New to Commercial Real Estate

[Karna Patel]

Hey Everyone!

I am graduating with a Bachelor's in Marketing in December and I plan to start working with a commercial real estate company in January. As someone who is entirely new to commercial real estate, I was wondering what advice you wish someone would've given you when you first started your commercial real estate journey. The advice could be things to avoid, what to look for, tax advice, deal hunting tips, how to deal with tenants, what to include inside leases, anything! Thank you in advance for your help!

[Taylor L.]

Set specific goals and make a plan to reach them. Then execute on the plan every day. The more you can nail down your focus and avoid shiny objects, the better! The more time and energy you can put into building your network and connections, the better. Real estate is incredibly connection and relationship driven.

[Henry Clark]

As @Taylor L. mentioned.

Make a map of your path for the next two years.  Set the goals.

Make a checklist which is also your contact list.  Look at the type of market you are going into.  Visit the job sites or buildings and start adding to your list.  Get rid of the bad ones and keep adding good ones.

Surveyors

Lawyers

Realtors

Contractors

Electricians

Plumbers

Excavators

Glass

Planning/Zoning

Plumbing

HVAC

Banks/financing

Appraisers

Engineering or Architects and firms.

Planning get to know the zoning map, zoning rules, and Proposed zoning.  Go with your firm to these meetings on their projects.

Read all of the ordinances and keep digesting them.

Understand Property Taxes.

Insurance

Join BP real estate groups or others in your area.

Attend all development and zoning meetings.  Get to know the process, the people, what is going on in your community.

Understand zoning and get to know the properties in your market, whether for sale or not.

Start doing several deal analyses a week.  Bring them to BP forum and ask for reviews.

Develop checklists.  There is too much to learn.  You need a way to compartmentalize it.  

All new people will try to impress the people around you.  Don't do that. Your objective is to learn as fast as possible (spend some time on it trying to figure it out, then stop wasting time and ask someone for advice).  Learn from other people's mistakes or projects. 

Patience.  It takes a while to build your "funnel".  Then the deals just keep on coming.  I literally can't drive through an area without seeing deals.  Try to narrow your niche down and specialize.

[John McKee]

I assume you want to be an investor at some point and going beyond the W-2 of the firm you will be working for.  Just curious what is your job at the commercial real estate company?

Biggest advice is to line up your financing in advance.  Also, Track all of you contacts you meet in the business and find out their interests as these people can become your partners or clients some day.  

[Eliott Elias]

Don't stress this, you will learn on the job. 

[Karna Patel]

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Taylor L.:

Set specific goals and make a plan to reach them. Then execute on the plan every day. The more you can nail down your focus and avoid shiny objects, the better! The more time and energy you can put into building your network and connections, the better. Real estate is incredibly connection and relationship driven.

Thank you for the great advice Taylor! Trying to build my connections as we speak and I definitely need to put together tangible goals and a plan to achieve them! Sadly I need to work on the shiny objects part though.

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Henry Clark:

As @Taylor L. mentioned.

Make a map of your path for the next two years.  Set the goals.

Make a checklist which is also your contact list.  Look at the type of market you are going into.  Visit the job sites or buildings and start adding to your list.  Get rid of the bad ones and keep adding good ones.

Surveyors

Lawyers

Realtors

Contractors

Electricians

Plumbers

Excavators

Glass

Planning/Zoning

Plumbing

HVAC

Banks/financing

Appraisers

Engineering or Architects and firms.

Planning get to know the zoning map, zoning rules, and Proposed zoning.  Go with your firm to these meetings on their projects.

Read all of the ordinances and keep digesting them.

Understand Property Taxes.

Insurance

Join BP real estate groups or others in your area.

Attend all development and zoning meetings.  Get to know the process, the people, what is going on in your community.

Understand zoning and get to know the properties in your market, whether for sale or not.

Start doing several deal analyses a week.  Bring them to BP forum and ask for reviews.

Develop checklists.  There is too much to learn.  You need a way to compartmentalize it.  

All new people will try to impress the people around you.  Don't do that. Your objective is to learn as fast as possible (spend some time on it trying to figure it out, then stop wasting time and ask someone for advice).  Learn from other people's mistakes or projects. 

Patience.  It takes a while to build your "funnel".  Then the deals just keep on coming.  I literally can't drive through an area without seeing deals.  Try to narrow your niche down and specialize.

 Taylor thank you for your thorough advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to write everything out for me! I really like the making a list idea! I have already had my head spinning from trying to absorb everything. If I can have everything in one place and check things off as I go I feel as though I would learn more and be less overwhelmed. I have written out everything you have said and I will get started today!

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @John McKee:

I assume you want to be an investor at some point and going beyond the W-2 of the firm you will be working for.  Just curious what is your job at the commercial real estate company?

Biggest advice is to line up your financing in advance.  Also, Track all of you contacts you meet in the business and find out their interests as these people can become your partners or clients some day.  

Yes John that is the plan! I will be a social media manager to start out as that is a big part of my college major and I hope as time goes on and I learn to continue to advance till I am ready to invest. Also great advice! Financing is one of my biggest concerns, being fresh out of college and with no deals under my belt I feel like lenders will not take me seriously. Kind of like a CRM system?

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Eliott Elias:

Don't stress this, you will learn on the job. 

 That is what I am hoping! I would like to have a baseline of knowledge going into it though just so I'm not too overwhelmed when I start.

[Ronald Rohde]

Add value first to other people. Be sure those people are useful to you if its a large investment, but still provide value for free, to everyone. Thats the only way you make real money AND have purpose in this life.

Help others. (and have fun!) 

Commercial real estate is just fun. I love every day in the law and industrial investing.

[Brock Mogensen]

Learning the commercial side sooner is a great move.  Residential can be great but the bigger deals are in commercial..obviously.  If I could go back I would work for a big PE firm that buys real estate through a fund model right out of college.  I don't regret the path I took to where I've gotten to but I would have gained more experience quickly by doing that.

[Paul Moore]

Hi @Karna Patel! Congratulations! Most people start out in residential real estate and many of them eventually "graduate" to commercial real estate. You are very wise to start off in commercial real estate from the beginning. 

A lot of the answer will depend on what kind of company you will be working for and what you are passionate about. It's likely you will learn a lot of things on BiggerPockets and from books and podcasts that you might not hear at work. You got a lot of great advice above. Feel free to DM me to jump on a call to discuss this further. 

[Chris McCormack]

Find a tax advisor who specializes in real estate and tax planning. Work with them year round to discuss your goals and changing tax profile

[Bonnie Griffin Kaake]

@Karna Patel  Add value to your job and your investments by getting to know the incredible tax benefits available to commercial real estate investors. Cost segregation is just one of those benefits. Another is the 2014 Repair Regulations, also known as the Tangible Property Regulations (TPRs). The TPRs are very complex and offer tax benefits that are most often overlooked. 

[Joe Le]

thank you for the posts!

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Ronald Rohde:

Add value first to other people. Be sure those people are useful to you if its a large investment, but still provide value for free, to everyone. Thats the only way you make real money AND have purpose in this life.

Help others. (and have fun!) 

Commercial real estate is just fun. I love every day in the law and industrial investing.

Ronald thanks for the great advice! I agree the best way to feel fulfilled is to help others! I will continue to build relationships by asking myself what value I can bring to other people.

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Brock Mogensen:

Learning the commercial side sooner is a great move.  Residential can be great but the bigger deals are in commercial..obviously.  If I could go back I would work for a big PE firm that buys real estate through a fund model right out of college.  I don't regret the path I took to where I've gotten to but I would have gained more experience quickly by doing that.

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have a mentor that advised me toward the CRE path instead of the Residential. I'm really hoping to hit the ground running and learn a ton! Thank you for your comment, Brock!

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Paul Moore:

Hi @Karna Patel! Congratulations! Most people start out in residential real estate and many of them eventually "graduate" to commercial real estate. You are very wise to start off in commercial real estate from the beginning. 

A lot of the answer will depend on what kind of company you will be working for and what you are passionate about. It's likely you will learn a lot of things on BiggerPockets and from books and podcasts that you might not hear at work. You got a lot of great advice above. Feel free to DM me to jump on a call to discuss this further. 

I am so thankful that I had a mentor that steered me toward commercial from the start. I have heard that the headaches in residential really help you appreciate commercial real estate investing though.
I have been told the BiggerPockets community is one of the best real estate resources you can find and I can not disagree so far. Everyone is so helpful and kind! I would love to jump on a call sometime I will DM you right away.
Thanks for your comment, Paul!

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Chris McCormack:

Find a tax advisor who specializes in real estate and tax planning. Work with them year round to discuss your goals and changing tax profile

I will look into one in my area. Thanks for the advice, Chris!

[Karna Patel]

Quote from @Bonnie Griffin Kaake:

@Karna Patel  Add value to your job and your investments by getting to know the incredible tax benefits available to commercial real estate investors. Cost segregation is just one of those benefits. Another is the 2014 Repair Regulations, also known as the Tangible Property Regulations (TPRs). The TPRs are very complex and offer tax benefits that are most often overlooked. 

Bonnie as someone who has just dipped their toes into this vast ocean of knowledge that is commercial real estate, this is exactly the type of information I was looking to learn more about. Thank you so much!

[Paul Moore]

Quote from @Karna Patel:

Quote from @Paul Moore:

Hi @Karna Patel! Congratulations! Most people start out in residential real estate and many of them eventually "graduate" to commercial real estate. You are very wise to start off in commercial real estate from the beginning. 

A lot of the answer will depend on what kind of company you will be working for and what you are passionate about. It's likely you will learn a lot of things on BiggerPockets and from books and podcasts that you might not hear at work. You got a lot of great advice above. Feel free to DM me to jump on a call to discuss this further. 

I am so thankful that I had a mentor that steered me toward commercial from the start. I have heard that the headaches in residential really help you appreciate commercial real estate investing though.
I have been told the BiggerPockets community is one of the best real estate resources you can find and I can not disagree so far. Everyone is so helpful and kind! I would love to jump on a call sometime I will DM you right away.
Thanks for your comment, Paul!

 Hi @Karna Patel! I am really glad to help. I am glad you discovered the BP forum. And I do agree the hassles of residential will help you learn the ropes of real estate and I predict will also make you want to do commercial even more!

You may want to check out Jim Pfeifer's Left Field Investors so you can get to know some folks in that realm. These are all investors in commercial real estate. You may also want to pick up The Alternative Investment Almanac by Denis Shapiro. 

I look forward to speaking with you soon!