Our Principles

Principles are how the Multifamily Mason team approaches situations in the day-to-day course of business.

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Market Expert

• We are the local valued experts. Those active in the market turn to us as a resource both within and beyond our niche and we provide the expert local knowledge they can’t find anywhere else. We become their trusted advisor and position them for success over the long-run. 
• Our goal is to become a key advisor for those with questions about the inland northwest markets or investing in multifamily in tertiary markets.  In becoming a resource, we must be prepared to answer a multitude of questions.  This means being equipped with research reports, market overviews, the right contact introduction at all kinds of companies and industries, property-level details, and more, in order to help others as the local market expert. 
• Being a market expert comes to life in many forms across our business flywheel, but most acutely in building market presence.  By becoming experts, advisors (Mastery), we have the data and insights to share with others.
• Market expertise is best practiced in our written and verbal communication in every form. For example, a new prospect contacts us via email with a question regarding a property for sale in their town. We could simply respond with, “Here’s some info on the property, let us know any questions.”  This answers their question and we move on.  But it does not communicate any market expertise.  Instead, we can respond with, “Thank you for reaching out and great to hear from you.  Here is some more detail on the property and a link to the listing.  Our team recently toured another property up the road and discovered rents were $x for a #-bedroom, which leads us to believe the rents at this property could be $. We think there is strong potential with this asset and are happy to track down additional details to help you evaluate this opportunity.  Lastly, we believe this property listing could impact your property owned at # Main St, and we’d like the opportunity to visit with you and share with you that potential impact, so you’re in the best position moving forward.”
• When a prospect, peer, or stranger reaches out to our team to discuss some element of the market, we don’t first qualify them as, “Will this be a future client?” We become a resource to them, help them answer questions on the market, investing in multifamily, and any other areas in which we practice Mastery, which positions us as the market experts regardless of the perceived value of that specific contact.  This certainly requires extra effort and time invested into each relationship and communication, of which each effort pays dividends over the long-run as part of our Flywheel.

Relationship

• The brokerage business, and commercial real estate industry in general, is built on relationships.  The industry is not perfectly efficient, meaning there are opportunities for those with expertise and the right relationship to make a difference in their community, for their investors, and for their teams.  
• There are many types of capital - financial, intellectual, social, spiritual, and human - in our business, the most critical is human capital, our relationships with everyone in our industry, markets, and circles of influence.  While financial capital is what allows properties to close/deals to get done, they start with relationship capital, knowing the buyers and sellers, and putting the pieces of relationships together.  In everything we do and every interaction, we work to build up relationship capital with every contact. 
• For example, in communicating with a title company for a simple request, communicating with gratitude, with requests not demands, and then reaching out in appreciation after the fact, all work to build relationship capital, and build our presence in the market. 
• In communicating with other brokers or prospective buyers, providing context, the deal story, and sharing market insights helps build up our market expertise and relationships with each contact, even if the initial interaction only called for a yes/no answer, building a relationship through each interaction sets our team apart and builds our market presence.
• At the end of the day, our role is to do what is best for our clients, valuing their relationship above our own goals.  If we put relationships first, then the business results will follow over the long-term.

Long-Term Thinking

• Our brokerage business can often feel like a short-term game of getting deals done as quickly as possible and while closing deals is our revenue-driver, there are thousands of inputs that come into play before a deal gets done. In the end, thinking long-term about each decision will help us make the right decision here and now in the day-to-day. 
• For example, a client is considering a sale of their property today.  They have 2 vacant units in disrepair they had planned to renovate and want to renovate, but they thought they should check with us on if they should sell now or sell once the units are renovated.  It could be tempting to push for a sale today to win the business and close a deal, but provided market conditions are stable, selling after the units are complete will prove a better result for the client.  While we risk losing a deal to other factors over time, we should present the client with their options and advise them on what is best for them over the long-run, not what is best for our team in the short-run.
• If we zoom out and have long-term thinking, we realize there is abundant opportunity in the market for everyone to succeed - investors, builders, tenants, brokers - by collaborating with others. We will open doors we didn’t realize were there for our team, our clients, and our community by thinking long-term, helping others succeed, even if they appear to be our competition. 
• As we develop our market expertise, we will discover unique insights that all contacts will find valuable.  In the short-term, it may seem valuable to hold onto these insights for ourselves and only share them with our clients or prospects.  But if we zoom out to the long-term, we realize that the more we share insights and information on the market, even with competitors, the more we become an authority and advisor in the market, the more we build market presence, and the more our team succeeds in the long-term.