So, let me ask you a question. In terms of technology that you're using inside your
organizations, because we're just getting blasted every day with this, what's the most
important new technology that you're working with?
I think it's, honestly, it's still just calculators. It's just Calculators,
and can you make that calculate and you know, I try not to keep it too fancy
Because once I do then I I start letting other things take care of the information
that I should be gathering myself I was gonna drop in a What I really love getting
is Not necessarily surveyed information. I like to place myself in a location where
people are talking about real estate in general, or where they're talking about
stresses in their lives or successes in their lives. And so if you can,
I don't know if it's a church organization or maybe you can go be a barista
barista for a day or something like that, right? And just hang out and listen to
the way that people talk about things. It is an incredible insight. Like I knew
very quickly, that there were two guys and they were talking at a bar,
right? And they were like, "Oh, we're going out and get drunk tonight because I no
longer have any contacts in the government in one of these departments." It was
like, "There's eight people and I have no email address to send things to anymore."
Interesting. "I guess we'll stay where we're employed. We're not going to quit jobs
now. Yeah. Yeah. And you don't just, you don't just get that because you read a
report, right? And so, so it's good. I like that. Yeah. Erwin,
what are you seeing technology? Why is it's helping you? Well, technology is great
for research, because we do a lot of industrial and manufacturing. You're able to
really see if there's any environmental challenges. And I don't really care if you
have a no further action letter from the federal government that That's a non
-starter. So we're able to get this information really fast on properties, just to
see if it's something we want to look at. You're able to pull sales comps, rent
comps, and even those, sometimes you can't even rely on because people like CoStar
rely on people like me to give them information, which we don't give. So I don't
know what anybody else is giving them out there. But I think a lot of what we who
is really old fashioned detective work. It's getting in the car, talking to the
local realtor, talking to the leasing brokers, and we spend a lot of time actually
talking to the tenants and the facilities managers because we think that for them to
know that they're stuck in the location because of their workforce or their suppliers
or their customers is more important than any rent comp or sales comp out there. So
Technology is great if you're doing financial reporting. And then again, it's only as
good as the person putting the information into the system. But a lot of real
estate is relationship and face -to -face and boots on the ground. - Makes a lot of
sense. Jack, what are you saying? - You took the words right out of my mouth. I
really think it is a human business at the end of the day. I think that our team
does extensive research and talks to a lot of people in over the last six years.
Look, it's a smaller industry, right? We've been around for six years. We're one of
the leaders in this space, so we're typically a broker's first call. We have
contacts in all the different markets that we're in that helps us a lot because,
you know, being able to talk to people kind of like what they've said, that goes a
long way. You get to learn more about the tenant, about, you know, each state,
especially in our business, is very different, right? It's not federally legal, but
it's legal in 41 states medically, you know, and 38 creationally. But every state is
different and each state government and legislation is different. So really being an
expert on that and knowing what to look for in each state goes a long way. So
yeah, we can use, you know, Google and all the other, all the other online tools
for research. But at the end of the day, it's really talking to people and just
learning. Yeah, relationship based. Matt? Yeah, you know,
technology, it's a mixed bag. You know, with With the exception of maybe spreadsheets
to explain things to investors or clients, the data you get online relating to title
issues or environmental issues is really a toss -up on whether it's valuable at all.
And in some elements of the lending industry, I mean, we had more technology or
more cohesiveness back in the '90s than we do now. So hopefully that'll improve.
Maybe we're just in a stepping stone process, getting to the next place. But, but I
think the calculator is probably the best technology, most reliable technology we
have. Yeah. So any of you guys still using the Rolodex? I still have one on my
desk.
I can still beat people looking stuff up on a Rolodex versus using Outlook. I get
it. I get it, Christ. Yeah. I hate to second what everyone else has said, but
there's a reason that they call the real estate industry one of the most antiquated
asset classes because it's people and calculator business. Yes,
there's been disruption with AI modeling, taking data inputs and modeling 70 different
scenarios of how to underwrite a project. It could be helpful, but all of that is
filtered through people with calculators. Yeah. Yeah,
exactly what everyone said. I mean, you got CoStar, you have Placer AI, which is
creepy as all hell. But at the end of the day, if I go to my LPs and I say,
well, CoStar said rents were this and I missed the mark by 20%, like they're not
going to go to CoStar and yell at them or there's a gentleman here at the last
conference or the past ones he's probably still in here that he either created or
has an AI model that will take a deck a blast of a deck and put it into a model
in like two minutes which obviously takes me and maybe if I could take my analyst
might take him four or five hours if he's fast but at the end of the day we got
to double check that so it helps us get to a point but I think the closing point
will always be relationship based 'cause money's coming from someone, it's there
somewhere and I have to answer those questions back to them. - And I agree with
Brenton Placer AI as creepy. It tells me, we know you're in this room.
He and I both know because you're on your phone, but you're in the room. Especially
if you were hooking into the internet, we know you're here. My house got robbed by
a four -man team four weeks ago. Gloves, hoodies, masks,
the whole bit. Worked on the gun safe for 35 minutes. The only thing that saved us
is Jenny and I pulled into the driveway 10 minutes before they were about to break
the safe. And the first thing, my son -in -law who's a detective for the Austin
Police Department said, "Well, we can look up and see whose phone was being used in
the house provided they clicked into the internet and of course that's how Placer
does that. Unfortunately, these guys are smart enough. Nobody clicked into the check
scores of the game or anything like that while they were robbing the house. So
anyhow, one last thing is there anything that this audience can help you guys in
terms of product that you're looking for?
absolutely. We are rather bullish on office space over the next 18 months or so.
We expect distress in that market over the last few years.
You know, a lot of people bought four bedroom houses because they wanted an extra
office at home, right? And so, yeah, Joe,
I think you're right. I still want one of those trophy assets downtown with my name
on it. Let's on it. Let's do it. There you go. And also, I shared this last time
in Florida, I thought it was interesting that Zoom sent out a memo asking everyone
to come back to the office.
What can we do here, Morgan, to help you? I guess we're always looking for
interesting deal flow. People that have an industrial or a flex deal. I mean, I
don't know how to fully put it together. And anyone else who's interested in
diversification and wants to learn about multi -tenant and flex and industrial and
compounding rents, take your body weight compound to 3 % the year for 10 years.
It gets pretty ugly, and that's how we create value. We're happy to teach you.
Cool, Jack? Yeah, I mean, the family's always looking at niche industries. Over the
last six decades, there's always been something that they found. So I think, you
know, one thing that I've, you know, always been talk growing up and even into
today, you know, you always want to play in a place that other people aren't
playing in. Right. That's really where the alpha is. So if anyone's got any
interesting ideas, you know, let me know. Yeah, Matt, how can we help? You know, I
think it's a great time for investors to jump in who've been heavy in stocks and
in other areas that real estate is really, particularly the debt side, which is what
we do. I think there's tons of opportunity the next three years. I think we're at
the point of the business cycle where real estate debt is an excellent, excellent
option. - Yeah, I agree, Christ. What are you seeing? How can we help? - I'm always
looking for new developer partners on the institutional side, and always looking for
additional equity partners, both in the high net worth, ultra high net from the
office and RIA space. - Cool, right. - We're always looking for obviously construction
deals. We're very opportunistic on that side, but JV and CoGP where either people
got over their skis or they got a great deal and they need a big brother to come
in with their balance sheet in the construction in the Southwest area. And
opportunistic, we're building a couple of school districts out in Dallas. We have 90
acres up in Hutto, Texas. We actually own and operate a low -level reentry facility
for parolees called New Freedom in Phoenix. And last time in Miami, we met a group
that we're talking about a JV to expand that process. So we're kind of,
I don't want to say all over the place, but with the right partner and their
skills, we'd love to partner with them. But I'd also like to say every time you go
on a meeting or something, instead of asking, what can I grab from you? My first
thought is, how can I help you? After the initial pleasantries, how can I help you?
'Cause my network's over here, Joe, it's probably over here, but somehow I've found
the more you give and the more you can get people to get deals done, the more it
comes back to you. - Yeah, karma's a good thing. Gentlemen, thank you so much.
(audience 감사합니다.