About me
Been working at a top tier Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firm in New York for 7+ Years which makes me an old geezer. Ask anything you want about the industry, happy to answer and help guide you.
Separately, I worked for three years at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago before jumping into real estate so happy to answer any questions about that as well and how the two industries compare.
Thanks for doing this AMA.
Are you working in investment sales? Which product type?
What made you make the switch from Prop trading to CRE?
Any advice for people that may be on this site that are deciding between both?
Yes investment sales doing multifamily. Wouldn't say it was an active switch, it took me a few months before I kind of fell in to investment sales after leaving trading. They are two very different careers and skillsets. Definitely need to be good with people and sales to do CRE Investment Sales. Trading is more about being good with numbers and making quick decisions.
Interesting. Do u think the brokerage skills are applicable to sales side s&t?
Did you have to cold call at all, or did you attach yourself to a well-performing group?
If the latter, has there been a path for relationships to be transferred over to you, or are you strictly deal support?
Yes, the beginning all your leads are through cold-calling. If you are on a team you will be put on deals, but you need to produce new business as well and that is all through cold calling in the first 2 years.
Yes I had to cold call. You definitely don't want to just be in a role where you are deal support or you will be stuck. You need to have the ability to generate your own relationships and deals. The highest performing brokers generate the majority of their deals.
Thanks for doing the AMA.
1) What property types do you work on?
2) D/E or IS? Do you see anything that drives people towards one or the other?
3) What fees does your firm charge for your services? Can you provide some scenarios to show the upper, lower, and average range?
4) How does the commission get split between members of the team? How much goes to the firm vs the team?
To put it simply: How much money do you make on an average year?
More specifically, how much does every person on the team make? Not necessarily per year, but per deal.
Most guys who are successful once they hit the three year mark (which is kind of the barrier for if you are going to make it or not) will make 200-500k gross per year. The top guys in our office make over $1MM per year. Keep in mind as a broker you have expenses to pay as well which the firm may or may not contribute towards. You are running your own business and like any other business there are constant expenses.
Don't think I can legally discuss fees we charge, but on deals you generate you can typically make anywhere from 20k to 40k per transaction. So, if you do 10 deals a year that is 200k to 400k. Most brokers who are successful are making 200k plus by their third or fourth year. The hard part is growing your income from there but it can be done and there are brokers making 500k-1MM and the big dogs in the $1-3MM bracket. Of course there is survival bias, as a broker who doesnt make 200k or close to it by their third or fourth is either going to leave or get fired (usually within their first two years).
Splits with the firm start at 50/50 and go up from there with most senior brokers at 60/40 or better.
I do multifamily. Average fee is typically around $150k. Though I've seen fees as high as 1.3MM and as low as 25k so it does vary a lot. You start at 50-50 so that means if you are the single agent on the deal (which is rare) you get 75k net to you for that deal. But typically there are at least 2-3 on the deal to split between. So average fee when you start per deal net to you is in roughly 20-25k.
You can PM me for more specific examples.
Why go from trading to cre?
Bump
Do you do any tenant rep?
If so, is there a minimum SF and term that makes a tenant rep assignment worthwhile for you?
Hell no. I'm running multiple 50k requirements from the tenant side with my team. However, I'm still doing deals as small as 366 sf. It's all money in my pocket.
What are your main strategies for sourcing deals?
What approaches have you found work best for convincing owners to sell?
In the beginning all cold calling. As you get a few years under your belt you get deals from existing relationships (clients you have already sold for or have sold to). And typically you don't convince an owner to sell, they have made the decision to sell and hire you. If you're trying to convince owners to sell all day you're not going to last long in the business.
At least we know he's an investment sales broker now. One question answered!
Lastly I'll say as a broker you have to be very good at time management so maybe that is why I did not answer all these questions right away. Bring on the monkey sh*t!!!!
Even AndyLouis asked him to respond back in 2016.
And not a single question was answered that day.
OP played you. You can ask him anything, but he never said he would answer.
Lol this is so weird.
2:51pm—“wow MS on an AMA…”
2:52pm—ah I see
AndyLouis WallStreetOasis.com - I made a new AMA that I (and hopefully others) will actually respond to. It says it it won't be posted unless I'm a mentor though, and I think I already am. Please post.
Let's gooooo
What is your shoes size and how tall are you?
Thanks for doing this. I want to get land a role with top tier in DC. Have had IS experience at two boutique shops this summer and am about to graduate college this coming spring. Is there anything else I should be doing besides networking with alumni that work at CW/JLL and getting them to pass my resume to HR? I really want to break in as an analyst but am not sure if I should apply as an intern
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