Anyone have any good famous broker stories?

or just details on what these guys are like to interact with?

I’m talking closing dinners with Doug Harmon, a night out with Adam Spies, cocktail party with Roy March, boat trip with Kevin Shannon, etc. you get it.


Would love to hear what these guys are like away from the office. 

 

Apparently one of Darla Longo’s juniors killed himself after he was pretty much forced to sleep with a gay client.

There’s a book about it - the names of the broker and firm are obviously swapped out but it’s described as her and CBRE.

An ex CBRE MD and manager wrote it. Apparently he was sued for it too.

I had a flair for languages. But I soon discovered that what talks best is dollars, dinars, drachmas, rubles, rupees and pounds fucking sterling.
 

Apparently banging out Darla Longo's gay clients and killing yourself is always an option for broker career paths.

 
Controversial

Hi, 
I wanted to take the time to share my experiences, ~ May be a fun read  

Part A: 

I started university at age 18 studying biology, took me 2.5 years to realize I hate this and instead enjoyed business. My father encouraged me to get my realtor licence as a way to make a few bucks selling homes while I was in university. After I took the commercial realtor course I quickly enjoyed the content and knew that I'd rather sell income producing assets rather than homes. While I studied for my realtor license, I was also studying to transfer into a top 8 business school in Canada so that I can have a better shot at private equity/investment banking out of undergrad. 

Took me around 4 months of speaking with many CRE brokers as I was trying to land a position at a top 4-6 brokerage while I was in school. Not surprised that everyone of them said to come back once I graduated. At this time I 1,000% believed that I needed to be at a prestigious brokerage in order to do well and ignored the unknown brokers, until I met a broker who didn't care about brand and ran a one-man brokerage house out of his home (little did I know ~ He was well connected). 

I worked as broker for my first 1-2 years while in university and spent another 2-3 years after graduation as a broker. 

Part B ~ 

I started as a CRE broker with 2 industry veterans with AMAZING connections, this is the biggest edge you can have in an advisory industry. 

To give you an idea ~ My partners were well connected to guys who can buy up $4B worth of properties in a single year. 

This was one of the luckiest opportunities I got so I had to take it over a gig at CBRE. 

We 3 formed a team at a no-name brokerage and started finding good properties to sell across Canada, US, & the UK via soliciting real estate funds, it took me 9.5 months of soliciting, have deals fall apart and making embarrassing mistakes to finally close $250m at 2% commissions in my first year (I walked away with $1.25M). This was a huge moment for me and at this point I realized that I don't need to get a gig at a Investment bank or a Private Equity firm after graduation. 

2nd year in the business ~

I wanted to create a business and become an operator and so I did what many do... form a boutique brokerage house. 
Long story short, I formed a brokerage house of only 6 brokers (including me) and hired 6 ex-REIT guys.

In 4.5 years since starting the brokerage, our team sold approx. ~ $2.6B in total sales and maintained a profit margin of over 79% 

Some metrics about our firm

Annual revenue ~ $15M

Annual profit ~ $12M 

Annual personal income ~ $4.8M 

Sold for $144M w/ 40% ownership 

Walked away with $78m after leaving the business 

We sold Multifamily, Industrial, Office, & Retail assets 

My partners and I ran the firm for a few years until we decided that we wanted to leave and do other things. So, we started soliciting PE funds for a acquisition, our operations had been running well from the beginning and so it wasn't too difficult to sell the business at a 12X EBITDA multiple. 

Part C ~ Where I am now ~ Age 28+

Now, I'm currently take a break since I sold my firm a  month prior. Currently at home with my extended family and wife. 
I plan on buying value-add properties and companies as Joint partner with PE funds with $500M - $1.5B in total AUM. 

--------

I too had many ups & downs during this job and would like to openly talk about some.

My biggest loss:

My team and I got an opportunity to represent a foreign fund to sell their $1.75B multifamily portfolio of 14,000 multifamily units in the US. 

It was a difficult ask and we couldn't transact, although we did get a fund to put in an offer. 

    - We lost out on a huge deal which still stings to this day. 

My biggest win: 

My team was able to convince a MD at Brookfield Asset Management on how we would to bring offers on their portfolio of asses. 

Brookfield decided to allow us to sell a portfolio of $600m worth of diversified assets across the US. This deal took us only 2 months to transact on as we had buyers ready to deploy the capital asap.  

Lessons learned, 

Opportunity knocks on your door only a few times in your life and at VERY unexpected times and so you need to be ready to open the door. 
Opportunities can come to you while you're in school or when you're in your 40s, BUT don't say no without listening! 

Thank you for reading, 

Have a great day 

 

prospie

Ok this post was fucking awesome.  Why the fuck is this guy getting shat on?

Maybe because it has nothing to do with a story about meeting famous brokers?  Glad for this guy, and in a different context a good post, but not really relevant and kind of a flex, given the thread topic.

 

mancPE

Hi, 

I wanted to take the time to share my experiences, ~ May be a fun read  

Part A: 

I started university at age 18 studying biology, took me 2.5 years to realize I hate this and instead enjoyed business. My father encouraged me to get my realtor licence as a way to make a few bucks selling homes while I was in university. After I took the commercial realtor course I quickly enjoyed the content and knew that I'd rather sell income producing assets rather than homes. While I studied for my realtor license, I was also studying to transfer into a top 8 business school in Canada so that I can have a better shot at private equity/investment banking out of undergrad. 

Took me around 4 months of speaking with many CRE brokers as I was trying to land a position at a top 4-6 brokerage while I was in school. Not surprised that everyone of them said to come back once I graduated. At this time I 1,000% believed that I needed to be at a prestigious brokerage in order to do well and ignored the unknown brokers, until I met a broker who didn't care about brand and ran a one-man brokerage house out of his home (little did I know ~ He was well connected). 

I worked as broker for my first 1-2 years while in university and spent another 2-3 years after graduation as a broker. 

Part B ~ 

I started as a CRE broker with 2 industry veterans with AMAZING connections, this is the biggest edge you can have in an advisory industry. 

To give you an idea ~ My partners were well connected to guys who can buy up $4B worth of properties in a single year. 

This was one of the luckiest opportunities I got so I had to take it over a gig at CBRE. 

We 3 formed a team at a no-name brokerage and started finding good properties to sell across Canada, US, & the UK via soliciting real estate funds, it took me 9.5 months of soliciting, have deals fall apart and making embarrassing mistakes to finally close $250m at 2% commissions in my first year (I walked away with $1.25M). This was a huge moment for me and at this point I realized that I don't need to get a gig at a Investment bank or a Private Equity firm after graduation. 

2nd year in the business ~

I wanted to create a business and become an operator and so I did what many do... form a boutique brokerage house. 

Long story short, I formed a brokerage house of only 6 brokers (including me) and hired 6 ex-REIT guys.

In 4.5 years since starting the brokerage, our team sold approx. ~ $2.6B in total sales and maintained a profit margin of over 79% 

Some metrics about our firm

Annual revenue ~ $15M

Annual profit ~ $12M 

Annual personal income ~ $4.8M 

Sold for $144M w/ 40% ownership 

Walked away with $78m after leaving the business 

We sold Multifamily, Industrial, Office, & Retail assets 

My partners and I ran the firm for a few years until we decided that we wanted to leave and do other things. So, we started soliciting PE funds for a acquisition, our operations had been running well from the beginning and so it wasn't too difficult to sell the business at a 12X EBITDA multiple. 

Part C ~ Where I am now ~ Age 28+

Now, I'm currently take a break since I sold my firm a  month prior. Currently at home with my extended family and wife. 

I plan on buying value-add properties and companies as Joint partner with PE funds with $500M - $1.5B in total AUM

--------

I too had many ups & downs during this job and would like to openly talk about some.

My biggest loss:

My team and I got an opportunity to represent a foreign fund to sell their $1.75B multifamily portfolio of 14,000 multifamily units in the US. 

It was a difficult ask and we couldn't transact, although we did get a fund to put in an offer. 

    - We lost out on a huge deal which still stings to this day. 

My biggest win: 

My team was able to convince a MD at Brookfield Asset Management on how we would to bring offers on their portfolio of asses. 

Brookfield decided to allow us to sell a portfolio of $600m worth of diversified assets across the US. This deal took us only 2 months to transact on as we had buyers ready to deploy the capital asap.  

Lessons learned, 

Opportunity knocks on your door only a few times in your life and at VERY unexpected times and so you need to be ready to open the door. 

Opportunities can come to you while you're in school or when you're in your 40s, BUT don't say no without listening! 

Thank you for reading, 

Have a great day 

Appreciate it! Seems that my bet on a small connected shop might be the right choice afterall, especially skipping the backstabbing I heard of at larger shops is unlikely to happen here... major plus!

 

It's been pretty well covered in the media, but basically he's one of those absolutely awful landlords who did almost everything short of assault his own tenants to get them out of rent stabilized buildings in order to deregulate the units.  Kind of the poster child for the mania for doing that in the middle part of the 2010s; had a 100%+ LTV loan, fake companies to harass tenants, the works. I always thought the best part was that when his (personal) landlord tried to kick him out of his absurdly expensive rental unit, he claimed he was protected under rent stabilization and refused to move out.

If you google his name you'll find a bunch of articles on him from a few years back.

 

Had dinner with Spencer Levy once. Holy shit what a douche bag.

 

Won't shut the fuck up about himself. Never skips a chance to mention he is a former NY lawyer and was once on the price is right, or how many books he reads in a week. One of those guys.

 

My buddy always tells me a story about some divorced cougar that works for JLL down in Miami who just relentlessly tries to fuck Associates/VPs half her age. He's shown me her emails and they are ridiculously sexual. "I hear you boys are looking to get lucky in South Florida next week (;" type of shit, with nobody else CC'd. It's actually the funniest story ever and her LinkedIn picture is exactly what you would expect. Full body shot with mad legs and cleavage hanging out. 

No, I'm not giving any of you freaks her name/contact info haha.

 

Vitae voluptas labore earum amet dolorem. Consequuntur quisquam vitae amet omnis.

Necessitatibus velit nihil qui. Ipsum qui aut est veritatis. Repellat numquam distinctio est iure alias tempore provident dignissimos. Atque sit aut sed odio. At consectetur placeat dolores rem impedit quia aliquid reprehenderit. Eligendi totam hic est voluptatum accusantium aliquam ut sunt.

Qui deserunt quia aut eligendi. Accusantium est sint commodi dolor itaque. Ipsum quasi sit quisquam aut. Quisquam explicabo officia dolorem ut quidem suscipit provident. Quasi qui odio nulla est ipsa. Doloremque labore rerum laborum ipsa ratione inventore.

 

Qui sit perspiciatis aliquam dignissimos et nemo. Dignissimos ipsam ipsam alias ratione eius. Dicta molestiae et cumque est quod.

Sunt deleniti ut vel ut ut deserunt error. Quidem aut autem rerum ea perferendis beatae modi. Vel enim repellat id veritatis pariatur ut. Sunt aut facilis ea rem praesentium aut. Doloremque et excepturi quia itaque et neque molestiae.

 

Enim sed est quod veniam atque repellat soluta a. Qui enim ratione et accusamus fugit mollitia fuga modi. Adipisci at cum repellat. Laboriosam eos atque dolor ut exercitationem labore. Reprehenderit sunt ex autem eius accusantium aut nostrum.

Sit perferendis dignissimos corporis voluptatem vitae laborum. Rerum possimus dolorum voluptate repellat necessitatibus amet. Ut quibusdam id et aut quisquam facere. Aut provident vel eum labore dolore.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (85) $262
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (65) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (198) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (143) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”