Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers

Through my podcast Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers, I’ve spent a year talking to some of the best and brightest commercial real estate brokers in the country. To date, I’ve interviewed over 35 top men and women in the industry sharing best practices, techniques, resources, stories and more. And as an active commercial real estate broker, I realized that I just took a year of graduate studies with the best professors in the country. One of my last guests, Bo Baron, challenged me to come up with a top-10 list of lessons. I thought that was a great idea and spent some time revisiting each episode. So here are my personal top-10 lessons from a year studying the craft through the country’s Elite (and one Canadian Paul Eric Poitras). 

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit North Dakota and talk to Jill Duemeland, a fourth generation of Duemelands Commercial. At Duemelands, Jill specializes in tenant and landlord representation and sale and leasing of industrial, medical, and retail properties in Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota; South Dakota; and Minnesota. Jill earned her CCIM designation at the age of 26 and is also an active member of NAR and ICSC. In 2009, Jill was invited to become a member of Vistage International, a chief executive organization. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in real estate from University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and is licensed in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. In 2010, Jill received the honor of being listed as a Rising Star by CCIM Institute and in 2009 Jill received the distinction of being listed in North Dakota Business Watch's List 40 under 40. And i first learned about her through Rod Santomassimo's great book Broker's Who Dominate. I am extremely impressed by Jill. She obviously has the business in her blood. But she also took great strides to create her path. In fact, she promotes moving away and working outside of the family at the onset of her career as one of the best things she did starting out. She also stresses delegation when trying to balance between brokerage, firm presidency and mostly maternity leave! What struck me most in this interview is Jill's efforts to "cut out the noise". Our business is all about focus and she shares several techniques and anecdotes on the importance of this concept. We also touched upon pushing your clients respectfully but confidently as we are the market expert, not the client. Among a lot of other great tips, she also suggested tracking lessons learned from each deal and discussing them as a team or firm.  Jill is a talented and hard working broker. I enjoyed this talk and hope you do as well.

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit New Mexico and talk to Dave Hill the Director of NAI Maestas & Ward in Albuquerque. Dave is a rare story in that he transitioned into CRE relatively late after 13 years as a sales engineer for a large corporation. Interestingly, from there, he got his start at a small boutique CRE shop. And in the course of our talk  he is able to, in hindsight, explain the positives and negatives of that opportunity. But one absolutely vital thing he did when he switched gears was 100% commit. He quit his job and worked like an animal to make his brokerage career work. And it paid off. He was able to leverage a great mentor relationship and over the years has become one of the most respected brokers in his market. In fact, he was named the 2013 New Mexico Commercial Realtor of the Year.  Dave and I really connected when we discussed the benefits of cooperative brokerage and networking within the brokerage community as hard as you do outside of it. And we moved on to discuss the importance of community involvement, and finding a niche that you genuinely will enjoy. It resonated with me as I'm struggling with taking on too much of late. I need to cut what I'm not truly passionate about.  One of the most important takeaways from this interview, for me, was Dave's emphasis on valuing the small deals. You can grow with the smallest of clients and you never know what a business can become. There are some really great nuggets of advice in this interview, I hope you enjoy it. 

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit the great state of Kentucky and talk to a fascinating CRE expert in Bo Barron. Bo's got a pretty cool story. He served five years in the Marine Corps and then rolled into the business as a 3rd generation commercial broker in his market. He spent over 10 years in the field as a broker, owner, and corporate executive with Sperry Van Ness. He then transitioned into commercial brokerage coaching through The Massimo Group who's founder, Rod Santomassimo, I had the pleasure of interviewing in CRE Elite Episode 22.  The passion Bo has for coaching comes through loud and clear in this talk.  And I appreciated his comment about how too many brokers approach this business like a hobby. This work deserves to be treated like what it is, a business. Your own business. We then spent a bit of time talking about Bo's experience working with his father and how, as a new broker, what it was like to be "afraid of the phone" and the lessons he learned in humility and truly earning the title of an expert.  Bo mentioned "moving the needle" a couple times in this talk. And that's what he's all about, focusing on best practices and figuring out ways to impact the market and do your job the right way.  Maybe I've said this before because I just get so excited about each of this interviews, but this is such a valuable talk. And towards the end of the interview Bo dropped one of my absolutely favorite lines since starting this show. He said, "Emotions dropped out of school in 3rd grade and they're stupid". Listen to it in the context of our talk and you see how wise that comment is and how you can apply it to your own practice.  Anyways, I'm obviously a fan so I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did. 

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit Grand Rapids, Michigan and talk to Kurt Kunst a broker and partner at NAI Wisinski. Kurt began his real estate career in 1997. He is a SIOR and a CCIM designee that, having explored those programs on this show and in real life, I can tell you makes him an expert in the field. Kurt’s got a pretty cool story in that he took a very roundabout way towards his commercial brokerage career. In fact, he made the “leap” with 2 young kids in tow and little to no experience or background in CRE at the age of 24. So it was certainly an interesting journey.  Kurt and I cover a lot of interesting ground in this talk including “roof-top marketing”, prospecting ideas, a best practice on your listings, the importance of having structure to your days and a tip on referral partners. Kurt also tells a great story about encouraging his client to focus on the big picture when closing a deal. It stuck with me because I’m going through something similar right now where we’re fighting over a measly $15,000. I need to push all parties to focus on the long-term benefits of the deal, not on the present value of $15,000 on a near-million dollar deal. And, I just have to say, that I asked Kurt what is the most important personality trait a successful commercial real estate broker, and the answer he gave is genuinely my favorite one I’ve heard so far and something I will endeavor to implement myself.  Listen guys, this is a fun episode I hope you get a lot of out it, I sure did…

In this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit Omaha, Nebraska and speak with Bryan Hartmann the Senior Vice President of NAI NP Dodge. Bryan has over 15 years of experience in real estate. His experience includes residential and commercial land development, commercial development, investment sales, and office leasing. Bryan earned the distinguished title of Top Producing Broker at NAI NP Dodge in 2011, 2012 and 2014.  I was particularly interested in speaking to Bryan given his extensive experience in land sales and development. A recurring theme on my show this year has been a lack of inventory and Bryan and I discuss just that. The lack of building over the last 10 years has led to a dramatic strain on available space in certain markets and sectors. I've seen it locally here in Maine and Bryan's going through the same thing. People think low vacancy rates are a good sign for the economy and maybe that's so. All I know is that it's actually inhbiting deals as I struggle to find new and larger locations for my clients. Bryan and I also discussed how he's leveraged his past experiences as a developer in understanding his clients needs as well as lenders, he explains the importance of not trying to "dabble" in residential or commercial real estate (do one or the other - tough to do both), and I was thrilled to hear Bryan's highlighted marketing tip - personalized newsletters. It's something I've implemented successfully in Maine and found very effective.  We also covered the importance of persistence. In his words, "Try one more time" on that tough deal. Lastly, I drop a nugget about why I love when my competition forwards my emails... Enjoy guys! 

Bonjour everyone, in this week's episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite because we’re going international, all the way to Montreal, Canada. I was referred to an incredibly passionate and talented commercial real estate broker named Paul-Eric Poitras. I don’t usually quote company bios, but I liked this one and based off my talk with him, it really describes Paul-Eric well, “Paul-Éric is an industry veteran, a man of action, and a devoted father. He has excelled in commercial real estate since 1990. Over the years, he has earned the respect of his clients, colleagues and collaborators thanks to his professionalism, leadership, rigor and efficiency. As soon as he finished his studies, he jumped in with both feet and let his passion for real estate lead the way. An accomplished athlete, he is always up for new challenges and actively seeks out opportunities to surpass himself—a quality that comes through in his work where he does everything he can to reach his clients’ objectives, and to do it quickly and efficiently. As Team Leader of the Poitras Team, Paul-Éric brings his in-depth knowledge of the market and its trends to all his clients. He loves what he does and is committed to offering his clients a smooth and unique real estate experience.” Now, about today’s show, Paul-Eric was an awesome quest. His energy and love of the industry just oozes in this interview. He dropped some incredible tips and his quote early on, “to list is to last” really resonated with me as that’s been my personal mantra locally for the last year or two. We cover how he advanced early on, best practices in marketing materials, what apple trees have to do with real estate, of course Wayne Gretzky get’s mentioned, we had some fun and just killed this talk.  Paul-Eric shot me an email after our talk and said, “sorry, I get fired up about this shit” and I loved that. The dude loves the biz and got on a roll and I just let him go… Paul-Eric, no apologies necessary, Thank you sir and to my audience, enjoy this show as much as I did.

In this week’s CRE Elite, I visit the state of Oregon and talk to Andie Edmonds, a Partner and Principle Broker at NAI Aris out of Bend. Andie’s background in finance and real estate investing provides a unique combination of experience that enables her to offer thorough, on-target services for her clients. With a deep transaction history and a CCIM designation, Andie is a recognized expert in her market. Andie serves on the Board of Directors for the Oregon/SW Washington Chapter of CCIM. Andie is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in Business Administration-Finance. Andie is the Chairwoman of the Family Access Network Foundation Board of Directors and also spends time volunteering with Bethlehem Inn and Central Oregon Junior Golf Association. This was a fun talk and I was pleased to get right back in the swing of things, as it’s been a few months since I’ve conducted an interview. Andie proved to be a perfect guest and we cover a lot of ground. I really enjoyed her featured transaction story for which she was recognized by CCIM, it’s see why. I also appreciated her candor and perspective when I asked her about being a successful female broker in our largely male dominated industry. There’s a lot going on in this talk and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Enjoy!

“What’s Up?” is the the general question I’ve received often in the last few weeks and months. I greatly appreciate the emails and calls I’ve received asking why CRE Elite seemingly shut-down out of the blue in February. Well, there are two reasons....

In this week’s CRE Elite, I visit the state of Oklahoma and talk to Melanie Richardson, the Executive Vice President of First Commercial in Tulsa, OK. Melanie is a multi-family specialist with a background in Property Management and Customer Service. She assists Buyers and Sellers throughout the state of Oklahoma and several other mid-west markets. Melanie is very involved in her local REALTOR associations which we discuss and has chaired several state committees and has been recognized by here peers throughout the state as a result. I was interested in talking with Melanie for a couple of reasons. One, her standing as a well known and respected Realtor in her state. And two, her specialization in multi-families is something that I haven’t spent a lot of time on during my shows. It’s clear she does real estate the right way by leading with her clients interests first and foremost. I also really appreciate her focus on persistence. In fact, she gives a great quote towards the end “No really means not yet” is one of my personal favorites so far. Enjoy!

In this week’s CRE Elite, I visit the state of Utah and talk to Mark Jensen, the Senior Vice President of Investment Sales for the Newmark Grubb Akers office in Salt Lake City. Mark is a top producing investment broker with 10 years experience in the field. He is a member of the national Newmark Grubb Alliance Capital Markets Team and has closed over $350 million in commercial transactions since 2004. While he has experience and real time activity in all CRE sectors, Mark has sold over 2,000 apartment units in the past five years alone and that’s really his sweet spot. Mark has become a standout in the industry due to his focus on the best interest of his clients’ and he is fun to do business with and I really picked up on that during the course of our talk. We really had a lot of fun, ranging from his balance between work and family, to his investment sales strategies in marketing and networking, he describes what may very well be the “perfect” deal, he tells a great story about how he landed one of his most important clients, we spend some time talking about his own website where he features blogs, videos and white paper studies on his market. He highlights the importance of understanding the concept of an Exit Strategy and we break down a broker’s responsibility for “deliverability” and what that means. It’s an interesting discussion and concept and this whole show really delivered. It’s one of my longer episodes but well worth every minute. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode I visit the state of Iowa and talk to a rising... actually... make that a risen star in Tyler Dingel of CBRE / Hubble in Des Moines. Tyler is recognized in the greater Des Moines community as a leading broker in the retail and investment markets. Over his nine year career at CBRE|Hubbell Commercial, he has been involved in selling and leasing of over $300 million in real estate transactions. He has also been recognized among the top 30 retail performers across the Americas as well as one of the top ten retail performers in CBRE’s central United States region. Dingel received the Iowa Commercial Real Estate Association (ICREA) Broker of the Year award in 2013, Deal of the Year award in 2010 and Rising Star Award in 2008. Tyler and I dive into some really interesting things here – we go over good moves and bad moves as you’re just getting started, Tyler describes the difference between width versus depth of your professional network, which I really found interesting, we discuss family, some business resources and tell a couple cool anecdotes. This one’s got it all…. I hope you like it.

In this week’s episode, I am honored to have Michael Bull join me. Michael is, of course, the host of the Commercial Real Estate Show - a top-ranked radio show and podcast. He's also an extremely successful broker and currently the CEO of Bull Realty based in Atlanta, Georgia. I was so excited about the opportunity to talk to Michael specifically about his brokerage career. He obviously wears so many hats as CEO, broker, coach, consultant and radio host I got a kick out of asking him to think back on his much simpler brokerage days. You can tell in this conversation it’s the love of the deal that still drives him, he is very much a broker at heart, despite his many other responsibilities. We covered a lot of ground in this talk as Michael shared some of the philosophies he’s built his firm around, some early missteps he took as a young broker, he shares some really interesting insight into what he’s looking for when hiring new brokers, we discuss his show and the many resources that come with that. His overall love of the industry we’re all so lucky to work within is really inspiring… and it got me pretty pumped up to close some deals! Anyways, this is certainly one of my favorite show’s that I ‘ve done. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In this week’s episode, I visit Virginia and speak with Carter Byrnes. Carter is a First Vice President at Tyson's Corner CBRE office in McLean, Virginia. Carter has over 13 years of real estate experience in Virginia, he has specialized in both landlord and tenant representation and concentrates on several markets outside of the Beltway. He has negotiated over 2.1 Million square feet of lease and sale transactions with an aggregate value of over $340 Million dollars. Carter specializes in healthcare working landlords and physician groups in developing and executing real estate strategies designed to achieve their occupancy and management objectives. During our conversation, we cover a lot of great stuff here. He tells a couple really interesting transactional stories, he shares some incredible resources that I’d never heard of and we wrap up with some really strong advice for newer brokers. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode I visit South Dakota and talk with an extremely talented and hard working broker named Nick Gustafson, a principal at Bender Commercial Real Estate in Sioux Falls. Nick  is a ten year veteran commercial real estate broker.  Nick started taking real estate classes in his final year at Augustana College and started his brokerage career upon graduation.  Applying the phone skills he acquired at his college sales job with Gateway Computer, Nick made thousands of cold calls in his first year in the business, quickly becoming a leading tenant rep broker, honing his deal making skills on small to mid-sized office leases. Nick actively expanded his client base with repeat business and aggressive prospecting. Tenant representation deals led to listings and listings led to an increasing number of commercial building sales.  Nick spends the majority of his time working on investment and commercial real estate sales transactions over $500,000. We have a lot in common in that we're both from small markets and started our careers at about the same time. I quickly realized that Nick is driven and focused. While his success, and any of our successes, have a lot of layers and reasons his starts and finishes with one thing... hard work. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode, I talk with Rod N. Santomassimo the founder and president of The Massimo Group. He’s a CRE broker, coach and author.  Rod possesses over 25 years of commercial real estate industry experience, a solid financial background and a proven growth track record that has repeatedly led to increased individual and company revenue. Prior to creating the Massimo Group, Rod served a variety of roles in the commercial real estate industry including broker, owner, manager and executive level management for local, regional and national brokerage organizations.  Prior to launching the Massimo Group, Rod was Executive Vice President of Sperry Van Ness where he was responsible the general oversight of the organization’s franchise operations and as well as their training platforms. During the course of this talk, Rod and I discuss his brokerage career, his transition to coaching, his book on CRE brokerage and a lot more. Rod really pumped me up and made me realize how lucky we are to be in our industry. Enjoy! 

Welcome to another Featured Episode of CRE Elite. Today, I have a chance to talk with Pam Goodwin, a CRE broker, owner of Goodwin Commercial Real Estate and published author from the state of Texas. Pam has spent the past 20+ years in commercial real estate working in areas of project management, leasing, tenant coordination, development, and construction. Pam is very active member and a former chair of The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors and Real Estate Professionals (NTCAR) and Deals in Heels. During the course of our talk, Pam and I discuss the development of her career path, her experience in writing her most recent book, the barriers to entry for females in the CRE industry, and several great resources on the web and otherwise for brokers. Pam wraps up with one of the best pieces of advice I've heard for newer brokers and one that I actually pulled off myself. 

Welcome to what I can only call a very special episode of CRE Elite: Broker to Brokers. The state of Illinois lost Charles Wiercinski, a great CRE broker and man, a few weeks ago after a battle with cancer. What follows is my conversation with a broker Chuck mentored, Jim Conrad. Jim is now the managing broker for McLennan Commercial Properties in Park Ridge, IL, a Chicago suburb. Jim has been in the business since 2007 and was named the McLennan Companies Rookie of the Year. He's got experience in all sectors of CRE including property management, property leasing and sales. He was the winner of the '09 CCIM 101 Scholarship and is currently the sales and leasing broker for 25 properties totaling over 500,000 SF. 

In this week’s CRE Elite Broker to Brokers I visit the one and only Manhattan New York City. I talk to Dana Moskowitz, the President and Principal of Evo Real Estate Group. Dana is a CRE lifer getting started in the business through her dad and extended family. She’s been brokering deals since fresh out of college and, today, is responsible for the management of the day-to-day operations of the company and oversight of the brokerage division. She recently spearheaded the rebranding of the company, the development of a new website, and the relocation of the firm's offices. In addition, Dana is the leasing agent for several properties in Manhattan and is responsible for overseeing capital improvement projects at those buildings.    During the course of our discussion we talk about some marketing tips, her experience in leasing and acquisitions in the big city, her referall and networking sources, and she shares a great success story that I think anyone one of us would be proud of. Dana is a real pro and a wonderful guest. I got a lot of out of this interview and I hope you do to. Enjoy. 

Today we visit Massachusetts and I talk with Jeremy Cyrier, the President of MANSARD Commercial Real Estate Services focusing on the Greater Boston market.  Jeremy founded MANSARD on November 1, 2007.  He is a CCIM designee and served as the President of the New England CCIM Chapter in 2011. He is also one of 85 commercial real estate instructors for the CCIM Institute (14,000 members world-wide) where he teaches both the Financial Analysis class and Market Analysis for Commercial Real Estate.    This was a really interesting talk for me and I only wish we had more time. Like all my guests, time was tight and he had to hustle getting to an important property tour. But we covered a lot of ground including his thoughts on the importance of a concept called “positioning theory”, we discussed a teaching resource that he actually built, and why Jeremy compares our industry to the subprime lending market…  just listen to the end and you’ll get what I’m talking about, it’s an interesting take. I really enjoyed this talk and I hope you do to. 

  Today we visit Pennsylvania and I chat with Ryan Miller, the newly named Executive Vice President of NAI Global for the Eastern Region of North America. After a 10-year plus career as a broker for CBRE, Ryan now serves as more of a business development manager on behalf of NAI Members. Ryan's role is to develop strategy to maximize resources that will drive business and build the NAI Global brand. Ryan is a member of CoreNet Global and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). He was also recently named one of the Real Estate Forum’s Top 50 under 40 industry professionals.   During the course of our talk Ryan and I discuss his transition from brokerage to management and broker support. He endorses the importance of specialization. He shares some wins both in brokerage and his new role at NAI and also gives some strong advice for newer brokers. . I really enjoyed this talk because Ryan was able to share his experience from both brokerage and management perspectives. Enjoy!  

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Arizona and talk to Ari Spiro, President of Orion Investment Real Estate in Scottsdale. Ari has been involved in the real estate industry for nearly 20 years and has been a party over a billion dollars in total transactions. Ari is an interesting guest in that he actually switched from an established firm and founded his boutique firm with only two brokers at the time. He’s helped it grow to over 20 today. Ari’s got experience in commercial property management, leasing, and investment sales, has been cited in countless print publications, has appeared as a panelist at numerous conferences and is actively involved with ICSC. Ari is also committed to his local chapter of ICSC and serves on its Planning Action Committee where he has co-chaired several committees. During the course of our talk I ask Ari about his decision to start his own firm, we get into a number of great pieces of advice for newer brokers, we discuss an extremely effective marketing tool Orion has implemented, Ari promotes the importance of developing long term relationships and he also stresses the unfortunately lost art of collaboration with other brokers. I really loved this talk and the amount of value and resources Ari presents – enjoy!

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Texas and talk to Coy Davidson, Senior Vice President of Colliers International's Houston office. Coy specializes in Tenant Representation with a focus on the office and healthcare industries. He’s a 23 year veteran of CRE brokerage. Coy was way ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and the potential social media has on our industry. In 2009, he started blogging about CRE and created an incredible resource via his personal website. Additionally, he’s leveraged Twitter, among other social media sites, as well as any broker that I've seen in the country. This was a very enlighting talk that I learned a lot from and I hope you do to.

In this week's CRE Elite, I introduce our first Featured Episode. These are reserved for value-add interviews that don't fit the mold of my typical show format. Throughout this process I've been exposed to amazing resources and talent. And, because I make the rules around here, I want to be able to share as much content as possible with you, my listeners. So in this interview, I get a chance to talk to Mike Carey, Vice-President of Tranzon Auction Properties out of Portland, Maine and we feature auctions. As you know by now, I'm a strong proponent of auctions for the right property and situation. In fact, you may recognize Mike as the contact for my show sponsor. The more Mike and I discussed CRE Elite and what it's mission is, I realized that he would be an ideal interview candidate. With direct auction experience spanning over ten years Mike has participated in over $100M in transactions including sales all over the country: A 1997 graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, MA, he lives in Portland, ME and is a past chair and current board member of the Portland Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.

This week we visit California and talk to Brad Umansky, President of Progressive Real Estate Partners out of Rancho Cucamonga. Brad started his career in 1992 and became one of the leading retail brokers in Southern California having closed over 500 lease and sale transactions.   In 2008 he founded his firm and backed off on day-to-day brokerage activities. As a result, Brad is really different from my other guests thus far in that he's in more of a leadership & mentoring role. But he did spend almost two decades in brokerage and even wrote a book on CRE strategies for investment real estate called Value Added.   During the course of this talk, Brad drops a few nuggets from his book, he tells me about the Retail Brokerage Network, he promotes auctions as an alternative sales tool, and we roll through a TON of real life resources to find best CRE practices.  

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit New Hampshire and talk to Chris Norwood, President of NAI / The Norwood Group out of Bedford.  Chris’s primary focus is the sale and leasing of commercial real estate space in the Southern New Hampshire market. As President, Chris is also very involved with the overall strategic growth of the firm.Chris began his real estate brokerage career in 2000 when he became a licensed salesperson in the state of New Hampshire. Since that time he has assisted in closing tens of millions of dollars worth of sale and lease transactions over hundreds of thousands of square feet, as well as aided in consulting and valuation work.

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Colorado and talk to John Propp, President of John Propp Commercial Group just outside of Denver, CO.  John’s skills, fanatical attention to detail, extreme proficiency with numbers, responsiveness, patience, negotiation, compassion, assertiveness, diplomacy, CCIM education, and most importantly, sales ability, are perfectly suited to the real estate management business. John is equally comfortable working with the National Corporate Retailers as he is with the Mom and Pop business owners that make up such a large portion of the retail business. As an owner of real estate, John has the perspective needed to make prudent decisions that have a positive long-term effect on the profitability and viability of any project. As a landlord, he understands that the main reason for him being there is to service the needs of the customers, the tenants. During the course of our conversation we discuss his experiences in the early 90's developing opportunities via foreclosures, John shares an awesome story about leveraging all the services your firm can supply and towards the end of our talk John discusses how he was able to earn significant income beyond brokerage commissions.

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Rhode Island and talk to Michael Giuttari, the President and founder of MG Commercial Real Estate in Providence, Rhode Island.  Prior to forming MG Commercial, he was President, Principal Broker and one of the founders of another regional commercial real estate firm for 10 years. He has been in the commercial real estate business for 27 years. Mike is heavily involved with his local Board of Realtors, the chamber of commerce and is a great champion for the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR). His clients include CVS Pharmacy, Pepperidge Farm, Newell Rubbermaid, FedEx Ground, Hoechst-Celanese, Cintas, Highland Corporate Park (City of Woonsocket), F.W. Webb, Rhode Island Association of Realtors, and the Tasca Automotive Group. During the course of our conversation we discuss the importance of strong branding and name recognition, something that I took great interest in given my own experience at a smaller firm but one with great reputation. I also asked him about his experience with SIOR and how that organization has helped his career.

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Ohio and talk to Greg Hrabcak, a broker at H.E.R. Commercial Realty Services out of Columbus, Ohio.  Greg started as a full time broker straight after graduating from The Ohio State University in 1984. He has been involved in the sale and leasing of Commercial, Industrial, Investment, Retail, Office real estate, as well as Business Brokerage sales throughout Central Ohio. In 2008 he served as the 100th president of the Columbus Board of Realtors. Greg is currently serving as the President Elect of the Ohio Association of Realtors and will serve as its President in 2015. He’s highly decorated including being named the  Columbus Board of Realtors Salesperson of the Year in 2012. During the course of our conversation we discuss competing brokerage collaboration and two groups that Greg is actively involved with. I also ask Greg about his heavy involvement in advocacy work on behalf of commercial brokers.

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit Florida and talk to Michael Fay, Chairman & Founding Partner of Colliers International South Florida office in Miami. Mike has been a commercial broker for over 30 years and has closed over $4 billion (with a B!), in transactions. He specializes in investment sales and has an acute understanding and experience working with lenders and special servicers on REO and note sales. Mike is the definition of a "rainmaker" and during the course of our interview he stressed teamwork and collaboration as the key to his success. He says the lone-wolf broker is a dying breed and his energy, drive and talent was obvious during our talk. I really enjoyed talking with him and hope you enjoy listening.

In this week's CRE Elite, we visit North Carolina and talk to Ellen Moore, a broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial Triad based in Winston Salem. She's been in the brokerage business for over 20 years, is very active in the community and has received numerous awards, most notably the 2012 Winston Regional Association of Realtors Commercial Practitioner of the Year. Ellen is my first female guest on CRE Elite and I took the opportunity to ask her about her experience in what is, frankly, a male dominated industry. Her candor and advice made for a great interview.

This week we visit the state of Vermont, home of  Ken Libby a broker at Stowe Realty in Stowe, Vermont. Ken is a highly decorated commercial real estate broker with over 30 years of experience. He is a 3-time Vermont Realtor of the Year. He specializes in single-family and 2nd home investment opportunities. At the national level, Libby is one of 43 members of the executive committee of the National Association of Realtors, which leads the 1.1-million-member organization. He was presidential liaison for the national association’s international and global division in 2010. He chairs the board of advisers for Associated Realty of the Americas, an invitation-only luxury real-estate referral network, which has members in Mexico, Canada, the U.S., plus a number of European countries.

Bill is a broker at Cook Commercial Properties in Jackson, Mississippi, and would you believe, among other things in his career, he spent 35 years as a very successful banker, but decided at the young age of 67 to transition to commercial real estate brokerage. 12 years later, he has been named the State of Mississippi’s commercial realtor of the year and is competing and beating, guys, literally 50 years his junior.

Today we’re talking with Steve Martin, the broker not the Saturday Night Live host. Steve is the owner and managing director at Sperry Van Ness Martin Commercial out of Evansville, Indiana. He specializes in multifamily, investment, retail and development. Evansville, he explains, is a smaller market so he dabbles in a lot of different sectors. He’s been in the business for 38 years and in 2013 was named the Indiana Commercial Realtor of the Year.

Tony is an eight-year veteran commercial broker after spending 13 years as a small business owner. We cover, among other things, the pros and cons of his transition from small business owner to broker.

The Masiello Group's Kevin Fletcher is a generalist. He specializes in everything: from investment and income-producing properties, to retail, office, industrial, and development opportunites throughout Maine and New Hamphire.

Derek Waltchack is an expert in retail brokerage, shopping center development and waterfront subdivisions.