I was on a zoom call recently with a bunch of commercial real estate salespeople around the country and about halfway through the call all I could hear was, wah wah wah wah wah. They were saying the same things I have been listening to for 30 years. At a national hotel investors conference a few months ago, about halfway through the conference I thought the same thing.

Why is that I asked myself. I answered myself – you’re just waiting to hear something fresh and new. I guess that is it. I have heard the same speeches in the same monotone dialog with the same level of ego for years. I think the older I get, the more I like simple talk. I was on a conference call last week with this investor telling us about his development deal and why it would be the best investment deal ever known to mankind. After 15 min of him jabbering, I said, “let me see if I get this straight.” I critiqued his whole pitch into 30 seconds and realized it would never be sellable. I was gracious, gentle and kind but said we were not the right people to help him. Translation – I don’t want to spend my time on it.

I like simple, straight forward deals that I know are actionable and transactional. I don’t have the patience any more for the pie-in-the-sky deal. I want real tangible deals that pencil. I don’t know if that means I am getting too old for the job or just over-protective my time and our staff’s time.

Give me real any day over the “well I think it is worth x” conversations. I have just been around the horse ring too many times to get pulled into a time waster. Any-hoo, there you have Keith Thompson’s response to the wah wah wah calls. Ha. KT