A.CRE Consulting Team Episode
Welcome back to the A.CRE Consulting Podcast! In this episode, we’re excited to introduce you to the A.CRE Consulting team—the experts behind the scenes who are redefining how commercial real estate professionals approach financial modeling, underwriting, and strategic advisory. We discuss the story behind A.CRE Consulting’s inception, the unique challenges it aims to solve, and how this growing platform is providing flexible, high-quality support to investors, developers, and firms looking to scale. Whether you’re an independent sponsor, a family office, or an institutional investor, our team is designed to help you grow with expert insights and adaptable solutions.
We explore the critical role of consulting in today’s market, the growing demand for flexible, outsourced real estate expertise, and the common challenges firms face when scaling their businesses. From navigating market shifts to optimizing deal execution, we uncover how A.CRE Consulting is helping clients stay ahead in an ever-evolving real estate landscape. Let’s dive in!
Michael, Hunter, Joe, and Alex behind the scenes
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Episode Transcript
A.CRE Consulting Team Episode
[00:00:10]
Michael Belasco:
Welcome back everyone to the yet to be named A.CRE consulting podcast. This is actually our fourth episode, uh, that we’re recording here. And we thought it would be a great idea to introduce everyone to the co founders of A.CRE consulting. So not only are we going to introduce you to, to the group behind the scenes here, we’re also going to talk about. a lot of things that we’re seeing, why this company came to be, the problems we’re solving in the market. Um, and we think there’s going to be a lot of value add just for our listeners out there, just to hear the certain things that go on with other companies.
And that may resonate with, with our listeners today. Um, you know, this was born out of, you know, a need that we saw at ACRE for the decade we’ve been around. And I, my company now on, you know, my, my, P shop is actually experiencing challenges that I couldn’t solve. And we iterated a product actually through this company that has actually solved, and I think it could potentially solve a lot of problems for a lot of folks out there today. Um, but before we get into that. Why don’t we kick it around the horn? This is again, the co founders of ACRE consulting here. Um, and we’ll start off with Hunter who actually was the first person to come on board. Uh, and that was last August here when we had this idea to create this and not last August, two August ago.
So we’re recording now in October, 2024. So this was August of 23. So Hunter, I’ll kick it over to you. Why don’t you give everyone a brief intro on yourself?
Yeah, thanks, Michael. So I’m Hunter. I’ll keep this nice and short. My background is actually in technology and small business management. Out of college, I taught myself how to code, design and develop a few websites and apps myself, and then started a consultancy to help others who needed apps or websites.
Um, individual businesses, I consulted for them, um, design development work. And then I acquired a small business, ran it for a number of years and then sold it. And I decided to go back to school after that. I got my MBA from UNC and decided to pivot and focus on real estate. And I think, um, similar to a lot of people, that’s where I found, um, adventures in CRA is trying to figure out how, um, to get a step up and learn how to do financial modeling for commercial real estate.
And of course I found Adventures in CRE on the internet, the premier source for that. And I saw that they were, um, offering internships. And the funny thing is I thought the internship was going to be at Adventures in CRE. Uh, but it turns out, and as luck would have it, the MBA internship I got, uh, the summer associate was at Stablewood Properties.
And that’s where, um, I met Spencer as well. And so now, um, fast forward, uh, a couple years after that, Um, the stars aligned and I was available to come and help co found this business, uh, with Michael. And what I bring is, um, the small business management, the systems, the processes and the tech insight, um, that allows us to make this consultancy something that’s streamlined and a value add for clients, um, at the right price points, uh, with the flexibility they need, um, to scale up or scale down when they need to.
[00:03:26]
Michael Belasco:
First of all, you came on to Stablewood through, we sent out a request for an internship when you were on grad school, you came on and were hired with me at that time, and the reason you’re picked out, is that you had this systems and operations mind and you proved it out through the internship and it was just, the opportunity came around where I could bring you on and see if you wanted to work together.
And, uh, fortunately you did. And, you know, A.CRE consulting is fortunate to have you. So, you know, our goal is to build this next level, you know, amazing service to the industry. And,
a lot of that, there’s a lot of things that happen behind the scenes, Um, to keep this running as smooth as possible. And Hunter really does all the heavy lifting in that.
And so. Hunter, let’s take it from you. Let’s, let’s go on to the next person to come on board, which was actually the beginning of this year. And Joe came to us through a cold email and, uh, it was such a good email. I couldn’t, couldn’t let it pass up and was actually right place, right time. So Joe, why don’t we kick it over to
[00:04:31]
Joe Prendergast:
Yeah, thanks, Mike. Um, so yeah, my background, I’ve been in commercial real estate for about 10 years now. I started with KBS advisors, a big office REIT, um, real estate investment trust out of Southern California. And so it was helping them raise capital. Um, then I did that for like a smaller multifamily shop also in Southern California, um, had some entrepreneurial ventures in the meantime. And most recently I worked for this company bullpen. Uh, it was the first full time hire really led their sales team. Um, and you know, it was ready for a change back in September and had heard about Spencer and Michael. And so yeah, did the cold email and talk to you and Hunter actually a couple of times before I landed the job, I had to send a couple of cold emails, but eventually he gave me the shot and, uh, and here we are.
So excited to be part of the team. Okay.
[00:05:31]
Michael Belasco:
I would say the person that kind of tie it all together. Last but not least, is Alex William. And Alex did the same sort of thing, I think when we announced consulting. So Alex saw, he’ll tell you about his background. But he saw the same need that we’ve been seeing for years and Alex is, is, has an entrepreneurial spirit, like all of us on this call, um, And did the same thing and just basically reached out, you know, he, he was in the accelerator program.
I, we may have talked once before. Um,
and, uh, it was just, we got on the call and, you know, Alex, it was another sort of match made in heaven, right place, right time. So Alex, why don’t I kick it over to you and, uh, you can, you can give us a little bit of the background on yourself. Yeah.
[00:06:20]
Alex Moroz Williams:
long time fan of ACRE from Um, and before I got my first job at CBRE six years ago, I came from a commercial leasing background and I really wanted to get into investment sales and acquisitions, but I really didn’t have the financial acumen to, to do that. So I stumbled across the website.
I signed up for the accelerator as soon as I could, you know, it helped me through like my first couple of modeling tests. And then I ended up joining CBRE, um, as an analyst focused on multifamily sales. I did that for four years and I went from the guy who didn’t know the first thing about Excel to building out a custom model and being the go to Excel guy in the office.
So I think I’m just a great case study of what ACRE can do for somebody. Um, if you take advantage of the resources available, but I’ve always been entrepreneurial and you know, I’ll look for little deals on the side and ways to get involved doing other stuff. And I’ve actually been getting clients from ACRE before we launched a consulting platform for years.
And I got to see so many different kinds of projects, which really excited me. Now I was, I had a great job at CB and on weekends, I would basically work on deals all across the country, you know, different asset classes, because I just had that desire to learn and do underwriting and see, you know, what else is out there apart from what I’m doing on a day to day.
And then I left CBRE worked in investments at a small private equity firm, um, focused mostly on multifamily and senior housing. At the same time, I started a little boutique consulting company with a lot of the same clients that I’ve been working with, um, through the ACRE network. And when I saw that ACRE consulting was born, I had to reach out because I thought, you know, Do I really want to compete against these guys?
So I reached out to Michael, came on board I think at a really great time. And since then, it’s been an awesome experience. I basically got to take the ideas that I wanted to grow my own company. And Just bring it in house here.
[00:08:08]
Michael Belasco:
So I so remind, were you in the profile book that we give out?
[00:08:14]
Alex Moroz Williams:
Oh yeah, I was in the profile book. Kind of on off throughout the years. You know, when, when we were really busy at CBRE, I’m just like, I can’t do anything right now, um, that I occasionally take some weekend clients. And then once I left, you know, I had more time, so I was just, I was really ramping up and I really enjoyed the consulting.
I mean, you know, all kinds of projects that I would really never see being focused on institutional sales in a specific market and that’s always excited me.
[00:08:37]
Michael Belasco:
Awesome. So, um, you know, for our listeners out there ever since we’ve launched Adventures in CRE, Spencer and I have always been receiving, you know, Hey, can you advise us? Can you consult, can you do consulting work? Can you help us with models? A majority of them are help us with models. Um, and in the early days, Spencer and I would take these on.
Um, and then as our career started to grow, consulting became, there was the potential for full time And we just couldn’t handle it anymore. So we closed it down. We just say, sorry, we, we don’t have the bandwidth to do it. Um, and then, you know, the accelerator came out, we would hand select the best graduates, you know, a couple handful, and we put this book out there free to use for anyone and Alex was on this book.
And then, you know, as of last year, um, you know, I decided that ACRE, you know, we’ve gotten enough of these. Conversations going and so many of them and I had the bandwidth. We had the ability to expand, um, and start this thing. It’s something we’ve always been wanting to do, just haven’t been able to do yet.
And so last year this was born and I’m going to kick this back to you, Alex, real quick, because there is a need and there is a niche. Um, for people that have problems in this space, right? Like there’s a big problem with expansion, You know, it’s a, there’s groups that get their first deal done or maybe it’s a family office or, you know, whoever it is, and there’s just not the ability really to bring on someone full time yet, but they need to grow and they’re stuck in this sort of. So I’m going to kick it to you, Alex, you know, there’s a, there’s a plethora of, of, of, people out there that could utilize or need a service like this. So I’m going to kick it to you. Tell us about some of your experiences or the typical, the prototypical people that are finding. Needing your help and finding, I would call relief, you know, from, from their, their challenges.
Just kick it over to you. Let me tell us just some stories or give us an anecdote.
[00:10:51]
Alex Moroz Williams:
Yeah, absolutely. You can still hire us if you have a full time team. I mean, I’ve had clients reach out, they’ve got a full staff set of analysts and associates, and they are just loaded with deals and they don’t want to slow down the acquisition process. So going out there and finding somebody to work part time that, you know, has the background, has the experience and can jump right into the deal process. It’s pretty difficult. And that’s where I think we step in. You know, I remember one of my projects last year had a group that, you know, buys multifamily.
All of a sudden, they’ve got a big portfolio in Dallas. Their entire team’s got their hands full and they say, Hey, can you underwrite this quickly and get me a full investment summary? So yeah, to my backyard, you know, I’m definitely ready to go. So I think, you know, for someone that needs to augment their team that may not necessarily want to hire somebody full time, go through that entire process of, you know, You know, looking for a candidate, onboarding, training, getting them used to everything, and then making sure they actually stay long enough for it to become worth it is, it’s pretty difficult.
I think that’s where we step in. And on the other hand, you know, as you’re growing a lot of firms, they don’t want to hire somebody full time. You know, they’re, they’re really trying to focus on their first couple of deals. Maybe you have their first couple of deals, but they don’t have enough work for somebody to, you know, do underwriting full time, but they want to focus their energy on sourcing deals, you know, sourcing capital partners, And they need a group that can step in, you know, do the underwriting and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
[00:12:10]
Michael Belasco:
Love it. So there’s this keyword you use, which is augmenting. And I love that. It’s basically, there’s an opportunity and it wasn’t out there. So for me personally, um, you know, as of today, there’s, you know, one deal under development and there’s four others that I can’t get to. And you know, this actually happened today. Um, so we have this program out there, the flex program that we created. And, um, I’m, I’m a client today. Like I signed up today, uh, because I have four deals that I can’t get to. I have another project I have to pay attention to and I need this. And there’s so many of us out there that are just hitting this moment of growth for me.
And there’s other, you know, I would say, you know, prototypical people that could utilize the service. But for me, it’s like a great resource. I can expand contract. There’s a set minimum amount and it just helps me tremendously. So with that, you know, let’s kick it actually over to you, Joe. Um, you feel, so Joe heads up.
A lot of the business development takes a lot of calls. Um, what are some of the problems that you’re hearing continuously that we are solving or that we are able to solve?
[00:13:23]
Joe Prendergast:
Yeah, yeah. Um, thanks Mike. And I think your example is probably the most common of like busy people who have, you know, like, and kind of like Alex was saying, have a good pipeline and, and just need that extra support. I think another area where ACRE consulting is specifically, you know, Geared towards helping people is there groups that change initiatives or like asset classes.
Um, for example, we have like a private equity firm in New York city. That’s, you know, a very established firm, but they’re looking at a new strategy. And so their team isn’t yet geared towards that strategy. And so we’ve been able to, you know, plug in and kind of provide them some of that foundational support while they, um, build that team. So I would say that’s another big one. Um,
[00:14:16]
Michael Belasco:
So there’s the augmentation for the, for the team. That’s not big enough. There’s a, a strategy pivot. Right. And they need that background support. And what consulting offers is not just one person, it’s an entire team. So if you get one person, you’re getting out, you’re getting that, that person who’s been well vetted through the accelerator program, you know, typically has been in the industry for a while.
And then you, plus you get an extra layer of someone like Alex. You know, overseeing all that stuff. So it’s not only, you know, analyst level work or associate level work. It’s there’s, there’s two layers that comes with that. Um, so that, that, that’s awesome. And then, you know, I would add, um, you know, really it’s not only if it’s a, if it’s a strategic. Sometimes things just happen in the market, right? Like as cycles change, groups need to react. And in many instances, they’re just not capable of reacting as fast as they need. And we provide that extra bandwidth to help help doing that. You know, one example we’re hearing and we’re equipped to deal with is, you know, all the appraisal issues that are going on. Um, Uh, that you’re hearing about in the news. And so our team can hop in and do stuff with that. Or, you know, all this distress in the market right now, um, which is another spot that some group might not be well equipped to handle right away and they’re looking to ramp up. Well, our group can bridge the gap until you start to pivot from that cyclical Or external externally impactful event that’s happening to your, to your team. All right, so let’s keep this moving Hunter. I want to get you jumping in the mix here, um, for ACRE consulting on the operational side. Now. We deal with a lot of clients and one of your mandates really that’s self imposed team imposed is making this process as smooth as possible. And there are a couple like key components to that, you know, and, and how we deal with clients.
And this can be also some insight and info for people trying to build. Um, a consulting company themselves, you know, and so, you know, this is open the hood. So anything you want to share, things that help keep this running, how we interface with clients, you know, there’s, there’s a front end, there’s a back end.
We’d love to share some insights with our audience about how we keep this going, how we keep clients and customers happy, not only with the work, but how the processes run. So anything you could share on that, whether it’s to help aspiring consulting companies or. Or even giving insight to to clients and how we work with
[00:17:01]
Hunter Leaman:
what we’ve learned with this business, and I think you can extrapolate this across all industries is that communication is really the key here. Um, so we have the subject matter expertise to go in and add value for our clients, whether it’s an investor or developer, a family office, what have you, um, they tell us about their issues and we provide them a solution. And all along the way, it’s our role, it’s our job to communicate with them up front, early and often. And we see, when we’re communicating with them and asking them through, The issues that they’re dealing with, the models that we develop, the strategies that we suggest are improved and the results of the project is, is better.
So it’s communication is probably our top priority when we’re working with our clients. And then really the value that we’re adding is the plug and play. There’s so much brain drain that goes into managing onboarding, administering the benefits for a full time employee. What you get with us is a plug and play analyst. Top notch, um, Adventurers of Syria graduate. So, you know, they have the skills, um, they’re being nurtured by our team of experts and they’re available when you need them at any time. So you don’t have to worry about them getting to work on time. You don’t have to worry about them taking sick days. You don’t have to administer any of this stuff. You come to us, you work with us. And you have a partner that can support any of your needs, whether you’re in the up or the down of your personal real estate cycle, whether you have a ton of deals coming across your desk or whether you’re in a wall, um, you can scale up or down, uh, and we give you that flexibility.
That’s really where we come in.
[00:18:47]
Michael Belasco:
love it. Um, you said something that was learned and let’s be let’s have some, um, you know, open moments here. I think it’s important because you mentioned communication and it sounds obvious, but it’s something that. While simple word, and it seems obvious, it’s a very challenging thing to do. Right. Expectations, communication, you could say a word and it could be interpreted a million different ways, you know, and when you’re dealing subject matter experts, dealing with many subject matter experts as well, but there’s, it is so hard to get a clear communication and we’ve had challenges sometimes, I think we, we should, we should be open about that because. That’s where we learn the best and every single challenge we have had, whether it’s been a client issue or anything like that has, is always come down to some communication breakdown. And we now have a year in and we have sharpened a lot of these tools and we still have a room to grow. Um, but communication, I’m glad you mentioned that Hunter, because it is critical early. And often over communication if a client comes back and says you guys communicate too much Then like we’ve done our job correctly if that’s the best complaint because it is challenging You know, you do modeling work and you’re sitting in a little dark room for hours on end, which some of us are, are prone to like doing myself included. Um, your brain shuts off from that world. Right. And, um, you know, sometimes, you know, you need to check yourself and so communicate communication with the client. So. We have ways that we do that too. So it’s not only, you know, we’ve set track internal tracker systems, um, communication protocols that are internal. We’ve even used some platforms and Hunter, I think it’s, I think it’s cool to be able to share, like, what are some of the tech things we’re using in the background? What are some software programs? Some. Some things that we use that have been really successful. And Joe, you can chime in too, because even on business development, this is for people trying to build a business too, right? There are tools out there that are awesome and we’re not inventing the wheel here, but we’ll tell you what works. I think it’d be cool to share some of that,
[00:21:09]
Hunter Leaman:
Yeah. I really like that question because I think commercial real estate, um, can. Can really take advantage of more technology. Um, so far as I’ve heard, technology is not really top of mind at the forefront of every single project. But what we do is we take technology and we make it help our workflow, uh, improve.
Um, and so we use CRM system, pipe drive, all of our customer information is piped into the central location. We know everything about the customer before we talk to them. While we’re working with them and then afterwards. So we have everything we need to provide a solution to them and, um,
[00:21:49]
Michael Belasco:
everything they’ve shared.
[00:21:51]
Hunter Leaman:
yeah, everything we also use other tools, databasing systems.
Um, we use notion for all of our note keeping, um, and tracking, and we have other rudimentary systems. Of course, our major work product output is Excel. And we use that to a great extent. Um, but really what we do with technology is streamlining a process and centralizing a lot of the way that the data communication happens. So there in a commercial real estate transaction or deal, um, it’s really about data in and data out. And what we do best is getting all of that data into our systems, understood, formatted, and then delivered back to the client in a way that they can utilize and take to their lenders, their investors, uh, their partners, what have you.
[00:22:37]
Michael Belasco:
Great. And so, you know, all of that, you know, it all stems down to that efficient communication and how best to do it. And we, I think we’re utilizing technology in a great way and always looking for. The next thing, if it’s appropriate to help us because there’s internal communications, there’s external communications and there’s these, there’s these deliverables.
So, um, you know, Alex, I’m going to swing this around the horn a little bit and shift topics, um, because I want to get into the, let’s just have fun with this and I want to, um, I want to just talk about the day to day. It’s not always like it’s challenging. There’s some challenges in, in building a car, you know, we’re in, this is a nascent company, right?
I mean, we’re a year in. Our top of funnel is great. There’s a lot of people coming in the door, but you know, every, every entrepreneurial company has this ramp up down, you know, there’s, there’s books written about this, this, and, um, you know, you go through a wave and it’s getting through those. And this is turning into a conversation about, you know, entrepreneurship. And I think it’s a great one. And I think it’s especially great because everyone on this call has some expertise and can add value. It is not easy. It is not like, Oh, you know, we. A.CRE opens its doors for consulting because we have a good foothold in the market. The floodgates just come in and things are, it’s not. And, um, I want to kick it to you, Alex, and I want to ask you, you know, Alex sits at the helm. He manages our consultants. He gets in the weeds with the clients. He gets in the way. Alex is really pushing a lot on the front end of this because he’s such a subject matter expert and is just so diligent. In fact, before when we brought him on, we had him do a project and it was a beast project, beastly project, and he had to do it in some timeframe.
And I was, you know.
[00:24:29]
Alex Moroz Williams:
one.
[00:24:29]
Michael Belasco:
Took a little bit of a risk and crushed it. Um, but like, let’s get into it. I mean, honestly, you know, we’ve had a talk, you know, we don’t have to disclose too many details, but you and I had like a heart to heart, uh, a week or two ago, because there’s a lot of challenges, right? Starting a company. And you know, if you’d be so kind and open as to like, share the challenges as much as you want, um, it’d be great to, to hear. I think our audience would really be interested to hear,
[00:24:57]
Alex Moroz Williams:
Yeah. And I think, um, you know, we’re all entrepreneurs here, but we’re also, we’re all learning at the same time. Yeah. The challenges with having a really great product, um, having a really good potential customer base, but then at the same time, you know, people coming to us as the experts on a particular topic, but they also come with assumptions, you know, they may think something’s like, this is way too complicated for me to do, but I think it’ll take you guys an hour.
Um, in reality, it could take 10 times that. So, you know, managing client expectations while delivering great products and, you know, being able to be their partner alongside their deals and, you know, walking them through everything and the financial modeling side specifically is such an integral part of the deal that we have to be so precise and so granular and correct. And in reality, you know, the numbers are never going to go that way. But, um, I’d say it’s a good thing that I come from a brokerage background because, you know, we’re used to getting blamed if, if the deal goes south.
[00:25:55]
Michael Belasco:
you know, it’s, it’s such a good point. Uh, and listen, we are not the low cost option. Like we’re just not. And, um, you know, it, for those that want the low cost option, they’re out there. I mean, you could go, you can find them. Um, and you know, we pride ourselves on just the high quality. And so that, that is a huge challenge.
There’s an expectation that. You know, it’s a commodity and you know, if it’s modeling, it’s a commodity, anybody can do it. A lot of people can’t do it, but they think it’s easy. And then there’s this communication barrier that needs to break. And sometimes you get there. Sometimes you just don’t get there.
Right. Um, the hope is that you don’t get there before the signup happens and not after. Right. And like in some early projects we had where, Um, you know, that’s, that’s one. Uh, I’m going to kick it to you, Joe, because there are other, uh, Struggles, professional, personal challenges, you know, let’s, let’s get into it as much as you want to disclose to, let’s kick it
[00:26:59]
Joe Prendergast:
Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate that. Um, I just wanted to go back to one thing on communication and, um, you know, really say thank you to you and Spencer. I feel like from a cultural perspective, um, you are both just such humble people and such a pleasure to work with that. Like that. That is a great foundation. Um, I don’t know who said this, but like, I feel like people like to do work with people they like, and you guys really set that like foundation at ACRE and now at ACRE consulting.
So that makes like coming to work and working with this team a lot easier. And I think our clients feel it as well. Um, so just wanted to mention that on the communication side, but yeah, there’s, there’s definitely a lot of struggles to like, um, mentioned pipe drive for our CRM, uh, they’ll be, you know, we’ve had weeks where we haven’t signed up a new client, which for the manpower that’s on this team can be a little frightening.
Um, but having everything in like a systematized way, um, and, and being able to see the data, um, You know, just helps you to kind of keep a level head. And then when you come out of that trough, you know, we signed up for Enbridge today as a flex flex client. We signed up another
[00:28:22]
Michael Belasco:
What’s another one too. We got two today, two came in the door
[00:28:25]
Alex Moroz Williams:
Yeah. We had a couple of signups this week.
[00:28:27]
Michael Belasco:
Yeah.
So it was good. It’s been a good,
[00:28:29]
Joe Prendergast:
yeah. Yeah. So.
[00:28:30]
Michael Belasco:
those are great points. So two great points. One is, um, if I, if I can reiterate it, it’s, it’s, um, it’s never. There’s that, um, God, who is it? Um, Rumi, um, it’s like this, this, um, Muslim mystic, I think.
And he has this story. I believe that’s where it came from. It’s like, who knows what is good or bad. Right. Uh, I can get, you can look up the story. I won’t tell you the story now. Uh, it’s very, very quick, but it’s amazing. I actually almost live my life by that, uh, story. Um, but yeah, when it’s down, it’s like, that’s not out.
It’s just retooling and re strategizing. It’s never an end. It’s an infinite game. It’s an infinite process, right? So for an entrepreneur, you know, you have a good product, you know, there’s a need out there. It’s just how do You communicate it effectively so that people understand where the value is, right?
And for us, It’s this flex program that we’ve come up with. It took us a year to figure out that like a fleck, the flex program is the real market need so much. So like I didn’t start ACRE consulting thinking I was going to sign up for it, but here I am today signing up for it, you know, which was a really cool moment actually be like, this is a need. So that’s one. The other thing that you mentioned, thank you by the way, for like saying that Spencer and I are like cool to work with. Um, I’ve been at the bottom of many places and just working for people that don’t reciprocate respect is like the worst feeling. It just, it just hits you bad, you know? Um, and I’ve always made a vow to like, you know, no matter who you are, sometimes you got, there’s, there’s some tough love going on because it needs to happen, but like it’s always. Not with you.
[00:30:19]
Michael Belasco:
just with anywhere, right? I’m not talking about this, but like just anywhere in any business that has happened, but it’s like, and we’re not perfect either. I get upset. I have emotional issues come up, you know, when it comes up, but like the main thing is treating people with the utmost respect and, and, you know, motivating people rather than like yelling or saying, Hey, you’re not doing this.
It never worked out for me. I cringed at it. I hated it, you know, and the motto out of entrance here. One of is. The moment it stops becoming fun, we’re done, you know? So it’s gotta be fun first and foremost. There’s some stress because you know, there’s, there’s livelihoods at stake and all that, but that’s the main, the main points there.
So, and I’ll kick it to you Hunter. So entrepreneurial ups and downs, um, challenges, something for people to look out for some messages, some takeaways.
[00:31:11]
Joe Prendergast:
the
[00:31:12]
Hunter Leaman:
So my background is really in entrepreneurship. I’ve been an entrepreneur from the start, um, and it always comes back to perseverance. Um, of course you have to have a good head on your shoulders and you have to be working towards something that you care about, um, whether you’re passionate about it or not, it’s about sticking with it.
Um, focus is another thing that you have to think about, but really at the end of the day, um, in every startup, in every endeavor. If there’s something ventured, you’re going to encounter strife and hardship. And the key to success is perseverance. Um, of course you have to know when to hold them and no one to fold them, but really be here at ACRE consulting.
We are so confident in the. Um, product offering that we have available and the clients that we can service that, um, we have, we’re so optimist about the outlook, um, that perseverance is just, it’s, we know that we have to persevere, um, because it’s going to be a success and that’s what I want to communicate to anybody that’s trying to start something.
Um, and commercial real estate is a great. Um, industry for entrepreneurs. It is incredibly entrepreneurial. Um, it’s incredibly fragmented. You can go in as a sole proprietor, or you can be in a hugely institutionalized firm, um, getting into commercial real estate is a great place to, um, learn about wealth growth, wealth store.
Um, it’s great for networking and understanding how the world works really, cause you’re helping people, um, with their everyday lives. And so. If you’re going to dedicate yourself to something, um, commercial real estate is probably a good place to do it. And, um, just remember that sticking with it is probably the most important thing that You can do.
[00:33:02]
Michael Belasco:
Love it. I love it. That’s great. And yeah, there’s a lot, I mean, real estate coverage for me, you know, I come from like in a music. You know, and I found music in real estate. So it’s like, it’s everything. It’s like everything in life from birth, living, everything you go through. I mean, we’re out in the wilderness building RV parks.
That’s real estate, right? It’s everywhere. And it just permeates our entire life. And so I love what you said about a lot of things. Um, it’s funny, this, this, we, we started this, Uh, episode really, it was to just introduce the team, do a little bit of marketing for what we have going on here. Kind of just let people know what we have.
And it turned into this sort of, you know, entrepreneurial conversation, because I think that’s really true to the focus of where we are right now. And, um, you know, I, I personally always try to figure out a way to add value in these, in these podcasts that we do. And, and this team right now, where we are at such a great time.
Awesome moment that, um, it just, I think that the conversation sort of. Naturally kind of went this this way. Um, so, yeah, I mean, this, this has been great. I don’t know. Maybe we’ll kick it around for the last words, but, you know, for me, maybe I’ll go first is, um, you know, starting this new project has been awesome. Getting a great one thing we didn’t mention is having a great group of people, making sure you find the right people to go into business with. This is a family, right? It has to be because we spend so much of our time together. So having that good family and then knowing that it’s not this, it’ll never be this.
If you get into something that just goes up, As Hunter likes to say, up until the right, uh,
God bless you. Uh, but that’s just not how things work. Um, so, you know, again, grateful for this team. We are a strong team with a lot of additional resources that can really be helpful to the industry and we hope.
That’s anybody listening, you know, this team can really plug in and play and help you with any transition you’re having, whether you’re someone like me, who’s, you know, breaking ground, his first deal has capital ready for the next couple. Um, or you’re a large shop, which we are working with. Um, that
just these large institutions that just need that extra bandwidth is pig in the pipeline, so to speak of just product deals that are coming online that nobody’s around to underwrite. we can come help that or to people looking for different strategies. Um, there’s advisory work out there. So, you know, again, some value, a little bit of pitch there. Uh, for what we do. Uh, but again, I’m proud of it. I’m excited about it. So that’s, that’s kind of why we’re going, why I’m saying all this stuff.
Um, so I’ll kick it back to you, Alex. Any last final words here?
[00:35:47]
Alex Moroz Williams:
Yeah. And I would just say, you know, again, thank you for the A.CRE brand and everything it does. And I think the key difference, you know, between us and I think different consulting firms is an A.CRE in general is, you know, we’re educating, but we’re not educators as Spencer’s told me, you know, we’re, we’re all deal guys.
We’re all entrepreneurs. We’re in the same shoes as our clients. We’re out there trying to do developments, trying to buy deals, trying to start new businesses. And we know the pains and struggles that all of you go through because we’re doing the same thing ourselves. You know, we can share, we can share in all this and you know, the troubles that we have as you start a business and we definitely understand it.
I think that’s where we add value. You know, I’m, you know, for example, like, you know, I can be talking to lenders about a deal. We can talk to investors and then we get a pulse on what’s going on in the market because we’re out there trying to do the same stuff.
[00:36:38]
Michael Belasco:
Awesome. Awesome. Hunter.
[00:36:42]
Hunter Leaman:
Yeah. I think, um, you’re both speaking to a common point here that I want to bring back. Um, the team dynamic that we have here is about, um, getting the job done and providing a solution. You said financial modeling is commodity and it is right. You can go and find. You know, some cheap Avenue to get just basic mechanical financial modeling.
The difference with us is you have a team that wants you to succeed. Um, We’re real people working with you, talking with you about your project. We’re practitioners. We know how this industry works and we’re helping you through the process, not only to deliver that Excel model that you need to present to the investors and developers or lenders, we know what it takes to get a deal done.
And so working with us is. So much of a premium on just working with any kind of, um, third party, mechanical, other financial modeler. And that’s what Michael and Alex, you both spoke to. The team dynamic we have here is really a special thing.
[00:37:45]
Joe Prendergast:
You
[00:37:45]
Michael Belasco:
Awesome. All right. And last, but certainly not least, Joe.
[00:37:50]
Joe Prendergast:
Oh, well, first off, I would say, I wonder how long we go with the unnamed commercial real estate podcast from ACRE consulting as a communication piece here. We’ll see how long that that goes. But, um, yeah, I just, you know, The spirit of what everyone else said, uh, you know, and in the spirit of ACRE and hopefully ACRE consulting, we’re here to add value.
And even if you are just getting started and you just have a question, you know, find us on LinkedIn, connect, reach out to us through our contact us form. Um, we want to be a resource. So that’s all I got, I
[00:38:26]
Michael Belasco:
Awesome. That’s great. All right. Well, to our listeners, thank you for listening. I hope, um, you got some value and, you know, again, if there’s interest in reaching out and having a conversation, um, you know, check us out on our website, which if you’re here, you know where it is. So, uh, schedule a call and you will get to speak with, uh, both Joe and Alex, um, who, who manned the front lines there. So, um, thank you everyone. And we’ll see you on the next one.
