What’s the Secret Sauce to Success in Commercial Real Estate?

Aviva (00:00)
This week's listener of the week is Katherine Z. Katherine, thank you so much for leaving us a five star review. And for those of you listening, if you leave us a five star review below, you might be next week's listener of the week. Week, week. This week on Commercial Real Estate Secrets, we have Mr. Ron Koenigsberg. Ron is the founder and president of American Investment Properties, Inc.

and a CCIM. Ron, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Ron Koenigsberg (00:34)
Aviva, thanks so much for having me

Aviva (00:37)
Ron, can you tell the listeners a bit about who you are, what you do and where you come from?

Ron Koenigsberg (00:44)
I am a commercial real estate broker from Long Island, New York. I work in Garden City, Long Island, and I specialize in investment sales. While I'm a commercial real estate broker, primarily sell shopping centers, office building, commercial properties, and multi -family properties from time to time. This is my hobby, this is my career, and I love being a broker. I've been a broker for 28 years.

Aviva (01:12)
Okay, so you've been a broker for 28 years. You know, I think about New York City as it's, I love talking to brokers from New York because I always think of it as the pinnacle of where the most difficult deals get done. Because commercial real estate brokerage is no joke. How is it transacting in the greatest city in the world?

Ron Koenigsberg (01:38)
Okay, I'm about 15 to 20 miles outside of the greatest city in the world, but we do, yes, we do transactions in Queens. My firm, handle Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk counties, and in Queens. And while we haven't done many deals in Manhattan, there's five boroughs of Manhattan. To answer your question, how is it to do deals in my backyard? It's all I know. It's all I know. It's like asking questions, what is it like to do deals?

in Denver, Colorado, it's all I know. Is it difficult here? I haven't done them elsewhere, but I imagine they're difficult everywhere.

Aviva (02:17)
Hey, when you like what you do, it's fun to put in the work and see through the challenging transactions. So tell me about the market right now in Garden City and Long Island, yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (02:23)
I love

Long Island. Sure, Long Island. Sure, sure. I specialize in Long Island. you know, listen, the overall marketplace vacancy rates in retail are at 4%. They're really, really, really low. And our office market, the work from home, did, you know, move the marketplace to last year, we were almost at 10%, 9 .8%. It's down this year to 8 .8%. So we really, you know, on Long Island,

People like to leave their house and go to their office. Our vacancy rates are under 10 % and lowering. It's quite different for the five boroughs of Manhattan. So my real estate market is excellent in terms of leasing. It's vibrant. It's the 14th largest economy in the world, Long Island. Yeah, we are a very vibrant market. However, I sell buildings.

And like homes, it's very interest rate driven. And the sellers, they want the highest price possible. And the buyers want banks to lend. So right now, that's right. So with the banks not lending and interest rates high and the prices low, velocity year from 23 to 24, down 56%

Okay, so here we are halfway through 2024. I think velocity with the amount of transactions is down probably another 25%. So again, I've been a real estate broker for 28 years. I've seen a lot of cycles. I do expect interest rates to lower, talking about two changes this year and hopefully many

next year and that will excite the market. Stock market's at an all -time high. Too much money is chasing stocks. So, you know, my sense is commercial real estate for those listening. I believe commercial real estate is poised to appreciate.

Aviva (04:50)
Hey, we wouldn't be here if I didn't feel the same way. So I'm going to ask you a selfish question just because you talk about being in the business for so long. How do you think the coming election is going to impact our industry and sales for the next six months?

Ron Koenigsberg (04:54)
good.

Right. Listen, it's funny. I belong to, you had Rod Santomassimo on recently. I am a long time, I started with the Massimo Group in 2012. I am on his podcast. And I'm just gonna parrot what Rod said, because I think Rod's a brilliant guy. He said, no presidential election really changed the real estate market.

in the last 20, 30 years that I've been doing this. So to be completely candid with you, everybody has their candidate, I don't know that it's going to significantly change the trajectory of interest rates lowering and capital appreciation on commercial real estate.

Aviva (06:01)
Okay, it's an interesting take. I just hear people say, the election, you let the election pass and, and things will change.

Ron Koenigsberg (06:08)
Right, right. Well, listen, I know that to be 100 % true. Yes, I thoroughly in my mind believe that real estate investors and all kind of investors hate uncertainty. So this election, and there's never been, you know, to my mind or in my lifetime, more an investment emotionally and, you know, a difference of platforms to my mind.

People want to know what the certainty of the next four years is going to to believe. I subscribe to Rod's theory in that it's not gonna really change, but I also understand very much that people want certainty, and they do. They're very uncomfortable with the uncertainty of this coming election.

Aviva (07:02)
It's fascinating and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Ron Koenigsberg (07:06)
Nothing has been more interesting in my life.

Aviva (07:11)
So Ron, I want to talk about your book that you have written, Power Broker. Tell me a bit about the book and the premise and what got you to write a book.

Ron Koenigsberg (07:24)
Let me do this in 60 seconds and what got me to write a book. As I mentioned to you before, my dad, who's still alive, retired, doing great, and my mom, doing great down in Florida. My dad was a real estate syndicator. And the way that he became a syndicator was he started in sales, selling life insurance

Aviva (07:40)
Amazing.

Ron Koenigsberg (07:50)
Right, we grew up really modestly. My dad would hand me these books, How to Win Friends and Influence People. We spoke about it, he handed me that book, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. All of these books that focused on human engineering, how to deal with other people. Basically, I take this approach. 85 % of all current entrepreneurs and business leaders

started their careers in sales. Now there are 4 ,000 American colleges and universities, 90, 90, nine zero, it doesn't even fit on the calculator how small it is, have one class in sales. Very small amount of the ability to actively listen

the importance of positive thinking, enthusiasm, goal setting, public speaking. Sales is teachable. So why aren't we teaching it? My book is about one thing. It is the ability to be successful with the other eight billion humans on the planet. Now I personally sell commercial real estate. I wrote this book for my two sons, Drew.

who's 12, and Chase, who's 10. I think my father taught my brother and myself how to be successful through his process of learning how to sell. He shared with us the power of positive thinking, resilience.

Aviva (09:39)
Yeah, so what are some high level notes from your father's teachings to you that you have obviously compiled in this book and hope to pass on?

Ron Koenigsberg (09:48)
Right, so we started out in Plainview, Long Island, New York, and we started out very modest. My dad was a so -so life insurance salesman, and all of a sudden he started reading these books, became an unbelievable life insurance salesman, and then all of a sudden became an unbelievable syndicator, real estate owner, and now retiree. My brother, who was also at that dinner table, chose to go to law school. He is one of the top lawyers

Jay Koenigsberg at Colton Fields in Miami, one of the top sought after lawyers. Myself, million dollar a year gross commission earning, real estate broker. I believe that sitting at that dinner table, understanding the importance of active listening, of negotiation, of teamwork, relationship building, communication, critical thinking, sales, and public speaking.

Aviva (10:23)
Wow.

Ron Koenigsberg (10:46)
I believe those were the things that my father taught me that I want to teach to my kids that is in this book. And I believe that is the roadmap to success.

Aviva (10:57)
So as a top producing broker for the commercial real estate brokers who are listening to this podcast, what's the secret sauce? When.

Ron Koenigsberg (11:08)
What's the secret sauce to be successful as a commercial real estate broker? Right. There's going to be a lot of people that are going to tell you a lot of different things. The secret sauce is this. The secret sauce is one thing. It will always be one thing and it's never going to change. That is picking up the telephone and speaking to someone else. I remember one of the largest owners here on Long Island was interviewed by the biggest newspaper.

Aviva (11:11)
Yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (11:38)
And they said, you know, real estate brokers, they're annoying. And what Wilbur Breslin said, he's still alive to this day. And what he said in 1973 is nothing happens in real estate until a broker picks up the phone. I'm that broker, I dial the phone. I happened to be fortunate that I started my career also in another New York industry, Wall Street, where you were taught to dial the phone 400 times a day.

So making 50 calls a day to me is like, you know, it's a vacation day. So if any brokers are out there listening, nothing happens until you pick up the phone. It's your cash register.

Aviva (12:24)
love it, but let me ask you, it drives me nuts when I get sales calls. I can imagine why, because I'm protective of my time.

Ron Koenigsberg (12:32)
Why?

Okay.

Aviva (12:38)
Right? I'm in the middle of a work day and somebody's calling me to sell window cleaning services. can't lunge at getting them off the phone faster. How do you combat that as the person on the phone trying to provide a service to a top owner?

Ron Koenigsberg (12:51)
That's right. That's

Right, right, okay. Well, sales is, and I didn't get this from me, I got it from Ken Ashby who said this on one of your earlier, he said exactly this. Marketing is the perception of the person before you arrive.

Okay, so social media, Ken Ashby embrace social media? I want it so people, when the phone rings, they get excited that it's Ron Koenigsberg, commercial real estate broker. I want them to say, hey, everybody, leave me alone, this is an important call. How do I do that? I have to market myself constantly with success. So we're out there constantly showing our success stories.

all the challenges we had on all the different probabilities, all the actions that we took to take, you know, to overcome all the results that we've gotten to become broker of the year to outpace the marketplace both in dollar per square foot and lower cap rates. And of course, testimonials from all the happy, you know, commercial real estate sellers. So it is marketing. Now marketing, I believe on the internet,

is the most fascinating thing that I've come across in marketing in that one area. Sales is different, but if anyone's thinking about investing, I subscribe to the Gary Vaynerchuk theory, post like your life depends upon it.

Aviva (14:35)
Sure. I subscribe heavily to Gary too. We actually had him on the podcast a couple of weeks ago. He's the best. He's the best. So, so let me ask you as a seasoned investment sales professional, if you were to buy any asset tomorrow, what asset are you buying?

Ron Koenigsberg (14:42)
I know you did. I know. So cool. Good for you. I know. Good for you.

Well, that's market specific because here on Long Island, we are the first single family suburban community on the planet. nobody. Levittown was built by this guy, Bill Levitt, and he did it in the early 1950s. So we have this pride here in Long Island, New York that we don't build up. So we just don't have any apartments.

If somebody said to me tomorrow, supply versus demand, that you could own an apartment building or a shopping center, I sell mostly shopping centers. I love shopping centers, but I would buy the apartment building just because supply and demand. I do sell mostly shopping centers and office buildings because that's where the transactions happen here on Long Island

Aviva (15:43)
That makes sense.

Fascinating. So let me ask you, you talk about human interaction and the correlation with success. Can you dive in a little deeper there and explain how you maximize your human interactions, leading you to be a top broker?

Ron Koenigsberg (16:14)
So how do I, so what are my human interactions that lead me to be a top producing broker?

Aviva (16:23)
Yeah, that brokers could apply to their brokerages. Brokerage business. Correct.

Ron Koenigsberg (16:26)
that brokers could apply to themselves, to their brokerage. Anyone listening, and I am using this microphone, the sweetest sound in the world is people letting them speak. This is a 70 -30 equation, okay? You are, if you're a commercial real estate broker and you're listening, you are to do no more than 30 % of the talking. That's it, that's your limit.

And when you do talk, it's usually in an effort to be active listen, to active listening. Now what's active listening? Everybody says active listening, exclusive listening, three things. Put away your distractions. No, you cannot surf Facebook, Instagram, X, or anything else if they're talking. If you're on the phone and they're talking, you're typing. This is important.

The stuff that you think you're going to remember, you're not going to remember, okay? He likes retail because of he's had success on this property. If they're talking, you're typing. Two, actively mirror them. Tell me, what are you looking for? I want retail. Sounds like you like retail. And then ask questions and try not to interrupt. This seems like it would be easy stuff,

My life got changed about five or six years ago and I wrote this book because my brother said to me, you're not listening. So I said to him, no, no, no, no, no, you don't have to listen Aviva, your ears, they're connected. You just hear it. And he said, no, that's not listening. Listening is transferring emotion. Listening is the most important thing you can do on this planet.

Everybody wants to be heard, yet no one is listening. I started active listening that day. Every one of my relationships changed. My kids felt hurt.

My then girlfriend, today girlfriend, divorced, anyway, felt heard. want everybody to feel heard. It is the absolute closest thing that we have to a magic trick to feel connected to somebody. Active listening.

Aviva (19:01)
It's cool that you got that feedback and listened and adjusted because. Hey, but that's how the best things. Yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (19:05)
It wasn't fun. Hey, I took it. I took the advice. That's why chapter one of my book is active listening. It's that important. Listen, Oprah Winfrey was interviewed after doing 37 ,000 interviews. This is February of 2020, late in her career. And they asked her, I what's the most important thing that you've had by interviewing the most important people on the planet for the last many decades?

she just said just that. Everybody wants to be heard.

and understood.

Aviva (19:45)
And I think you brought a  you're bringing a lot of value to the brokers who are listening, so I'm excited for that.

Ron Koenigsberg (19:50)
I hope so. I hope so because if they're talking, I hope you're typing. And no one ever said 70 -30, I need these guardrails. So I like the fact that I'm looking for equations. I'm a very math -orientated person because I'm so, so deeply dyslexic. I can't read. I can barely read. I my master's degree from NYU, my undergraduate from American University, my CCIM, and the truth of the matter is I've always struggled.

And I think that I've relied on my interpersonal skills because of that, and I think that I've developed them much better than my ability to write.

Aviva (20:29)
Hey, you wouldn't have to convince me that interpersonal skills are more valuable than reading. Yeah. Yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (20:40)
So let's spend one second on that. Let's spend one second on that. Let's talk about texting, emails, direct messages, and the move away from face -to -face communications. Now, I believe the equation is like this. Communication is broken up into 100%. Now, it's my understanding 55 % is body language and facial expressions.

38 % is tonality. You've been yelled at, you understand that, and you've been whispered to. We all understand that. And 7%, just 7 % is the message itself through the words, the message itself. Now, let's talk about texting. What is texting? There is no body language. There is no facial expression. You can use the emojis, but for the most part, they try to help us.

but it's not that much of a help. They understood that a lot of the communication was lost. So we're down to 7 % of the 100 % equation. You want to misunderstand or have a misunderstanding, keep texting. You'll get there in a hurry, in my belief.

Aviva (22:00)
To me, texting is like having a slippery interaction, whereas a phone call or an in person meeting is sticky. Like I can just, yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (22:11)
That's right. But yet, but yet the American people are out there or Americans 35 to 44 are sending an average of 78 texts a day. 18 to 24, it almost doubles to 140 something texts a day. So people are out there texting. So much so, texting causes 11 ,000 injuries while walking per year. It's all in my book. Just some fun stuff.

Aviva (22:35)
you

Hey, love that. Yeah, I love this business because it's just taught me just just pick up the phone. It's so much more efficient. It's so much you can connect and communicate and people. People my age are afraid of the phone, and it's like, if I was afraid of the phone. Find it, find a new job, find a new.

Ron Koenigsberg (22:43)
point is we're texting

That's

Aviva (23:07)
entirely new line of work.

Ron Koenigsberg (23:09)
I understand that, but let's talk about phone anxiety. 78 % of the generation from 1990 to 2010, I think it's Gen X or Z, report phone anxiety if they need to make one telephone call. 76 % of, okay.

Aviva (23:32)
We're millennials, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, excuse me. That's, millennial gen Zs are in there.

Ron Koenigsberg (23:40)
I'm not sure. Yeah, please don't hold me to that. But the point is, overall, 76 % of customers wish they could text a company rather than call a company because they suffer from phone anxiety. I think your listeners are gonna resonate with that and be like, listen, yeah, sometimes my ex -wife didn't like to make reservations. She was nervous. I did it.

Aviva (24:10)
 I just feel like you only make it harder on yourself, unfortunately.

Ron Koenigsberg (24:16)
Well, right, the only way in is to do it. The only way to do it is just to make phone calls. But I happen to be in a business where I'm always making phone calls, so I don't mind making reservations.

Aviva (24:31)
Yeah, that's that's the easy phone call. Yeah. So so Ron, what do you love about what you do in commercial real estate? What makes you happy with your day today?

Ron Koenigsberg (24:44)
You know, I think the most important thing that I want to say to Drew and Chase, my two children, happiness for me has always been about gratitude. Being thankful for what you have, not what you want. It's being about, so I have great relationships. I'm proud of my success selling a lot of buildings.

I'm proud that I'm seen as an industry expert. I'm grateful for the fact that I found a career that I'm able to be the go -to guy. You know, I'm 60 and I've been doing this for 30 years. I'm grateful for the fact that I'm in that position. Took me a long time to get here. I think that's the best feeling. The feeling for me is that if someone calls and says, listen, I understand that you can help me sell my building.

I can categorically say I'll do everything in my power and show you all the tools that we can do to get you the absolute highest price of the absolute best terms. You will be in good hands.

Aviva (25:56)
Hey, and it's rewarding to see that through. Specifically.

Ron Koenigsberg (26:01)
Listen, I went through a divorce and I lost a lot. And when I was done with the whole thing and I lost a lot of money, I said, I don't mind. I don't mind. I minded, that's not true. Okay. I said, I did mind. That's not true. My takeaway was it, I got to do exactly what I love and I get to do what I love as long as I want. I know everyone is saying, go out there and find what you love

Aviva (26:11)
you

Yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (26:30)
I love selling. When I first started selling, I couldn't have been more scared. I couldn't have been more frightened. I couldn't have been more intimidated by this. with time, it got easier. So if you're a real estate broker, just keep making phone calls.

Aviva (26:50)
crazy what a little effort will do over a long period of time. It's true.

Ron Koenigsberg (26:53)
Well, it's not a little, it's not a little. Listen, the average age of a commercial real estate broker in America today is 62 years old. And they really haven't been replaced by young talent. I hope that we do. Because I'm 60. But the bottom line is, I think that, again, I wrote this book because these skills, here we go, these skills, I really believe to

important, but only gaining more importance as we take away our 55 % in person, our 38 % tonality, and we start to text each

Aviva (27:37)
Wow, that's interesting. I got to get the book. Let me ask you, where can the listeners find you, follow you, contact you and get the book?

Ron Koenigsberg (27:48)
Okay, right. Well, we made it real simple. My landing page is ronkoenigsberg .com. Hopefully the spelling is right there. The book is on Amazon, How to be Successful in Business and Life. And I also read it for audible so you can listen to my New York accent. How you doing?

And I really think it's of tremendous value. I think it's an easy, fun read. We try to keep it funny. We try to really pack it with statistics so you fully understand the importance of interpersonal skills and that how it really is defining how you're going to be financially successful. And that there was no class. if you, listen, recently a podcaster called me up and said, you were on my podcast.

and I own my own business. How often or how should I follow up on a lead? What's too much? What's too little? Help me. Nobody's ever taught me. And that particular woman, I said, no one's ever taught. There's no class in this. So what I said to her is that, and I mean this sincerely for everyone listening, in 2019, before the pandemic, 20 % of United States Americans

filed the 1099 non -employee tax return. According to the Department of Labor in 2027, in just four years, 50%, five, zero, half of all Americans will file 1099 non -employee tax returns. You need to know how to sell. It's just that simple. My book is an amazing resource, amazing.

If I could teach how to sell, I would gladly teach a course in it. Okay? Because I don't think algebra is as important. I never used it. I can't remember what it was, but I can promise you one thing. I took one class in public speaking and it changed my life.

Aviva (30:02)
So what's the frequency that's appropriate to sell?

Ron Koenigsberg (30:06)
sure, sure, sure, sure. I told her, you know, depending upon the relationship that you're not here to shove this down anyone's throat. you let, you know, as a cadence, I said, wait two or three days. you don't hear back from them, remind them, hey, listen, I think I have something of real great value to you. And I think that it's something that I believe is going to help your business. Now she said to me, when do I stop? Okay.

Aviva (30:15)
Yeah.

Ron Koenigsberg (30:35)
This is huge. This is huge. And if you're listening, this is a huge takeaway. Okay. Most people buy or sign a listing or do business with you after the fifth ask. 80 % of all salespeople stop asking before the fourth ask. Listen, you're not here to shove anything down anybody's

you find something that you believe my service is of value. Her service, she's an amazing, she's an amazing teacher of podcast skills. She's a great podcast person. She's terrific. But the point is, this individual might not choose to host a podcast. This person may not use the services. I told her after eight calls, please.

not for his sake, but for your own sake. Move along and find someone that will use your services. I know, you know, we all know will change his business. He needs this advertising. It may not be for him personally. may not want to host a podcast, but please ask four times, five, six, seven, eight. And after that, there is a law of diminishing marginal returns.

Aviva (32:04)
Ron, thank you so much. I think you brought a ton of value. We're going to get a bunch of great social media clips for this. So we really appreciate your time and your expertise and for everybody listening. We'll see you next week.