freedom and flexibility to make the next decision at that point, with an appreciated investment.
Any regrets about deals that you didn’t participate in over the years that stand out for you?
Yes there have been many regrets over the years since I started invested in TCS projects with Simon. There have been a few projects that I didn’t participate in (for whatever reason at the time) that did big returns only a few years later; and I knew people (other TCS clients that did buy-in so that made matters much worse!). For example, there was a beautiful project out by Lake Ontario near Pickering, it’s a great example of sitting back and watching an asset appreciate and your skin in the game is minimized.
Lastly, we’d love to chronicle some of your results, perhaps an example of what you originally put down on an early investment, what kind of return that equated to?
For sure, I think it’s important for others, who may just be getting started or maybe wanting to do more but aren’t sure, to understand that this is real value and ROI. One building in Liberty Village, we put 15% down (about $36K), the unit was bought at $255,000 in 2010 and sold for $325,000 in 2015 which equated to approximately a 25% return on investment.
Another building we invested in multiple units through TCS, Axiom, units were bought in 2015 with 10% down ($31k each) and a price of $309,000. The current value is around $650,000 each and I am holding and renting them for $2,500 a month, which has created positive cashflow for the past five years since closing.
The Condo Store Realty Inc. (Brokerage)
TORONTO • MIAMI
Tel: 1.416.533.5888
Email: office@condostorecanada.com
The Condo Store Realty Inc. (Brokerage)
TORONTO • MIAMI
Tel: 1.416.533.5888
email: office@condostorecanada.com
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