Writer Debut: Commercial Real Estate Madmen

Today, we are kicking off our move into the commercial real estate vertical with Duke Long, an extremely knowledgeable Commercial Real Estate Broker and owner of Realty Executives Lafayette in Lafayette, IN. Duke has a unique background in real estate and has even served in the United States Air Force. We look forward to his compelling writing as he kicks off our move into our commercial real estate vertical. Please welcome Duke in the comments.

And now, Duke Long:

Yea hey hi hello everyone.  I’m a Commercial Real Estate Broker.  Many many thanks to the Agent Genius people for the opportunity to bring a little Commercial RE point of view.  If you take a close look at the picture some of you may be thinking “he obliviously thinks he is this ass kicking testosterone fed alpha male big boy broker.” Well…. Kinda, yea. 

The reality is that right now I feel like the guy on the bottom.  I was in a meeting with some other alpha male brokers this week and do you think they had the balls to admit they were getting pounded?  HELL NO.  What are the stages of grief again?  Shock, Denial, Pain, etc…it got me thinking.

Where are we in the Commercial real estate market? 1^st year of recovery? 2^nd quarter of the “L”?. 3^rd matrix of the bounce?  There are a lot of educated opinions out there.  Some of them not so bad in comparison. Some more middle of the road.  Some more that are pretty hardcore.  The daily reality that I deal with is very simple.  Prices for Commercial property are down, banks are failing, lending has all but dried up, and distressed properties just sit. 

Why am I doing this?

Then why am I still hitting the street like Madmen. (AMC channel reference?)  Kids, wife, dogs, cats, Universities to feed, you know… the alpha male thing.  We still, in my opinion, have at least a year or two to recover all the job losses from the past years.  Commercial RE is 100% dependent on job expansion and contraction.  There is still a huge supply of space out there available for what may be considered a Buyer/Tenant priced market.

Will the market crash?  No.  There are way too many signs that the market has stabilization, REIT’s look to be on firm ground and commercial loan modifications are easing the potential ticking time bomb.  Well you may ask how does Mr. Hot Shot Commercial RE Broker survive in this market hell?  One simple word.  PEOPLE.  

Doin’ it old school & new school

I use every tool available to me to get in front of people who need my service.  Old school tactics like calling them on the phone..remember that?  Networking groups, email property info, showing up at bank and title functions etc..New school stuff like, you know that online Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter thingy.  When has this ever changed?  

I have always tried to do whatever it takes to create value and service for my clients. Will I be in the beautiful, painful, stressful exciting, hit the lottery kind of money Commercial Real Estate business 20 years from now?  Take another look at the picture …you know what?  Maybe I am the guy on the top.  I’ve been there and it’s Damn Good!

Readers, please feel free to click around the links in Duke’s bio, get to know him, and welcome him in the comments below.

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Keywords: commercial real estate

Topics: Commercial