Perhaps the happiest person I’ve ever met was a 90-year-old man who lived alone.

Dr. Burke was my neighbor, and we’d get to chatting ever so often.

There was a calmness to him. He was content. He’d gotten all he wanted and needed out of life.

And now, he decided to spend most of his final years at sea, taking cruises for months at a time, seeing the world.

He’d been married for 55 years before his wife passed a few years earlier.

They had four children, and eight grandchildren.

He has served as a surgeon in the military.

How to Buy Your First Strip Mall: 1. Pick a City to Study

Choose any suburban city close to where you live

Four-year-old's been playing with a friend non-stop all summer.

Wife and I decided to invite the parents over for dinner Friday. I'd met them a couple times briefly. Really nice people, but didn't know much about them at all.

They come over, we start chatting, and it turns out that they operate a small chain of mom-and-pop retail businesses in New York City.

I ask a few questions, and their faces light up as they talk about their business.

They had no idea in that moment that their story is exactly why I fell in love with the strip center

Spent the last two days with 40 other real estate fund managers, many of whom have raised over $500M+ over multiple funds.

Everyone spoke very candidly.

Here are some takeaways: There was lots of talk about recapitalizations (recaps).

This is where instead of selling a property, new investors come in to buy out existing investors, allowing the property to retain its existing ownership structure.

This is happening more and more in the industry.

We accept that top athletes grind like absolute crazy and put in grueling hours of intense training in order to compete at the highest level. Yet, many people don't like the idea that the same holds true in the business world. They don't think it should take an all-out constant effort of pushing oneself in order to find big success. People think there are shortcuts and workarounds, but it's not the case. The guy that runs real estate at the largest commercial real estate landlord in America joined the firm in a relatively junior position,

One of the most irrational and naive beliefs in America is the blanket "anti-California" sentiment.

I spent almost my entire life out there, and you know what: many of my friends aren't super liberal.

In fact, many actually vote republican.

Those endless encampments you Picture?

Many of those images are from a couple areas of San Francisco that are shown over and over, and get lots of lots of clicks.

Much of San Francisco has little do to with those areas you keep seeing.

And the San Francisco suburbs have nothing to do with the city.

Lots of folks who've found success in the corporate world dream of going off on their own and starting their own shop one day.

Many of them would be great at it and find huge success, but almost nobody actually ever does it.

The problem is that the difference between their current job and going off on their own becomes incredibly drastic as the years go on.

Taking the leap means guaranteed stress and humility at heights never before experienced. It comes with much fear, and many failures along the way.

City Officials: this is a very important message.

Retail's changed a whole lot. Your well-meaning restrictions from twenty years ago are now standing in your way and the community's way.

Here's what's happened, and how your thinking should shift.

The new retail reality: First of all, it's important to understand that new strip centers in your communities will likely not be built for the next twenty years, minimum.

What you see is what you got.

I saw this happen in the Bay Area, and now it's happening nationally.

Yesterday I took an uber to the yankee game with my son. I saw a group of 3 people in their early 20s looking for a cab, and offered them to join us since we were all going to the same place. As the ride started, an honest conversation began. One was a waiter, one a student, and another an event planning assistant at a local college. They asked me what I did, and the conversation turned to how the new generation looks at its future, and its prospects of gaining financial independence. They were frustrated that

Mickey Drexler is an American retail icon

-President of The Gap at age 39
-Takes it from 450 stores to 4,000
-Steve Jobs got him to Design the Apple Store
-Started Old Navy
-Ran J. Crew

Perhaps the most brilliant retail mind ever.

We sat down for an unfiltered conversation: Mickey on Making it in America Without Connections

I want to start by saying that Mickey Drexler came from nothing.

He grew up in the Bronx with no money or connections, and his father made $15k/year.

Mickey made it work in the 1960s, but I asked him if the same thing holds true now.

What's someone supposed to do in today’s world if they’re smart, ambitious, but don’t come from wealth and don’t have a great network?

Mickey dove right in.

I quickly realized that Mickey likes to answer questions by telling stories to drive home his messages.

He told me that while we was running The Gap, he had a chance to tour a high school in Harlem.

While walking through the hallway that day, a teenager approached him out of nowhere and asked who he was and what he was doing there.

He could sense her confidence and energy right away.

He could tell within seconds of speaking with her that she was a natural leader.

That she was curious. She just had it.

So, Mickey hired her to work at The Gap that summer.

This was just one example of the countless times he would unexpectedly come across somebody in day-to-day life and get a feel for that person’s talent right away.

That was the lesson. Many great leaders have an uncanny ability to spot talent instantly, and are always on the lookout to recruit the next standout.

You don’t always need a formal interview or a fancy degree to get in front of the right people and make an impression quickly.

You just need to create interactions with as many people as you can, as you never know who that person is that you just approached.

If you have it – they will see it.

So, what ever happened to that 16-year-old girl from Harlem that Mickey hired for that summer job all those years ago?

Yandy Smith is now known to millions around the world as the star of Love & Hip Hop, and has had a storied career as an entrepreneur, singer, and actress.

Mickey's instincts were correct.

A few real estate skills that print money: Finding phone numbers others can’t

If you're having a hard time getting a hold of them, your competition is too.

Take that extra time to dive into the search engines, to research that LLC, and even use social media to find common friends.

Doesn't work?

FedEx a letter.

Ugly building, no credit tenants:

The properties I love the most

Bought: $1.7M
Sold: $4.27M

Here's how it happened: Find the deal

A broker that specialized in this market for decades knew this was the type of property we looked for.

He sent us a bunch of deals that didn't work, but we kept in touch every single month.

"I have an ugly one for you!"

Want some real estate hard truths?

Here are six, off the top of my head: Real estate is really hard, even for those at the top of the game.

Tired of strip mall owners burying their heads in the sand about the dry cleaner issue.

Wasting the broker's time. Wasting the buyer's time.

Kills more of our deals than anything else, and it's not even close.

Here is what needs to happen: First of all, this is not a post about how badly dry cleaners contaminate properties and neighborhoods, and what a crazy health risk they cause.

I've said a lot about that, and will continue to do so.

This is about the fact sellers play dumb about this topic.

12 common traits of the most successful people I've been around: They can tell right away if someone's wasting their time.

Lots of people are fighting for their attention, and they know what to filter out.

You will hear back from them quickly if they think it's worth their time, but not at all if they don't.

It happened by accident.

But last week I witnessed an absolute branding master class.

Every single company in America with a marketing budget needs to take notice of what just happened: I hosted a gala in New York City.

The room was full of real estate folks from all over the US doing great things in the industry.

Lots of big names, lots of up-and-comers making names for themselves.

Some also share their journeys on social media, and have sizable audiences.

Real talk about taking on a business partner: Business partners can be great.

They can take you to heights that would've been impossible on your own.

But most of the time, the opposite happens, and things often end in disaster.

Gotta be honest with yourself about why you're taking on a partner, and what you're giving up.

When we're in due diligence, I can't help but cringe as I review leases.

The unnecessary and senseless mistakes many longtime owners make that cost them millions of dollars are beyond belief.

Literally throwing boatloads of cash into a fire for no reason.

3 Most Common: "5 Year Lease with Four-5 Year options at 2% increase"

All options are terrible for the landlord, and fixed rent options are insanity.

They give away control of the property for no reason, and take away any chance of benefiting from rent growth.

Why are you setting 2035 rents now?

What if the area grows and rents increase by 50%?

If you have to give options, set them at Fair Market Rent

After call, who can argue that "Fair Market Rent" isn't fair?

There's countless mega talented real estate professional out there working for large and small firms.

Many have the exact same thought every day:

Why am I still here and when I can run my own shop?

If this applies to you, this may be worth a read: Many of you work in asset management and acquisition roles.

You're stars.

You can find deals, you know how to maneuver to increase values, and you see how much money you make your firms.

But there's a great differentiator you may not have thought about closely.

I was a broker in my 20s, on a long flight back home from Europe.

There was no Wi-Fi on airplanes then, so idle thinking would occupy my time.

I'd been trying to solve a hard problem for months.

With no distractions, a million dollar idea appeared that would change my career: As a newer broker, competing for listings was an intimidating task.

Landlords received constant phone calls and mailers from brokers much more experienced than me.

I knew my career wouldn't survive if I couldn't figure out a way to separate myself from all that noise.

I believe that in order for someone to consider themselves a real estate investor, they need an edge.

What advantage do you have that others don't?

If you don't have such an edge, are you investing, or simply speculating?

A couple examples of advantages that provide an edge: Deal Flow Edge

Do you have a unique relationship with a large institution which brings you deals other don't see?

Do you have a known brand that will keep you top-of-mind in the brokerage world?

Do you have a longer track record than anyone else?