Featured Story: Mike Golden and the Art of Straight Talk

@properties Development Group (@DG), we’re known for our straightforward, no-nonsense approach to relationships and decision-making. We met with Mike Golden, co-founder and co-CEO of @properties, to walk through the art of straight talk and discuss how pragmatism, reading an ever-evolving market, and creativity are the key ingredients to successful client relationships.

How does the adage, “We tell clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear,” resonate with you as it relates to client partnerships?

It’s the fundamental basis for client relationships. You can even take the word “client” out; in a trusted relationship, you need someone who will tell you the reality of the situation. When a developer comes to @DG, they’re entrusting us with a tremendous amount of risk, money and time, and they expect to get good advice to avoid losing money. Clients hire us for our expertise in the marketplace; not to just hang a sign and sell it, but to actually help them conceive a project, bring it to market and do everything we can to sell it. If we’re not being completely straightforward and giving clients the straight scoop so that they can make informed decisions and create a successful project, we’re not doing our job.

It’s critically important that we do a thorough analysis when a client brings us an opportunity so we can come back to them with an honest recommendation based on the current state of the market. The worst thing we can do is tell a client what they want to hear. We always try to give completely straightforward, upfront advice — even when it means that the client has to take a pass. Sometimes the best deals are the ones we don’t do.

New projects take years to deliver, from acquisition and conception to completion. How do you navigate unpredictable markets while ensuring that a product will sell?

If a developer is going to take the risk and put time and energy into a project, they need to make sure that the market can support the price. Now, things happen. I was involved in successful projects in 2008 and 2009 that quickly became unsuccessful when the market crashed, but that was beyond everyone’s control. I’ve also worked on developments where the market evolved in our favor, so it can go both ways. At @DG, we can only give our clients the best information that we have at present. I’ve never been one to predict how the market will behave, and I’ve always been uncomfortable making decisions based on assumptions about the market. You have to act on the current market, knowing that there are cycles in real estate and building in some wiggle room to withstand that.

It sounds like there’s a lot of pragmatism at play here. Where does creativity come in?

When we’re designing a product, we always like to build in as much flexibility as possible. Years ago, we worked on a building with half-floor units that were flexible enough to shift space from one side to the other to accommodate buyer demand. As it turned out, the views on the east side of the building were better, so we created larger units at a higher price-point on the east side, which allowed us to sell the smaller units on the west side. We’ve also designed projects with primarily one- and two-bedroom floor plans, with the option to combine these into one three-bedroom unit. When you go to market, you always discover things that you couldn’t have anticipated during the early stages of the project. Suddenly, buyers want more square footage, more efficient units or pet amenities — creativity comes in by incorporating as much flexibility into the project as possible so you can pivot once you’re in the marketplace.

You used the phrase “true partnership” to describe successful client relationships. Can you share more about what this phrase means to you?

In a true partnership, honesty is paramount. We’ve been in many situations where we could have told a client what they wanted to hear just to get the project built, but that doesn’t serve them, so it doesn’t serve us. Ultimately, we’re not trying to secure one project from a client — we want all of their projects. Our goal is to build long-term relationships, and that means putting their best interest before our best interest. That’s a true partnership, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have that with my business partner, Thad Wong. Neither one of us puts our personal interests in front of the partnership interest, and that’s why we’ve been successful for 25 years.