Inspiration

I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend in New York City, the real estate capital of the world. The reason for my trip was to celebrate some people close to me who were running the NYC Marathon - needless to say their accomplishment has me inspired to keep going and push through the pain that comes along with achieving goals. The finishers have now recovered and now thinking about what their next big goal will be - shout out to Chelsea and Brittany and the thousands of other finishers for this accomplishment!

Now, back to the real estate side of things - which has always given me inspiration even before I broke into the industry. I've been fascinated with architecture since I was a child - playing "Sim City" and posting various American cities skyline pictures for my childhood bedroom bulletin board. I always imagined what it would be like to build my very own city. Nowadays, I sell pieces of my city to creative investors who see things that others have not yet seen.

I remember visiting Manhattan years ago being enamored with the vast cityscape and energy. Now that I practice real estate I appreciate the absolute greatness that is New York City. Over 40,000 buildings and 243 skyscrapers currently make up the Island of Manhattan, with those figures increasing daily. (Side note: it is absolutely incredible the amount of growth that has occurred in the past ten years in that city - tangible evidence of global real estate investment in the USA, considered one of the smartest investment vehicles in the world.) The complex amount of navigability, negotiation, public & private partnership, management, market/feasibility analysis and persistence required to build NYC to where it is today is beyond immense. That great city didn't just get built by luck of the draw - it has been decades of extremely hard work by professionals of all shapes and sizes. Even a transaction to change ownership of an existing piece of commercial real estate is a complex undertaking for any entity.

To me, NYC represents the American dream. It shows how much we can all achieve in this world with creativity, persistence and relentless ingenuity. So many dreams came true for millions of people building that city. So much hope in everyone who makes it run every day. I am inspired by what is possible.