This week, our 5 for Friday features Brian Heller, Senior Advisors with SVN/Rich Investment Real Estate Partners based out of Los Angeles, CA.
1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?
I specialize in commercial investment transactions in the Greater Los Angeles area; with further focus in the West Los Angeles submarkets including Beverly Hills, Westwood, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Palms, West Hollywood, and Pico-Robertson. Additionally I’m part of a team with our Managing Partner Dan Baird and Advisor Michael Chang that collectively specializes in the areas including Downtown LA, Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley.
My prime focus is representing clients in the acquisition and disposition of apartment buildings, sourcing real estate investment opportunities, marketing properties, negotiating contracts, financial and market analysis, 1031 exchanges, and escrow management. Furthermore, I’m proficient in property management and am currently overseeing multi-family units in West Hollywood.
2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?
Improve your social media presence on LinkedIn. Have a strong profile with a professional photo along with your skills and experience, links to your Sperry Van Ness Bio, personal website, etc. Add two or more connections weekly, and devote thirty minutes a week to posting off market deals, joining groups, and sharing news articles and personal updates with your sphere of influence, clients and related industry connections. It’s a great way to add value to the relationship and helps illustrate you are an expert in your market and product type!
3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?
Two Words: Constant Contact. A good email marketing campaign is now more effective than a good call. I’m not saying that cold and warm calling isn’t a huge part of our business, but if you can get the information to your entire client database in two seconds, and let them come back to you for more information, you’ve immediately determined who the top candidates are for the deal without having to make 2,500 calls. If your deal doesn’t get sold from the “first responders” you can still make those calls.
4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?
“Getting To Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Bottom line, it’s all about negotiating the coveted “win-win” scenario and based on the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals continually with all levels of negotiation, conflict resolution from domestic business to international.
5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?
I worked on several seasons of the acclaimed reality television show Survivor, helping to produce the Challenges and Rewards. You can’t imagine how much time, effort, manpower, money, coordination and government support is required to make a hit television show, especially in China, where I lived for three months while on set.
*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.