Today, we are kicking off our move into the commercial real estate vertical with Duke Long, an extremely knowledgeable Commercial Real Estate Broker and owner of Realty Executives Lafayette in Lafayette, IN. Duke has a unique background in real estate and has even served in the United States Air Force. We look forward to his compelling writing as he kicks off our move into our commercial real estate vertical. Please welcome Duke in the comments.
And now, Duke Long:
Yea hey hi hello everyone. I’m a Commercial Real Estate Broker. Many many thanks to the Agent Genius people for the opportunity to bring a little Commercial RE point of view. If you take a close look at the picture some of you may be thinking “he obliviously thinks he is this ass kicking testosterone fed alpha male big boy broker.” Well…. Kinda, yea.
The reality is that right now I feel like the guy on the bottom. I was in a meeting with some other alpha male brokers this week and do you think they had the balls to admit they were getting pounded? HELL NO. What are the stages of grief again? Shock, Denial, Pain, etc…it got me thinking.
Where are we in the Commercial real estate market? 1st year of recovery? 2nd quarter of the “L”?. 3rd matrix of the bounce? There are a lot of educated opinions out there. Some of them not so bad in comparison. Some more middle of the road. Some more that are pretty hardcore. The daily reality that I deal with is very simple. Prices for Commercial property are down, banks are failing, lending has all but dried up, and distressed properties just sit.
Why am I doing this?
Then why am I still hitting the street like Madmen. (AMC channel reference?) Kids, wife, dogs, cats, Universities to feed, you know… the alpha male thing. We still, in my opinion, have at least a year or two to recover all the job losses from the past years. Commercial RE is 100% dependent on job expansion and contraction. There is still a huge supply of space out there available for what may be considered a Buyer/Tenant priced market.
Will the market crash? No. There are way too many signs that the market has stabilization, REIT’s look to be on firm ground and commercial loan modifications are easing the potential ticking time bomb. Well you may ask how does Mr. Hot Shot Commercial RE Broker survive in this market hell? One simple word. PEOPLE.
Doin’ it old school & new school
I use every tool available to me to get in front of people who need my service. Old school tactics like calling them on the phone..remember that? Networking groups, email property info, showing up at bank and title functions etc..New school stuff like, you know that online Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter thingy. When has this ever changed?
I have always tried to do whatever it takes to create value and service for my clients. Will I be in the beautiful, painful, stressful exciting, hit the lottery kind of money Commercial Real Estate business 20 years from now? Take another look at the picture …you know what? Maybe I am the guy on the top. I’ve been there and it’s Damn Good!
Readers, please feel free to click around the links in Duke’s bio, get to know him, and welcome him in the comments below.
Doug Lazovick
November 5, 2009 at 11:58 am
Duke,
Congratulations. We need more people representing Commercial Real Estate in the RE 2.0 space. Glad it’s you. Look forward to reading your future posts.
Doug
Duke Long
November 5, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Thanks Doug,
Any suggestions and points of view are always welcome. I am sure going to put mine out there.
Doug Lazovick
November 5, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Duke,
More articles on how bad the next few years are going to be for CRE owners 😉 But seriously, if I think of any topics that I feel need to be addressed in CRE, I’ll pass it on to you.
Doug
Coy Davidson
November 5, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Way to go Duke and thanks to AGENTGENIUS for giving the CRE Industry a forum on their site!
Duke Long
November 5, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Thanks to you Coy .You crank out some great content.
Phil Ludlow, Carpenter Realtors, Lebanon, IN
November 6, 2009 at 10:03 am
Duke, THE best stimulus the u.s. economy for short-term and long-term prosperity is to make selling/leasing distressesd properties a smoother, rational process and transaction. You’re the guy on the bottom and the lender/mortgage servicer is the guy on the top with weights (gov’t regs & i r s tax laws/loopholes) in his gloves. Loan-to-Value isn’t the only thing that’s upside down in the current market environment.
Duke Long
November 6, 2009 at 11:39 am
Phil,
Preaching to the choir.I feel a disressed cre post coming. Thanks for the comment.
Matthew Rathbun
November 6, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Welcome aboard Duke! Love seeing some Commercial peeps hanging out here.
Duke Long
November 7, 2009 at 9:19 am
Thanks for the bump Matthew.Stalking your stuff for a long time.
Stacey Hartman
November 6, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hey, Duke. Great first post. Looking forward to reading more from you on REAL ESTATE, rather than the silly comments you’ve left for me recently on Facebook. Go Colts! Sorry, couldn’t resist… talk to you soon re: RE BarCamp Indiana.
Duke Long
November 7, 2009 at 9:15 am
Stacey,
Peyton who? is not a silly comment. Only a suffering Bears fan can truly appreciate Hall of Fame skills. Thanks for reading the post.Looking forward to bringing a little CRE to the Indiana Association of Realtors Conference.