GI276: Investing in Industrial Real Estate with Matt McLennan

GI276: Investing in Industrial Real Estate with Matt McLennan

Matt McLennan is a commercial real estate advisor in Washington State specializing in industrial leasing and sales. Since joining his brokerage, Kidder Mathews, Matt has facilitated over 3 million square feet of sale and lease transactions valued at over $300 million. Before starting his brokerage career, Matt spent four years in various sales and upper management roles in the wine and spirits industry.

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Transcript:

Charles:
Welcome to another episode of the Global Investors Podcast. I’M your host, Charles Carillo. Today, we have Matt McLennan. He is a commercial real estate advisor in Washington State specializing in industrial leasing and sales. Since joining his brokerage, Kidder Mathews, Matt has facilitated over 3 million square feet of sale and lease transactions valued at over $300 million. Before starting his brokerage career, Matt spent four years in various sales and upper management roles in the wine and spirits industry. So thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Matt:
Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Charles:
Yeah. So before I, I guess I was reading that you’ve, you’ve been a broker for several years right now, eight or eight years or something like that. Is that correct? Yeah,

Matt:
That’s exactly right.

Charles:
So before becoming a commercial real estate broker, can you tell us what you were doing before kind of getting the getting the itch and the bug to get into real estate?

Matt:
I I left college with classic, like I went to like a recruiting fair at college and, and I got a job working for a, a wine and spirits distributor, which was, which was a really cool company and it was sales. So I, I, I got into sales, right, which was, I think, a, a good foundation for what I’m doing now. And I, I rode that wave for several years. It was a lot of fun. And then I, I had friends that were in commercial real estate that I was spending time with, and they were talking about commercial real estate. And admittedly, I had had very little, if any, exposure to commercial real estate, and I became very intrigued with what they were talking about, and they were on the brokerage side. So that was kind of what I got firsthand exposure to.

Matt:
And once I kind of figured out what brokerage was, I thought, you know, I’m, I’m pretty good at selling wine and, you know, 10, $20 bottles wine, but I could sell a million dollar buildings like that. That sounds, that sounds a lot cooler. And so really I just, I just kind of, I got introduced to our management at Kid or Matthews through some of those friends I was talking about. And next thing you know, I, I was quitting that industry and, and starting a commercial brokerage. And like most just drinking from the fire hose day one and not making any money and hitting the pavement hard and fast forward eight years later, and here we are.

Charles:
Nice. Can you give us overview, kind of like the asset classes you focus on at Kidder Matthews?

Matt:
I am an industrial guy through and through. So at Kidder Matthews we have three components of our company. We do brokerage services property management and valuation and advisory services, like a appraisal. And then on the brokerage side of things. And we, we cover all, all property types, multifamily office, industrial, hospitality, land. Really anything that’s not residential we will do. But for me personally, all I work on are industrial properties. So think big box Amazon warehouses, port driven outside storage type properties manufacturing facilities, really anything that’s a, you know, a a metal or a concrete box that things are made or stored in. And that’s, that’s what I do. And then within that, you know, on the industrial side, it’s, it’s leasing, it’s sales, it’s development, investment. But I do stick exclusively to the industrial side of things. So

Charles:
Over the years, how have you seen the industrial real estate asset class kind of change?

Matt:
It has evolved a lot, actually. You go back industrial, like most of the asset classes isn’t new, but it’s never really been an investment. A a very attractive investment class. It was always, you know, a down and dirty type product type. It was a place where people made and did things, but there wasn’t really a investment side to it all that much. And really a lot of that drives from, we didn’t see there was no rental growth in industrial Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, at least here in, in the Seattle area, the rental growth for, call it, you know, the eighties, nineties, and even the early two thousands, very marginal. And then all of a sudden e-commerce happened and Amazon happened, and everybody, including you and I are having things show up on our doorsteps every day. You need to store that stuff somewhere. And all of a sudden these industrial warehouse buildings are housing Amazon and Amazon service providers.

Matt:
It’s not exclusive to Amazon. Of course, there’s, there’s a lot of others out there, but but, but warehouse became, it started to show up in the forefront, right? Yeah. And consequently demand increased, which drove rents up as supply decreased. And so industrial all of a sudden saw this huge, just massive wave of improvement over the past. You know, if we use the past 10 years, for example, it’s probably the best timeframe to use. And of course, when an asset class is performing, who gets involved? Private equity, wall Street money institutions came in, especially to the Seattle market and started investing, which also drove values and interest and demand up. And so we’ve, we’ve kind of just, we’ve been riding this wave for the better part of 10 years. And, and this is, this is national. It’s not unique to Seattle, but Seattle, we’re a port driven market. We have two ports here. And so naturally we have just a large industrial base in a large industrial demand. So we’ve benefited dramatically from, from a lot of that demand. So it’s been, it’s been great. It’s been fun to watch, been cool to be a part of.

Charles:
Yeah, that’s really cool. The I think you see the institutional money kind of go into these sectors when there’s when you start getting these like grade A credit tenants that are using it on the other side of it. So, you know, if you had like an individual like pad site and you’re putting a Walgreens there, you know, you’re gonna have, I mean, those cap rates are like driven down to nothing, right? Because it’s almost like getting a treasury. And the same thing if, you know, if you’re leasing out to Amazon, I mean, it’s pretty, it’s pretty solid tenant, you know what I mean? Yes. So it’s oh’s it’s gonna be I I, that’s one thing I’ve kind of like realized with a lot of these different asset classes is the, you know, how safe and secure the money is, is where you’re getting it.

Charles:
You’re not gonna find institutional money going into low grade apartments, for example, right? They’re gonna get into those credit tenants, the BB plus A type class properties. And once they go below that, they’re sold, you know what I mean? They go down into all the value syndicator type pings. But with that happening institutional, I mean, are there still deals out there for smaller investors and syndicators, or is this primarily overrun with institutional money? ’cause I mean, there’s institu, there’s gonna be industrial properties, I imagine, of all different sizes that are gonna house some of those Amazons and then also ones that are gonna be down for your smaller, smaller tenants. Yeah.

Matt:
The, the answer to your question is as much as our market has become institutionalized, there are still plenty of mom and pop owners, private investors, private equity out there. Yeah, there’s, there’s still deals to be had. I mean, the, a good rule of thumb is usually to look at dollar size, right? And so, as soon as transactions in our market, a lot of ’em are getting over, call it $5 billion. That’s usually what, where the institutional money will start coming in. If you’re playing in the field under $5 million, a lot of times those deals are just too small for a lot of these institutions. So it just, they just, it, they don’t bother, right? It could meet the same returns and thresholds and criteria that they’re looking for, but it’s just on such a small scale that they just, it just doesn’t capture their interest. So for, for smaller investors, that’s fantastic, right? You’re getting to, you know, arguably get comparable deals maybe as some of the institutions, but you don’t have to compete with them. And they’re, ’cause they’re, they’re very hard to compete with. They take very low returns, they have endless capital, they’re cash buyers. It’s a different ball game. Yeah,

Charles:
Yeah, for sure. But obviously if they have so much money to deploy, they can’t spend it on all these smaller assets. It would be a asset management nightmare.

Matt:
Yeah. Just time, time value, money and, and resources. They gotta allocate accordingly. So, makes sense.

Charles:
So one portion of industrial real estate sector that you focus on is industrial outside storage or iOS. I mean, this is something that we haven’t spoken about on the show and it’s very interesting to me. Can you explain what it is? Yeah.

Matt:
Ios is super interesting. So the, the funny thing about iOS is it’s been around forever. It’s not like it’s a new type of real estate, it just has been branded iOS in recent years. But just like it sounds industrial outside storage, it’s anything that would be kind of categorized as an industrial use, but not under the roof of a building, right? So think the parking of semi trucks, think lumber lay down yards. Think your fencing company that builds chain link fence in your area and they store all their chain link fence outside. Think your local HVAC or plumbing contractor who has a fleet of vans that come out and do the work on your house during the day. And then they have to go back and park those vans back at the, the, the large oversized parking lot at night before all everybody comes back the next day and goes out on their next jobs, right?

Matt:
So it’s, it’s a function of a good or a service that is essentially provided to the community, but doesn’t need to be stored inside of a building. And for us in Seattle being again, a port market what comes in from the port containers, containers go on truck chassis or they get stored outside because they’re metal containers, they don’t need to go in a building. And so we have a lot of iOS and a lot of legacy iOS. And then what happened is as warehouse and, and where, where iOS is a brand and really now as an institutional investment product, ’cause institutions are buying iOS now, whereas historically they hadn’t really been doing that. The reason that happened was as we saw warehouse demand and go up, supply go down and rents go up, warehouse space under a roof became so expensive that so many of these operators, if they had a product or something that could be stored outside instead of under a roof, well, their rent for the outside space was probably 25, 35, pick your number, right?

Matt:
Half, half the, the, the rental amount that they would be paying for building and space under a roof. So they’re going, yeah, why wouldn’t I, let’s just store it outside. It’s way cheaper. Let’s do that. So then that drove demand for iOS up supply started to come down, rents started to go up, you know, the story. But but yeah, no, it’s been super interesting. And, and for me, I think I was fortunate in that I had several clients that were operators in the area that, that for their business, were using iOS already. And so I was already out kind of on the forefront looking for iOS space, working on a lot of these types of transactions before it got branded, before institutional money and funds started getting raised to buy it. So I was already well positioned. I knew the iOS market a lot better than I would argue most. So so for me it’s been, it was an easy transition to spend time on it. I still do a, a great, I’d probably argue that the majority of my transactions are still warehouse box type deals, but I do a lot of iOS deals too, so it’s fun.

Charles:
Yeah. The iOS the first time I really heard talking about it was I have a contractor friend of mine and he does a lot of like site prep for before builders come in to build houses or whatever, and he would say, well, we go into a new market. He’s like, I gotta find like a yard there to put the heavy machinery, you know, ’cause it’s gonna be an hour and a half driving back and forth. I’ve put it there. It’s, and I never really thought of that, and I think most people don’t think of that. So can you kind of give us an idea of, you know, where are these iOS yards typically located? And I mean, what are the size normally of them? Because obviously if you’re semi-trailers versus like my buddy that maybe needs like an acre, you know what I mean? Or a half acre to put his machinery. You’re gonna have all different sizes and how close they are to where they’re gonna be using this machinery or this equipment. The,

Matt:
The answer to your question is all shapes and sizes, frankly. And, and really in all locations too. I mean, again, I, I keep going back to this port market concept, but for us, so much of the activity and the population center, frankly we have the port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma. Well, Seattle is the largest city in the state of Washington. Tacoma’s the second largest city in the state of Washington. And so you go between the two and, and they stretch each other kind of north to south. So a lot of, a lot of the iOS activity follows that kind of north south curve along the highway. Size wise though, I mean, I see half acre lots. I see 5, 10, 20 acre lots. We don’t, we’re, we’re a pretty land constrained market, so we don’t have a lot of large iOS lots and we don’t have like land out there to create new iOS lots.

Matt:
We’re, we’re using what we already have, right? But the sweet spot for a lot of tenants is really like, anywhere from one to five acres. If you, if you need more than five acres, you’re usually running, like, it’s, it’s a pretty large operation. It’s usually like a national grade, you know, credit tenant, right? That has these kind of operations all over the country. Think again, Amazon, Walmart, large logistics companies Penske Trucking, JB Hunt, who does intermodal services you know, big drayage container companies, things like that. But but there, there, there’s really no key answer to your question. It’s, it’s all over the board. And

Charles:
I mean, how are you, how do these get valued? Because if someone wants to sell one, I mean, I imagine they’re coming to you for some sort of price opinion letter kind of thing. And like what do you, how do you do that? I mean, how are you kind of valuing these customarily?

Matt:
A lot of it is still subjective and experience based. I mean, comps matter, right? I mean, they, I think the comps will always be relevant for real estate, but the, the, the uniqueness, if, if you’re talking like using multifamily for example, like multifamily, it’s pretty straightforward to say, is this class A, class B, class C product? What’s deferred on it? You know, how do we, it it, they’re comparable, right? Ios sites very, one iOS site very rarely is comparable to another iOS site. They may or may not have buildings. This one might be paved, this one might be gravel. There’s high quality fencing on this one. There’s no fencing on that one, right? This one has warehouse and office space. This one doesn’t have a building at all. I mean, it’s just it’s very, very subjective. And consequently, most people don’t know how to price it.

Matt:
I see deals all the time where, where some of my investor clients are getting great deals because they’re undervalued. ’cause People don’t quite realize and understand how to price them accordingly. For me I just have to lean a lot on my experience knowing what the tenants want, what a lot of these tenant businesses can afford to pay for an iOS site and reasonably make the business model work. ’cause That’s, at the end of the day, especially if you’re investing, right? It’s who are my tenants? How much can they afford to pay and actually make rent, right? Versus skipping out. So it’s, but it’s, I mean, as far as values, it’s still the wild west. I mean, we see some cap rate deals out there, but they’re very rare. A lot of times these iOS sites are selling either vacant or they’re being sold by an owner user who’s planning to, you know, maybe vacate or do a short term lease after they close the sale. But it’s still very subjective.

Charles:
That’s great for investors in the know that kind of understand what the true value is for sure.

Matt:
Yeah, it’s an op huge opportunity.

Charles:
So for an investor like that, they buy a piece of land. How do we do a value add? I mean, how would we, you know, we buy for a certain price. I mean, what is our value add strategy that investors would price, I guess, into their business plan? For a ty a type of yard like

Matt:
This, i I would say compared to like a typical value add where you think like aesthetic for iOS, it’s very much function driven, right? So is my site, it’s a lot of the examples I just threw out there. Is it gravel or is it paved? Will tenants pay more If I pave this yard, well then let’s go ahead and get out there with concrete or asphalt or whatever. It’s, and let’s pave it. Does it have a building on it? If the answer is no, how much would it cost me to build a little shop office combo building? And if I have that, how much more can I rent the property for? Right? And so I think it’s making structural improvements to a lot of these properties to that that’s where you’re adding your value. So you’re, you’re buying it, you’re going in, it maybe has, it’s been deferred, it has an owner that didn’t wanna spend a lot of money on, on certain improvements or whatever it may be. You’re going in there hoping you’re getting a low basis to start, you’re planning on spending money. Day one, you’re making these improvements, then you go lease it to tenants at a premium rent versus what you would’ve gotten for it going in.

Charles:
I, yeah, that makes sense.

Charles:
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Charles:
Now, talking about tenants, this is another thing too, because we, you know, you’re saying I guess average one to five acres, which is quite the spread for, I mean, those are two, you know, it’s a, it’s a pretty big spread between of different sized land, piece of land. Do you, I mean, do you have tenants that ever go in that have the intention or maybe if you’re selling a property that already is set up like this, maybe as multiple tenants or subdividing the yard, or are you looking for the best play is one tenant that kind of does all types of things on it, uses part of it, rents out part of it?

Matt:
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I’ve seen it both ways and frankly I’ve seen it be there’s pros and cons to both, right? I mean, if you only have a single tenant, it’s, it’s one point of contact, it’s easy, one check to collect and and that can work out really well, right? On the other hand, if your tenant goes away, there goes your entire income stream. So the beauty of a multi-tenant situation is kind of spreading out your risk a little bit. You gotta make sure that they can all play nicely with each other in the yard. ’cause That’s, that’s really what we’re doing is they’re all, they’re all hanging out in the yard together. But but yeah, a lot of these larger properties, we will divide them up and, and fortunately for iOS depending on how the property lays out, sometimes really all you have to do is throw up a chain link fence between, you know, in the middle of the property and now it’s 1, 1 5 acre property is two, two and a half acre properties. So it can actually be quite simple in, its in its most bare form. So it’s really just kind of personal investor preference. Or again, like a lot of times we’ll go out there and we’ll market a five acre site and all that shows up is a two and a three acre user. We weren’t planning to divide the site, but those are the tenants who have shown up, up, so we figure out how to do it. We make the economics work. And there you’re,

Charles:
Is there any way of like testing the tenant demand for anything, or are we just, I mean, or pretty much it’s just like you’re throwing stuff against the wall and see what sticks, or like you said, you’re, you’re customizing it, it’s like a custom bill almost. Someone comes in there and says, you have a plumber or you’ve got a landscaper, you’ve got a small regional trucking service. And it’s like, we’ll just like put your tenant’s just gonna, you know, put it all together. You

Matt:
Know, experience would say that it’s, it’s, most tenants want the same general things they want. Security is a big one, right? They wanna make sure that what, because usually they’re storing either vehicles or high value goods of some kind there. And even if they’re not high value, they don’t want their things, you know, getting ripped off or broken into or whatever it may be, right? So, you know, making sure that, that the yard itself is, is secured and functional size and shape of the yard. So when you, when you have a building site, right, in order to, to, and building sites can vary in shape and size too, of course, right? But, but naturally to fit a a building, you want, you know, a nice square site. Well, iOS is, is even more sensitive to that in the sense that we make iOS sites work all the time that are triangular shaped or oblong or whatever it is.

Matt:
But again, if you’re parking vehicles or laying down materials or equipment or whatever it is, if you have a, a nice rectangular shaped site, usually it’s just more efficient. And so you can, you can use more space with less acreage, which means you’re paying less as a tenant. So that’s important. I’d say the third biggest thing that tenants really want, and what they really look for is all of ’em want some kind of a building. There’s usually, there, there are tenants out there that use these as pure drop storage yards. It’s, it’s overflow for another operation. Maybe they have down the road. It’s a way point for parking in between two other, you know, critical infrastructure points. So all they really needed is for parking. But most of the companies are kind of running a business outta here, which means they have employees, which means the employees need a roof over their head of some kind to answer the phone, be on their computer and emails, go to the bathroom.

Matt:
All very important. And, and a lot of them to couple with having a structure for an office. What do all these guys want? They all wanna shop. It’s, it’s almost comical to me how often a tenant comes along and they’re like, well, I need a, I need a shop in an office. I’m like, okay, well that’s great. What are you planning on using the shop for? I don’t really know. I guess just like storage and some light maintenance. I’m like, well, do you do all your own maintenance or do you outsource it? Well, no, we all send it to like all the truck shops. I’m like, so what do you, you, you tell me you can’t lease this property unless you have a shop, but you don’t really have a good functional need or use for the shop, but everybody wants to shop in an office. So anyway, I mean, if nothing else, it’s semantics, but shop, office security and functional site, I mean, that’s the, if you have those three things, your site’s gonna perform substantially better than a triangle lot that’s gravel only with a crummy fence and no building. That’s

Charles:
Just kinda right, right, how it goes. Yeah, I imagine on some of those smaller lots where you’re putting the building is really, really strategically important because that can, you’ve got big trucks, they got a swing, all this kinda stuff, parking, all this kind of, everything goes with it. You really have to plan that out and know this is the right location for it. This is the use. That’d be like maximize the use for it. So if a tenant leaves, you now can re-rent it to someone without, I guess major, you know ti kind of stuff.

Matt:
It’s not necessarily overly complicated. It’s very straightforward, but if you don’t have experience and you don’t know it, and you haven’t worked with any of these tenants to understand how their trucks swing or how they lay out or how they flow their business, you’re, it, it is very rife to see people make mistakes. Yeah,

Charles:
That makes perfect sense. So kinda as wrapping up here, I a couple things is that you know, what are common mistakes that you see with industrial real estate investors and this can be any, any part of industrial, whether it’s iOS or any other kind of part of the business, what is something you probably see commonly?

Matt:
I think this is a mistake that isn’t unique to industrial, but I see it in industrial all the time and I’m, and I invest in commercial real estate myself. And, and, and so that’s kind of my basis here of, of where I’m going with this. But I, I see far too often where people are buying the tenant, they’re buying the appreciation and they’re buying the income stream, right? And at the end of the day, in my personal opinion and my kind of investment philosophy is you’re buying the real estate, don’t buy the tenant, don’t buy the income stream. Look beyond what the rate of return is on the day you buy. I think it’s important, right? I mean, I want cash flow from my investments. I want ’em to perform. But if, if the cash flow or the nature of the tenant is driving the value of the real estate up above the true underlying value, the basis right, of the real estate, I think it’s a poor buy.

Matt:
And one of the best examples is, is one you kind of mentioned recently, which is like the whole Walgreens, Rite Aid some of those deals that are trading at incredibly low cap rates, and then what’s happening? The company’s going bankrupt, they’re leaving the building. Those buildings weren’t, they’re not argue, I would argue by all measures, they’re not good real estate. They’re well located typically, but they were built for Walgreens, they were built for Rite Aid. And now you’re going in and trying to replace that income stream in real estate that doesn’t really function for anybody but those groups and and, and it just, and that you’re not gonna get the rent that they’re willing to pay because they were such a big behemoth of a, it just, it just, people fail. People fail. I’ve been watching it happen all over the country and, and I see the same thing with industrial.

Matt:
It’s like you might buy the Amazon building that was built for Amazon and then Amazon leaves and then po I mean, nothing had millions of dollars of improvements built specifically for Amazon that then you as the owner need to rip out or do whatever you need to do for your next tenant. Next thing you know, you’re underwater on the investment. So that’s my biggest piece of advice for investors is, is look closer at the underlying real estate and look past the tenants, the returns, the cash flows. I mean, again, all important. I’m not discounting that, but I see it all the time.

Charles:
Yeah, I can see that being much more, much trickier with a single tenant type property because if you walk into like a CVS or Walgreens, they’re, let’s just say they’re like, they’re very similar businesses and, but if you walk into ’em, they are set up differently. They are configured differently. And the thing though is that you were buying that property with having that tenant there. That’s like the big pull of you there. If it was, you know, you know, Charlie’s pharmacy, I mean, you probably wouldn’t be paying the cap rate you’re paying, you know what I mean? So a thing though is that it is I think it’s one thing, like if you have multiple tenants, like you buy an apartment complex, there’s 10 units and everybody’s paying a thousand dollars a month, you’re like, okay, there’s pretty good proof of concept that I can rent this for a thousand dollars a month, right? But when you’re going in there and the tenant is really the driving force, like you were saying, it’s difficult. ’cause If they leave or I mean, they just back out. I mean, you’re not gonna really go in a legal battle with a Fortune 500 company. You know what I mean? Yeah, no,

Matt:
You’re, you’re spot on. It, it makes that, that’s the hard, that’s probably the hardest part of investing in industrial is is single tenant. ’cause You’re, you’re taking a big bet on one group, right?

Charles:
So Matt, being a salesperson for decades and getting into real estate what are some of the main factors that have contributed to your success over the years? Oh,

Matt:
Good question. You know, I think for me, and I, I, this has worked for me specifically but I think this applies to sales all along. Consistency and follow up is key, right? I mean, we’re in the business, we’re in the communication business, we’re in the information business, and we’re in the relationship business, right? And to maintain all of those three things, I think you have to figure out how to be organized and you have to figure out how to be consistent and, and really following up with people is key. And trust me, I work with brokers all the time and other salespeople who are not organized. So it’s not necessarily a prerequisite or a must, but I think the high performers figure out a way to build a system, stick to the system, be consistent in their follow up, have a routine, right?

Matt:
And, and really just, just come up with the plan and then work the plan. For me, I think that’s, that’s been the biggest one. If, if you’re in sales, I don’t know how you’re in sales if you don’t have a good work ethic, right? I mean, you just, sometimes, sometimes it’s as simple as you have to put in the hours. And I, I think that for me has proven itself in concept over the course of my career is just, just putting in the work. And sometimes I, I beat a lot of my competition based on experience and, and know all, but sometimes I just outwork ’em, right? And that flat out works too. So but yeah, I mean, I, there’s the, the biggest thing I’ve learned about commercial real estate and really sales in general is there’s no one way to do it. I mean, it’s a very there’s a lot of different ways you can go about it, but for me, that’s, that’s probably what’s been the most consistent, what’s worked.

Charles:
Yeah, yeah. Do the work. Some of the best brokers that I’ve met before they are just follow up machines and they are on your, you write back a reply to them of why some property doesn’t work for you. And they’re there like, listen, this is this, this is the, I mean, they are there. They’re not just like, okay, well we’ll get back to you the next one. They’re like explaining it and they’re working through all the problems that you might have with it, and they’re really dedicated to helping you make a decision if this is a property for you or not. So yeah, it’s very interesting. But yes, the follow-up is key. As I’ve heard before from salespeople. The a sale, right? The a follow-up is usually where you make the sale. And obviously real estate’s a little different, but you know, it’s, it’s a lot of follow-up that most people wouldn’t go through. It’s,

Matt:
It’s with, with that in mind, I mean, it’s, it’s cool. The, the business that I work in, I’m, I’m a one man shop kid, or Matthews, my company is very large, but like, I run my own independent brokerage business and I’m a hundred percent commission. I’m a 10 99 employee, so I don’t have working hours. I could show up whenever I want. I could take as many days off as I want. I could do whatever I want, right? So everyone’s like, unlimited freedom. You must get so much free time and time off. And I’m like, yeah, I go on vacations with my family, but if I’m being honest, I am literally working 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, because if I want to win the next deal, impress my client, give them the service that they expect outta me, they’re expecting quick responses, immediate follow, follow-ups, detailed information, and whether I’m, you know, on a beach in Hawaii or here at my office in Tacoma, like they’re expecting that information. So it’s just, it’s figuring out how to bridge that gap. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s, it’s, it’s a great world to live in.

Charles:
Matt, how can our listeners learn more about you and and your business?

Matt:
I would say by all means, I’m, I’m very accessible via phone, email, text. I mean, all my information is very public and available online. So by any means, if I can be a resource for you have a great conversation. I mean, that’s part of what I love about what I do, is getting to meet people like you and people out there in the world. ’cause We, we have so many mutual connections in that regard. But the other thing is, I I, I do utilize social media quite a bit. Linkedin is probably my, my primary platform. So, and I, I go outta my way to try to interact and, and I post a lot of content that is more tailored towards being educational about commercial real estate and industrial real estate, especially kind of giving tips and tricks on investing and, and how to navigate commercial real estate. Because as you know, it’s, it’s, if you’re not in commercial real estate, it’s actually very kind of mystical for a lot of people. They don’t really know it or understand it. So I’m, I kind of try to demystify it a little bit. So yeah, reach out to me, follow me on LinkedIn. Those are, those are probably your two best bets. Awesome.

Charles:
We’ll put those links into the show notes. And Matt, I wanna thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Matt:
Thank you for having me. No, this is a sincere pleasure, so I appreciate the opportunity.

Charles:
Hi guys! It’s Charles from the Global Investors Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you’re interested in get involved with real estate, but you don’t know where to begin, set up a free 30 minute strategy call with me at schedulecharles.com. That’s schedulecharles.com. Thank you.

Announcer:
Nothing in this episode should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Any investment opportunities mentioned on this podcast are limited to accredited investors. Any investments will only be made with proper disclosure, subscription documentation, and are subject to all applicable laws. Please consult an appropriate tax legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Syndication Superstar, LLC, exclusively.

Links and Contact Information Mentioned In The Episode:

About Matt McLennan

Matt McLennan specializes in industrial leasing and sales in South King and Pierce counties. Since joining Kidder Mathews, Matt has facilitated over 3.0 million square feet of sale and lease transactions, with total consideration exceeding $300 million. He received Kidder Mathews’ “Big Hitter” award in 2021, 2022, and 2023, a coveted recognition given to the company’s top annual producers.

Matt excels in adding value and negotiating on his client’s behalf. His tireless work ethic and positive attitude allow him to maximize returns in all transactions he participates in. His ability to build relationships enables him to move quickly, saving his clients time and money.

Before starting his brokerage career with Kidder Mathews, Matt spent four years in various sales and upper management roles in the wine and spirits industry for the E&J Gallo Winery and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits. In his final position, he was responsible for over 100 sales representatives across Washington State while directly managing the internal promotion of a 150+ brand portfolio. He was a top performer in all his roles and was often commended for his critical thinking skills and ability to close the sale.

Bachelor of Science in marketing, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. Matt graduated from the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Matt was involved in several organizations on campus. He held leadership positions, including president of the Order of Omega Greek Leadership, vice president of the Bobcats Senior Honorary, recruitment coordinator for the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and 4-time winner of the Arizona High Regents Honor.

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