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How Residential Agents Can Profit from Commercial Real Estate With Will Curtis | RARE Agent Show

• Dylan Tanaka

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🎙️ How Residential Agents Can Profit from Commercial Real Estate

In this episode of The RARE Agent Show, Dylan Tanaka sits down with powerhouse commercial broker Will Curtis, CCIM to reveal how residential agents can tap into commercial real estate for bigger opportunities and long-term wealth. Will shares his journey from the military into real estate, the key differences between residential and commercial deals, and how agents can strategically position themselves to profit in both worlds.

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💡 If you've ever considered breaking into commercial real estate or simply want to sharpen your skills with fresh insights, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways. Plus, we highlight Will’s podcast, Vets in Real Estate, and how he’s helping military veterans transition into real estate careers.

What You’ll Learn:
✔️ How residential agents can earn referral fees or expand into commercial real estate
✔️ The biggest challenges new agents face when transitioning into commercial deals
✔️ Commercial real estate strategies that can help residential agents win more listings
✔️ Why specialization is key to success in both commercial and residential real estate
✔️ How to build relationships with commercial investors and business owners
✔️ The crossover skills that make residential agents uniquely positioned to succeed in commercial deals
✔️ The financial advantages of understanding commercial leasing and investment properties
✔️ What CCIM certification is and why it’s a game-changer for commercial brokers

Will’s Most Powerful Insights:
🛠️ "Specialization creates success—find your niche and own it."
💡 "Relationships drive commercial deals. Build trust, not just transactions."
🔑 "Understanding the math behind deals is the key to long-term success."

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Connect With Will Curtis:

📌 LinkedIn: Will Curtis
📌 Facebook: Will Curtis
📌 Vets in Real Estate Podcast: Listen HERE

Recommended Resources Mentioned:
📘 CCIM Certification – What it is and why it matters in commercial real estate.
📈 Market Insights & Data – Understanding trends to make smarter investment decisions.

Stay Connected With Dylan Tanaka & RARE Agent Nation:

🚀 Join Our Community: Closings From Leads - RARE Agent Nation
📺 Watch on YouTube: RARE Agent Nation Channel
📸 Follow Dylan on Facebook: Dylan Tanaka, RARE Agent
🔗 Connect with Dylan on: LinkedIN

👉 Join the conversation: Join our thriving Facebook group, Closings From Listings - RARE Agent Nation, to connect with other agents and access exclusive resources.

Ready to elevate your real estate game? Press play and let’s get started!

Will Curtis:

And finding either the tools that you need or a brokerage that's going to help you provide those tools.

Dylan Tanaka:

Welcome to the rare agent show. I'm Dylan Tanaka, a realtor, mentor, and author. This podcast is dedicated to helping real estate agents like you close more deals so that you can live the life you always dreamed of every week. My guests. Curtis and I share the stories, strategies, and tools you need to inspire and empower you. Let's make it happen. Hey guys, we're back with another rare agent show. I'm your host, Dylan Tanaka. Super excited to be here today with somebody who's making some huge moves in real estate, Will Curtis. He's a commercial broker and he is going to let us know exactly what he's got planned this year that's going to make him a rare agent. Before we get started. Well, I got to ask you my favorite question. How do you take your coffee?

Will Curtis:

Yeah. Well, thanks for having me. And, uh, of course I'm hot coffee, little bit of cream, little bit of sugar, two to three cups a day, just to stay caffeinated to close those deals.

Dylan Tanaka:

Awesome. So, um, I mentioned a little bit earlier that you are in commercial real estate and, uh, there seems to always be crossover between the commercial and the residential agents. So did you start out in commercial and just walk us through your journey, um, jumping into real estate?

Will Curtis:

Yeah. So for me getting into commercial was really dumb luck. Uh, I was in the army. We had a, uh, uh, our command financial specialist. Who's usually the guy that teaches you how to balance a checkbook and not go buy a car at 33 percent interest rate. Um, all those, uh, you know, kind of young, dumb mistakes that you make, uh, sat down and put on a very rich dad, poor dad esque, uh, Here's how to invest in real estate and sat down and was telling us that he has an E six with, you know, 20 plus years of, uh, military service was making more than what he was as a, uh, soldier. And me being a young private making little, no money. I was like, well, this guy's not. He's not anything special. It was a normal guy and was doing well. I was like, well, maybe I could do that same thing. And that's what kind of got me interested in it. And as the, uh, military changed the GI bill, uh, but now we're going to pay me to go to school. I was like, well, if I went and got a degree in real estate, I'll be the smartest house flipper there ever was. And, uh, I never flipped a house. So maybe I am the smartest one who knows, but. I got in a degree program, found a fraternity brother who had a small family run office that was investing in commercial assets. And he needed somebody to answer the phones and you know, poor college kids. So sure. Uh, started answering phones. And next thing you know, I started moving into doing commercial property management, uh, leasing and all that. Early on, I did a little bit of residential sales, uh, I kind of chased anything and everything that was shiny. I had a small apartment locating business as well, which, uh, was disastrous, uh, cause it's a little hard to get them to, to pay. But, uh, I did a residential for maybe two transactions and I think I showed a family 45 houses just didn't. Yeah, nothing worked right. And finally we found the house they wanted and the, uh, the wife of the family, she turned around and she goes, I like everything about the house, except for the color that's being painted. I'm like, I'll come in on Saturday and I'll paint the stupid thing. I don't care at this point. And she said, no, I've seen this. The juju of the house is off. I can't, I can't buy this house. We'll have to find another one. And at that point I was like, this isn't for me. Residential is absolutely not for me. And, uh, that's when I started kind of gearing down and focusing on the commercial side of it. Uh, a little bit more so, and kind of starting in property and asset management, and then moving into more of a traditional brokerage role.

Dylan Tanaka:

Do real estate. It's funny because I've got a good friend and he talks about when you get started in real estate, whether that's investing, whether that's house flipping could be commercial, like you said, underwriting apartment buildings. It's not always the thing, but it seems to be the thing that gets you to the thing. And, um, Rich Dad, Poor Dad is probably, you know, one of the most inspirational books for entrepreneurs over the last 25, 30 years. Uh, because it's just helped so many people open their eyes, not something that they typically teach us in regular school, right? And hopefully, um, from our generations down, we're teaching our kids to think a little bit differently, if that's what fits for them. Um, But that's, that's cool. There's a big difference, I think, um, between residential and commercial, and there's still a lot of similarities. Um, so, I would, I think getting started in commercial is definitely more difficult than residential, um, because there's just less of it around. So what were the biggest challenges that you

Will Curtis:

faced when you first got started? I think for me, the biggest challenge I had was really picking a specialty, uh, and trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. And a lot of times, a lot of commercial agents will still become generalists. And the downside of becoming a generalist in a large market is that you know enough, but you're not really an expert. So then you start losing out to those who really are experts, those who can sit down and tell you backwards and forwards what's happening here or there. And I think it's sometimes a huge misconception is that, Oh, I can do commercial and it's everything. Uh, I've done more than a billion dollars in transactions. I'm an instructor for CCIM for Iram degrees, teach at college on paper. I should be able to do every bit of commercial. I couldn't sell a hotel if I needed to. I don't know the first steps and I think most people don't. Look at it that way commercials, commercial, but honestly, retail versus multifamily, it's, it's different office is different. And I think it was, it wasn't until I really sat down and started focusing. That's where I actually started getting good at my craft, understood what was going on, understood how buildings operated. And it wasn't until I finally found that specialization that I actually found that I could be good. And then I slowly branched out and other things from there, but it was finding that initial where to start and even. For me, most of it was a medical office. And very quickly, I realized that, uh, me and doctors don't get along. So it, it wa probably wasn't the best client fit for me. And I shifted some of that business now to working in with hospital systems rather than individual doctors. So you can, you can have areas to move, but it's not until you find that specialization that you really. Kind of jump ahead and find success.

Dylan Tanaka:

Yeah. I think that's a big difference between residential and commercial is, um, being a specialist or having a niche focus personally. I, you know, I have my own specialty working mostly with investors coming from the investing world for so many years. Uh, and like you said, it's very difficult to be everything to everyone, particularly in commercial. Um, so we, we've got a lot of. Residential agents in our, uh, in our community, a lot of them also invest in real estate. A lot of them have, have also done multi unit, maybe not like five or a thousand or 2000 unit projects, but well, well over 50 to 100. Um, what would you say, uh, for a retail residential agent who is kind of getting pulled into that commercial world? What would your, what would your, uh, advice be for them just getting going? Okay.

Will Curtis:

So I think having realistic expectations, the very, very first thing, uh, we generally coach our new agents when they come in is that if you are focused on commercial full time and be a full time commercial practitioner, that, uh, that's a two year journey before you start making decent money. And if you have a residential business, you're trying to do both, that may be a three year. Four year journey until you can truly replace that residential, um, business and move full time into commercial. And I think a lot of folks don't realize that's the case. Part of it is your first six months, you doing full time on your first six months is lead generating, and that's, that's all you're doing. And you're not closing your deals because you don't know anything. You don't know anybody. And you're trying to build that sphere. Even if you know a lot of business owners or a lot of property owners, they're not. Ready to sign with you or why would I sign with somebody absolutely brand new that doesn't know anything? It's not like in residential or, well, that's my cousin. I'm going to use my cousin because that's family. This is sometimes, you know, hundreds, if not a hundred thousands, if not millions of dollars that I'm not going to trust my cousin. I'm going to trust somebody who knows what they're doing. And that dynamic is very different from there. I think it's really education mentorship. Uh, there are a lot of brokerages out there who do commercial, but they don't, uh, really train. They don't mentor. They don't do all those aspects. And I think once you sit down and really dive into the education, you know, a lot of brokerage will have some education and that's great. Uh, the, you've got organizations like your realtor association likely has some type of tra training for commercial agents, which is a good start. And then you've got folks like CCIM and those that are out there that offer some of this education that really can dive in. One of the new things CCIM rolled out within the last year or so is this introduction to commercial real estate certificate. It's a 40 hour set, of course, where there's about three days of it is fully. You have to follow these steps. So it's a negotiations. It's a principles of commercial real estate Um, and then you get to pick specializations after that So if you want to dive into medical office, they've got a class on medical office You want to dive into underwriting? I got a class at deep dives and underwriting and I'll I'll Like that kind of education, cause you get to dive in with specialists, specialists that really understand, uh, what those aspects are. And then from there, it's sitting down and finding either the tools that you need or brokerage, that's going to help you provide those tools. Uh, I think one of the biggest shocks is, you know, your MLS likely cost you a seven to a hundred dollars a month. Most are paying quarterly, but you know, somewhere in that 70 ish dollar range is what most MLS fees will charge you. Co star. By itself is going to run you 500 plus a month. Um, and that's just to have access to it. Then you've got to market it. And that could be 100 per month per listing just to, uh, start marketing those properties. It's a lot more expensive and a lot of times you're a lot more, um, selective on those deals you pick because if it's going to sit there for two years, you're going to get paid a thousand bucks. And commission, it doesn't pencil out. So I think those are some of the struggles that as you get started, you've got to look at all those things, really business plan this out. And I don't think you, everybody I've met that has just kind of dabbled to try to get into commercial. Um, either they dabbled the right way and got lucky or. Absolutely, uh, get demolished. By the time they realized they have to have all this tools experience to do the job the right way. And, you know, commercial brokers can be a little nasty where, Hey, why are you using that resi agent? They sell houses. You should come to a real brokerage. I mean, it's. It's nasty, but that's exactly what they're doing.

Dylan Tanaka:

Yeah, it's a whole different world. So I've done some crossover and certainly not a billion dollars in commercial real estate. But as soon as someone calls me and they're like, Hey, so you know, I'm in Metro Detroit, so we have a ton of light industrial here. The County I grew up in is where all of the job shops were back in the eighties and nineties. And there's a ton of, um, Just guys who own that shop. They're there on the Saturday, right? And you knock on their back door and that's how you start building those relationships for when they're going to either move up or move on, which could take 10, 20, 30 years. And I learned that from a commercial broker. That's how he cut his teeth and became one of the biggest guys, probably the biggest in my whole County for, for a small boutique brokerage. Um, so yeah, I think in residential, you can, you can. Uh, relationship your way into things because let's face it. If I called you today, Will, and I'm like, Hey, cousin, Will, it's Dylan. I need you to list my million dollar house on the lake. Can you do that for me? You might not want to, but for you to actually go through and do that transaction. It's not that tough, right? You got to kind of fill out a little bit of paperwork, get it on the MLS if we're willing to price it right. And I'm going to listen to you. You're like, I can sell a million dollar house with my eyes closed. Now for me to sell a million dollar building, uh, that's light industrial and you've got to have all these different crazy things happening and they got cranes and they got all this other stuff that you know about. They come to me because I know a lot, but I don't know the right. answer. I don't even know the right questions to ask. So I always refer those deals out because I'm not going to take care of that customer the right way. If it's a teardown building, it's a different story. Um, but when to be specialized, you, you really need to know your craft. So I think that's a big difference between you guys in commercial and residential agents. Um, but what would you say, what skills do you think can cross over if you are a successful or semi successful residential agent and you're serious about getting into commercial?

Will Curtis:

Yeah, I think what residential agents do a thousand times better than, than, I mean, some of the best commercial agents, uh, one is the idea of speed to the lead in residential. I mean, it's an hour, right? If they don't call you by an hour, they're already moving on to the next agent and it could be even that in commercial, that idea is like, eh, I'll get to them tomorrow. And so it's a drastically different mindset. So the agents that we have coached through that transition and have mentored through that transition, I mean, they kill it because they answer their phone. And I hate to say that's all it takes to be successful in commercial, but that's the first step is really sitting down and, um. Just answering a phone and being receptive, working when the client wants to work. Uh, many of us that have been in commercial for a long time, 5. 30 is the end of the day. I'm not going to answer the call after 5. 30 unless you're a great client. And, um, am I going to work a Saturday or Sunday? Probably not. Whereas that residential mindset of let me be there when the client needs to be. That's gonna win business right then and there. The other thing I think residential agents do a whole lot better than commercial is, uh, building the relationship. So you do the client appreciation events, the residential agents will sit down and reach out, do the pop buys, do all those things to help nurture relationship. And in commercial, I don't know if we do that nearly to the same extent. Do you send something for Christmas or end of the year? Do you pop by? Yeah, maybe if you're around, sure, but it's not the same thing. And we don't focus nearly as much on building that relationship as what is done in residential. And what I've found, even with some of our agents, we've transitioned from residential into commercial. That's what they kill it out is, one, answering their phone, and two, building that relationship. Uh, where even at, at this point, I would take Somebody who is a relationship oriented person and can build those relationships. I'll teach you the the back end commercial real estate side of stuff If you can do that side, you'll you'll kill it as long as you're willing to to learn No, no problems with being able to kill it.

Dylan Tanaka:

No, that that's awesome to hear from you I don't talk to a lot of commercial agents not about marketing and this stuff, especially and Um, there are agents there's old facebook groups about pop eyes in these typically it's ladies, but i'm in one of the groups And uh, my better half helped me assemble something to go to Probably like a dozen people because I'm, I'm, I'm a normal agent, but I'm definitely not like a normal crazy agent who's out there putting pumpkins on 500 people's porches. Right. Uh, but I'm, but I'm telling you, like we put these things together. I put it in this group. These people were freaking out. They want to know where I got them, the price for each one. And there are, there are agents out there who are delivering hundreds of little baskets, you know, even once a month. And it's funny because it's like I said, If you're my cousin and I live in San Antonio, I'm like, no, no, no. My cousin's an agent. I'm listening with him. There's no chance that if I meet a guy at the gym or if you're having a coffee or having a beer with somebody that I'm going to hire a different real estate agent, because like it's my cousin. And that's what happens a lot in residential where we both know in commercial typically. A man or woman who has built a multi million or deck a million or 100 million empire is making decisions, usually based on logic and on numbers and X's and O's. But I think, like you said, having that warmth probably doesn't hurt, especially it might be some little crappy 500, 000 building. They're like, give it to that new guy, Dylan, let him try. He's been knocking on our door and sending me, you know, Uh, whatever the heck it is, uh, you know, to try to sneak in. Um, and it's funny you say that about commercial guys. I've been friends with a lot of commercial guys, my whole career. And I always tell them like, you guys are so arrogant. So I don't answer the phone at night or on Sundays or Saturdays much, unless it's a, an active client and I'm in a, you know, I'm in a different part of my business now after all these years. But, um, yeah, I'm like, you guys have to act so cool. And I'm like, I'm the guy who bought the 80 unit apartment building. Why are you acting cooler than me? And why do you have this like 150, 000 Beamer? And I've got a five, you know, fit at the time, probably a 25, 000 truck. Now every truck's 50 to start. But, um, it's a different air that you have to carry. And again, if we're going to sit down with a, with a person or a hospital or a corporation, they need to see you as a, as a trusted advisor. And that's, uh, I did want to ask you quick before I forget about CCIM, but the difference with residential is you go through some con ed. Nobody knows everyone's a top 1 percent real estate agent. I claim that I am, and I am by numbers, but we don't always have those designations. I think that make. Such a big difference, especially in commercial. When I see one of my friends are like, I got it. It's a big deal. So for our residential agents, um, can you just, you know, give us a quick few minutes snapshot on exactly what a CCIM does and what that means, uh, maybe even to you is when there's another co broker involved.

Will Curtis:

So when it comes to CCIM, um, CCIM's foundation really came into the idea of we need to make sure everybody communicated the same language. So if you looked at real estate in general, um, in commercial, we start dealing with the Wall Street, with the finance folks, there's, there's your pension funds, everybody else who's out there investing, and they're typically looking at stocks, bonds, and all of a sudden you have all this financial language that came into real estate. So your average real estate agent didn't understand this financial language and they points where they didn't communicate well. So when CCIM was originally founded, was the idea, let's get everybody to communicate on the same language. What that's evolved into is the CCIM designation. And basically to, to earn that designation, you've got to take a series of courses. So there's four. core courses. You take ethics, you take a negotiations course, and depending on where you are in your career, you may have some electives, um, but those four core classes, the 101 is kind of a principles of finance, diving in, understanding how to actually, how finance actually works, not just how do you get a loan, but how do I determine the Cash on cash return, the internal rate to return, all those things there. Uh, the 1 0 2 course, which is one of the ones that I'm an instructor for, uh, that 1 0 2 course is diving into looking at market data and demographics. So if I buy this property here, will the demographics shift in a way that it's going to be more in demand than it was or what is happening with the city's growth? And understanding those kind of skills to see if I invest in a property. Is this going to be profitable long term based off of what those demographic perceptions are going to be doing? The third course is looking at it from a user's perspective. So if you're a tenant or a business owner, should you buy? Should you lease? What are those decisions you should make? And then the final course on all that is the investment decision analysis. So it really is diving into the go or no go decision of should I buy this property or should I not? From there, you've got to have a portfolio. of property. So not only have you taken these classes, which are all, you know, 13 to 1600 bucks plus usually travel and all that kind of stuff, you've got to have a portfolio of deals. And that kind of shifts a little bit. I'd probably screw it up, but on their website, they'll, they'll tell you what those deals are, but they're generally, um, 20 transactions altogether at a five year period, or in that same five year period, you know, one transaction over a certain amount, three transactions over a certain amount. And then when all that is done, you get to sit down and take the final exam. Uh, that final exam is a six hour class, uh, six hour exam where you are going through everything you had those first four classes, uh, and then sit down and taking it, uh, as well. It, um, my mind was absolutely jello by the end of it. Like there was nothing left. If I had to take the exam the next day, if I didn't pass the first time, there's no way I think I would have been. mentally prepared to do it. Um, so as you go through there, then at that point you have earned the CCIM and the advantage of CCIM is generally it's looked at as kind of the PhD of commercial real estate. It, it's the, the designation that you can go out and earn and that kind of instantly gets you credibility. And it's not just brokers, it's your property managers can earn it, your, uh, appraisers or lenders. The nice thing is that it builds a nice community of individuals that are all doing different aspects of real estate. And we all communicate on that same language. So as I go and work with other CCIM, I understand they're going to understand things at a different level than what your average agent may or may not. Uh, and even being young in the industry, when I came in, I was 26 and I was losing deals to, to the gray heads that had been doing it forever. As soon as I had my CCIM, I noticed I started getting the interviews more often because I had something that said I actually do something. Uh, now I didn't mean I want every one of those, but I at least got in the room to interview where before I wasn't getting those same interviews. And ultimately, that's what has been on the, the Somebody had put it this way and I, I, I like and dislike it is that CCIM is like a fraternity. You get in there, you build the relationships, you get hazed through math and not through, you know, things that fraternity haze you on, but you go through that whole process and then as you build it, you now have connections all over where I was looking at a development deal, um, just a few months ago and they were doing all sorts of things that I wasn't familiar with. Very quickly, I was able to pick up the phone and call a buddy out in Louisiana who does this kind of development and say, Hey. Walk me through this is make sense. And next time we're at conference, I owe you a drink or two. All right. It's cool. Yeah, that's, that's fine. And that relationship being built, we refer business back and forth. It's trusted. And even when I get stumped on something, I know who to call to, to help me out. It's been probably one of the better things I've done in my career is, um, Being involved with CCI, especially on the brokerage side of my business. CCI was absolutely been a game shaker for

Dylan Tanaka:

me. That's an awesome explanation. Well, I've never had it explained like that. Typically, uh, I've probably never asked the question that way either, but typically the guys I know are like, eh, it means I know what I'm doing. And this is, you know, this is kind of in jest and I've always been, uh, so I've had my real estate license since oh nine, I've been flipping since oh three. I've always been an advocate for having your license. And I always thought as I looked at. And I typically only listed my own stuff or deals. I did with partners are very, very close investors. Um, so I had a very jaded view. I didn't deal with like, I've, I've only driven people around a couple of times out of hundreds and hundreds of transactions, they were family or blood, and I didn't have a choice. And like, like you said, I'm not going to do that 40 times. It's crazy. That's just not what I'm built for. Right. I'm good at other things. Uh, but I w I was always like surprised and thought that there could be more in the residential. So industry, uh, for one, if they made it a little bit harder to get your license, for two, when I became a broker, I went through the GRI course. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's called Graduate of Realtors Institute. The, the old guys that brought me up in the business were like, this is the, the, it's not the CCIM of retail, but it basically is the CCIM of residential. Uh, because I think it took like two and a half times as long to get my broker's license. Which made absolutely no difference. Most times now, the other agent on the other side doesn't care that I'm a broker. They definitely don't even know what a GRI is anymore. Um, but, but I love the fact that it created that fraternity for you guys. Because, forget about, you know, sitting down with a guy who owns a bunch of buildings and you can spew out NOI and, and everything that, you know, you're supposed to say properly. But I think having those connections to where If you're not the right agent for that client, now you can bring in another agent and not necessarily for a takeover, but just to, to back you up and help you because it could just be something with your first hospital system deal. You didn't start at 26 doing hospital system deals. You stepped up and stepped up and stepped up. And, uh, I think it's a shame in retail that you can get your license like that. Even worse as a real estate investor, you know, because you're, you're, you know, you're on social media. You see anyone can be a real estate investor literally in one second. Anybody walking down the street in front of your office right now can just say, Hey, I'm an investor. And I do all these, uh, you know, crazy. Um, uh, uh, what I want to say, like, um, the sub two deals and, and, and all of the creative stuff and things that will almost get you put in jail because. There's nobody to police it, you know, so I do really admire that about your business and uh, the guys or ladies who get their CCIM because I know that it's a sacrifice and uh, most of us aren't just coming out of high school or college when we start training or Or, um, studying for it, right? So it's like you, you might have a family, you might not, but you're definitely doing business while you're trying to study this stuff that isn't really going to put a dollar in your pocket until come to find out, like you said, those doors were open for you. And if you don't get up to the plate to even swing the bat, you're not going to hit the ball. So eventually that makes you a better sales person and just a better broker in general, not even just sales, but a better communicator. The more you spend time with those people. So I appreciate your, um, Your answer to that, that was really cool. I think that's an eye opener for, um, retail agents.

Will Curtis:

When I think the, the ice cream with all that as well, is that, that focus on, and I think this is another big difference between residential commercial is just the fact of doing math and. To be truly successful at commercial, you've got to understand the math and, and mind you, I was an army guy, right? We're not, we're not known for math, right? We're kind of big hammer, big smash. And if it doesn't smash the first time you get a bigger hammer. And when I went back to do my undergrad, I didn't take remedial math. I took the remedial remedial math where I colored in the duckies the farmer had, right? It was, math was not my thing. It was after practice and repetition and going through these trainings, going through this class, going through CCIM, doing these deals on a regular basis. You start understanding how the numbers really, really do make sense where I had a deal. And I was so proud of myself for getting this thing across the table was that I found out the owner was getting ready to sell the property and he didn't like the lease deal that we were putting in. He didn't want to put that much tenant improvement, uh, allowance into the deal. It didn't make sense for him on paper. Honestly, he lost money on paper for that deal for that lease. And I just flipped the script. I said, well, if you put them in here, You're making a 20, 000 investment. And if you sell your property in the next three to six months, like you hope to do, that 20, 000 turns into 280, 000 based off of your sales price. So if you sign the lease today, in the next handful of months, you're going to make 280, 000 more because we put this tenant in there. And he's like, Wait, is that right? He looked at his broker. His broker's like, I don't understand that math. Walk me through that. So here I am in the middle of the discussion on their whiteboard, their conference room going, Hey, here's how this works. Walk through it. And they're like, Oh yeah, that's making a whole lot of sense. And they signed the deal, but it's because you understood how the math played. And I mean, ultimately CCIM is what taught you or taught me how to kind of walk through and do those things and how to get creative to pitch a deal differently and make the math work on. It didn't work on a lease, but it worked at it when you were looking at the sale.

Dylan Tanaka:

That makes such a huge difference. Um, again, I haven't sold a ton of commercial, but I've done lots and subdivisions and crazy things, you know, a little bit more outside of typical residential. And, uh, I'm a numbers guy by, by nature. So I'm a little bit lucky that way. Uh, so extrapolating that stuff out, just, I'm, I'm doing it like right now, as we're talking, I'm thinking about your deal, but it would, it probably won't shock you, but something that kills me, and I actually train agents on this. They don't know how to do a net sheet. So we'll, I'm sure you, you follow like what we call a net sheet. It's just, I'm sitting down with your aunt and uncle. I'm going to list their house. They're like, okay, Dylan, we like all your stuff and your little iPad and your whiz bang pop buys right in the pumpkin at, uh, you know, Halloween. But how much are we going to walk away with? And I'm telling you, these guys cannot back of the napkin calculate. You can do it right now. You're like. Alright, if they're paying six, there's typically probably three or less in other closing costs on a residential deal. So you guys are like, gonna be at nine percent, you know, in junk. Maybe 10, but it's probably more like seven or eight, eight and a quarter. And I have so many friends in the business who are uber successful and they're calling the title company saying, what are closing costs going to be? And this is before like a files open, you know how title companies like to work up numbers for fun. And it's like, you got to know your job. But again, this goes back like to training. If you're, if you're with a boutique brokerage, I think it helps if you have the right broker or the right, um. Managers in there or mentors if you're with a big place if they've got good training it helps but for the most part If you don't know how to sit down and explain a purchase agreement line by line, word for word, even in residential, and this comes from my investing days, then you're going to lose because you're not taking your business serious. And had you not picked up that dry erase marker and started being a giver and explaining things and not being, you know, cocky and rude in there, you might not have closed that deal. And that deal may have led to who knows many, many more deals. And it's just that added. The right attitude to take. So, uh, so again, I think that's, that's really just, uh, goes back to basic business that a lot of us are missing in the, in the real estate world. So hopefully our, our listeners and watchers are paying attention to that because it's, it's not easy, but it's simple, right? So. A lot of, uh, a lot of retail agents fall into those situations where, uh, they could be, they could get involved in a commercial deal, but like we talked about, we're probably not the right person for that. So typically how does that work? I know it's different everywhere, but if I came to you and I said, Hey. Uh, I've got this, these people, they want to buy this warehouse. I don't know what I'm doing and, or, you know, the hospital system, since that's, that's your specialty. I've got this, this, this plot and I've got this hospital system. I don't know what to do. Um, how do you guys usually deal with that?

Will Curtis:

It's going to vary by agent, by agent, right? Some agents are absolutely, they don't want to co bronc, but they don't want to do anything together. They want to kind of be that lone wolf. And for them, it's probably going to be just strictly a, Hey, pay me, I'll pay you a referral when the whole thing's done. I'll call you when it's done. Others may be a little bit more open to kind of partnering and coaching and kind of helping on that side. If you're a different brokerages that can. Cause a little bit of interest or liability on who's actually holding it. Who's calling the cards. There can be some interest in, in those things as well, uh, or some interesting things as those things kind of come through. So some brokerages will allow some. Well, um, but ultimately at the day, you got to make sure from a commercial perspective. Uh, um, I kind of go back and forth when I get a residential agent saying I got a commercial deal for you. Um, One, is it something in my specialty, because again, the idea is all commercials the same, but you bring a gas station. Well, that that's not me. I'm going to send you somebody who knows gas stations, but if you bring me a medical office deal, the other thing I'm going to look at too is, okay, if it's, you know, uh, 500 square feet for a year, I'm going to make all of tens of dollars on that deal. It's not. It doesn't make sense where sometimes from the residential perspective, it's well, it's a commercial deal It's got to pay you got to pay a ton. Well, well, no i've been paid 18 bucks on a on a commission You know for uh for a commercial deal like it some of them are small and you you do them because it's a favor you do it because it's a you know, it's a additional transaction on top of another one. I mean there's reason to take them but a lot of times it's Making sure the deals that you have are qualified and it's, it's somebody who is legit. I think that's one of the things that a, a lot of residential agents have to look at as well is that if they've got the deal, if they're going to refer it off, make sure it's good quality and they're good, good business owner, uh, or good investor in that case. And then if you want to sit down, build the relationship beforehand. I think a lot of times you pick the first person that's willing to work with you and then you find out it's just a terrible process. Says, so as you're finding that mentor, you're finding that person that you may want to work deals with. You should start building those relationships early on. Um, I, I coach and mentor a lot of agents. There's some that I, I just don't like them and it's not a. It's not that I'm a mean or they're terrible people. We just don't get along. And it's probably not going to be a good fit for us to work together and it should work with somebody else. And I think that's the ultimate thing is I've got certain agents that I love working with and will absolutely partner and do all that and other agents where you're either going to refer the whole thing to me, or you should call so and so. And I think it's building that relationship early on because there's a lot of moving parts. And once you get those moving parts kind of going and everybody understands what they are, then, you know, that's, that's the, the best way to kind of start moving in. And if you're trying to add commercial to your business, shadowing is, is great. I've got no problem with somebody wanting to be the face of the transaction. They're kind of the relationship. Let me be the, the expert in the back end and you'll learn what's going on. We'll walk through it. You're in all those conversations and. You start learning those deals a whole lot quicker, a lot better. And, you know, especially if they're complicated, you start seeing all the complexities that go on with that deal.

Dylan Tanaka:

I think, uh, there's a big difference. The relationships as far, at least in my experience, the relationships that residential agents seem to have versus, um, They're commercial agents and then versus residential and commercial trying to work together. We talked like a little bit about RESPA or probably the old Robert Ringer book, if you're, if you're familiar with that. And they talk about commercial being for the big boys. Um, cause I, I look at like a real estate transaction, especially at a title company. Again, call it a 500, 000 home. You've got an agent on this side, agent on this side. There's probably a finance mortgage person there. There's a title person doing the closing. Then after the, after the. The event is over. Everything's signed. Those two agents, they could be at the bar together, you know, drinking a beer and they're kind of buddy buddy and they work together and even though they negotiated, um, that's kind of where some of these weird lawsuits came up. I don't want to get into that stuff, but Uh, they have a little more control, I think, when there's two agents than, than when there's one a lot of times. So, um, I think one of the toughest things to do when you're a residential agent is, is working with a commercial agent and not understanding that there is like a different set of rules that you guys are allowed to play by. So can you, do you have like maybe an example of, of how that kind of happens?

Will Curtis:

Biggest thing you'll notice that most agents or most commercial agents are not a part of NAR. That's an hour conversation all of it itself of why that happens to be. So the the big thing that you'll notice that's different there is that they do not subscribe to the same set of code of ethics that NAR does. So, uh, outside of licensing law, can they disparage you? They could, assuming the licensing law is not there, which again, by code of ethics, you can't do. Um, you know, they can kind of handle transactions a little bit differently. They can, um, you know, by code of ethics for AR, you're not allowed to go and prospect somebody else's business. In commercial, that's not a, that's not a thing. You can't get to the point of tortious interference. Basically jumping in the middle of their contract and tearing up the contract. But can you bid somebody else's stuff? Absolutely. And those are the kinds of things that you start seeing happening very differently. And what I find interesting is some of these non NAR agents know the code of ethics better than what. Actual Realtors that are N. E. R. members know it. So when you go do the same thing back to them, they're the one that files the ethics complaint against you because you're not playing by your rules. And I think it's something that, from N. E. R., I think it's something we need to work on and, you know, help educate and do those things there, but absolutely, there are ethical things that are prohibited by Code of Ethics. Versus on the commercial side, even when it comes to the legal side, working with, with clients, uh, most states will say that commercial is going to be a more of a buyer beware that you should have more, uh, education or more, uh, knowledge than the residential buyer. And therefore you're not nearly as protected, uh, in Texas, uh, even doing evictions. I don't have a three day You know, cure or get out. I don't have all that in Texas. The day you don't pay rent, I can, by midnight that night, I can log the door. And then I go through the eviction process, right? It vastly different than a residential, even in Texas where residential, you've got to give them notice, you got to wait, you got to through the court, like you're, you're 90 days plus to kick them out where. I mean, most of the time when I lock your doors, tenant magically has the money the next day. So, you know, it's those kinds of things that, uh, are drastically different that you really have to. Really have to know and understand. If not, you may find yourself a little bit of a little bit of trouble.

Dylan Tanaka:

It always cracks me up how, um, you know, how people aren't willing to hire professionals. I have friends who've sold multi million dollar properties and we call them, um, land contracts up here. You probably call them agreement for deed. They'll pull something off of Facebook for a million dollar property. What we call a land contract because they don't want to pay an attorney to 50. 350 500. And I'm thinking it's just like you said, if you get in front of a judge on a commercial deal, the judge is going to go, did you have an attorney? I'm sure that's his first question. Who, you know, who, who drafted these docs? And if you have an attorney there, it always helps. And in commercial again, we're moving multi millions and property attorneys are inexpensive compared to what could happen or a great broker. Also, you know, I consider myself Uh, not an attorney for sure. And you, you don't either, but I look at my clients, like I'm going to protect them as rabid as any crazy attorney and make sure that no matter what they're trying to achieve, as long as it's above board, I'm going to do that. I'm not going to tell any secrets to anybody else. And I'm, I'm going to be the most intelligent communicator possible and then help guide them to make the right decisions that help them to get to their ultimate decision that they wanted. You know, or, or their solution that they wanted for, for whatever they're trying to do

Will Curtis:

with commercial is the more reliance on attorneys. And, and even in commercial, like we butt heads with attorneys sometimes because sometimes the attorneys are, well, the agent, we know I'm an attorney and don't get me wrong, I. I love some of the attorneys I work with. They're great people. They work great deals. They absolutely do their role. But the difference a lot of times even with the broker or the attorney is that the attorney is looking at the legal and the risk and all that, which I'm looking at as well, but not to the same level. Whereas I am. Sitting down and looking at what is the market doing? Is this the right setup with the attorneys not doing, what is the market? What's normal in the market? What are we seeing for these deals? What are the leading trends? The attorney seeing what he's done over the last several times, maybe not what the newest trend that they're seeing. And, and there's a place for both. And I think that's the important thing is understanding having those professionals in the team. And that's another big difference with commercials that I have worked with a client who says, Hey, we want to sell our property suite. What do I need to know? Oh, here's my CPA. Go talk to him. And when we get ready, here's my attorney and use them. And now I don't talk to the client until we get to the closing table. We're sitting down with a CPA and the attorney through the entire process until we got an offer. They're okay with it. We all present it. And then we go from there. So, I mean, it's a, it's a completely different world, especially as you start dealing with these larger transactions that may not even interface with the client.

Dylan Tanaka:

That is a lot different than how it typically happens in residential. So, uh, thanks for that peek inside. Well, that's, uh, That's something to think about for sure. Just a different way to approach the business. So I know we talked a little bit off camera. You have a podcast, uh, that, that you're doing. So I want you to talk about that so we can make sure that all of our watchers and listeners, um, move on over and check yours out. Yeah.

Will Curtis:

Yeah. Well, appreciate that. And mine is vets and real estate and, uh, it's the vets and real estate podcast. And what we're really focused on is taking those military veterans who are transitioning out of the military or may have been out of the military for a couple of years and are looking at coming into real estate as a career, whether that's lending home inspection, commercial residential, property management, whatever the case is. And we've sat down and started interviewing those agents that have kind of made that transition already and talking about those lessons learned, what worked well, what didn't work well. And, and ultimately the goal is to give you a pool of individuals to look at, see how they've found success, what has worked well, what hasn't worked well. Uh, I know when I came out of the military, you're, dealing with culture shock, you know, coming from a military world to a civilian world is drastically different. And then coming into a business where you're maybe getting paid on commission, where you're used to getting paid to the 1st, the 15th, there's a lot of things that are different. And now you're building a business that's for you and it's not necessarily the selfless service that you're used to in the military. And ultimately that's what we're working on is try to help bridge that, uh, that gap and help those veterans who are transitioning over. So it's vets and real estate podcast. On all social medias, we're Vets N R E, so V E T S I N R E, so Vets in Real Estate, uh, through all that, and again, we, we post on a regular basis, uh, weekly interviews, so of course, love to have the subscribers, love to have other guests, uh, that are coming in, and the one thing we focus on maybe a little bit differently is we're looking at the agents and the professionals and not necessarily the investors that are coming in. There are a lot of Great opportunities for passive military investors and all those kinds of things that are out there. And we really didn't find anything that was focused on the agents and those that are, you got the professional licenses and those things. We don't find that nearly as much. And that's the core group that we're trying to help build is for those. in the profession and not necessarily as a full time investor.

Dylan Tanaka:

If you are a vet and you are in the profession of real estate, make sure that you click through all of Will's info is going to be in the show notes below. And, um, listen, this is what it's all about, right? It's about creating relationships. You never know what can come out of them. Will wants to help a bunch of other veterans move into this business that we love. So Will, if you could sum up. Everything that you've learned over these last, I think you said you're only 29 now, right? So we've only been in the business a few years. Um, I'm just kidding, but yeah, but, uh, if you could sum it all up, um, what, if you could give us just like one sentence of all the wisdom that you've learned that you wish you would have known when you were 25 about this business, what would it be?

Will Curtis:

Maybe a little controversial, um, but it's understanding demographics. Um, I think especially from the residential side, we get so worried about, uh, it's fair housing violations, all that, but. A lot of times we don't actually look at our marketing and how we market ourself. And are we communicating the best way? So sitting down and understanding the demographics of who your ideal client is, how they want to be communicated with and communicating in those ways. Uh, I, I joke all the time that if I'm trying to sell to seniors who are trying to downsize, I'm not going to post on Snapchat. Why? Because seniors aren't on Snapchat. Well, I'm not discriminating and all that, but understanding what is the best way to reach. That client I think many of us in real estate don't do a good job of that We think we could post a couple things on facebook It will get some deals not knowing that if our our ideal client is truly on Facebook or if they're gonna respond to a mailer or cold calls. And for me, once I really dove in and understood the demographics of who my clients were and how they wanted to be communicated with, I saw a huge change in my business by just making that shift is communicating the way that I want my ideal customers to be communicated with.

Dylan Tanaka:

Awesome. Well, Will, from myself again, the whole Rare Agent Nation, we appreciate you sharing your expertise with us and we will see you guys on the next episode. Thanks for listening to the rare agent show. I hope you got as much value out of this episode as I loved bringing it to you. If you're ready for more, make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss a single episode and don't forget to join our free Facebook group closings from leads. It's a community where agents like you are connecting, sharing strategies and getting exclusive resources to close more deals. You can find the link in the show notes. I can't wait to see you there until next time. Keep it rare and keep it real.

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