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Navigating Commercial Real Estate with Caleb David

• Courtney Twiss • Episode 54

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Ever wondered how a nonprofit background can lead to a thriving career in commercial real estate? Caleb David, a standout figure in the Colorado Springs market, shares his transformative journey with us. From quarterbacking real estate deals to tackling industry challenges like outdated property listings, Caleb offers a wealth of knowledge for anyone looking to navigate this complex field. His focus on understanding clients' long-term goals and building a team with a strong culture is both inspiring and practical for those aspiring to make their mark in real estate. As Caleb continues to expand his team and share his insights through his upcoming podcast, "Commercial Real Estate Unfiltered," his commitment to excellence and client success is truly motivating.

In our conversation, Caleb also opens up about the essential qualities of humility and respect in building trust with clients, particularly in culturally diverse areas like Ethiopia. He recounts a pivotal moment when project delays required extended efforts without immediate financial gain, underscoring the importance of patience and integrity in business relationships. Caleb's dedication to relationship-building and securing the best outcomes for clients highlights the power of positive connections and mutual support. As we wrap up, we reflect on Caleb's personal goals and the broader impact of his humanitarian efforts, offering listeners not just lessons in real estate but also in fostering meaningful and supportive professional relationships.


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www.instagram.com/calebdavid

www.facebook.com/calebdavid

www.davidcommerical.com

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https://www.youtube.com/@nowpodcastforreal

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Speaker 1:

But it's ridiculous. They charge like it was like $250 for two of us to get in what Like yeah.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

I know, but it's at the ball arena, so it's like you know. It fits like 70,000 people, Wow.

Speaker 3:

All right, let's get started. Welcome to episode 54 of the NOW podcast Making Moves in Real Estate. Today, we're diving into commercial real estate, which is an area that we have not done yet, so we're super excited about that. We're going to talk about that and leadership and impact with somebody by the name of Caleb David. He is a powerhouse in the Colorado Springs market. His expertise spans office, medical, retail, industrial and land markets. Beyond real estate, he's a 2022 Colorado governor's Fellow, a board member for the BBB of Southern communities and a recipient of the Golden Rule Goodwill Ambassadorship Award for his humanitarian work in Ethiopia. Caleb is all about one of our favorite adjectives or nouns Is that a noun? Connection and creating space for people to be seen and heard. I think I can genuinely say that Caleb is my friend, so let's get started and welcome Caleb to our podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. I'm so excited. I've been looking forward to this for some time, so I'm glad to get to share some time with you and the listeners.

Speaker 2:

Yes, we are so happy to have you on. Michelle and I were talking about what topics we wanted to get on and bring to our listeners and we realized that we had never had a guest on that specializes in commercial. So we would love, I think, first maybe just how many years you've been doing the commercial and how has the market been for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. So I've been doing this now just for over a decade. Got into it about the age of 35, when I still had some guts and decided to take the leap of faith and get into an industry that I knew absolutely nothing about. It was intimidating, with my background being in the nonprofit world. I was just like this is a completely different turn, but fell into an opportunity where I got to be an assistant and then, if I liked it, get into brokerage, and so had a great time.

Speaker 1:

The market was still slow, which I'm actually really grateful for. It was still recovering from 2008 when I got in in 2014. And so getting to have to get on the ground and really put the work in was important for the success of my business, because when things got good, I remembered that oh wait, things can actually be really bad as well, and so about 2016, I would say, is when the market really started taking off here in Colorado Springs, and then it just has been a hayride until 2022. And then things got bad again, you know, and so we had to get creative, and eventually I went off and started my own brokerage. So I've been on my own now for about almost five years now, and it's been a pretty fun ride.

Speaker 3:

So you're on your own in Colorado. What's the makeup of your team?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we don't have a huge team, because culture is really important, and I think that's something that I share with you all is that we know that having the right culture and the right people is incredibly important and we want to be different, and so right now, I've got two part-time agents that work with me, and then I've got an office manager as well, and then myself, but looking to build the team with some more experienced folks who can really hit the ground running, and so I'm hoping in the next year in 2025, we'll be able to add someone else to our team. You know, with having done this for about 10 years, I'm ready for a little bit of a breather, but you know it's got to be with the right people.

Speaker 3:

Well, you heard him. Anyone in the Colorado Springs area that's a licensed realtor needs to hit Caleb up. Yes, Tell our listeners what commercial real estate involves. What's your day-to-day look like? I mean, it's a big when you talk about commercial real estate. It's a little daunting to me. So tell our listeners what that really actually looks like and means for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think what I might even do is say this is how it should look, because I think in our industry it's dominated by a sector of people that just feel like they can sit in their high towers and just do deals and that sort of thing. But for me it's about listening and asking the right questions of our clients and understanding the big picture, because the big picture will inform clients. And understanding the big picture because the big picture will inform how we make decisions moving forward, whether it be trying to find the right zoning, the right lender, the right contractors. So I tell my clients it's kind of like I'm a quarterback and my job is to call the plays for the team and make sure that everybody's executing where they should. So you know, typically from it's a great question. No one's ever asked me that question before is what does a day look like? Not a single day looks the same, you know. But if we take it from someone calls, you know, off of one of our signs, you know we start an intake call and we start asking questions, we find out more about their background and then really try to understand what their five to 10 year goals are, and so that kind of helps us, you know, with our searching.

Speaker 1:

You know we don't have an MLS. It's kind of like the Wild West out there. People don't understand that if you go online and find a property, more than likely it's gone. You know it was probably sold three years ago, but because nobody the brokers aren't updating their sites. And what people also don't realize is that there are third-party websites that take our listings and repost them and never take them down. So what they're intending to do is to try to find somebody that that property works for. Bring them to us, and they want a 20% referral commission. So it's definitely one of those things that I tell people you need to have someone on your team.

Speaker 1:

You know I'm not an expert in residential real estate, so if I go to buy a house, I'm hiring a residential agent to help me. Can I do it? Sure, but should I? Probably not. And so you know we make sure we do a call with someone, get as much information as we can, understand their budget, talk them through answering questions about areas of town. If it's a coffee shop, they probably want to have a drive-through. So we've got to find something that works for them, and so we'll put together a search, send it over to a client, have them kind of say here's my top three to five options, if there are that many, and then we start the calling process and confirming the information, set up a showing and if the space works, then we go to what's called a letter of intent. Instead of writing a contract, we essentially start pre-negotiating what that lease or purchase would be.

Speaker 2:

Is more of your business on the lease side or the purchase side, or is it like a mixture?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a mixture. The last two years it's definitely been like 99% leasing. People just got really scared with the interest rates and listen, people complain about that. But at the same time the market here was so wild I could put something in the market within a week it's under contract and the prices were just getting out of control. So about four years ago I'm like something's got to give here. We can't stay at this hot market forever, and so the interest rates are now helping correct pricing in certain areas. So we're starting to see last year I only had two transactions that were sales, which is very, very low, but the rest were all leases. So leases are kind of the bread and butter and then when you get a purchase it's kind of fun. But we're in February and I've already got two properties under contract for sale. So we're on track on a little bit of an update compared to the last 18 to 24 months.

Speaker 2:

Well, congratulations. Yeah, that's good news.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.

Speaker 2:

I'm curious when you're searching with commercial in your market, do you use like LoopNet or Crexie, or are those more in our area?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, those are all platforms that we have used. At one point LoopNet was bought out by CoStar and they're the main. That's kind of the hub for the commercial properties. That's where most people's eyes are. However, it's also very expensive and very restrictive, so we do list our properties on those sites, but the main one that we actually use is called Catalyst by Moody's Analyst, and it seems to have the best data for the best price and that also pushes to consumers so they can see it online. When we put it up With LoopNet, what people do not understand, they think LoopNet is kind of the end all.

Speaker 1:

Loopnet actually charges brokerages a pretty ridiculous amount of money for their properties to become visible. Yes, they have a better turnover as far as how quickly the properties lease or sell, but we've just got to the point where we can't justify the cost and so we get creative, but we still for all of our properties that we list. It goes to all of those Crexie as well. But in my personal experience, at least in our market, I would say that Catalyst is probably our best tool.

Speaker 3:

Gotcha Well, so you're obviously a successful broker in the Colorado market. Let's talk about the characteristics that you have from your former life in nonprofit and even now we talk about your humanitarian efforts, like what about those life experiences have brought you to become so successful in your commercial real estate?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think you know. I think the biggest thing is that people have this belief, that people remember how you make them feel and people want to be listened to. And I had 20-plus years in the nonprofit sector and doing things wrong for a very long time I was very much focused on oh, this is how it needs to be done. I'm an American, I can go overseas and I can be like, okay, let me help you fix the situation. And over time, I realized how arrogant that was and I think there's a lot of arrogance and ego in my industry as well. Help me fix the situation. And over time, I realized how arrogant that was. You know, and I think there's a lot of arrogance and ego in my industry as well. And so, taking the time to listen, you know I did a lot of work in Ethiopia. I've been there probably close to 30 times. Both my kids are adopted from Ethiopia and over time, I had to learn the humility of realizing I don't have the answers and find the resources that are within the country, the people that understand the culture that can help me bring dignity in the help that I bring.

Speaker 1:

And so, I think, listening to people and treating people with respect and humility, I think is something that I've learned and brought over into this industry and I think it's really set us apart. I mean, I've even had someone come to me and come to our website and said there was an African-American, and they said I went to your website and I felt safe, and that is something that is so important to me in a very white, male-dominated industry. Industry is to bring that diversity, to have more women in commercial real estate, to have, you know, someone who is bilingual and can speak Spanish. They're just a transaction, you know, and something to make me feel better or something to make me feel useful, you know, because I think so often in the area of service, we're serving to get our goodness reflected back to us, right, and so I think bringing to the table that we are all inherently good, you know, and treating people like that makes a big difference.

Speaker 2:

Well, I can see how important that would be. When the bulk of your businesses are leases, where you're servicing clients for a long period of time, it would be so critical that they that you've established that trust with them and that they feel comfortable with you. It's not a one and done like some trends Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And we have situations, I mean, where I mean I just I'm wrapping up a situation right now where I got a lease signed last June for a client and the contractor was supposed to get the work done by September 1 so they could get inspected by the state for their licensure. And you know, we got paid on the first half of the lease but the contractor just kept dragging my client out, dragging it out. They finally finished the work literally two weeks ago and we still haven't gotten paid on the second half of work that we did a year ago. And people don't understand how that works, you know.

Speaker 1:

And so the owner of the building was like well, until they're open and get their license, you know they had been paying rent for three, four months, so they burned through the free rent period. And that's something that people don't think about as well is that when you're going through the process, you need to help your clients get the best deal possible by trying to get some free rent, trying to get some tenant improvement allowance from the landlord. And you know, in this particular case, you case we're still waiting on payment, but we stayed six months or longer, no, seven, eight months, with the client following up with them every week, checking in with a listing broker or the owner to make sure that all of this got done. And so we finally got it done and hopefully there's a check in the mail soon.

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, I think it sounds a lot like, you know, residential real estate, where people just don't see the behind the scenes work. Yes, and they just assume you're just getting paid, and there's a lot of work where you're not getting paid or you're waiting to get paid, so it's definitely a difficult.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think we can relate with some of our probate sales that we've handled recently. That were months and months of work before they even hit the market and small price points.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but we have happy clients, happy clients. Yeah, and I think you know when you treat people right they come back around. You know I've had clients that have come back to me three, four times Anytime they need something in commercial real estate or they refer a friend. I mean I haven't cold called in years, it's just been a steady stream of referral.

Speaker 3:

It's the connection side of you, caleb for sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

So what's going on with your business this year? What?

Speaker 1:

are your goals and how are you planning to get there? Yeah, so my goals for this year I mentioned earlier would love to add an experienced broker to our team that can take some workload off, but also to start working after the last two years. I mean honestly to get out of some debt that has come about and to seek creative ways of how can I maximize my business with as little effort as possible. And so one of the ways I'm doing that is doing podcasts, because I really like to educate people and help people in that way, and even if it doesn't come with a check, that's okay, because you're arming people with good information.

Speaker 1:

And so, after talking with you all and doing a few other podcasts, I am launching my own podcast that's coming out soon I don't have a date yet, but it's going to be called Commercial Real Estate Unfiltered, and we're going to have tons of different guests on, and I'm really looking forward to that. So I think that's one of the ways I'm going to reach those goals is to get more of that visibility, because commercial real estate should be approachable, and so I think when it becomes approachable, then the fear factor is taken out for a small to medium-sized business and they're able to make quality decisions for their business. And when my clients' businesses thrive, then I do as well. So those are some things that we're looking at doing for this year.

Speaker 2:

So exciting, so exciting. Congratulations, kayla.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we're so excited to have met you, kayla. I feel like you're just such a breath of fresh air and I'm blessed to have gotten to know you.

Speaker 1:

You as well. I feel the same.

Speaker 3:

I think light attracts like yeah, that's so true, so true, so well. We're grateful to have you on the podcast. So true, so well. We're grateful to have you on the podcast. And would you please be so kind to let our listeners know where they can get in touch with you, especially any commercial real estate agents out there in Colorado Springs? So let's get them an agent.

Speaker 1:

folks Get them an agent and a guest on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

That would be amazing. Yeah, they could live anywhere up and down the front range. I do work from North Colorado down to Colorado Springs and sometimes Pueblo, but you know they can find and here's the thing we want people to reach out to us, even if you just have questions. We do lease reviews for people. We kind of help people, especially when things were rough the last couple of years. People are trying to decide what do I do?

Speaker 1:

You know so we can take a look at your lease. We can take a look at your building, if you own it, and say is it the right time to buy? Should you lease? Should you find another tenant? You know so we want to be that resource for people and we do that for free, you know. So pick up the phone, say hello, send us an email. You can find me on Instagram at Caleb David, same at LinkedIn and Facebook is facebookcom. Slash Caleb David, and so we'll be putting out some more content. Hopefully that will be helpful to everyone. And then you can just go to our website as well, which is just davidcommercialcom, and we'd love to have a conversation.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, that's so great. Well, for all of you listening, make sure you check out this episode on our YouTube channel the now podcast for real, Make sure you subscribe. That way you can get all of Caleb's info on there and you can hit us up. You have any questions for him. We'll definitely be looking at it and responding and I just so appreciate you coming on, Caleb. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Caleb. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1:

Bye Talk to you soon, bye-bye you.