During Day 2 of the eXp Shareholder Summit in Orlando, Holly Mabery, VP Brokerage Operations, opened up the commercial real estate track by leading an in-depth discussion with agents Stacy Lynch and Pam Junge, providing a wealth of tips for seizing commercial real estate opportunities.
Here are some of their key suggestions:
- Want to break into commercial real estate? Get in the know as knowledge is power. “Get in front of the people in your town making those decisions, watch the bills that are going through nationally,” said Stacy. “Think through the obstacles and solve the problem,” Pam added.
- How do you get financing? According to Pam, “Utilize an SBA, it’s still very forgiving and they like to work with first-time buyers,” she said. “But remember, asset class matters.”
- What’s your key takeaway for those entering commercial real estate? “It’s all about the relationships,” Holly counseled. “It’s a local and relationship-based business – it doesn’t matter what sector, and most especially in commercial.” Stacy added to that by advising the audience to “have no fear,” and “listen to the market but don’t let the market dictate your business,” she said.
Social Media and Technology in Commercial Real Estate
Daniel Eng, Founder, Engvest Commercial Realty, picked up the reins for the second part of the commercial real estate track, leading a discussion on social media and technology in commercial real estate with Holly Carver of Rocket City Commercial, agent Michelle Pauley and Paul Frank, Executive Director, PDF Commercial.
“LinkedIn is where it is at for me,” said Michelle. “I am shameless on LinkedIn. I first-connection request everyone. Then I invite them to like my page and come to my events. More and more investors are taking notice.”
The panel also talked about networking within eXp’s residential real estate community in addition to building quality content that provides value.
“Everyone lives in a home, which means they have a relationship with a residential broker, so it’s a missed opportunity to not leverage those relationships,” said Paul.
“Use Workplace to network with the eXp residential community,” Daniel added. “Those coming from a traditional commercial brokerage need to change their mindset.”
The panel agreed that collaborating in order to grow is key. “In other brokerages there was not a way to collaborate, there were secrets and doors were closed,” Holly explained. “It’s the opposite in eXp Commercial. You get a great education here and it’s where we share and grow.”
Commercial Real Estate Investments
Britney Mroczkowski led a panel discussion on unleashing the power of commercial real estate investments with Robert Creamer, eXp Commercial Specialist, agent Jerad Graham and Harold McGee, eXp Commercial associate broker.
“Everything is hard until it’s not,” said Robert. “When you scale it’s less risky, it just sounds scary. Spend a little time educating yourself and you will make it.”
Diversification is critical, according to the panel.
“Diversifying your investments can help in a down time,” said Jerad. He added that even those who want to ultimately be a generalist should specialize in one area to start to learn and build a network of relationships.
In terms of financing, Harold suggested getting creative: “It’s however you can make it work,” he said.
Britney cautioned that clients must be pre-qualified before she will even show them a property.
“I will not let a client in the car if they are not pre-qualified,” she said, adding that commercial agents need to have patience and remember commercial deals take longer to come to fruition. “This is a long-game, our deals take a long time but they usually pay a lot more so you have to get your pipeline going,” she said.
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Missed the eXp Shareholder Summit this year? Be sure to register for EXPCON, being held Oct. 2-5 in Las Vegas, where you can attend valuable panel discussions like this one.
