0:00

This is The Norris

0:00

Group's real estate investor

0:03

radio show the award-winning

0:03

show dedicated to thought

0:06

leaders shaping the real estate

0:06

industry and local experts

0:10

revealing their insider tips to

0:10

succeed in an ever -changing

0:13

real estate market hosted by

0:13

author, investor, and hard money

0:17

lender, Bruce Norris. The Norris

0:17

Group proudly presents our 15th

0:24

annual award winning event I

0:24

Survived Real Estate. Industry

0:29

experts join Bruce Norris to

0:29

discuss the evolving industry

0:32

trends, real estate bubbles,

0:32

inflation and opportunities

0:37

emerging for real estate

0:37

professionals. All proceeds from

0:40

the event benefit Make-a-wish

0:40

and St. Jude Children's Research

0:44

Hospital. See

0:44

Isurvivedrealestate.com for

0:48

event details information on all

0:48

our generous sponsors and to

0:52

connect with our speakers. We

0:52

want to thank our Platinum

0:56

partners, San Diego Creative

0:56

Investors Association, uDirect

1:01

IRA Services, White Feather

1:01

investments, The Collective

1:06

Genius, MVT Productions, and

1:06

Realty411.

1:12

(Singing)

2:37

Thank you guys.

2:37

Oh, thank you. When Aaronis,

2:42

when Aaron was three years old,

2:42

he went missing we had bought a

2:44

new house and we couldn't find

2:44

him. Like holy cow. And where he

2:50

was? He was next door playing

2:50

the piano. And the lady didn't,

2:54

didn't know he was in the house.

2:54

He had, he had seen the piano

2:59

and said I have got to play

2:59

that. And it's always been part

3:02

of what he wanted to do. But at

3:02

three years old, yeah, he did

3:06

that. He always wanted to get

3:06

into theater. He had an older

3:10

brother that was in theater, but

3:10

he was so shy it was terrifying

3:13

to him. And he, he tried out.

3:13

And of course, you're gonna get

3:20

a role in children's theater no

3:20

matter what but it was such a

3:23

relief that he cried. It was

3:23

like a big, big thing to him.

3:28

And as he did it more and more,

3:28

he got very good at it. And he

3:31

started getting all the lead

3:31

roles for children's theater.

3:35

And at home, I had a weight

3:35

room. And I was working out one

3:38

time and he had just been told

3:38

he had gotten a lead role in

3:42

Mary Poppins and he was he was

3:42

Bert. That's right. And he's

3:50

making phone calls, as I'm

3:50

working out to take a break I

3:53

he's methodically calling all

3:53

the other kids in the play and I

3:58

thought, you know, because he's,

3:58

you know, I got Bert, you know,

4:04

that type of stuff. That's not

4:04

what he was doing. He called and

4:08

asked what part they got. And

4:08

then he bragged on their part.

4:14

I'm tearing up, because I teared

4:14

up and I cried at the poor guy,

4:19

who would 11 does that. Who

4:19

cares about team building and

4:23

being there for other people to

4:23

that extent, but that is who

4:28

he's always been. It's always

4:28

been the best experience for me

4:32

following where Aaron has been,

4:32

you know, when you're a young

4:35

kid, you're always the son of

4:35

the dad. But eventually you're

4:39

the Dad of the Son. And so when

4:39

when he was taking theater and

4:43

he would get a go through

4:43

something like a Juilliard and

4:47

pass it and graduation day. I'd

4:47

go there for the first time with

4:52

my wife, and they're like,

4:52

you're Aaron Norris' parents? Oh

4:55

my God, we love him. We love

4:55

him. When Aaron was at UCLA

5:01

hospital had a similar

5:01

experience he was there. He had

5:06

been there about five weeks

5:06

before for treatment. And this

5:10

was the second treatment I had

5:10

dropped in front of the

5:12

hospital, parked the car and

5:12

came back. And as I came back up

5:15

to the floor, where he was at,

5:15

there was sort of a buzz going

5:19

on at the nursing station. And

5:19

so as I went by, listen, and it

5:22

was Aaron Norris is back, who

5:22

gets that? I was so lucky to

5:30

have him as a son, man, my

5:30

favorite moment at I Survived.

5:43

My favorite moment, at I

5:43

Survived, was at the end of

5:46

maybe one of the last ones that

5:46

we were able to do live. I said,

5:51

Hey, I really want to give Aaron

5:51

a big thanks. And you guys stood

5:56

up and gave him a standing

5:56

ovation. It was so cool. What a

5:59

very touching to me. I thought

5:59

that was very neat. In March of

6:03

this year, Aaron calls me up and

6:03

says, that I really don't know

6:07

if I'm going to be healthy

6:07

enough to, to pull off I

6:10

Survive. Maybe we should cancel

6:10

it. I said, Let me think about

6:16

that. And now think about it

6:16

long, I sent a text back, I

6:20

said, 'Hell no.' If by chance,

6:20

you're, you're there and you're,

6:32

you're not well enough, I want,

6:32

I want you to hear how people

6:36

care about you. And I said, if

6:36

you're not here, then we're

6:40

going to play a five minute

6:40

video about in a little bit of a

6:44

memorial for Aaron. And wherever

6:44

you are, I want to hear, I want

6:51

you to hear how people care

6:51

about you. And I want God to

6:53

hear it too. So, let's watch

6:53

Aaron's video. Thank you guys.

7:04

Aaron has always been interested

7:04

in, in charity. And he came to

7:08

work for the company around

7:08

2005. And within a couple of

7:11

years, he said, 'You know, I think we should have a charity event.' I said, 'Well, we're

7:13

flipping company.' And the first

7:19

charity event we had, we had to

7:19

tell people to come to the

7:22

seminar. But it wasn't a seminar

7:22

because people just came out of

7:27

faith in us honest to goodness,

7:27

they came and it was, it was

7:31

super well attended. But

7:31

everyone didn't know what to

7:33

expect. And it was it was

7:33

amazing. And it was really

7:36

timely because our industry. The

7:36

investors were getting blamed

7:41

for what went on in 2009. Okay,

7:41

and so it just so happened that

7:48

on the panel, we had lots of

7:48

national, you know, top people,

7:54

Chief Economist of Fannie Mae,

7:54

and the President of the

7:57

Mortgage Bankers Association,

7:57

etc. And so there's about four

8:01

people in the audience. And I

8:01

said, I'm just curious how many

8:05

of you guys are investors? Of

8:05

course, every one of you was, so

8:08

would you stand up, it's

8:08

everybody was dressed just like

8:10

we are now. And everybody stood

8:10

up. And I turned to the

8:13

panelists, I just wanted, you

8:13

know, what an investor look

8:15

like. So, that night, we set, we

8:15

set ourselves apart and said,

8:23

you know, what, we weren't the

8:23

problem and now practically, we

8:27

can be, we can be the solution.

8:27

So, because Aaron was so

8:31

interested in charity, he has, a

8:31

legacy. He has started his own

8:36

charity. And Michael Basij is

8:36

going to come and talk to you

8:41

about that. And he has received

8:41

some funds already from and

8:46

that's that's not what we're

8:46

doing. Right. The second, I want

8:48

you to know that Aaron is

8:48

continuing his legacy and

8:54

supporting kids that maybe he's

8:54

as afraid as he is about acting

8:57

was was about acting. And this

8:57

way they can get trained to get

9:02

better. So Michael, Michael? Oh,

9:02

there you are.

9:10

I gotta tell you

9:10

with everything that's been

9:13

going on, you do tend to think a

9:13

lot about family. I haven't even

9:17

started yet. I was just as

9:17

extemporaneous unfortunately for

9:21

you. I've been thinking a lot

9:21

about my grandfather, who I

9:25

loved was my hero, Aaron, told

9:25

us to cherish our heroes. And my

9:30

grandfather was sort of person

9:30

that everyone wanted to be

9:34

around and stay with. And when

9:34

he walked into a room, he lit up

9:38

a room. And Aaron reminded me so

9:38

much of him. And Bruce has a

9:42

connection with my grandfather

9:42

too, because the two smartest

9:46

men I've ever known in my life

9:46

for my grandfather and Bruce

9:51

Norris, and neither one of them

9:51

went to college, which goes to

9:55

show you if you're smart enough,

9:55

you don't need to go to college.

9:59

My, my parents thought I needed

9:59

a little bit more

10:03

institutionalized education, so

10:03

I stayed around for a little bit

10:07

longer before they released me

10:07

into society. I'd like to thank

10:12

Joey Romero who has stepped into

10:12

some incredible communities.

10:16

This is hard enough for Aaron.

10:16

And Joey stepping into it like

10:20

that after a two year absence.

10:20

I'd also like to thank Joey for

10:25

picking somehow miraculously at

10:25

the absolute all the worst

10:29

pictures of me I've ever seen in

10:29

my life. But I'm starting to

10:33

think maybe it's not the

10:33

pictures, maybe it's my face. So

10:37

from at the very first I

10:37

Survived meeting, Aaron got up

10:41

here and quoted from the poet

10:41

Maya Angelou and she said,

10:45

'surviving is important, but

10:45

thriving is elegant.' And that's

10:49

what Aaron did, he thrived. So,

10:49

I'm told it an event like this,

10:53

I can't talk about politics or

10:53

religion. So naturally, I will

10:57

talk about both of them. So,

10:57

every year is Joey will tell

11:01

you, Aaron was a little nervous

11:01

that people weren't going to

11:06

sign up for this event. And I

11:06

sit and relax. These are real

11:10

estate people. They're like

11:10

mobile attorneys. They're not

11:14

sitting behind a desk, they're

11:14

out doing stuff. Plus, being a

11:18

perfectionist, he wanted

11:18

everything to be perfect. Every

11:22

year, he had asked me to say a

11:22

little prayer that people would

11:26

show up. His concerns, however,

11:26

were never about himself. It was

11:31

always about you and having a

11:31

good event. He was worried about

11:35

his dad, he was worried about

11:35

charities. And he was very

11:39

worried and concerned about the

11:39

ongoing and noble causes that

11:43

you all support. And he said,

11:43

'Say a little prayer.' And I

11:47

said, 'Aaron, there are no

11:47

little prayers, there are only

11:51

prayers.' So, all of you here,

11:51

whatever your background is, I

11:56

have prayed for you. That's one

11:56

of my contributions to this

12:00

dinner. My second contribution

12:00

to this dinner is I was one of

12:04

the two gentlemen that was

12:04

posted outside that door to try

12:08

to keep you all from getting in

12:08

here early. And I did a terrible

12:12

job because when we finally

12:12

opened the door, there's like 18

12:17

or 19 people in here. There's

12:17

purses, there's chairs, tilted,

12:21

people were holding seats. And I

12:21

figured you know, there's

12:25

nothing that can stop a real

12:25

estate agent from getting onto a

12:29

piece of property if they really

12:29

want to. And some of you were

12:34

really diabolical. One lady cut

12:34

through the kitchen and said she

12:38

worked for the staff. And then

12:38

the staff asked me, 'Do you know

12:42

this lady,' I'm like, 'I've

12:42

never seen her before in my

12:46

life.' And actually, I did, but

12:46

I lied and covered for. Finally,

12:51

and perhaps my greatest

12:51

contribution to this event was

12:54

the bacon wrapped dates that you

12:54

all eat in the lobby. So, there

12:59

was actually one year we didn't

12:59

have them. And I thought half of

13:03

you were going to leave. And I

13:03

took, I told Aaron and I'm like,

13:08

what, what are you doing? Did

13:08

they came here for the bacon

13:12

wrapped dates, and then some

13:12

information in addition to that,

13:16

so, so, you're welcome. I'm

13:16

grateful. I'm grateful to see so

13:20

many of you here. That is a

13:20

creation of Aaron's ingenuity

13:24

and imagination. And now his

13:24

legacy. And the money raised by

13:28

all of you at The Norris Group

13:28

and the many sponsors are well

13:33

over a million dollars and

13:33

counting and continuing and,

13:37

your continued support has been

13:37

amazing. And I can feel Aaron

13:41

here tonight, and I could feel

13:41

his joy that you're all here

13:45

tonight. I'd also like to

13:45

quickly take this time to thank

13:49

all the doctors, nurses and

13:49

medical professionals that

13:53

helped Aaron because of the

13:53

rare, the very rare form of

13:57

cancer he had. We actually could

13:57

have lost him suddenly over a

14:01

year and a half ago. Although

14:01

even tonight, it's still very

14:05

sudden. Some of you may have

14:05

seen Aaron's TED Talk. And if

14:09

you haven't, I would encourage

14:09

you not during the event. But

14:13

go, go, Google TED talks, Aaron

14:13

Norris, and you'll see something

14:18

beautiful and something full of

14:18

wisdom. It's informational and

14:22

it's inspirational. And he talks

14:22

about life. He talks about fear,

14:27

love, courage, but mostly

14:27

Aaron's talking about saying

14:30

yes, yes to life. He talks about

14:30

not being perfect, but real

14:35

people aren't perfect and

14:35

perfect. People aren't real,

14:38

although he's about the closest

14:38

thing I've ever seen to it.

14:42

Sorry. The big lesson from the

14:42

TED talk is that although we may

14:47

have a destination in mind, how

14:47

we adapted to distractions and

14:51

disappointments of life,

14:51

sometimes bring us to beautiful

14:55

places that we couldn't have

14:55

imagined like tonight. Aaron

14:59

thought his life would be in

14:59

show business. And it kind of

15:03

was I mean, this is kind of show

15:03

business. How many boring

15:07

seminars have you been to and

15:07

you probably not been to many

15:11

that are this fantastic.

15:11

Although Aaron thought his life

15:15

would be in show business

15:15

through the twists and turns, he

15:19

ended up back in California

15:19

working with his dad, and

15:23

contributing to the community

15:23

while obtaining his MBA Cum

15:27

Laude from UC Irvine. I only

15:27

graduated college thank the

15:31

Laude. The the messages, the

15:31

messages of, the messages of

15:35

love, as you can imagine, have

15:35

been overwhelming, awards have

15:39

already been named after Aaron.

15:39

And people have gone out of

15:43

their way, my phone's been

15:43

blowing up. People want to come

15:47

up and tell me and Bruce and you

15:47

how much he changed your lives,

15:52

and how important he was to

15:52

them. And the themes are all

15:56

similar, adored, sincere, sweet,

15:56

happy, helpful, funny, and

16:00

always fun. And I've always said

16:00

Aaron was just quite simply a

16:04

walking smile, who wanted to

16:04

live in a better world that he

16:08

helped create. So, the name

16:08

Aaron is Hebrew. And it means

16:12

mountain of strength, exalted

16:12

one, teacher, good job naming

16:16

your kid Bruce, there was, and

16:16

how fitting because he was a

16:20

teacher to so many he was

16:20

exalted by everyone and he was

16:24

my mountain of strength and to

16:24

so many others as well. I've

16:29

often said Bruce, I mean, Aaron

16:29

was the perfect combination of

16:33

both of his parents, Bruce and

16:33

Marcia. He had his father's

16:37

business acumen and generosity

16:37

and his mother's charity and

16:41

compassion for others. Aaron in

16:41

the TED Talk urges us over and

16:45

over again to say yes, yes to

16:45

life. Yes to weird and yes to

16:49

different and yes to new. Aaron

16:49

always taught us how to say yes,

16:54

and you being here tonight is a

16:54

gigantic, beautiful yes to

16:58

Aaron. So, even in our grief.

16:58

We're so thankful for the many

17:02

years that we had Aaron with us.

17:02

So, appropriately, the name of

17:07

St. Jude's Magazine is inspire,

17:07

which is what Aaron did more so

17:11

than anyone I've ever met. Even

17:11

in the hardest times as Bruce

17:15

indicated, while he was fighting

17:15

cancer, he was more concerned

17:20

with cheering up the staff and

17:20

the other patients in the

17:23

hospital than he was in his own

17:23

well being. Of course, he had

17:28

little tricks, he would play

17:28

them with cupcakes, pizza,

17:32

cookies, and other small

17:32

measures of love and affection.

17:36

And of course, of course, he was

17:36

their favorite patient. And with

17:40

everything he was going through,

17:40

he was more concerned about

17:44

brightening their lives, which

17:44

is a typical theme in Aaron's

17:48

life. I've often said the most

17:48

question asked to me over the

17:53

past 18 years is 'Where is

17:53

Aaron?' And the most common

17:56

response I say is, 'I don't

17:56

know.' To be honest, sometimes

18:00

he was so busy. There was one

18:00

year I actually considered

18:04

chipping him just so I can keep

18:04

tabs on where he was and what he

18:09

was doing. And I'm not going to

18:09

tell you all the wonderful

18:13

things about Aaron. Nobody

18:13

could, in fact, you probably

18:17

have as many stories as I do, or

18:17

maybe more. But the thread that

18:21

ties Aaron with all of us and

18:21

all that he did was joy,

18:25

compassion and love. No one

18:25

hanging out with Aaron ever

18:29

wanted to leave. And Aaron love

18:29

the arts. As we've seen, we know

18:33

when it formed the man he grew

18:33

up to be. But even as an adult

18:38

Aaron had a boy's heart, pure

18:38

ensure that he could do

18:41

anything. The Aaron Norris

18:41

Creative Fund was created this

18:45

year to support the arts

18:45

programs primarily in the Inland

18:49

Empire. Aaron was a beloved

18:49

member of the community and is

18:53

fondly remembered by the Inland

18:53

Empire Community Foundation for

18:58

his leadership and dedication

18:58

and raising almost a million

19:02

dollars in charity for the

19:02

Inland Empire. The Aaron Norris

19:06

Creative Fund that lives on here

19:06

and Ever After will help us

19:10

support arts programs throughout

19:10

Southern California. And perhaps

19:14

someday even possibly inspire a

19:14

future Aaron. St. Francis said,

19:19

always show the goodness of God

19:19

and when necessary use words.

19:23

And that was Aaron's life. One

19:23

saying Aaron said it actually

19:27

irritated me. I hated this.

19:27

Aaron said it's all good. It's

19:31

all good. It's all good. A lot

19:31

of you young people say this

19:36

like way too much. It's all

19:36

good. And I'm not accustomed to

19:40

that I come from an Italian

19:40

family. We don't even, we didn't

19:44

even answer the phone 'Hello.'

19:44

We answered the phone 'What's

19:48

wrong?' But you know what with

19:48

Aaron, with Aaron, it was all

19:52

good. And Aaron was all good.

19:52

And as Aaron would say quoting

19:56

from a musical of course it

19:56

doesn't matter how you start it

20:01

matters how you land and his

20:01

start his middle and his

20:04

landing. were excellent So, I've

20:04

seen this video, but I had to go

20:09

in the hallway because I

20:09

couldn't see it again, I've seen

20:13

him play that piano 100 times.

20:13

And it doesn't get any easier,

20:17

but it does get more beautiful

20:17

every time. So, another lyric

20:21

from that song he was playing on

20:21

the piano applies not only to

20:26

him, but also the incredible

20:26

organizations that you're

20:29

supporting tonight. 'Somewhere

20:29

beyond all doubt of fear, beyond

20:34

the reach of sorrows, tears,

20:34

were broken hearts run strong

20:38

and free, where every child of

20:38

God will be.' So, Aaron didn't

20:42

have a long life. But it was

20:42

full and joyful. Aaron lived by

20:46

a motto that he himself never

20:46

said. But it's from President

20:50

Roosevelt, the good one, Teddy

20:50

is in the corner. 'Do what you

20:55

can, where you are with what you

20:55

have.' And that's always what he

20:59

did. And thank you for being a

20:59

part of Aaron's legacy as we

21:03

begin our new journey together.

21:03

So, with that my plea to you

21:07

tonight comes directly from

21:07

Aaron, from his TED talk. Please

21:12

give generously of your time,

21:12

your talent and your treasure.

21:16

God bless you and all the work

21:16

that you do. And like I said, I

21:20

can feel Aaron, with us here

21:20

tonight. I could feel him in the

21:24

room. And I know as always that

21:24

he's smiling. Thank you.

21:31

We'd also like to

21:31

thank our gold sponsors, Chase

21:34

Leland Photography, Inland

21:34

Valley Association of Realtors,

21:39

Keystone CPA, Inc, LA South

21:39

REIA, Leivas Tax Wealth

21:45

Management, NorCal REIA, NSDREI,

21:45

Pasadena FIBI, Tony Alvarez,

21:53

White House Catering, Wilson

21:53

Investments, Windermere Tower

21:58

Realty. See

21:58

Isurvivedrealestate.com for

22:02

event details, information on

22:02

all our generous supporters and

22:06

to connect with our speakers.For

22:06

more information on hard money,

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loans and upcoming events with

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The Norris Group, check out

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thenorrisgroup.com. For

22:15

information on passive investing

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with trust deeds, visit

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tngtrustdeeds.com.

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The Norris Group

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originates and services loans in

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California and Florida under

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California DRE License 01219911,

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Florida Mortgage Lender License

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1577, and NMLS License 1623669.

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For more information on hard

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money lending, go

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www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.