For decades, Bob Nakal has been a fixture in New York City’s commercial real estate market as a brokerage leader and a top investment sales broker. After starting his career at Coldwell Banker, in 1988 he co-founded Massey Knakal Realty Services with Paul Massey, a company specializing in mid-market building sales. After 27 years in business, during which time the firm had grown to include more than 200 brokers, the pair sold it to Cushman & Wakefield in 2015 for $100 million.
Mr. Knakal has served the city’s commercial real estate industry throughout his long career and currently serves as a Managing Director and Head of the New York Private Capital Group at JLL. But with the office market seriously struggling, the commercial real estate veteran is quickly gaining a huge following on social media, sharing stories of his lifetime of real estate deals. He is also attracting attention for his popular “”.map roomIt’s the result of 220 hours of walking the streets of Manhattan at the height of the pandemic, resulting in a huge, incredibly detailed map with granular real estate data. The iconic construction salesman spoke to Propmodo about his newfound Twitter fame mentoring the next generation in real estate and why he won’t run for president.
It’s been a while since we talked! So, how do you feel about the office market these days?
Well, I’m not going to lie, the office market is terrible. Class A new construction is doing pretty well, but everything else is pretty rotten.
I’ve seen you really explode on the Twitter scene in a short period of time. Many of your posts are stories about deals you’ve made or words of wisdom for commercial real estate professionals. How was that experience?
It was very good. I was very skeptical at first and said let’s wait 3 months and see what happens. That was 11 months ago and it was so much fun.
I read a post discussing how you and Paul Massey were effectively leveraging social media strategies, such as sending out newsletters, even before social media platforms existed.
If you think about what social media is, it’s about effectively broadcasting content and letting people know who you are, what you do, how you do it, and what’s going on in the market. It’s a way to get understood and create a presence in the market. We used to do all that with hard mail. Just like with social media, effectiveness comes from doing it regularly and consistently. We were creating content in the 80s and 90s when most of the hard mail sent was just preparation for a real estate sale. I still have the newsletter published in 2003. [holds it up to the camera]; We started this in ’89 and we’re all happy with it. “This is what’s happening in the market, this is the trend, this is what we’re seeing, the statistics” — no one was doing anything like this, but we were. And I think that helped build the representativeness of the company.
Have you ever used a platform other than Twitter? Was there a learning curve?
Yeah, I think I’m working on everything. Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. By the way, I’ll be the first to admit that I have a social media team. I write all my own content, but every Sunday I submit that week’s content to my team, who process all posts. But what I find most interesting is that the audiences on each of these platforms are very different. If you created a Venn diagram of those four, the overlap would be very small. I post the exact same thing on every platform, but it’s really interesting how I post on Twitter and the conversation goes this way. That’s what happens when you post on LinkedIn. I think that’s because the audience demographics are so different.
I’ve learned, perhaps not surprisingly, that if you’re not careful, it can take you all day. There was a time when I spent too much time on it too. I’m very conscious. I try to do it for no more than 30 minutes a day, at a time that doesn’t take up my work time. Whether you’re taking a taxi somewhere or waiting in line at the deli, that time doesn’t take away from your productive time.
I’ve seen a lot of replies to your post and I think you really resonate with a lot of people who want to know the structure of the deal and what happened to the deal. In a sense, it’s almost like mentoring. Are you doing a lot of teaching now?
For several years, I taught students at Wharton every year. I think the whole Massey-Nacal experience is one of instruction. That was a big focus of ours, and that’s why there are now 29 companies in the city that are owned or run by people we taught business to, or the investment sales arm of a company, he said. think.
In the same way, I think my posts resonate with young people. When I first got into social media, she would get 2-3 DMs or emails a week from kids who were less than 5 years old who were thinking about going into business or looking for advice. . At first I was spending a lot of time with them, but now it’s about 20-30 hours a week and I can’t really do it. So instead of just saying no, I’m trying to figure out what the right vehicle is.i have a day job [laughs] So I have to continue to represent clients and sell buildings. But it’s certainly rewarding.
Looks like I need to take a master class.
It has been suggested, so let’s take a look. There are many different topics in this business and there is a lot to learn.
Do you think there is still a steady influx of new talent into the commercial real estate industry? There are currently a number of initiatives aimed at raising awareness of the field and recruiting young professionals. I understand that..
Indeed, real estate has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. I’ve wanted to work in the real estate industry since I was a freshman in college. I took every real estate-related class offered at Wharton. I think there were 5 or 6 people. I think she’s probably 36 today. We have a lot. I believe many schools offer real estate related curriculum. Based on the feedback I get from social media, I think there are a lot of young people who want to get into this business and people who are involved in other fields.
Historically, real estate has been people’s second, third, and fourth careers. I think there’s still that aspect of it, but it’s interesting to see people interested so early on. There was a post that talked about a 14-year-old kid who was a freshman in high school. One day, his friend’s father was driving him to school, and his father worked in real estate, and he was talking about real estate. Then his father said, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And the kid said, “I want to be an investment sales broker like Bob Nakal.” And the dad was actually a customer of mine and he said, “Really?” I know Bob. Let’s call him. ‘ So I asked him to come to my map room and we spent about 30 minutes together. It was really interesting. Here we have a child who is only 14 years old and completely interested in real estate and focused on real estate. good.
So let’s talk about the map room. I know it’s shrouded in secrecy. How long did you work on this project? How many people were involved?
That’s it. In fact, all the tours are on the calendar so you can calculate the number. In fact, I plan on doing so. The map project began during the pandemic. We completed the map in September/October 2020 and have been enhancing it ever since. I opened this room that I’m in now six or seven months ago. I love it when customers come. They learn something and I learn something. It was amazing, probably one of the best things I’ve ever done in business.
I’d like to ask: Have you ever considered running for office like Paul? [Massey]?
(Laughs) No, I love my family too much.
I learned that you recently sold your apartment. Are you still a New Yorker?
Yes, I have sold and am looking for a home on Long Island. My wife’s family still lives in Hicksville, and they are asking her to move because her health is not very good, but they haven’t found a home yet, so they are currently renting monthly in the city. Until I found a home. But even if I move to a new house, I’ll still have a small crash pad in town to spend a few nights a week.
How long have you lived in New York?
Probably around 39 years.
It’s a difficult city to shake.
absolutely. You’ll get lost in the pace of the city.
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