The CRE Project Clayton King

Clayton King sits down with Raphael Collazo in this episode of The CRE Project podcast. This podcast dives deep into social media & how Raphael grew his presence being younger in the CRE world. 

Raphael Collazo is a licensed commercial real estate agent specializing in retail and multi-family properties. Transitioning from a career in software, Raphael brings a strong technical background and a love for dissecting complex problems to his client interactions. These characteristics enable him to provide innovative and effective real estate solutions to help his clients get the most out of each transaction. As a real estate investor himself, Raphael is acutely aware of what investors look for when evaluating commercial property. As a result, he’s able to offer a unique perspective and help his clients make the best possible decision based on their financial goals.

In this show we sit down with Beth Azor and discuss a plethora of different topics including the state of the market, prospecting do and don't and how to utilize online platform to procure transactions. 

Affectionately known as ‘The Canvassing Queen™’ Beth Azor is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services (AAS), a leading commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in Southeast Florida.

As its principal, Beth currently owns and manages six shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with, brokering deals for and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. A partial list of Beth’s clients include Phillips Edison & Co., Brixmor Properties, The Shopping Center Group, Urban Edge Development and DLC Management Group.

Prior to founding AAS, Beth was the President of Terranova Florida’s largest 3rd party asset manager. Beth also has over thirty years of experience in managing, developing, redeveloping and teaching commercial real estate leasing agents all over the country. She has taken it upon herself to guide budding and established retail real estate agents to conquer the market by offering commercial real estate training courses and workshops. Her canvassing workshops are legendary!

A graduate of FSU, Beth is a former Foundation Trustee and is past Chairwoman of the Board, and Founder of the FSU Real Estate Foundation. Beth is also the immediate past President of the Board of Directors of HOPE Outreach Center in Davie, Florida and co-founder of 100+ Women Who Care in South Florida. She resides in Davie with her two boys, Alex and Mario.

The 1031 Exchange is one of the most effective and commonly used tools in the the Commercial Real Estate world. In this episode we talk about how to effectively and safely navigate a 1031 exchange. We discuss the timelines and the appropriate way to identify property to keep you safe from paying tax on a CRE transaction. 

Leonard Spoto oversees all of the sales and marketing operations for Asset Exchange Company. He is a frequent keynote speaker and an accredited course instructor on the subject of 1031 Tax Deferred Exchanges. He has presented his popular real estate and tax workshops to over 12,000 Realtors, lenders, title professionals and investors and is the author of dozens of published 1031 Exchange related articles.

Prior to co-founding Asset Exchange Company, Leonard worked for a major national title company affiliated exchange company. In this position, Leonard lead the company’s sales efforts by directing over 1,200 tax-deferred exchanges in Northern California in a single year.

Leonard is a graduate cum laude from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, a minor in Economics and a concentration in Finance.


Below is the best number to contact Leonard

Tel: 877-471-1031

Episode Show Notes

- What is a 1031 Exchange – 2:31

- What is the importance of the 1031 Exchange – 3:42

- What is the structure and timeline of a 1031 Exchange – 5:23

- The exception to the 45-day Identification Rule - 8:35

- What is the correct way to identify replacement property - 11:50

- Do you need to be in contract to identify a property? – 13:25

- How do you identify a property without an address or legal description - 14:40

- Different Identification Structures (3 property rule vs 200% rule) – 15:50

- 200% rule - 17:05

- The 95% exception – 18:30

- Most common mistakes made in a 1031 – 19:25

- How long should you own a property before you sell it and enter a 1031 – 24:45

- What is the definition of like kind – 26:47

- What to know when buying a Condo in Maui – 29:23

- Air BNB – 29:48

- What if you trade into a Ranch or Piece of Land? 31:17

- Is the 1031 Exchange going away? 34:30

- Has 1031 Exchanges slowed down since the interest rate hike? 38:20

- Why should someone utilize a professional 1031 Intermediary? 40:14

In this episode we sit down with a true commercial real estate Pioneer, Ed Cross. Ed is an influential developer out of the Texas market that is know for being an innovative and creative multifamily developer. Ed has accomplished some amazing things and his career and he shares his lessons learned over the years.

DISCUSSION TOPICS

How Ed Got Started - 1:38
Ed’s First Development Deal – 8:42
Ed’s First Big Brokerage Deal – 10:30
The Gift of Abstract Thinking – 18:05
The Key Ingredients for being a Successful Broker – 19:40
Ed Starts to Discuss the Vistana Project – 23:00
Law of the Indies / Spaniard Settlements – 25:30
The Benefit to Developing in a market that is 10 years behind – 28:30
The Practice of Virtual Development – 32:47
Ed’s Partner and The Start of Corona Beer in the US – 35:25
Ed’s Mistake in the Development of Vistana - 37:25
How Ed Managed the Stress of Being Behind Schedule and Over Budget - 41:35
Ed’s New Project – Vicinia – The New Urbanist Development – 48:08
Discussing New Urbanism – 48:45
How the Civil Engineer was Ed’s Biggest Adversary with Vicinia – 58:30
How Ed Got Partner Support for a Pioneering Venture – 1:00:30
Designing a New Urbanist Project to Accommodate Parking and Large Trucks – 1:02:40
Ed’s Biggest Piece of Advice – 01:08:47

TOP TAKEAWAYS

Present Numbers and Present a Proposal in a way that the recipient doesn’t have any questions. 2:45
To excel in Commercial Real Estate you have to be able to have abstract thinking. – 18:05
The Creativity of Development is like Brokerage x10 – 23:35
Embrace Issues in Development and Don’t Look at Them Adverse Effect to a Project – 24:15
CRE is a really small community and You’re known by your character – 39:20
Don’t Develop for Fees, Develop for Ownership – 42:25
Have Skin in the Game, Overcommunicate and Understand Risk 42:50
No Surprises – 43:10
Worrying Doesn’t Solve the Problem… Working On It Does – 44:15
Marry Well – 45:00
Land’s Value is Based off the Density You can Put on It – 1:01:28

 Website Link to Vicinia - https://viciniasa.com/

In this episode we sit down with the two most dominant and well known multifamily and industrial developers in the New Mexico and Texas markets. We discuss how Ben and Kurt got started in the business and how they grew to one of the most prominent real estate firms in the Southwest.

DISCUSSION TOPICS
- “Ben’s First Development Opportunity” 4:55 – 8:45

- “How Ben got his First Project Financed” 9:06 – 11:20

- “Biggest Challenge in Growing a Development Company over the last 20 years” 15:00 – 16:50

- “What Titan does Differently vs other Development Companies” 17:10 – 18:42

- “Most Influential Factor for Becoming a Successful Developer in Today’s World” 19:05 – 20:58

- “What Titan has Built Historically and What Project They are Currently Working On” 21:22 – 23:37

- “Handling Material Cost and Labor in Development Right Now” 25:09 – 26:39

- “How Contracts are Being Structured Differently Right Now with General Contractors” 28:11 – 30:45

- “What is the most important metric Titan looks at before pulling the trigger on a project” 35:30 – 37:53

- “Why Titan decided to start a Fund” 42:40 - 46:11

- “What Ben thinks about Cap Rates and what they will do with Rising Interest Rates” – 54:38 – 57:40

TOP TAKEAWAYS
- “You have to get out there and network and keep your eyes wide open for opportunity because you never know where that opportunity is going to come from. - Ben” – 13:00  

- “You’re only as good as the people on your team - Kurt” 17:28

- “Without Trust you don’t have Anything -Ben” 20:24

- “Focus on Risk Adjusted Return when deciding to move forward with a project” 35:40

- “I would not ask someone to invest in a project that I don’t have my own money in and that gives our investors comfort.” 39:29

- “At the end of the day it’s the long rate, the 10 year rate that determines the cost of debt which factors into the exit value.”

- “Fed fund rate (interest rates) is a factor but it’s not directly correlated to cap rates” – 56:15

- “You’ll never have 100% of the information.” 1:00:47



Guest Contact Info: 

Ben Spencer 

bspencer@titan-development.com 



Kurt Browning 

kbrowning@titan-development.com

Mark Ritter is the CEO of MBFS and an expert in credit unions and business lending. His primary role at MBFS is overseeing the strategy of helping credit unions assist members with business needs and consulting with credit unions on planning the delivery of services to their membership.

In 2002, Mark started Members 1st Federal Credit Union’s business lending program as “one person and a desk” with no policies, products, staff, systems, or business members. That program grew to be one of the top ten in the nation.

In 2012, he took on the challenge of being the CEO of a business lending CUSO. Mark was the fifth CEO in five years for the organization, which lost money every month of its existence. Since joining MBFS, Mark increased the number of credit unions the CUSO services by over 8x, grew the revenue by , and 10x, and ensured positive cash flow every full year he’s been at the CUSO. More importantly, MBFS has helped countless credit union members gain the financing they need for business and investment needs.

Mark is a native of Berwick, PA in northeast Pennsylvania, where he was a member of his high school’s nationally ranked and state championship football team. After high school, Mark hung up his cleats to work for the Penn State Nittany Lions full-time as a student assistant while attending Penn State as an undergrad. During this time Penn State transitioned to the Big Ten and culminated in Penn State’s first Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Mark remains an avid Penn State supporter. Today Mark lives in Bucks County, PA outside of Doylestown with his wife and two teenagers.