Brendan grew up on the Cape and generations before him lived there too . And , despite the lack of year-round employment opportunities , they invested there — in the land , in the community , and in the people .
“ I knew I wanted to be in commercial real estate before I even understood what that meant . I can remember driving around with my dad and grandfather , listening to them talk , trying to understand and absorb it ."
“ My great-great grandfather used to drive a horse and carriage bringing people from Boston to the Cape every summer ,” he recalled . “ Eventually he moved full time to the Cape where his son , my great-grandfather , owned cranberry bogs and a landscaping company . Whenever he would make some money , he would buy real estate . He passed that on to my grandfather who owned many things like hotels , offices , car dealerships and more . And now my dad is in the business too , and is still on the Cape .”
While Brendan may have migrated a bit further north to Boston , he has nonetheless followed in the successful footsteps of so many before him . So it should come as no surprise that Brendan has been an integral part of the rise of JLL ’ s Multifamily sales team .
“ It ’ s been really rewarding to see all the hours our team has put in pay off ,” says Brendan . “ We ’ ve helped get this team to # 1 in the market and that took a lot of hard work . If I had joined a team that was already on top , I don ’ t think it would have been quite as rewarding for me .”
While Brendan may have gotten a bit of a head-start in this business given his family history , he has earned every bit of his success . He attributes that to one of the main lessons he ’ s learned from watching his greatgrandfather , his grandfather and his father before him .
Real estate is in Brendan Shields ’ blood , quite literally . A Vice President on JLL ’ s Multifamily Capital Markets team , Brendan knew from an early age he wanted to be in this business . Nearly his entire family , beginning with his great-grandfather and succeeded by his grandfather and his father too , all worked in real estate .
“ The most important thing I learned from them was how you should treat people ,” said Brendan . “ Real estate is a people business . At the end of the day , it ’ s about relationships .”
“ My whole life I grew up around it ,” says Brendan . “ I knew I wanted to be in commercial real estate before I even understood what that meant . I can remember driving around with my dad and grandfather , listening to them talk , trying to understand and absorb it ,” he added . theinvestor . jll 11