Less than a year ago, I overcame my fear of cold calling and leaped into multifamily investment sales.
Months of calling, emailing, and following up is about to pay off. This month, I’m closing my first transaction - $25.5M. The IRS will love me.
[{"id": "ij1eamd", "text": "Congratulations.  Persistence and doing the grind will pay off.  It's all about repetition and habits.  You never know who you will talk to until you get on the phone.  I've made amazing connections this way and got several listings doing this in my first few months. I simply picked up the phone.  I would have never grown that quickly otherwise.  It's life changing.\n\nSome people say it's dead, but it's the fastest way to get in contact with a lot of people while still building a solid relationship.  Person to person is very strong but much slower in terms of meeting people, and mass emails are very fast but don't have the same level of connection.   You have to bridge that gap and be talking to people frequently.\n\nJust remember that you're never paid until after closing and there's money in your account or a check in your hand. Nothing more heartbreaking than thinking you have a done deal that ends up not working out, but it does happen.\n\nI would recommend checking out Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount.  He really delves into growing your businesses by prospecting and has decades of success doing so.\n\nKeep up the good work!", "replies": [{"id": "ij2ucz8", "text": "Any advice on cold calling? What has given you the most success to build successful relationships?", "replies": [{"id": "ikgijw0", "text": "Where do you get your information to call people?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij1licc", "text": "Oof I hope you didn't jinx it. Rule #1. It isn't closed until there's money in your account.", "replies": [{"id": "ij1ngud", "text": "Oh I know - my first one I had under contract fell though. \n\nThere were multiple hurdles with this deal - early on, found out the sellers were getting underbilled by the city for water, which led to a $1M retrade. Then the rate hikes spooked the lenders. 20 of the units didn\u2019t get CO\u2019d until Monday - which was the only remaining hurdle to the closing. I\u2019ve been on edge for four months. All that\u2019s left now is closing prep. If they made it this far...\ud83e\udd1e\n\nThankful that buyer and seller were able to overcome all that", "replies": [{"id": "ij1o66e", "text": "Craziest story I\u2019ve heard recently is broker saying he had two deals $4m hard earnest each. Same buyer. Buyer pulled plug on both deals and gave up $8m of earnest and we\u2019re fine with it. \n\nWait til inks dry then toss your pre-tax check into something safe so have money to pay tax at end of year.  Also seen younger guys blow every dollar or try to warren buffet it and invest their commission checks then lose it before tax season!", "replies": [{"id": "ij1pnpn", "text": "My associate broker had a deal fall out two weeks, buyer walked away. I think financing was an issue. \n\nSo, I\u2019m not letting my guard down entirely. The last I heard, the loan commitment and rate lock was still a go -  the lender was a wild card a couple months ago, but hopefully they don\u2019t put the deal in Jeopardy last minute\n\nI set aside 45% of every check I get for taxes. I did commit to invest $25K into deal - thought it could help my chances get that listing when they sell", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "ij1y7ty", "text": "Good God", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "ij2587o", "text": "In case you don\u2019t have since you said you were a bit green to industry from your first comment - ask someone who their accountant is and get that person. Will help for sure on your forward taxes, write offs but more importantly when you have big slugs come in and need to adjust your taxes that way you aren\u2019t tying up too much in cash sitting for tax..", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "ij2efl9", "text": "Silly buyers are still chasing 2021 prices with hard money..Hard emd needs to be the first to fall off in the transition from a frothy market.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "iqo9cmb", "text": "Update: The deal closed this past Wednesday.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij2av0r", "text": "Congrats OP.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij2zoqn", "text": "Congratulations! I am starting out to do cold callings myself but in a different industry.  I want to hire a cold caller. Do you recommend hiring a cold caller?", "replies": [{"id": "ijcsoby", "text": "I would lean against it because as the broker, the potential buyer or seller wants to get to know you and build the relationship through connections. When you third party out the cold calling, it is getting away from connection building as the third party is a gatekeeper of sorts.", "replies": [{"id": "ijhkd8d", "text": "How about hiring a cold caller to make the phone call and if there is interest, then I call them back?  Almost like an appointment setter? This way, I build a relationship.", "replies": [{"id": "ijhrs57", "text": "That is an interesting option, although I think it would just create an additional barrier to get through.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "ijhrw4u", "text": "Is there reluctance on your part to cold call? I can understand the hesitation when first starting out.", "replies": [{"id": "ijirdq8", "text": "I call out but, I can't see myself sitting making calls several hours a day.  Again, I am referring to a different industry entirely. Also, I have seen many ads for cold callers for RE, to imply that some people do use them. Although they may use them using a different approach?", "replies": [{"id": "ijitdsz", "text": "Yeah I can\u2019t see myself doing it either, I started last week as a broker and I\u2019m going to try using social media along w cold calling", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij35saq", "text": "Just received an offer to start this week. Start in two weeks. How'd your conversations go?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij35w9b", "text": "Can someone please explain what he is talking about?\n\nI subscribed to this sub but I have no idea what those words really mean when he said  -multi family investment sales, cold calling etc\n\n\nIf I were to guess, I think he is an agent trying to sell commercial real estate that was listed for a while, marketing it by soliciting either by phone or email, but it took very long time and if the transaction goes through it will be sold for 25.5m, giving him his deserved commission, about 3% of the sale price. \n\nDo I understand this correctly or am I way off?", "replies": [{"id": "ij3b1si", "text": "Came here to ask this, thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ij3gmsd", "text": "Man I wish I was getting 3%", "replies": [{"id": "ij3v96j", "text": "What % are you getting?", "replies": [{"id": "ij3zznj", "text": "Total commission is 1.25% ($318K). Normally my split would be 50%, but since on a salary my first year, I\u2019m getting $100K.", "replies": [{"id": "ij45he6", "text": "Good stuff man way to go", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij3cck9", "text": "That's awesome! What an incredible first transaction. Congrats", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij4q6nl", "text": "How did you start ? I\u2019ve been wanting to do this for a couple years now and I\u2019m still a bit clueless.", "replies": [{"id": "ij4u2a5", "text": "I answered a job posting on LinkedIn for a multifamily financial analyst at a boutique brokerage in Atlanta. Met with the lead broker several times, but he decided to hire someone else. I stayed in touch and one day he asked if I\u2019d be interested in a sales position. Went and got my license and joined the firm a couple months later - no prior sales experience. My first two months, I shared an office with the lead broker so I got to shadow him on his cold calls. That was my training - watching and learning from a broker who pulled in $2M in commissions that year. \n\nMy advice: network with these under the radar shops and build a rapport.", "replies": [{"id": "ij4ub80", "text": "I\u2019m in residential with KW but I will have to start reaching out. Smaller commercial firms are kind of rare around me so I\u2019m not sure how to find them", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij5kddn", "text": "Congrats! I remember closing my first deal\u2026 it was a blood rush. Of course it wasn\u2019t as big as yours but I did have a 6% fee of 5mill which was stupidly good imo being that I double ended it. Anyways, be proactive man. Call the escrow officer, call the loan officers, call buyers agent or the buyers. Make sure everything is ready to go almost every few days. Make sure seller is well aware of what\u2019s going on every step and prepare him for anything. Congrats!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ijcs6is", "text": "congrats man, I just started as a CRE broker this past week and I came from Door to door sales. I am still doing all the company training videos and once I finish those this week, I am trying to figure out what niche to specialize in. Do you have any tips for someone who is first starting off in the business? Also any tips for cold calling would be greatly appreciated! Obviously, cold calling is probably the best way to generate new leads and I would love to hear what makes you successful on the phone!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ijz9dn5", "text": "Congrats!  My advice would be to make sure your asset protection and tax strategy is ready to go.  I've been a REI investor for 20 years.  I always put my properties into a spendthrift trust to get 100% asset protection. With the trust, all rents are considered passive income to the trust; therefore, the taxes can be deferred in perpetuity, and when you eventually sell the property, you won't pay any capital gains taxes or have to do a 1031 exchange!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iln2pkw", "text": "Tips on overcoming fear of cold calling? What is your rebuttal if the owner says not interested in selling?", "replies": [{"id": "iln2rl2", "text": "And what is your intro pitch on the phone?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "im2wxtu", "text": "Dude i wish I could upvote this post a thousand times. \n\nI work in real estate development at a REIT in MD and I love my job but have always ALWAYS been drawn to the sales side because of my past experience interning in Private Wealth Management. This post is exactly the energy I needed to see. I have been grinding my ass off trying to find an investment sales type position where I can start. \n\nWould love to hear any advice you have in getting started and the hurdles you had to face.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]