Women Leaders Of Real Estate: “It’s More Than Just Location, Location, Location” With Vanessa Anderson, VP at Truss

It’s More Than Just Location, Location, Location — The ubiquitous phrase “location, location, location” still holds true when it comes to real estate, but the use and operation of a space is becoming increasingly important. Landlords can no longer rest on their laurels assuming a great location will get them the tenants. For example, office tenants are becoming particularly focused on their employees’ needs. While that continue to includes a convenient location, an emphasis on things like natural light, high quality air, great in-building amenities, and a work, live, play environment are forcing landlords to do more to compete for tenants.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders of the Real Estate industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Vanessa Anderson. As Vice President of Operations at Truss, Vanessa oversees Inventory Management, Sales Operations, and Customer Support, including the creation, maintenance, and automation of Truss’s listing inventory. Prior to joining Truss, Vanessa was on the investment team at GEM Realty Capital and Landmark Partners. Most recently, she was the Director of Corporate Development at Uptake, a venture-backed industrial IoT company, where she oversaw M&A and Strategic Partnerships. Vanessa has a Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

My interest in real estate really started in my childhood. My dad is a small business owner — running a family law firm and a small residential brokerage. In high school, he allowed me to manage his small portfolio of rental properties, spurring my interest in the real estate industry. I pursued real estate as my major in college and interviewed with a variety of investment firms for post-graduation. I was on the fence with my options, but was swayed to join GEM Realty Capital after an impromptu meeting with Lynn Jerath, the only female on the investment team at the time. Having a strong female mentor to emulate my career after was incredibly important to me and really tipped the needle for me not only entering the industry, but choosing the specific firm to kickstart my career.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

Lehman Brothers collapsed within 60 days of starting my first job. The real estate world froze and so did my workload. I hate not being busy, so while the entire financial world was collapsing and layoffs eminent, I naively sent an email to the whole company saying that I had capacity and would like to be added to more projects. Within a few minutes, my peers all turned to me and said something along the lines of, “Are you crazy!?!”. Luckily for me, rather than highlighting my disposability, this email led to me being asked to help with the fund’s distressed assets. I spent the bulk of the next two years working on loan workouts and foreclosures and, while this was a significant pivot from my expected job responsibilities, it was one of the most valuable experiences of my career to date. This very early career experience taught me to never be paralyzed by fear of the unknown (or of what others think) as well as to jump at any opportunity to take on more responsibility, even if it is seemingly unrelated to my “career plan”.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I have spent the past two years at Truss concentrating on building a modernized and automated commercial office listing database. This is a challenging task due to the resistance to technological change and the challenging data sharing environment in the CRE industry. My hope is that my work encouraging listing agents and ownership groups to adopt database technology will help move the industry closer to data ubiquity, where service professionals compete on the value they drive to their clients rather than on their access to off-market information.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Truss is approaching brokerage in a radically different way. Traditional brokerages chase large, high commission deals, leaving the vast majority of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) unrepresented during their office search. This results in small business owners exploring limited options and ending up in space that doesn’t fit their needs with lease terms that are unfavorable. Truss was formed to help these traditionally underserved tenants find their perfect space. By using technology to improve efficiencies in the brokerage cycle, Truss agents can close a higher volume of these lower commission deals, making it feasible to serve this segment of the market.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am incredibly thankful to have grown up with amazingly supportive parents that taught me that you can achieve anything with hard work. In the third grade, I told my dad that I wanted to be the best softball pitcher in my local league. Rather than leaving this to chance, he told me that the only way I would achieve this is with practice and preparation. He set up a pitching area in our unfinished basement and joined me every morning before school to throw 100 pitches against the wall, always ending with 10 perfect strikes in a row. When the softball season arrived, I was prepared and threw a season-long no hitter. This was really just the beginning, but the lessons my parents taught me about hard work and preparation have followed me far beyond sports and into the working world.

Additionally, since pivoting my career into the tech world, I have been incredibly lucky to gain a group of incredibly supportive female peers — both from Uptake and Truss. These women have been such an amazing support group as we solve problems together, provide negotiating advice, and most importantly, encourage each other to be bold and never be afraid to express our opinions.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. The Real Estate industry, like the Veterinarian, Nursing and Public Relations fields, is a women dominated industry. Yet despite this, less than 20 percent of senior positions in Real Estate companies are held by women. In your opinion or experience, what do you think is the cause of this imbalance?

I think the real estate industry faces the same challenges when it comes to gender equality as many other traditionally male dominated industries. First and foremost, the lack of women in leadership positions is the start of a vicious cycle. When there aren’t women in leadership, junior-level women get promoted less and also tend to leave the industry due to a lack of role models to demonstrate that growth within the industry is possible. Secondly, many roles in CRE involved long work hours and lack flexibility. Flexibility with working hours is incredibly important to keeping women thriving in the workforce. I was always the type of employee that stayed at work late into the evening, until I had my daughter two years ago. I am lucky to have a supportive work environment that allows me to leave work at a reasonable time, do dinner and bedtime with my daughter, and then work what many working parents deem the “third shift” in the late evening. Without this flexibility, it would be incredibly hard for me to keep my foot on the gas pedal career-wise during these years with a young family and I am so thankful to be lucky enough to be able to pursue both my career and family in full force.

What 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender balance going forward?

I truly believe that the US needs a systemic national change with regards to family leave policies in order to achieve gender parity. Regardless of policy, the real estate industry can and should stay a step ahead by creating generous family leave policies and providing flexible work hours for their employees. This will ensure that men and women have fair and equal opportunities and will help destigmatize the working mother. Additionally, the employer stands to benefit from these policies as its been proven that employees are more loyal to organizations with generous leave policies.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

The biggest challenge women executive face is overcoming inherent gender biases. Early in my career, I was encouraged to edit my femininity in order to succeed in the real estate world. I was told not to wear overly girly dresses, not to use exclamation points in my emails, and to lower my voice intonation while presenting. While this advice is valid when trying to fit into a male dominated role, I think the real estate industry needs to make an effort to promote women without stripping them of gendered characteristics. Bringing awareness of gender bias through bias training can be a first step to creating this change in the industry.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry?

I feel like we are entering an incredibly exciting, and disruptive, time for the real estate industry. Real estate has always been a laggard when it comes to technology adoption, but there are a few key trends that indicate that the industry is entering a period of major transformation.

• Data, Data, Data — The real estate world has access to incredibly rich data on everything from how a space is used to what a competitive building is offering. The industry is in the very early stages of harnessing this data and utilizing it to make more optimal decisions for building, buying, and managing real estate. I think we have only explored the tip of the iceberg and am excited to see how data driven decisions will impact the future of real estate.
• Next Gen Operators — From coworking to pop-up shops, the industry is seeing each and every asset class change dramatically. Similar to what happened in the auto industry with ridesharing, real estate operators are taking historically underutilized space and finding new, creative, more efficient uses. What I find most exciting about these operators is their laser focus on building a product for occupants’ wants and needs, rather than forcing users to conform to the space and a traditional lease.
• iBuying and Alternative Financing — Residential real estate is starting to see the emergence of iBuying and alternative financing options, making it easier than ever to buy and sell homes. These disruptors should result in an increase in liquidity in the residential market and I am excited to see how this will impact mobility of American homeowners. Additionally, as a CRE professional, I always keep my eye on the residential market as it has been faster to adopt technology and a good indicator of what to expect in the upcoming years on the commercial side of the industry.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

My biggest concerns when it comes to the real estate industry revolves around systemic cultural issues. To start, the industry suffers from the prevalence of complacency. Because the industry has bred a lot of success, there is a tendency for real estate professionals to be set in their ways resulting in a resistance to change — whether that be in the form of technology, disruptive new uses of assets, or a diverse workforce. Secondly, there is most definitely a “bro” culture in the industry making it more difficult for women and minorities to grow into leadership positions. As has been proven time and time again, diverse leadership teams have better outcomes and avoid the pitfalls of group think, so the industry will benefit if it can evolve this culture. Lastly, I think many areas within real estate have strong misincentives that create a “every man for himself” attitude, rather than a focus on the bigger picture, or greater good.

The good news is that change is coming! As young, tech-savvy, real estate professionals start to become the majority and disruptive proptech companies enter the market, there is and will continue to be an influx of diverse backgrounds flocking to the industry. I think this disruption will help change some of the old-school thinking and benefit the industry as a whole. To stay ahead of the curve, real estate leaders can and should consider investing in the following: 1.) an innovation team to explore the use of disruptive technology, 2.) diversity training for all staff, and 3.) adoption of company-level Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and a revamp of incentive structures to ensure the expected behavior of employees will align with the company objectives.

What advice would you give to other leaders to help their team to thrive?

When it comes to managing teams, I focus on aligning my employees’ personal goals with the company goals. During onboarding, I make sure to ask why the employee joined the company and what they are hoping to achieve during their time at Truss. I then align projects with their interests and create stretch projects to work on skills that they need to develop to move to the next level. The end goal is that while at Truss, I get great work from them, but also use the time to make sure they make active gains towards their personal development. Keeping that in mind and demonstrating a genuine desire to help them achieve their goals results in a relationship based on loyalty and trusts, which usually equates to great results.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

With rapid change occurring in the real estate industry, I think there are a few key counterintuitive trends to be aware as well as a few key personal characteristics that can help ensure success.

Starting with the industry trends:

1. It’s More Than Just Location, Location, Location — The ubiquitous phrase “location, location, location” still holds true when it comes to real estate, but the use and operation of a space is becoming increasingly important. Landlords can no longer rest on their laurels assuming a great location will get them the tenants. For example, office tenants are becoming particularly focused on their employees’ needs. While that continue to includes a convenient location, an emphasis on things like natural light, high quality air, great in-building amenities, and a work, live, play environment are forcing landlords to do more to compete for tenants.
2. Flexibility is a Winning Strategy — Gone are the times of 5–10 year leases. Tenants want lease terms that align with their projected needs and growth. Landlords that continue to focus on old-school long-term leasing will lose out to less prime locations that offer the flexibility needed by tenants. Tenants also want move-in ready spaces. They don’t want to invest huge capital into their office just to outgrow it a few months later. Adapting with the times has not been landlords forte historically, but those who remain agile will ultimately win big.
3. Align Your Financing! — WeWork is the most prominent example of a real estate company with a misaligned financial risk / reward structure. As the real estate world changes and money continues to flow into new age operators, neither traditional mortgage financing nor venture financing will be the 100% right fit. Operators who take a bifurcated approach aligning financing for their real assets and equity for their operations have a higher likelihood of success.

On a more personal note, there are a few key characteristics needed to succeed in real estate:

1. Adaptability — First and foremost, adaptability is key when working in a cyclical market. It is very easy as a real estate professional to assume the market will be good for the foreseeable future, but in reality, the real estate boom and bust cycle is inevitable. I think being ready and willing to change direction, take on new responsibilities, and pivot altogether is a key trait for being successful and capitalizing on new opportunities in this industry.
2. Grit — Secondly, it is not a secret that working in real estate can be a grind. Bringing resiliency, grit, and a can-do attitude to the table is incredibly important to withstand the highs and lows of this market.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’m of the mindset that the only person you can control is yourself. So with that, I do my best to lead by example and treat the people working for me respect. I think people largely manage the way they were managed early in their career, so by being incredibly transparent with my team and making sure to work on their career development, my hope is that they will do the same for the next generation of employees ultimately benefiting the industry as a whole.

How can our readers follow you online?

Twitter: @vaanders

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessaanderson/

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights!