GreyCast w/ Everett Wong

In this episode of GreyCast, we are joined by Everett Wong, the head of Gray Steel's LA office and a multifamily property sales expert. Starting from the entertainment industry's mailroom, Everett's journey to real estate success is inspiring. He shares valuable insights into the current challenges in the multifamily market and the key to his team's triumphs in a competitive landscape.

Don't miss this fascinating dive into Everett Wong's remarkable career and the world of investment sales!

Takeaways

Leading Multifamily Investment Sales
A Journey from the Midwest to Real Estate
Behind the Scenes: Everett's Hollywood Assistant Experience
Pandemic Impact: Multifamily Property Market Challenges
Embracing Change: Everett's Career Transition to Investment Sales
The Power of Personal Branding in the Real Estate Industry
Thriving in a Competitive Market: Everett's Team SuccessEmbracing Diversity & Finding Like-Minded Friends for Growth

Quotes
"Selling oneself matters more than the firm's reputation. Building trust and client relationships prevail, regardless of the big-name behind you." - Everett Wong

"Don't hesitate to seek help and connect with others in the industry. Surprising opportunities can arise just by asking." - Everett Wong

Featured in this Episode
Everett Wong
Director
Profile: https://greysteel.com/team/everett-wong/
Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/everett-wong-5633b963/
Email: [e-mail]
Contact: 310-439-5790

Chapters
00:24 - Introduction
02:23 - Navigating the Highly Competitive LA Market
05:07 - Embracing Roots: High School Memories and Community
09:25 - Facing the Unexpected: Culture Shock at Michigan
12:49 - Thriving in Competition: Michigan's Bright Minds
17:04 - Hollywood Bound: The Intense Life of a Mailroom Assistant
20:04 - Discovering Passion: From Mailroom to Successful Marketing
21:51 - Taking the Leap: Building a Reputation in Real Estate
25:44 - Navigating Challenges: Multifamily Market Slump and Bid-Ask Spread
30:39 - The Winning Formula: Agreement, Focus, Learning, and Asking
32:07 - Forging a Path in Real Estate Without Connections
32:41 - Outro

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You know, I honestly I chalkit up to this is going to sound
silly, but like I chalk itup to ignorance, like meaning, I
just didn't know how hard it wasgoing to be, you know what I
mean. So I think sometimes likenot knowing is actually better because you don't
talk yourself out of it, youjust kind of jump in. Hello.

(00:24):
This is Ari Fuzabody. I amthe CEO of Gray Steal. Gray Steals
a national boutique top fifteen commercial realestate capital market services from I want to
welcome and also thank you for joiningGreaycast today. This show is an open
and light conversation around entrepreneurship, lifeand the lessons we learn along the way.
When I was younger, I wasalways looking for folks I could find

(00:46):
inspiration from and to inform my path. And I hope that the young people
that are listening to Greycasts today findvalue and hearing the experiences our guest share.
I would love to hear from anyof you that are listening in.
Feel free to reach out to meon LinkedIn social media channel of choice.
Hey, everybody, thanks for joiningus again for another edition of the great

(01:06):
Cast podcast. I'm your host MikeHare and on today's show, we speak
with University of Michigan alum Everett Wong. Everett leads to Los Angeles office for
Great Steel, and he focuses oninvestment sales of multi family product. You
know, one of the things Ilove talking with Everett about today is really
kind of how he found real estate. You know, this is a young

(01:30):
man who went from Los Angeles tothe Midwest for school, had just a
huge culture shot going into that,and then he comes out. He comes
back to California after school, youknow, and tries a bunch of different
things. He worked for a talentagency, a large talent agency that was
pretty interesting, and then for alarge reek so tried the corporate side of

(01:52):
commercial real estate, and then reallyended up on the entrepreneurial side of the
business and investment sales. He's beenable to direct his career and his career
with Grace Deal over the last fiveyears. Really, it's just a pleasure
to speak with him, a reallybright and enjoyable person, and hopefully enjoy
the conversation as much as I did. Here you go, thanks for joining

(02:19):
us. Every glad to be here, Mike, Thanks for having me now
it's uh, it's great to haveyou. I um, you know,
we were talking a little bit beforewe went on to the podcast. But
you know, Everett and I forfor the audience. You know, we've
we've met at conferences before, butwe've never really had a chance to work
together ever. It runs our LAoffice for multi family me being here on
the East coast, this is thisis really probably the most we've we've had

(02:43):
a chance to talk in the ina couple of years. We've overlapped.
But but so so I'm gonna nowuse this opportunity to ask you a lot
of questions and embarrass you roll soall right, cool, So I have
to say, like, I seeyour business. I see I see a
lot of closings. You guys areconsistently putting up closings on the board.
We do what week we call hereat Gray Steal and you guys are up

(03:06):
there all the time. And fromwhat I know, the LA market is,
if not the most it is oneof the most competitive markets from a
brokerage standpoint in the country. It'sincredible the amount of brokers that are out
there, you know, hustling fordeals. So so just you know,
I wanted to compliment you on that. I've always thought really just it's incredible
that you're able to you're able tosource deals in the market like that.

(03:30):
Are you're from the LA area,is that right? Born and racey,
I'm born and raised yeah, Angelinaexactly. So is that where you focus
your business? Like, do youlive here where you grew up? Is
are those the markets you cover?Yeah? So yeah, funny enough,
I actually just purchased a home,so I'm moved across town. So I

(03:50):
grew up on the West Side,which is kind of like, um,
I guess that you consider the WestSide to be anything west of the four
O five Freeway, and it includesareas like Venice Pie, Delarey, Marina,
Delarey, Santa Monica, Brentwood,West LA. Yeah. So,
and then I just seen I recentlymoved to northeast Los Angeles, which is

(04:11):
like kind of you know, thebeat nick like hipster you know what I
mean, part of town that's likesuper up and coming. Yeah, So
I guess answer your question, I, um, yeah, A born and
raised in LA on the West Side, but most of the business that I
do is kind of central Los Angeles, So like I would say, like
mid Los Angeles, so a littlebit further away from where I grew up.

(04:34):
Tell me a little bit about LA. I mean, I'm a I
grew up in New York and Iremember going out to California and to me
then I was a you know kid, it was the most beautiful place I'd
ever seen, and I didn't wantto go back, you know, but
it was so different, such astark difference from what I would see every
day. What was it like growingup in a place like that. I

(04:56):
mean, it seems like you're drivingeverywhere. How far was your school from
you? I mean, what wereyou into in high school? What was
what was kind of like the highschool life like for you? And I
that's such a great question. Imean, I I think of just thinking
about my high school years, Ilike in terms of like, well,
how I remember it. I mean, it was actually a very great time

(05:16):
in my life. I mean Istill, um, you know, talk
to all of my friends from fromhigh school. For the most part of
the pretty tight knit like alumni community. But like growing up in LA is
um. I guess it just depends. But I don't know. There's there's
so much to get into in LAwhich is what I like about it.
I mean there's you know, differentparts of town, you know what I
mean that all are very unique intheir own ways, different cultures. It's

(05:41):
a very you know, large meltingpot. And so I think that was
probably like the biggest shock for me. Like when I actually went to Michigan.
It's like, you know, Ihere, I am, I'm this
l a kid like kind of grewup with all racist ethnicities, religions and
what have you. And it wasn'treally like that, you know, in
Michigan. But you know not andnot that the folks are are you know

(06:01):
in Michigan are not understanding or accepting. They definitely are, But it was
just kind of a it was aculture shot for me. Yeah, I
can only imagine what it must belike going to go to the Midwest.
I mean even just yeah, thecoal right. But but ann Arbor and
Arbors are pretty progressive place, isn'tit. Did you find it to be
definitely? Yeah, I mean annArbor is I mean, gosh, I

(06:25):
would say, probably one of themost progressive cities in the country. I
would say, just you know,super liberal, uh, you know,
very you know, like I said, accepting of all weeks as ethnicities,
religions and what have you. Itwas great. Yeah, and Arbor is
a beautiful town and nothing bad tosay about in Arborts. It's wonderful.
But I mean compared to coming fromla it's just it's so much it's small,

(06:47):
right, different. Yeah, it'sdifferent. It's I mean, it
certainly is a small, small timefeel. But honestly, like it was
kind of nice to get away fromfrom that, from from the big city,
I guess, you know, forfour years, it really was,
and just kind of see you know, what else was out there, just
in the way of um, youknow, uh, the different folks from

(07:11):
different parts of the country, becauseAnn Erber is like you know, or
I should say Michigan. I meannot everybody's from Michigan. I mean I
was friends and like you know Miami, like from Miami, from New York,
like from Chicago, like you know, all over the place, Colorado.
I mean, I just like,oh, kind of come to Michigan.
So you know, it's kind ofsomething that I was I was thinking
about going to USC you know,which is local, but wanted to expand

(07:34):
my horizons a little bit more inMichigan. Definitely afforded that opportunity for sure.
Yeah, so what's so, what'sthat like, you're you know,
you're in high school. You youyou have kind of obviously you did something
right in high school. You certainlyhad different options that I coming out of
high school, so you kind ofthinking USC maybe, which is I mean

(08:00):
basically home right and then versus goingto Michigan. What else was on the
list? Honestly, it was justthose two kind of narrowed down. My
dad went to SC, so Ikind of grew up like an SC kid.
I suppose it was really I wasreally just as signing between those two
schools. And I mean, honestly, to be completely honest with the reason

(08:22):
that I actually went to Michigan,it's because the week that it, uh,
you know, where I was supposedto actually make the decision, I
got into a very big fight withmy parents and I was like, screw
this on the out of here.And so that was the tipping point that
ultimately sent me to Michigan. Andhonestly, I'm glad I did it for
whatever words, you know when yousaid that, when I hear like it's

(08:46):
I'm about to hear this conversation,and I asked it a lot. It's
usually like chasing a boy or agirl. You know. Actually, the
reason I went it always is differentlyfollowed those stuff different, I know.
Yeah. So all right, soyou go and and give me like your
first week at Michigan. Right,So you're you're, you know, coming

(09:07):
in from California. I've got thislike vibe of like like just culture shock
and big sweaters, and you're thereand like, you know, flip flops
is like, yeah, totally relaxed. Well yeah, maybe, yeah,
tell me about the culture shock seriously. Yeah, I mean, you get
there and it's like, I mean, not only a culture shock, but

(09:28):
it's also just like the shock ofbeing a a I mean, because Michigan's
a big school. I mean there'slike thirty thousand or twenty. I don't
even know how many undergrads right now. I want to say it's like five
thousand and class or something like that. So it's like it's just a big
school. And then you go inand then you know, it's like right
when you started school's football season,you know, so it's like you got
you're at the big house every Saturday, and like it's it's honestly, it's

(09:52):
overwhelming, like like it really is. You kind of get there and you're
you don't honestly, it's a freshman. You're eighteen years old. You don't
even know who you are yet,you know, so you're kind of getting
to college and like you get thrownin this environment and you're you're trying to
feel your way through the environment.But at the same time, you're also
like trying to figure out who youare, you know what I mean,
where you fit in, and solike it's really honestly it's daunting, but

(10:13):
like you, like anything, youjust kind of feel it out and you
like you you you know, youfind you know, some friends who are
aligned with you know, uh withyou and what what what you're looking to
do and uh and yeah, that'sjust that's just kind of it. But
yeah, the culture shock, well, you know, like I said,
it was just you know, comingfrom from la like a big, you
know, diverse metropolis, like Idon't know, I mean, to go

(10:37):
to the small town that's very uhyou know, it's not as diverse,
you know, which between you know, no big deal, but uh,
yeah, it's just that that wasthe shock of it all. Outside of
you know weather. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that So how did you
how did you find you know,how did you find your friends? Was
it like through the dorms? Youknow? Was it classes? And the

(10:58):
classes are huge? I imagine you'rein lecture halls with all your freshman classes,
you know. Yeah, I meanI actually had, like, I
mean, my high school sent maybefifteen kids my year to Michigan, So
you know, kind of when whenyou get there, it's like, you
know, I guess you're hanging outwith them and then I don't know,
everybody finds, you know, activitiesand things like that that are going on.

(11:18):
He's kind of you know, branchoff from there. Yeah, and
so that's just you know, notunlike I guess how anybody would do it
at you know, at any school. Yeah. Yeah, so you enjoyed
the four years there, though,I'm pretty sure. Yeah. I mean,
honestly, a lot of a lotof kids my year left. I
mean they I would say half thekids that went to Michigan from my high
school ended up transferring after the firstyear. You know. That's partly due

(11:41):
to like I guess, culture,shock, weather, you know, whatever
whatever it is. But but yeah, I mean I stuck it out,
and I'm glad I did because like, yeah, you know, um,
I just had a great experience.I met some nice people and overall,
you know, I think I hadhad a very inclusive, you know college
experience. Aunts Yeah, I have. So my sister who lives about forty

(12:03):
five minutes from there, and mynephew just graduated there. Oh, I
guess three years ago. And hissister went to Michigan State, and his
other sister went to Notre Dame.So it's a it's a house divided.
But but I mean he raves aboutit. He can't say enough about the
experience. And you know, forhim, you think about it, he
came from such a big diverse andyou know, a city with so much

(12:26):
to offer. He came from fortyfive minutes down the road. So for
him it was mind expanding, right, I mean this broadened his horizons and
and he loved it. Yeah,so it was it was a you know,
great experience for him. But tellme about how how was the classes?
I mean, you were a polysign major political science and I mean
pretty rigorous coursework. Yeah, Imean I would say, I mean,

(12:50):
God of Michigan. I didn't Ididn't realize how good a school Michigan was
until I was like there because Icame from a really good high school.
So you know, so I feltlike, you know, I was probably
you know, prepared someone and thatwas but like, I mean there's some
really smart kids and mechially, youknow, I say, it was like
very competitive and uh you know justin the way classes. Yeah, I
mean, like there's just like alot of really smart kids. I kind

(13:13):
of Michigan and you think, oh, it's a big school. I can
kind of like hide you know itkind of in the depths of it all.
But like there's there's really some sharpkids there. I mean, I
feel like everybody I came across waslike it was it was fairly sharp in
some capacity. Yeah. Yeah,I bet we had We had a few
kids that ended up in Michigan thatit was it always at least from from

(13:35):
New York. I just you know, it had a great reputation and I
hear it's it's gotten even more competitiveover the years. Yeah. So,
um, what was most political sciencelike? Was that a big was that
a big major there? Big schoolthere was, but it like I kind
of was. I thought. Thereason I chose it is like I just
thought I would always like go tolaw school, and I just I worked

(13:58):
at a law firms and I wasjust like, yeah, it's not really
for me, you know. SoI was just kind of in this major
and yeah, so I got onlyyou know, I I Machigan have like
the greatest political science program. Imean, I yes, it's good,
but definitely yeah. I wouldn't sayit's something that is uh, you know,
I guess Machian is known for aMachigan is known for like their business

(14:18):
school, their law school, theirmedical school, you know, things like
like that. It's kind of moreof an afterthought than anything. So then
you learned through those through through thoseinternships that or those experiences, that that
law wasn't for you, and thenand then you but at what point did
you realize like you were going tohave to regroup and and kind of go
a different direction. Yeah, Imean this was like fairly early on,

(14:41):
Like yeah, like I said,I worked at a couple of law firms,
and I was like just yeah,I kind of got the lay of
the land, saw what attorneys actuallydid. And in no disrespect, I
mean my niance is an attorney,but I just kind of realized like early
on then it wasn't you know itwas not for me, So glad I
realized that early. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's funny. For

(15:03):
as long as we've been doing thispodcast, we've we've had several people that
are actually currently lawyered or were lawyersand converted to investment sales or they thought
they were going to pursue a lawdegree and then and then change course.
So it's it's very kind. Ihear it all the time. I mean
just from from talking to people throughthe years. There's a lot of converted
attorneys in this business. And soI mean, you are, you're one

(15:26):
of the smart ones. I learnedit early before we're putting all those years
into law school and then King thebig partner. So you come so you
come, you come home? Didyou go? So you come to Los
Angeles after after you graduate, comeback and you start doing is it event
marketing? Brand marketing? Yeah.So Actually my first job at a college

(15:46):
I was I worked at a verylarge talent agency called the ICM, which
is like kind of one of thetop five, like top Hollywood agencies,
and so that is kind of whatI did. I was going to system
if you've seen entres really had ata job that was like very similar to
Lloyd, which is like, youknow, the the assistate. I mean

(16:07):
like, yeah, so I didthat, and I just you know,
again it was on track to likebeing a talent agent. I was like
again, I again just kind offigured out that I didn't really want to
do that either, you know,so I kind of pivoted and went to
go work for like one of thelarge reads real estate investment trust space here

(16:27):
locally, and so I just kindof got my foot in the door there.
And we had just kind of startedin real estate. And I was
probably twenty four at the at thetime, twenty four twenty five, so
that range. Yeah. So yeah, so that that's kind of made the
pivot from you know, college tofirst job to you know, ultimately like
real estate. So so yeah,you know, for as much as I

(16:49):
talked to attorneys, I don't talkto many people that were in talent agencies.
So give me kind of the thetwo minutes and that was it was
it as in I mean obviously Ihad to rush, But was it pretty
intense there? I mean yeah,I mean it was the intensity. I
mean I think honestly, like thatjob trained me to just be on my

(17:11):
toes because like I mean literally,it's the intensity that like when you're on
your assistant to like a high levelagent, you're dealing with like you know,
a list celebrities and whatnot. Imean the intent first of all,
Like you know, the way thatyou like actually train is you start in
the mail room, right, Soeverybody starts in the mail room. You

(17:33):
kind of like sort mail and youfigure out you know, what's what from
there, and then you go andyou graduate to like being an assistant.
You know, so you're on someone'sdesk. But like when you're an assistant,
it's not like you're just like asecretary like doing clerical work. I
mean, don't get me wrong,there there is you know, a very
large component of that. But asan assistant in Hollywood, you're listening to
all of your boss's calls like you'reon the line with them. I mean,

(17:56):
it's very widely accepted. You know. So at an't given point,
if one exact I was talking toanother, like their assistance will also be
on the line, like just listeningto the calls, and so at any
of the time it's like four orfive people on the line and only two
people are talking and we have therecipe for listening, so that it just
kind of how it works. Yeah. Wow, how prickly did you know?
I mean, was it so intensethat you were just like, this

(18:18):
is not for me. Yea,yeah it was. It was really intense
that there were some screaming, youknow, so it just you know,
just things that are just in today'sworld. You know it's not appropriate in
the workplace, but just that thosethings happened regularly in Hollywood and you know,
certainly back then, you know,times are different, but yeah,
the intensity level is just all timehigh. Uh. You know, you're

(18:40):
dealing with a lot of like crazypersonalities and uh, and you're juggling,
you know, five to six,you know, twenty things at once.
You know, it's just so itjust he dies you to be on it,
you know what I mean, atall times. So that's so honestly,
like, even though I didn't pursuethat, I'm glad I didn't because
you know, like I said,it gave you laid the groundwork to just

(19:02):
yeah, I'm a very responsive persons, Like it laid the groundwork for me
to you know, continue to beresponsive, you know throughout my next gig.
You know, my next year.Yeah, so I wanted to dig
in on that. I mean Iwas just more kind of curious about about
the agent stuff. But but yournext your next gig was is really cool.
So you worked for a huge readdoing office like a class office space

(19:23):
and a multi family You're a hugeowner right out in California and Hawaii.
Yeah, Douglas Emmit is a veryum prestigious just kind of vertically integrated and
so that. Yeah, so DouglasSummit owns I think now like over seventy
like class A office buildings, Iwant to say, probably close to five

(19:45):
thousand apartment units now, so Ipublicly traded I want to say, like
maybe like seven or eight billion undermanagement. I mean it was like a
very well run, like very prestigiousfirm like here locally. So I kind
of started out in property management,which was not not for me. I
keep saying, oh, wow,this gig's not for me. I mean,
but it wasn't. I mean Irealized that very early on. And

(20:06):
then they put me into this marketingposition and I just I was like the
only marketing person there. And sofrom there just kind of, you know,
over the years, just kind ofgrew a team, and you know,
we ended up doing some very coolthings by the time I left,
so it was, yeah, itwas very good to see. Yeah,
I guess because because I was prettyhands on in all facets of the business.

(20:26):
So it was great to see um, you know, real estate,
I guess at an institutional level,which is what this was. I mean,
I think the last deal that wewere working on when I had left,
we were acquiring a portfolio from Blackstonefor a billion dollars, so it's
it was a very institutional level deal. So that's my time there. Yeah,

(20:48):
so it was it was you knowgreat and the people they were wonderful.
It's very well run, like Isaid, and here we are and
now we're tenants of theirs because we'rein our office space a Grace Deals.
So I mean, that's that isa massive, massive pivot. So I
was reading your profile and I wasthinking about about what it must be like
to go from such such an institutionalshop. It's you know, it's so

(21:11):
corporate, it's i mean publicly traded, and then and then you go and
you make such an entrepreneurial jump asan investment sales broker with Gray Steal.
I mean you effectively. You know, you came into this shop. You
know, the LA office was inits very early days when you came in
there in twenty sixteen, right,and you have effectively grown this multi family

(21:37):
side and I run the office there. So I mean that had to be
what was it the kind of caughtyour attention to make that that leap leap
of faith and and to just sodramatically change your track. Yeah, you
know, I honestly I chalk itup to this is gonna sound silly,
but like I chalk it up toignorance, like meaning, I just didn't

(22:00):
know how hard it was going tobe, you know what I mean.
So I think sometimes like not knowingis actually better because you don't talk yourself
out of it. You just kindof jump in, you know, And
what you're saying, it's like it'svery true. Like when I would tell
people what I was leaving to whatI was going to do, Everyone's like,
dude, you're like jumping off acliff right now because you're you have

(22:21):
this cushy salary and then you're joyto something that was no salary, right
and you have no track record,And so yeah, when you put it
that way, it's like, ohmy god, why am I doing this?
But I guess what I saw onGrayial it's like a very good platform
between Ari and you know, theTexas office, you know, laid a
very solid foundation. We had notrack record in La So I guess that

(22:42):
was you know, something that thatweighed heavily. But you know, we
that didn't really stop me from beingable to do deals, you know,
so uh, you know, Ithink that that just gets up what's really
important. Just I guess when you'reselling yourself is it's less about the firm
and more about you, you know. So I think that's why I've been

(23:02):
able to do deals in this market, you know, without having seventy five
office national moniker you know on behindit. It really has been incredible.
I mean, you've been in thatoffice five months, you've been promoted to
director, you continue to do deals. And the thing that that was most
notable and I didn't say it before, but I was thinking about it just

(23:23):
as you were talking, I meanwith COVID and you know how for a
couple of months, so much businessjust shut down. Everybody was on pause,
and then it slowly opened up overthe summer. But but you guys
were doing you were closing deals thatwhole time. You know, we would
have these meetings and and you guyswere you know, it seemed like you
were always talking about your your closings. How did you kind of navigate through

(23:47):
COVID, particularly in a place thatwas, you know, so cautious and
is so cautious and you know rightlyso, but yeah, I mean,
how do you navigate that? That'sso funny, Yeah, because I mean
if people have said that, youknow, early before, and honestly,
like I just chalk it up tothese deals were like already pregnant going into
going It's kind of like I wishI could say I'm a master deal maker.

(24:11):
Don't get it wrong. There's definitelysome skill behind it, but to
get these things out of the finishline. But a lot of these deals
were pregnant, you know, goinginto the to the pandemic, and so
it's just about willing them forward becauseI because you know, frankly, like
a lot of deals fell out toothat we're in the same position, you
know, sure, yeah, yeah, So we saw it all over the

(24:32):
place, you know, we're deals. I mean it, you know,
you saw deals closes when the financingswalked in. But you still I mean
you're you're you're playing psychologists as muchas any anything else in the role of
closing the deal to get people comfortabletoo close. Oh definitely. And I
think, you know, just kindof going into this everyone, people who
are thinking more long term just understoodthat, Yeah, I mean, this

(24:55):
is kind of a short term cliphere, but like this is going to
go away and it'll be it's goingto go back the normal, you know
what I mean, this isn't forever, you know. So I think that
that was a heavy contributor as well. Well, you getting people trying to
trying to reshop the value saying thatyou know with COVID, Actually no,
I didn't. Yeah, no,not on these ones. I mean they

(25:15):
were they were non contingent. Youknow, these deals are mostly non contingent
at that point, and it's reallyjust kind of just trucking through, you
know, and pushing it forward.That's just all it was. Yeah,
it's like a race against the clockbecause you don't know. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's great. How howis business broadly, not not so
much your business, but but inin kind of these last several months,

(25:40):
how how has it been in yourmarkets to do business. I mean,
I think that transaction volumes down.It just is. I mean if you
look at you know, I justdid like a month over a month look
in terms of multi family transactions fiveunits and up for January twenty twenty versus
January twenty twenty one, and it'sdown just from a quantity standpoint, I

(26:03):
mean, that is certainly significant.I think that there's still kind of there's
saying going into COVID that there's ayou know, very wide bid ask spread
in terms of what sellers are lookingto achieve for their assets and what buyers
are willing to pay. And Ithink that that spread is like wider today
it was then, you know,so you know, you have buyers that

(26:26):
would otherwise be like underwriting a fourcap or now underwriting a five cap you
know, going in. So it'slike that has a very substantial effect on
purchase price, you know. Andthen meanwhile you talk of the seller,
and the seller is acting like nothing'shappening, you know, in terms of
a pandemic or the economy, youknow. So I think that's kind of
the disconnect. Now. It's likebuyers have just tightened up their underwriting and

(26:48):
sellers, you know, still haveyou know, pre pandemic for the most
of our pre pandemic expectations. Yeah, yeah, I know that. I
think that sounds right. I mean, you know, and I guess they
have to be careful. I meansome of the some of the debt parameters
are tighter, right, and theyin turn have to be the same way.
But there is there is a nicedelta between you know, what kind

(27:11):
of calp rates are you seeing?Are you seeing a nice delta between between
interest rates and gap rates? Yeah, I mean, well yes, I
mean I think cap rates in LAright now are creeping up. I mean
I just think they are, youknow. I meanwhile, interest rates are
still very low. There is anice spread there. I mean. The
one thing that is on everybody's mindin terms of California is just like the

(27:37):
heavy rent regulation, you know,laws that have come in effect with COVID,
you know, just the tenant protectionsand you know it's just got extended
and you know, things of thatnature. It is kind of what what
time ever wants by at the moment? Yeah what what did you guys just
got extended out to? Yeah?Yeah, yeah, so it makes it
difficult I mean, like like ifyou're an opportunity sick tenant, you could

(28:00):
literally not pay and not be evicted. But you know, at the end
of the day, like he asa tenant, you do have to pay
that money back at some point.But if that tenant just bails, you
know, there's really no recourse there, you know. So there's a lot
of property honors that you know,we'll probably get hung out to drive it.
But the reality is that, likecollections in LA have actually, you

(28:21):
know, just from informal polling,been pretty strong, like for the most
part. I mean, I thinkpeople are especially with the rank control tenants,
like meaning like tenants that are payinglow rents and are kind of locked
into these low rental rates, likethey don't want to lose their apartment or
that low rental rate you know what'sover so like that you know those folks
are paying, yes, so whatSo I know you have plans to grow

(28:44):
the office there is I know weare actively starting to grow under you and
to continue to build your team.What are your plans really for that office
over the next kind of twelve toeighteen months keep going, do you are
you are you kind of expanding intoany any other perimeter markets. What's what's
going to happen for you this year? Yeah, I think we need to
focus on our core market, LosAngeles and really just you know, trying

(29:10):
to recruit professionals that are aligned interms of you know, our thought process
and also just you know, personalitywise. It's kind of you know what
what we see, you know herein the LA office. You know,
really this is a difficult gig,right, So you know, we're really
from motivated individuals who are driven bya little bit more than just you know,

(29:33):
dollars, if that makes sense.Sure, yeah, I mean that
gets you far, but it's notthe whole thing. I mean, you
have to have a desire to learnthe business and to grow a business.
Sure, you know, you know, to that end, you really said
something. I mean, it isa difficult business, and particularly in a
market such as LA. Imagine there'ssomebody here listening that's that's figuring out their

(29:56):
next move, where their first movepost college, and they're considering real estate.
You say, what advice can yougive to that person who is kind
of weighing those options? Yeah,I would say, just like, find
out what you're good at as soonas possible. And double down on that.
I mean, that's kind of justI mean, like a real estate
it's such a broad business. Imean, there's so many facets of real

(30:18):
estate you can get into. Youcan get into like property management, you
can get into leasing, you couldget into investment sales, capital markets,
private equity. That I mean,you know, just kind of there's just
so many faucets. But whatever itis, I would say, just kind
of again, identify what you're goodat and just double down on it and
kind of zero in. I thinkit's better to go deep than wide.

(30:38):
Yeah, I agree with you tremendously. How I worked at a generalist.
I worked for someone who did alittle bit of everything, and and I
certainly felt spread thin as a asa young person in the business. And
as I focused, you know,it got better and I felt that I
provided a better service to my clients. So I think what you said is

(31:00):
is exactly right off. The otherthing I would add your comments made think
of it is double down. Forsure. I understand what you're good at,
but also what I have found.And I don't know if you feel
the same way ever, But youknow, when I was trying to learn,
I bothered everyone any meeting I couldget my hands on it, I
would take and you know, evenif they really didn't want to give it

(31:22):
to me, I would buy thecoffee. You know. It's just so
I could learn and see what peopledid and see kind of how they did
it. I came to the careerlate. I came to real estate,
you know, in my early thirties, so I felt like I had ketchup
to do. People. Really,in my experience, people are gracious.
People want to help because frankly theyprobably were helped going the way as well.

(31:42):
So you reach out talk to people. You can call me anytime in
the Charlotte office with Gray Steel andsee what people are doing and see what
resonates with you. That's the onlythe other piece I would say. I
was surprised at how many doors Igot into just by asking, for sure,
that's a great point. Yeah,just just be curious and put I

(32:02):
said. And then not just becurious. I try to act on my
curiosity too. Yeah, for me, I didn't know a soul in real
estate. I just knew I wantedto do it, and so to grad
classes at night and during the day, all I would do is just I
would write whatever meetings I could getso anyway. But yeah, so listen,
thank you so much for spending sometime with us. I appreciate you

(32:24):
doing it. Really, congratulations againon all the success for having me out
there. You're a testament to atough, tough market and having good quality
success and so keep it up.And really appreciation and some of your thoughts
with us today anytime, like thanksfor having me. It's pleasure, all
right, Thanks everybody for joining us, and we look forward to talking with

(32:45):
you on the next edition of TheGreat Gust Podcast.