What It Takes to Win Long-Term in Brokerage

Q: Working as a broker, developer, contractor, and investor with over 20 years of experience, you have truly become a chameleon of commercial real estate. What advice do you have for professionals currently navigating this cycle of the real estate market?

A: When I first started in commercial real estate, no one told me to specialize. I pursued any deal I could find, and I worked on it. Financially, I did well, but in hindsight, the lack of specialization set me back.

 

Throughout my career, I closed retail, industrial, office, and land deals, and I worked every side of transactions—buyer, tenant, landlord, and seller. I also did construction project management and development.

 

My advice to professionals today is: don’t be a chameleon.

 

Don’t try to be a broker, developer, contractor, and investor all at once. Pick a lane, and be great at one thing. Yes, this is me giving “do as I say, not as I did” advice, but it comes from personal experience. Do not be a generalist, be a specialist, in whatever it is you do. I regret nothing because my generalist background allows me to mentor anyone on any product type, but I do not recommend this approach.

 

Q: Did you plan to build such a diverse commercial real estate career early on, or did it play out organically?

A: I spent a decade practicing as a generalist in commercial real estate before realizing something had to change. I looked back at my transaction history and realized I had built broad knowledge across multiple service lines. It was valuable, sure, but it wasn’t as scalable or monetizable as the work my specialized peers were doing.

 

So I revisited my transaction history deal by deal, paying attention to what I actually enjoyed and what I didn’t, and whether the return on my time matched the effort required.

 

That’s how I found my niche—assisting multi-unit retail operators who wanted to own their real estate. I represented them as buyers so they could lease the real estate back to their operating business. I still did tenant representation because it was necessary for those clients, but the owner-occupied side became my primary focus.

 

I found this work more rewarding and mentally stimulating than anything I’d done in the previous decade. It was challenging, but that’s what pushed me to excel and what allowed me to deliver tremendous value to my clients.

Once I narrowed my focus, that specialization became what I was known for—and that’s when the phone started ringing. I tell agents, sometimes you pick your specialization, but sometimes your specialization picks you. I think my specialization in retail buyer and tenant site selection picked me.

 

Q: Looking back on your full commercial real estate journey, what is one deal, decision, or turning point that still shapes how you think and operate today?

A: Early in my career, a colleague handed me a listing for a small, irregular tract of land. Had I known any better, I probably would have passed on it, but I was hungry for something to call people about, so I jumped in.

 

One of my first cold calls—literally in my first week of brokerage—was to the owner of the light auto repair shop that sat right in the way of a clean assemblage. I called to see if he’d consider selling, which would allow me to assemble the tracts and make them worth more together than apart.

 

He wasn’t interested in selling. But I didn’t let the lead go cold. I focused on becoming a resource for him.

 

Over the next few months, I provided him with valuable insights on how repositioning his shops could better serve the market if he sold. Eventually, he agreed to sell, but only if I could find him a place to relocate his shop.

 

That initial cold call, to someone who had zero interest in selling, blossomed into a 20-year relationship. He owns over 60 locations across Texas, and since then, I’ve represented that family on hundreds of transactions that have generated millions in fees. But the real equity is in the trust and the personal bond we’ve built. Today, we still do business together, but we are even better friends. We know each other’s spouses and kids. When I visit San Antonio, I stay at their house.

 

That’s what makes being a commercial real estate agent the greatest business in the world. It’s a lifelong relationship you can build with your client.

 

Q: Can you share what your favorite transaction was, and why?

A: That irregular tract of land wasn’t just my first listing—it was the ultimate masterclass.

 

Because the tract was so poorly shaped, I had to engineer a solution by bringing the neighbors into the fold. Once I convinced the auto shop owner that relocating would put him in a better position to grow, I went to work strengthening the assemblage. I approached the landowner on the other side of him, and she agreed to list her property as well. Suddenly, what started as an awkward, low-frontage listing turned into a much more viable site with real upside.

Ironically, the parcel never actually traded. But that small piece of land led to the best client relationship of my career and ultimately spun off hundreds of transactions over the next two decades. It was a listing most agents would’ve passed on, and it ended up shaping how I’ve approached brokerage ever since.

 

Q: You stepped away from your own companies to focus on your passion for guiding the next generation of brokers. What made Matthews the right fit for this next chapter in your career?

A: I’d been a partner at a large international brokerage firm before, so I understood the value of having a strong platform behind you—as an agent, a principal, and an office manager. I’ve also founded and operated my own brokerage alongside several other businesses.

 

Over time, I decided I wanted to build something special around one business, and the one I was most passionate about was brokerage. I started winding down my other ventures while writing my training materials and building the back-office platform I knew I’d need to effectively scale the business.

 

That’s when I found Matthews™.

 

They were executing a business model that was incredibly similar to what I had intended, and their training philosophy was almost verbatim to the materials I was writing for my own firm. At the time, Matthews™ hadn’t entered the Houston market, so I reached out to see what their plans were.

 

The alignment was instant. I understood the value of a large platform, and knew I could accelerate what I wanted to accomplish by joining Matthews™ and opening an office in a top-five market. It was a no-brainer.

 

I wanted to make a difference in helping young people start in brokerage and become great agents, and Matthews provided the engine to help me achieve that purpose.

 

Q: What do you consider the most important qualities of a successful agent and how can leaders like yourself help develop those traits?

A: The agents I bring on in Houston embody the same core qualities: competitiveness, intelligence, conscientiousness, and self-awareness.

 

Competition is a good thing. It makes us better and pushes us to greater heights. Successful agents do not want to win, they need to win. There is an internal drive that pushes them to work harder than their opponent. They study, practice, and hustle to achieve their purpose. They grow comfortable being uncomfortable and sacrifice to win.

 

Commercial real estate is a problem-solving business that requires intellect, and speed of comprehension is a competitive advantage. The more you can efficiently learn and digest the complexities of your specialization, the faster you will achieve success as an agent. This isn’t about being a genius. It’s about having the intellectual capacity to do the work and adapt in real-time.

 

Conscientiousness is about being aware of how your actions affect other people. Conscientious people care about how they help others. It’s important for agents to listen, so they can understand and deliver high-quality service to their clients. It’s also essential for long-term success in any office. Conscientious agents elevate the culture, communicate well, and make everyone around them better.

 

Another critical component is being self-aware. In this industry, you will face setbacks, but if you blame external factors for your lack of success rather than taking personal responsibility, you will not make it far.

 

If I hire competitive, intelligent, conscientious, and self-aware agents, we’ll do amazing things. I recruit, hire, train, coach, and develop these traits in my agents every day.

 

Q: How do you define success, and how has that definition evolved over the years?

A: The value of our existence or our measurement of success must never be based on a number. You must have a purpose that drives you that transcends monetary success. If the value of your existence is based on how much money you make, you will live a shallow life and struggle navigating the fluctuations of our industry.

 

If, instead, the value of your existence is defined by how well you accomplish a meaningful purpose—and you pursue that purpose with diligence, determination, persistence, excellence, teamwork, and attitude—you will enjoy great success and live a life of deep personal meaning.

 

I define success not by numerical measurements but by how well I live up to my purpose. My purpose is to follow God’s will for my life and inspire greatness in commercial real estate professionals. The measure by which I meet the standard set by that purpose every day is the only measure of success that matters to me.

Q: Houston is in a generational reset, bringing a fresh perspective and new capital to the market. What are you most excited about, and why?

A: Houston has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the country, bringing immense value to our community. As a global hub for multiple industries, our leaders are driving significant new development both here and across the State of Texas.