Random cold call from analyst lead to fantastic deal
Was just reading something in the real estate thread that reminded me of a recent experience I had at work and I figured it was worth me telling a story.
About a month ago I got a cold email from an analyst at a small developer in the southeast. I didn’t respond because I didn’t recognize the name, the firm, and the debt ticket he was saying they needed was large. I figured it was some sort of a joke/scam. Fast forward a week and he follows up. I searched him and the firm and realized that it may be legit, although still weird an analyst was reaching out. We set up a call and he runs me through a large multifamily deal. For someone who just graduated college this kid knew the deal cold and sounded articulate/confident the whole time we were speaking. He sets up a meeting with his boss and we all go through the deal and their debt needs in more detail. I had my team underwrite it and we wrote a competitive term sheet.
I spoke with their team a week ago. Turns out that same analyst got term sheets from 5 different debt groups all on his own hustling. I spoke with his boss privately after the call just to say that that kid was going places and to keep him close. The boss told me that when he found out the analyst was reaching out to people on his own on his very first deal he was pissed, but when serious calls and term sheets started rolling in he was pretty shocked at how well this kid had done.
Has anyone else, even in other industries, ever experienced a random young kid bringing them a great deal all on their own hustle?
Add a disclaimer to this post. A bunch of interns / first year analysts are about to lose their jobs trying to replicate this story
Very fair point - this is ABNORMAL. It was very risky for that kid to do this and could burn a deal or your firms reputation fast.
Real estate is about balls, Let your boss know who you are going to reach out to and why they are a good fit, and get on a call together.
Key word is “let your boss know”. Totally different if you talk to your boss beforehand
Interesting statement - not to get to philosophical but do you think banking was more about “balls” back in the day and as the space got more competitive and institutionalized this notion left the industry and it become more “chain of command”?
I’ve done it myself when I did acquisitions. But I never did it ‘secretly’ so to speak. I brought the deal in with my relationships, completely off market - did it multiple times. And than got the correct parties involved as needed. My old firm loved it as I was growing the book. But I brought in the appropriate acquisition person (MD/D) as it was the market they covered. So to them, it was just me out there scouting deals for the firm and I wasn’t going behind anyone’s back. These were both 9 figure, fully off market deals where we were the only ones going after them. I started my career in brokerage and kept those relationship close. As I was at a big name in the business, I would get calls all the time as many I was the touchpoint to the brokers I knew.
Love to hear it you had success doing that. I don’t think this kid thought he was doing anything sneaky, he was just a go getter who reached out to apparently a ton of firms cold and represented the deal/firm well, albeit without his bosses knowledge which would have been a bad situation had he performed poorly.
Why the fuck would anyone sell a 9 figure asset by giving one guy and one guy only a look.
I don't care who the fuck you are, even dumb HNW families are at least shopping a 9 figure deal to cousin Vinny before they decide to give one guy and one guy only a look.
No deal is 100% "fully" off market and you're not the only guy getting a look. Just because it wasn't on a broker blast doesn't mean it was fully off market. I have brokers and sellers call me all fucking day saying "HEY I GOT THIS OFF MARKET DEAL FOR YOU", but we all fucking know once I hang up the phone it's on to the next guy on the rolodex. People just say that to flatter you. Got some learning to do rookie.
Now if you're in a tertiary market like Omaha fucking Nebraska swinging $5-10MM deals, maybe it's actually off fucking market. But this is fucking 9 figures. Unless your name is Sam fucking Zell or Jon fuck me I'm Gray, you're not getting the one and only look on a 9 figure deal.
Hhahahaha Wow. So angry, aggressive. And you think you know everything. By saying what you say above, it pretty much shows you don’t understand how many people in this industry, especially the old line families where the 80 year old controls the asset still.
People do it and it happens more than you think. Why not shop it? Because not everyone, counter to this forum, is driven by price. Some people care about who they sell to, etc. soft factors matters. A family may be willing to ground lease their asset but not lease it to a PE fund and they will do it to another family, because they feel this family will treat their asset how they treated it. So they bring it out and call a family, if the first family does it - the deal is done and it’s shipped to one family, one at a time.
Chill dude. If you question a persons story do it intelligibly and not as if you’re pounding your keyboard screaming fuck while drinking an energy drink. Chill. People like you ruin WSO
Love the stories about being able to source "9 figure, off market deals". But no $100,000,000+ deal is fully off market.
Nobody who owns a $100,000,000+ asset will sell you an asset "off market" just because you cold called him or ran into someone in a bar.
You better believe people who own $100,000,000+ assets are at least getting BOVs from brokers and those guys are all "shopping the deal off market" to their 100+ contact list. It's $100,000,000+ dollars for fuck sakes. You think people who own $100,000,000+ assets are morons?
People who own $100,000,000+ assets are institutional shops that have layers of IC approvals. The broker selling it may give you a call, but you better believe he's not stopping at you as a first call.
Who pissed in your Cheerios?
MFer never heard of abbreviating numbers. He wrote 36 more zeros than he needed to.
These were actually truly off market when we looked at them. It was mainly driven by ownership dynamics and great brokers who brought it to us. We took the first crack at the assets and didn’t connect. Than one of them actually went to market in a fashion we were trying to take them down. First looks as this are rare, but they do happen when the structure is odd, risky, etc. or when it’s not an institution that owns it but a family.
This is generally true, but I have seen some family offices move at lightning speed on very large assets
Well... not going to lie.... But I'm in brokerage right now and my MDs have worked with a few people who were absolute morons that owned $100,000,000+ portfolios and buildings. I think you would be shocked at the amount of high net worth families or mom and pops that own 9 figure properties in high COL cities.
Yeah I work for a HNWI and we own multiple $100M+ assets
Not true, I have seen at least a dozen deals in the 9 figure plus range move 100% off market with zero brokers involved. In fact one one of the deals the leasing broker was so pissed they quit.
What does a leasing broker have to do with a 9 figure sale? They're a leasing broker for fuck sakes. They don't give 2 flying fucks who the owner is as long as they have the landlord representation assignment.
Do you people even work in real estate? Dear lord.
A fucking dozen deals in the 9 figure range that sold with only 1 buyer getting a look? Dear lord I have some kool aid to sell to you.
Yep. A guy I work with brought in, underwrote, and closed a deal all on his own his first year as an analyst. Pretty impressive.
He's now doing quite well as a full on producer.
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