Introduction to Selling High

Welcome. This is the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing with James Nelson, the principal and head of Avis and Young's Tri State Investment Sales Group. In this program you'll learn game changing strategies to outperform the market. James will teach you how to source, execute and capitalize on the best real estate opportunities in New York and around the world. Now here's your host.

A different approach to putting our clients first. Avis and Young's Tri State Investment Sales Group sells multi family, office, retail, development and specialty sales throughout the New York metro area. As experienced thought leaders in our industry, our 35 member group is available to help you make informed investment decisions by advising you on your current holdings or identifying new opportunities in the marketplace. Our one unified team is built on an industry unique platform which promotes unparalleled collaboration and teamwork. We share core values of hard work, integrity and expertise. We put our clients first providing tailor made strategies to achieve superior results. Please Visit us at aytristateinvestmentsales.com and follow us on Twitter LinkedIn and Instagram amesnelsonnyc to learn more.

Welcome everyone to the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing. I'm your host James Nelson. I'm principal and head of Tri State Investment Sales for Avison Young and today thrilled to have Anneliese Callez, our brand ambassador join us to co host. So for many of you you've already reached out to Ann that's a n n eamesnelson.com Reaching out, engaging with us and so thank you for all your help. Thank you for being here. Annelise is the founder of Brandora, a real estate marketing agency here in New York and she recently launched her second venture, analyse. Com. There's a hyphen in between which focuses on growing women led businesses. So first of all apologies. I did get a C in high school French. I hope I got the pronunciation I've been trying for for a while. But also thank you for continuing to work with me. I I think your mission and to help elevate and do so many incredible things for women led businesses but I'm glad that I'm still grandfathered in.

Thank you so much for having me host with you today. I'm really excited about doing a different type of episode because James and I already spoke like he's interviewing lots of legends in commercial real estate and we were discussing that maybe it's time that we do an episode about him so that he can share his story. So it's a pleasure to be here with You, James, and I'm really excited to be interviewing you today so that you can share your story with our audience. So, so many, many of you may or may not know and as you may be tuning in for the first time, but this guy right here is a legend in commercial real estate. He's a bestselling author, he's a podcast, podcast host, he's a speaker and he's also like one of the top best investment broker in New York. So not only that, this man wakes up at 4am every day. He has three kids. He has so much stamina and so much passion for real estate that it's contagious. So James, before we dive in and for the people who may not know who you are, I have a couple of questions for you. So many people dream of having a caring like yours, right? Like one of the top guys in New York. What do you think sets you apart as a top broker in New York City? And what are the three top qualities within yourself that have made you the best?

San Elise. Thank you. That was overly generous and I, I'm just glad that again I can try to keep up with you and collaborate. So what, what would I say to that? First of all, it, it's all about the, the team and so you know, when there's recognition as far as being one of the best sales brokers, bestselling author, it's great that my name is there. But the reality is none of that happens without incredible support from people like you. So. And that's been consistent from when I started my career 25 years ago and understanding the value of teens and that's really the fun part of the business for me. I mean yes, I love the deal making and making sales, but you asked for three things. So number one, above and beyond is definitely cultivating that team which is again and I'm probably more of the leading by example strategy. I am not into micromanaging. I like to find a team that's complimentary where we can all elevate each other. So that's definitely part of it. I think also what has helped me throughout my career and with energy is and no, I maybe I don't get up at 4 o' clock in the morning. I 4:40 probably more accurate but I think kind of approach and I think really mindset and as I speak especially to my three sons and trying to help them and your mindset and outlook on life is so important in success and with brokerage there's a lot of disappointments, right? There's a lot of things that happen where you spend a lot of time and effort. And in this business, it's full commission. So you spend all this time and effort. And if a deal doesn't happen, there's no payday.

Right.

So there's gonna be things that go wrong.

Right.

But you have to be the eternal optimist.

Right?

So if you think that you're just seeing the bad in situations, you'd never even be able to leave the house in the morning.

Right.

And so I think kind of that mindset, that outlook is really important for success. I think also, and maybe the, the third thing I would say is just to be a lifelong learner. Part of what I love about this business, if I was just showing up every day doing the same thing over and over, I would have been bored 24 years ago.

Right.

But every single day I am learning something new. And it might be about, you know, how to grow the team, how to leverage technology. It could be something about a new neighborhood, it could be something about a new project. And one of the things I'm really proud about what we're doing now. And yes, we've, over my career, we've done a lot of work here in New York, but now we're expanding.

Right.

I'm part of a company that has 120 offices around the world. And what's been really fun is to collaborate with some of our offices, especially here in the US and take on some large scale opportunities that we can offer up to our international investor database.

Thank you for sharing. So in a nutshell, you're saying the top three qualities or like really how you have to go about it is number one, surrounding yourself by really good people and having a really good team. Number two, being an eternal. No.

Lifelong learner was number three and always positive. Yes. Mindset.

Yes.

Positive. And the third one is a forever learner.

Yes.

I thank you for that. I'm sure that, that everybody can follow like those three mindsets and qualities I think is super helpful. Now, did you ever want to quit?

You mean the business or commercial real estate?

Have you ever had second thoughts? Or is that, did you always just what you wanted to do?

I, I think, well, I didn't even know what real estate was when I graduated from Colgate in 1998. It was an English major. You can read about it in the, the book. But basically all my other friends had investment banking jobs. I saw this job posting for this, this firm, Massie Nacal, for a real estate sales associate. I didn't even know what that was. But I put my resume in the box and turns out, and fast forward six months later, I was offered the job. I found out that only two people applied for the job and I was their second pick. So I was very lucky that they gave me a shot. But it wasn't just the fact that I fell into this incredible business, which again, every single day really intrigues me. And I just, I love what I do. It's really that passion. But to be, to start my career with such incredible mentors. So I attribute it hugely to luck and being right place, right time. You know, for many of you listening to this now, especially those of you in college, it blows me away with how prepared you are, the incredible internships, the accreditation, all the activities, people that are doing now to kind of get ahead of the curve. So I was very fortunate to get into the business when I did with such incredible people, with such a great opportunity. So, and, and I have not looked back. I have never once said, this isn't for me. It just continues to, to suck me in.

That's impressive. To work 25, 27 years, right? 25, 25 and still be so passionate about it. I think that's really inspiring. So you're mentioning mentorship. Did you have incredible mentors and how did you find them and how did you keep like, how did you nurture the relationship?

Sure. So when I started, Massie Nackel and Paul Massey, Bob Nackle remain to this day mentors of mine. I stay in close contact even we're after. We sold to Cushman and Wakefield about nine years ago for a hundred million dollars. From there, we had three plus great years at Cushman and Wakefield and then we went our separate ways. But we remain in close contact. I probably didn't even think about or understand the value of what I was being exposed to so early in the career. And you know, talk a little bit about remote working today and if you're starting off the business and can you do this business totally hybrid, you know, again, could you maybe, is that a good idea? Absolutely not. Because I will tell you, the learning that I received early on was not sitting in a conference room where, you know, they sat up and said, look, I'm going to teach you the business, right? And it was really listening. And the fact that we operated on an open floor plan like our team does today. And the way I learned was by listening and replicating. And again, if you're going to do that, you have to have a great mentor who you want to replicate what they are doing.

Right.

And so, and I, I've, I've heard this along the way and I can't remember who attribute this, but again, finding a great opportunity to work with. It's more important about the people and where you start off than maybe the compensation out of the gate. Because long term, if you get the right foundation, it's really going to propel you for the rest of your career.

Was there a turning point in your career?

Well, I mean, where I really jumped in with two feet first was making that transition from a sales associate making a base salary, albeit very minimal, to going full commission. And I was lucky in that I had a little bit of transition, that I had a listing or two under my belt by the time I could make that step to a full time salesperson, full commission. And again, for those of you listening, some of you are thinking about, you know, you might be working for a big developer right now and you're thinking, okay, I want to go off of my own and I want to start my own fund. And again, that can be a little scary when you have that income, predictable, predictable income stream coming in and then you take that gamble and that, you know, that step, that leap of faith. But what I would say to that is, you know, think about how you make investments and maybe you're investing with other people or other deals. I mean, why wouldn't you make that investment in yourself, right? And really believe in yourself to take that step? So for me, it was really making that leap going from a W2 to a 1099 and you know, fortunately had some early sales that were able to propel to, to really give me what I needed to make it those first couple years, which can be pretty challenging.

So earlier in, in this episode, you mentioned, you know, your sons. What do you tell them if they said they wanted to follow your footsteps?

Well, they, they, my oldest certainly has, has said that and I think sometimes. Well, it's familiar.

Right.

They, they, they see my passion for it and so I think it's great that he's. My oldest son, Luke is interested in real estate. My middle son certainly asked me questions. Even my youngest, TJ, who's 13, you know, he's curious about how this all works. So the fact that they're interested in the business is, is great.

Right?

I, I think it's a wonderful business. But I've also said to them, look, you, you have plenty of time to figure this out. And if you go into college or even, you know, right out of school and into the job market with the blinders on that. Okay. I'm just doing real estate. I don't want them to miss out on other opportunities that are out there. So I said just keep an open mind.

Right?

And so I think that's, that's important and I can certainly, you know, share my experience. I know this is a great business to be in, but I also, I think for anyone who's thinking about their future career, to keep an open mind is, is important.

So as I very often ask you about your routine and you know, because some of you might not know, but James is super athletic and works out all the time and I myself love CrossFit, so I want you to tell us a bit more about your routine. So what does a business day look like for you? Saying you wake up at 4:40, like, when do you work out? Like, how do you structure your day? What's your tip on time management?

Yeah, I think I do work out every morning. Maybe I take a day off on the weekend, but I think getting that done, like, you know, first thing in the morning to kind of collect your thoughts, clear your head and it just, it gets you ready for, for the day. So, and I've kind of been mixing it up. There's a group in town that meets up at 5am if you're ever in Old Greenwich and you, you ought to run around with them and that, it's, it's some, some pretty challenging stuff to say the least. So I, I, I'd been doing that for a while. I, but now I've gone back to swimming. So I swam in college, not, not a huge swim school, but Colgate still D1 and, but then, you know, it can be challenging to find a pool and get there and really find the discipline to do that. So I've actually now joined a masters swim team. Not that we're out competing, but we show up, you know, three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And there's, you know, first of all, other people there, so there's that accountability, there's that workout. Because I think when you're working out with a group. So you like working out with CrossFit. I bet if you were trying to do that stuff on your own, probably be a lot, you know, tougher to do it right. So I really like the, the group activities and it's a great way to start the day. And then as far as the time management, I don't know. I, if, if, if you pulled people around the office, you know, would they say, you know, is James. They'd probably say that it was friendly But I'm not the kind of person who's going to have like a 20 minute conversation with you at the water cooler. Like I am so every single minute of the day. And I learned very early on that time is your biggest asset.

Right.

So I am like so laser focused on trying to be as productive as possible every minute of the day and now really trying to take that to the next level. And I'm in the middle of 10x is easier than 2x. And so after I finish and really implement this, maybe we'll, we'll circle back with that on the future episode. But really what that is about is, well, the premise is that it's easier to do 10x than 2x, right. Because if you do 2x your output, you're going to just try to work twice as hard.

Right.

If you try to work 10 times as hard, that's never going to happen. It's impossible.

Right.

So the only way you can get there is to change what you're doing.

Right.

And so then the focus becomes what is the 20% of what you do that is most productive.

Right.

And is most valuable.

Right.

And how do you kind of let go, delegate that 80% to just focus on that 20%. So that, that's now what I'm really, you know, taking this time management to kind of the next level because I'm, I'm so nuts that I want my coach and I, I should start to kind of go off on a tangent here. But what I would say is I'm also a huge fan of coaching. I meet with a coach once a week, we talk about my schedule, we talk about what happened this week, we're going to talk about what happened next week so we can really try to be as efficient as possible.

Right.

And so, you know, now it's, and the reason why I mentioned that was early on they said, okay, well why don't you bring a stopwatch and talk about, you know, how do you spend your day? I mean, how many minutes are you spending checking email? It's, it's a really. I'm still. If anyone by the way, has any tips on how to be more efficient with email and I've tried everything with folk, you know, trying to have a focus different, save folders, having someone review my emails before I focus, it's still an enormous amount of time that goes into that. So I'm always thinking about how do you refine things, how do you make things more efficient?

Love that. You know, I love like optimization and processes. So I'm, I'M with you. So with the episode and ending soon, I have two more questions for you. So can you tell us the aspect of your work that you like the most?

Well, I think I kind of mentioned this in the opening. As far as learning new things every day, it's not just the educational aspect. I think it's meeting incredibly interesting people. So in the businesses of a broker, you're dealing with people from all different walks of life, from the families who inherited properties to the big institutions doing a lot of work for not for profits. And what I really love is in the deal making is the creativity that's involved. I love complicated situation. I mean, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but trying to figure out what is the best solution.

Right.

So I'm not in the problem business, I'm in the solution business. And as you know, a situation where, you know, maybe there's an issue with the property or there's some distress or. And trying to unlock the solution is so incredibly exciting.

Right.

And so I know there's a lot of people that are, you know, in earnings and. Yes. And the commissions and all these goals and we track all that stuff. We track everything that we do. And I'm very fortunate to have an incredible team. Erica Dean, who's our director of operations, and Brandon Polakoff, my partner in this as well, who has just done such an incredible job, not to mention the entire team, the group that we come together every single morning to again continue to refine and do what we do. But again, none of this happens without them.

Right.

So when we take on these challenging situations, the reason why we can help unlock this is because we've got a team approach that can help get to the bottom of these a lot of these situations.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing. And as a last question, I wanted to you to tell us a bit more about this new mini series called Selling High that you will be launching next month.

Right.

So I think we're up to close to 200 episodes of the Insider's Edge to Real Estate investing, which I learn a tremendous amount from every week. And these incredible investors, developers, visionaries, and for many of you, I hope this has been an incredibly helpful and certainly for those of you inspiring you to get into the business, but also for those of you have been doing this for a while and looking to step up your game. So I think as far as gaining that insider's edge to real estate investing, we've been all about that for good reason. That being said, if you look at what I'm doing day in and day out. As much as I love investing and I've talked about, you know, the days that I was a co GP of a real estate fund, all the different types of investments that I've made over the years. Again, a large part of my job is selling properties. And what do we do? We go out and we figure out how to maximize value. And so that whole process of how to sell properties is actually a really important part of the investing process. Look, a lot of what the insider's edge to real estate investing has to do about is how to get that great buy.

Okay?

And there's only one thing that you cannot change about an investment, which is where you bought the property.

Right.

So doing everything you can to find that incredible opportunity and then what to do with the property is, you know, if you look at the, the 10 steps that we talk about in the book, those are definitely the first eight or nine.

Right.

But what is, what is the culmination of this? All you've, you've done all the hard work to find this property, to unlock the value and put it in the position. What is the final step? It's selling it for the highest possible price. Right. Because if after you've done all that work, if you just sell it below market, then all of it's for not. So I really hope that this miniseries that we're going to do is really going to help you all figure out when it is. Well, first of all, we're going to, I think of the next episode. We're going to talk about when is the time to sell. That's a great way to start off.

Right.

And then once we've established when is the right time, then how do you go about doing it? So I, I think this is going to be a great series and I, I'm really hopeful that our listeners are gonna get a ton of value out of this.

Thank you, James. That was really great. I hope our audience really enjoyed this episode. And stay tuned because in our next episode, James is gonna drop the best knowledge on how to sell your property for the highest price. Thank you for sharing your story with our audience today. So many nuggets of wisdom. Now, James, tell us where to find you. Sure.

So anyways, thank you again. This is an incredible conversation. Some of you might be listening to this, thinking this was totally scripted. I never even heard any of these questions before. So thank you for taking the time and again, hoping that this episode's helpful to our listeners. James Nelson.com, which is what you've helped create is where we can find all those tools to help give you that insider's edge to real estate investing. That's where you can sign up for that monthly newsletter, which we've had a lot of fun putting together and making sure pulling together all this content really teen it up to make it actionable for our listeners. That's where you can find the podcast show notes, the exclusive video series the white papers that we've with my writing partner Rachel Hartman that we have out at Forbes. So we're putting a lot out there so we want to really culminate. And so if you have not done so already, go to james nelson.com that's where you can sign up for that mailing list. So as always, thank you all for joining us for the show and if you liked it, really appreciate your sharing a rating to share it with a friend. That's what we're all about doing is expanding the network and being of service. Until next week, thank you again.

Thank you for listening to the Insider's Edge to real estate Investing. We appreciate your subscribing and sharing with your friends. If you haven't already, please connect with James at James Nelson NYC on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. Please also visit James jamesnelson.com where you can find the show notes and other episodes along with an exclusive video series and other helpful resources so you can gain the insider's edge to real estate investing. Until next week.