Building Wealth In Passive CRE with World Class Operators with Joshua

Joshua Volens Mr. Volen is a Co-Founder and Principal of CIRE Equity. Prior to forming CIRE, Joshua was the youngest Senior Director of the National Office and Industrial Properties Group as well as a Top Agent for the largest investment brokerage firm in the nation.

In less than six years, he successfully represented owners and investors in more than 150 transactions totaling more than $1 billion in commercial investments nationwide.

Joshua also played a significant role in the strategic growth of his family office to over 500,000 SF of office, industrial and retail properties in Northern California and other key markets.

Joshua is involved in numerous professional and community organizations, including the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO Board Member), YMCA and Big Brother’s Big Sister’s Network, and is a California real estate broker.

Joshua , Graduated at the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies. He currently resides in San Diego, CA, with his family and enjoys staying active and volunteering his time to the community.

Episode Highlights Here:

Joshua:

It just doesn’t matter if you’re investing in real estate or the equities markets or anything. It’s having some type of being intentional and having a plan.

Brett:

What’s the number one secret to doing that, that you found for those you help in the investment world?

Joshua:

Well, I guess it’s to know what you said, the number one secret, I don’t know if it’s so much of a secret as a discipline. And I think that’s important. It doesn’t matter if you’re investing in real estate or the equities markets or anything. It’s having some type of being intentional and having a plan, right? So setting goals, having a plan, and having a process for that to work through, is part of the discipline. So that could be the underwriting. It could be a set of criteria due diligence that you will utilize. In commercial real estate, the most interesting thing is different from calling it residential real estate, right? If you’re buying single-family homes, you know that market is a much more perfect information market. You’ve got Zillow, you’ve got Redfin, you’ve got MLS, you’ve got a lot more people with access to information, don’t get me wrong, there are dislocations and call it relationships and other things that can differentiate besides expertise, in that. Still, commercial real estate it’s even more fragmented. I would say two buildings right next to each other could have different values because a lot of commercial real estate is valued based not just on the location but the income stream attached to it. Relationships matter. In commercial real estate, differentiating and really inside information is not illegal. It’s encouraged, and how many deals are done. And so building those relationships, be it in a micro market to a region to nationally, is a big differentiator between people that own real estate and operators. And you’ve caught the novice or new investors in commercial real estate that you know, maybe buy a single time that leased property, or they’ve traded out of a duplex or a second home into properties through 1031 Exchange other vehicles.

You know, there’s a big disadvantage in knowledge, you know, the knowledge and the relationships. And so I think the toughest thing is just knowing where you want to be knowing, knowing where you are in regards to the investment stack, right? Are you on the new side or the scaled institutional side, and if you’re going to be, if you’re going to own one or two properties, it’s not a bad thing? It’s that’s a control. Typically, it’s a control item. But if you can give up that control and diligence and invest with professionals, that’s what I recommend. I’m slightly biased there because I’m one of those professionals. But even with my own money, when I’m not invested in ourselves and our deals, I’m invested with other professionals because they’re focused on it. 24/7, they live, breathe, eat, and have relationships. They know, you know, years and years of relationships and knowledge that you just can’t acquire overnight. So yeah,

Brett:

Well, so Josh, the discipline and the intentionality of having a plan, and then realizing that commercial real estate has kind of an inherent advantage and that it is not perfectly perfect information, like a residential and or you can get, it’s more fragmented, which means the value of the relationship and the insider information is not illegal, right? So if you can connect those dots, connect those business plans and relationships, then you can perhaps get an outside advantage to getting a higher return on your investment. Is that a fair summary?

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About Joshua Volens

In less than six years, he successfully represented owners and investors in more than 150 transactions totaling more than $1 billion in commercial investments nationwide.

Joshua also played a significant role in the strategic growth of his family office to over 500,000 SF of office, industrial and retail properties in Northern California and other key markets.

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