Hey guys Matt from growth mode content here with
another great edition of good news York joined
By my you're extra spiky today. I feel you know
what it's because yesterday you were like, oh,
you know So this morning I was like, is this
good enough for you, Matt? This is good enough
and we got what color watch we got today We're
going black. Oh, yeah, we want black because
of the black and white. Yeah, okay The color
coordinates is one Anyway, we've got an incredible
guest today, guys, and we're gonna introduce
him in just a second. But before we do, I just,
I gotta talk about this, because I think it's
cool as hell. One of the guys on my IT team came
in today with this incredible bit of Syracuse
history. This is a record, by the way. I had
to tell our intern what it was. Are we that old?
I'm not kidding. She's like, what is that? Oh,
fuck. It is the history of Syracuse, volume two,
1957 through 1971. We have not yet played this,
but we're going to. The record is in great shape.
I've really got to hear some of these tracks,
if you will. These hot tracks. Are these bands,
or are they jingles? Oh, no, no. These are bands
that were. From Syracuse. No shit. Jan and the
Radiants, Billy Ken and the Madisons. There's
always somebody in the somebodies. Should be
Billy P. Sillaw and the New York Rock, you know?
Yeah, right, right, right. Pineapple Herd, though.
This is my best. That is still might even be
a phenomenal band name. There was a band called,
what was it, 805 back in the 80s? They didn't
make it, oh, this is before their time. This
is before their time. They were Utica. They were
Utica. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Otis and the all night
workers. All night workers. Yep. They don't make
band names like this anymore. Are those construction
workers or ladies of the night? What are we talking
about? Well, we're going to find out. Anyway,
we have a guest. We do. I'm excited about this
one. Tell us about this man. This man is a real
estate agent or realtor. I don't know the proper
term. He'll tell us. Yep. But he is also a really,
really, really good content creator, like top
notch stuff. does a lot of funny videos. You
know, he does videos about Syracuse and some
of the businesses in it. And then he does, like,
you know, food wars, what city has the best food.
And he has deemed himself as Mr. Syracuse. Oh!
And I can't think of a better guy than Alex Skrippa.
What's up, Alex? How are you, man? I'm great.
How are you guys? This is very exciting, because
like Mike said, you are an incredibly talented
creator. I appreciate it. clearly we're in that
game. So we have an eye out for that and have
nothing but respect for it. And one of the reasons
I have so much respect for it is you're clearly
somebody who is using content to build their
traditional business, right? And there's a lot
of people in real estate these days who have
been, I want to say a lot of real estate folks
have really been sort of on the forefront of
trying to create content, but not all of them
hit the mark. You've found really unique ways
to not just show a property, but really dig into
the city. Can you tell us a little bit about,
well, first of all, tell us a little bit about
yourself, and then let's talk about your content.
Well, my name is Alex Scrippa. I'm 21. I grew
up in Cicero, and I've grown up in the business
of real estate. My father is ancient now, so
he's getting old. He's got the gray hair. He's
got all the real estate knowledge, but... I've
got the spark and the creativity. I like to be
animated and stuff like that. Honestly, it's
really been a new thing for him, too, because
I joined the business. I went to St. Lawrence
University for one semester, had a 3 .9 GPA,
said I'm done with this. There's just no point
for me to be here. I went for creative writing.
I love the creative stuff. I put that into my
own videos now instead of actually doing something
or publishing a piece of writing. publishing
a piece of content from the writing. But I just
wanted to grow the understanding that Syracuse
is not boring, but the residents are lazy. Clearly.
Why do I say the residents are lazy is because
I was there once. Syracuse freaking sucks, man.
There's nothing to do here. No, there is. It's
just not marketed. You have to look it up yourself.
A lot of people don't want to do that. I feel
like everybody says that about their town, right?
I feel like you could live in Vegas and people
there are like, oh, it's overrated. I hate the
strip. You know, there's that part of it, too.
Yeah. No, I think that's phenomenal. And it works.
And you can tell because your stuff frequently
does incredibly well. And you get so much interaction
and shares. And people really dig it. I'd love
to know. How do you sort of choose your topics?
Because like Mike said, you don't necessarily
hit one particular niche other than being really
local. How do you choose your next video? I'll
be driving in the car, jamming out to music.
Boom, idea in my head. I got my voice memo ready.
Yep. Voice memo goes in. I have a structure for
the way that I make my videos. And I just plug
the idea into the structure and go from there.
And then the hardest part for me is figuring
out the visual aspect of the video. The only
thing I know very well is let's go get in front
of this place, because I've been here before.
Other than that, the other shots are just as
I go filming. Yeah. That's great. I feel like
driving and the shower are the two places where
I personally think of them. I'm serious. That's
where I think of the most ideas. Do you find
that too? Yeah, driving is definitely the one.
Because, you know, I'm looking at stuff. I'm
driving past a building, a business, whatever
it is. And then I'm like, boom, that's the one.
Now let's make it. What's cool about your stuff,
too, Is that it's not like, you know, we see
a lot of people that work in real estate and
they're and you can tell they're crossing into
this content creation, right? They're like sometimes
begrudgingly. Yes, most of the time. And, you
know, it's it's they're doing it as a compliment
to their career. For you, it's almost the opposite.
Like you're just you're doing this these great
videos. You're creating all this great content.
It's like, oh, and by the way, he's a realtor
as well. which I think is a sign of the younger
generation. It's the right approach. Yeah, it's
the right approach. That's what you're supposed
to do. And it's impressive. And I think it's
a sign of this generation. That's what it's going
to be like, is that the content creation comes
first. And I love it. Yeah. I mean, I think he
and Alex know if you agree with this, but I think
you sort of understand that idea of connect with
people first. And that doesn't matter what you're
doing. They're just open to it. Right. And I
think too many people are focused. people go,
well, don't make a viral video, because that
doesn't generate business that walks in the door.
You don't understand how any of this works. You
know what I mean? It's incredible. And what you
need to do is, like I said, connect with those
people. And I think too many people are out here
making ads. They're like, I'm going to make this
viral video to say, hey, buy this house. It's
got a nice garage. It's not the same thing. And
what they don't realize is, You don't have to
make an ad. The content is the ad, right? You
don't have to say, come buy this. People figure
it out, right? Make the good content, and then
they... What kind of inspired you, or what do
you think about as you're making those things
with kind of business ideas in mind? That's a
really good question. I mean, what really got
me there was just seeing how... I hated Syracuse
at one point. And I'm like, I just got to get
out of here. That's legitimate. You know, the
cold weather, this, that. I've noticed it's not
the cold weather. It's not the snow. It's just
the gray skies. OK, sure. And there's a lot more
than gray skies here. We just have to get it
out there. And there's not a lot of people trying
to get stuff out there. But then again, I'm also
somebody who is very, you know, I've grown up
around my father who's always been super loyal
and like super into the business. loyalty to
the point where it's like you hurt yourself almost
because you're dealing with clients that maybe
are treating you poorly and so I'm one of those
people who I want to build the loyalty or the
relationship with somebody and I'm 21 I have
no clue how to do that I got I have nobody to
talk to because you know Joe's got all the business
all the connections and stuff like that so I'm
just like well how do I follow in his footsteps
but let's make it even bigger because shoot for
the stars and aim for the moon shoot for the
stars whatever I love that. That's an entrepreneurial
mindset, man. You're only 21. That's brilliant.
You're going places, man. Tell us a little bit
about the real estate agent. What type of listings
do you typically have? Do you got any that are
kind of hot you think folks might want to check
out? Well, we do a lot of commercial real estate.
We have a few other agents in our office that
do primarily residential. Gotcha. So commercial
real estate as a 21 -year -old is like sometimes
can be like watching paint dry. Sure. But I'm
also... I'm one of those people who let's get
right down to business. I get, I have a little
bit of struggle with the emotional side of things
just because I'm like, do you want it or not?
But that's also something that's, you know, the
content creation has helped me with that as being
like switching into that mode of acting or like
being in character. So I've been doing a little
bit better about the emotional thing. So it's
like, but yeah, so we got a listing on James
street right now. There's a salon there. And
it's fully outfitted. It's got all the chairs,
all the stuff you need, mirrors already in there
in place, ready to go. So it's turnkey for a
user to get right in. In addition to the commercial
properties, do you ever do business sales as
well? I do not personally. We have one agent
who does more. Her name is Amanda Rollins. She
does a lot of business sales. Are you seeing
the... market feeling really good in the commercial
world given everything that's happening and is
it Is it is it moving in a good direction? Do
you feel like great? Yeah, great Great. Yeah.
Yeah, I love it. I love it with Mike Ron coming.
Are you you must be like Right. Well, I'm sure
you guys have heard about the delay. Yeah, so
a Lot we got a lot of calls from business owners
or clients that we work with and who were very
concerned about the delay We actually I just
recorded a podcast with Joe Joe Joe's my father.
I just calm sure so But we recorded like a podcast
style thing and we were talking about how It's
it's not really a delay. It's just the media
dramatizing that it's right down. How are they
gonna start digging? We we already got what six
five four four to six inches on the ground already
and it's been maybe not that much, but How can
you start digging when the grounds already what?
So they got to hold it off a little bit more.
And 2026 is only two months away. So everybody's
like, oh, they're delayed to 2026. It's six weeks
until we're in there. Right, right. And it's
literally, if my understanding is correctly,
it's almost just a matter of it's going to take
a little bit longer. It's not even necessarily
the delay work. We're still going to break ground
before Christmas. Well, and I could be wrong,
but I feel like every commercial project I've
ever heard of always has a date. and it never
lands on that date. It always gets pushed back
because there's so many factors. I think it's
just a matter of the people. It's the crowd of,
it ain't ever going to happen. I'll believe it
when I see it. And then they just jump on that.
See, it's delayed. That's exactly, you know,
I think maybe your purpose, right, is to fight
against that nonsense. Yes. Because I think clearly
the media is intentionally stoking that, you
know, and they want that. They don't want it
to not happen. Right. But they want that controversy.
And unfortunately, that's their world is the
clickbait almost headlines that generates clicks.
That's their whole world. You figured out how
to generate clicks by just offering something
of genuine interest and being, for the most part,
very positive about our area. That's the goal.
And that's why we had this conversation yesterday
about the media really just digging into the
bad side of things. And it's like... That's I'm
trying to do the complete opposite. Yeah, and
you know, I don't know you guys might have to
cut this part out but the the the piece in there
that I've noticed so far is nobody's hating on
me yet Yeah, but they're hating on the topic.
Don't ask for it. Exactly cuz they'll come I
mean I have had, you know some here and there
but like compared to I used to make fitness videos,
and I would get a ton of hate just on me, and
then I'm like, okay, well, let's switch this
to something. I'm making something about a topic.
I'm just delivering the message. Don't shoot
the messenger, right? So far, it's been pretty
good, but the topic I'm talking about, I try
to leave open to, hey, what are your thoughts
on this? Here's my opinion, and you tell me the
worst end of it, because that's what you think.
It's just more like, let's have a conversation,
a discussion. Yeah, no, and I think that's worked
really well for you, man. You know, that's very
much the point of Good News York here is to be
the counter to the BS local news. I won't name
them today, even though it's on my hat. And it's
all that's why I love to see. That's why we want
to have you in, because any time we can see these
things, people are going around. And there's
a number of creators with. with varying quality.
And one of the things I want to talk about is
before we went live, you mentioned that you do
your own editing and everything. Can you just
talk to folks about that a little bit, kind of
what your process is? Because I think people
that are aspiring content creators would love
to hear about that. So scripting, I say scripting,
it's not scripting in terms of like, I have no
idea what I'm talking about. It's like I do all
the research before I make my script. Then I
write the script. So I know exactly what I'm
talking about. It's in my own voice. It's not
just like, chat GPT, write me a script. Business
XYZ, here we go. But then I also do the food
reviews, which are completely different, completely
unscripted. I'm going to places that have reached
out to me. A lot of people are like, hey, you
got to come try this. I've got so many saying
I got to come try this. I'm like, guys, I do
all this. I can't take it. So I have actually
been looking for an editor, but that's the thing
is I'm so in my own way about the value that
I try to provide and the way that I try to make
my videos look. I'm not trying to make them over
edited or anything like that because I think
it takes away from the authenticity of it. So
script it. Go shoot the video wherever it is.
I might shoot three to four videos in a day.
Hold them out because I'm editing all of them.
I've got seven videos right now that are completely
unedited. But then I'll go in, and it takes me
two hours each video. So I'm really putting time
into them to try and make it something that people
would like to watch and can get something from.
Well, that's great, man. It shows, man. And honestly,
that's more efficient than a lot of people. So
I wouldn't knock you. If you can crank out a
great video in a couple hours of editing, you're
doing something right. So that's pretty cool.
Thank you. I love to hear that. And I love also,
when you say scripting, that's something I'd
love to talk about for just a second, because
especially with these social media videos, so
many people think they're completely off the
cuff. And once in a while, they are, right? You
just capture something and it happens to be great.
But if you're really trying to do something,
you don't necessarily need a word for word script
that you read off a prompter or something like
that. But you should have at least a detailed
outline of where you're going. And if you follow
his videos, you'll see he uses what everyone
should use, which is really sort of a storytelling
format, right? You hook people in and then you
kind of tell the story and keep their interest
throughout the whole video. It can still be organic.
Right. With plot points. But know what you're
going to do. Yeah, absolutely. And it's a night
and day difference in those style videos. Yeah.
I mean, even just from, I'll look back at my
fitness videos that I would post. They were just
plain, like there was nothing to it. When am
I providing somebody a picture of when I weighed
a lot more and then I lost a ton of weight and
I'm here? Sure. Okay, what does anybody get from
that? So then you go and you're like, how can
I give somebody watching a video about Destiny
USA where they think crime happens every single
day, people are getting shot, people are getting
stabbed? How can I provide somebody value enough
to watch it and make them think after the video?
man, I should really go there. Yeah. You know,
I haven't been there in a while. It's really
not that it's really not that unsafe. It's just
all the bad stuff is just marketed way more than
any of the good stuff, you know, 100 percent.
No, I love that. It's like us, man. And I love
household of just sort of supporting the mall
for no reason other than that. That I'm old and
I love malls. Yeah. And the funny part about
that is is you're absolutely right. If you listen
to the media or you read any of the comments.
that place is like the Wild West and you better
bring your vest and your machine gun or something
to survive. In reality, you could go there right
now in the middle of a business day, not right
now, not quite open yet, but you go there in
the middle of a business day and the place will
be packed and there will be people walking around
and doing business and things. And it's like,
they didn't get the message, you know, which
is great. It's an incredible resource with things
to do beyond, we don't really even shop there
quite as much. You dine and, you know, have experiences
with the kids and all kinds of crazy things.
But again, I just love kind of breaking those
myths in a way that's better than just, you know,
a lecturing Facebook book. Hey, guys, the mall's
actually great. You know, that works well. You're
out there on the front lines doing it. Can we
talk about it for a minute? Because you mentioned
it in this. This might be one of my favorite
videos of yours. What's the video where you talk
about Wegmans? And I think this is really interesting.
Could you, for the folks that haven't seen it,
can you just kind of give the summary of how
their property owners as well and how that piece
of their business might come together? Right.
So I immediately think of the Wegmans on Taft
Road just because I go to the gym over there.
So that Wegmans, if you ever go look at the space,
the whole entire building looks the same. And
then you've got. dollar general or a dollar tree
in there Evolve Fitness which used to it was
formerly Blink and then they got an Ollum's in
there So you notice that it's one owner because
the whole building was the same Wegmans is the
owner and they're leasing it out to other companies
They have their sister company of the liquor
store in there because they can't sell it in
the grocery store Gotcha, so they're doing you
know their own lease in there selling liquor
as well, but outside of that It's all on one
piece of land. They're renting it out They're
gaining the income from all of that making the
building essentially free, you know, maybe not
it depends on the numbers We don't know the service
but sure so Wegmans is getting a free store Plus
they get the revenue from all their sales. Yeah
food and groceries and stuff like that. So You
know, it's genius likely how they make that we're
very similar to the McDonald's. Yep model that
everybody watched that movie with I hate to bring
it up again. Wegmans in Ithaca did the same thing.
They bought a liquor store across the street.
I didn't realize what they were doing. One day
I went into the liquor store and it's like, type
in your Wegmans shoppers card. And I'm like,
why is there a Wegmans terminal here? So this
must be a thing they're doing not just where
I'm at. In New York state, you can't sell liquor
in a grocery store. Right, right. Yeah, so they
are. A little liquor store can have. Costco in
Camillus has a little liquor store like just
outside the door. There's a little like almost
side door and there's a little separate liquor
store. Can't eat Wegmans. Monopolizing, man.
Wow. It's smart business. It is. And I think
that's kind of neat. You know, in the real estate
world, I guess in commercial real estate, let
me ask you this. How many of your properties
are sort of one tenant versus, you know, even
if the owner is there, there's multiple units
that they're using to offset? Is it a considerable
number, probably, with a lot of units? Actually,
a lot of commercial A lot of commercial properties
aren't owner occupied. There are some here and
there, but we see a lot more that aren't owner
occupied. Wow. They're almost all investment
properties for folks. That's incredible. Do you
do property management as well? We do do property
management. We just took a 12 unit luxury apartment,
completely turned it around. The tenants were
basically just spun in a wheel and then sure,
you know, we had new tenants come in and We did
a lot cleaning it up painting all the units just
making it refreshed Getting you know the word
out there for it's right across from st. Joseph's
Hospital gotcha and So we just redid that and
it's like a brand new property. That's awesome.
So That's the way to do it man. You know, so
many people talk about horrible places to live
and things like that, but when Property owners
take care of it update things on a regular basis
get people a nice place to live. You know, it's
that's the way to do it That's good business.
I think we should do a quick rapid fire if you're
okay. You got it, but you're the boss. All right
We got mr. Syracuse here. Yeah, okay best burger
in town Better burger better burger better burger.
Just tried it out got a whole new I got like
20 minutes of raw footage to edit which is a
ton Yeah, where is that? It's in Liverpool, New
York. It's on Old Liverpool Road. It used to
be a former McDonald's, actually. So they still
have it. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yep. They still got all the old stuff, but they've
repainted it and structured it to be, you know,
they got their brand colors black, purple, yellow.
Awesome place. You want to know something even
funnier? They're a burger place, but their chicken's
better. You know, that's a new thing. Because
someone told me that about Shake Shack, that
their burgers are great. Their chicken's phenomenal,
too. I love that. Juiciest pizza. Have you guys
tried Dave's hot chicken? Not yet. No. Go to
Dave's. Go to Better Burger. Tell me which one
you like more. All right. Better than Chick -fil
-A? Different. OK. That's fair. Chick -fil -A
isn't as like... I would compare it to Tully's
Tenders rather than, you know, like a little
bit more crispy, but they're actually seasoned.
OK. That's awesome. Best pizza in town, and then
I'll get off food. I like Paladino's, but I've
heard great things about... Angelo's, Angelo's
pizza. You know, he does the guy, the one guy
that does his own. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, is that
where he like makes a pie on social media? That's
the secret thing there, yeah. Eight people get
it. I don't know. I've heard great things about
that, though. I want to try it. You should team
up with them. Amanda's actually been trying to
get in. It fills up so quick. Yeah. Best place
to go get a drink. What type of drink are you
looking for? Oof. Matt? Cocktail. Cocktail. City
or not city? Either one. What's the vibe? I really
need to know. This is why he's Mr. Syracuse.
You can't just give an answer out. You got to
know. Relaxed. How about that? Relaxed? You want
to have a conversation? Yeah. Al's Wine and Whiskey?
Yes. That's my spot. I love that place. That
is my go -to. You know, I'm not trying to shout
myself out, but in my Instagram bio, I have...
a link, a Hoobie link. If you click on the link,
there is a free Syracuse guide, completely free.
That's restaurants, cocktails, kids menus, you
know, or kids restaurants that are kid -friendly,
dog parks, everything. I love it. I mean, the
only thing I'm missing out is like, you know,
barbershops, tattoo shop, stuff like that. Sure,
we'll get there. We'll get there, yeah. He's
going to have to get a few tattoos, but... I
got a few tattoos. There you go. There you go.
Dude, Mr. Syracuse. This is incredible, man.
This is incredible. I'm going to give... One
more best, because you mentioned, you know, kids
restaurants and things. I'd love to hear your
best in town. And I know I don't know. I'm assuming
you don't have a big family with with a lot of
children just yet. But if you did, what's the
best family activity in Syracuse? Great. Look
at the thought he put. Yeah, it's really I love
it. This is what happens versus, like, every
video goes into this. Because you care. You want
to give the right answer. I love it. Well, are
we doing a full day trip or is it just one experience?
One experience. One experience? I mean, have
I ever done it before? Am I doing it again or
am I brand new to this? Bloody of the above.
If I'm brand new, I'm going to the mall just
because it's one of the biggest in the United
States. Why wouldn't you go to the mall? 100%.
I love it. And then when the aquarium is built,
I got to check out the aquarium. I can't breathe.
And when Ikea's in there, too, it's going to
be even better. I went to an Ikea for the first
time down in Florida. What's it like? I've never
been to one. I was lost. We got lost. We were
in there for, like, seriously an hour just, like,
walking around. So tell me this, right? What
is the size of the one in Destiny? It's going
to be about 70 ,000 square feet, to my knowledge.
And people tell me that that's one of their small
ones. Yeah, that is a smaller one. What? Remember
the massive, Danny, remember the massive space
we almost rented? This is twice the size of that.
What are you? That's incredible. And that's a
small, that's a small location. It's one of their
small locations here. I don't even know. It sounds
like I'm just picturing this, but it sounds like
the full blown ones are essentially a mall in
themselves. Is that sort of accurate? Yeah, because
they got the they got a food court, Swedish food
court in there. And then you go into like the
showroom. You can buy like this room is they'll
have two of these right next to each other. Basically,
you could buy like the whole set. And then it
just goes, that's for the full size Ikea's, but
I don't know what they're gonna have here. And
it's like, and then you also have, you walk out
and they have the full warehouse. It's like Costco.
You know, you got all the setup and then you
walk into their Costco warehouse of actually
Ikea warehouse. You know, it's an Ikea warehouse.
All the items are in there and then they got
another little grocery store and some cookies
before you walk out. Yes. It's a commune. What
is Ikea's I'm so out of the loop is Ikea's whole
thing like isn't it? It's Swedish furniture that
you know, it's easy to put together. Is that
is that the mission statement? I suppose it cuts
a lot of cost because you put it together on
your own so you don't have to pay for it. Come
in, people putting it together. This would be
nice but affordable. I think is the idea. I'd
be the only guy in the street to have to hire
someone to put together my Ikea furniture. We're
going to have to take the show on the road. Dude,
I'm in. 70 ,000 square feet. Imagine if we lose
Mike in the store. I'll put a balloon on my wrist.
We did that at my bachelor party in Nashville.
My friends put a balloon on me. So when we were
walking down the street, you just saw a little
balloon. This actually might be the best idea
I've ever heard. All right. Enough of this nonsense.
Alec, tell people where they could find you,
all the socials, things like that. All the plugs.
So all social media is alecscrippa on Facebook,
LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. I'm just starting
on YouTube, living in Syracuse, New York. So
if you're new to the Syracuse area, everything's
going to be on there. I'm going to post all my
videos to shorts. And then we're going to make
longer videos going through. You know, the mall,
stuff like that. Just what it would be like to
live here. So that's awesome, man. Mr. Syracuse,
Alex Skrippa, realtor, digital creator, a man
of the people. That's right. Thank you for coming
on Good News York. Sponsored by Ads on the Go.
Get ads on the go dot com. Hey, I got it. Before
we go, I got to say, as you mentioned, our man,
Zach, with ads on the go, I got a text yesterday
from my buddy and he goes, Hey, did you buy an
ad truck or did you just get? I get ads on it,
which me buying one of those is very likely.
But no, that's my buddy Zach from ads on the
go. He's our sponsor and it's incredible. And
I love people seeing it. Like it's literally,
you know, he was here earlier this week or last
we got on it all together. But, you know, like
he says, there's, they're unskippable ads that
people can't unsee it. Take attention. So they
just thought that you bought a truck and drove
around with your face on it? Well, they saw our
ad. It was our GNY ad. Anyway, shout out again
to our man, Zach. The advertising works. The
advertising works. I can literally say that with
confidence. It kind of reminds me of Zach in
a way, just young, entrepreneurial, crushing
it. Young, smart dudes, dude. The kids are okay.
I believe the children are our future. All right,
don't ever do that again. We got to go. Okay.
Peace out.