With business travel rebounding, commercial real estate (CRE) investors may find themselves with more time to consume information from content like podcasts. The problem? Most CRE podcasts are geared toward personal finance investing, the sell-side brokerages of CRE deals, or those looking to break into CRE as aspiring dealmakers.
There are far too many CRE shows for busy dealmakers to sort through while still getting their work done. To help you find audio content that speaks directly to you as an institutional buy-side dealmaker, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite CRE podcasts for 2023 that are worth your time and attention.
1. Commercial Real Estate Pro Network (CREPN) Podcast
The Commercial Real Estate Pro Network (CREPN) Podcast is an audio production created for “influential commercial real estate professionals who work with investors, buyers, and sellers of commercial real estate coast to coast.” The show appeals to a wide range of professionals, including investors, lenders, property managers, accountants, brokers, financing teams, and lawyers.
J. Darrin Gross, the show’s host, began this podcast nearly 7 years ago, and his evolving CRE coverage reveals an increasing maturity as a dealmaker. As a real estate investor himself, he provides an insider’s view of the growing complexity of the CRE landscape, and his thoughtful, challenging questions draw out valuable experiences and insights from his expert guests.
Interested in giving this podcast a try? We recommend new listeners start with Episode #384, “Defeasance, How To Avoid Prepayment Penalties On CRE Debt with Kevin Swill,” which illuminates ways to pay fewer fees on more complicated loan products.
If you subscribe to the Commercial Real Estate Pro Network Podcast, you’ll find it tucks naturally into your weekly routine as a dealmaker. Full-length episodes of the Commercial Real Estate Pro Network Podcast are published every Thursday, and are usually between 30 and 50 minutes long. The show also posts 2-minute teasers every Tuesday to prep listeners for what’s to come.
2. Commercial Investment Real Estate Podcast
The Commercial Investment Real Estate Podcast is another show CRE dealmakers should tune into this year. Published by CCIM, the sector’s foremost nonprofit CRE trade association, the podcast features “leading industry personalities tackling the topics that matter most to commercial real estate professionals today.”
The host, Nicholas Leider, expertly guides dealmakers and their service providers through the various strategies and tactics available amid the sector’s prevailing market conditions. Leider’s creative questioning clarifies the variety of benefits and drawbacks to potential CRE scenarios, helping listeners make smarter decisions.
What makes the Commercial Investment Real Estate Podcast more valuable than other shows is the timeliness of the topics it covers. The show explores the most pressing issues of each season’s unique CRE headwinds and tailwinds. Here are just a few examples:
- “How Big Data Can Fight Uncertainty in a COVID World” (September 2020) — During the first few months of lockdown in a sector that relies so heavily on travel, visibility was top-of-mind for dealmakers.
- “Last-Mile, Supply Chain & Infrastructure Solutions” (March 2021) — As the U.S. was trying to “reopen” for business after the traumatic events of 2020, new supply chain snaggles emerged.
- “REITs Remain Steady Despite Headwinds” (September 2022) — Real estate fund managers who never questioned syndications were now reevaluating REITs in 2022.
We especially recommend listening to more recent and relevant episodes such as the December 28, 2022 episode, where David Wilson, Vice President of Real Estate Development at Ryan Companies, reveals that a deal’s size doesn’t determine its complexity.
“Yes, there’s more invested in the bigger transaction, but that doesn’t really make it any less stressful for the tenant or the company that’s involved,” Wilson explains. “Adding a zero or two or three to a transaction doesn’t make the deal any easier or harder. Simplifying a deal really comes down to how well you can manage the relationships and see the project through to completion.”
3. CBRE’s The Weekly Take
CBRE’s The Weekly Take has marched on for a remarkable 145-episode run. But the podcast outperforms rivals in more than just longevity: Its audio quality, format, guest selection, topic relevance, coverage depth, and charismatic host all work in tandem to inform and entertain CRE dealmakers who are back on the go.
Emceeing The Weekly Take is Spencer Levy, “one of the most insightful commentators on issues of importance to commercial real estate.” By sharing personal experiences and commentating with strong enthusiasm, Levy brings humanity to topics that are often otherwise boiled down to hard numbers and crafty maneuvers.
We suggest new listeners start with the episode “You Showed Me: Putting data to work in CRE.” It’s an empowering conversation that reveals you don’t have to be a data scientist to leverage the wealth of information that flows into, out of, and through your CRE deal sponsor firm.
The Weekly Take publishes episodes every Monday that average around 30 to 40 minutes in length, making it the perfect podcast to squeeze in before your all-hands Monday meeting. Give it a listen and impress your colleagues with your fresh knowledge of CRE current events.
Relevant and valuable commercial real estate podcasts are rare in 2023, but not impossible to find
If you’ve finished listening to the aforementioned podcasts and are looking for something new to listen to, here are some other shows we encourage you to check out:
- Building Places — Real estate company JLL’s podcast stands out for its “snackability,” with episodes averaging around 11 minutes. Learn about trends and stories emerging from the CRE market from experts in the industry.
- The Commercial Real Estate Investor Podcast — Punchy and to the point, this podcast presents a sense of authenticity thanks to its host, Tyler Cauble, a dealmaker himself. Every episode, Cauble uncovers key insights by asking poignant questions and reflecting on his own experiences.
- The TreppWire Podcast — Stay up to date on the CRE industry as the show’s hosts leverage Trepp’s market expertise and proprietary data sets. This podcast will undoubtedly pique your curiosity and drive you to go deeper, do your own research, and improve your decision-making.
- America’s Commercial Real Estate Show — This podcast provides CRE dealmakers with the valuable experiences of seasoned buyers throughout its 645 episodes. Gain valuable intel, forecasts, and success strategies from economists, analysts, and market leaders.
As you listen to these podcasts, you may also consider investing in tools and processes that will help you and your fellow CRE dealmakers streamline your work and supercharge your efforts. By harnessing the power of automation, you and your colleagues can move away from menial tasks and instead focus on valuable relationship-building efforts. You can also integrate an information system to capture your collective information and experiences, providing your firm with real-time visibility into your work and shared knowledge.
Schedule a DealCloud demo now to learn how technology can improve the way you and other dealmakers work within your firm.