Having Worked With Commercial Real Estate Brokers, What Is Your Advice For Getting Started As A Commercial Real Estate Agent?

The following Q&A was completed as part of our conversational Commercial Real Estate FAQ Interview Series, we hope you find it helpful.

When getting started as a commercial real estate agent, hyper specialization is key. Having a hyper laser focus on your one desired asset type in a specialized area lets you know your asset class better than just about anyone else. These brokerage relationships are often the most confident and successful as the agent becomes a master of their particular laser niche. 

Richard Wilson: Having worked with commercial real estate brokers dozens or hundreds of times what is your advice for getting started as a commercial real estate agent? 

Ben Marks: Yeah, so I think obviously having understanding your asset class, or understanding your property type if you’re in residential. I’m a big fan of hyper specialization. If you’re exclusively going to do single families, on the water, in Broward County, or any given county, the realtors I’ve worked with that have had the most success are hyper laser focused on one asset class in sometimes even in a neighborhood. And I’m not suggesting everyone should do that, what I am suggesting is that everyone should understand your asset class better than anyone else number one, and then a very close second to that is learn to think like an owner. All the brokerage relationships that I have that are successful and long-term I know for a fact that when I get a phone call from an agent or a broker, they’re going to think like I am and they’re not going to think like a broker. And more than anything I think that is the pattern of the narrative I see with a successful broker. 

Richard: That’s a really great answer right in line with what makes a powerful single family office. You know we have a single family office flying here on Saturday and we’re helping them specialize in the neighborhood in only one asset type, but more than that for proactive reach out for off-market deal flow on two city blocks that we just want to assemble a package on over time. And I think it’s that exact type of mindset that and approach. So I’m glad that just kind of randomly came up without us planning that because it’s just so close to what’s made us successful, that laser niche approach, and I want to emphasize that for anyone listening who kind of glossed over and wasn’t paying attention to rewind that and listen really carefully to what you just said.