The Five Cores: how to actually pick an advisor

The person you hire to sell your building matters more than almost any other decision in the deal. Over the years I boiled down what actually separates an advisor who performs from one who just lists. I call them the Five Cores.

Competence

Confidence can fake competence. Be wary of the advisor who boasts a "ton of buyers" and then slaps a sign on the building and hopes the right one drives by. If your property is in Florida, the buyers in New York can't see your sign. You want someone who can actually produce a result, not just a listing.

Concentration

The one-stop shop that will list anything, at any price you want, sounds great in the moment, right until the market never yields that price and you've burned months. A specialist in your exact product type knows what actually adds value to the buyer pool. Find a specialized expert for each sector of your portfolio.

Collaboration

Some brokers hoard listings and try to slam their own buyer into the deal for an extra buck. The deal sells, just for less than the market would have paid. The majority of my deals sell to buyers outside the state they're listed in, through brokers outside my own team, because a wide net reaches buyers a closed one never will. Out-of-area buyers will often pay a premium for the same asset.

Competition

One offer means one buyer with all the leverage: "my offer expires in two days, and I'm your only option." That's a bad seat. The right advisor drives multiple competing offers in a short window, which both shows you where the real market is and hands the leverage back to you.

Candor

The most important core. Everything else is worthless if you can't trust your advisor's character. An advisor who truly aligns with your long-term interest, and who will tell you to hold when holding is right, is the whole game.

Miss competence and you're guessing. Miss concentration and you get generalist advice on a specialist asset. Miss collaboration and you fish with one hook instead of a net. Miss competition and you take what you can get. Miss candor and none of it can be trusted. I go deeper on each in the Handbook, but even one missing core is a reason to keep looking.