Posting Pays Off: What Every Broker Should Know About Social Media

Aviva (00:00)
This week's listener of the week is Lauren LA. Lauren, thank you so much for leaving us a five star review. And for those of you listening, if you leave us this five star review below, you might be next week's listener of the week, week, week. This week on Commercial Real Estate Secrets, we have my friend James Milner.

James is a commercial real estate broker out of North Carolina. And James is a broker at Appalachia, Appalachia, Appalachian CRE. I'm embarrassed because I butchered. I always thought it was Appalachian, but clearly I haven't spent a lot of time in the Southeast. So I am humbled. Regardless, James, it's great to see you. Thank you for being on the show today.

James Milner, CCIM (00:36)
Appalachian.

it's my pleasure and thank you for having me. Yeah, you can get killed, ⁓ not killed, but that's a little too extreme, but you can get the stink eye in certain parts of North Carolina if you do not pronounce it correctly. So like I told you and many others, think of a latch, like a door latch and Appalachian and .. yeah, Appalachian commercial real estate.

Aviva (01:23)
Thank you for the lesson. I do need to get down to the Southeast, but I won't bore our listeners with my travel plans. ⁓ James, James and I met almost two years ago at a commercial real estate conference. We became buds right away. James, what has gone on since I met you in the biz?

in September of 23.

James Milner, CCIM (01:55)
Well, we met at CREI. You unloaded all of your carnal knowledge on TikTok to a small group of people who wanted to learn and do better. And since then, I've ⁓ had the encouragement or courage, however you want to look at it, to do more TikToks. So, you know, I don't think that it's a silly little platform that people...

dance on and do music videos. I think that it's a great platform. I've come to understand it, learn it, try and use it. And I do all my cutting in TikTok now. So I put everything together and cut it and then post and then reuse it for different platforms. But, you know, just being more comfortable in front of the camera and also has encouraged me to kind of go out and

do this, know, share the knowledge. And I know enough people in commercial real estate, I figured, and they all have podcasts. I'm ⁓ hoping one day that I will do my own and we can do the reverse here. But until then, I know plenty of people that have them. And I just thought I kind of do a round of podcasts.

Aviva (03:13)
Well, I'm very happy you reached out. I know you are a forward-thinking operator in this space. Do you have any good deal stories where a deal only came about because of social media or anything of the sort?

James Milner, CCIM (03:32)
Not really. I think it's very important to utilize it. We are making a shift in terms of generations saying, it's useless and not necessary. My Rolodex will find my buyer or my seller. And instead, I think that it's just part of that digital

atmosphere where you have to make presence was the word I was looking for. Part of your digital presence where being known on social media is important. And you know, I'm not extremely active. I don't have a platform of choice. I kind of lean more towards Twitter than or X than anything, but I dibble dabble in a lot of different platforms. And I see the value of just maintaining

digital presence, I haven't had a deal. haven't pulled a Coy Davidson and said, I got this huge medical office deal because of X.

Aviva (04:32)
One day. Keep tweeting and we'll be like Coy.

James Milner, CCIM (04:33)
One day.

But no,

it's really important. think for everyone has their own personal brand, right? And that digital presence is important. And we're supposed to be, I think a couple of weeks ago, you had someone on that was talking about

being an expert in your field, having that authority, and I think that I share my authority best through social media.

Aviva (05:00)
It's interesting, I find that people want the answer, right? I've gone to million coffees with brokers who sit down and they're like, does the social media work? And I'm like, yes, it works. And then they're like, what's the best place to do it? Like, what is A plus B equals C? And it's like.

I mean, that's when the conversation gets funny because it's like, there's no answer to that question. Like, this is a lot of work. It's hard work. There's strategy and there isn't a one size fits all solution. So it's not, in my opinion, the Rolodex or the digital presence. It's both.

James Milner, CCIM (05:44)
I think it goes back to something that these OGs of social media said from day one, right? I tend to think of someone like Natalie Wainwright. She's out of Las Vegas. Don't know if you know Natalie or not. And Natalie was very bit, and to this day is still big on two things, which is authenticity and consistency. And I think that, you know,

Aviva (05:58)
Sure. Yes.

James Milner, CCIM (06:10)
You could go have a thousand coffees with brokers and in my mind, that's the only answer you need. You need to be authentic, have the courage to go out and say what you want to say. And you have to be consistent. You can't be like, one month I posted. And I have that same, I'll take ownership of the fact that I am that person. I'm inconsistent. But you know, I own that. I try to do my best.

Aviva (06:18)
Yeah.

I find a substantial parallel between that and our business in and of itself, right? The commercial real estate business is a long game. It's not a get rich quick scheme. Although some people think it's a get rich quick scheme, but those people get sad fast. Where consistency, persistence.

And I mean, authenticity, like you said, reigns supreme where this is not a realistic lifestyle if you don't actually genuinely enjoy what you're doing. In addition to that, it's not a realistic lifestyle if you're not willing to wake up, get kicked in the teeth for breakfast, then smile, then go about your day and rinse and repeat for years and years and years.

All of that to say, what's going on in North Carolina? What's new? What? Yes.

James Milner, CCIM (07:34)
Well, let me jump on or

piggyback on something you said real quick. I think that it's important for brokers, all brokers, so no matter where you're listening to this to, all brokers, pay attention. It's important for you to understand the power of relationships. The relationships that you create today are gonna be the same relationships that you need five, six, seven, 10, 15 years from now.

If you play the long game and you maintain those relationships, life becomes much easier. And you don't have to have a thousand plus relationships. You have to focus on relationships that matter. And yeah, it's a little bit of, you you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. you know, in terms of the long game, I've been at this since...

2007. I went commercial only in 08. And last year, I had my first, you know, I'm full disclosure kind of guy, I my first six figure rip. And that was a long time between 08 and 2024. And, you know, that's because I was just consistent, stayed in the long game.

Aviva (08:35)
Wow.

Wow, good for you. That's amazing.

Here's a fun one. I got a call in 2018. 2018 from a gentleman who wanted to open a counter a granite countertop store. He's had a few other locations, you know, didn't end up signing the lease until 2023. Okay, five years.

It was the biggest commission at the time for me. Today, tonight, they've already opened, but they're having the grand opening party. I've never met my client face to face. I've been in touch with him. I've been in Zooms with him. Never shook his hand. And today we're going to go to the grand opening party from the call I got from 2018.

I can, and I'm like, this is crazy. You know, you talk about relationships and it's like, and that's the cool thing about our business. I find that I become friends with a lot of these people and it's, easy to provide somebody a value. When you like what you do, you're friendly with them, you know, your market and it all becomes very natural. so, another head nod to relationships because.

You're right, if you don't have relationships in this business.

I don't know what you have. You better have a goddamn prayer. Just kidding. ⁓

James Milner, CCIM (10:30)
You better have a

trust fund set ⁓ up.

Aviva (10:37)
So, well, what are you seeing today in the field?

James Milner, CCIM (10:42)
Yeah, so what am

I seeing in North Carolina today? Funny enough, your favorite subject, industrial buildings, continues to be the darling. But we are very focused on the reality that it has to get worse. I said this to Ken Ashley last night on the X. I still call it Twitter. Is that all right? Can I call it? OK.

Aviva (11:06)
Everybody still calls it Twitter.

Sorry Lonnie.

James Milner, CCIM (11:07)
⁓

I was saying, look man, it's got to get worse before it gets better. We are in a cycle of real estate. It has to find a bottom. In order for the bottom to occur, then we can rise back up. So I think industrial assets continue to be the darling. But more importantly, brokers have to work hard to get a deal done.

There are going to be more or less and less transactions this year than there were last year. You know, we are no longer in this world of 2022, 2023, where you put a sign in the yard and you get 20 phone calls. It's just, you know, we're in a different state of reality. The other big thing, and I've been talking to a lot of people about this,

is we're seeing a huge separation on the bid ask gap. So the gap between where you list a property thinking, okay, I've got good data, I've got good comps, seller agrees to list it at X price. And next thing you know, all these buyers come along and they're like, that's not gonna work for me. I got a very different opinion of your price.

Aviva (12:09)
for.

James Milner, CCIM (12:32)
Mr. James and it, and we're not talking about a few tens of thousands of dollars, right? We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're now being created in the bid ask gap. And, and so you're like thinking to yourself, am I still a smart broker? Am I doing my job? Right? How did this happen? And the reality is that

Aviva (12:49)
Wow.

James Milner, CCIM (13:00)
buyers are going to start coming back into control of the market because they are ready. In North Carolina, we call them ready, willing, and able buyers, right? And they have the means to complete a transaction. There are very few, there's a scarcity of product everywhere. You know, we don't get me wrong, but there are very few buyers that are coming to the table. And I think that the buyers that are coming to the table,

want more than just a good deal. They want a great deal.

Aviva (13:33)
Don't we all? But yes, no, it's fascinating. I am so excited for 2025 to pass because I'm so sick of 2023 numbers in our comps. Like I just need our comps to dismiss the, because our comps from 2022 and 2023, it doesn't say anywhere in the comp detail report that interest rates were 2.6.

So now that interest rates are where they are seven, I haven't talked to Jerome Powell for a couple of weeks, so I don't know what they are today, but pricing, we're in a different stratosphere of pricing and I empathize for the sellers who bought at the peak, got their appraisal at the peak and went to sell a year late.

James Milner, CCIM (14:10)
Thank

Aviva (14:29)
Everybody thinks real estate goes up in value and it always does over long periods of time.

James Milner, CCIM (14:36)
Well, sellers have to understand that they no longer have the Taj Mahal. They cannot ask. They cannot be unreasonable. so, one of the ways that we try to close the bid ask gap is we try to just get people to move, even if it's just a little bit. I don't care if it's a dollar, just move. Show a sign of good faith. Please, just one dollar or more.

Aviva (14:57)
Yeah.

James Milner, CCIM (15:03)
But let's start moving towards a place where buyer and seller can agree on price. And as I was telling some guys this morning, price is only one aspect of a deal, right? There's timing, there's cash versus loan. Everyone gets, our world of brokerage gets so fixated on price. Gotta have the best price or if you're the seller.

get the highest price if you're the buyer get the lowest price but you know they're like fixated on price and I'm like there's so much more to a deal than just price

Aviva (15:45)
Before I ask you your commercial real estate secret, I'm gonna tell you one I discovered this week. You use CoStar? Okay, well you never, you can't assume somebody uses CoStar. I went into CoStar. I got a buyer. I go into, it was industrial, okay, multi-tenant industrial properties on the market.

James Milner, CCIM (15:53)
yeah.

Aviva (16:08)
But then instead of doing the active properties, I toggled that off and I did the under contract properties and I went through every single property. Hey, how's it going? You know, the dance, one of them, which was perfect for my seller or excuse me, my buyer's buy box gets back to me. It's not going well. Call me. And I sent out that PSA for signature yesterday.

So brokers, go into your under contract, costar listings and start making friends because I made a friend.

James Milner, CCIM (16:41)
Hey, nothing is guaranteed

until a deed is, I don't know how you guys do it out in Colorado, but nothing is a done deal until the deed is recorded and you have a check in hand.

Aviva (16:50)
Sure.

And I agree with that wholeheartedly, but I do, I'm just, I love figuring out what, you know, the hacks and the tricks and where I can find value for our clients. And with that, James Milner, what is your commercial real estate secret to share to the audience today?

James Milner, CCIM (17:18)
My commercial real estate secret is public records. So I am a big proponent of data. It makes me very happy. And with information comes power. And so I want listeners to try and, you know, sort, I come from a paralegal background. I don't know if you knew that or not. And public records are a great source of information. You can,

Aviva (17:40)
Hm. Mm-mm.

James Milner, CCIM (17:48)
both transactions, but depending on what municipality you're a part of, your local government can also contain a wide array of information as to who's looking, who's coming to town, what development is happening, where, when. So my little secret is the power of public records.

Aviva (18:13)
We could do a whole podcast on that. Okay, part two coming soon. James, you're awesome. Are you going to be at CREI this year?

James Milner, CCIM (18:15)
Are we good? For sure.

I'm hopeful, I haven't pot committed. The only reason I say that is with CCIM, I got a lot on my plate between, they call them regional vice presidents, so I'm in charge of a group of chapters. And I am in a leadership development class called JWL. And so there's a lot of travel and I have a incredible spouse. She

Aviva (18:37)
wow.

Hmm.

James Milner, CCIM (18:51)
is very patient and understanding and I'm just trying to manage that travel part with two small children to the best of my ability. So have not pot committed. I'm hopeful. I'm trending in that direction. It is also West Coast and I don't do well with three hour time changes.

Aviva (19:07)
Ha ha.

Yeah.

Well, the theme I could tell with all of that travel was it's all about bettering yourself and your business. And that's

James Milner, CCIM (19:23)
Yes.

Can we give a CREI plug real quick? ⁓ Is that all right? Hey, if you're listening to this, guys, there is no better group of individuals, thought leaders, people in the social media space that are just kind human beings. They are. I'm a kind person, Aviva, very, very kind.

Aviva (19:29)
Absolutely.

James Milner, CCIM (19:52)
Once a year, we get together at this thing called CREI Summit. thanks to an incredible person by the name of Ken Ashley, ⁓ this organization was founded to improve people, make them better, give them tools and resources to navigate what can sometimes be confusing world of social media in commercial real estate. So if you want to learn more about

social media and its implementation in commercial real estate invite you to come this September, I think, yes? In beautiful Palm Springs, California. ⁓ And you may meet me, you will definitely see Aviva, maybe me, but, and a group of incredible folks that are willing to give

Aviva (20:29)
11th, 12th and 13th.

you

James Milner, CCIM (20:47)
of their time and talents to improve you and your business. So sign up today.

Aviva (20:55)
I back that up 100%. So to everybody listening, we'll see you at CREI. And next week here on Commercial Real Estate Secrets. Thanks again for being on the show, James.