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.
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Dustin Stolly refused to shake anyone's hand at a pitch instead giving out fist bumps......... yes this was before COVID.
Idk if anyone else watched the commercial observer CRE finance forum yesterday but Stolly’s hair was a sight to behold.
Stolly is a cool guy
Bump
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.
Whoa. Name of book?
https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Male-Sam-Foster-ebook/dp/B004CFAVI0
That's crazy!
Wonder what she did over the years to get where she is?
RIP! People are cruel and it's just money. Pretty crappy story, if it's true.
This started out as a fun thread...
Can someone give me some insight on the different Broker career paths? salary, options, leaders, etc.
Don’t hijack the thread dude
the real John Gutfreund would be disappointed in this
Apparently banging out Darla Longo's gay clients and killing yourself is always an option for broker career paths.
B U M P
Kunofsky is apparently a HUGE Grateful Dead guy and also an extremely enthusiastic and effective softball player.
I always wonder how that guy functions outside of work. Apparently he visits each (or many of) the NNN deals he sells. Seems brutal
Thanks for advcie
A top producing broker in LA drives a Prius, but saw his wife pick him up one day in the brand new blue/grey Bentley coupe with a drop top.
Always cracked me up, how he kept it humble and the wife didn't.
Or he majorly fucked up one day and had to buy her that lmao
It could just be he spends tons of time in the car. On top of that LA traffic is atrocious. May as well get good gas mileage idling on the highway as every penny spent on gas is less in your pocket.
If you got "top broker in LA" money I'd rather spend it on luxury and isolation when stuck in traffic. Sure I might be saving pennies in gas with a Prius but you can't beat the quiet and calm of a true luxury car.
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
Ok this post was fucking awesome. Why the fuck is this guy getting shat on?
Because folks on here are haters
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.
Because it is total bullshit and if you can't immediately understand that you are a brainlet.
I feel like your "biggest loss" was just a subtle flex about a high profile deal you almost did once..
Haha,
Kind of like how a resume reads vs what actually happened:
I had a call with someone who mentioned selling a 5bn portfolio, then they went with Eastdil. But damn I was so close to a 2% commission bc thats what we charge at my botique brokerage shop that cold calls people, would've been $50MM net to me.
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!
Lowering the risks while converting residential mortgage to buy to let is the specialty.
Though the crazy story revolves around his transition to the principal side, Rafi Toledano made his name in brokerage and I think he's insanely entertaining
Which is?
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.
Dustin Stolly is a cool guy
I heard the CB multifamily team recently got bought out by Berkadia. I guess the partners took the money and bought a 20ish MM apartment deal together with it.
Hear Berkadia is on a big buying spree
Had dinner with Spencer Levy once. Holy shit what a douche bag.
Oh my God actually? I'm starting out in research in the same office as him the end of this month...
Hahah can confirm. Been out drinking with him before in LA.
I am SO GLAD others agree. I was under the assumption something was wrong with me, not him. Thank God
Damn I kinda liked him
He ain’t a bad dude - he’s just a little douchey if you know what I mean
I mean, just look at his headshot on the CBRE page..
Please elaborate. I have always wondered about this guy. Not that he’s actually a broker, but research at a brokerage house. I’ve never interacted with him, so curious as to what makes him douchey?
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.
Is this Melissa Rose..... lol
If it is her, not bad, not bad.
”Applys to JLL Miami roles”
Damn.. What's her @
This is a great thread. Keep them coming please
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