All Forum Posts by: Karna Patel

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.

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.

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

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.  

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.

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.