Commercial Investment Real Estate Winter 2020 | Page 9

people to handle, sort, process, and make sure things go to the right place. I think those technology advances go hand in hand with the enhanced job creation we’re seeing throughout the sector. CIRE: NOBODY HAS A CRYSTAL BALL, BUT WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK ON THE NEW YEAR? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN 2020? It’s critical for our growth. We’re really some of the last Wild West cowboys who are out there. I think it’s important to maintain that air of optimism and eternal success. It’s critical in this type of profession to have peo- ple that you can rely on, people you can con- nect with, people that say, yeah, you can do this. Bottom line, that’s why I do it, because someone did that for me. I want to continue that legacy. field and I’m thinking, “Oh, crap, I didn’t do a video.” And I thought, “You know what? I’m just going to do it from the field. Just do it from the place I’m going to. I’ll think of something to do from there.” And people loved that. I got a lot of great comments. It was really interesting to get some insight from the real world. Then I started saying: I’m just going to do this in the field. I read things. I’ll see things out here, things that aren’t necessarily pre- planned. I’m absolutely blown away by the people who see these things and comment. I didn’t design it to get clients; that’s not really what I’m after. It’s more just to de- liver information. It’s market information. It’s market intelligence. It’s maybe telling someone something that they didn’t know about or they didn’t hear about. That’s all. Does it help branding? Does it help convey PACELLA: This recovery is getting a little long in the tooth, right? A famed real estate prog- CIRE: WAS IT A MATTER OF REACHING A nosticator talked about threes and eights. He CERTAIN POINT IN YOUR CAREER WHERE said that if you look historically, if you see YOU FELT ABLE AND WILLING? WHEN DID years that end in a three, those are usually the YOU REALIZE THE TIME WAS RIGHT TO bottom of the trough. Then, when you get to PURSUE TEACHING? an eight, you’re usually back toward the top. In terms of recovery, I think a lot of people PACELLA: It was hard. I wanted to do it right looked at 2018 as the top of the trough. It at the get-go, but I didn’t have the experience. slopped over into 2019 and we didn’t see as I didn’t have the time with a young family at much momentum. But, you know, the party home. The demands of being will slow down. This party can’t keep raging. an instructor are great. You The cycle is one of the founding prin- have to be able to balance ciples of real estate. What goes up must professional life, home life, come down. There’s a cyclical nature to the and the CCIM Institute life. real estate industry specifically, and we’ve But it was right once I been stuck on this roller coaster as it climbs had some experience under higher and higher. I think everyone keeps my belt and felt like I could saying, “Okay, next year is the year.” But I not only walk the walk, but don’t know. Unless something fundamen- talk the talk. Also, my fam- tally changes, interest rates skyrocket or ily requirements eased up a there’s some fundamental jolt to stun the little bit. The timing all kind economy, I see things rolling through 2020. of lined up for me about 12 Maybe not as briskly as they have, but I years ago. don’t see the train coming off the tracks in 2020. I want it to be another solid Alec Pacella, CCIM year, again, with the caveat, so long as interest rates re- main low, so long as there is LISTEN ON: no worldwide catastrophe or calamity, but it seems Apple Podcast like we’re always one tweet away from all heck break- ing loose. CIRE: YOU BECAME A CCIM INSTRUCTOR IN 2008 AND WERE HONORED AS THE ROBERT L. WARD INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR IN 2019. WHAT LED YOU TO BECOME AN INSTRUCTOR WITH CCIM INSTITUTE? PACELLA: It’s funny, if you talk to most in- structors and ask them, “What were some of the driving catalysts for them to be an instruc- tor?” they will tell you the same thing. Some- one impacted them at some point in the past, and that has led most of us on this teaching path. Far and away, it was an instructor that that I connected with in the beginning of my career that made a substantial impression on me. Therefore, I wanted to emulate that per- son and be just like him. And it’s funny, years later, I had the opportunity. CIREMAGAZINE.COM CIRE: ON SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU’VE POST- ED VIDEOS OF YOURSELF OUT AT PROP- ERTIES AND GOING ABOUT YOUR DAY AND DOING YOUR WORK. WHAT LED YOU TO CREATE THOSE VIDEOS THAT GIVE A LOOK INSIDE YOUR BUSINESS? PACELLA: This all started a couple of years ago as a joke. I mean, literally, it was start- ed as a gag. I did one video and figured my colleagues are going to see this and think it’s funny. They’re going to laugh — and they did. But it grew because some other peo- ple saw it, which was pretty cool. The first couple, I would just do for my office. Then I started doing them every Friday. But one week, I hadn’t done one yet. I was out in the professionalism or expertise? Sure, I guess. But that’s not why I’m doing it. Nicholas Leider Senior content editor of Commercial Investment Real Estate Contact him at [email protected]. Editor’s note: This article is an adapted excerpt from a full- length Commercial Investment Real Estate podcast. To listen to the full episode, head to SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review. COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE MAGAZINE 7