Feature Image: A 25-story, 385-foot-high mixed-use building is set to break ground in 2025 at 800 Grand Ave., replacing an existing parking garage. Image courtesy of BR Cos. | Rendering credit: Hoefer Welker
Feature Photo: As part of the transaction, MMG has added eight investment sales advisors and a senior project manager to the firm’s rapidly growing national roster with offices now in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas. Pictured, from left: Josh Murphy, Richard Mireles, Mark Diebold, Mike Moffitt, Tyler Salter, Mike Watson, Evelyn Pinner, Nicholas Ling and Alex Thompson. Photo courtesy of MMG.
Homebase hosted MWM's sold-out Multifamily Summit in Downtown Kansas City last week. Mark your calendars now for MWM KC's next event - Mixed Use/Retail Summit - on July 21st. Feature photo credit: Blake Miller, Homebase. To view the event's Facebook photo album, click here.
In this week’s MWM Broker Spotlight, Matt Ledom, CCIM, senior associate director with MMG Real Estate Advisors, shares his experience, passion and drive since his start in the Kansas City CRE environment.
Ledom began his career in the investment sales industry in the summer of 2013 working as a seller representative for Block Real Estate Services. In 2021, Ledom joined MMG Real Estate Advisors with a focus on multifamily investment sales and advising clients in a way that maximizes their investment returns through strategic planning and execution.
MWM: What initially sparked your interest in becoming a commercial real estate broker?
Ledom: My father is in the commercial real estate business (developer and owner) and helped push me in the brokerage direction – the best way to learn the business early on is through brokerage. I also enjoy the competitive environment and the mentality of being in charge of your future. I appreciate that it’s a high-risk, high-reward industry.
MWM: What do you enjoy most about being a broker?
Ledom: We take a lot of pride in representing our clients in the marketplace. They trust and believe we will execute at an extremely high level. We consistently close at, or above, the top end of our valuations!
I love the fast-paced nature of the business. At times, we uncover opportunities and only have a day or two to assemble our thoughts and valuations together. There’s an adrenaline rush to start, followed by satisfaction when our team turns around detailed information so quickly and effectively.
My favorite part is having a pulse on what’s going on around the city in real-time, as well as being part of bringing in new capital that plays a role in upgrading the landscape of our marketplace.
MWM: Can you share a highlight of your goals? Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?
Ledom: We are building something special at MMG. We have an extremely team-centric approach and a combination of local, regional and national reach that allows us to efficiently and effectively assist our clients in moving their capital all around the country. We want to grow our team and increase our production levels individually and as a whole company.
My personal goals are aligned with our team goals at MMG. Excellence in our executions for clients, combined with consistent company growth and continued improvement through hard work and perseverance.
MWM: Can you offer any tips on how you stay on track with your goals and how to be a successful broker?
Ledom: I am fortunate to have been around some very successful commercial real estate executives throughout my career. Some of my mentors include my Father, Mark Ledom; Michael Sullivan with MMG; Alex Blagojevich with MMG; Bucky Brooks with Copaken-Brooks; Lindsay Olsen with MITC; Ken Block with BRES; and Aaron Mesmer-BRES.
Setting goals is extremely important. Having a plan to execute on those goals is equally important. When I look back over my career to date, focusing on what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T do, and utilizing your best skillsets to accomplish pre-set goals can take you a long way.
Ledom graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2013 with a double-major in Real Estate and Operations Management. He also played on the golf team on a scholarship while attending college.
To reach Matt Ledom, you may email him at matt.ledom@mmgrea.com.
To nominate a MWM Broker Spotlight candidate, please email lisa@metrowiremedia.com.
Multifamily property owners have a new team of experts - and a new firm - to turn to when considering a sale.
Alex Blagojevich and Michael Sullivan will lead Mid-Markets Group Real Estate Advisors (MMG) as founding partners and executive managing directors, leveraging their multi-market approach to ensure clients receive maximum exposure from interested and qualified buyers.
The duo, along with four others on the MMG team, brings more than 50 years of collective brokering experience and a vast, nationwide network to its new venture that plans to assist owners of multifamily properties in determining the best strategy for their holdings.
Recognizing the long-standing brokerage framework centered on siloed markets is growing increasingly obsolete, MMG leaders seek to establish a new type of multifamily firm built with the client at the center of the business.
“As part of the industry’s recovery from the recession, a growing number of investors are turning to the multifamily sector for more consistent, predictable yields. In turn, fund advisors are forced to expand their search for properties outside of their historical market focus, and MMG is poised to execute on this well,” said Blagojevich.
Its advisors aim to maximize value for multifamily property owners by providing a fully integrated advisory platform from acquisition to disposition. The team has extensive experience with all subsets of multifamily properties, including student, affordable and senior housing and land services.
Owners benefit from MMG’s national reach, access and expertise. Though the team rose to prominence in the industry selling across the Midwest, South and Southeast, they have continued to expand their market coverage into a national focus.
Collectively, the MMG team have closed nearly 500 multifamily transactions across 110 unique markets in 31 states for a total of more than 100,000 units and $6 billion in gross sales, building a knowledge-base of similar markets and an expansive network of qualified buyer prospects.
“MMG’s diverse relationships allow us to explore opportunities among private and institutional investors. That combination gives MMG the advantage of quickly generating interest from multiple qualified buyers by accessing capital unavailable to other brokers,” said Sullivan.
The team prides themselves on taking a detailed, strategic approach to every assignment and creating the highest-quality marketing materials tailored to each property and market.
“We’ve put together a talented team that delivers exceptional service to our clients, and that’s just one of the secrets to our success. We have the knowledge and resources to support clients every step of the way,” Blagojevich said.
“We don’t believe in one-size-fits all solutions. Rather, every client, every asset and the ultimate objective for each listing is unique. By customizing each solution so that it is aligned with the client’s objectives, we’ve successfully helped hundreds of property owners meet or exceed their goals.”
Prior to launching MMG, Sullivan and Blagojevich led the Berkadia Mid Markets brokerage team to notable success in 2020. By leveraging an aggressive approach despite difficult market conditions, they closed more than $935 million in gross sales.
“Coming off of a challenging year has only ignited our passion for amplifying our ability to deliver outstanding client service. We look forward to maintaining and increasing our momentum in 2021, leveraging our one-of-a-kind, full-service approach to consistently exceed clients’ expectations and deliver profitable outcomes,” Sullivan said.
As members of Berkadia’s Mid-Markets Group, we have seen first-hand the effects of COVID-19 across apartment markets in the Midwest. We have been fortunate to experience far fewer confirmed cases and deaths than the larger coastal metro-areas; however, the effects of the pandemic on the Midwest’s economy have still been significant.
“Stay-at-home” orders have saved lives, but they have also stunted local economic growth—particularly as these policies have shuttered small and mid-sized businesses throughout the region. The commercial real estate market is facing new challenges, but opportunities exist for those who have confidence in the long-term strength of the post-coronavirus apartment market.
Multifamily Industry Impacted, Opportunities Remain
At the beginning of this year, we were very confident we could match, if not exceed, our transaction activity from 2019. But now any attempt to accurately predict what the remainder of 2020 might hold for either our team or our industry is difficult.
Overall, property types are performing roughly as we might anticipate. Industrial and multifamily have fared well so far, while leisure, hospitality, and retail are struggling. What we have seen so far with April collections has exceeded our expectations, but the multifamily industry’s ability to continue to collect rents into May and beyond will be imperative to the industry’s long-term success.
While we are maintaining optimism and thinking the bulk of the damage will be to this quarter’s numbers, we wouldn’t bet against those who believe this could carry well into Q3 or even beyond. We do see long-term positive indicators for multifamily and are hopeful for this downturn to be brief with momentum reestablishing next quarter.
While the current market may seem to be a no-go, transactions are still occurring. From an advisory standpoint, we are providing clients with real time information, asking questions, giving feedback, and offering words of encouragement to help them make the best decisions for their business and their partners.
Working In the New Normal
The shift to working from home has certainly been an adjustment, but a smooth process overall. We are not complaining about the occasional poolside conference call. But in all seriousness, it can be challenging to create new routines and work toward new daily goals. One definite upside? Communication with teams is even stronger than when we were all in the office.
Our Mid Markets Team—made up of investment sales, mortgage banking and servicing specialists throughout the Midwest—has become even more collaborative during this time. We are doing more to stay connected, keep a pulse on the market, and share valuable data real-time so that we can most effectively counsel our clients.
The time we used to spend commuting is now time we are spending virtually connecting with coworkers, clients, friends, and family. We are learning more about the people in our lives every day and it is comforting to know that we are all going through this together.
Where We Go Now
All-in-all we need to listen—sometimes without providing answers—and make peace with the fact that there are many factors we cannot control. We can take solace in knowing that this too shall pass.
We should also explore how to give back to the communities around us. Those of us who are fortunate enough to still have our jobs and our health simply cannot take it for granted. We can all find meaningful ways to help and we should act on them immediately. Soon enough, we’ll be back in the “norm,” but for now, it’s important to embrace the “new.”
