Real Estate Journal — Shopping Centers — April 29 - May 12, 2016 — 19A
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S hopping C enters Executive Profile
Tell me a little about the current projects you are working on? I’m working on single-tenant net lease and strip cen- ters/shopping cen- ters with a focus on private clients in the $1 million to $20 million price range. I currently have 17 exclusively
office had a down year. It was tough to get a sellable listing, buyers and lenders stayed on sideline, vacancies were up, rents were down. Throughout it I tried to keep the most positive at- titude. It was my first go-round. Next timemymental point of viewwould be in amuch better place because I have experienced it. That time made me appreciate this business more in the past five years. It humbledme. It should remind you that nothing is given to you and that it is incredibly difficult to make it in this business. The best learning experience I could have had was in 2009 and I will remind myself of things I learned during that time for the rest ofmy career. Don’t take anything for granted. What is the most interesting/challenging deal or project? It was a 25,000 square foot suburban strip center that catered to the local neighborhood. It took us a long time to sell it. It took three tries, and from con- tract to closing it was 11 months, instead of the usual 60-90 days. The problemwas an environmental issue that the previous buyers had a hard time getting com- fortablewith.After the first two buyers bailed out, we found a buyer who was able to get comfortable with the situation and ultimately closed. PERSONAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mentor: Mike Fasano, former Regional Manager in Marcus & Millichap’s New Jersey office and current First Vice President/Regional Manager in the Atlanta office. He helped me grow in this business and was a positive influence for me early in my career. Mike has a great work ethic, he was a hard worker who was the first one in and the last one out, and he didn’t have to be. Key to your Success: A strong work ethic. Most Important Lesson Learned in Life :To believe in yourself and not give up. Keep trying. Have a goal and achieve that goal. It’s easy to quit, there will be obstacles and it will be painful at times, but don’t give up. Take the long-view approach. Person Most Interested in Meeting (Past or Pres- ent) And Why: I’d like to be able to meet my grand- father on my father’s side. He immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. He was maybe 14 or 15 when he started working, he was a bricklayer. He had limited education – around 6th grade level – and based on his strong work ethic my grandmother and him raised a family of four kids. I’ve only heard stories about him, he passed away when my Dad was young but I would love to be able to sit down with him and hear what it was like to come to a new country and deal with challenges of having to work for everything you had. PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS/INTERESTS Most respectedcompetitor: ChrisMunleyofHFF, for- merlyofMarcus&Millichap. He’s as goodas they come. Awards/Honors Most Proud of: My first National Achievement Award at Marcus & Millichap. FavoriteWay toSpend FreeTime: Withmy family, my wife and children. Favorite Book: TheGreatest Salesman in theWorld by Og Mandino. Favorite Movie: The Godfather.
Michael Lombardi Vice President Investments
Marcus & Millichap Elmwood Park, NJ
Michael Lombardi
listeddeals for sale.Quality net lease is definitelymov- ing the fastest. But a good strip center, pricedwell will get a lot of interest. I think the market is softening a little bit, but it is still a very good market. I just don’t believewe are at the same peakwewere at in 2014-15. Do you feel corporate real estate needs have changed in the last 5 years? What’s really driving the market today is the 1031 market. It’s helped sales prices gowhere they’ve gone in the last two or three years. Most of the deals we are doing are driven by 1031 capital. The percentage of exchange buyers, ismuch higher today than it was in 2011.You’re seeing clients inMan- hattan sell buildings at three or four caps and they can trade into New Jersey and purchase a net lease deal at mid-four to low-six, if it’s multi-tenant retail they can get a cap of about 6 to 8 percent on a strip center or shopping center. We have plenty of out of state capital that will buy deals. There’s still some California money coming in. Recently we’ve been dealing with clients in Arizona, Chicago, Florida and Boston with exchange needs seeking deals in New Jersey. Why do you feel the business is changing? There’smuchmore reliance on technology.The new agents that come in can develop a data base much quicker thanwhen I started in 2005.The tools available are just so much better now. It’s easier to find owner- ship records, easier to find phone numbers, easier to build a data base and find email addresses. All these things compress your timeframe for successwhen you are starting in the business. For selling deals, most brokers aremore reliant on email blasts, especially for retail deals, where your buyer may not necessarily be a local buyer. It’s so common now, you can build out a list and blanket so many more buyers to be much more effective. In your opinion, how do brokers succeed in this changing business? At the endof the day it is still a relationship-centered business. All things being equal, a client will do busi- nesswith someone they like and trust.The relationship is a big deal. Honesty and delivering them the facts, is also very important. If you give them all the material and let them make an informed decision you’ll win their business. It’s about building a track record and developing an expertise and a brand in the market. That, along with the relationship building, is very, very effective.
Do you feel the stock market has had any impact on the real estate market? Yes, often inmymeetings I will hear clients say, “We prefer to be in hard assets.”You can’t make money in banks and some are pulling out of stocks. There is a flight toward hard assets and returns.That asset class happens to be real estate. It is good for my industry when there is more capital chasing returns.While the market is softening in the form of less offers on our listings, we are still in a very good market. Values are still high right now. It comes down to supply and de- mand and right now there is still more demand than there is supply. What is the future for the commercial real estate business? The investment side has a bright future, especially in Northeast New Jersey, where it’s more or less maxed out because it’s a maturely developed area for com- mercial assets and industrial assets. We are 15 miles from NewYork City, which helps us tremendously in North Jersey. I think there will be continued demand for what we sell – investment real estate giving inves- tors returns on their capital. There’s not much more space to build.These assetswill hold their value, which is good for the future. How and when did you begin your career in the profession you are in now? I always had an interest in real estate. I was a li- censed agent before I graduated college. It excitesme, because I like that you can control your own destiny. I started atMarcus&Millichap as an intern at the lowest level, data basing for senior agent. Then I eventually developedmy own data base and started onmy own. I made my first sale at age 25, a Rite Aid pharmacy in Ohio. I didn’t really know a lot about the business but I knew I had a real buyer. I was learning as the deal went on, it was a great experience. What do you like most about your current job? The ability to be autonomous and being able to take advantage of the opportunities this business provides. I enjoy working with the younger agents in my office and just as much I enjoy meeting clients. On a day to day basis you can learn so much from just listening to your clients. What is/was the biggest challenge/obstacle you had to overcome in the industry? I experienced early success in 2006-2008. Relative to a new agent, I did really well. Then 2009 hit everyone like a smack in the face. Nearly every agent in my
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