Dealing with shady principals as a broker

There's has been quite a bit of chatter over the years about shady or questionable brokerage practices. However, I haven't heard much from the other side regarding some of the antics from the principal side. Let's be honest - these characters exist on both sides of the closing table.

I have seen and always heard of principals dodging rightfully owe fees, taking your RFPs and selling deals or financing direct, etc. - what type of stuff are you brokers seeing from principals and how are you navigating around these issues?

I'm curious to hear about your experiences across the board (investment sales, leasing, debt/equity, etc.)

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i just left a shady shop in the seattle area. tech guys who said they created a tool that helps them analyze deals in 30 minutes or less, turns out that tool is EXCEL from REFM. same guys will tell during the closing call they have capital ready for the deal but in reality they probably have to go and raise 30 to 50% of the equity. also, to raise capital, they need to show their friends and family source of capital 15% IRR return so they will show 4% revenue growth 2% expense growth on core, lower market TIs, lower exit cap rate than entry, etc to buy a deal...essentially optimistic case as base case to dumb yet rich investors. they are heavy on fees and the market has been super strong with strong growth and cap rate compression....time will tell if they get caught with their pants down or if they continue to produce 20%+ IRR. when i arrived, i thought i was joining smart sophisticated engineers who came from microsoft, then i realized quickly folks had no idea what s&u, discount rate, etc was....they have just ridden the gravy train of the last 7-9 years and due to them making solid returns, they have investors coming back! i asked too many questions and didn't fit in their culture of fuckery hence i got the can. now i am back on the market looking silly after updated some of their tools and having no choice but to tell employers the story of what's going on....IT'S A SHIT PLACE TO BE!!

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