Top 5 Reasons Net Lease Brokers Don’t Leave Their Firm

David Sobelman
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read
David Sobelman, Founder of 3 Properties. Photo by Kevin McQuaid.

Too often I hear that a colleague has been with a firm where they are ultimately not happy with the dynamics of their employment environment but feel like it will be too much trouble to make any changes. When I began my real estate career, there were so few people who truly had a focus on net lease brokerage. I was an anomaly because the traditional brokerage model of a firm taking large portions of a broker’s fees in order to support aspects of the firm that didn’t ultimately benefit the net lease broker was the norm. The popularity of the property type and the ability to simply explain the merits of a net lease asset were not translating to the simplicity of what net lease brokerage should be; efficient, just like the properties themselves. Here are the top five reasons net lease brokers don’t leave their current firm.

1. Optics

Brokers don’t want their clients to think that they are bouncing around to different firms throughout their career. They want their clients to use the same phone number, the same email address, the same everything. They feel that ultimately provides them more business going forward; a way for people to find them, rather than what should be happening is them finding their people.

2. Complacency

Going to the same office everyday, knowing the same people who are around you, understanding where the copier is within the office and how to get to your favorite coffee shop makes a broker feel safe and comfortable. Why would they change something if it is going to take any effort at all on their part?

3. FOTU — Fear of the Unknown

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously says, “When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”

4. Resources

Most net lease brokers have been trained to feel like they need a lot of infrastructure around them on a daily basis; expensive offices, fancy software, lots of people and, of course, feeding the corporate profits. But what if net lease brokers started to narrow down the resources that are truly required to procure a transaction and the marketing/support needed to do so? How many clients actually come to see you in your office?

5. Leadership

We all need a leader and we all need encouragement. Knowing the difference between true leadership and having a figurehead in the broker’s life is paramount; normally figureheads don’t translate to added income for anyone. John Maxwell says, “If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it — young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous — is changed by it.” Net lease brokers are usually very entrepreneurial and motivated individuals, but the leadership in their lives can make or break a career. Who do you trust you with your reputation?

Today, there are literally thousands of professionals within the net lease industry and while competition has increased, cost effectiveness, or the expenses of operating a high level and esteemed net lease brokerage firm, have not decreased. Of all of the asset types where there could be efficiencies baked into the daily operations of a brokerage firm, net lease brokerages are number one! But most firms maintain a traditional brokerage model that is expensive and inefficient which results in higher fees to clients and lower commissions to their brokers. Triple Net Lease Brokers should make more and their clients should pay less! Net lease brokerage, if implemented correctly and thoughtfully, allows all parties involved to benefit from simply being smarter.

David Sobelman is the Founder of 3 Properties, a net lease brokerage company as well as the CEO of Generation Income Properties, a public net lease REIT.

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David Sobelman

Written by

Founder of 3 Properties, a triple net lease brokerage firm, and Generation Income Properties, a real estate investment trust (REIT)

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