Getting started in commercial

[Charlie Brown]

I’m diving into the world of commercial real estate and am excited to get started here in the Minneapolis area. As a newcomer, I’m eager to learn and would love to hear from the seasoned experts in this community.

If you were starting over today, how would you approach getting into commercial real estate in Minneapolis?

What are the best tips and strategies you would recommend for someone like me who is just beginning their journey? Whether it’s understanding the local market, finding the right deals, or building a strong network, I’m all ears!

Your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated as I embark on this new venture. Thanks in advance for your time and wisdom!

[Michael K Gallagher]

@Charlie Brown, I'm not super familiar with your market specifically but I think this strategy works anywhere:

- Find a boutique, niche, ideally aging broker/brokerage in your market, and start adding value.  If not a brokerage a boutique niche developer/commercial builder would potentially also work to get you the exposure you'd like.

This advise was given to me by a broker I spoke with when I first got into the industry and I wasn't really sure why he gave that advice, however, after somewhat following it, in a round about way, I can say it is by far the best way I can think of to get involved.  If you are curious why, read on, but I'm gonna go into some detail so it might get boring...

So why is this such a good way to get involved?

- Commercial is still very much "behind the times" in that its a "hand shake" and "pick up the phone" kinda biz.  Its a cliche, but it really holds true in Commercial...relationships are king.  Its what get's you deals brought to you, its what gets capital flowing in your direction, and ultimately what creates success.  

-The niche, boutique brokerage is a great target because they are generally slammed with more business than they know what to do with, they generally are still using fax machines and rotary dialers, (i'm only half joking I still see @aol emails all over costar to this day) so it leaves ample opportunity with anyone that can use an crm a chance to add real value and grow the business in a measurable way.

- These tend to be "assassin" type shops who are small teams of pretty elite operators, and they aren't bloated down with BS like the big CRBE's etc of the world, so you'll get exposed to more, you'll get exposed sooner, and they will generally be ideally with a niche industry or product type but will often have a ton of satellite deals they get which will get you cross industry exposure.  and they generally will just teach you to not be a lazy POS like so many are in the industry.

- These generally aren't a hold hands and sit in a circle and talk about your feelings environments (at least from my exposure) but generally they are frank, straight forward, and interested in passing along what they've accumulated in knowlege over the years to the next generation, and oftentimes family isn't too interested.  

- You're probably asking "ok now where do I find one of these shops" I'd start with meetups, specifically for commercial, but you'll likely just be looking for names I doubt the people will actually be there.  You can potentially find some through industry awards in sectors that interest you, and also just from driving around and looking at listing signs, look for ones that aren't a major name, ie, JLL, CRBE, CASTO etc.