Welcome to The Real Estate Underground Show #111!
Today, we're thrilled to feature Dan Lewkowicz from Encore Real Estate Investment Services. Join us as we delve into the world of net lease investment sales and uncover the secrets to success in this specialized niche.
In this enlightening episode, Dan shares:
If you're ready to unlock the potential of commercial real estate or delve into the industry, Dan Lewcowicz is your go-to guide. Connect with him on LinkedIn for insights, or call his direct cell at 248-943-2838 to add value to your real estate journey. Don't miss this opportunity to unlock the potential of net lease investments and elevate your real estate endeavors!
Resources:
Additional Resources:
Welcome to The Real Estate Underground Show #111!
Today, we're thrilled to feature Dan Lewkowicz from Encore Real Estate Investment Services. Join us as we delve into the world of net lease investment sales and uncover the secrets to success in this specialized niche.
In this enlightening episode, Dan shares:
If you're ready to unlock the potential of commercial real estate or delve into the industry, Dan Lewcowicz is your go-to guide. Connect with him on LinkedIn for insights, or call his direct cell at 248-943-2838 to add value to your real estate journey. Don't miss this opportunity to unlock the potential of net lease investments and elevate your real estate endeavors!
Resources:
Additional Resources:
Ed Mathews: Greetings and salutations, Real Estate Undergrounders. It's Ed Mathews with the Real Estate Underground. Thank you so much for joining us today. So today's a little bit of a different show, like, like you've heard in the past after, you know, all of over all of those other episodes, we, you know, love to sprinkle in different asset classes to, to see what's going on in the rest of the world.
Ed Mathews: And today I'm joined by Dan Lewkowicz. Dan, thank you so much. We were, before we got on here, we were talking football. You know, uh, I am a Wolverine fan by relation. And he is. He is a tried and true, full blown, live somewhere in Michigan kind of Wolverine fan, so he's the real deal. Dan, welcome to the show.
Dan Lewkowicz: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm definitely excited to be here. Yeah. So let's talk about Encore and, you know, your firm and, and, uh, what you guys do for a living and then we can get into it.
Dan Lewkowicz: Sure. So I am Dan Lewkowicz. I'm the CEO of Encore. I'm a Senior Director here at Encore Real Estate Investment Services, and we are a net lease investment sales firm.
Dan Lewkowicz: So what that means is that we help buyers and sellers transact, um, typically with either single tenant net lease properties, uh, or multi-tenant retail properties. As we were discussing, I do sell a lot of auto automotive parts stores, fast food restaurants, medical office buildings, et cetera. So really, you know, our sole purpose is to be advisors to our clients and to help them navigate.
Dan Lewkowicz: You know, the investment scene and then the current market at any given time. And yeah, I mean, I just, I live, breathe and sleep, you know, investment sales, real estate.
Ed Mathews: Awesome. Uh, Hey, join the club, nice to be in the club with you. We got a secret handshake and everything. So, so as far as the investment type, right.
Ed Mathews: You know, I'm this show and I'm used to talking multifamily. So you're talking about, you know, anywhere from these days, anywhere from a six to an eight cap, you know, and the, and the debt usually lands somewhere in that eight to. You know, at least the initial bridge is in that eight to 10%. And then, you know, agency debt is in the mid-sixes.
Ed Mathews: So, you know, once you land and stabilize, then, you know, you create the spread, but your world is way different, right? I, you know, I've, I've, I've looked at medical office buildings. I've looked at, uh, Starbucks for instance, you know, just to see if it made sense to diversify out and, you know, it, the, the cap rates that I saw were, you know, far more compressed.
Ed Mathews: But longer-term leases and I'm going to let you explain it because I'm by no means an expert on this. So the audience understand kind of investors that, that want to buy from you. How do they look at the properties that, that you're, uh, representing?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah. So great question. First of all, you know, cap rates have expanded over the last 18 to 20 months.
Dan Lewkowicz: So, you know, the days of the four and low five caps are kind of gone. There's still a lot of generational real estate that's out there, Chick-fil-A, things like that. But in general, most of our, what we sell has expanded slightly. At the very least some asset classes within that least like a dollar stores, which compressed rapidly over the last decade, I mean, they've gone up 100 or 125 basis points, which is a lot.
Dan Lewkowicz: It is, but relative to what debt has increased, you know, it's, it's, it's not, it's, you know, 25 percent of that. So. In terms of, of what we sell, what we market. I mean, we do, this is all we do. Last year we did 320 transactions, $985 million. It's a significant, you know, amount of volume, almost a billion dollars.
Dan Lewkowicz: So, um, in terms of, you know, the way that, that these assets are viewed, I mean, first of all. You hit on a few things. Number one is the long term leases, right? So most of these single-tenant net lease deals have 2025-year leases with options periods. You also have stability and security. The tenant in this case is not, you know, a single individual that may, you know, that may suffer from, bad credit or, or, you know, difficulties or bankruptcy or whatever, right?
Dan Lewkowicz: Delaying them to be delinquent. Uh, many times these tenants have hundreds, if not thousands of locations. So even if they're not doing well in your location and they have to close, they're still obligated to continue paying rent, right? So that's very important. I will say as a caveat, though, I always tell people, yeah, it's nice that you are buying this Taco Bell.
Dan Lewkowicz: And it's a 300-unit guarantee, like 300 other locations are on the lease, all wrapped up in one, but why don't you see if you can find the sales figures, see if you can find how well is this particular location doing? What's their rent-to-sales ratio? That's a very important aspect. And then if you're able to find entity level financials to tell you how the company is doing, that's even better.
Dan Lewkowicz: So, you know, typically these properties are bought because of their stability and their security. And it's specifically with, you know, absolute triple net leases. The landlord has no responsibility, right? Because remember, the tenant pays for your taxes, the tenant pays for your insurance, the tenant pays to, you know, sweep the parking lot, to repair the parking lot, to plow the snow, to cut the grass, to fix the roof, every single thing in an absolute triple net lease, right?
Dan Lewkowicz: So people like that passive aspect of it, this coupon clipper aspect of it. And the fact that much of what we sell our credit rated tenants. So that you're buying in essence, a bond, right. That's wrapped up in sticks and bricks.
Ed Mathews: Wow. That's, that's interesting. Yeah. I mean, I, I kind of at at least a very high level understand net, net, net, but the, you know, that's, that's an interesting place.
Ed Mathews: So when you look at, you know, an investor, Ed darkens your doorstep and, and says, hey, I'm, I'm looking to buy, uh, you know, I've got, you know, X millions to deploy and I'm looking to buy as many taco bells as you can sell me. Right. So. What am I looking at in terms of the metrics for these buildings? You mentioned you hit on a couple of them, but is this just a cash-on-cash play? Or, you know, how do the investors approach the investment?
Dan Lewkowicz: Great question. So it's really not just a cash-on-cash play for certain players. It is a CAD. That's all it is. Right. But especially for a lot of smaller investors, when I say smaller, in my mind, that's somebody who owns like, let's say, less than 5 or 10 properties, right?
Dan Lewkowicz: So everybody's going to be different, right? So 1 buyer might 1st of all, there's the asset class difference. So, like, I've got buyers that have bought shopping centers for me, and they only want to buy shopping centers, right? For various that within that lease, are they going to buy number two is like, are they, are they a high yield guy or girl?
Dan Lewkowicz: Are they looking for the highest return possible and they don't mind taking a little risk or are they like, no, we want a lower return, set it and forget it. We don't want to be bothered. We don't want to even know anything about it. We just want to receive the check, you know, or the ACH every month. So you have to understand your investor profile.
Dan Lewkowicz: Because there are major differences. Um, and then, you know, obviously, like I hinted on before, like, you know, there are some buyers that love auto, right? Maybe you've got a buyer that wants bonus depreciation, right? So, that buyer may be looking at car watches and gas stations, right? Maybe there's another buyer That believes that fast food is here to stay and loves it, wants to buy fast food.
Dan Lewkowicz: Another buyer might want shopping centers because they're higher cap rates. There's opportunity for upside potential by filling vacancy. And you also have upside potential in terms of lowering expenses and raising rents and changing leases from gross leases to triple net leases. So it really depends on the investor.
Dan Lewkowicz: And that's why a good part of the beginning of the relationship is me getting to know you, right. And asking you questions and then showing you deals that may or may not fit. And very important for an investor. Is the feedback you provide the broker saying, I love this or I don't love this. And here's why that's so important.
Dan Lewkowicz: And I can't tell you how many times investors miss out on giving feedback back to their broker, which could increase efficiency and save time.
Ed Mathews:. Yeah You know, it's, that's something that you hit on that really resonates with me. We've got a, uh, you know, I get asked all the time, how do I find deals? How do I get, you know, big time brokers to pay attention to me.
Ed Mathews: And the, the two things I always tell them is timeliness of response. Like send you a deal, turn it around as fast as possible. You know, if the, if you're looking at it for more than a couple hours without some sort of feedback, that's too long, get back to him or her. Uh, and then the other one obviously is, is give candid feedback.
Ed Mathews: Cause you can't hit a target. That's moving. So be crystal clear on your buying criteria. So if I'm parachuting into your market, and I'm looking to build credibility and build a relationship with you, you know, what are some of the things that I can do to help you understand that A, I know what I'm talking about and B, I'm a closer?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah, great question. So it's, it's like, All relationships. Yeah. So the first and foremost, the most important thing from my perspective is honesty and transparency. If you're coming to me and you're saying, Dan, this is what I'm looking for, but I'm not ready to buy. That's great. I'll respect that. I'm happy to show you deals one day you might be ready to buy.
Dan Lewkowicz: But if you come to me and say, Dan, this is what I'm looking for and I show you 10 deals that check every single box, I'm going to start wondering, why are you not buying? Yeah. So. It just comes down to being transparent, being honest in the beginning, right? That's so, so, so, so, so important. And then like, I just can't stress enough.
Dan Lewkowicz: If you have specific parameters of what you're looking for, then please, by all means, when I do my job and show you those things, you need to come through as well. Otherwise, I'm going to know you're not really serious right now. So that's, that's super important. Um, I think it's important to like for anybody, whether you're new or not new.
Dan Lewkowicz: But I'll give you a great example. You know, I recently listed a property 12 offers right away, 12 offers. A lot of the offers were just straight LOIs that I put together that came from brokers. I didn't really know, uh, you know, much about, you know, about the buyer or, you know, the buyer profile or anything wasn't provided to me.
Dan Lewkowicz: And then I had one, right? I had one, uh, offer that came with proof of funds. It came with a letter from the lender. It came with a personal financial statement. And it came with a schedule of real estate owned. I looked at this and in five minutes, I could say, this is a great buyer. I sent all 12 offers to my seller and my seller didn't even want to look at the others because he didn't want to get a letter from your lender.
Dan Lewkowicz: You can get it in 10 minutes to put together. You went on offer submitted, put that in there. It makes the broker's job so much easier. And the chance of your offer being accepted over potentially even a better offer, so to speak, is actually very high. So I think that's very important. And that's something I tell people.
Ed Mathews: Yeah. And so let's talk about that a little more. So the, you know, the whole idea here is to present your, you know, put your best foot forward, right? And so, you know, you just kind of clicked off a handful of things that a seller is going to be nervous about. And, you know, as salespeople, as a salesperson, you know, job number one is problem-solving, right?
Ed Mathews: And so the, the number of problems you can solve before they even get to evaluating the solutions or the, the offers that is, stacks the deck in your favor because, you know, the fact is, is that if, if they're worried about, you know, first thing, you know, I've got a couple of properties that I'm putting on sale pretty much now.
Ed Mathews: And the first thing that I ask our broker is, you know, Kenny close, right? And if, if I get, here's a personal financial statement, here's proof of funds up to X million here is, uh, you know, all the other properties that look just like yours that they already own here is the fact that they've been in doing this for 12 years now and anything else you can, you can put in place to demonstrate that a, you're serious and B you're going to follow through is, is a huge.
Dan Lewkowicz: No doubt. I mean, I look at it, you know, my job as a broker is to save everyone time and in every aspect, right? I don't just mean like making your life easier and saving you time. I mean, that if I'm negotiating with the other side and I send an LOI, I say, here's an LOI. When can I save time and stay and save, you know, save people, um, you know, that, that, that wasted opportunity.
Dan Lewkowicz: So at the end of the day, if you can be a performer, you're helping to save time in the transaction. Everyone is going to want to work with you because the more time I save, the more deals I can do, the more I can help my clients, the more money I can make for them. It's just, you know, a fact of the business.
Dan Lewkowicz: Like we only have 365 days a year. And you know, the more time we're wasting on buyers that are just not, you know, either ready, ready, willing, able, or prepared, you know, it's just not where we want to be. It's not where we're going to devote our time because.
Ed Mathews: you know, let me ask you a couple of personal questions. you know, let me ask you a couple of personal questions.
Ed Mathews: Do you get a salary from your brokerage?
Dan Lewkowicz: No, I do not.
Ed Mathews: Yeah. So that tells me that how you spend your time is probably the most important decision you make every day, right?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah. I mean, all you have is your time. That's it. Right.
Ed Mathews: Yeah. You can get more money. You can make more money, but you can't, you know, you can't wind the clock back.
Ed Mathews: So once, and you know, like you were saying 365 days and, you know, I mean, you're a human being, right? So you require sleep. So, you know, there's another four to eight hours a night, a day that you're losing. So that leaves you, you know, 16 to 20 hours of doing, of working, hanging out with the family and, you know, doing all the other stuff that you like to do during the day.
Ed Mathews: So time is absolutely precious. And, uh, you know, whether you're dealing with a broker in your part of the business or You know, in my part in the residential and commercial multifamily business, you got to understand that, you know, guys, guys like Dan and, uh, the other folks that we all work with, they are completely bound by their calendars because they've got to know that every minute that they're spending is, is producing for their clients and ultimately for them.
Ed Mathews: So, uh, I think we've got a choppy internet, so I'm going to, that's why I'm, I'm bouncing back and forth between what you're saying. I'm trying to recap what you're saying. Um, we'll edit this out. Don't worry about it. And then, uh, so as far as, you know, getting in front of, you know, a hitter like you, is it really that simple that I've just got to prove that I'm a real guy?
Ed Mathews: You know, I can do what I say I'm going to do.
Dan Lewkowicz: I mean, for me, it's simpler than that because like, you know, I give out my cell phone at the end of every podcast and people call me and I love talking real estate. And I love helping people. So, you know, you don't have to be even at that point. And if you call me and you want to talk about something real estate related, I'm, you know, I'm here to help.
Dan Lewkowicz: I mean, most brokers, most brokers have a much higher bar than I do, but I just, I find that's my way of giving back. You know, I can tell you so many stories of people that call me and say, I heard you on such and such a podcast. They tell me where they're at. We talk. And then six months later, a year later, they call me again and they're like killing it.
Dan Lewkowicz: And it just feels so good to hear that. So I mean, in terms of what the next level though, is. If you want me to represent you and find you deals, you better be responding to emails, telling me feedback and writing offers. And if it checks the boxes, we better be moving because I don't, I don't do that much by side exclusive representation.
Dan Lewkowicz: I I'm a listing broker. I do in many cases represent the buy side as well. And then I build relationships, but I have only a select handful of clients that I send deals to on a regular basis. Those are people that have proven themselves because that I take away from my time to do that. It's only, I only do that if it's going to be, you know, lead to something for everyone involved.
Ed Mathews: Yeah. And you know, that's, that's a beautiful thing, right? Is as you build your book of business, you've got that, you know, very small group of known investors who, when you send them a deal, you know, they can come back with at least a range in a matter of, you know, a few minutes to an hour, and you know that if there's enough there in terms of, if they're close enough, then, you know, it.
Ed Mathews: It makes sense to take the next step. But, uh, so as soon as you allow time to get away as a, as a buyer, as an investor, when a broker has, has kind of sent, you know, gone the extra mile and sent you a pocket deal, you best be turning that around in about 15 minutes. If, and if you can't learn how to do it, cause it is possible.
Ed Mathews: And like you were saying, Dan, um, and if you don't know how to figure that out on, in any asset class, I am also, I, I love to tell people I'm a cheap date. And so, you know, all you gotta do is, is. Find, you know, either email me or find me on social media, you know, let me know what you're working on. And at the very least, I'll meet you for a zoom call.
Ed Mathews: Most of the time I'll meet you for coffee. If you're within my area and almost always I pay for the coffee. I mean, it's, uh, like you said, it's, you know, guys like Dan love to give back because this industry has been really good to people like us. Right. And so, you know, you can't take advantage of it. But as you build rapport and you serve each other and there's a level of trust, then you can ask for that 15 minute phone call or cup of coffee to, to, uh, pick his brain.
Ed Mathews: Right. And so absolutely. Yeah. All right. So we're on a roll, but I'm going to, I'm going to put this back on the rails a little bit and, uh, let's get into the final four. All right. Hope you brought your brain today. So, so I'm always interested in, you know, leaders like yourself who have, uh, been very successful.
Ed Mathews: And, you know, invariably there have been coaches. and mentors and bosses who have kind of shaped and guided you along the way. Yeah. I'm curious and even family members for that matter. So I'm curious about best advice you've ever gotten and who gave it to you?
Dan Lewkowicz: Um, yeah, so much advice. Um, one of the best pieces of advice I ever got, I was a lot younger and, um, I was speaking with somebody who I really respected, um, from a business perspective.
Dan Lewkowicz: And he told me that if he gave me one piece of advice, it would be that I should find a mentor and make myself dumb in front of him, meaning don't try to show him that I know everything. Just, just be a sponge. So I immediately said, okay, great. You're my mentor. And I, this guy mentored me for a while. It was really, really incredible.
Dan Lewkowicz: And another thing, so I, you know, I've always suffered from shiny object syndrome, and thankfully, I'm 40 now. Thankfully, as I got older, it was something that became much easier to control. But I remember at one point, I would always have like so many side hustles doing so many things, and I just was spread so thin.
Dan Lewkowicz: And a successful individual I worked for told me, he said, listen, there's nothing wrong with starting a new venture, but don't start a new venture until you're an expert. At what you're doing, right. Just become an expert in one thing and then go from there. And that's why, like when I got into commercial real estate, I have a ton of real estate background, but when I got into commercial real estate, I wanted to be a specialist.
Dan Lewkowicz: I wanted to find one niche and one narrow focus to specialize in. And, you know, at the end of the day, that was net lease because people could call me for net lease. If people call me for multifamily, I got a ton of great brokers to refer you to, but that idea of specialization And of, you know, shiny object syndrome, that is, that is not something that's going to really lead to, you know, a lot of success now, I think that a lot of people have that because they just have that kind of mind and that mindset and that entrepreneurial flair and creative energy, that's great that, and apply it to your one narrow focus, become an expert at it, you'll see so much more success, so much more respect as a professional, um, you know, in your field, and then, you know, I guess in terms of, of, I don't know that I ever heard this as advice, but, you know.
Dan Lewkowicz: From my perspective, if I was telling somebody how I would answer that question to them, I would say that it's very important to understand the fundamentals of your field. I know the fundamentals of my field, like the back of my hand. I know that I have to cold call and post on social media and do my outbound outreach.
Dan Lewkowicz: I know I have to put together valuations and proposals. I have to follow up. I have to get listings. I have to sell them. I have to, you know, follow through escrow and close deals. I know what my, my fundamental. tasks are on a day to day basis. So when things get tough, right, when there's a COVID or when there's interest rates or when there's a war or whatever, I keep my head down and I focus on my fundamentals while other people are scrambling or while there's nobody in the parking lot at the office.
Dan Lewkowicz: I focus on my fundamentals. I put my blinders on. It's very similar to what I said with focusing on one thing, but it's just the idea that you have to like take the emotion, put it aside. You know what you need to do. Do those things. It's going to work out. And then I guess the last, sorry, I know I'm going on and on and on.
Dan Lewkowicz: This is great. But the last thing, this is so important and people think it's focus, focus. But you know, if you look at things like all these great books that are out there, they're in many cases, they're just different permutations of the same messages, which to me, tells me that, that they're absolute truth, right.
Dan Lewkowicz: Just in different, different ways of speaking. So, you know, one of the things I found is that mindset and mentality is like, number one, So, you know, uh, like for example, Think and Grow Rich talks about coming up with a number of dollars you want to have in your bank account, and then envisioning that like twice a day, envisioning the money, what it smells like, what it feels like, what it looks like, at least, you know, twice a day talking about things in the present as if you already have them.
Dan Lewkowicz: Sounds magical and hocus pocus, it is a hundred. Meditating on my goals, my business goals, and sometimes professional goals. And I'm telling you, I hit them sometimes to the exact dollar amount. It's unbelievable. So I would say like the, the only thing stopping you is you, that's the most powerful lesson that I think I could end that question with.
Ed Mathews: I can't add a thing. So, uh, so you know, you, you kind of hit on it in, in your, in that last question, but I want to drill into it a little bit, so the leaders always. Almost always I've yet to meet one that isn't really leaders or are always readers, right? They're always, you know, knowledge sponges in some way, shape or form.
Ed Mathews: And so I'm curious about how you take in information. Do you read physical books, audio books, podcasts? And then I'm also curious about who the author or and or creator you're paying attention to these days.
Dan Lewkowicz: Through LinkedIn, I'm very active on LinkedIn. I've got about 18, 000 followers. I put out content every single day and, you know, so I get a lot of information there, I do watch, you know, uh, informational or educational videos, take courses, I love, you know, business psychology, I'd say like, you know, one of my favorite books, um, this book is like gold, it's called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Yeah, it's so good by Robert Cialdini. It's so good. And then obviously think and grow rich. I mean, I'm telling you, like, I've read that book at least five times. I bought it for my daughter when she was 12 years old. She probably didn't understand half the stuff in there, but I didn't care. But you know, that book is just, that's, that's golden too.
Dan Lewkowicz: Those, those, those recipes for success are tried and true. And, you know, that manifestation and visualization, it's so, so powerful. I mean, you know, for me, I think that I really do, uh, enjoy LinkedIn and I have very close relationships with industry leaders, you know, in my field and similar fields, and I think that just by exchanging information and asking questions and back and forth, you know, that for me is, you know, incredibly valuable and, uh, and, and helps me, me to grow.
Dan Lewkowicz: Um, I also have an accountability partner. He's an amazing individual. His name's Ben Kogut. Uh, he, um, Is the CEO of Rooster Equity Fund. And, uh, he, he's actually gonna be a guest of mine on my, in my upcoming LinkedIn Live. But we've been doing this accountability partnership for four years now, and we do it every single week.
Dan Lewkowicz: Rain or shine. And it's been so good for me, business and personal, just so many wins for both of us. And, and we've become like brothers. We've traveled the world together and it's been amazing.
Ed Mathews: It's amazing how just that, you know, 15 to, I mean, it's not a long call, right? It's you're,
Dan Lewkowicz: it's an hour. We, we do an hour every, we do an hour.
Dan Lewkowicz: So I don't devote an hour to many things.
Ed Mathews: Yeah, I can imagine. Right. And neither do I, I hear you. So that's obviously, you know, people should take from that, what your priority is, right? Yeah.
Dan Lewkowicz: So good. Accountability partners. I highly recommend they'll change your life.
Ed Mathews:. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you know, you have to face someone that you like and respect who like and respect you, you know, seven days from now, I've got to sit down with, with Ben and there's no way in hell I'm not.
Ed Mathews: I'm telling them that I didn't get done what I said I was going to get done. There is no way.
Dan Lewkowicz: That's no doubt. I mean, it's helped me. It's helped me to exercise, right? Knowing that I needed to get a certain number of times in, it's helped me to certain metrics on call volume, you know, all personal things.
Dan Lewkowicz: I mean, he just texted me, you know, like literally as we're doing this, that, that, um, you know, thanks accountability partner. I just sold my, he had an extra car that he didn't need. I just sold my Thunderbird. So it's a, it's, it's random things, but, but you know what the truth is, is that even from a business perspective, that Thunderbird I've been telling him for six months, that Thunderbird is taking up, um, I didn't sell.
Dan Lewkowicz: You know, I want us all to get that off your, off your head.
Ed Mathews: . Right, exactly. Cause it, all it's doing is, uh, I had an old boss who used to call that brain damage, right? It's the, you know, it's the stuff that keeps you from thinking about the stuff you really need to be thinking about. Yeah. Okay. So, so, you know, As I was, as, as we were getting to know each other before, you know, a few weeks ago and now, and now here, you know, one of the things that I admire about you is, you know, your purpose, right?
Ed Mathews: Your vision in terms of why you're doing what you do. Can you tell the folks a little bit about, you know, what gets you out of bed in the morning on Mondays?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah. I mean, so first of all, thankfully I'm a high energy guy. I love what I'm doing. I'm very, very passionate. So I don't really have a hard time going, you know, for me, it's actually the opposite.
Dan Lewkowicz: Sometimes it's hard to stop, but if I look back and say like, why am I doing this? It's for a variety of reasons. Number one, I have five kids, right. And I want to leave a legacy for them. And I want to have a business that, and, and, and, and, and, you know, an enterprise. That if they want, they can come in and do this as well.
Dan Lewkowicz: Cause I think commercial real estate brokerage is the greatest gift, you know, in the world. Honestly, I love it. Absolutely love it. And there's so much opportunity. So that's one for me. Number two would be like freedom. You know, obviously I work very hard. I also enjoy myself when I travel and take time away.
Dan Lewkowicz: But eventually one day I don't want to have to. I want to have that freedom. Um, and then the other thing is I am an avid car enthusiast. Like I am obsessed with cars and I'm obsessed with a specific type of car. And, uh, for me, like what I do has enabled me to own cars that I dreamt of. I mean, I had literally on the way here.
Dan Lewkowicz: I'm so excited. I came and tell you. On the way here. I got a video. My dream car is getting loaded into the trailer in Arizona and shipped to me here in Michigan. And it's like, yeah, yeah.
Ed Mathews: So come on, tell me, what is it?
Dan Lewkowicz: So this one,
this is actually, so I am, I love Dodge Vipers. This is going to be my third Dodge Viper, but this one is a 1998. Red GTS. So it's the coupe one owner. It's got 12,000 miles It's got some modifications like cannon air filters and Belanger headers and you know smooth tubes high flow catalytic converters and and of course a cat back exhaust. It sounds incredible It's got the 708 lumpy cam, which is the most desirable cam They only did it for a few years in Vipers.
Dan Lewkowicz: It's just a great all around, super clean car. And I can't wait to get it. And the funniest thing is, is that when I was a kid, I used to go with my friend, my friend's dad worked at the Viper Prowler plant and they used to take us every year. Yeah. They used to take us every year to the, to the plant and it was amazing.
Dan Lewkowicz: They would take us for rides and Vipers. And I have on my wall, it's from like September of 1997, right? And it's a picture of me in guess what? A red Dodge Viper GTS. They only made. Force 177 that year. So there's a chance that the car that's been on my wall, right. Since I was a little kid.
Ed Mathews: Is that car?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah, exactly.
Ed Mathews: So cool. So cool. Yeah, no, I grew up in a car family myself, but we're more Ford Mustang and Shelby guys. So we're okay. You know, sixties to late sixties, kind of, kind of nice. But, uh, yeah, I've always had a thing for, uh, Camaros too. The 68, 69.
Dan Lewkowicz: Those are great. Oh my God.
Ed Mathews: Every time I see one, it makes me smile.
Ed Mathews: So, uh, all right, cool. So, uh, now I understand your purpose. You gotta, you gotta support, uh, your board of directors at home. And a, sounds like a profound car habit. So that'll, that'll get you going. All right, so let me ask you the last thing in the final four. So if you, if I, some guy from Connecticut came into your life and waved a magic wand and took away everything that you have right now, except what you know, right?
Ed Mathews: Business wise, not family. You have your family, your kids still think you're tall, but, uh, the only thing you get to keep is what, you know, what would you do? How would you, you know, how would you approach. Building back differently than you did.
Dan Lewkowicz: I mean, I would do exactly what I'm doing now. I would, but I would do it differently.
Dan Lewkowicz: Right. I would do it different. So I would hire right away. I'd probably invest, hopefully I have some money, right. It didn't, that didn't go away, but I'd invest like maybe 20 grand in building out the absolute best database I could of principals, investors, you know, brokers, real estate, investment trusts, family offices, et cetera, et cetera.
Dan Lewkowicz: And I would just get on the phones. I'd get on social media. I'd bring some junior brokers in and start getting deal. Start getting proposals, start getting listings and just build it right back up. You know, that's it. I w I wouldn't blink. That's what I would do.
Ed Mathews: Yeah. Awesome. So I kind of jumped the gun a little bit with this next question, but I'm going to ask anyway.
Ed Mathews: So when you're not, you know, slinging commercial real estate, what do you like to do? Great question. I mean, we took care of cars. What else do you like to do?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah. I mean, I love cars so much. I love, I love being on a track, racing them too. That's the best, but yeah, I know. I know. Yeah, I, there's, there's Company that comes to town a couple times a year with, with every supercar you can imagine, and you can rent 'em and go drive 'em on professional race tracks.
Dan Lewkowicz: Thankfully they only come to town a few times a year. Is that Bonderant? No, it's actually called Extreme
Ed Mathews: Experience. Oh, I've seen those guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dan Lewkowicz: It's so awesome. So aside from that, you know, I love to travel. I love to go to nice restaurants. I love nice cuisine, um, traveling is, is, and, you know, resorts, I, I really, really love.
Dan Lewkowicz: Uh, I do like to snowboard. I've been playing guitar since I was, I think it was seven years old, since I was a real little kid. I like to exercise, do yoga, things like that. And just, you know, spend time with friends. I really enjoy that sports games and fun as well.
Ed Mathews: All right. Awesome. And, uh, so if people want to get in touch with you or learn more about you, uh, what's the best way to do that?
Dan Lewkowicz: Yeah. So first of all, as I mentioned, I'm very active on LinkedIn, so you can follow me there, first name, Dan. That's the name is Lewcowicz, L E W K O W I C Z again, L E W K O W I C Z. That would be great. You know, say hi, introduce yourself. Let me know that, you know, you met me from, from this, uh, from Ed Mathews podcast, um, additionally, if you own commercial real estate and you want to sell it or you want to know what it's worth, or if you are thinking about getting into the industry as a broker, as an investor, or you just want to talk shop and in real estate, you know, I'm going to give out my direct cell phone.
Dan Lewkowicz: Please feel free to give me a call. It's 2, 4, 8, 9, 4, 3, 2, 8, 3, 8, again, 2, 4, 8, 3, 8. And if there's anything I can do to add value,
Ed Mathews: it would be my pleasure. Awesome. And, uh, we'll put that in the show notes as well. So, uh, Dan Lewkowicz, thank you so much for your time today. It was, uh, this was actually a really cool conversation.
Ed Mathews: I'm glad we were able to get together. So thanks for your time. Yeah, me too.
Dan Lewkowicz: Thank you so much. This was wonderful. All right.