Invaluable Lessons From An Invaluable Mentor

Luiz de Oliveira Neto, known by his last name Oliveira, was a market legend in Rio de Janeiro. With a 50+ year tenure as Director of Investment Sales at Sergio Castro Imóveis, the oldest and one of Brazil's leading commercial real estate firms, his phone rang non-stop. Even after Homeric arguments, clients would come back crawling for his advice and seeking his representation in complex deals that would have been impossible for any other broker in the country to close. Every single major deal in Rio—the ones where iconic buildings or infamously difficult owners were involved—had his fingerprints on it.

I had the privilege of starting working by his side when I was 22. A Law School dropout, I found my way into the commercial real estate profession through my friendship with one of Sergio Castro Imóveis' heirs. Due to his father's illness, Claudio had been placed in the Managing Director chair, and he invited me to join the team. Because we had so much in common, Oliveira took me as his protégé early on. For more than six years, we sat at the same desk (a two-meter desk full of papers) and worked on the same files. I wish I had recorded his every word.

Oliveira’s character was all old-school fibre, and he was not easily impressed by finance jargon or corporate shenanigans. He could get to the bottom issues of a deal in a matter of minutes. He breathed real estate. And he read people like no one else.

My mentor taught me some invaluable lessons (and he made sure I learned them by always being ready to throw me to the lions if he thought I was going in the wrong direction):

1. Real estate is not about properties—it is about people. In fact, everything in the world is about people. Philosophers, sociologists, and economists have wrestled with this axiom for centuries. If you do not understand that commercial real estate is about people, you will not last in this profession. Properties are still a fundamental part of the game, of course. But properties are traded to fulfil people's needs, and the buying/selling process only unfolds through people's biased optics. Acquisition and investment managers seek objectivity, but objectivity only goes so far. Every real estate transaction has a huge subjective component to it.
2. You might win more by saying no. Most complex commercial real estate transactions are full of mind games; the buyer or seller side might hide their real intentions. Brokers can be caught in those games and get scared to straighten things up because they fear losing out on the commission. This is the easiest way for deals to fall apart. Back in 2013, when we were negotiating the sale of one of the last prime lots in downtown Rio, the developer tried to subtly bribe us into convincing the seller to accept his offer that was much lower than the market price. Oliveira folded the deposit cheque (worth a few million dollars) and put it back into the developer's jacket pocket. He also tore up the signed offer. The following week, the developer came back and bought the property at the asking price.
3. Value your work and your profession. You need to know the value you bring to the table. The real estate agent is not, or should not be, a mere middleman. In a commercial real estate transaction, if opposite parties are left unrepresented, they can easily get hurt since they do not know what is happening on the other side. Unsophisticated parties lack real estate knowledge. The sophisticated ones won’t close a deal if there is significant information asymmetry (as is always the case in the buyer/seller relationship). A real estate broker has the ability, experience, and training to level the playing field, protect clients, and advise them on how to act to make sure the deal pulls through. Moreover, in complex transactions, the broker will act as project manager, making sure all the involved parties (seller, buyer, lawyers, architects, and lenders) are keeping up with their responsibilities on time.
4. The separation between professional and personal life is not real. Remember I said Oliveira’s character was all old-school fibre? He never believed in the modern idolatry of work/life separation. For him and his generation as a whole, when you reached a certain level of responsibility in a profession, there was no distinction between personal and professional life. In fact, I grew up in this kind of environment and still miss the "old days". You can sell a property at a party, and you can make friends at work. You will profit a lot, and not only financially, if you are open to some blurred lines. The most interesting people I have ever known and the most exciting places I have been to were related to my work as a real estate broker.
5. Be loyal and take sides. Neutrality is the socially acceptable word for cowardice. Disloyal people only go so far in this profession—and in any profession, really. No one is successful alone: success is achieved with a team, cooperation, and partnerships, all of which cannot survive without deep and true bonds. Loyalty pays dividends in the long run too. While someone may need your help today, tomorrow you may be on the receiving end.

Oliveira died in January 2019, just some weeks after we had a lengthy phone call. I still miss him and his wisdom daily and still have the instinct of dialling his number when I need direction. I know how marvellously lucky I am to have had the privilege of spending almost every day for six years by his side, learning from him. If you have a mentor like that, make sure to stick close to them and absorb every drop of wisdom from their words. In a profession where experience is such an asset, learning the trade secrets without going to great pains to discover them is invaluable.