There’s hope in 2021. The United States is vaccinating millions of people against COVID-19. As of the writing of this letter, cases and hospitalizations were falling across the country. People are optimistic that life will return to a state of somewhat normal in the spring or summer. And next fall? The hope is that children will be back in school and downtown offices will be humming once again.
This all begs the question: What skills did the most successful commercial real estate professionals need to have not only survived but thrived during the pandemic-challenged year of 2020? Because against all odds, many commercial real estate brokers, developers, lenders and property managers did enjoy successful 2020s. And many of these real estate pros are members of our newly elected class of Midwest Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame inductees.
Midwest Real Estate News starts off each year with its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame issue. This year is no exception. Even in the middle of a pandemic, scores of commercial real estate veterans and newcomers closed deals, made sales, opened major developments and loaned plenty of money during 2020.
There’s no real secret formula for how these professionals accomplished this. There’s the value of hard work, of course. Our Hall of Fame members are famous for putting in the long hours. There’s also commitment. Our Hall members work tirelessly for their clients. Their goals are always to get their clients the best possible results.
Our newest members also spend plenty of time studying their markets. They continually educate themselves on industry trends. And in 2020, they spent time reaching out to their clients, finding out directly from them what they needed to survive during what was a truly tumultuous year.
Hall of Fame members also work hard to boost their profession. You’ll find that all of our new inductees find time to give back to their profession, serving on industry boards, leading industry groups as presidents and chairs and volunteering their time to speak at industry seminars and events. This pays off for these professionals: Not only do they strengthen their industry, they also build a network of valuable contacts.
We always look forward to our annual Hall of Fame issue. It’s always inspiring to share the stories of the industry’s top players. And we hope that the strategies these inductees share help you build your business. But this year, perhaps, our Hall of Fame issue is especially important. It’s important to see that even during the worst of times, the commercial real estate industry carried on in 2020. Buildings rose from the ground. Retailers adapted and added to their shopping options. Multifamily buildings remained full.
And through it all, the members of this year’s Hall of Fame continued to shape the skylines, suburbs and business hubs of their communities. If these pros were able to thrive during 2020? They can succeed in any market.