Episode 020: Bob Knakal

Introduction:


Welcome back my friends to Real Estate REality Check. Today we
have with us the legendary Bob Knakal, a man who has turned his
relentless passion and once stellar pitching career at the
University of Pennsylvania - along with two mistakes, one
regarding a job interview for his freshman summer internship and
the other, asking a real estate owner back when there was no such
thing as Google Maps or Waze where 52 Vanderbilt in New York City
was - to have formed the groundbreaking Massey Knakal Realty
Services. In the earlier part of the decade, he and Paul Massey
later sold Massey Knakal to Cushman and Wakefield, where Bob
became Chairman of New York Investment Sales. In the fall of
2018, Bob took his talents, along with the vast majority of his
team, to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), where he is the Chairman of
New York Investment Sales.


 


Episode Notes:


At 1:53, Bob Knakal shares what he learned from his early days in
the real estate industry, and admits that he made many mistakes
along the way, but fortunately did not make them more than once.
At 2:58, Knakal notes that his move to JLL has been great and
could not be happier, but calls it difficult and challenging in
the same breath. At 3:57, he reveals his “oh my” moment, the
second deal that Paul Massey, CEO of B6 Real Estate Advisors, and
Bob closed when they were “kids.” At 6:29, Knakal believes that
the best way to be a hustler is to get to sleep early. Bob speaks
highly of his relationship with broker coach Rod Santomassimo
(listen to Podcast Episode 016). At 8:57, he advises that there
are 165,000 investment properties in New York City, and talks
about the territory system he and Paul implemented at Massey
Knakal (and how they learned early on that they were in “the
information business, not the real estate business”). At 10:34,
Knakal describes his goals and aspirations for the JLL investment
sales platform. At 11:24, he mentions that doing the right thing,
along with possessing integrity and honesty, forms the backbone
of both business and life. At 13:09, Knakal talks about the
importance of goal setting – writing goals down, focusing on the
goals all the time, and having the discipline to achieve them. At
14:01, he touches upon discipline once again, and remaining true
to your core values. At 15:46, Knakal notes that when hiring,
Massey Knakal looked for “PHDs” (i.e., those that were poor,
hungry and driven individuals who were motivated and hungry to
succeed). At 18:08, he provides a brief synopsis on the state of
the investment sales market in NYC. At 21:19, Knakal discusses
employee mentoring and business coaching, and said that “helping
people you work with should be a part of any platform.” At 22:48,
he shares that he turned down a private office at JLL, and
instead sits in the middle of the bullpen with the “troops.” At
23:19, Knakal compares the world with and without social media
and technology, and believes that the brokerage business will
fundamentally change within the next 20 years (or sooner). At
26:22, he provides some negotiating pointers, and notes that
brokers need to realize that they are the intermediary in a real
estate deal. At 27:55, Knakal talks about finding the balance
between family, community and work. At 33:21, he explains doing
by trial and error early on in his career, and not having the
foresight to ask people who have been there and done that for
advice. At 35:32, Bob Knakal closes the door on the podcast with
a message on learning how to be likeable, as people in business
tend to work with people that they like. He strongly believes
that courses on likeability, selling and persuasion should be
taught formally in an educational setting.