Brokerage Personalities..
so i’ve been on a top cbre team for a good amount of time now. i’m just now realizing how this business operates and don’t get it. the top brokers ALL grind like early 20yr olds and travel so much. it’s a constant joke that they have family issues because it’s impossible that they don’t. they also drink a decent amount and are all addicted to nicotine. seems likes a horrible lifestyle hunting for fees and not building anything under you that can grow.
if you’re on the brokerage side - is this normal across the board or just my office?
how do you view brokers (even top ones)? usually dressed messy and acting childish?
i’m not throwing shade at the brokerage side - ive been here for a while but now lifting up my head a bit more and curious what the market sentiment is
Just another perspective…I don’t look at it as they are growing nothing. If you consider many buyers go back to the broker that sold them the deal, if you crush it for a while you should have a pretty solid recurring book of business. It’s all hustle (which has pros and cons — as you mentioned). Works for some and doesn’t for others.
Broker types range across the board. There are the buttoned up finance professionals, and then there are the goofballs that come off like Saul Goodman.
I do agree that a lot of brokers come off as degenerates and a lot are. Drinking is definitely a huge part of the culture. I think partially because you drink when you lose a deal, drink when you win one, and then drink cause it’s Friday. It’s definitely not the healthiest culture when you look at it from a 10,000 ft view.
With that said, there are brokers out there that retire with a 8+ figure net worth cause they were smart with their money. I think we’re going to start seeing brokers wash out here in the coming months, but those that stay can make a lot of money when things pick back up. It’s crazy to me the lifestyle some of these senior guys live, while making $500K+. All while having no skin in the game.
At the end of the day though, this industry is filled with degenerates. I don’t blame you for looking at some of the guys around you and not envying their life, but it doesn’t have to be the life you live.
Very few get close to 8-figures let alone high 7's. I'm 4 years into the industry and worked in brokerage at a smaller firm for 2, even in a top city the named brokers in articles are lucky to make $2-300k consistently year over year.
Seems there's a lot of prestige, but in reality they make very little consistently, have an over importance of what they're doing, and on the middle market side sloppy and unpolished. Look at some of the old Massey Knakal guys/others in that space and how they dress now/general look some come across as slimy/sketchy guys.
On drinking, my boss was a huge alcoholic and others in the office asked me to look out for him when we would go to events lol. He had vodka every night, could not be counted on and would go off on trips focusing on his business for weeks at a time. He had family problems as well and was a sketchy guy (whispers in our team that he actually stole money from a deal and he would ask me for money at times).
Overall some very smart/polished guys at the top, but the majority are sketchy salesman. Even at the top they brag about billions in sales yet on $100mm deal they're lucky to get $500k before a split and taxes and those deals are very rare maybe once even few years for a small handful of guys. It's just surprising how guys can survive with the swings even with established connections, so many guys say they know someone so well or are related yet you see them go with other brokers so seems there's really no loyalty/that doesn't mean much I'm not sure.
Also, seems a lot of times even with a good relationship an owner is not using a broker and can easily go direct for deals or potential sales. On the ownership side there can be hundreds of hours of work where you connect solely with owners direct before even engaging a broker so seems the top ones are lucky to even get engaged at times and in those cases the owner can see bids and decide to not move forward. Even if you run a process a broker has no power in anything and would be used for the name (a JLL, CBRE, etc), market information, and internal coverage/making sure all bases are covered to senior leadership ("we engaged a broker at top firm who went to every viable market participant, these are the offers we received").
I’ve been proven wrong before, and I’m not here to add data points. The brokers in top markets make well over 7 figures. IS or Debt.
If you genuinely think the top brokers are averaging ~$250k, then you were either at the wrong shop or genuinely don’t understand how much these guys can make.
Not saying they’re the highest paid in the industry, but in my market (Major Sub) they can make a lot.
I doubt every broker is an alcoholic with early stage mouth/lung cancer, but the grind and the potential family issues that result? The responding to emails at 2am because you think if you wait until 9am the next day your client is going to care? The nonstop fire drills? The doing whatever it takes for a pitch? That's part of what happens when you're in a service industry.
The funny thing to me is that investment banking is not that much different. No one is reading slide 87 of the pitch book that your boss made you change 6 times, much less doing a deep dive into the size of the margins. No one thinks you're really on it by responding in the middle of the night versus the next day. I moved to the principal side over a decade ago and never looked back.
It’s true that a lot of brokers far into their career are still working long hours and not making crazy amounts of money. But I’ve also seen alot of brokers working no more than 40hrs making 7 figures. All depends upon their market, asset, and relationships they’ve built. My boss has been doing it over 15 years and still works 60hrs. But he’s made $1M+ the last five years and don’t see him slowing down anytime soon, even in this market. I don’t know how he does it with a wife and kids, but he’s also not a big drinker or use drugs… straight arrow guy. Which I think has allowed him to be successful as he isn’t looked as slimy or a cars salesman. However, in my office there are a handful of guys that live up to the typical broker stereotype.
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