Skylines and Strategies: Navigating New York City Real Estate with Bob Knakal

 

Skylines and Strategies: Navigating New York City Real Estate with Bob Knakal

 

Guest: Join us in this episode as we sit down with Bob Knackal, Head of the New York Private Capital Group at JLL, a seasoned investment sales broker with a 40-year career in the dynamic New York City real estate market. Bob shares insights into his impressive journey, highlighting his role in transforming the skyline through strategic land deals and development projects.

 

Big Idea: Bob Knakal takes us on a journey through his four-decade-long career in the New York City real estate market. From the early days as an investment sales broker to leading the New York Private Capital Group at JLL, Bob shares key strategies for success, highlighting the importance of expertise, data-driven decision-making, and product specialization. The discussion delves into the nuances of the market, examining recent corrections, development opportunities, and the unique challenges and advantages of navigating the complex world of New York City real estate. Bob’s insights provide valuable lessons for both seasoned professionals and those looking to make their mark in the ever-evolving real estate landscape.

 

 

    

Dan Breslin: All right, Bob Knakal, welcome to the REI Diamond Show. How are you doing today?

Bob Knakal: Great, Dan, thanks so much for having me on.

Dan: Yeah, when the booking agents had gotten the request I said, “Oh, wow, this is cool.” Bob Knakal just applied to be on the show. We’re going to approve that one, and then they finally got our schedules to Massey, and here we are. So I was excited to have you on the show, but maybe for listeners who don’t know the name, Bob Knakal, you could give a Reader’s Digest version about who you are and the highlights of your career today.

Bob: Sure, absolutely. Well, Bob Knakal, I currently am the head of the New York Private Capital Group at JLL. I’ve been an investment sales broker in New York City for 40 years now. For 26 of those years, from 1988 to 2014, I owned and ran a company called Massey Knakal Realty Services. We were investment sales in New York. Co-Star started tracking the marketplace in 2001. And in 2001, we were surprised to see that we had sold more buildings than any other company. And from 2001 to 2014, the number two company in New York sold a little over 1300 buildings. Massey Knakal sold over 4000. So we lapped the field by more than three times. Sold the business to Cushman and Wakefield in 2014 for $100 million. And I was three and a half years at Cushman, five years now at JLL. I think Dan, the thing that I’m most proud about our firm was that number one, we focused on culture training servant leadership mentality. And that has very tangibly manifested itself. Today, in New York City, there are 29 investment sales brokerage companies or divisions of companies that are either owned by or run by people who learned the business at Massey Knakal. So the legacy is significant and something I’m very proud of. Last week, I closed transaction number 2321. It’s about $22 billion worth of sales. And fortunately, even though I’m in year 40, I still love this business as much today as I did the day I started. And that’s what keeps me going.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.us.JLL.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Bob Knakal & I Discuss New York Real Estate:

  • Expertise and Differentiation: Bob emphasizes the importance of becoming an expert in a specific niche of the market, using statistics rather than adjectives to answer key market questions.
  • The Map Room Advantage: Bob discusses the creation of the Map Room, a unique data set that tracks every building under construction and potential development site in New York City, providing a competitive advantage in selling land.
  • Product Specialization: Bob talks about the shift from geographic orientation to product specialization in recent years, focusing on specific property types such as land transactions and multifamily properties.
  • Market Correction Dynamics: Bob provides a detailed overview of the New York City real estate market’s recent corrections, emphasizing the autonomy of different product types and the changing behavior of lenders in response to market conditions.
  • Development Opportunities: Explores ongoing development opportunities in various sectors, including the challenges and prospects in the condo land market, the impact of rezoning projects, and the transformation of the hotel market.

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 238 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Unlocking Wealth Beyond Real Estate: A Conversation with Steve Selengut

 

Unlocking Wealth Beyond Real Estate: A Conversation with Steve Selengut

 

Episode: In this episode, we’re breaking away from the traditional real estate discussions to explore an intriguing investment avenue – stocks, securities, and closed-end funds. Dan sits down with Steve Selengut, a seasoned investor with a unique perspective that challenges conventional real estate thinking. Steve shares insights into his investment journey, influenced by his father’s real estate background and how it shaped his income-focused approach. Get ready to delve into a conversation that could change the way you view wealth creation.

Guest: Steve, a seasoned investor with over 50 years of experience, evolved his career from pension investment to managing a successful investment business. His journey was inspired by his father, a real estate developer, teaching him the crucial importance of cash flow. Steve’s investment philosophy centers around income focus, profit-taking, and building a diverse portfolio of high-quality assets. With a background in managing over $110 million in capital, he shares his insights on the podcast, offering a unique perspective on stocks, closed-end funds, and navigating the intricacies of the investment landscape.

Big Idea: In this episode Steve discussed his income-focused investment strategy. Drawing parallels between real estate and his closed-end fund approach, Steve emphasizes the importance of consistent cash flow for sustainable growth. By prioritizing income over market value, he introduces a methodology that mitigates risk and offers a practical alternative for investors seeking stable returns.

 

 

    

Dan: Nice. So we’re taking it different direction completely than like 98% of the guests on the show and we’re going to be talking about buying stocks, securities, closed-end funds, the kind of investments that quite frankly a lot of real estate investors who are probably listening are like, “I’m never going to do it or I did it and got burned and I’m getting out of it.” But to anyone having those thoughts right now stay tuned what Steve and I are getting ready to talk about is interesting and that’s coming from like my own background as a fully committed real estate investor and operator. So why don’t you maybe, Steve, give the evolution, brief evolution of your career what you do today, and maybe you even tuck in this little bit of the story about your dad that we were talking about before the show.

Steve: Yeah. I think that’s a that’s really a good place to start. It might, some of your audience might even know like a Patcong in North West Jersey where my father was a real estate developer. He had probably a thousand homes in the development over the years on like Patcong and I never wanted to go there because of all the time, he spent in planning Board meetings and talking to town officials and just he seemed to be working 24 hours a day. And of course what happened to me, I wind up in a different area working pretty much the same amount of time. But a lot there were a lot of parallels when I look back at it and in listening to like I said to some of your podcasts, he owns land, he built homes, he ensured those homes. He gave people the mortgages. He had rentals. He sold and resold again, and he even owned a Lumberyard with his attorney so that they could get a break on the supplies as that they went into building houses.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://TheIncomeCoach.net/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Steve Selengut & I Discuss Unlocking Wealth Beyond Real Estate:

  • Income-Focused Investing: Steve’s strategy centers on prioritizing income generation over market value, creating a resilient investment portfolio.
  • Closed-End Funds: Understanding the role and benefits of closed-end funds in income-focused investment strategies.
  • Market Volatility: Embracing market volatility as an opportunity for strategic trading and maximizing returns.
  • Quality Criteria for Investments: Steve discusses key principles and criteria for selecting high-quality investment options.
  • Realized Returns vs. Paper Returns: Differentiating between realized returns, focusing on income growth, and the potential pitfalls of chasing paper returns.

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 237 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.