New to Commercial Real Estate

[Karna Patel]

Hey Everyone!

I am graduating with a Bachelor's in Marketing in December and I plan to start working with a commercial real estate company in January. As someone who is entirely new to commercial real estate, I was wondering what advice you wish someone would've given you when you first started your commercial real estate journey. The advice could be things to avoid, what to look for, tax advice, deal hunting tips, how to deal with tenants, what to include inside leases, anything! Thank you in advance for your help!

[Henry Clark]

As @Taylor L. mentioned.

Make a map of your path for the next two years.  Set the goals.

Make a checklist which is also your contact list.  Look at the type of market you are going into.  Visit the job sites or buildings and start adding to your list.  Get rid of the bad ones and keep adding good ones.

Surveyors

Lawyers

Realtors

Contractors

Electricians

Plumbers

Excavators

Glass

Planning/Zoning

Plumbing

HVAC

Banks/financing

Appraisers

Engineering or Architects and firms.

Planning get to know the zoning map, zoning rules, and Proposed zoning.  Go with your firm to these meetings on their projects.

Read all of the ordinances and keep digesting them.

Understand Property Taxes.

Insurance

Join BP real estate groups or others in your area.

Attend all development and zoning meetings.  Get to know the process, the people, what is going on in your community.

Understand zoning and get to know the properties in your market, whether for sale or not.

Start doing several deal analyses a week.  Bring them to BP forum and ask for reviews.

Develop checklists.  There is too much to learn.  You need a way to compartmentalize it.  

All new people will try to impress the people around you.  Don't do that. Your objective is to learn as fast as possible (spend some time on it trying to figure it out, then stop wasting time and ask someone for advice).  Learn from other people's mistakes or projects. 

Patience.  It takes a while to build your "funnel".  Then the deals just keep on coming.  I literally can't drive through an area without seeing deals.  Try to narrow your niche down and specialize.