CCIM Feature

Thrive Together

This year’s CCIM conference provides fresh networking opportunities.

On March 4, Michael Anderson, CCIM, chairman and founder of RealSource in Salt Lake City, walked into the RealShare Apartments East conference in Miami proudly wearing his CCIM pin. He left that day with the seeds of a $100 million merger and acquisition transaction that was facilitated by a fellow CCIM attendee.

For Anderson, there are two key factors to sustain a successful real estate career: what you know and who you know. As he explained in a recent CCIM Q&A (CIRE, July/August 2014): “Who you know comes from only one source — networking.”

This year, the CCIM Institute strengthened its partnership with ALM Real Estate Media Group to promote the CCIM designation and give members new platforms for connecting with influential industry professionals. In addition to GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum magazine, ALM owns the RealShare Conference Series, which includes local and national events that attract top commercial real estate practitioners. The Institute has also enlisted the team behind RealShare to help reimagine its own conference, CCIM Thrive.

A New Network

What sets the RealShare Conference Series apart? Its panels and attendees are primarily comprised of senior- and executive-level decision makers. This audience hires CCIMs.

To raise the profile of the CCIM designation among these decision makers, the Institute has identified exemplary CCIMs to participate in these events.

“The RealShare Conference Series gives us opportunities to showcase CCIM designees who are working at the highest levels of the commercial real estate industry,” says 2013 CCIM Institute President Wayne D’Amico, CCIM. “The Institute had better representation than most of the companies at RealShare National Investment and Finance, with more than a dozen CCIM Institute members in attendance and five CCIMs on panels. Attendees took notice.”

Members are taking notice too. “The RealShare conferences are attended by a significant number of the real players in commercial real estate in a given market,” says Elizabeth Braman, CCIM, chief production officer at Realty Mogul in Los Angeles, who joined two RealShare panels earlier this year. “By participating in these conferences, CCIM Institute is showing its members a commitment to be a part of what’s current and relevant.”

And what’s especially relevant today is the expansion of investors and real estate capital into secondary and tertiary markets where CCIMs are the major players. This current trend only increases the value of promoting the designation to senior executives from large investment and real estate firms. They often hail from primary markets, but, like many major market investors, today they’re moving into secondary and tertiary markets in search of better returns.

This issue’s cover story on p. 26 documents this migration in the industrial sector. But the trend is prevalent across other property types as well. In the multifamily market, “Investors seeking higher yields have more aggressively targeted assets in secondary and tertiary markets where the recovery potential has not yet been fully priced into deals,” reports Marcus & Millichap. And the office sector is seeing “increased capital targeting CBD assets in secondary markets.”

But D’Amico notes that even CCIMs working in smaller markets can benefit from big-city knowledge gained at RealShare events. “At a minimum, every CCIM should be able to articulate the trends in the primary markets and be able to translate that to their market of influence, be it as comparison or for identifying opportunity,” he explains.

CCIM Institute First Vice President Steven W. Moreira, CCIM, served on the Opportunities in Debt and Equity panel at RealShare National Investment and Finance alongside some of the top investment professionals in the country. “The CCIM panelists and volunteers made it clear to these and other investors in attendance why they should be seeking out CCIM designees for assistance, especially in secondary and tertiary markets,” he explains. “It was a great venue for designation promotion.”

Relationships First

One way to capitalize on this designation promotion is to simply attend a CCIM-sponsored RealShare event. But designees should keep their expectations in check. “I think people go to these types of events saying to themselves, If I walk away without a deal, it was a failed event,” says David P. Wilson, CCIM, executive vice president with Lockard Development in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “That is not true. Deals will happen, but they may take some time.”

Last December Wilson met a fellow CCIM at RealShare Healthcare Real Estate, where Wilson served as a panel moderator. They’re now working on a “very big deal,” he says. “People do business with people who they know, like, and trust, and when you see CCIM, it brings instant credibility to the deal.”

Gary M. Ralston, CCIM, CPM, SIOR, a CCIM Institute senior instructor and managing partner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler Realty LLC in Lakeland, Fla., reconnected with almost a dozen industry leaders at RealShare Net Lease in April. “I was able to generate an offer for a 1031 replacement property through one of my reconnections,” he says.

But it’s not just deals surfacing as a result of these events. “My current job came out of RealShare conference,” notes Braman, who met fellow panelist Jilliene Helman, chief executive officer of Realty Mogul, at RealShare Los Angeles. “The CCIM and Realty Mogul booths happened to be next to each other, so we started talking about crowdfunding, which combines my passion for real estate and technology. One thing led to another, and I’m now chief production officer at Realty Mogul.”

The RealShare conferences are designed to facilitate such happy accidents. Most of the events focus on a particular property type or local market, which attracts the most relevant pool of potential connections. “Too often, industry conferences try to be all things to all people,” Wilson says. “At RealShare Healthcare Real Estate, I saw great interaction among all of the attendees.”

And the national RealShare events provide not only national connections, but also national insights. “The participants were from across the country so I had access to best practices from markets that are outside of New York,” says Alfonso L. Holloman, CCIM, senior managing director/principal with Lee & Associates BQLI in New York, who represented the Institute at RealShare Net Lease. “I think this feature was a benefit for all of our members in attendance.”

Time to Thrive

The Institute’s partnership with RealShare will also bring these best practices to CCIMs’ own conference, CCIM Thrive, Oct. 21–22 at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles.

“This reinvented conference format is about raising the bar,” explains D’Amico, this year’s conference chairman. “Whether you practice at the highest level of your field or are striving to get there, CCIM has the education, tools, and relationships that can help you realize your greater aspirations in your career or business model. This conference is a launching pad for doing more, thriving through the second half of 2014 and beyond.”

Up Your Conference ROI

CCIMs offer tips for capitalizing on CCIM Thrive and RealShare events.

Pin up . “Wear your CCIM pin proudly,” says Gary M. Ralston, CCIM, CPM, SIOR, managing partner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler Realty LLC in Lakeland, Fla. “And make an earnest effort to network with other CCIMs in attendance.”

Show up . “The most important factor is attending,” says Alfonso L. Holloman, CCIM, senior managing director/principal with Lee & Associates BQLI in New York. “These events are no-nonsense and you have an opportunity to get in front of real deal makers.”

Meet up . “Get out of your comfort zone and connect with someone new,” says David P. Wilson, CCIM, executive vice president with Lockard Development in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “It could pay dividends.”

Follow up . “Getting the introduction is the easy part,” says J.R. Chantengco, CCIM, managing director with HKS Capital Partners in New York. “The next, crucial steps must be: follow up, follow up, follow up!”

To ensure that attendees come away with a new perspective, the Institute and RealShare have assembled panels featuring some of the top commercial real estate professionals in the country. Day one includes Jonathan Hipp, president and chief executive officer of Calkain Cos.; Bill Hoffman, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Trigild; and Ken McCarthy, research director at Cushman & Wakefield, among many others. Day two features Michael Weil, president of RCS Capital; CCIM Senior Instructor Gene Trowbridge, CCIM; Shelley Magoffin, senior vice president at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital; Curt Johnson, CCIM, vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Co.; and more. Anderson, Braman, and Wilson will also participate as panelists.

“The content being presented by these senior industry participants will translate to each and every market,” D’Amico notes. Panel topics include the economic outlook, crowdfunding, redevelopment, and emerging niche property sectors.

In addition, a special marketing analytics session will highlight recent upgrades to CCIM members’ technology tools, including Esri’s BAO 4.0 product.

CCIM members will also benefit from the local audience of commercial real estate professionals attracted by the RealShare connection and the strength of the panels. “This year’s conference is being structured to take advantage of being located in Los Angeles, one of the largest commercial real estate markets in the world,” says CCIM President Elect Mark Macek, CCIM. “It will give our Institute an opportunity to showcase our organization and members to a major segment of the industry.”

And as with many of the RealShare events, CCIM Thrive will be a great place to connect with primary market investors searching for secondary and tertiary market opportunities. “Los Angeles is a large and very well diversified international market,” says Wolf Baschung, CCIM, director at KW Commercial in L.A. “Toward market cycle tops, there is often an outflux of capital toward secondary U.S. markets, as local agents seek higher yield out-of-state investments. Everyone should plan to attend.”

In addition to a wealth of informal networking opportunities, attendees can mingle at the Oct. 21 cocktail reception and the Oct. 22 networking breakfast, which features tables segmented by business specialty.

Los Angeles is also a fantastic place to visit, Braman adds. It’s within driving distance of the ocean, desert, and mountains; you can fly into three different airports; and now Uber, the ride-sharing service, makes it easy to get around.

But while some members from colder climes may flock to the beach — and who could blame them? — most attendees will be looking to boost their business. And that’s exactly what CCIM Thrive will deliver, according to Macek. “The major goal of redesigning this event is to present industry experts and networking opportunities that will help us be more successful,” he explains. “CCIM members who attend this conference will truly have a competitive advantage when they go back to their local markets.”

Rich Rosfelder is integrated marketing manager for the CCIM Institute.

Rich Rosfelder

Rich Rosfelder is vice president of strategic communications for CCIM Institute.

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