How Can Someone Get Started As A Commercial Real Estate Broker?

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

When first entering the world of real estate brokering, it’s important to remember that it’s not about the money straight away. Taking the time out to really learn the world you’re stepping into, associating with more experienced individuals, and building a great team will be far more profitable in the long run. By focusing that drive on independent investments too quickly, you could be learning more difficult lessons that are harder to come back from. One can’t expect to jump into the world of real estate and reinvent the wheel, and they can learn from those who have come up before them. 

Richard Wilson: My last question here is how could someone first get started as a commercial real estate broker? Like, what’s the first step or two they should take so they have a good foundation in the industry? 

Peter Von Der Ahe: Without a doubt, if you’re new you want to associate with someone who’s not new. That can look at different forms, and a lot of the time whatever market you’re in you may have 2 or 3 choices in terms of your entry point you have to pick the best one and it may be someone who’s got 5 years more experience than you and it’s a very small partnership. Or, it may be like in our situation where there’s a team and an organization that has almost 20 years of experience and there’s a whole structure that can give you a very diversified support system and also a knowledge base to tap into.

 I can’t think of the phrase right now, but there’s like hundreds of these of how much time you save and how much more money you make – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel the first time. It’s probably the most common mistake; someone who’s getting into the real estate brokering industry, they’re driven, they want to do it themselves, and those instincts are very, very good. But you want to put the teamwork in there because a good team member can save you years, and years, and years, and help you to leap frog. So, that would be my biggest advice, it’s to really research and at first research a good person to associate with. At first, it’s not about the money. When you are entering, it’s not about the money, it’s about what you’re learning. 

Richard: Right, right.