Nick Sansone
Appearances
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And so first of all, when you do that, the person on the other end is going to be like, man, I trust these guys. But secondly, you're going to show credibility. It's like our dad used to always say, my brother Jim always tells the story. He went to my dad with a problem. My father said, okay, you got the problem. Now what's the solution? He didn't have one.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And in not so many, not so nice words, he got kicked out of my father's office. So the idea of that is whenever you've got a problem, have a solution with it. And it builds trust. People like it, but as is important, you're going to mitigate the risk of your real estate deal because real estate is hedging a risk.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
It's a risky business from interest rates to things that you think are going to happen that end up not happening, which happens most of the time, the stuff you don't think is going to happen that ends up happening. So you got to account for that.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
So when you focus on the problems and then focus on the solutions of those problems and then do everything you can to avoid those problems from actually happening, you're starting in the right place with your deal. Yeah.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Well, I can give you a couple, but one quick one is, We can, it's human nature to get complacent when things are going really well. And the advice that I would give to other people based on our own experience is if you're running a company or you're running your own real estate deal or you're running your own bank account is watch those numbers.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
When money's coming in and revenue's coming in and everything's going great, man, it is easy to take your eye off the ball. And we had a situation with our company where we had a, um, a gentleman that was keeping track of our numbers and profits looked incredible. We had developments going all over the country. Things were rolling. This was a pre this was a, no, I'm sorry.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
This was, this was post COVID because things really exploded post COVID. Yeah. And, um, To say a mistake was made in the bookkeeping is an understatement. We're talking about millions of dollars off. And we realized the mistake late into the year. And we went from thinking that our operating business was just gonna crush it to literally overnight,
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
seeing that we actually might not have enough cash and operations to support overhead. And the reason that happened is we took our eye off the ball and we stopped paying attention to the numbers. And we were out there doing development deals all over the place. Now our development business is separate from our operating company. Our operating company is a service business.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
But the lesson, now we ended up working out of it, but you know what we did? We started having a weekly meeting on the cash in the bank and on the projected revenue coming in. And so to anybody that's out there from a lesson learned is don't get complacent with your numbers. And especially when things are going great. I don't mean to sound like a pessimist.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
You got to be looking around the corner. for the next issue that's going to be coming, because that's the way the world works. When things are really smooth and you're in a nice valley, there's a mountain coming again. And it's just how it is. It's peaks and valleys. And that was a big deal for us. The second one, very quickly for anyone in real estate, make sure to check your soil.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
We thought we were geniuses. We found a a half a million square foot industrial building that was off market, brand new. Like, oh my God, brand new in a park where it was, the whole park was 100% leased, but for this building. Like, my God, there's tenants everywhere wanting to get in this park. I have no idea why these developers developed this and now they want to get out of it.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Hell, we're going to step in. We get under contract. We didn't do the proper soil testing, which is geotech environmental reports. After we closed on it, we realized the entire floor of the warehouse is cracking and moving. Okay. You're not going to get a tenant.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And when you have soil issues, especially in a building that's already built and your floor is cracking, the remediation for that is crazy expense. So we ended up actually coming out all right because our underwriting on the deal was so doggone conservative. We got out of it okay. But if you're in the development business, man...
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Spend the money to get a geotech report, an environmental report, talk to your civil, and just do it. Because, man, if you find out soil issues down the road, it's an expensive problem, correct?
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah, that was early on with us. I think that was our second industrial deal. We really thought we were brilliant until we got humbled and realized we didn't know what we were doing.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Quickly, when you say they think wrong on it, how so? Sum that up for me in a few seconds.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah. Well, you know, money to me, it's an exchange of energy. You know, a person is often a service and someone else is offering it by way of value through dollars. And so, um, In our history, we have learned that you've got to spend it to make it. You've got to take the chances and go for it. And some people say, well, why do you do all of that? And why is it? Thank you. Why is it so important?
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And I can tell you that financial abundance opens so many opportunities for for one to have a fulfilled life. And when I mean fulfilled, I'm not talking about cars and boats and planes and all of that. I'm talking about the impact one can make. Certainly any individual at any time, regardless of their economic status, can make an impact.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
But if you're abundant and you've got finances coming in, there's a lot you can do with that. And so I like the shift, the psychology around money, because sometimes it can be associated with negative. I think money is a beautiful thing. It opens up doors. It creates relationships. And it allows you to make change in the world if that's something you're motivated for.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And if you've got a family, it allows you to provide for them, to provide for an education, to provide a life without so many stresses. And so I think... With money, the attitude needs to shift for those that are struggling with it and realize it's a wonderful, beautiful thing. Look, you're not going to attract something that you have a negative viewpoint on.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And so that would be my thoughts around the dollar.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah, it's just my name, Nick G. Sansone. So you can find me on social under that. You know, it's an easy way to find me. But I appreciate you having me on, Brandon. And congratulations to your success, man, with your podcast when you were talking about those stats at the beginning. That's really impressive. And I love how you keep it lean and mean and you get right to the heart of issues.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yes, we are based on the amount of square feet that you have under construction. So that's how it's measured. And so we're trying to get to number one. I think last year we were at four and I think this year we're at three.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
You know, that's a skill, too. to be able to ask the questions that gets right to the meat of it for your viewers. So no surprise. You've got the momentum that you have. Congratulations.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Appreciate you, my man.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
That is a loaded question, man. You know, you, you touched on it. Yeah. Relationships and proximity. It's a real estate. And I think like many businesses, it's a relationship business. And so, You have to get people to trust you and people to like you in order to produce and to have opportunities presented in front of you. And so for us, it's just networking.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
We've been in the business a long time. 68 years now. So fortunately, we have a good name in the business and a good reputation, and we plan to keep it that way. And so it's networking, creating relationships with brokers, development partners around the country, and sticking to your values, being a good person as you do deals, and then you get repeat opportunities.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah. You know, that's a good question. Our business, I have to say it because it's everything to our company was started by our father. He, my dad passed in 2020 and he, was a man that came from very humble beginnings. So he's the guy. It's not myself. It's not my brothers. He's the guy that came from essentially nothing.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
I don't like to say came from nothing because he always attributes his success to the love that he had by his parents. But he came from very humble economic conditions and very little education and worked his way up really based on keeping his word and outworking his competition. And so I'm going to answer your question indirectly.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
I would ask my father, you know, dad, how did you come from nothing? Do what you did, you know, build up a business with a great reputation. And his answer was the love that he had from his father gave him the belief that he needed it himself, that no matter what, he was going to be successful. And so our father raised us. I'm one of eight kids, youngest of eight.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And I work with two of my brothers. At one time, there was five of us. A couple of them have retired in that. But it's myself and two brothers, equal owners in the firm. And, you know, our father raised us with the mentality of there's nothing wrong with going into a business that was started by somebody.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
But if you don't take that opportunity and grow a tenfold, twentyfold, thirtyfold, then you're going to have a problem looking yourself in the mirror. And so for us, I think we've always had a belief that we'll succeed. I We did not have it like up on a vision board. Hey, we're going to be the number one developer.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
We had a belief in ourself. And I'll tell you what we did is we took some chances because we pivoted from retail, which is what my father primarily developed retail shopping centers. And we pivoted because we saw what was going on with e-commerce, all the online shopping back 10 years ago. Yeah. We're like, man, we got to get a new industrial. And so we took a shot. We pivoted on that.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Didn't know much about industrial, but we knew that we'd succeed. It's just, you got to have a no-quit mentality that when you go in to start something, no matter how many bumps, no matter how many obstacles come your way, they're just learning lessons. And then you redirect. And so along the path, as we started doing it, we started saying, man, we're We're ramping up. Holy crap.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
We're, we're top, you know, top 15. This article came out. We were feet. We were top 15 or something. We couldn't believe it. So that's when we said, Hey, heck, heck with it. Let's go for number one.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah. It's a great question. And I totally relate to what you're talking about. You succeeded in an industry and your ego was tied to that. And it's tough to shift, you know? And again, though, I give credit back to how we were raised.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
And our dad would always talk about in the real estate business, and I think this is for any business, that you can't get complacent, that it's a thinking man's business. So right now we're succeeding in industrial, correct?
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
In our minds, we're looking ahead at what's the next trend? What happens when distribution slows down? So you've always got to be thinking about reinventing and recreating. And if you stop, you're going to get passed up. And some people might be like, well, gosh, I mean, when do you just sit back and relax and enjoy the moment? It is enjoying the moment.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
That's part up, you know, that's living and learning and recreating is one of the most enjoyable things that you can do in life. Frankly, I think it's the whole reason we're here is to live, learn and recreate. So for us, When you asked about the mindset, it's a personal ethos on literally how we were raised. And we're still doing it today. You know, industrial is a great business.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
But look, everything that's happening with AI and meta, right? Well, those are data centers. Those are power sources. So we're getting into the data center business. You know, we always have to be looking at what's coming next so you can stay ahead. And if you don't do it, you're going to get passed up.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
That's a great answer.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Yeah. You know, I think it's, um, It's a good question. I think it's a few things. Obviously, if you're in the real estate business and you want to do anything, frankly, in any industry, whatever you want to do, you got to know your skill set, right? There's a lot of people, though, out there that are good at something or know a skill set.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
You can go to school and learn about real estate and do a few deals and start to collect a skill set. But for us, whenever we are underwriting an opportunity, or looking at a real estate deal, and it's a deal that we want to go out and get partners on, or we want to go to a lender and get lending on, you have to know your opportunity inside and out. You have to have studied that.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
You've got to roll up your sleeves and really understand the numbers. In real estate, you've got to understand the market that you're in. You've got to understand the supply and demand, the demographics, the trends, the consumer spending in the area, why you like it, the problems about the deal that you already are thinking about solving.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
So you really have to look at the opportunity, not just from the four corners, but all angles that you can think of and then some. That's the nitty gritty. Beyond that, from the standpoint of personalization and core values, we very much pride ourselves on keeping things old school with the personal touch. It's a family business.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Now, we've got a large 250 plus associates and offices around the country in that. But to maintain that personalization, I'll give you an example. we don't close on any piece of real estate unless somebody on our team has gone there, seen it and touched it. You know, we're old school with that. We grew up where after church on a Sunday, we'd go drive the shopping centers with our dad.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
He'd drive them. And we'd get out of the car and pick up cigarette butts and trash and everything else and watch him doing it when he was in his sixties, you know? And so, It's that old school mentality. It's that personal touch. There's no substitute for the hard work. And the last thing I'll tell you is leaving, you mentioned it earlier, leaving the egos at the door and teamwork.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
There's no I. Collectively, we are a team and the collective is bigger than any one individual. So what we are trying to do is we are trying to get a successful development, not just for us, but for the community that we're in, for the jobs that we're going to be supporting. So our reason is outside ourselves. And the purpose of what we're doing is bigger than any one individual.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Well, you hit on, frankly, the key piece of everything I said, because that piece that you're talking about is the piece we focus on the most when it comes to an opportunity. When you think about most people... when an opportunity is presented to them, usually the person presenting it is going to tell you all the reasons why they should do it and why it's great.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
Right. And so, you know, look, I totally understand having a great opportunity and being fired up for it. But I talked about I don't know if I talked about it earlier, but trust is so critical in this business. And so one, when you address the issues with your opportunity, because every single deal has risk.
Wake Up to Wealth
The Secret to Success in Commercial Real Estate with Nick Sansone
So when you dive into that risk and you lead with that and you talk about, hey, I just want you to know these are some of the concerns that I have. You know, there's there's some concerns with the soil. There could be some deep mines in there. But let me tell you what we're doing about it to mitigate that.