Matt Lamarsh on Atlanta, Real Estate, and Porsches

Matt Lamarsh runs Atlanta Porsche Enthusiasts, a Facebook group of close to 3,000 people that has become one of the easiest ways into the Atlanta Porsche community. He is also a real estate advisor with Engel & Völkers, an Atlanta native of 43 years, and a former vice president of the local Porsche Club of America region, Peach State.

When a room full of colleagues who knew him well was asked to describe him in three words, they said “Atlanta, real estate, and Porsches.” He took that as his brand. On this episode of Throttlecast, Grant Brewer and Dave Codrea talk with Matt about all three, plus the long string of jobs it took to get there.

The Atlanta Porsche scene, according to a man who connects it

Matt thinks Atlanta has become the center of Porsche life in the country. “Porsche in Atlanta is everything now,” he says. “We’re the Stuttgart of the United States.” He points to four dealerships, around a dozen independent shops that know the cars well, and the Porsche Experience Center down the road. People fly into Hartsfield, drive, and fly home the same day. Ten years ago, he says, most of that didn’t exist.

Atlanta Porsche Enthusiasts started as a typical Facebook page. About ten owners wanted one place to talk about parts, sellers, and which models had given them trouble. The group used to be for owners only. Matt changed it to enthusiasts on purpose, because he remembered being the kid who wanted a 911 and had nowhere to go. When he bought his first Porsche, he says, he felt like he was “flying blind,” and he would have loved 3,000 people to ask.

At events he still walks up to anyone he doesn’t recognize and introduces himself. The goal is to connect new people with someone who has the same car, the same generation, or the same color. “The cars are the keys that unlock the relationships and the business,” he says.

That approach showed up at RS Collective, the Porsche show he helped The Ride Lounge put together. Matt personally called people to make sure they were coming. He cares about quality over headcount. The most common question afterward was when the next one would be, and RS Collective 2.0 is planned for The Ride Lounge’s Midtown location.

A 2007 911 Turbo that’s hard to mistake

Matt’s first Porsche was a Guards Red 1986 911 coupe, the car that had been the poster on his wall. He bought it in Nashville in 2015 from a man whose warehouse held about 30 original Broncos and a few 356s. It was a rough part of town, so he brought his brother along.

He sold the ’86 around 2020 and bought the car he brought to the lounge: a 2007 911 Turbo with a manual gearbox. A cardiologist in Plano, Texas, bought it new and drove it to work on back roads almost every day. It had 100,000 miles when Matt flew out to get it and has about 117,000 now.

He calls the build “OEM plus.” It has new wheels, fresh Michelins, updated headlights and taillights, and a tune that he puts at about 650 horsepower, up from around 480. He grew up in the Fast and Furious era and likes a car low and wide, but he draws the line at underglow. His test is simple. If his car and a stock 2007 Turbo drove past, you should be able to tell which one is Matt’s.

A string of jobs before the one that stuck

Matt grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. One grandfather ran a bakery supply business. The other consulted for Fortune 500 companies, including work with Sam Walton at Walmart. Matt ran lemonade stands “with franchises around the neighborhood.”

His first taste of running a business was an iSoldIt store, an eBay consignment franchise. He ran the Roswell location for about two years, took over all three Atlanta stores, and ran them for three or four years until the owners closed the company. He started his own version, selling donated goods for churches and nonprofits. It fell apart around 2007, when the economy did. He quotes Mike Tyson: everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. “I was getting punched in the face.”

Then came a run of jobs, each about two years long. He did executive recruiting, placing veterans in civilian jobs. He sold boats at a lake dealership and then ran its service department, which taught him that boats break more than cars. At Yamaha in Kennesaw he sold outboard motors to boat builders across about 85% of the country. At Staples he sold facilities supplies to companies like Coca-Cola and Home Depot.

After two and a half years at Staples he told his wife he was miserable and could never work for anyone else again. He started a landscaping business in the fall of 2015, the worst season for it. By March 2016 he had 40 regular customers, a three-year-old, a six-month-old, and a second full-time job. He left Staples that month. The business reached almost $1 million in revenue in 2019, and he sold it in March of that year. His first real estate closing came the next day.

Real estate in Atlanta, without the TV version

Matt set a goal of ten homes his first year and sold four. After a year and a half he moved to Engel & Völkers for its culture, which he found collaborative rather than competitive. When the brokerage opened its Sandy Springs shop in 2023 to fill the gap between its North Atlanta and Buckhead locations, he joined the leadership team. In 2025, 60% of his business came from other agents across the country and overseas.

Some of what he’s learned:

• The competition is smaller than it looks. Metro Atlanta has about 15,000 agents, but the average person knows five to ten. He only has to stand out among those.
• Atlanta is still growing. He calls it a solid investment for a primary home, a second home, or a rental.
• Your house probably isn’t worth what TV says. “It’s not like HGTV.”
• Not everyone is built to be a landlord. He self-managed his first home as a rental for ten years, until the repair calls and one trip to magistrate court made the decision for him. He sold it in 2024.

His favorite deal is still his first listing, in May 2019. The sellers wanted $580,000. He told them the market said $550,000. They listed on a Thursday, and by Saturday they had an offer of $580,000, $30,000 over asking. The other agent asked if he’d cancel the open house. He had 150 RSVPs and kept it.

Rapid fire

• Best car he’s driven: a Mustang Cobra R, or the Vipers at the Marietta Ford dealer where he worked in high school.
• Next Porsche: a first-generation GT4, which he drove, and slid, with his brother on a mountain driving experience in North Carolina.
• Dream garage: a Range Rover with a very long extended warranty, a GT4 or an air-cooled 964 or 993, and something from his high school years. He has owned 26 cars, including a red Ford Probe.

Why he records everything now

Matt lost both grandfathers in 2014 and 2015. He had very different relationships with the two. One made a point of being present, meeting Matt for lunch or golf on random Tuesdays until he was nearly 30. Losing them is part of why he started making videos and podcasts. He wants his kids and grandkids to hear him talk about his business, his cars, and his friends. “I would kill to have my grandfather’s voice on video or in a podcast,” he says.

Watch the full episode

The full conversation with Matt Lamarsh is above and on YouTube. Find Atlanta Porsche Enthusiasts on Facebook.

Throttlecast is recorded at The Ride Lounge, a private car club in Peachtree Corners and Midtown Atlanta with climate-controlled car storage for members. Matt’s rule for a good meet is that the right people show up and meet each other, and that is how we run ours. If you’re looking for a car club in Atlanta that puts the people first, see what’s coming up on the events calendar.