326. First 1.5 years in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage with Jake Clark

 

 

First 1.5 years in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage with Jake Clark


On this episode, Logan Freeman and I sit down with Jake Clark, one of Nashville’s fastest-rising commercial brokers — and a guy whose story is all about grit and getting after it.

Jake shares how he went from getting laid off in private equity to becoming a successful multifamily broker in just 18 months. It’s a wild ride, and one any broker or investor can learn from.

We dig into how he flipped early setbacks into fuel for success, leaning hard into networking, relentless cold calling, and a laser-focused strategy to carve out his niche. Jake breaks down his playbook for finding off-market deals, building real relationships, and dominating the 15-75 unit multifamily market in Nashville and Murfreesboro.

Here’s What We Cover:

  • Growing up in a real estate family — and how it set the stage for his work ethic

  • Breaking into a new market with zero track record — and winning business fast

  • Shifting from being purely transactional to acting as a true advisor

  • Tactical ways to source and close CRE deals

  • Why investing in yourself is non-negotiable in this business

If you’re looking to break into brokerage, grow your CRE portfolio, or just want a blueprint for hustling your way to the top, this episode is for you.

Tune in and hear how Jake’s betting on himself — and winning big.

Get commercial real estate coaching, courses, and community to jumpstart your investment journey over at CRE Central: www.crecentral.com

Key Takeaways:

  • Early Exposure: Jake's background in real estate started with his father, who was an investor and flipper, which inspired his career path.

  • Networking Strategy: He attended 8-10 networking events weekly and meticulously tracked contacts, believing "network is my net worth."

  • Persistence: Jake used cold calling extensively, making up to 400 calls a day to build his pipeline.

  • Specialization: He focused on 15-75 unit multifamily properties, primarily in the Murfreesboro market.

  • Mindset Shift: Transitioned from a transactional approach to being an investment sales advisor, which helped differentiate himself.

  • Continuous Learning: Invested in himself through masterminds, reading books, and attending industry events.

  • Deal Sourcing: Demonstrated skill in finding off-market deals, including a 16-unit property he sourced and closed after 134 days of follow-up.

  • Marketing Strategy: Uses LinkedIn, case studies, and creative follow-up to keep deals and relationships alive.

  • Technology Adoption: Utilizes tools like Intel CRE for underwriting and Gamma for presentations.

  • Motivation: Being laid off from his previous job drove him to take control of his career and succeed in commercial real estate brokerage.



About Your Host:

Tyler Cauble, Founder & President of The Cauble Group, is a commercial real estate broker and investor based in East Nashville. He’s the best selling author of Open for Business: The Insider’s Guide to Leasing Commercial Real Estate and has focused his career on serving commercial real estate investors.


Episode Transcript:

Unknown Speaker 0:00

Steve, this

Tyler Cauble 0:05

episode of the commercial real estate investor podcast is brought to you by my cre accelerator mastermind, where you'll get access to my step by step investment blueprint, essentially a library of resources on how to invest in commercial real estate. You'll get connected to a supportive community of other commercial real estate investors that are doing projects just like you. You'll get personalized coaching and feedback from me every step of the way. Go to www.crecentral.com to learn more. Welcome back to the commercial real estate investor Podcast. Today, we are live with Logan Freeman and Jake Clark diving into Jake's background getting started in commercial real estate brokerage. He's been a commercial real estate broker for about full time for a year and a half. Now. He'll tell you a little bit more about having his license longer than that, trying to figure out where he was going to go, what he was going to do with it. And he joined the brokers mastermind back in October of 24 so like, basically six or seven months into his commercial real estate brokerage career, Jake has been kicking ass and taking names. I mean, we refer all of our multi family leads to Jake, uh, he's here in Nashville, which makes it very easy for me and my team, because for those of you all that know, uh, us, I mean, we just do commercial, right? But we still have people that reach out asking to buy apartment complexes, and I don't have anybody on the team that does that, so we send everything out to Jake, and he closes these deals left to right, which is nice to have somebody to be able to send this stuff to. So Jake, very brief background and introduction of yourself, but tell us a little bit more about you and how you got started in commercial real

Speaker 1 1:38

estate. Man, yeah, I appreciate that. Tyler, I actually got started working, I worked in the private equity world for a bit, working for institutional medical real estate buyer here in town, and I was on their acquisitions team, and was at the same time brokering smaller residential deals for boutique firm here, kind of on the side. And did about, you know, 50 or so million for the firm. And you know, just under 5 million part time over the course of, like, a year and a half. And then, you know, after leaving that firm over some turbulent times during the the interest rate hike window that summer, the company kind of took a turn and then went, ended up full time into brokerage.

Speaker 2 2:28

Jake, I want to ask a question on that man on like, did you when did you know, like, real estate is something that I want to get into, right? I mean, very few people do, I actually know in the industry, you know, like, I went to school, I went to finance and real estate school and got a degree for real estate. Like, when was the moment that that you were like, yep, that's what I'm going to focus on.

Speaker 1 2:49

Well, I guess I got pretty lucky, because I was exposed to it at a really early age. My dad was an investor and flipper and heading home inspection business up in Buffalo, New York. And at the time, you know, I would help them kind of flip some of these houses, you know, doing what I could do. But, but as I grew older and through high school and college, I saw kind of what it did for our family, because, because he kind of did it on the side, and then eventually scaled it up and and he always said, if he didn't do real estate, we wouldn't be in a position that we would be in today. So and then also just being exposed to the bigger pockets world and books and podcasts in high school, and just kind of started diving into and I noticed that that all the wealthy people, they were involved in real estate in some way. So I knew I wanted to get into it. You know, even coming out of high school, freshman year of college,

Tyler Cauble 3:47

that's awesome, man. So what was it like growing up with a dad showing you how to do the real estate business? Because that is, I mean, that's next level, man. I mean, what a great way like, what a great entree into the business.

Speaker 1 4:02

You know, I wish I hung around them more, because he would do a lot of the renovations himself. He very solemnly, like hired professionals. He really didn't subcontract out a lot of work. So I saw, you know, the ins and out, and he was working hard flipping houses. So super cool see, kind of the forced equity that he would build in these, in these houses, you know, he'd buy the worst house on the block, in the best neighborhood. And, you know, by the end of it, I mean, it was, it was by far the nicest rehabbed property on the block. And he was basically setting the market comps for the area. So you know, even though maybe it's lower dollar amounts compared to commercial but you know, same fundamentals there. You know, buying at a really good basis, forcing the appreciation through heavy value add or redevelopment, and then selling for top of the market. So, yeah. Yeah, it's, I wish I hung around them more.

Speaker 2 5:04

Yeah. So wait, do you have a rich dad or a poor dad? Or do you have both?

Speaker 1 5:11

I've got a rich dad, both in love and, no, I mean, we come from

Speaker 2 5:17

giving Robert Kiyosaki a little bit of, a little bit of hell right there, right? I mean, everybody talks about that book, and I know, I know it's probably Tyler's favorite book, and so I just want to point that out. Anyways, I just thought that was fun. That's really cool, though, like you actually saw somebody close to you making it happen, you know. And that's exciting stuff. Now, was your dad also selling the homes? Or would he work with, like a real estate agent, broker, to sell those houses?

Speaker 1 5:48

He would list them for sale by owner and and he built a reputation, you know, in the marketplace, like when, when people knew that my dad did the flip. He didn't really need a broker. People would be kind of lined, lined up, ready to go. So he, he rarely, I don't think he ever worked with an agent on the on the listing side, which is pretty incredible, actually. No, now that I am a broker, it's impressive. Yeah, yeah,

Speaker 2 6:15

that's what I was kind of thinking like, you know, full cycle and full circle. You've kind of stepped into that, into that space, you know. And I, I love the idea that you know he's, you got started and solid at an early age, but like, what you sell now, right? Is very different from the single family home flips. Have you sold your dad anything yet.

Speaker 1 6:41

I have, I have not sold them anything yet, but I did. He was looking for land. He's doing a development right now up there and and I was helping him find some land off market. So that's about the only thing that I've helped him with in the real estate world.

Speaker 2 6:59

Yeah, yeah. That's awesome, man, that's great. So okay, Buffalo, New York. How do you end up in the beautiful, wonderful Nashville, Tennessee, like, take us from Buffalo to to Nashville. How'd it

Speaker 1 7:11

happen? Yeah, so I actually went to college at the University of Dayton in Ohio, so that was what got me out of Buffalo, and I wanted to play hockey there, and ended up getting a finance degree there, so that was the main reason for getting out of Buffalo. You know, early on in college, like I mentioned, I knew I wanted to get into commercial real estate, and I had a job with JLL during my senior year, and I was applying to different commercial real estate analyst jobs out of the Chicago land office, and because of COVID, if COVID didn't happen, I would not be in Nashville. I would have probably moved to Chicago. But what ended up happening was, when COVID hit, you know, I get a call from the JLL recruiter, and she goes, Yeah, we have to rescind your offer. You know, we don't. We're not hiring anymore. We're freezing all hiring. So I kind of had to go to plan B, but, but it worked out, obviously, because I started talking with my my real estate friends in Chicago who are a couple grades ahead of me, and they all said, Hey, we're looking in markets like Nashville and Tampa and Austin and Charlotte. You know, they're like, don't, don't come here. You should, you should put yourself in one of those markets, especially if you still want to get into real estate. So that's what I did. And, you know, I was working a remote job as, like, a financial analyst for an insurance broker. So, you know, I ended up moving to Nashville. I took their advice, and within a month of moving here, I took the real estate test, the licensing test, and got licensed right away, and just kind of jumped into it. Well, Jake, I got

Tyler Cauble 8:55

to ask, man, I mean, jumping into a brand new market, right, and then having to build relationships, which is like such a crucial aspect of being a commercial estate broker. How did you wrap your arms around Nashville to the to the point where you could start closing deals?

Speaker 1 9:13

I went to every single networking event in those in that first like year, like I was at Ren, I was at tn and Ria. I went to every single, like, Lunch and Learn, series 615, like, I just started going all I was at like, you know, eight to 10 networking events, you know, per week, pretty much. And I was just sitting up coffees. I really just put myself out there. And I even tracked who I was meeting with. And just like a fun fact about them, I had a Excel sheet, and I labeled it network is my net worth and, and that's what I did. And I was just extremely intentional with reaching out with people and following up with who I was meeting. You know, even no matter where it went, you know, even if it was maybe didn't help me immediately they either. Connected me to someone that that would help and and it ended up getting me my first, you know, gig in the in the real estate world. And then it actually led to me getting a job in private equity. So, like, I was involved with Nashville business national chamber, Junior business chamber, just a whole, whole different, you know, different organizations in town here. So I just put myself out there. Tyler,

Speaker 2 10:33

yeah. Man, that's awesome. Okay, so making the transition to a new market, new industry, you know, what is one early challenge that you had to overcome, right? I mean, so many folks that we talk with on regular basis are like, how do I break in and you just dove in, right? Like you didn't dip your toe in the water. You dove in head first, which, you know, I think many people that are successful in this industry, that's what they do. But what's one over? What's what's one early challenges you had to kind of overcome, or maybe that you're still trying to overcome,

Speaker 1 11:08

in early challenge I've really had was figuring out what the heck to do. Like, I was like, I had some buddies who were wholesaling. I had some buddies who were, you know, flipping I had some buddies who were crushing it as a broker, and I was like, All right, I'm going to try out wholesaling, and then, you know, then I would come across the deal and, like, Actually, wait, maybe I could bring on a partner and flip it. So I was like, unclear as to what I wanted to focus on and, like, I guess, build a business in so that was a first hurdle, because there's so many different avenues you can go that makes it very challenging to figure out, like, what, you know, what's the best niche right now, or route to go? So that was, that was definitely the first one, and then the second one was just kind of on that same vein, is specializing, you know, I'd go from land to single family, flips distressed to small, multi family. Then, you know, maybe, maybe, if I maybe, what if I did some retail? So niching down was also a challenge at first, because I'd, I met so many people, and everyone's doing different things too, and I got kind of shiny object syndrome. So figuring out what actually interests me and what was the best path forward to to reach, you know, my long term goals. So that was definitely, by far, the two biggest things.

Tyler Cauble 12:39

So once you got started, like, full time in commercial real estate brokerage. What did that first six months look like? Like? What was your day to day? What were the activities that you were really leaning on to drive activity?

Speaker 1 12:54

Simply one word, Tyler, and it was just picking up the phone and calling. I was using a dialer, and it was just like a numbers game for me, and I was just trying to talk to as many people as I can. And I don't really take that approach now, but it worked early on, because I was really able to kind of fill the pipeline. And it may have slowed me down, who knows, because I was kind of looking in all markets. You know, within Tennessee, I was like in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, you know, all around but really, it was just, it was just, I would cold call for 345, hours a day, you know. And I had a dialer, and I was able to hit, you know, 400 calls in a couple hours. So that, I guess, I was, I was partly lucky, because I did get my first kind of portfolio listing as my, you know, it was like a $15 million plus commercial listing out in Kingsport, Tennessee, and that was kind of my first big introduction into it. And I ended up closing my first deal within six months of truly jumping into the commercial world, and I basically, I feel like I got my MBA and in real estate, navigating that portfolio, and it didn't sell. We sell, we sell part of the portfolio. But really, again, it was just calling every single day was, was what my day looked like for what?

Tyler Cauble 14:24

What did those calls look like? So, I mean, because you're just getting started, so I mean, obviously 400 calls a day is amazing. So you're, you're calling these property owners. What, what does that conversation? How does that conversation go?

Speaker 1 14:38

Unfortunately, I wish I had learned from you guys earlier on, because, you know, I was thinking kind of more of a transactional approach, and it was basically, you know, Hi, my name's Jake, multifamily broker, you know, basically, are you looking to sell? Have you thought about selling and not really being like an advisor, like, like, I take. That approach now, so, so it might have deterred, you know, potential prospects early on, because I was taking such a transactional approach and, and maybe it was because it was the first time that, you know, I was fully commissioned and, you know, basically living off credit cards, essentially, and trying to figure out my way and close, you know, my first couple deals there, because it took some time to get going. So, you know, definitely had to learn by doing really

Speaker 2 15:38

well. I mean, I think that's, that's what it takes to be successful. It's the trial, it's the error, it's getting better. But one thing, and a theme that I continue to kind of come back on with with you, is you're you're willing to do it right, you're willing to figure it out. So where does that come from? I mean, because so many folks are, like, not willing to just step in, dive in, or start doing it. And you you did. So did you ever have any resistance to doing that? Or was there like, Hey, I don't have an option. I'm in a new city. Dad is in Buffalo. I don't want to go back there. I'm trying to make myself a name, a name for myself. Or, what was it, man, like, take us to that moment, because I think many people that want to hear, you know you being in the industry for about a year and a half and having the success that you had, you pushed through that resistance. But, but how

Speaker 1 16:29

I'll, I'll share with you how exactly, there was an exact moment I'll be, I'll be a little, a little vulnerable here. So when the market turn, I was at that private equity firm. They laid off, you know, a good amount of people entering the New Year and and I was, like, the youngest guy on the team. I did the least amount of volume, even though I did do like, 50 million, and I had put, like, my heart and soul, you know, into that, into that firm, and learned it was like a crash course on commercial real estate, 101, I mean, that's where I learned a ton. And I remember walking into the office one day. It was just like a normal January kind of cold day here in Nashville, and I got to tap on the shoulder from one of the VPs, and he escorted me to the lawyer's office, their internal counsel. And I'm like, this is, this is odd. And they had let me go that day. And luckily, you know, I was working on some smaller residential deals that I actually went to go to her later that day. But I remember driving home, you know, in silence and, and it was like the worst feeling ever, and, that's been my driver. Logan is that, you know, I never wanted someone else or something else to be in control of how I get paid or my time. So that moment, that that low point, you know, it was embarrassing at the time, and I didn't know what I was going to do, that's been my driver. Like I never, I never wanted to go back to the corporate life. I never, you know, wanted someone else to be in control of my livelihood, basically so. And I, you know, I kind of got forced into brokerage full time, whether, whether or not I liked it, and I realized I had full control of my time, and also that the sky's the limit in terms of of income, so, you know. And I just went all out and just burned the boats, basically, and went all in on it. So that's kind of story there

Tyler Cauble 18:41

you're, you're a year and a half into it, and I feel like, you know, on LinkedIn, every time I jump on the platform, you're closing a new deal. I mean, what do you think it is, man, that has helped you jump off so quickly and start ramping up so fast? Because it took me a couple of years before I was really in my groove.

Speaker 1 19:01

Well, like I said, like, at that private equity firm, I guess I've got into the industry with with already a pretty good foundational understanding and, like, learning curve. So I wasn't brand new going into the industry, because I had that experience at the private equity firm, doing a lot of deals, mass, I sent a billion dollars worth of otherwise in, like, a year and a half and, and that's, you know, that's a lot and, and I was doing some residential deals, but, but really, I mean, it was probably that, that initial listing that was brought to me pretty early on, you know, it was from a guy in my men's group, actually, who I had known previously. And then after that, you know, my cold calls did start to add up. And I got my first, you know, multifamily listing from a cold call. And it took about eight, nine months of follow up in. So started to kind of snowball a little bit. So that's kind of, that's kind of how, I mean, I had a good understanding. The other thing, Tyler too, is in my free time and and off hours. I mean, I was, I was listening to a podcast, I was reading books. I was, you know, I invested in some other kind of Crash Course says on commercial brokerage, like I was, I just had such a willingness to learn and a desire to to improve and and be the top, you know, multifamily guy in in Nashville. So, you know, I was just, I was at the late nights at the office. I can't tell how many times I've left the office eight o'clock, 830 so yeah, and also just building the habits, you know, early on, I'm an extremely disciplined person, not only personally, but it translated into my professional habits. So building those, those habits early on, I think, really helped me too, and how I'm structuring my day and and still figuring it out. But, you know, that's what I would say,

Speaker 2 21:12

Yeah, man. I mean, it's, there's there's the point where you have to take the ownership and the responsibility of, like, my future is up to me, right? And that's scary for a lot of people, but if you can figure out that discipline and create a routine that starts, and I think about it as like an equation, and we've talked a lot about this, but like, if you could figure out those variables and do those on a regular basis, you just said yes, the listing was brought to me through my men's group, networking, being around the people, the right people, putting yourself out there. Those are all important things. But my cold call started to stack up, right? And it started to create some, some opportunities many folks won't even kind of get to that point, which is, is hard. I get that, but like, if you can push past through that tough part of getting started, it can be really beneficial. So why don't you tell us a little bit about, you know, what you focus on? You know, we know it's multifamily, but that's a big asset class, specifically in Nashville, when you just toured me around and showed me not Georgetown, but the other area by the by the river, where is 270 you know, condos or new apartments that are renting for $5,000 a pop. So I don't think you're doing those deals right. But like, what are you focused on in Nashville? And why don't you tell us about a recent deal that your your product? Man,

Speaker 1 22:41

yeah. Yeah. So I guess specifically, lately, I've been focusing on, you know, anywhere from, say, 15 units to 75 units, kind of 80s vintage and newer. That seems to be what a lot of our my fire conversations is. That's like what they're looking for. And then on top of that, Murfreesboro, so about an hour south east of Nashville, it's been a market that I've really been honing in on, just from a, you know, per door standpoint and rent growth. I really like it there. It's, it's a little less expensive than the Nashville market. And I just did two deals there within about a month, apart from each other. And the one that I kind of want to highlight on is we just closed on a 16 unit building that was off market there, like a textbook light value add deal, you know, below market rents kind of kind of dated interior. Just needed a little bit of face lift on the exterior. And it was right on MTS use campus, so right on the University's campus. And I sourced it directly to the seller. I had to do some it took me about 20 minutes actually find who the executor of the estate was. It was a family estate that was being handled, and I connected with every single beneficiary, except for whoever the decision maker was. And finally, they put me in touch with the executor, who was a third party. And you know, it took me exactly. I sourced that in January as our first call. Took me exactly 134 days from my first call. So it was a completely cold lead to closing it in May. So it was about 4.4 months was the sales cycle. I mean, we did have to get creative, you know, and kind of shuffle the deal along. But, but really proud of that one, because that's, you know, that was a, you know, there was no other broker involved, and the buyer was, was strictly a good relationship that I have here in the market. And. Um, and that sales cycle is is pretty short, considering it was a cold lead. So that's

Speaker 2 25:06

one, yeah, man. Well, what I'll say about that is, I have driven around with Jake in Nashville, and as we were driving around, he's got his phone out with land glide, and he's looking at property saying, well, that's not my database. That's not my database, and he's pulling up the ownership group and sending himself emails on deals that aren't in costar loop, net, crexy, wherever, and that's exactly how you get deals done. I mean that that is one point from that. The second point, I would say, is the fact that you were willing to go find the executor of the state, and then you talk to every beneficiary, and they finally got you in touch with a third party that you had to talk with and negotiate. Most brokers are just they're not they're done. You know, if they can't find the owner there, they're moving on. So I love that you were willing to uncover all of those rocks to be able to get that deal done. And the off market component is true value add. So when anybody says in the industry, or talks about the industry brokers, they just put properties up online and let them sell themselves. Hear that story right there, because that was that's an incredible example of what it takes to be successful. And I've seen you do it live in person while we were driving around. So kudos to you. Man, that's an awesome deal.

Tyler Cauble 26:25

Yeah, Jake, the other thing too, that you're really good at. I mean, taking those deals and keeping that momentum going, right? So once you close a deal, what's, what's the next step, right? Because, I mean, we talk about this all the time, once you close a deal. You can't just let it die. You gotta, you gotta keep it alive with with the marketing, with the LinkedIn with, you know, notifying everybody else in the area that you just sold it. So how do you keep that deal alive after it's done?

Speaker 1 26:53

I guess the first that I'll do on the prospecting side to generate new businesses is, I'll do like, kind of circle prospecting, so it's a lot easier to enter the discussion like, Hey, I just, you know, you own, you know, XYZ apartments in this market, you know, we just closed on these down the street. And also kind of sending them a personalized email with, kind of like, a high level case study on what we had just closed. So that's one, and I set up meetings with about three or four owners now, because they, they like to see, you know, one what's going on in the market, but also they tangibly see that I'm doing deals down the road from from where they own. So that's the first thing. Also, you know, our brokerage, we we have a gong for every closing that we do. So So posting that on LinkedIn, the gong seems to be memorable. People tend to see that on their feed and like, that's That's funny. I saw the gong on LinkedIn. I got that a few times, but then also putting together a case study and kind of credit to Logan there that, and I've got a couple that that I'll be sending out here and finalizing so so kind of repurposing the content that way, I definitely post on LinkedIn, sent it to my, you know, my email list. You got to let people know too. And, yeah, it's important.

Speaker 2 28:17

Yeah, I think that what I'd like for you to do is, is get a gift of you not just ringing that gong. I need to see you smashing that gong. Okay, so that's first and foremost. This guy's strong, he's fast, he's good looking. He needs to smash this Gong. He's just kind of in there, like, tappy, tap, tappy, tap, you know, like tapping this thing, right, kick, you know, smash that thing and then create a GIF, and then you text it to your top 15 prospects and say, you're up next. I'm coming for you. Dot, dot, dot. You know, like that would get some serious response, seriously though, the case study stuff, guys, it is it? Sorry. Go ahead, Tyler,

Tyler Cauble 28:58

I was gonna say it's so ridiculous, but that would actually work.

Speaker 2 29:03

It would, if somebody sent that to me, I'd call them back and say, Hey, what are you even talking about? But that was creative and awesome. It's like, you know, I don't know, people used to send, like a one shoe or something, or like an iPad or something like that, and high tech sales or something, you shoot, you send one shoe and say, you know, Hey, just wanted to get a foot in the door, right? That's kind of goofy, but like in today's day and age, it'd be easy to do something cool like that. And then the week after, you hit them with that case study and show show them what you actually did. You know, we've got three or four of these case studies done this this year alone, and they they get responses like crazy, and we show them exactly how many visit, you know, impressions and clicks and offers and tours, and we just lay that process out, and people can really resonate with that. So those case studies are are huge in regards to building momentum. So good work on that front.

Tyler Cauble 29:57

Yeah, that's great. Well, Jake, I mean, you. Join you, join the brokers mastermind, like six, seven months into into your brokerage career. A lot of brokers out there probably think it's that's really early, right? I mean, maybe I should go out and try and spend a couple years in brokerage. Why did you make that decision so early? And what have you take it away from the brokers mastermind, or from your fellow brokers that are in it that has helped you, you know, grow that much faster.

Speaker 1 30:28

Yeah, I mean, so I knew I saw the value in it right away. You know, learning from two guys who who are where I want to be. So why not just learn from them right away and and also, I guess the main thing is, you know, and I did think about it, and I was actually in Italy when we had our call Tyler. Maybe I was in more of a relaxed state of mind when I joined. But, yeah, I think there's especially early on, you know, I'm in my mid to late 20s. There's no better return than investing in yourself and in your growth and then your, you know, your own business. So right away I saw, saw the value in it, you know, I was going to do what it takes to join and, you know, the other thing is, too, I mean, there's a lot of masterminds out there, and I like the ones that the coaches are actually, you know, playing, are actually in the game, day in and day out, versus, you know, they used to be a broker and maybe no longer active. So I think, I think there's value too, because the industry is always changing. So shout out to both of you guys there too, both on the you know, investment world as well as being a broker, and then also on that. I mean, you know, I want to start, you know, slowly buying my my own deals and building my own portfolio too. So I saw value in that regard as well, and connecting with like minded individuals too, who who are also kind of in, maybe in a similar spot as me, and then growing together. I think it actually really helps, you know, if everyone's navigating through the same challenges and and it's it's cool to see what other people are doing. It kind of gives you new ideas or new perspectives on what other brokers are doing in different markets. I think it's important to see what's, you know, maybe what's not in the Nashville market compared to what's going on in Indianapolis and what's the approach there. So, you know, ton of value all all around it's been by far the greatest investment into myself, personally and and hopefully others too, that I've made. But I see the value in in coaching 100% feel like I'd be so much farther behind if I, if I had hesitated and waited,

Tyler Cauble 33:00

yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's how I felt, man. I mean, I for me, like when I was wanting to get into the investment side, I had no clue how to get started. I mean, yeah, of course, I worked for some guys who were investing, but they weren't really showing me everything. And it wasn't until I went to a mastermind up in Whistler Canada, in 2017 of all places, and I met some guys that were syndicating commercial real estate. And you know, they were like, yeah, come on down to Atlanta. Uh, we'll show you how to do this. And you know, they started kind of showing me the ropes. And then I went to another mastermind in Austin, Texas, and I met one of my, you know, a guy that would become my mentor, Bruce Peterson, who invited me down to Austin multiple times to learn from him on how to do it. And it completely changed everything. And it was all because I was investing in myself and being in those rooms. Speaking of being in the rooms last week, obviously we had, we had our first brokers, mastermind get together. We did something unique, where we combined it with the accelerator mastermind get together for a weekend on deal analysis. Would love to hear your takeaways from that. What'd you think of the get together?

Speaker 1 34:09

So I think, I think overall, well, overall, was awesome. I love being in rooms like that, where we're all kind of nerding out on on commercial real estate and underwriting. And I'm definitely a numbers guy. It just makes sense to me. You know, I'm very analytical in that way. So, so I loved, you know, I love the theme of it already, but, but I think a big takeaway I forgot which, which one of you said it. And I was talking to several other spectators there, and they all said the same thing, is the importance of cost basis on the front end. You know when you're when you're analyzing these deals, you know it may it may be an eight or nine cap, but if your price per foot or price per door is significantly higher than what the market can can hold, you know that that's the fundamental that's like a fundamental law of Real Estate. That will always hold true is your cost basis is everything, because that's one metric that you can never change. You can always change the NOI. You can always, you know, add forced equity some, you know, somewhere, and execute on your investment strategy. But you can never change what you bought it for. So, so that that idea, and then I love to think it was you, Tyler, how kind of on your first couple deals? Do do deals that maybe are heavier value add, where you've got some forced equity, and then, you know, recycle your capital via 1031, or refinance, you know, or cash out refinance and go reinvest into something that's more cash flow heavy. So, so you've got kind of two different buckets there. I never, you know. I never thought of it that way. So, so last week, it started to get me thinking about how, how I'm going to strategically build my own portfolio, and kind of how to start looking at, looking at things

Speaker 2 36:02

awesome, man. Yeah, it was a fantastic weekend. Appreciate you sharing those insights. We've got one more section, and it's the rapid fire questions, are you ready for these? Oh, I'm ready. Okay, so you've been an adopter of a lot of different technology, so tell us about your favorite commercial real estate technology tool right now,

Speaker 1 36:25

I couldn't pick one, so I've got two. Intel cre by far. It's like the best under underwriting tool, and I can run a sensitivity analysis and like three seconds. So that's one, as well as the ability to share it in a clean format. And then, then I've been, I mean, I've been loving gamma. I don't think I'll ever use Google, Google Slides, Google Slides, ever again. And then Gen spark too. So I love them all, but, yeah,

Speaker 2 36:56

it's hard to pick one, all right, so best commercial real estate advice on the brokerage side that you've ever received.

Speaker 1 37:04

So I think niching down and really specializing, and then on top of that, becoming a true market expert and advisor. As soon as I switched my mindset to be, to become an advisor. I even, like changed in my LinkedIn title, like investment sales advisor. I kind of put on a new hat. You know, I was no longer, maybe more less transactional and a lot more relationship based. And like understanding that this could be, I mean, this could be, like a lifelong relationship versus just one deal. So as soon as I took that approach, I mean that that completely, that completely broke my my initial mindset, and I think it kind of separates you from the pack as well. I think there's a lot of transactional approaches in this in this industry. So if I could differentiate myself and and truly being an advisor and and knowing my my market and my industry and and learning and growing in that world, that's all the difference made all that

Speaker 2 38:18

most definitely, 100% and this is a shameless plug, but we have a whole session on how to go from transactional to an advisor. I mean, we went from broker a to broker B and broke it down every single level in the brokers mastermind. I know you found that valuable. Okay, last question on the rapid fire, what's your favorite book right now? So you can recommend somebody that's trying to get in the industry. Let's keep it real estate focused.

Speaker 1 38:44

Well, I'm only like halfway through it, but I already love it. It's selling buildings by Bob Knakal. I mean, that that's, I mean, he is the the goat of commercial brokerage. I've really enjoyed that book so far. And then a good podcast, too, to listen to be the walker webcast. That's a great one. Highly recommend that. Yeah,

Speaker 2 39:07

two great resources and industry titans in our in our industry, for sure. All right, Jake, thanks so much for sharing your your time, your insights, man, let people know how to reach out to you. All right, give them the 10, the 10 second elevator pitch. If you're looking for multifamily or deals in Nashville, how they getting a hold of

Speaker 1 39:27

you? Yeah, LinkedIn, just Jake Clark on on LinkedIn would be awesome as well as you could go on our our website at Excel, cre.com and then via my emails and my LinkedIn to just Jake Clark at SVN, and feel free to reach out and yeah, happy to connect with anyone who's looking to learn more about the Nashville market or multi family opportunities here.

Tyler Cauble 39:55

That's great. Well, we'll be sure to put those in the show notes as well, Jake, thanks for. Thanks for joining us today. What a great conversation. Logan, thank you for CO hosting this conversation with me. I appreciate you guys being here, and we'll see y'all in the next one. This

Tyler Cauble 40:13

episode of the commercial real estate investor podcast is brought to you by my cre accelerator mastermind, where you'll get access to my step by step investment blueprint, essentially a library of resources on how to invest in commercial real estate. You'll get connected to a supportive community of other commercial real estate investors that are doing projects just like you. You'll get personalized coaching and feedback from me every step of the way. Go to www.crecentral.com to learn more you