Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers

Through my podcast Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers, I’ve spent a year talking to some of the best and brightest commercial real estate brokers in the country. To date, I’ve interviewed over 35 top men and women in the industry sharing best practices, techniques, resources, stories and more. And as an active commercial real estate broker, I realized that I just took a year of graduate studies with the best professors in the country.

One of my last guests, Bo Baron, challenged me to come up with a top-10 list of lessons. I thought that was a great idea and spent some time revisiting each episode. So here are my personal top-10 lessons from a year studying the craft through the country’s Elite (and one Canadian Paul Eric Poitras).

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit the great state of Kentucky and talk to a fascinating CRE expert in Bo Barron. Bo's got a pretty cool story. He served five years in the Marine Corps and then rolled into the business as a 3rd generation commercial broker in his market. He spent over 10 years in the field as a broker, owner, and corporate executive with Sperry Van Ness. He then transitioned into commercial brokerage coaching through The Massimo Group who's founder, Rod Santomassimo, I had the pleasure of interviewing in CRE Elite Episode 22.

The passion Bo has for coaching comes through loud and clear in this talk. And I appreciated his comment about how too many brokers approach this business like a hobby. This work deserves to be treated like what it is, a business. Your own business. We then spent a bit of time talking about Bo's experience working with his father and how, as a new broker, what it was like to be "afraid of the phone" and the lessons he learned in humility and truly earning the title of an expert.

Bo mentioned "moving the needle" a couple times in this talk. And that's what he's all about, focusing on best practices and figuring out ways to impact the market and do your job the right way. Maybe I've said this before because I just get so excited about each of this interviews, but this is such a valuable talk. And towards the end of the interview Bo dropped one of my absolutely favorite lines since starting this show. He said, "Emotions dropped out of school in 3rd grade and they're stupid". Listen to it in the context of our talk and you see how wise that comment is and how you can apply it to your own practice.

Anyways, I'm obviously a fan so I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did.

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit Grand Rapids, Michigan and talk to Kurt Kunst a broker and partner at NAI Wisinski. Kurt began his real estate career in 1997. He is a SIOR and a CCIM designee that, having explored those programs on this show and in real life, I can tell you makes him an expert in the field. Kurt’s got a pretty cool story in that he took a very roundabout way towards his commercial brokerage career. In fact, he made the “leap” with 2 young kids in tow and little to no experience or background in CRE at the age of 24. So it was certainly an interesting journey.

Kurt and I cover a lot of interesting ground in this talk including “roof-top marketing”, prospecting ideas, a best practice on your listings, the importance of having structure to your days and a tip on referral partners. Kurt also tells a great story about encouraging his client to focus on the big picture when closing a deal. It stuck with me because I’m going through something similar right now where we’re fighting over a measly $15,000. I need to push all parties to focus on the long-term benefits of the deal, not on the present value of $15,000 on a near-million dollar deal.

And, I just have to say, that I asked Kurt what is the most important personality trait a successful commercial real estate broker, and the answer he gave is genuinely my favorite one I’ve heard so far and something I will endeavor to implement myself.

Listen guys, this is a fun episode I hope you get a lot of out it, I sure did...

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit Omaha, Nebraska and speak with Bryan Hartmann the Senior Vice President of NAI NP Dodge. Bryan has over 15 years of experience in real estate. His experience includes residential and commercial land development, commercial development, investment sales, and office leasing. Bryan earned the distinguished title of Top Producing Broker at NAI NP Dodge in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

I was particularly interested in speaking to Bryan given his extensive experience in land sales and development. A recurring theme on my show this year has been a lack of inventory and Bryan and I discuss just that. The lack of building over the last 10 years has led to a dramatic strain on available space in certain markets and sectors. I've seen it locally here in Maine and Bryan's going through the same thing. People think low vacancy rates are a good sign for the economy and maybe that's so. All I know is that it's actually inhbiting deals as I struggle to find new and larger locations for my clients.

Bryan and I also discussed how he's leveraged his past experiences as a developer in understanding his clients needs as well as lenders, he explains the importance of not trying to "dabble" in residential or commercial real estate (do one or the other - tough to do both), and I was thrilled to hear Bryan's highlighted marketing tip - personalized newsletters. It's something I've implemented successfully in Maine and found very effective.

We also covered the importance of persistence. In his words, "Try one more time" on that tough deal. Lastly, I drop a nugget about why I love when my competition forwards my emails...

Enjoy guys!

In this week’s CRE Elite, I visit the state of Oregon and talk to Andie Edmonds, a Partner and Principle Broker at NAI Aris out of Bend. Andie’s background in finance and real estate investing provides a unique combination of experience that enables her to offer thorough, on-target services for her clients. With a deep transaction history and a CCIM designation, Andie is a recognized expert in her market. Andie serves on the Board of Directors for the Oregon/SW Washington Chapter of CCIM.

Andie is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in Business Administration-Finance. Andie is the Chairwoman of the Family Access Network Foundation Board of Directors and also spends time volunteering with Bethlehem Inn and Central Oregon Junior Golf Association.

This was a fun talk and I was pleased to get right back in the swing of things, as it’s been a few months since I’ve conducted an interview. Andie proved to be a perfect guest and we cover a lot of ground. I really enjoyed her featured transaction story for which she was recognized by CCIM, it’s see why. I also appreciated her candor and perspective when I asked her about being a successful female broker in our largely male dominated industry. There’s a lot going on in this talk and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Enjoy!