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Commercial RE Broker-Thanks

itsemdub

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Feb 6, 2018
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Hey Everyone-

How I’m Here:
Been lurking for a few months and decided to sign up for the forum after realizing that these boards were completely different than any other I had seen online. It was motivating to see people offering value and not trolling or pumping some scheme. I initially found the forum after an obscure, long tailed google search. My interest was peaked and I bought both TMF and Unscripted . Read TMF relatively quickly and I’m currently working my way through Unscripted . @MJ DeMarco thank you for the tough love and no nonsense approach in TMF. Definitely opened my eyes.

A little bit about me: I’m 34 and based in SoCal. I’m a commercial real estate broker and have been in the business for 9.5 years. 4 in-house with a development/investment firm and 5.5 on my own. Had a fast lane mentality with multiple sidewalk habits...very counterproductive haha. Commercial Real Estate is an awesome business to invest, develop and make money in/with. My personal feeling is that brokerage is a great learning experience, but allows for a much slower path to ownership. 95% of my clients have taken their money from other ventures to start investing or developing. Have definitely not reached where I want to be in this business. Have been told by older (50s/60s) brokers and developers to slow down as “it’s a long run game...” haha...how Anti- TMF is that?! Who says I’ll be alive to enjoy any of that at that point?! Have action-faked on many internet based opportunities in past years that I “dabbled with” on the side while operating my RE work. Over the past 9-10 months have developed discipline and systems that pulled me out of some of the lingering sidewalk actions I was partaking in (budgeting/expenses etc)...naturally I ended up here when I wasn’t even looking for it. Was moving along that path and the forum called.

Why I’m Here:
1.) To offer any value that I can. I’ve seen multiple posts on commercial real estate. I’ve run development proformas for retail(shop and NNN) and MF projects (up to 50 units), done analysis work on retail and MF investments for clients, overcome natural introverted tendencies to become a regular cold caller (see a lot about this on the forum), battled the anxiety and depression that a lot of the people on here have dealt with. If I can be a sounding board or offer any advice even on the basics of CRE I’d be more than happy to.

2.) To learn what I can about some of the internet based business models (specifically e-commerce) and build something that offers value to the market that I can pursue along with my RE work.

Look forward to helping out any way that I can. Long winded BUT I wanted to give a proper hello!
 
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MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Welcome my friend, glad u are enjoying the books!
 

WJK

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...Have been told by older (50s/60s) brokers and developers to slow down as “it’s a long run game...” haha...how Anti- TMF is that?! Who says I’ll be alive to enjoy any of that at that point?...
So, are you personally investing in commercial RE? What kind -- strip centers, stand lone buildings, MF residential, mixed use, small industrial, etc. -- what is your portfolio mix?

What LTVs are typical in your investment portfolio? What is your comfort zone?

How do you feel about the effects of the on-line shopping trends on bricks-&-mortar commercial RE? How will it shake out?

Do you feel that the So. CA commercial RE market is still over-built, or has the excess inventory been absorbed?

How do you feel that the depressed major mall market is influencing the neighborhood retail commercial market?

I have been out of that market for a while and I wonder what is happening there. I too feel it's a "long run game."
 

itsemdub

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@WJK no heavy investing yet. Currently looking at fourplexes where I can live in one and rent out the other. Sadly, my portfolio is currently at zero. Was scared to jump in when I got going and most of my work has been representing others. Prices have accelerated significantly in the past 3-4 years... currently LTVs out here max out around 65% on investment 85/90% on user. The lower LTVs are driven by the DCR from most lenders which is roughly 1.25. Most deals that max out at under 60% LTV aren’t getting done.

Based on what I’ve seen the junior anchors/smaller retail boxes are closing down. And the big box anchors are having to adjust to the Amazon effect. Nobody talks about them but I think Kohl’s will be one of the first big ones outside of what’s going on with Sears. But top tier “malls” like the Grove in LA are killing it...Fast food and service retail look like they’ll continue to be strong...unless Amazon figures out a way to cut hair, provide pedicures and serve hamburgers those will continue to do well. There has been pretty significant cap compression on strip retail with corporate/credit tenants.

In terms of absorption, from what’s I’ve seen, the only asset class not facing supply constraints is surburban office. Retail (neighborhood & grocery anchored) has very low vacancy, MF has very very low vacancy with rising rents and the industrial market on both the tenant and user side is extremely supply constrained. And the difficulty in relieving these is that land prices/construction costs have shot up and deals are harder to get done.
 
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DrunkFish

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@WJK no heavy investing yet. Currently looking at fourplexes where I can live in one and rent out the other. Sadly, my portfolio is currently at zero. Was scared to jump in when I got going and most of my work has been representing others. Prices have accelerated significantly in the past 3-4 years... currently LTVs out here max out around 65% on investment 85/90% on user. The lower LTVs are driven by the DCR from most lenders which is roughly 1.25. Most deals that max out at under 60% LTV aren’t getting done.

Based on what I’ve seen the junior anchors/smaller retail boxes are closing down. And the big box anchors are having to adjust to the Amazon effect. Nobody talks about them but I think Kohl’s will be one of the first big ones outside of what’s going on with Sears. But top tier “malls” like the Grove in LA are killing it...Fast food and service retail look like they’ll continue to be strong...unless Amazon figures out a way to cut hair, provide pedicures and serve hamburgers those will continue to do well. There has been pretty significant cap compression on strip retail with corporate/credit tenants.

In terms of absorption, from what’s I’ve seen, the only asset class not facing supply constraints is surburban office. Retail (neighborhood & grocery anchored) has very low vacancy, MF has very very low vacancy with rising rents and the industrial market on both the tenant and user side is extremely supply constrained. And the difficulty in relieving these is that land prices/construction costs have shot up and deals are harder to get done.


Seems like people are going to malls only when it provides an experience, not just to buy stuff they could be saving time by buying online and what not. Just wanted to throw my .0000000002 btc in on that haha.
 

WJK

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@WJK no heavy investing yet. Currently looking at fourplexes where I can live in one and rent out the other. Sadly, my portfolio is currently at zero. Was scared to jump in when I got going and most of my work has been representing others. Prices have accelerated significantly in the past 3-4 years... currently LTVs out here max out around 65% on investment 85/90% on user. The lower LTVs are driven by the DCR from most lenders which is roughly 1.25. Most deals that max out at under 60% LTV aren’t getting done.

Based on what I’ve seen the junior anchors/smaller retail boxes are closing down. And the big box anchors are having to adjust to the Amazon effect. Nobody talks about them but I think Kohl’s will be one of the first big ones outside of what’s going on with Sears. But top tier “malls” like the Grove in LA are killing it...Fast food and service retail look like they’ll continue to be strong...unless Amazon figures out a way to cut hair, provide pedicures and serve hamburgers those will continue to do well. There has been pretty significant cap compression on strip retail with corporate/credit tenants.

In terms of absorption, from what’s I’ve seen, the only asset class not facing supply constraints is surburban office. Retail (neighborhood & grocery anchored) has very low vacancy, MF has very very low vacancy with rising rents and the industrial market on both the tenant and user side is extremely supply constrained. And the difficulty in relieving these is that land prices/construction costs have shot up and deals are harder to get done.
Try to get into something as soon as possible. Living in a unit of small income property is sure a good start.
Here's another idea. Can you find a pal or a friend, to co-invest with you? They'd have to be the $ person. It would probably involve a soft paper deal between the two of you. You could do an LLC with them to hold title to the property. You could even go into a larger MFR building, and manage it for the LLC as part of your contribution. Are you handy? Can you put in sweat equity? Can you mow the lawn and tend the flowers? Can you deal with the tenants?
Before you do any of this, you'd have to provide a written plan for your money guy, that you absolutely stick to. You'd have to check it off, line by line.
 

motocoyote

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Jun 4, 2019
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Hey Everyone-

How I’m Here:
Been lurking for a few months and decided to sign up for the forum after realizing that these boards were completely different than any other I had seen online. It was motivating to see people offering value and not trolling or pumping some scheme. I initially found the forum after an obscure, long tailed google search. My interest was peaked and I bought both TMF and Unscripted . Read TMF relatively quickly and I’m currently working my way through Unscripted . @MJ DeMarco thank you for the tough love and no nonsense approach in TMF. Definitely opened my eyes.

A little bit about me: I’m 34 and based in SoCal. I’m a commercial real estate broker and have been in the business for 9.5 years. 4 in-house with a development/investment firm and 5.5 on my own. Had a fast lane mentality with multiple sidewalk habits...very counterproductive haha. Commercial Real Estate is an awesome business to invest, develop and make money in/with. My personal feeling is that brokerage is a great learning experience, but allows for a much slower path to ownership. 95% of my clients have taken their money from other ventures to start investing or developing. Have definitely not reached where I want to be in this business. Have been told by older (50s/60s) brokers and developers to slow down as “it’s a long run game...” haha...how Anti- TMF is that?! Who says I’ll be alive to enjoy any of that at that point?! Have action-faked on many internet based opportunities in past years that I “dabbled with” on the side while operating my RE work. Over the past 9-10 months have developed discipline and systems that pulled me out of some of the lingering sidewalk actions I was partaking in (budgeting/expenses etc)...naturally I ended up here when I wasn’t even looking for it. Was moving along that path and the forum called.

Why I’m Here:
1.) To offer any value that I can. I’ve seen multiple posts on commercial real estate. I’ve run development proformas for retail(shop and NNN) and MF projects (up to 50 units), done analysis work on retail and MF investments for clients, overcome natural introverted tendencies to become a regular cold caller (see a lot about this on the forum), battled the anxiety and depression that a lot of the people on here have dealt with. If I can be a sounding board or offer any advice even on the basics of CRE I’d be more than happy to.

2.) To learn what I can about some of the internet based business models (specifically e-commerce) and build something that offers value to the market that I can pursue along with my RE work.

Look forward to helping out any way that I can. Long winded BUT I wanted to give a proper hello!
Hi itsemdub,

Just joined the Forum and discovered TMF a few weeks ago, and came across this post.

I too am a commercial real estate broker (since 2002) and can relate to much of what you describe in your post.

How are things going for you? Have you pulled the trigger on any properties? Would be interested to trade notes sometime. My experience in brokerage is almost exclusively limited to retail, but I have a strong interest in multifamily and some good connections on the debt side. I am just getting going on some syndication activities and trying to break out with a first deal by the end of the summer.

Let me know if you want to chat sometime.
 
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