Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Joe Serafin. I'm the owner and principal broker of Serafin Real Estate. We're a boutique commercial real estate company based in Loudoun County and we basically sell commercial buildings.

Speaker 2: 0:42

I love that. And now tell me a little bit of a backstory about yourself and how you got started in your industry. What led you here? All that good stuff, sure.

Speaker 1: 0:49

So this is my 20th year in real estate. So if we rewind all the way back to 2001, I graduated from Virginia Tech it was May of 2001, and I had all aspirations to go into the hotel industry, which I would like to vacation, like to travel, thought it was a good fit. I started working for Hyatt Hotels in downtown DC and that was when September 11th happened. That year we were an 800-room hotel. We went from 100% occupancy down to 3%. Needless to say, I was laid off indefinitely.

Speaker 1: 1:26

After a few trial and errors from bartending to law school, which I did not like, I decided to go into, I guess I could say, the family business. My dad was a builder in Fairfax City and got my real estate license really to help him out finding lots and so forth. My uncle, also local, was an attorney, but really he was more a commercial investor. He had a lot of his dealings where, instead of taking a normal fee for his attorney work, he would actually have equity in shopping centers and other commercial dealings Looked up to both of them. So wanted to kind of follow in those footsteps. So that was 2005, 2006. And then eventually was hired on by a firm that did a lot of multifamily buildings. So they had big clients from the Carlyle Group to JBG, and at one point I was licensed in six different states. So Virginia, maryland, dc, florida, connecticut, new Jersey, traveling a lot, doing a lot of multifamily work Around 2016, 17,.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Kind of getting the aspirations as my family and my kids are. You know, we're expanding the family a little bit, we're living in Loudoun to kind of be a little bit more set in a geographic area. The company that I was with really didn't have any aspirations of expanding, or so I decided to launch my own thing and that was in right beginning of 2019. A lot of our client base followed and we have our clients, are friends, close, we develop long-term relationships with them, so it's not like we started from scratch. We kind of brought that along with us. So that led to the formation. It took me about a month to come up with a very creative name. My last name in real estate Seraph in real estate.

Speaker 2: 3:28

Love it. Can't go wrong with that.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Right right.

Speaker 2: 3:31

And now that's quite the journey that you've gone through to get to where you are. What was the transition like? Having your own business, what were some hurdles, maybe that you went through, that, or a lesson that you learned that maybe you could share.

Speaker 1: 3:44

Right. So there's five aspects of business really. There's the sales part of it Sales drives all. There's the financial piece of it and accounting piece of it where you have to really track your numbers. There's the marketing, which I like to separate, which is really getting the word out there. There's your human resources department and then there's your operations department. Well, in the beginning you're everything, so it really is being organized in the beginning to manage these systems.

Speaker 1: 4:14

Now we are very big on technology. I'm a huge technology component. I do not have a background in it but I love the efficiency of it and I think really starting out now I will say starting out, yes, it's nerve wracking. I had a lot of support from my wife and from my family and my very first hire, as you would say, happened to be somebody who didn't have any brokerage experience. But he is somebody who is like family. It's one of my best friends from when I was 15 years old and he had experience in real estate investment and he joined and we kind of expanded things from there where we still had dealings to do, but making that jump more than worth it. And now, with different systems that we've developed, different people that we've brought on, it's kind of more normalized and helped that process.

Speaker 2: 5:15

Absolutely no, and I love that. You said that technology and then marketing is like big and separate from all of that. What are some things that you're currently implementing within your business to get the word out there as far as marketing goes? Are you going to events? Are you speaking at places, social media?

Speaker 1: 5:31

That's a great question and it's all of the above. So when I developed SRE, there was a opportunity there and that opportunity. If you look at some of the packages, marketing packages that are put together on commercial real estate property we're not talking small values $10 million, $20 million and you look at a house that is $400,000 and that marketing package for the house is 10 times better, 20 times better, from the visuals, from the drone that they use to the virtual tours, all of that. Then the $20 million property that's getting marketed Well, I saw an opportunity there. We were going to have our marketing pieces. Well, I saw an opportunity there. We were going to have our marketing pieces Unbelievable.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Yeah, so that was kind of step number one. Step number two is I'm about 20 years younger than the average commercial broker. So if I could utilize and again, don't have to be the best, but technology to be more efficient, I'm going to do so. The latest trend which we've dove right into and I think is going to continue to have an impact, is AI. We're in not really the real estate business, it's the information business. Data is king to us and if we could analyze the data that's out there by certain, let's say, artificial intelligence models to help us analyze that. It just helps us become more valuable to our clients. So if we're trying to sell a commercial property where maybe just the standard value is X but we could really dive into that data and explain why it's X plus Y, we've given a value to our clients by the help of using some technology tools.

Speaker 2: 7:21

Yeah, absolutely no. Ai has changed the game for a lot of industries. Oh, yeah. A lot of people are scared of it, but we've got to also look at it in a way where it's not going to take away some jobs, but it can help benefit your business and the clients as well.

Speaker 1: 7:35

And preparation.

Speaker 2: 7:36

Yes.

Speaker 1: 7:36

You said with giving the events. Yes, the host event. I speak at annual commercial real estate conferences even preparing for this podcast.

Speaker 2: 7:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:48

I had AI do a deep research on the questions that you may ask. Yeah, it knows kind of my history, so I was somewhat prepared for these because of the help of AI. That was summarized everything on what to expect.

Speaker 2: 8:03

Beautiful. Yes, no, it is a great thing. And now, being one of the top 10 real estate agents in Virginia in 2003, it's a significant accolade. What strategies or philosophies do you attribute to achieving this recognition?

Speaker 1: 8:19

Again, it's the long-term relationship building and trust. Ultimately, I mean, we're dealing with individuals. We're dealing with families and family offices, where this might be their largest investment or this is their business. This might be their largest investment or this is their business, and it's a matter of really them trusting us and us being loyal and doing what we say we're going to do. Commit to them providing an extra value when they have a property to sell, for example, how do we maximize that asset for them? So our benefit is working with these, that we're working with the people that we know that we trust and that trust us as well.

Speaker 2: 9:00

Yeah, no, absolutely. And when you're building these relationships, how are you maintaining them? And what systems do you have in place where you know like you've made like a client for life and they're going to refer you? Is there a secret sauce you want to share? You don't have to give everything away, but maybe something refer you. Is there a secret?

Speaker 1: 9:15

sauce you want to share. You don't have to give everything away, but maybe something I think it's you know it kind of just shines through on the on who you are and your personality and you know who you are deep inside, where that actually I think with everybody kind of comes out. And if they can see it in us and see it in me and I see it in them, then the relationship is just kind of born and you just keep that loyalty, you keep that trust amongst one another and it's going to just continue to blossom. And, like I said, our clients for the most part are our close friends. We like to do things other than just doing deals. We may go play golf, we may, you know, have the families get together for dinner, and it's not just all real estate talk.

Speaker 1: 9:56

So I think you know it's getting out there, it's networking, as you brought up. There's different events. Yes, Get involved in all the local chambers and all of that too. And nothing really builds trust more than if you are out there and you're capsizing on, let's say, the deals from press releases that things may be done or results are really the biggest driver. If you can produce results and you make that client happy. You're right there. You've got your client for life, so it's focusing on the results and doing everything you can to get there.

Speaker 2: 10:30

Yes, I love your style. I love how you're just like they're more than just our clients, like they're our buddies, they're our friends. We do all these extracurricular things, if you will, outside of this. So do you hold any events? I know a lot of real estate agents like to have like client appreciation events. Do you have anything like that?

Speaker 1: 10:46

Ours is more going to be on the one-on-one Ah gotcha and also like the lunches, for example. That's where commercial and residential might differ a little bit. You know, again, you have individuals. Sometimes they like to stay private. Sometimes you know they don't want to be out in the world with their, you know, with their holdings or portfolios and all that. So it's more on an individual basis. Yes, we will get together sometimes or have clients at like our own pool parties or things like that, you know, and we have internally a holiday company dinner at the end of the year, but it's usually the events that we go to may be like a chamber event or a commercial real estate event where you know we're there to say hi to folks and maybe get a couple of deals done.

Speaker 2: 11:32

Love it Beautiful, and how many people do you currently have on your team with you, yep?

Speaker 1: 11:37

So there's five people. So I try to keep it all in-house. My goal has never been to grow to hundreds of agents. I am not one that likes managing a lot of agents. I like being in the deal. Yeah, so when I say everybody's close, I told you about the first person. His name's Sean Klein. When I say everybody's close, I told you about the first person. His name's Sean Klein. He joined me in the beginning Again, somebody I've known and been best friends with since we were 15.

Speaker 2: 12:00

Wow.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I can trust him. One of the other guys who's really shined through, grant Wetmore. He was a former commercial lender. He wanted to jump from commercial lending over to brokerage. Well, he had a great book of business. He holds a couple of he held a couple of my loans for me on some investments that I have Thought it was a good fit. And also another guy you could just go grab a beer with.

Speaker 2: 12:22

Nice, yep, gotta have one of those Right, right Another one another guy.

Speaker 1: 12:27

He's a commercial real estate attorney who focuses more on Alexandria area and that was an area we weren't really covering, but he knows inside and out. Yep has a clientele base as well. And finally our office manager. So those are the brokers. Our office manager happens to be my younger sister Keep it in the family, love it who I obviously know in depth and is extremely well organized. Perfect we call her the ringmaster because she kind of keeps us all together.

Speaker 2: 12:59

I love it.

Speaker 1: 12:59

She's so cute.

Speaker 2: 13:02

She'll put you in line and check Exactly. Keep us all right.

Speaker 1: 13:05

It's good to have that in the office Very organized and good reminders and follow-ups, because the business can be chaotic, that's right.

Speaker 2: 13:13

Mm-hmm, yep. And now? Northern Virginia has a lot of opportunities and diverse people all around. How are you able to, I guess, cater to them and help them with their needs when it comes to buying a home or selling one?

Speaker 1: 13:27

Okay, Yep. So yeah, this is another aspect of where commercial is a lot different than residential. Residential there's homes and all that, but with commercial there's so many different asset classes. You have retail, like your retail shops, you have your office space, industrial hospitality. We have specific niches and that was another thing that led to the success. So one was a geographic niche. We're going to focus Loudoun County, North Prince William County and Western Fairfax. It's all about a 10 mile radius around Dulles Airport. So we got to know the market extremely well. I can tell you there's 5,013 commercial properties in Loudoun County today, and a commercial property is anything that you don't live in. So our specialization really boiled to geography and also early education centers.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Yeah, so child care properties, and we saw an opportunity. It's something I kind of fell backwards into. We saw an opportunity it's something I kind of fell backwards into. A client of mine helped them out on a small land deal, happened to actually be the developer for a lot of schools around here and, because a trust level was built, asked me to help sell them. We were very successful in that and sold off quite a few million of properties of that and it just kind of spiraled. So then there was nobody really covering this very specialized niche.

Speaker 1: 14:59

But we're Loudoun County, Fairfax County. There's a lot of dual income earners, which means a lot of the parents. They both work, they both have white collar jobs One's an attorney, one's a doctor. Where they want kids, they're going to put them in good child care, High household incomes, high tuition rates. So it's a lucrative industry. Well, once we did that then we went all in. There's 999 early education centers right now between the three counties. About 2.17% of those sell or transact per year. It's about 20. We capture 85% of that business with an average sale of 5 million. There's the math and that's actually what led us to be the number one commercial broker, not just here but actually in all of Virginia, for early education sales.

Speaker 1: 15:50

That's awesome Over the big guys yeah, so that is the niche that we fell into and amongst that, then that led us to that pays the bills. Okay, we do other things as well Investment properties, triple net properties, industrial single tenant warehouse.

Speaker 2: 16:04

Very nice, yeah, and I know we've touched on like that. Commercial and residential are different. From the residential side, I'm always hearing that inventory is low. Is that the same with commercial too, or is it a little bit different?

Speaker 1: 16:21

It's much different. It depends on the asset class. Right now, the office was hit. Covid slowed down the office market substantially because nobody was going to the office. Companies were. A lot of people were working from home. Companies are finding out that they actually need to downsize from their commercial space.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Let me see what's happening right now with all the office space around, and so it differs in that aspect. If you want to go try to find an office space right now, you're probably going to have pretty good luck trying to find an office space and probably get a pretty good deal on it. On the other hand, especially in Loudoun, industrial flex which is think about an industrial warehouse but like where maybe a kid's zone might be or what you see, really a lot where the data centers are, there are 1.6% vacancy right now. In other words, that is very, very little inventory, a lot of demand and that's a tough property to actually find right now, making it very valuable. Yeah. So again, with commercial, it's not just blanket, it's. What type of property is it? Even if you get into the specialization of early education, those types of commercial centers, it's not every day that one's popping up on the market. So when they do come available. There is a lot of interest right off the get-go. Absolutely no. Thank you for sharing that. That's good to know?

Speaker 2: 17:53

Absolutely good question. Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. And now, your expertise includes strategic planning, financial investment analysis and financial structuring. How do these skills influence your approach to client relationships and property investments?

Speaker 1: 18:07

Another good question. So commercials more with the numbers. And this goes to maximizing the value of a property and maybe restructuring it to maximize that seller's overall proceeds from it. I'll give you an example. This is a case study. So two years ago, commercial investment we call them triple net properties are properties where there's a tenant and the tenant is paying a rent but also paying the landlord's taxes, insurance and things of that nature for pretty popular investment. Two years ago, two and a half years ago, the interest rates were very, very low, meaning buyers were very active in the space because they could buy that property, finance it and make a good return because of the rates being so low.

Speaker 1: 19:00

So the case study is we had a client who had a child care business. He also owned the property. So we advised him that he's going to maximize his property value if he sells the business first to an outside operator. That operator signs a 10 to 15 year lease. So now, once that's complete, he's made some money off the business acquisition. But now the real estate is worth $400,000, $500,000 more on a $3.1 million transaction for just the real estate. So he in a sense netted a half a million dollars more.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Wow, yeah, see, that's why you guys should come and work with Joe. There's the numbers.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Yeah. Now here's another more recent story on the opposite happening on the numbers and you say restructuring. On the opposite happening on the numbers and you say restructuring. We just closed last week on it's actually going to make the papers here this week the former, or the original, arcola Elementary School, which is out in Aldi. It's a 45,000 square foot building originally built as a public school. My client bought it in 2008 and it was being leased to private schools, while the lease was very undervalued. It was therefore undervaluing the value of that asset Due to some restructuring, with the tenant vacating, we were able to and at that time when we had the tenant, it was maybe valued around $13 million or so. Once we restructured that, it ultimately closed at $17 million, adding $4 million for my client by patience and restructuring. So there's numerous stories like that. So that's where the numbers come into play.

Speaker 2: 20:45

Yeah, and speaking of patience, are there times where maybe the people that you're working with are like I don't know, I don't know that I have the patience, it's okay, you can just, we can just settle for this, and do you ever talk them out of that?

Speaker 1: 20:57

That's me. I'm on that side, I'm the impatient one. Yeah yeah, I actually learn patience from them.

Speaker 2: 21:03

Okay, wow Okay.

Speaker 1: 21:05

Yeah. But a lot of my clients, maybe a little bit older than me, and so I do definitely try to learn from their wisdom that day, because they've been around the block longer than I have.

Speaker 2: 21:21

So, yes, right, a little bit off topic here, but what do you like to do on your free time? Do you even have free time, are?

Speaker 1: 21:25

you that busy? What's going on? During this 20 years I learned to time block Absolutely. Yeah, my phone goes on Not Disturb after six o'clock. I love that. I've got three kids at home, all different ages, so you know we spend a lot of time. I mean we actually have dinners together in the night. But I mean the kids are active and luckily having a flexible schedule, able to make a lot of those family commitments as well with my wife and my kids. So now they take up a lot of the free time. Now if it's a personal, I actually get to get out for a couple hours. I've always had a liking, a passion for playing golf. You would never know, because you see me out there, it probably looks like I've never played before. But but yeah, you know it's being outdoors and spending time with family and friends. That's really kind of one of my favorite things to do.

Speaker 2: 22:13

Absolutely. And okay, you emphasize that you have been doing this for 20 years. What advice would you give to people who are hoping to get to where you are, where it's like, okay, look this guy, he puts his phone on, do not disturb, I can't really afford to do that. Or, like you know, you've paid your dues and they want to spend time with their family, but they're at that level where they have to put in that work. They're still trying to get to where you are. What advice would you give to them?

Speaker 1: 22:37

Put in the work A hundred percent. I mean it has to be something that you're passionate about. And don't get me wrong, I still work 10, 12 hour days occasionally, but it's when I want to, yeah, and it's because I want to do it. I mean I'm a very early riser. I do that because I want to get up and I'm motivated to handle whatever the next task is on the to-do list and it's usually deal oriented or maybe something for the company. So if it's something that you're passionate about and it'll motivate you from the get-go, yeah. So follow that, put in that work In order to grow. You got to have people. Don't grow too fast. Make sure it's people that you trust and you could work with. I mean there is a component that's the human level. Yep, you know you got to like the people that you're working with. Yes, and then you know again we're big on technology. So use technology for the benefit. Why it's there to help be more efficient.

Speaker 2: 23:36

Yes, absolutely. I like your emphasis on that, because a lot of people are just like no, it's changing too fast, we don't need that, or like we'll get to it when we do. But you're open to it and you want other people around you to.

Speaker 1: 23:48

Yeah, yeah, learn with it. It could help progress the timeline on a lot of different things with the help of it.

Speaker 2: 23:57

Yes, absolutely. I love that. And then, as the leader of Seraphim Real Estate, how do you foster a culture of excellence and innovation within your team?

Speaker 1: 24:05

Yep. So we meet regularly. My phone's always open to them if they have questions or want to call me about anything or just general help. So I think it's a matter of being an open book and anybody else I am an open book. Even at the real estate conferences that I speak with, I'm not keeping anything really a secret. Real estate conferences that I speak with, I'm not keeping anything really a secret. The reason is is because by the time, even if they do catch on or want to implement it, I might be three steps ahead to that next thing where you know I believe in abundance, where there's enough to go around, yep.

Speaker 1: 24:47

So you know now, maybe when I slow down years down the road or whatever, that I changed my tune a little bit, but right now it's just you know, keep plugging away and and share what you know with the people that you want to around you, that you want to see excel as well, absolutely and speaking about the future.

Speaker 2: 25:12

Where do you see yourself in?

Speaker 1: 25:13

five years as a person and with your business, so probably doing the that's a great question I have. I have a 15 year plan, not a five year, okay, yeah, well, the 15 year, 60 years old, probably slowed down a bit. You know, maybe my daughter, who is the likely one to maybe take over the company because she's a entrepreneur and salesperson at heart. I mean, she's already selling things at school and she's not supposed to be there. I love that, yeah, so we have boy, girl, boy.

Speaker 1: 25:38

But you know, the girl maybe being in the middle has made her pretty tough so there or you know, but really for the next five years, 10 years doing this, you know, maybe occasionally bringing on a person or two to kind of help, you know, with whatever we need, but the expansion is slow. We're geographically focused here for a reason so we can be, and maintain to be, the experts for commercial real estate right here in Northern Virginia.

Speaker 2: 26:06

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 26:06

Without diluting ourselves.

Speaker 2: 26:07

Yes, yes, good point. Yeah, is there anything that I have not touched on that perhaps you would like to share? Whether it's in regards to your business yourself, anything at all could be off topic. Guess, I don't want to say milestone. This was one that made an impact. Yeah, share away please.

Speaker 1: 26:40

So we were approached early last year by the Lord of Life Lutheran Churches out of Fairfax and they had two locations, clifton and Fairfax, fairfax. And they had two locations, clifton and Fairfax, and religious facilities and childcare and early zoning usually is very comparable and usually they go kind of hand to hand. So we secured the project which was to sell off one of the two churches, one of the two religious facilities, and the reason being was because they were going to possibly lose both of them from bank debt. Um, it was uh, right off the get-go. The fairfax location received a ton of interest. We were listed at five million six hundred fifty thousand. We sourced multiple offers well above asking price, 6 million, 6.1 million. That usually doesn't happen in commercial property. When we selected one it went to the Congregational Vote, which was a challenge in itself. There was 300 members of the congregation.

Speaker 2: 27:45

Well.

Speaker 1: 27:47

And that was our original location Voted a very hard no by 73%. Location voted a very hard no by 73%. Knowing that they still potentially could lose both of these because of the bank debt that was owed and being called. So we switched our focus to the Clifton Fast forward a little bit. That was priced at $7,650,000. We sourced a couple offers through some really extreme marketing channels. We secured a buyer for $8,100,000. We did close on that and this is the feel good part of it. That kept that congregation, that religious community, not only just alive with their original location that was built in 1968, it paid off all of their debt, which was around $4 million or so. It gave them that remainder to use for the community. Not only that, but the group who bought the Clifton location was in an Episcopal or a Ethiopian Orthodox church and I did watch the welcoming when they first had their first service and it was unbelievable.

Speaker 2: 29:02

The fact that you guys were able to.

Speaker 1: 29:03

So this transaction a commercial real estate transaction, yes, high dollars and everything else, but saved one religious community, and now they have a lot of good to do with the finances to do it, yes, and gave the home to another one who are utilizing it to its full potential.

Speaker 2: 29:23

So it was a good story. Happy ending for everybody. Happy ending for everybody. I love that. And now they're like I'm sure that removes so much stress from them, so much in every aspect, like money wise, location wise, religious wise, their community like you were able to make that impact for them.

Speaker 1: 29:40

That is incredible and it's those are tough ones. I mean those are. That was an assignment I will say I was not all that sure about from the beginning but I mean, obviously, look glad we, glad we were able to help.

Speaker 2: 29:49

Absolutely, man. No, that's great. I mean, you guys thought about like, I mean not to like toot your own horn, but I think that's awesome, Like maybe put something about that online. I think that would be so great for people to know and see these experiences, especially when it comes to commercial real estate, Because people are like does that? Even have any soul to it Like, yes, it does, it really does.

Speaker 1: 30:08

So we do, and I'll give a shout out to somebody in New York who helped. You know the press releases, ed Winslow, we did, actually the press did pick that one up so and we did another one with McLean Bible that WTOP had picked up Loud, and Time's Mirror, I think, is picking up one of the stories for this week. But yes, when we can, we're getting a little bit better at making a lot of these stories a little bit more publicized.

Speaker 2: 30:35

Yes, I love that, I love to hear that, I love those good stories and then any parting words that you would like to leave with our listeners, and let us know also where we can find you.

Speaker 1: 30:45

Sure. So parting words are. I mean, if you're passionate about something, go for it. Start your business, go for it Best decision that I ever made. Yes, there's a lot of nerves in the beginning, but you know what, if you put in the work, give it some thought, specialize, dive deep into what it is that you do. Can't guarantee success, but there's a really good chance at it, yeah. But can't guarantee success, but there's a really good chance at it. Yeah, and anybody can find me on LinkedIn. Our website, seraphinecom yeah, probably our website's the best way. It's seraphinecom. Also, call our office 703-261-4809, or email info at seraphinecom.

Speaker 2: 31:30

Perfect, beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you very much for having me yeah, appreciate it you.