Seeking advice-How to be a great commercial real estate agent...?

Question

Good Evening fellow BP members,I am scheduled to take my NY State RE exam in the next couple of weeks. I debated for a while on whether or not to get my license but the pros outweighed the cons. I am hoping to; earn extra income, learn the ins and outs of the transaction process, work with/learn from investors, save on/earn commission on my own deals, etc.I have met with a few brokerages and I may have found a good fit for me. The head of the company mentioned the need for an agent to focus on the commercial side which is the roll I would like to take on. I mainly want to take on this role so that I would be working mainly with investors (I have a full-time job and I've read/heard working with retail buyers can be a drag at times and very time consuming).Before I dive in and learn everything I can about commercial real estate in my market, I wanted to ask the BP community...***What do investors look for in a good commercial real estate agent?*** Any advice helps and the more specific, the better.Thank you in advance for your help!

Joel Owens · Answer

Commercial real estate broker is a full time profession. Part-time doesn't work in residential and is even more amplified in commercial. The degree of difficulty with transactions and experience needed is much higher.Can you quit your job and go full time?In commercial people specialize. For instance I do retail properties STNL and MTNL transactions. You could do retail, industrial, office, multifamily, land development, property management, hotels, self storage,etc.Find a niche and be at a firm that does commercial. Head of the company wants you to head up the commercial arm with no experience? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Brokers wanting to start a commercial division at their company will usually hire someone with decades of experience to head that up in a particular specialty.

Abel Curiel · Answer

Matthew Peachey I appreciate the insight and words of encouragement. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the difficulties associated with trying to juggle both responsibilities. I've been told by a couple of brokers whom I respect greatly that being an agent is NOT a job. It must be looked at as a business and treated as such. I'm sure there will be bumps along the way but educating myself and seeking periodic advice on BP will help out mightily.

Matthew Peachey · Answer

I started as a residential broker part time six months ago. I definitely want to pursue commercial in the future but I have a hard time imagining starting out there, especially if you have a full time job. It's much more complicated, there are far more variables, the commercial community is pretty close-knit and it's hard for agents to break into that marketplace, let alone new agents, commercial clients have a lot more at stake and are very concerned about their agent knowing what he's doing, you will probably not make a commissions check for close to a year, and probably a number of other reasons. I tell you, if your job isn't very flexible, you will struggle. even in the residential world. I work a good bit with investors in residential properties and even so, my full time job quickly became a part time job and will soon become a memory. Work hard, work smart, accept the fact that you have a ton of stuff to learn (as do I) and you'll be fine!

Abel Curiel · Answer

Joel Owens A lot of what I've heard from agents and what I've read here on BP interests me more in representing commercial clients. You're kind of pushing me further down that path. Working with tenants who make decisions based on numbers sounds a lot more pleasant and straightforward than working with residential clients. Are the gov't regulations you mentioned specific to your region or state? Or are you referring to federal regulations?

Joel Owens · Answer

Focused on assembling land for commercial development. Then did larger apartment buildings. Now my sold focus is existing retail and also development for myself.I enjoy business tenants a lot and do not like the extra regulations imposed by the government with residential tenants. So I see myself doing retail for a long time. I am about 13 years into the business now.

Abel Curiel · Answer

@Chris Gentzkow I appreciate the response. I will begin to educate myself on the 4 commercial asset classes, see which one(s) would benefit the brokerage the most, see which one(s) I am most interested in and pick a niche.Can I ask you how you chose an asset class to focus on?@Joel Owens, I would like to ask you the same question if you don't mind sharing. How did you choose an asset class to focus on? Did you change your niche at any point?Thanks again for the response gentlemen!

Abel Curiel · Answer

Thanks for the response @Joel Owens She definitely does NOT want me heading up anything (that would be a disaster!). She just mentioned the void in her new firm. They do commercial already. She was an associate broker for years, grew to dislike the direction of the brokerage, then branched off and started her own. Shes been in operation for less than 6 months and has offered to provide me with training. I would be doing this part-time for the foreseeable future. I work for the city of NY so I think its too much of a risk to begin my investment and RE agent career while simultaneously leaving steady income. Is there any way you could see someone getting their feet wet as an agent while maintaining a full-time job?

Chris Gentzkow · Answer

I once again agree whole heartedly with @Joel Owens. Find a niche and specialize! Don't try to do more than one of the big 4 commercial asset classes (Office, Retail, Industrial, Multifamily). And try to find a niche in one of them (ie. Single tenant NNN retail assets). Also find a mentor or someone that can teach you the basics.