Andreas Senie: Welcome back to this month's round table, your all in one comprehensive view of what's happening across the real estate industry. Straight from some of the industry's earliest technology adopters and foremost experts in technology, marketing, broker brokerage, government policy. Capital construction and cyber security.

As always, this is a three part show introductions. What's new for each of our round table hosts, part two, sector Focus. What is the big news of the big shift for this month and how can you get ahead of your competition and part three. What's happening for next month? Where to be and what to do? I'm Andrea Semi founder Siri, collaborative brokerage owner and technology growth strategist for both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

Joining me this month is not other than Sal Klein original real estate internet evangelist. Good friend, California native. At this point, Rebecca Carlson, founder and c e o Carlson integrated our marketing Ma. Anna Maria Kowalik, our Director of Business Development at Inland Green Capital, all things capital and green financing, C Pace, and then other than Chris Abel.

Associated Builders, contractors of Connecticut, membership director and my go-to for all things design building engineering. Darren won't be making it, and Dan Wagner will be joining us for the January 19th show sector expert interview with Dr. Yune. The Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, so please tune back in.

So Anna Maria, you're to my right today, just like a Zoom call for those of you that have been on them, what's going on in your side of the industry? How are things? Happy 2023. Well, 

[00:02:01] Anna Maria Kowalik: happy 2023 to you and I certainly hope. That will, uh, continue to improve, uh, after, uh, how it began. So, uh, however, we are still in a, uh, very volatile interest climate and, uh, although I have always, uh, touted that, uh, C pace is fairly recession proof, but that doesn't mean, you know, Totally bulletproof.

Um, you know, we are seeing some, uh, deals taking longer, um, because the primary lending may be difficult to find for a project, especially in a new construction, uh, development scenario. And so, although, uh, the clients are, uh, more and more happy and willing to use CCP financing, Uh, they, uh, are finding some challenges, uh, with, uh, getting additional funding and also, um, Getting lender consent, uh, for the CPAC financing, um, which can and cannot be problematic.

And, and it depends by region and, uh, and a lot of other different factors. But, um, you know, the, these are just some of the challenges that kind of. Put us back a couple of steps and, uh, let, make things take longer and, uh, allow us an opportunity though at the same time to be able to reassess and reeducate and, um, uh, try to, you know, rely on network sources to um, uh, help.

uh, you know, bring these deals to fruition. Uh, so I see a, a slowdown and a, uh, a kind of a, um, uh, wait and see 

[00:04:02] Saul Klein: attitude. 

[00:04:03] Andreas Senie: And is it a slowdown in, wait and see compared to 12 months ago today, a quarter. . 

[00:04:08] Anna Maria Kowalik: Precisely, yes. I think we were more on a, a ramping up with deals, uh, at least in, in our sector, um, and saw a lot of, um, uh, You know, positivity on the horizon.

Uh, but, uh, given the, uh, interest rate, uh, volatility since then, uh, certainly it's impacted all kinds of our, uh, uh, you know, indu all facets of our industry across the board, not just C 

[00:04:43] Andreas Senie: Pace. Sure. So, so finally construction might be ready to be a building and finishing these projects, and now we can't get 'em.

Just kidding there, Chris. Nice to see you again. Happy 2023. How are things, uh, in the construction world after. A little worrisome comments from Annemaria on the, on the capital side. I thought C Pace was my Sure thing and it still is. It's just gonna take a little longer. What's going on in construction?

Well, 

[00:05:11] Chris Able: so, um, at least in, in our area in, in the Northeast, um, things are still moving along. I know a lot of the companies I'm working with are taking advantage of the fact that we haven't really seen, um, too much shift as far as the winter weather so far. So they're trying to, you know, I know a couple, couple companies that I work with that are.

we're almost hoping for a little bit of a slowdown so they can kind of use that as their reason for, hey, things are slowing down a little bit. They'll pick back up in the, the spring. Um, so they can kind of extend their backlog a little bit. But that doesn't seem to be, uh, seem to be the case from the industry association side of things.

Um, you know, uh, we had a really strong end. I saw a lot of people kind of making a move and shifting towards, hey, Kind of like, and Maria was saying, using those, those networking tools to kind of get deals done and all that sort of stuff, um, people must have been getting in people's ear about, Hey, you should try this.

This is a good idea. This is gonna get you there. So I saw a really strong end to 2022 and, uh, kind of a fast start as far as the industry association side goes, where as soon as a new year comes, it's almost like a gym me. Where you go to the gym on January 2nd, January 3rd, January 4th, it gets pretty busy cuz all of a sudden everyone's gonna, you know, change everything that they're doing.

I, I, From my side of things, I get a lot of companies coming along and, Hey, can you come sit in our, uh, 2023 strategy session? Can you come, you know, take care of this? What can we do about hiring? Are there any construction career fairs out there? So I, I have no shortage of, of work. Uh, so far the members I, I'm working with don't seem to, but I could tell that they're a little bit, um, , you know, a little bit nervous as to what the, uh, end of the first quarter and going into the second quarter are gonna bring.

Um, if they don't have a strong backlog lined up now. But this is also when a lot of the, a lot of them get quiet where you start asking questions and they kind of go, oh yeah, no, we're doing, we're doing well, or Yeah, we have this, or we have that. And if they aren't giving me exact kind of roundabout backlog numbers or, oh, we have enough for this, or we have enough for that, then.

From experience, I know that I need to, you know, keep my eyes out for everything I possibly can to try to bring things to the table because, um, you know, sometimes you, you know, a 25, 30 million job got pushed in my direction, uh, last week and that can literally keep a company afloat and save a company. Um,

So I find myself digging, digging deep into my resources and using my networking tools to try to, you know, keep everyone moving in the right direction as best I can. 

[00:07:59] Andreas Senie: Well, we've said it many times over your network is your net worth. It's why we're in the real estate business, growing it and building it.

So you're 12, you know, 12 months ago today. You're, you're feeling better for your industry, 

[00:08:11] Chris Able: um, in, in a lot of ways. Because I feel like the supply chain stuff, I'm not really hearing much about. The pain points were so prevalent 12, 12 months ago, and they were so vocal about them that in that sense, I am feeling better about it.

But the biggest thing is if they, if you start running into a situation where you know where jobs really aren't getting started, whether it's a funding issue or just there's not anything going on there, then quite frankly supply chain doesn't matter. How many employees does it matter? Because you might have people jumping ship and going somewhere where they can stay busy.

So in that sense, I'm kind of on the fence in that sense. I am a little nervous for what the next, uh, few months are gonna bring, um, from a bigger scale, from a larger, a larger scale. Not, you know, can I get the fasteners, can I get the hardware? Can I get this, can I get that? I'm having trouble finding plumbers.

I have too much work to, I need my next job to come. In the next 

[00:09:11] Andreas Senie: few people need to commit the uncertainty to go 

[00:09:14] Chris Able: forward. Small jobs too. I'm seeing a lot of companies, uh, you know, digging into some of the smaller jobs that they probably wouldn't have interest in 12, 12, or even 24 months ago, quite frankly, but they'll take it.

[00:09:29] Andreas Senie: Well, so which brings us always round to marketing. How, how is the world spinning it all in 2023? Background? How are things on the marketing side and the brokerage side? Carlson Brokerage is doing well over there. I've seen some listings go up. 

[00:09:43] Bekah Carlson: Well, things have been very busy, so we've actually continued in the trajectory of 2022 and it's been a growth period of time for us.

And I'm, I'm sorry, my, my cat has decided that he wants to be on the podcast today, which is super awkward. And. . Um, 

[00:09:57] Andreas Senie: so they did it for the U Log on TV friends. It's OK . So you're, so things are on a growth tra trajectory despite the 

[00:10:06] Bekah Carlson: uncertainty trajectory. And I think that whenever there's any sort of retrenching in any market, people examine marketing people.

Who may have been really busy working on deals and working through things suddenly are like, oh, I need to start thinking about a little bit of strategy. I need to wrap my messaging around all of the activity that I've been doing and see where my, where I'm building for the future. I actually spent a lot of time and, and I have just over the past couple weeks talking about aspirational elements of business.

Talking about, okay, so you've done all of these things, but where do you wanna. What do you wanna be, what do you want to do? And it's really fun to be able to pose those questions to business entities, to pose them to individuals who are building their careers because it, it takes a, takes on a whole different thought pattern versus I'm just, my experience versus my experience is acc accretive to who I am in my growth as a company, as a person.

So those have been very key elements of conversations that I've been experiencing again, and, and we're talking with big, big entities and with individuals. We all get to spend this time doing a little bit of retrenching and defining who we wanna be. For the coming year, which is 

[00:11:23] Andreas Senie: fun. Well, is it, and re and redefining or defining who we want to be is, is that being hyper selective of what business we're going after?

So you've been through a few of these economic headwind periods, and that's what I see is, is everyone being. Very selective. They're retooling to go after certain aspects or to double down on things that they know will make it through the uncertainty of financing, smaller deals, whatever. What, what have you.

Car washes in Saul's case. Uh, rain. Hey, you know, I'm sure there's a special with rain, something you can do. Um, matter of fact, the carwash used to sell me a, a rain guard stuff they used to spray on to get the rain to come right. Well, I'll 

[00:12:09] Saul Klein: tell you what, in the carwash business for us, the coin up carwash business, the beauty of it is all the different ways people can pay you today.

Where before it was you had to put in dollar bills and then you could get quarters, and then that converted to tokens. Now there's, uh, you know, different payment systems. There's PayPal, there's credit cards. There are. A number of ways to take money, and that's a real positive thing. But one of the things that I've seen lately is that before I used to be able to kind of figure out where things were going.

I could read enough different things and I could get enough of perspective, but now what I'm seeing is people I, that I have tremendous respect for in their particular areas are saying different things. And so that that produces a greater level of unc. . Yeah. And then that drives me back to be, to things that I have more control over and things I can understand better, which is local.

And so paying more attention to what's going on with car wash going, what's going on locally becomes more important in, to me in this, with all this uncertainty around finance, around construction, around labor, around. Politics. There's so many things right now that we're uncertain about, and as I look at land use and commercial land use and residential land use and housing affordability and all these different things coming together in 2023, I'm not sure.

Whether it's gonna be March or April or May or June before we have a clearer picture. So back to your point, Andrea, that people are gonna be more selective. They have to pay more attention. I'm real curious back into what kind of marketing, this idea of, of visioning is really a, a, a great idea, right?

Where do we wanna be when we grow up? And, uh, that becomes more difficult in this type of marketplace. 

[00:14:05] Andreas Senie: Mm-hmm. . Bob, well now Becca, what, what kind of revisioning are we talking about? And so now, now I'm really concerned what type of, uh, incoherent messaging are you getting? . But let's, let's go to the revisioning first.

Is it, is it people being hyper selective about what they're selling or the services they offer or actually reinventing their company? 

[00:14:27] Bekah Carlson: So I think it's, it's bifold. It's looking back at what they've been doing and doing. And making sure that, that the messaging around it is very clear and very concise and very, uh, digestible for their audiences.

But I'm also Recogniz, 

[00:14:43] Andreas Senie: so on TikTok, just kidding. . Oh yeah,

[00:14:51] Bekah Carlson: no, for Rebecca. Uh, but I think that then there's this other piece of looking back in your career during different cycle. , have you been in AEO receiver? Have those been pieces of your history that you haven't touched in the past several years? But as we know, real estate is cyclical. So do we need to refresh those?

That that narrative? Do we need to re-examine contact lists? Do we need to see who, where you knew eight years ago is still in the same job, which is zero, by the way? Nobody is in the same job. In case anybody's curious, , uh, when it comes to banks in particular because they dissolved a workout units and then they've had to recreate.

With different staff members. So there are some strategic pieces that we talk about for this future next part of the cycle. That often reflects back to prior parts of a cycle. Certainly when someone's been in the industry for a very long time, you do have evolutions in your business model during traditional cyclical.

[00:15:57] Andreas Senie: Absolutely. Uh, you know, as a brokerage, it's tenant rep. Tenant rep leads to landlords. Landlords lead to investors, right? We focus one after the other. And, uh, and with strong economic headwinds, businesses have to downsize. Maybe instead of downsizing or vacating a lease, they should go buy a building.

There's all, there's so many economics at play to be very opportunistic, and that's in the northeast, at least where I am. Everyone is looking for the right opportunity, and they are out there. And although I can't speak to C Pace, there are, there are a lot of interesting funding groups coming together.

The capital stack on some of the investments we're seeing are, are creative, to say the least. But the banks seem excited to move forward. Uh, obviously as long as the numbers work and as long as we can get it built. 

[00:16:46] Anna Maria Kowalik: and they have to bring, be creative to bring them forward. And, uh, you know, which doesn't exclude the, you know, the opportunity with, with C Pace, which is, you know, uh, always awesome.

In fact, I'd like to address, uh, one of the questions or, or one of the comments basically, uh, put in by the audience tonight. Uh, one young lady, uh, did put forth that cpce is a more viable financing option than ever, and depends on the provider. One chooses establish nationwide experience and ability to execute over a variety of.

Uh, CCP applications including, uh, re refinance, retrofit and new construction and property types matters. And yes, it most certainly does. And I agree with all of those, and that's what we've been conveying over the last several conversations, uh, monthly conversations that we've been having, uh, you know, uh, but touching on, uh, topics from today.

And I think. Becca said leads into the next question has to do with, um, you know, where do we see them moving from here, you know, into the, uh, into 2023? And, uh, certainly I think. doing what one does best and keeping at it and, uh, focusing, uh, your branding and, and continuing to, uh, you know, go forward. Uh, it, it, despite everything that's happening around you, uh, is, is probably the best, most solid, you know, way of, uh, of moving forward.

And so, uh, I, I still. every, um, Hope and, and, uh, positive, uh, thought about, uh, c pace being, uh, you know, uh, a great option in 2023 and moving forward. And so, um, you know, we're, we're all just going to, uh, uh, weather the waves and, and, you know, kind of, uh, bring that boat back to shore. So 

[00:19:02] Andreas Senie: and keep, and it sounds like keeping your head down and focusing on your business to self have it locally.

Rebecca's comment as you reinvent, what am I reinventing for? What did I do very well the last time? Mm-hmm. , the inventory dried up. How did it build my business last time? Right? Um, similarly, I'm seeing some brokers, myself included, looking at new asset classes. Maybe I'm gonna change specialties if I'm a specialist, not a generalist.

Our Brownfield's something that should be. I personally think Brownfield along with C Pace, along with. regulation. I mean, these are, there's huge funds available to redevelop these sites in the center of most towns. Um, where else do you get that much land with that much access? You can't, but there are concerns and there's lot to learn is why I surrounded myself with smart people like you and others, not on the call, but dusting up as.

Dusting off for new things. I mean, you can't do that in the construction side. But Chris, it sounds like there, the labor shortage isn't the issue, it's the job shortage at this point, the funding shortage, 

[00:20:08] Chris Able: which is fantastic. Uh, yeah. I mean, the, the labor shortage is not gonna, I mean, , that that's always gonna be, that's going to be an issue.

There's just no way. There's no way around it. Um, you know, if everyone, every contractor I talk to needs a project manager, um, you know, what I actually found interesting was they all need licensed tradespeople. We know that there's not enough plumbers, there's not enough HVAC techs, there's not enough electricians.

But in regards, I've actually, I've had, uh, a few of the recruiting and the staffing firms and things of that nature where. You know, there, there's a lot of headaches there. You know, it's a tough job. It's a tough gig. You're trying to find, uh, you know, you're trying to find the right people and the right fit, but at the same time, you need to be able to earn your living.

You need to be able to put people that are in front of you, into positions, and a lot of these companies are, are, for lack of a better term, desperate enough to say, Hey, you know what? Send me whoever you got. , I'm seeing some of you in those firms, some of the staffing and the recruiting agencies, uh, if they have a enough construction background.

Now, some of those people going, you know what, behind the scenes, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna, I'm gonna get a project management certificate. I'm gonna take the knowledge that I have, and they're going on and they're going, there's so many jobs out there. I'm the one staring at them every day and trying to, instead of trying to find people to fill these jobs, , uh, let me just apply, let me get out there to, to Becca's point.

If, if someone didn't have a new job that you knew, uh, up until now, check LinkedIn tomorrow and see what happens. Because every single day I'm getting notifications. This person either got promoted or they went here. They went there. So I've even seen some of the staffing or recruiting people saying, you know what?

I'm, I'm might as well put, put myself out there. It's time for a switch. This is causing me a lot of stress, a lot of strife. I think I have enough to, um, enough knowledge to get out there and really help one of my, my, my clients in most cases, obviously. Um, and then it's that relationship side of, of, of the job.

Um, So the job force is just, you know, people really digging in and trying to find out who they know, uh, opening their mouth, letting people know if they're happy or not happy. That's, that's usually the case. I usually get people coming, mentioning something to me, and then I'm able to say, Hey, if you're gonna look, if you're gonna find, look anyway.

Let's, let's, let's try to keep you within my network and let's try to keep you moving in the right direction. But the, the jobs, the, the labor shortage is not gonna just go away just because, uh, there's just not, there's just not enough people, especially in the license side. 

[00:22:54] Andreas Senie: Trades people, skilled trades people.

Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh, the, 

[00:22:58] Chris Able: the numbers are up for apprentices, so that is good. So, and the numbers 

[00:23:02] Andreas Senie: are up for your association. More people look into networks. That is also, . So I'm hearing some good news all around, which is all good things. As far as employees, you know, changing and asso and getting certificates, I have seen a tremendous uptick in certificate programs, people's upskilling, taking the time to upskill in one way or another.

Um, so at least in the no. Back up saw is same in your industries. Everybody upskilling during the downtime. I mean, we've got the six, let's say six months of either I'm being very opportunistic and, um, I'm gonna be a hypers sniper about the deals I do, or I'm waiting. But why We shouldn't sit on your hands and wait, that's, that's not good business.

So what are they? What are you? Yeah, so 

[00:23:50] Saul Klein: I'm seeing more people offering opportunities for people to, to, uh, upscale increase, right? To upscale. So we see that and you got all kinds of new things offered to people, marketed to people, and then you've got, people got more time, so the, they'll probably start to take advantage of some of this.

And so overall you should end up with more skilled, more knowledgeable, um, workforce or people in general. And, you know, here in California, and, and across the country, affordability is still a big issue. Mm-hmm. . And so how do you make property more affordable? Can you build it cheaper? Can, right? Well, maybe you can to a degree if you get the right regulation.

I don't mean you, you don't, you build it, uh, not as strong, not as good as you built it in the past, but maybe you don't have as many parking units. Parking spaces required for a unit. So that helps you bring the affordability down. You make smaller units, you get density bonuses, and so those types of things are available, but you have to go out and look for them.

And of course that comes back to the local issue. Uh, Andreas, we had a conversation this morning where I found a property here in San Diego that had a p, his Italian re. and a developer bought it, and before if you bought it and tried to put residential uh, units on it, you might be able to put 25 units on it.

But now he's going for like 140 units on this, and because it is within walking distance. Of mass transit and the density bonuses are available, less parking is then required. It allows you to build more units. You've got, you can build higher than you could build before. So those types of things are out there.

but you have to look for them. And it's easier to look for 'em if you see 'em when you're driving down the street than if there's some 

[00:25:44] Andreas Senie: place across the country. Right. Well, uh, I'm a huge fan of Google Earth, but yeah, I think I agree wholeheartedly driving down the street, identifying my grandmother flew a plane.

That's how she identified. But you're, but you're right to, and not only are you right, I will put that ahead of Brownfield as the biggest opportunity. For those willing to look and find them every, there are so many municipalities behind unaffordable housing in such dire need. And what most people don't know is what are municipalities behind?

You can come in and write your own rules. You can ignore zoning, you can build it as tall as you want to build it. Um, and that's a huge potential profit if you can afford to. . Yeah. And you gotta convince the town to say to, to get on board with some aspects. Go ahead, Saul. 

[00:26:31] Saul Klein: Yeah, that's a big point. That's the NIMBY movement, right?

Not in my backyard and that. So what we've got is we've got land use changes taking place, and there's always gonna be resistance. And over the last 20 or 30 years, that resistance has been powerful and strong, but we've had changes in land use in this country. and we're gonna have it again. And so increased density is part of the future.

Uh, less driving is part of the future, and the sooner people figure that out, the better off everybody's going to be. And so that's being pushed by the government. We see, uh, funding programs available. We see rebate programs available, uh, density bonuses to make, to give the incentives. To people to do this.

And then you've got generational shifts where certain people of certain generations really like the idea of not driving as much or being able to walk to where they want to go. And while somebody of a different generation might think that's gonna spoil the character of the neighborhood, there are other people that think that enhances the character 

[00:27:41] Andreas Senie: of the.

I loved my hometown. I mean, we had a walking main street and you could walk and bike and, and so forth. And now I live in i five minutes to drive anywhere. So, uh, the changes of the neighborhood, you point out that's, those are the biggest, one of the biggest reasons developments are, are vetoed, right? You get in front of that town and they're, they're so worried about the spirit of a town changing.

Not taking into account the jobs it's gonna bring and the economic stimulus and the federal funds to fix the roads to get to the town, um, 

[00:28:16] Saul Klein: or the obsolete housing stock. 

[00:28:19] Andreas Senie: Right. Accept that consumer Yeah. Needs to 

[00:28:23] Saul Klein: be rebuilt. And this has happened before, right? We've, we've lived, we, maybe we haven't lived through it, but the country has gone through these types of land use changes in the past, and it's happening again.

[00:28:37] Chris Able: So it's really interesting. It's just really interesting that it went in that direction cuz I, I, in my own hometown, I, I literally listened to, um, , uh, for about two, two and a half hours. Uh, uh, at the town hall meeting last night, man, hometown lit. Just exactly what you're talking about. Like, so you, you, you and Andreas could have been two of the people sitting in that meeting, having that conversation.

Um, you know, building on swamp. Swampland type stuff and the, you know, all different things. I had one, one reason to listen in and, and it has to do more on the school side of things and how close buildings are even put to a school. But the topics that got brought up were really, I mean, cross the board and that it's like must musty tv.

That's what kept me on my phone for two and a half hours listening to, uh, Nobody actually knew, but essentially my neighbors, uh, you know, voicing their opinions. So it's definitely, uh, definitely interesting to, it's interesting that we shifted in that direction cuz uh, Like I'm wondering there you happen to be.

Yeah. I wonder if folks happen to be in Connecticut. So, so I was like, Nope, nope, I'm 

[00:29:44] Andreas Senie: staying here. But it's happening everywhere. It says zoning meetings everywhere. And actually speaking of zoning meetings and downtime and upskilling, um, many of us have volunteered in different areas on different boards.

And if you've got six months to burn, why not volunteer up your local zoning board planning and zoning and see how you can become embedded to grow your. Um, I mean, that's what we're, we're teaching now in our, our new, uh, bootcamp over at DAC to our new agents get involved somewhere. Everyone on this call is involved with different charities such, uh, is that still true Anne Maria?

Are, are Oh, I have been 

[00:30:21] Anna Maria Kowalik: for a long time. I'm, I'm kind of on a pause, uh, presently just because I'm taking care of my elderly parents and, uh, that I'm blessed to have them both alive. But it's, it's, you know, Fairly, uh, overwhelming. And so, uh, timing is an issue, but I do support financially what I can, when I can.

And so, um, you know, that that's what I'm involved in. But, um, I just wanted to. Uh, look back just a quick second at, uh, some of what was being said about zoning, et cetera. You know, a lot more, um, sustainable, uh, types of, uh, uh, programming, let's say, uh, being put into, uh, zoning with, uh, uh, new local laws and, um, and recommendations, uh, both for, uh, especially on the, um, electrical vehicle.

Charging infrastructure and, and also, uh, you know, just, um, Uh, various codes, uh, needing, you know, uh, updated, uh, requirements. And so, uh, where, you know, our particular industry, um, it never really had certifications per se. Uh, you know, there, there were the lead certifications at the various levels and things that, uh, one could get, but now there are more and more certifications.

Uh, available, uh, under the sustainability umbrella. So, uh, just something to look out for and some great opportunities for new, uh, workforce, uh, to get involved in. And, um, you know, because I've always, uh, enjoyed mentoring, uh, uh, Uh, younger people coming into, uh, their career choices and, and I think that, um, this is one area that's certainly gonna continue to grow, and so it's the place 

to 

[00:32:24] Andreas Senie: be.

Well, um, and I couldn't agree more. The, the question I was asking is are, are you mentoring the next generation during this time? You said you're already out there, you're having to reeducate your clients. Yes. Are you now. , but he say, we're taking the time to train a whole new school of agents, right?

Because they've never been through it. And we're using their energy combined with experience to, to push forward through the next six months. So on the c a side, on the, it's the same. 

[00:32:56] Anna Maria Kowalik: Well, we've got a lot of, um, young people now. Uh, in fact there are more real estate degrees that are coming out of, uh, universities.

And so, and, uh, many of, uh, the graduates from those programs, especially the higher education, uh, You, you know, do have a, a kind of mindset of where they want to go with that real estate, uh, uh, background. But there are others who are uncertain. And so, as I speak to people, I, I always invite them to take a look at, you know, down sustainability lane and, and seeing what they can find.

And, uh, that I would be glad to help them find resources and connections. To be able to, uh, decide what's, uh, the best route for them. . 

[00:33:53] Saul Klein: Andrea, you made a great point about volunteering now. Mm-hmm. and participating if you can. I, years ago, I, I volunteered for something here in San Diego called the, the Mid-City Revitalization Task Force.

Now, there was a great benefit in participating. It was a city council task force. You didn't get paid anything, but you met all the people that were interested in building things, and so you were in this position. You got to meet people that. From the networking perspective. And then the other side side it, you knew what was HAP before anybody else did.

So you knew of the low loan, low interest rate loan programs. You knew about the rebate programs. You saw what properties were eligible for those types of things. And so knowing that, picking up that type of information at the same time, being able to network and do good for. For the city or for your, for your neighborhood because you're volunteering.

I think looking for those types of volunteer opportunities is a good path for people right now. 

[00:34:54] Andreas Senie: Cool. Um. Planning and zoning's full where I am. But they do a great job. Shelton's one of the top 10 cities to move to and live in, thanks to a robust, uh, development of mixed use and office and CTO and so forth.

And the brokers out here doing a great job. Um, but there are other opportunities to volunteer and it's, it's funny, I remember when I just went, when I just started in tech, in 2015 formally went into tech and I was consulting and I was in rooms that it would've taken me a, a lifetime to get into heads of associations, uh, large institutions, and that those relationships are carried through.

So volunteering anywhere and everywhere, showing up. Uh, I'm, I'm a, I like the Christmas movies and all of it, but I, I saw one where the whole HOA gets together and does a, does a big thing for the town and invites everyone in. And I went, wow. Every one of those business owners in that town know who to call and, you know, everyone on a first name basis, that's hard to replicate.

Sending out business card. Well, that, 

[00:35:59] Saul Klein: that is back to Becca's point on visioning. So part of your vision should be where you wanna go with in this particular area, in the volunteering area and how that might enhance your business. 

[00:36:10] Andreas Senie: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. The, uh, Becca, I'm curious, we're we're hosting open house, uh, forums.

We're bringing in our partners to come in and, and teach. Talk to us about what C pace, as an example, anything and everything to help, uh, bring in the community. Are other, are your clients doing the same? Is that part of that visioning process? Um, 

[00:36:31] Bekah Carlson: I haven't seen, uh, I shouldn't say that. I have some clients who are doing, making certain concerted effort in.

Relations in towards, and, uh, facilitating education opportunities for their stakeholders, whatever that may be. So that might be clients, but it might be investors. So I have a, a handful of 'em that have added that to their marketing plans for this year, which I fully support and I'm very excited about because, , the stories are so much more enriching when they're told in a physical environment, for instance, or, or even a, a podcast where there's a strong panel, something like that where you can really touch on all of the different facets of.

their businesses and educating what they're doing. I really, I'm very excited to see those sorts of pieces come through. And I did wanna put in a little plug here, of course, for the Northern Illinois Commercial Association of Realtors , which is dear and dear to my heart, and I have been honored to be on the board for many years.

I went through all of the executive board positions and I'm delighted to just be a plain old, normal board member, and all I have to do is not get all of the executive board emails, and I still get to interface with our membership, which is very, very important to me. And I would say that in addition to aiding in my career, It's been unbelievably beneficial to learn how the brokerage community is perceiving changes in the industry to talk about best, best practices, and certainly to help if there's things that I know how to do that they may not know how to do.

I love having those opportunities and so the Northern Illinois Commercial Association of Realtors, my car has been, uh, a very important part of my, my life and I'm continuing to volunteer there, and we're. Trying to engage people to spend this time, since you guys are talking about this quiet time, we are actively working on filling committees because it's a great time for it cuz people do often have a few extra minutes on their hands where they can serve and be part of the visioning of an organization.

So the visioning practice doesn't just apply to individuals and companies, but also to an organization. 

[00:38:52] Anna Maria Kowalik: And I can vouch for both Rebecca and, uh, the, uh, NCAR Association because, uh, they've invited me to speak on C Pace, and it's been wonderful and I can see, uh, Becca's, uh, personal. Passion for the organization and, uh, doing the work.

So, uh, I am a, a testimony for all of the above . 

[00:39:19] Andreas Senie: Um, well, wait, 

[00:39:21] Saul Klein: wait, while you're, while you're talking about that, I'll throw this in. That, that I truly believe in participating in. Your association, be it commercial, be it residential, be it construction. And when I first got him, I went to a meeting many years ago to a, they used to have luncheons, believe it or not, right?

They still do go to these luncheons. We'd go to this luncheon and we had a speaker. And I remember walking out of that meeting and saying, you know what? I wanna serve as a member of this board of directors. And I decided in the parking lot that day, and I took about 15 of my agents with me. I said, I want to be the president of that organiz.

and it took about seven years. And I was the president of that local association, and I got to participate at the state level, and I got to participate at the national level. And I told our chief executive at the time, they called them association executives, our staff, I was the volunteer. I told our staff guy said, I wanna volunteer and I want to turn my volunteer efforts into a multi-million dollar company.

And so we And how do you do that? Through networking and through visibil. And through helping people and teaching people, and sure enough, we were able to do that. And it goes right back to being in that parking lot that day at that meeting saying, I want to part, I see lots of good things happening here and I want to participate and I want to help and I wanna meet new people, but I do it with an intention, and there's nothing wrong with having an intention.

And my intention is I wanna lead this organization because I know more value will come out of that. Being in leadership like Becca, you participated at all these different Yeah. There's value that comes from participating at that level. Congratulations. I think it's great and uh, more people need to understand this.

Often I hear people say, well, why would I do that? Those are my competitors. 

[00:41:10] Andreas Senie: No, they're your partners. They're, they're your partners. They're your partners. Everyone in real estate is your partner. You might compete on a deal, but otherwise they're your partner. . 

[00:41:20] Chris Able: I would, I would say a small piece of, um, a small piece of advice, underlying tone coming from, you know what solids just saying, what everyone's just saying, it's just coming.

You know, especially if it's a slower time, especially if you have those minutes start coming from a place of Yes. And that's kind of what I, honestly, that's what I did. Um, You know, a couple years ago I was always kind of stuck in that spot, like, why would I do that? Kind of like what Saul was just mentioning.

Um, and then kind of turned around and started coming from that place. A yes, and I'm starting to see when I, when I started with, with a abc, I didn't know really anything about associa, trade associations, any of that sort of stuff. It was there, but I didn't know anything about it. But as soon as I started coming from a place of, yes, I'm starting to see.

That ladder climb and starting to see those little things like, uh, like, um, Becca, like what Saul you were, you were talking about. And, you know, I, uh, that's how I end up in a treasurer role with, with the SM PS group here in Connecticut. I, any treasurer for a B C is usually a, uh, c p and usually from a pretty high level firm.

So my vision of a. Was two, two things. One, the kid who did it in high school, , you know, a long time ago. And two, the ones I saw on the board who were like, you know, the partners at Markham and the partners at some of these big, big, big firms. Um, so my first thought was, why would I do that? Why would I put my, and then I said, you know what?

Let me talk to a couple people. Former treasurers, they said, no, you, you could do it. It's not as intense as some of the other situations. And then, you know, saying Yes has put, you know, has put me in a, in a spot, um, that I wouldn't in the show. Yeah. Quite frankly. That, that's, that's, that's another thing. My first thought was like, what podcast?

What are we doing here? What's, what's the situation? ? 

[00:43:09] Andreas Senie: Yeah. I said the same thing about Twitter. Yeah. and 

[00:43:13] Chris Able: other places. I like that idea. You know, if you come from a place of Yes, and just, I mean, what's the worst that could happen? You know, the, the roof isn't going to collapse on you because you, you, you spoke up at a committee meeting and brought up something that they had talked about maybe a couple months earlier when you weren't around, someone's gonna say, Hey, um, this, this person's in the right, right frame of mind because they're talking about what we were talking about.

[00:43:39] Andreas Senie: They'll find the way back to visibil. Being visible in your market and and marketing yourself to, to get more business. It's, uh, you were talking about. Yes. And it's funny, there are some deals that I've pushed out that I did not think would be yeses, and they're, they are, it doesn't hurt to try. At the end of the day is really what I'm saying.

And it's, it's, I am super hopeful for, hopeful for 2023 for a good reason. Cause everybody on this call is talking about all the time they have. I do not have any extra time right now, so I'm clearly in the wrong state. the brokerage, there's just a lot going on. That all being said, car wash aside, marketing aside, brokerage aside.

what, how are you feeling in general as a community coming into this first quarter compared to a year ago where it's, uh, 15 minutes part three of the show? What is the the biggest takeaway you want to give to the people tuning in for their business? For them personally? It's been a long 24, 36 covid post Covid period.

Here. We're today hopeful. I'm hopeful, Anna Maria. 

[00:44:52] Anna Maria Kowalik: I'm very hopeful and I know that the future is green and uh, and basically we, um, you know, we build on. , uh, uh, are past successes. And so, um, you know, the, there's, there's a lot there. Uh, there's more coming. Uh, even if it takes a little bit longer, that's okay.

Uh, and just because it takes a little bit longer to your point, uh, under, as. It's not that we're not busy, , we're very busy. Of course, I don't have enough time to go around, but, 

[00:45:30] Andreas Senie: um, but ask a busy person to do something 

[00:45:34] Anna Maria Kowalik: time, right? And that's the key always. I have al that's been my mantra all my life, uh, raising four kids and has a single mom at one point and everything.

Believe me, you gotta juggle and, and there's a lot going on all the time. So, Absolutely. But, uh, definitely, uh, looking forward to 23 as, uh, surpassing, uh, I think in by the end of the year, we'll surpass, uh, this past one 

[00:46:05] Andreas Senie: better than 2022. Looking forward. I think so Chris, 

[00:46:10] Chris Able: you know, I would say, I mean, there's a piece of advice out there is, um, we talked about it a little bit earlier, but, you know, kind of staying the course, staying.

you know, dig a little, dig a little deeper, you know, join something we were just talking about. Um, another, another, we talked a little bit about the mentoring, pushing your young talent, if there's young talent around you to, um, be better, um, you know, and, and become stronger, whether that's professional development, um, on an outside, you know, perspective or, uh, or if it is, You know, a matter of mentoring, but also, um, having those conversations with younger people.

Um, I had a great one today. And let them almost reverse mentor you during a conversation a little bit and hear what they have to say and see what's out there and find out what, what's, you know, what might help, help you out. Um, and make sure that as, especially in the construction side of things, it can't, it can't get pricey.

It can't get. You know, a little bit, uh, daunting, but using technology as your friend. . I mean, so many companies are finally realizing that I have to really dig into some of these software programs and I really have to get my systems talking to one another. Because if they don't, someone's gonna sneak in and they're gonna be able to get that bid in faster, get that bid in, um, with a little more ooph behind it.

They're going to be able to push themselves a little bit harder in their, in their marketing side of things, all that sort of stuff. So embracing, uh, technology and going back to what we talked about forever, embracing data and just, you know, That use all those things to stay relevant. Don't, don't, you know, don't disappear on anybody because it's, you know, it takes a long time to build something up, but all it takes is a one big strong win sometimes to.

To, to blow something away. 

[00:47:59] Andreas Senie: Don't, don't fade. Don't let technology fade you into the background. And at the same time have it push you to the foreground almost. Yeah. 

[00:48:06] Chris Able: You're not gonna get young talent in, in the industry. I mean, you're not gonna get young talent if you're not, if you don't have some, some technology to, to some bells of whistles to show 'em, hey, we're on the forefront.

Um, and that, that's even in the field. That's even for the, the, the, the tradespeople that are. 

[00:48:23] Andreas Senie: Yeah, I've seen some really cool prop tech, construction, trade stuff, sensors and hats, boots. There's, there's a lot out there. I mean, that even goes back to visioning and, and what your company is. Are you tech forward?

Are you, are you a place to employ people? I mean, Becca, that's, that's your world. Visioning and marketing. What, uh, what are your thoughts? 

[00:48:46] Bekah Carlson: So, although our. Our particular company has not slowed down at all. I do recognize that the transactional brokers are looking at, are projecting six to nine months of, of a little bit more quiet.

And that's on the investor side and on the transactional brokers within my market that I've spoken with. They're just expecting it. Just a little bit of, um, the market to write itself a little bit cuz it's just been a little bit too unsteady. That being said, I think we all have opportunities and something that I didn't have the bandwidth to consider last year, 12 months ago, versus something that I am considering right now is who can I help?

Like where can I contribute? What is my voice in this? I ended our, we ended our year with our newsletter at the end of December. Saying it's okay to opt out of the new year, new you. I don't think that everybody has to do a full reinvention. I don't think that there needs to be always dramatic pieces that change.

I think the consistency really does matter, but I think that there is this piece of us that sometimes forgets that we can go back and see what's worked before. , we can go, forget to go back and look at the fundamentals. Forget to do that because there are so many things coming at us that we think we have to respond to, that we're being reactive and not as maybe as proactive of defining where we wanna be in, into, in our situation.

Life is happening to us and so we're responding to it. Market's happening to us, the economy is happening to us. , but we can stop, take a moment, do a little bit of reflection and visioning for where we want it to take us for the future. So I think those are important characteristics to think about, and I'm excited in 2023, I think that we're gonna continue to grow.

I think that our clients are gonna continue to grow and we're gonna keep serving people who. Incredible things in their businesses, and I love that. I love being able to make introductions to people who need to talk sea paste with someone to Anna Maria. Like, oh my gosh, it's my favorite. I've gotta find some clients who wanna talk about construction in the East coast so that Chris and I can like, work together.

Like, and, and Saul knows everything in the whole wide world. So I'm gonna ask him all my realtor.com questions really soon here because, uh, somebody called me and yelled at me that something they read. realtor.com wasn't correct, and I was like, I, I didn't even, I was on there, . 

[00:51:18] Andreas Senie: Well, that was gonna go back to intentional and volunteering, so you went door to door way back when and helped build that.

The, the first m ls really the, the largest distributed network for listings. You've, you've seen a lot, you've been through a lot. You've volunteered a lot in different areas and made a billion dollar company once or twice, so where do you see it? Well, I wanted jump into the, the realtor do. I knew he was 

[00:51:45] Saul Klein: pet pee.

This is a pet peeve. This is really a pet peeve of mine because I was there. I had to create the acetate overhead slides to convince residential real estate brokers to put their listings on the internet. I sat in on those meetings. I was the key player in all of that. When I get people today telling me that's not how it happened, it drives me nuts.

And so, you're right. Lately I've been taking pieces where I've explained this a thousand times to people to explain why are we here? Why are we in this position today? What happened along the way that drove us to that point? And, and I'd be happy to talk to anybody about that subject. And I haven't got a garage full cause I kept everything of documentation.

I call 'em artifacts when I can back up everything that I've said about this. And so I'm glad to talk about it, but it brings us to this point and that is necessity. . And so what we need to look at, I think is necessity. And so Covid and the last couple years and the economy have created new necessities.

And if we find those necessities, we'll find opportunity. And that's where we should focus. If we think we don't have anything to do right now, take a look and you'll see all kinds of new necessities again. And Andreas, we're talking about vacancies in office buildings, repositioning office buildings. What happens?

In Washington DC when, when government workers don't have to go into the office, all of a sudden nobody's in these, in these office buildings. You know who else has affected all the people that have businesses that serve lunch to all those people in those buildings. And so there are new necessities that will create new opport, but they're not gonna fall into your lap.

You. Take the time to look for them. I'm kinda down on the, on the other side of this, I think there's gonna be, people are gonna be surprised at some of the negative aspects of where the economy is going, and they're gonna be surprised. I would, the other day, I was talking to a very knowledgeable individual that was talking to me about a 270 million portfolio five years ago, just got sold for 70 million bucks and so just put it in problem.

But that was also somebody's wind. That's right. So you're gonna find those things that you're looking for. So what is the necessity in the marketplace? And then how can we deliver around that? Where's the opportunity? 

[00:54:11] Andreas Senie: I love it. Necessity. Intention. Intention with vision. , uh, and opportunity. It, it's the basics all over again.

I like that 70 million deal. Um, as I said, you'd like a piece of that, I'm sure. Yeah. No. Well, I love that. It was two, the sticker price was 200 and he said 70. And oh, well wait a minute, it happened. You never know. As long as the deal makes sense, and that's why you need the right team to figure that out and put it together.

It's 6 55. It is our first show in 2023. We've got a great lineup this year. Great hosts that I'm blessed to sit alongside experts in their own right, in their own areas. I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. I want to thank the team here. I want to thank Mr. Mendoza behind the scenes, our production.

Mr. Mendoza, could you push put up how we everyone, how to reach. And as we're doing that, I do wanna remind all our listeners to come back on the 19th Thursday for the sector interview with Dr. Lawrence y, the Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, to hear firsthand about the economic headwinds.

But regardless of those headwinds, as you heard it here first, For, as you've heard it here many times, focus on your local market, focus on the necessities that you can solve to build business, and then come back for next month, first Thursday. This show is available everywhere you get your audio and across all major social media channels do like rate and review us.

It really does help and thank you again for tuning into this month's round table and being a subscriber to this. With that. Thank you. Have a great month. Happy 

[00:55:55] Anna Maria Kowalik: New Year, everyone. 

[00:55:56] Andreas Senie: New.