Bob Knakal: An Inside Perspective from The Top NYC Investment Sales Pro
How to dominate your real estate niche
This week in The LineUp we we are excited to feature veteran commercial real estate executive Bob Knakal! Bob has built a massive following on social media over the course a little more than 1 year sharing war stories and lessons learned over the past 40+ years. He and his team built a massive market presence to dominate the investment sales game in NYC.
Bob Knakal has brokered the sale of a staggering 2,329 properties in New York City, accumulating a market value of approximately $22 billion. His legacy is deeply tied to the unique success story of Massey Knakal Realty Services, a company he co-founded with Paul Massey in 1988. The company’s revolutionary approach, dividing the city into small territories and fostering true market experts, propelled them to the top of the New York City investment sales brokerage community. Now, they are using AI to gain an edge. You can follow Bob on X @BobKnakal.
Below is a Q&A full of Bob’s strategies, insights, and lessons learned…Enjoy, comment, share, and let us know what you think!
Tell us more about BK Real Estate Advisors (BKREA). What's your vision for the business?
BKREA, also known as BK Real Estate Advisors, is a new commercial brokerage company for a new age. The world is changing rapidly. Our firm utilizes old-school analog tools for mapping and data collection, and layers in cutting edge technologies to create better interpretations of the data and the market to give all of our clients an advantage. That edge leads to more options for our clients, better market insights and better results.
What strategies today are most important for building a "market presence"?
The only thing that has really changed in terms of market presence today is incorporating the use of social media. Market presence historically consists of many things such as prospecting phone calls, email blasts, text messages, hard mail (we still use this and it is very under-rated by most brokers), networking, public speaking, engagement with the press, and tons of face-to-face contact with clients and potential clients.
Today, we are adding robust social media exposure to the mix and I am proud to say that CREi recently recognized me as the #1 commercial real estate influencer on LinkedIn out of about 940 million users. This was based upon measurable impressions and engagement and is a testament to the wonderful team I have helping me with this, namely my social media manager, Mo Regalado.
How are you using AI in your business?
We are leveraging artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies to offer clients the future of commercial real estate. By integrating AI into our operations, we are transforming the way we conduct business in the real estate sector.
We are using AI in three primary ways: 1) in our prospecting. There are several new applications to make prospecting more efficient and effective. 2) in our transaction execution. We are getting to wider audiences faster and more effectively. We are capturing all interaction anyone on the team is having with a buyer and logging all of that info not only into that buyer’s profile but also into the property activity log. 3) in data interpretation. Most data sets in real estate stink. Its not the absolute numbers that matter, it’s the relationship between the numbers. Those relationships lose integrity if the methodology for calculating the data is not consistent. Our data sets have been calculated consistently for 40 years. No one else has that.
Can you tell us who are your favorite accounts to follow on X, LinkedIn, etc?
I certainly could but won’t as I am sure to leave someone out and don’t want to offend anyone. There are lots of great accounts out there and I always learn a lot from these great communities. I have made some great friendships through social media.
What is the most important advice you give to new and up and coming brokers?
I always tell young brokers that there are three qualities I see in brokers who make it to the top. The first is expertise. Get to know a niche better than anyone and become known for your expertise. The second is passion for the business. Now matter how good you are, you are going to have tough times and that passion will get you through the tough times to make it to the good times, which inevitably always return. The third is the ability to use discipline properly. And I say “use” as opposed to “have” as discipline is a tool you can choose to use and how you want to use it. It is not something you either have or don’t have. The top folks use discipline very well.
Tell our readers about your favorite project. If it is a post on X or Linkedin, please share a link for our readers.
One of my favorite projects was the sale of my first $100 million deal for Harry Macklowe. There is a terrific backstory. Here is the link to the story.
If you don’t know who Harry Macklowe, he’s a legend in NY real estate. Here is a link to his bio.
What's the best thing that's happened since you started your business BKREA?
The best thing that has happened since we started BKREA is that my entrepreneurial spirit has come back with a vengeance!!
Everything is once again in such sharp focus. We are going to do some great things and it is very exciting and invigorating. I also get to work with my wife, Cynthia, who is our comptroller which is really great.
With regard to deals, we have already picked up 10 great exclusive listings including a 680,000 buildable square foot development site on Park Avenue for the Durst family and a 120,000 buildable square foot site on the upper eastside for the Shalom family. These are both outstanding sites and we are very excited to be working on those along with the other assignments.
Could you tell us more about the BK Affiliate Program? How does this benefit BKREA and its affiliates?
The Knakal Affiliate Program (KAP) is designed to formalize a referral network of specialists in all areas of commercial and residential real estate. If you follow me on social media, you know I always advocate for specialization. The KAP allows our members to focus on what they do best and refer other business to folks who are specialists in that field. This allows everyone to focus on what they do best.
Large firms say they have all sorts of specialists under one roof, but if you work there, you would be ostracized if you referred a broker from another company to your client, even if you knew they were the best for the job.
In our program, we can truly put the best team on the field by selecting the best of the best, regardless of where they work. This is a huge benefit to our clients and, so far, they have been loving it. We had our first KAP call last weekend and there is already a 24-building portfolio sale being worked on by two of our members who met for the first time on the call.
What is something people might not know about you?
It may be known a bit more now due to social media, but I am a lifelong die-hard New York Rangers fan. I am living and dying with the team now, even traveling to some away playoff games. I have had season tickets since 1984 and go to most of the games with my wife, Cynthia, and our 15 year old daughter, Sophie. They are both as into it as I am (especially Sophie) and it has been a great bonding thing for our family!
«End of Interview»
We hope you enjoyed this week’s interview with Bob Knakal as much as we did! Until next week. Cheers, John
Check out Bob Knakal on social media:
What We Are Reading This Week:
The Promote - FBI Raids Mega-Landlord (Cortland) in RealPage DoJ Probe on Rent Fixing Probe
Commercial Observer - Lenders Are Starting to Sell A Lot More Loans on Office Buildings
The Real Deal - Billionaire Developer Could See the Credits Roll with Largest Debt Auction Yet
The Boston Celtics are playing the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Championship starting this Thursday 6/6. Who are you rooting for? I’m taking the Celtics in 5 games.
Though I’m a fan of both teams, I did live in Boston for 16 years. So I definitely have more love for the C’s and it would be fun to see Tatum, Brown, and Horford win a title. With Porzingis back, I think they are unstoppable. If the Mavericks can get enough help from their non-stars and bench maybe they could pull off an upset? But I speculate Kyrie Irving won’t be able to keep his cool long enough to lead his team, with Luka of course, to a championship. We shall see…
In other basketball news, Caitlin Clark got pushed to the ground in the WNBA this past week. Everyone is talking about it.
It’s really not unusual for players to give hard fouls and this one was particularly flagrant. What I don’t understand and Matt Barnes agrees with me, is that where were her teammates? When someone throws your teammate on the ground you have to stand up for them. Step up, show them you are not going to allow your team to get pushed around.
Clark has gotten so much press I’m sure most of the players are jealous. One person on X.com shared that Chennedy Carter makes $64,000 per year and Caitlin Clark is making $74,000 salary, but she also signed a contract with Nike worth $28,000,000. That many zeroes tends to make people a little jealous especially when you are running up and down the court together.
As malicious as the hip-check was that Carter threw at Clark, that’s part of basketball. And now the WNBA is in the spotlight a bit more, I’m sure we will see more of this type of activity.