Navigating Personal Loss and Achieving Abundance with Real Estate Veteran Dan Lewkowicz

Speaker 0

You're in for a treat with this one. Dan Lukawitz joins us. Man, this is jam packed with high energy and lots of lots of knowledge, from Dan about commercial real estate, residential real estate life, holy cow. We we really really covered a lot in this one. He's got a lot. He just really it's high quality, high energy jam packed episode for sure. We talk I got him a little bit uncomfortable, I think, in a in a sense. He's not used to going on. He's used to doing hundreds of podcasts, but he's never really gotten so personal. And he handled it perfectly fine. I really appreciate how how he handled it, but we dive into some things that are more on the personal side. As opposed to just the ins and outs of real estate. So, he's been through a lot for sure. He had, you know, the death of a very close friend when he was young, when he was in college, which really shaped a lot of his a lot of his life after that. And, you know, went through a divorce, lived in Israel for four years. We talk a lot about the ebbs and flows of life and how life is not a straight line to six success or anything like that. A lot of pivotal moments, a lot of lessons learned. When I asked him about book recommendations at the end, he rattled off, like, seven amazing books. We talk a lot about boundaries and and and, creating structure in your life, and how rules are really important and and can actually be very freeing and, can be empowering. And sometimes you need to take a step back in order to really focus and make progress, both professionally and personally, tons and tons of of good stuff in this one. I know you'll enjoy it.

Speaker 1

Welcome to the from adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring on super newer, then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you impactful stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. A life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle. Join us and you will experience the power of true stories and gain practical knowledge from founders who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health, relationship, and financial challenges So you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life you are destined to live. Turn your adversity into abundance.

Speaker 0

Alright. Here's the deal. You work hard for your money. Isn't it about time you put your money to work for you? If you are an accredited investor, check out labrador lending dot com. Our integrity income fund provides monthly cash flow from an investment backed by hard physical real estate. Our income fund, which is uncorrelated to publicly traded stocks and bonds, invests in first lien mortgage notes, diversified by geography, property value, and borrower type. So you're not investing in one project. You're investing in a diversified portfolio of first lien mortgage notes. Our integrity income fund aims to pay its investors monthly distributions, at a preferred rate of return of eight percent annually. Possibly the best part though, the fund showcases a short twelve month commitment. So you can invest your capital today and have access to that capital in one year. Check it out today. Labrador Lending, dot com. Welcome everybody to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. I'm your host, Jamie bateman, and I'm pumped today to have with us Dan Lukowitz. Dan, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2

Doing great. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 0

Absolutely. So Dan is a senior director of Encore Real Estate Investment Services. He's got a ton of commercial real estate experience in his background. And, yeah, I'm just pumped to have you today. Talk to us Dan about what you're up to professionally and, why the listener should listen to you?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So as you mentioned, I'm a senior director here at on Cor Real Estate Investment Services. We're a boutique net lease investment sales firm. So we specialize in, you know, assisting investors in the purchase and sale of properties like Walgreens, CBS's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Wendy, Dollar General, medical office buildings, industrial spaces, you know, shopping centers, etcetera. We have, about forty agents. And, last year, we did just shy of a billion dollars. We did nine hundred and eighty five thousand nine hundred and eighty five million dollars of transactions in forty three states. So you know, we're definitely a powerhouse of a brokerage in terms of why people should listen to me. I mean, I've been in the real estate industry for, almost twenty years. I created the CRE pro course, which is a commercial real estate training course. And, you know, I'm I'm day in day out in the trenches working with all different types of deals and and every facet of of the net lease space. So, I'm definitely somebody who can add value to those who are looking to learn about net lease, or who are looking to purchase or sell commercial real estate.

Speaker 0

Absolutely. That's awesome. Yeah. I'd love to dive in in a little bit as far as kind of the specifics of net lease and, you know, triple net lease and all that stuff. And and also what you're seeing today with regard to the market changes. Obviously, that's a That's an important issue for sure. Let's jump back into your backstory, Dan. You know, as far as, you know, the podcast, We're speaking to entrepreneurs. We certainly have a lot of real estate investors. A lot of people have be built real estate businesses or or are passive investors in real estate. But what we, you know, what we wanna share with the listener is is that life is not always rainbows and unicorns, and There are a lot of struggles and challenges with regard to, yeah, honestly, all of us have struggles and challenges, certainly with regard to building a business, we end up having health, relationship, financial struggles along the way. And so the podcast is meant to inspire people that, you know, you can get through those hard times and you can still get to a period of abundance. And I usually put that in air quotes because we're never done with our our struggles. Right? So, I'll stop rambling, Dan. Why don't you jump back into your backstory and and and let's drill down into some of the adversity that you faced?

Speaker 2

Yeah. And I definitely appreciate that. I mean, I think that it's very important today, especially to focus on not only the abundance and the success that people have had, but really what got them there and the adversity that they overcame I think that that's not shared enough and, you know, kudos to you Jamie for really, you know, teasing that out. And, and, you know, I'll say I As you know, I've I've spoken on hundreds of podcasts and typically it's they're focused on, you know, the the idea aspect, the knowledge aspect, the business aspect, the success aspect, definitely not nearly as larger of us focus as we have here on the adversity, which I can definitely really respect and and and appreciate. And I think that you're gonna kinda get me out of my comfort

Speaker 0

zone to

Speaker 2

talk about some things maybe that I wouldn't have. So so, you know, do a Steve on that. So I guess what I'll say is, you know, where I am at this point in my life, I I kinda look at life as an ebb and flow. You know, it's really a cyclical process it's not a straight line. It's not a line going up in one direction or going down in a different direction. And if I look back in my life, I've seen periods of massive success. And periods a massive challenge. And I think that being able to pull back and look at them kind of from a more, you know, macro perspective allows me to tease out certain nuances that have helped me to succeed and to pull through adversity, which I wanna touch on first and then I can go into some of those those periods of adversity as I know you you, you know, you'd like me to. So I, you know, in general, I think for me, I've always noticed that when when life is abbing and flowing and kinda coming down and it hits that bottom point. Right? For me, the inclination is like, you know, Murphy's is like, I guess what is it? It's one of Newton's laws, right, is that an object in motion stays in motion, an object at rest stays at rest. So my inclination just kind of stay there. And I do notice that I spend a decent amount of time trying to figure out, well, hey, what are my next steps to keep going up? Right? And what I found is that the more I can cut down on that downtime where I'm just at the bottom saying, you know what? I'm at rest. I'm not gonna keep moving. Right? The the faster I get going and the better off I am. Sure. So, you know, that being said, I think that for me, you know, if I look at my real estate career, I think it really started around two thousand five when I helped to form a business with some friends called disability made easy, which is a barrier free home modification company. I did all the sales and marketing But I did have the opportunity to, spend some time with one of our project managers, and we would go around to different properties, and take a look at them and give estimates. And I remember I'll never forget. This was, like, a big moment for me. We drove out to someone's property and I went there and I said, how in the world is this property gonna work for this guy in in the wheelchair? You know? It's totally functionally obsolete. It's not barrier free. You know, this just doesn't work. And in forty five or ninety seconds, I watched the project manager. Take out a piece of graph paper and a pencil and sketch out a whole new front elevation and a whole new layout to the home to make it, into something that was suitable for this, this owner. And that kind of clicked on a light bulb for me. I recognize that there's an opportunity in real estate to take something and to change it and to make it better. And that really, really excited me. So, you know, that that's what really got me started in my journey, but what I will say is that there was massive adversity for me personally right before that. Okay. So I graduated college or I should say right, yeah, right before that. I graduated college in two thousand six, in two thousand three. So we're going on twenty years in December, which is unbelievable. You know, I had a very, very close friend. We went to high school together, went to college together, and we were like two peas in a pod. I mean, we went everywhere together an incredible individual. His name was Noah Lincoln. And unfortunately, in December of twenty two thousand three, He was killed in a car accident that, I was supposed to be part of. I was supposed to go out with him to, you know, a party that night. Something told me not to get in the car to go back to my dorm for a short amount of time and then meet up later. And in those fifteen minutes, my friends got into a a pretty bad car accident unfortunately, I lost, you know, at the time, one of my best friends. So for me, that was a time of tremendous adversity because I was like getting ready to go out into the world I was excited and, you know, we had plans of like taking over the world and, you know, becoming rich and, you know, traveling all over the world together as friends and it just It just all of a sudden in one moment came crashing down.

Speaker 0

Yeah. No. I I appreciate you sharing that and being vulnerable. It's in And and the truth is, yeah, we are trying to you've been on on hundreds of shows, and we're we're trying to be a little bit different. I'm I'm not gonna lie, but at the same time, I'm not trying to use people's pain as a commodity, and and we, you know, we're hoping you don't cry on the show, and that's not the that's not the goal here. But I do genuinely appreciate that. I mean, that's I've never had that happen. I've certainly had close friends. I have had friends pass away, but I've never a close friend like that. And at such a, you know, formative time, like you're saying, you know, you had plans for the future. And then all of a sudden, in an instant, everything changes. So how did that episode and that that pain and that that ensuing weeks and months, how did that kind of transform your your approach to either your professional life or just your your life as a whole?

Speaker 2

Yeah. I mean, so I was, you know, in in the middle to end of of college. So I wasn't yet into my professional life, but I I, you know, unfortunately, being that I was, you know, in such close proximity, I I went to the scene of the accident and I was there, you know, I didn't see it happen, but I was there for all the aftermath and it was rough. I mean, I I I couldn't sleep for for months. You know, I would just have flashbacks of the event. And, you know, I really I I felt like this huge weight wanting to kind of push me down almost like into a depression. And for me, I just said to myself, like, I gotta keep going. I don't know where I'm going, but I gotta keep going. And You know, that was definitely it was a challenge. And then it still is. I mean, it's twenty years. Unbelievable. It's twenty years, but half my life ago, but it's still, you know, I still miss him, tremendously and still wish that I could, you know, share all these amazing events with him. So, you know, it definitely has had a has had an impact on me.

Speaker 0

Yeah. Absolutely. We had a guest, his name's Chris Larson. He's also, He's a more of a capital razor, but commercial real estate investor. And his, we had him on the up on the podcast a while back. And He had a a training of bicycle, training buddy that were best friends, like, you know, through you spent every every moment together and his friend passed away, and it just, I think it was around college. It might have been right after college, but, you know, it certainly had a major impact on on the way he approached life and just kind of appreciating appreciating life. So I definitely advise the listener to go back and listen to that that episode. You know, and I can just I'll just quickly throw this in. You know, I was, deployed to Iraq in two thousand five, two thousand six. And we were supposed to be in as out west, where another we ended up switching with a different team. And so I've ended up going to a different location than, you know, you said you were you were supposed to be in the car, basically. And I was supposed to be in a different location. That team where I should have been would have been had a much rougher deployment, they, you know, they had people killed and and, you know, wounded. And, whereas ours, not saying it was uneventful entirely, but it was it was it was a lot easier. Right? And so there was, you know, maybe maybe some guilt. I mean, it's nothing I did. It's nothing you did. You know, like, that that you, you know, but Was that something you had to wrestle with as well?

Speaker 2

Definitely. I mean, had to wrestle with. I mean, it's been I've been wrestling with it still. Like I said, it's had a huge impact, but I think for me, you know, because at the time I was when I was in college, you know, I was into like the car scene very hard before and I still love love cars. I'm very passionate about cars. But we were, I mean, we were doing stupid things we were do we were involved in a lot of street racing in Detroit and, you know, I I I know that looking back I told him to relax and take it easy and, you know, stop and, like, all those things, like, hey, this is not, like, this is not safe. I know that I was that voice of reason, But for some reason for, you know, twenty years almost, I held it in my inside of me that, like, I could have done more. Like, I if I just would have stopped and and and and took him and said, hey, man, you, like, you gotta stop doing this. You're gonna get killed. Like, you're gonna people's lives are gonna get messed up if you keep doing what you're doing. Sure.

Speaker 0

And I

Speaker 2

think that for a long time, I couldn't forgive myself for not doing that. And and honestly, there was a little bit of maybe like a survivor's guilt. Like I was the one that decided not to get in the car and everybody else got hurt. One person got killed, you know. Right. But I think over the years, I I learned to recognize that I did I did speak up. I did I did try to stop it. Yeah. Yeah. And and I I did the best I could at the time. Absolutely. Given with the tools that I had.

Speaker 0

Absolutely. And and again, easy for me to sit here on a podcast and say this, but you really can only control what you can control. Right? You can control everything because that's true for all of us. So Yeah. So how did, you know, how did things move forward for you as far as your after after college?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So after college, I graduated. You know, I I, like I said, I was involved in that business with some friends. A lot of fun. Shortly thereafter I actually moved to Israel. And I lived in Israel for four years. I I actually got married, had a child, and tried to, like, make things work there, foreign country, foreign language, really no family. I was there for four years. And at the end of it, like, you know, I was broke and, you know, had my psychology degree and, you know, a child and another one on the way and, and, you know, trying to figure out life. And and again, boom, that's now back down to that next, like, you know, that that that, I guess that would be like an ab down at the bottom and, came back to Michigan. I got a job as a development director at the largest Jewish day school here in Michigan, started doing development, And then boom, it came time for my family and and myself to buy a house. And this was, again, another pivotal moment, which is interesting. The pivotal moments, they usually come right after those downs. Right? And, I, I was looking around. I found a house that was moving, ready, ready to sign a contract. And then all of a sudden I got wind that there was like, one block over, there was a bank owned property completely, like, dilapidated every single surface and it was, like, not lovable. But it was, you know, a third of the price. This was during the, excuse me, during the last, you know, the the recession.

Speaker 0

Yeah.

Speaker 2

So I bought that property, hired some contractors literally every day was there with them learning, figuring out how to renovate a house, and really fell in love with the process. And at that point, that really set off a whole that was like a catalyst. Before I was finished with that house, I bought another house, and another house, another house, and probably, you know, seventy five or eighty houses later in terms of of flipping. And that's where I really got into the real estate investment space. And I really started seeing, like, you know, success and enjoyment and fulfillment and and and I recognized, you know, real estate was in fact my passion.

Speaker 0

Sure. So you had With regard to real estate, it sounds like you had at least two kind of pivotal moments there, the the one you mentioned with the, man in the wheelchair, and then the the second one, where you saw that you you, I guess, saw the house across the street and then did your first flip. Yeah. And that's awesome. And I and I love the fact that you're pointing out that absolutely life ebbs and flows, and it's not a a straight line to success or happiness. And, you know, yes, our show is called from adversity to abundance. We don't pretend like, oh, Dan had adversity and now he has abundance. And it's just not not how not how it works. But the fact is there there are a lot of lessons that our listener could take from your story and that you've applied in your own life, whether it's mindset or, you know, behavior approaches and things that we can touch on, that are that absolutely impact your perspective and just your day to day abundance that you end up having in your life. Right? So

Speaker 2

Absolutely.

Speaker 0

There are tactical things we can do to make our lives better and to get become successful, become happy, become you know, you just the best version of ourselves regardless of whether we have adversity still or not So, okay, you got into house flipping and and in in a pretty big way, I would say. I mean, that's that's a lot of houses flipped. What was your just with it, with regard to the single family house flipping? What was your specific role in those deals?

Speaker 2

Well, I would source them. I would raise the capital and then I would project manage. So I was hiring out all the trades individually and kind of stepping in and being the general contractor, you know, maybe in hindsight.

Speaker 0

I I

Speaker 2

don't know if I would do that again. I mean, I don't do that again. Now, you know, if I have houses, I I use a a g c. But that was really my role, the sourcing, the financing, the investor relations, you know, and then contractor management, and then I would hand it off to an agent to sell, at that point.

Speaker 0

Yeah. Makes makes a lot of sense. And, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but my my, well, my my opinion is house flipping is really not real estate investing. It's a ton of work. It's transactional. It's it's a job. I mean, it can be very lucrative. I'm not saying it can't be. But it's not real estate investing. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2

I mean, I look at at single family house flipping as, like a gateway drug. You know, I think it's a way into more advanced real estate investing. Sure. For for a lot of people. Yeah. I would agree to you. It's not it's more of a it's more of a job, right? Because it's so active. You know? Yeah. It's an investment. Yeah. Sure. You're making an investment. So you're really, you know, putting in some blood sweat and tears.

Speaker 0

And so

Speaker 2

I'll be the first to tell you, like, I've had some massive successes in the house flipping world. And I've had some big flops, you know. So there's a lot of risk in it. I'm, you know, anyone who is getting into it should recognize that there's me a lot of risk involved in house flipping.

Speaker 0

Yeah. And that's another point we could draw out real quickly is that, you know, people love to say active active investing versus everybody's looking for passive investments. Right? And I'm I'm editing a mastermind. It's called the passive income mastermind. I I run a couple of mortgage note funds for passive investors. But the reality is there's a lot of in between, you know, so flipping is a very active meant. We'll maybe we can we can settle there. But, so how did things transition? Was it the market or Was it your own interest to change what happened after the flipping phase?

Speaker 2

So so that phase kind of moved along, you know, in the following manner. Initially, I was doing I was flipping in in very specific communities close to where I lived. Prices were very low. I mean, we're talking about, you know, during the recession. But as the market started to heat up, you know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, the the prices really, you know, went up. So I think it was in fifteen or sixteen. Moved my company into the city of Detroit rebranded it, and started doing the same thing, but in Detroit because, you know, the city of Detroit in many places was seven to eight years behind the rest of the country in terms of the foreclosure crisis and in terms of, you know, house values. So I I moved it into Detroit. And at that point, I actually so I was I was working as a running a sales department for a title agency, learning about title. That's why I took that job. And I was working at Amazon as a business development exec, you know, doing the house flipping on the side. And then eventually around two thousand fifteen, two thousand sixteen, I left Amazon and went a hundred percent full time into house flipping. Had some big scores, you know, some of the the best flips of my life not only in terms of just the numbers, but, you know, in terms of sheer enjoyment, you know, taking homes from the nineteen thirties in Detroit and restoring them, you know, upgrading you know, things like, coal coal fed boilers to, you know, modern forced air, but, you know, maintaining some of the, you know, characteristic historic charm of the property. It was such a great lot of fun. And you know, a lot of rewarding experiences getting first time homeowners and and and others to buy the properties and just be so satisfied and so happy.

Speaker 0

And

Speaker 2

then at a certain point, you know, I I kinda had to I mean, I I guess should back up a little bit In fifteen, sixteen, when I left Amazon, I remember thinking to myself, you know, how many houses do I need to own to replace my my w two income? And I the number I came up with at the time was twenty. So I went out bought twenty houses, raised the capital, and started working on them And and and that for me was, like, really, you know, turning off point because, you know, that was the last time that I worked at corporate America and had w two and wasn't, like, so to speak my own man. There's really no looking back. You know, I told somebody the other day. I'm I'm not really employable anymore as a WSC. Well, yeah. You know, just because of my mindset and what I do on a day to day. But, you know, after that, what happened, Jenny is I kept going and kept going and kept going and, you know, I know that for me later, you know, I made a post about this recently. I I I put a video up on LinkedIn with a a hellcat doing a burnout, you know, at the Dream Cruise this past weekend. And I I wrote a whole post about how, you know, it's one thing to have power and power is like charisma and hustle and grit and sales acumen and all those things. But you can have all the power in the in the world. But if you don't have traction, right, you're gonna be spinning your wheels. And for me, traction is like systems and, you know, scheduling and discipline and just stick to itiveness and, you know, those types of things. So when I was younger, I had a lie. I had all this energy, but not a lot of traction. And and and this is where I kind of I veered off course. I I bought a lot of properties. I got excited. I was buying five, ten thousand dollars a house. I was buying these properties a lot of times in the winter, not knowing what the neighborhood was like. And then the summer comes along and all the gang members come out and the drugs come out. And, you know, I just remember sitting on this block with my team in our our trucks and all of a sudden, you know, SWAT pulls in and the police block off the roads and helicopters are are up in the sky and, you know, there was a raid that went wrong and there were were people that were shooting in the streets. And I was just like, I am gonna get killed. And I and at that point, you know, not that day, but within a few days afterwards, you know, one of the neighbors, there were a couple of kids lived across the street from one of the houses I was flipping. And I I the kids want a job, so I let them work for us. You know, these were young kids, and I I felt like I was doing a good thing. And, One day, the kids come running over to me, their their stepfather had killed their mother. Like, right in the like, on the front lawn. I couldn't believe it. And and and here's these little kids that are gonna be going to, you know, gonna be going to to to live in foster care. And I said to myself, I said, like, I'm not gonna end up you know, dead. I got I've got my family. You know, I've got I have five kids. I have people that are counting on me. And at that point, I, you know, I decided to, you know, leave the house flipping world full time and get into commercial, you know, net lease investment sales brokerage. I had a lot of what I called toxic inventory properties in that neighborhood that I didn't didn't ever wanna see again. And I remember talking to one of my friends and just deciding, like, I gotta get rid of these properties even if I take loss because they're they're weighing me down. And when once I did that, Jamie, I felt that weight off of my chest and I was able to, like, really take off in commercial brokerage things.

Speaker 0

That's awesome. Yeah. No. That's a really key point too. It's it's sometimes it's okay to take some steps back to, you know, financially, it sounds like you probably took some steps backward. Sell those properties because it gave you clarity and and peace of mind and freedom to be able to focus on the much bigger goal in front of you. I'm just curious what so know, like, I used to, you know, I got into listening to bigger pockets. Like, a lot of people did, you know, back in the ten years ago, whatever. And, Josh Dorkin used to kind of bash Detroit. I don't know if you ever listened to any of those episodes, but he used to say stay away from Detroit. You know, don't touch Detroit as far as investing goes. What would you say to that?

Speaker 2

I mean, I would say that, like, Detroit is a special animal. It's a different market today than it was when I was doing this. That's first things first. But, you know, there's opportunity to make a lot of money and to be successful, but Detroit has its own unique set of issues You have to be so careful. I mean, Detroit is like nowhere else I've ever been in the world. You know, it's it's not only like neighborhood by neighborhood. It's blocked by block and house by house. I mean, you might have a beautiful few houses in the next door. There's a drug dealer. And across the street, there's a house that's totally burned out. So you just gotta be careful. Don't do it without someone who knows what they're doing. I mean, and that's probably good advice for anything, but especially trusting

Speaker 0

in Detroit. Absolutely. And I'm I'm I'm outside of Baltimore, and and what you just said perfectly describes Baltimore as well. So it's very block by block, and you gotta have boots on the ground and know what you're doing for sure. So talk to us about the the pivot into commercial real estate and how how that went.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So that was kind of like, you know, put all your chips on the table move. You know, I I I I was going through some other personal things at the time. My four oldest children are from, my first marriage. And, at that point, you know, my wife, was planning on moving the kids to to another state and had a long drawn out core battle that just was emotionally draining. You know, I did everything I could to try to keep them full time in Michigan, but unfortunately, it's not successful. So during that period, I kinda was like, I gotta start over. Like, You know, I don't have I I spent all my money on this legal this legal fight.

Speaker 0

I don't

Speaker 2

have my houses anymore. And I'm I'm I'm in commercial real estate brokerage which means I have zero salary and I'm counting on commission checks. So I remember just saying to myself, I re actually, I remember I was reading think and grow rich. And one of the things that that Napoleon Hill says in there is that, you know, some people become successful, she purely out of necessity. I was like, that's gonna be me. That that is me. Like, I I said to myself, I can't afford to fail. That failure, it's like that M and M song. Failure is not

Speaker 0

an option.

Speaker 2

It just wasn't an option. That's just the way I looked at it. And not because I was trying to psych myself off, but because that's that's true. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Couldn't afford to fail. So I put everything that I had into commercial real estate brokerage. And thankfully, I was able to take off very quickly, you know, and get my deal within the first few months, my first closing within the first six months. And and really, you know, push myself. And I got to a point where I was just doing deals, doing deals, doing deals, doing deals, And then what happened? COVID hit. Right? Mhmm. And and the world shut down, which for commercial real estate, people were saying it's over. Like, everything's getting implode. And I remember, you know, listening to brokers who I was talking to, and a lot of them were saying like listen, man, I'm gonna write off the next six months or a year. I'm just gonna go and, you know, put myself in a in a bowl and come back out when it makes sense. And I said to myself, I said, again, I can't afford to do that. I've got too much momentum going right now. I wanna keep this going up. Right?

Speaker 0

Yeah.

Speaker 2

But I also think to myself, when other people are putting their foot on the brake, that means I gotta put both feet on the gas. And then that's really what I did. And that helped me to really power through COVID and my business and my production and my success really took off. And continued as the market just became white, white, white hot. And then, obviously, as most people who are in the commercial real estate space know, you know, we had this whole interest rate, you know, massive movement over the last sixteen months. I said the same thing. You know, people were panicking. The news headlines were not good. And I said, you know what? Head down, focus on the fundamentals. Don't worry about what else is going on. And, you know, thankfully, this is this is shaping up to be one of the best years yet.

Speaker 0

That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, and the fact is, like, you know, real estate compared to the stock market and other other investment classes. Real estate moves very slowly. Right? Even though the headlines may say something and then even if they're accurate, it's like you still if you understand the fundamentals like you do, you have time. You have time to pivot. So if you're still engaged. Like you said, you, you know, sounds like you were even more engaged at that time, than than you had been even before. You know what to do. You know, you know, what your fundamentals are, what your principles are, what your investing strategy is. And I and I found that to be true across just in general during the pandemic. There were there were those who took it as a, you know, I'm gonna watch Netflix all day. And there were others who said, this is Awesome. This is a huge opportunity for me to really drill down and get ahead. And, you know, I I started couple businesses during that time doesn't mean they're they're, you know, everything successful that you do, but it but it's I definitely I appreciate that you used it as an opportunity, so that's awesome. And so talk to us about kind of the last, say, three years. How has that looked from a a professional standpoint?

Speaker 2

Yeah. I mean, I, you know, obviously, we can't control, much in life. Right? We control ourselves. And there are always gonna be absent flows, but I've watched my really even out over the last, I'd say three to five years. I really need some major, you know, shifts internally. But, you know, I've been I've been engaged completely in commercial real estate brokerage. I've been having a great time making some great relationships and, you know, just learning a ton and and helping people, which is amazing. I know for me, I've really, like, I know that I'm able to utilize that energy, that horsepower, and go as high as I want, but I've really found a way to set a ceiling like an artificial ceiling so that I don't have those, you know, deep, deeper lows, so to speak. And that's been really beneficial for me. You know, just having, you know, more guidelines, more structure, more discipline in my life so that I stay within, you know, kinda it just keeps me on the track. Right?

Speaker 0

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Like, it's not about slowing down, but it's just more more along the lines of, like, well, you know, I recently got into track racing. And, you know, there's a lot of there's there's it's very systematic. There's cones that tell you when to break, when to take your foot off the gas, when to accelerate, you know, there's certain lines that you're not supposed to get, you know, within three feet of. I mean, really the car could go all the way up to the edge. Right? But you've got, like, a little rumble strip that's that's there. And then you've got another line three feet before that. Keep you keep you on the track. Right? And also, because if you take that line, you're gonna go faster. Right? So the rules of the track allow you to not only stay on the track, but to to go faster. It doesn't mean that you have to slow down. It just means that you have to follow certain, you know, boundaries. So I've learned to put those boundaries in my life and that's allowed me to stay on this track of success. And I really think that that that, like, you know, hands down that that's that's where I can contribute a lot of my success too is that if I look at the last three to five years of my life, I've been much more successful at any other period of my life. And I think that's because I've I've employed these these guidelines and the structure and this discipline. That power was always there. It's just now I have the traction to really put it to good use.

Speaker 0

Got it. That's really good. And, you know, it's it's just I'm thinking back to what you said about, you know, selling off those single family homes for a loss. The if you only talk about that, that was that was a loss. That was terrible. You lost all this money. But if you zoom out in the big picture, that was the thing to do. So So if you only and and similarly when you're doing, track racing, if you're if you're coming around a turn, you know, and you take it you know, maybe if you're only thinking about that one moment on the track, then you probably shouldn't follow those guidelines. You shouldn't follow what you're talking about. The rules, if you will. Because you're gonna lose, you know, it just doesn't make sense in the in the moment. But you in other words, you've zoomed out and you're looking at the whole racetrack. You're looking at your whole professional, your whole investment, you know, fessional picture. You gotta take that big picture view. And then you've then that's why you understand and appreciate those boundaries and the ceiling you put on yourself. So that's my little I'll get off my soap box here.

Speaker 2

You're right. And and, you know, to me, take you back on that, like, when you're when you're racing, you can't just look at what's in front of you. Right? And and the same thing in life. If you're down and you look at what's in front of you, that's all you see. Right? Mhmm. But in in racing, you have to look ahead. You have to look down the track and see what's way down the track. And I think that that's a great lesson for life because If we can look down the track and say, you know what? Right now today, it sucks. Today, it's hard. Today, it's difficult. Today, I don't wanna get out of bed. But if I just do these activities, for a while and build that moment, I can see in the future because I've I've been there in the past. There's gonna be success again. There's gonna be sunshine after this rain. I think that's really important.

Speaker 0

Yeah. Absolutely. That's awesome. Okay. So it sounds like your business has really kinda taken off in the last last few years. Yeah. Speak to the this is the broader market as far as, you know, what you all do, and what you're seeing in the market. And I'm not asking you to make bold predictions necessarily because usually people's predictions are wrong. Right? So I don't wanna set you up for failure there, but but what are you seeing in the marketplace from a commercial real estate perspective?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So in terms of the first part of your question, what we do? I mean, We're net lease investment sales brokers, so we advise clients on the purchase and sale of very small band of property. So single tenant net lease properties like Walgreens and CVS and McDonald's and Taco Bell and Dollar General auto zone, those types of properties, multi tenant retail shopping centers. I've sold some resorts, not something we usually specialize in. Medical office buildings and we do some industrial as well. So yeah, I mean, that's what we specialize in. In terms of the market today, I mean, listen. Transactional volume is definitely down. Just I mean, in in in a certain sense, when you look at net lease investments, the taking, you know, there's a certain segment of the market that's that's the cash buyer segment of the market, but taking them out really, you know, it's all about the delta between the, you know, or the spread between which you can borrow money and and and in which you can cash flow from your property. So if you've got a six cap, right? It's giving you a six percent cash on cash return and you're borrowing at three percent. Okay. There's a nice spread there, three hundred basis points. Well, when all of a sudden loan, you know, rates go from three percent to six and a half, six and three quarters, seven percent. Right? And you still have that six cap deal It doesn't make sense for a lot of people. So the cap rates haven't really moved. And as you alluded to a moment ago, Jamie, real estate is is slow. Slow moving. It's very bulky. It gives where it needs to get in a slow fashion, but also it's stable. So it doesn't always move quite as high as it should relative to interest rates. So there's been a dislocation in the market between buyers and sellers. You know, sellers saying, well, I want twenty twenty one pricing and buyers saying, you know, hey, the sky is falling. I've seen that get better over the last six months, and I think the market is healthier. I, you know, personally from what I've read and what I understand, you know, I watch every single fed meeting with my eyes glued to the screen. And it seems like they'll there will perhaps do one more rate increase this year. And then perhaps we'll see some rates balancing off and maybe even coming down in twenty twenty four. I think if we if we do that, I think that'd be a good thing. I think that the the markets are strong. I mean, if you look at like consumer spending, it's incredible. If you look at a retail vacancy, is that an eighteen year low right now, four point eight percent. So you've got a lot of health in the markets. And the fact that the stock market and the real estate market are still so strong despite so much intentional, you know, tightening of the monetary markets it just shows you that there is underlying health. So, I I see this. I see things much brighter than than most people do.

Speaker 0

And and

Speaker 2

I'm not not not very worried. I think that we're, in a d in a decent spot, and I think that there's, you know, a lot of opportunity for, for, you know, appreciation over the next few years, especially if interest rates reverse themselves from a brokerage perspective. Again, I keep my head down. I mean, can read a headline that says that Marcus and Millichap or CBRE are down eighty or ninety percent revenue and think, oh my gosh. But then I look at at things I say, yeah, but they've got all this overhead and all this marketing and all this big huge budget. They've got all these agents that aren't producing. I'm at a boutique firm where our our average agent is doing what the top agents that those firms are doing. So, you know, I I just look at my business. My business is healthy. You know, I I'm advising my clients I'm doing deals. I've got five properties in escrow right now scheduled to close. I probably got ten listings. You know, so it's it's just a function of of of doing what I know works in sticking to it. And, you know, I'm I'm very thankful, and I feel very fortunate to be in this position.

Speaker 0

Absolutely. It's awesome. So so it sounds like encore isn't making too many drastic changes as far as the approach to

Speaker 2

We see some fundamentals.

Speaker 0

Yep. Got it. Awesome. Fantastic. So from a business standpoint, any any, before we get to our rapid fire questions with your with with encore and it's set up, speak to kind of how you're set up with the structure of the business, any lessons learned for entrepreneurs out there.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I mean, the structure is really that, it's a very collaborative. So, you know, in in a in a certain sense, we we work on our own. You know, I'm very independent. I do have a junior broker that, you know, works under me who I advise and help with his deals. But, you know, for for all intents and purposes, I'm kind of a, you know, self contained system. Here within encore. The great thing though is that, you know, like, I'll give you an example. Last, I'm having a certain issue with one of my deals. So I reached out to one of my colleagues. And, you know, he looked over the emails, talked about it. Just I vented a little bit, had a therapy session. But ultimately, you know, I had another set of eyes. And and another individual says, Dan, you're doing exactly what you need to do. I think this is the right call. You made the right call. So we have that collaborative aspect, you know, every Monday, we've got a sales meeting where, you know, the partners of the firm and other people speak and talk about what they see going on. It's very educational, informative. And then, you know, individuals will present their listings and closings and we can collaborate on those deals. So what's also nice is like I've got a whole group of people that if I've got a a deal off market, or even a deal on market, you know, they can help work the deal. So we do work together when we have listings to, to get them sold

Speaker 0

Gotcha. And

Speaker 2

I mean, you know, you're looking at, like, on average, obviously, there's the eighty twenty rule, but on average, you know, we're looking at at almost ten deals a year. Per agent. You know, like, that's pretty impressive. I mean, we've got we've got a lot of agents that are selling, you know, fifty, a hundred, two hundred million dollars of inventory a year. That's that's pretty impressive, you know.

Speaker 0

It's awesome.

Speaker 2

So, it's a great place and and a great atmosphere, great energy. And, you know, we're here Again, it's heads down, make things happen, no chicken little nonsense, you know, no excuses, and I love that.

Speaker 0

Yeah. I love that too. That's awesome. So couple of questions, then then we'll do our rapid fire questions. What, I guess, who is your ideal client? I mean, you, you kind of, have already described, you know, exactly what you do, but talk to the the avatar that you're really trying market to and who is your ideal client?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So my ideal client is a commercial real estate owner who wants to either know what their property is worth or sell their property. I do do buy side representation, but the overwhelming majority of my business is listing. When I list a property in the vast majority of cases I represent the buyer as well, whether it's my buyer or somebody who comes to me through my marketing. But but I, you know, I would say if I was to put, you know, make one box of who I wanna talk to.

Speaker 0

Mhmm.

Speaker 2

It's gonna be a commercial real estate owner who owns property, wants to know what it's worth or wants to sell it.

Speaker 0

Got it. That's awesome. It's a succinct and very well, you know, very well put. So in this final question before our rapid fire round, What are the you you alluded to? These governors or the ceiling you put on yourself, almost from a personal standpoint, that's helped you professionally. At least that's how I interpreted it. What are some of those things that you've put in place from a personal standpoint?

Speaker 2

Yeah, good question. You just go right right to the personal stuff. So one of them is is, I actually don't spend this don't know why I feel weird admitting this, but I don't spend more than a hundred dollars without speaking with my wife. Okay. So that that helps me, you know, to avoid impulse purchases,

Speaker 0

and

Speaker 2

also to avoid, you know, conflict of my my significant other, which is never fun and that's something that I want. So that's definitely you know, something that that that that's a boundary that I put in place. I don't really I mean, I shouldn't say I don't really. I don't use drugs very, very little alcohol. So I have that boundary. I think that that that's very important for me to make sure that that I'm, you know, on the straight and narrow. And, you know, I'm in the industry just quite frankly. The the honestly, like commercial real estate brokerage industry is full of drugs. It just is. And it's just not something that's good for me. So, you know, that's a boundary I have in my life. I try to I put a boundary around sleep. You know, I normally embed by eleven o'clock every single night, I try to my my real metric there is that, you know, I I want to have, between the time that I'm, like, turning off the lights and the time I have to wake up, is at least seven hours. Right? But ideally eight hours. So that's very important for me being well rested is tremendously important. I have an accountability partner from my next level mastermind. One of my best friends, ironically, and I've told them this. I almost feel like the friend that I lost was replaced by this friend just because their energy is so is so similar.

Speaker 0

Now, next level mastermind, who who runs that, if you don't mind me asking?

Speaker 2

Next level mastermind is just a group of eighteen commercial real estate professionals from across the country. I know Bina and Adam Carzwell was really one that was running it, but he's he's kind of doing some other stuff. But it's been amazing. I've I've met chunk ton of great people there. So having in having our weekly accountability, sessions where we set goals, we keep each other accountable, has been huge for me. Exercise, you know, making sure that exercise regularly has been huge. I'm trying to think of what what else.

Speaker 0

Yeah. Oh, that's a lot. That's really good.

Speaker 2

Like, I used to suffer from shiny object syndrome. So for me, like, what I do is, like, I focus as close to a hundred percent of my energy on broke which is possible. I had, an opportunity last year to buy a lake house from a trustee that I knew and and flip it. And I thought to myself, I said, is this worth it? Is this worth the potential, distraction. And, you know, I I analyzed that I talked to some people that I trust and I decided, yeah, I was worth it, and it's pretty hands off. So I did it. But My point is is that now, I look at what I do as gold and I I'm not willing to sacrifice it even if there's a pot of silver over doesn't matter.

Speaker 0

That's a real use for me. Yeah. Because there is opportunity cost, you know, in in everything you do. Yeah, the reason I asked about the next level mastermind is Chris Larson's, who I referred to earlier, his

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 0

His company is next level income and next level. Okay. So I didn't know if he

Speaker 2

was in Yeah. No. I don't think you know, he's not not really but but that sounds cool.

Speaker 0

Are you ready to for some rapid fire questions?

Speaker 2

Let's do it.

Speaker 0

Alright. So, Dan, what is one thing that people misunderstand about you?

Speaker 2

I don't know. That's a question for other people. Right? That's such a hard question. What's some what's one thing that people misunderstand?

Speaker 0

I say rapid fire. That is a tough one, though.

Speaker 2

I know. I think part one one thing I would say is, like, I think the fact that I have five kids, like, people don't understand it, And I often like my youngest is almost one and I will often be out. Like this just happened the other day. People like, oh, just wait till he's older. Just wait till he's older. And I'm like, dude, I have five kids. I know it. It's I think Right. Right.

Speaker 0

No. That's a good one.

Speaker 2

So people misunderstand that. Yeah. And then, I don't know. Maybe by energy, I think potentially, that there's a potential for misunderstanding. Like, what it really is and how that is that that is my essence, and that is who I am.

Speaker 0

Great answer. What's one of your biggest failures, regrets it's just something you would like to do over if you had the chance?

Speaker 2

I love I love all my kids so much. They're I I I can't imagine life without them. There is a part of me that wishes that I was able to be successful, at at being married one time and having kids one time. And you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 0

Like Sure.

Speaker 2

I love my wife. I'm I I I wish that happened with her, but I think that that's something that that that does you know, paying me. And then in terms of, like, I guess that that answers your question. But, yeah, like, biggest failures That's a good such a good question. Yeah. I mean, I think I touched on a lot of them today in in the show.

Speaker 0

Sure. Alright. If you could go back and give your eighteen year old self some advice, what would that be?

Speaker 2

Focus. Like, you've got so much energy and so much potential. Take that and and put the widest set of tires on on that that you as you can. And harness that energy and just focus. Become an expert in one narrow focus and and then go from there.

Speaker 0

Awesome. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would it be?

Speaker 2

Oh, that's a good question. I probably didn't wanna have coffee with Michael Jordan.

Speaker 0

Oh, I that's I love that. I I've watched the, the last dance three times. Such a good series. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, just personally, just hand it, you know, blank well, not blank, but ten million dollars. What would you do with it?

Speaker 2

I mean, well, I would first of all, I'd be I mean, I'd be done. Maybe I'd still work and do real estate deals because I love it, but I wouldn't wouldn't feel forced to do it. So first of all, I would definitely buy a gen five Dodge viper That's for sure.

Speaker 0

Okay. I would

Speaker 2

do that and spend, you know, a hundred and twenty grand out of the ten million dollars on that. Nice. I would set up a solid plan of investment heavily emphasizing, you know, real estate, but very diversified so that that ten million dollars could yield me, you know, let's call it even if that ten million dollars yield would be six percent annually. I'd still get, you know, six hundred grand a year. Obviously, I'd take out a hundred and twenty five off the top for my viper. But still, or or not, or I would just invest that money way to year and use use part of the six hundred for the viper. That's that's smarter. Yep.

Speaker 0

I like that. What is the challenge that you're facing in your business right now?

Speaker 2

I think this is kind of like a it's a great question. This is like a limiting belief challenge, but you know, I'm at a point where I'm very busy know, managing five escrows is hard. Right? You get an email from title company and you're like, wait, which deal is this? So I'm like, I'm I'm I'm flowing. I'm in where I'm going. I'm doing everything making the deals happen. I I know that there's things I could do to take it to the next level. Like, for example, hiring somebody to database and cold call specific asset owners, and then give me on the phone when they wanna sell. However, I'm struggling with the idea of being overwhelmed. I don't wanna be overwhelmed. So that to me is like, I know if I do this, it's the right thing to do business wise. But I don't know if if I will be overwhelmed or not. So I'm really struggling with that psychologically.

Speaker 0

Yeah. That's a good I mean, we all have struggles like that. So it's it's a it's a great answer. How about a book? You you've rec you've already mentioned a cup one or two books. Are there any other books that you could recommend for the entrepreneur out there or real estate investor out there?

Speaker 2

Definitely. Anybody in sales or entrepreneurship or business, the, it's called influence, the psychology of persuasion by Robert Kaldini, excellent book about sales and influence. It just just fascinating great, great tips and tricks. I have a friend who is tells me I'm not allowed to recommend the book because I'm not allowed to give out the secrets. But I don't care. It's such a good book. That's a great one. I'm not a multifamily guy, but if you're into multifamily, there's a great book, it's called multifamily millions. It's a small blue book. Dave Lendahl, I believe, is the is the author. That's a great one. You know, think and grow rich is huge. I've read that probably six times. I love it. How does win win friends and influence people is a great book. Yeah. And then ten x ten x is a great book. Also one more at, Jay Patterson and, and, and, the

Speaker 0

one thing?

Speaker 2

Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 0

Yeah. I'm blanking on his co author's name, but

Speaker 2

Yeah. Keller. Gary Keller.

Speaker 0

Yes. Yes. Fantastic book. Those are, yeah, those are great. Awesome. What about, I guess, you know, financial abundance, just what does that mean to you?

Speaker 2

Financial abundance means you know, not worrying if my wife wants to go out to a nice dinner tonight. You know, it means, you know, if I need a new shirt getting it. It means honestly, it's it's incredible to me because, you know, one would think that it's all about effort, right? Results come from effort. And effort is necessary. But without mindset, effort is meaningless. So what I found is that when I sit back and I do those, the huge, grow rich things. And I say, you know what? This year, I'm doing look, I know my numbers. I know how many deals I'm gonna close. Right? I know how much money I'm gonna make that I've already made up my mind. It's gonna happen. And I've done that before and I've just, like, I've watched myself do things that five or ten years ago, I would have said these things are one hundred percent utterly impossible. Right? So for me, that's abundance. And it's knowing that, like, I'm I'm even I'm selling myself short. Right? The abundance mentality would allow me to go even higher And you know what? Maybe that's what I'm gonna do next year. I'm gonna just set the bar higher.

Speaker 0

Set the bar higher.

Speaker 2

Mhmm. But that's something that I would just like that's a message I wanna convey is that whatever you think you can do, you can do, whatever you think you can't do, you can't do. That is it. It is that simple. And if there's something you're you're contemplating doing, before you do it, spend time every single day religiously. Okay? When you wake up in the morning, you go go to bed at night, visualizing it, visualizing what it looks like, visualizing yourself in that situation. And you'll get there. It's it that it's remarkable, but for whatever reason, it just works.

Speaker 0

That's great. I'm glad I asked that question because that was some some gold right there. Dan Lukowitz, what have we not covered that you'd like to?

Speaker 2

You know, I guess I would just say that, I've been blessed and fortunate to have great mentors and great people in the industry and outside of the industry who I consider my friends and my family will help me tremendously. And I I wanna say that if there's anybody who's watching or listening this. If you wanna reach out, if you if you're thinking maybe I should call this guy, maybe I should send this guy a message, maybe I should connect with him on LinkedIn. I don't know if I should do it. Do it. Please do it. Take the opportunity. It's in front of you. I wanna give back. I love providing value. And there's nothing that makes me happier when I when I get a phone call from someone, who I talked to six months or a year ago and they'd say, Dan, do you have five minutes so I can tell you how well it's gone since we last talked? I love that stuff. So please reach out I'm here to add value. I'm here to help. If you have commercial property, you wanna know what it's worth, you wanna know to sell it, you know, when you wanna sell it, I'm your man. Even if you don't and you just wanna talk or there's anything I can do, please please reach out by all means.

Speaker 0

That's awesome. If somebody does wanna reach out. You mentioned LinkedIn where else can they find you?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So first of all, I'm very active at LinkedIn. I have pretty much daily content. So please reach out there, follow me. My first name is Dan, last name, Luca l e w k o w I c z. Again, l e w k o w I c z. And then I I'm happy to share my my direct line, my cell phone number. Sure. Two four eight nine four three two eight three eight. Again, two four eight nine four three two eight three eight. It would be my pleasure to connect.

Speaker 0

Awesome. Dan, this has been fantastic. You got a lot of energy, and it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, a lot of lot of you know, I use this term too often, but knowledge bombs just constantly firing on this one for sure. So thanks for taking the time.

Speaker 2

Yeah. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. This was great.

Speaker 0

Awesome. And and to the listener out there, thank you for taking your time, which is your most valuable resource. We appreciate it. And definitely check out website adversity two abundance dot com. That's number two, adversity two abundance dot com. That's about it. Thanks, everyone. Take care.

Speaker 3

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Speaker 1

Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us. Your time. If you like the show, please share it with your friends and fellow podcast listeners. One entrepreneur at a time, we can change the world. See you next time.