Do you want to learn about the future of commercial real estate? Then tune in to the latest episode of Deconstructed: The future of CRE.
In this week’s episode, we speak with Eric Roseman, Vice President of Innovation and Partnerships of Lincoln Property Company.
The Lincoln Property Company
Lincoln Property Company is an international real estate firm providing a comprehensive suite of value-added services for its clients.
Founded in 1965, the Lincoln Property Company currently has over 8,000 staff members. The company is present in more than 400 cities across the United States and ten countries throughout Europe.
Lincoln manages and leases over 406 million square feet and has grown and developed over 112 million square feet of office, industrial and retail projects. The business also currently manages over 212,000 multifamily units.
Impressively, acquisition activities exceed $20 billion over the last 15 years. Lincoln also currently has over $82 billion in assets under management.
The firm is proud of its local presence in each of the markets it services. Its offices are ideally located for its clientele, including tenants, investors, lenders, and real estate owners. In addition, the brand prides itself on its people and philosophies, claiming this is what gives Lincoln’s solid reputation and track record of success.
As Vice President of Innovations and Partnerships of Lincoln Property Company, Eric knows his stuff regarding technological changes and growth in the real estate industry.
The Changes in Real Estate
The podcast episode begins with Eric talking about the technological changes in real estate and how prop tech affects how new entrants compete. He believes that many people have seen a recent rise in technology, and this helped some people interested in real estate make that all-important jump into entrepreneurship. In addition, Eric notes that the spread of Covid-19 last year gave many people the opportunity to take a step back and consider what’s important in the industry.
He also brushes upon how old practices in the industry are reinvented and how technology improves real estate growth.
Eric also tells us how he expects new investment managers or operators to look and behave. Then, expanding on this, he explains how he predicts teams in the commercial real estate industry to be reinvented. He notes that the evolution of a real estate manager may be someone who is a remarkably charismatic and experienced veteran real estate professional teamed with someone who excels on the data or product side with a solid technical background to get the best of both worlds.
We may expect to see two or three-person teams, smaller groups building the next multi-billion dollar investments utilizing data infrastructure.
Eric discusses the future of prop tech and what he expects the real estate industry to look like in ten to 15 years. He discusses the art of using platforms and tools to help manage workloads for a smoother working process.
The Tenant Experience
The topic of the tenant experience arises, and Eric explains its importance and his future vision of the practice. We learn all about the term and how it will become more relevant in selling real estate.
The tenant experience refers to the experience of a tenant or user of a property, particularly in commercial real estate. The tenant experience covers many features, from the building’s amenities to its community and wellbeing.
Today, the expectations of the modern resident and trends in commercial real estate are driving an improved attitude towards tenant experience. As a result, how people work, live, and play is shifting.
Property owners understand this and are adapting and improving the tenant experience to reflect this. The tenant experience is expected to become even more significant in the coming years.
Eric admits that he was first skeptical of how important the tenant experience was. However, he soon realized that when individual features were addressed in a property, this added to the overall tenant experience, which is becoming more and more important for residents.
For example, suppose a building has community experiences such as yoga classes, dry cleaning services, and easy access to food. In that case, all these features together make the building a lot more attractive to a potential resident. One amenity or quality on its own, however, may not be as enticing.
Entering the Commercial Real Estate Industry
The episode wraps up with Eric giving his advice to young people hoping to enter the commercial real estate industry. That is, making an effort to thoroughly understand the tenant the best you can.
Eric believes there aren’t enough people in the real estate industry ‘getting their hands dirty.’ By this, he means fully getting involved in the process of investing in property, such as touring buildings and spending more time in the buildings you’re investing in. He suggests speaking with the people who sit in a building’s lobby or creating a podcast or blog on a property’s tenants. He stresses the importance of getting to know and understanding a tenant to keep them happy, rather than just looking at their balance sheet or credit rating.
He follows the idea of ‘get closer to the user, get closer to the customer.’ Currently, Eric doesn’t believe enough people make an effort to do this. He thinks most want to ensure they understand what they’re purchasing, but don’t want to spend too much time speaking directly with their tenants.
Eric tells the story of how he ended up meeting with one of his largest tenants living in an asset purchased in Culver City. He spent two hours with the tenant, and the experience was eye-opening, learning about their experience and what they did and didn’t like. By being on-site, you simply discover a lot more which can improve the tenant experience, and essentially help property owners provide a better environment and gain more profit.
To learn about the future of the real estate industry and so much more, click on the episode below to tune in.
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