Real Estate Investing as a Legacy Business with Kirk Kessel

How do you build a legacy business in real estate?

Let’s ask real estate investor, Kirk Kessel, who has been in this business for over 40 years. 

As the leader of the Carpenter Kessel team at Compass, Kirk has done pretty much every type of investment over the years. Obviously, he’s been through enough market cycles to know what clicks in this space, and what doesn’t. 

Kirk shares these tips to help you get started with your legacy business in real estate investing:

1. Make those personal connections. 

What’s good about mass texting when these people don’t know you personally? You have to build relationships if you want your business to last, and that means personally connecting with your clients even if it means knocking on doors.

2. Use other people’s ideas to implement your own.

Aside from networking, the reason you go to seminars or any big event is to be able to apply what you’ve learned to your own business. The real value happens when knowledge is put into use.

3. Maintain integrity.

For Kirk, integrity is the most important trait any real estate investor could have. Relationships are more important than numbers. 

It's not how quickly you can get a deal done so you could go to the next one, it’s more about making sure you’re keeping your integrity in every deal. Otherwise, you do one bad thing and word goes out like the speed of lightning. 

4. Buy something that you don't mind owning 30 or 40 years from now. 

Look at type A properties where you know it’s not going to cause you a lot of stress down the road, in terms of things like difficult tenants or collecting rentals.

5. Don’t be greedy.

A lot of investors nowadays are greedy and this still goes back to the integrity issue. When you're trying to buy something or sell something, put yourself in the other person's shoes. Treat others fairly and they will treat you fairly.

6. Think long-term. 

If you want your business to last for 40 or 50 years, think about doing everything long-term – whether in your relationships, partnerships, and investments. That’s why having a mindful approach to how you do business is super important.

If you want to learn more about real estate investing as a legacy business, check out www.trustgreene.com/podcast/zen/009.