Do You Need a Real Estate Investment Manager in Los Angeles?

Professional real estate investment managers, like RMC Realty Advisors, help the owners of commercial properties improve the value of their investments by making smart choices about the investment, management, leasing, and sale of their portfolio of properties.

When you think of Los Angeles real estate, you might think of luxury homes in Hollywood Hills or Santa Monica. But for serious real estate investors, there is also commercial real estate, including office buildings, retail centers, multifamily properties, and industrial parks.

If you own one or more of these commercial properties, you are well aware that managing these commercial investment properties is more than a part-time job. This is where experienced real estate investment managers in Los Angeles come in. Professional real estate investment managers like RMC Realty Advisors help the owners of these commercial properties improve the value of their investments by making smart choices about the investment, management, leasing, and sale of their portfolio of properties.

What Do Real Estate Investment Managers Actually Do?

Rick Marquis: Real Estate Investment Managers in Los Angeles
Rick Marquis: Real Estate Investment Manager in Los Angeles

A real estate investment manager (or Asset Manager) is often confused with a property manager, but they are quite different. While a property manager handles the daily tasks,  like collecting rent, paying operating expenses, and maintaining the property, a real estate investment manager not only oversees property management, but also the entire real estate life cycle, from acquisition to disposition, including leasing, capital improvements, and debt placement.

Real estate investment managers are responsible for the following:

  • Finding the Right Deals: A key trait of any successful investor is buying at the right price. Real estate investment managers not only look across the open market, but also for the hidden gems in the city that other people might miss. These are often the off market deals that the average person never knows about.
  • Making a Plan: Real estate investment managers will evaluate the condition of your commercial real estate investments and determine if such investment can benefit from a value-added strategy.  Such strategy may include making interior and exterior improvements to secure higher rents at the property, thereby increasing the property’s bottom line and value.
  • Watching the Market: Real estate investment managers keep a close eye on both building and market fundamentals. If they anticipate impending long-term changes to such fundamentals, they will recommend revisions to your disposition strategy.
  • Managing Risk: Real estate can have its ups and downs, as do other types of investments. Consequently, real estate investment managers, like other wealth advisors, use their expertise to help their clients make the right decisions in good times and bad.

The Power of Personal Service

In a city as vast as LA, there are many big investment management firms. These companies may have hundreds of clients and investments under management. While these firms may be sizable, they may feel impersonal to their clients. To them, a client might be just another row on a spreadsheet.

This is why many savvy and successful investors prefer to trust their portfolio of properties to a smaller, boutique real estate investment firm. Instead of trying to help everyone, boutique real estate investment managers focus on a very select group of clients who would benefit from a client-focused approach.

Trusting your real estate assets to a boutique firm like RMC Realty Advisors is like training with a personal fitness coach at a private gym instead of exercising alone at a massive gym with franchises in every city. With a smaller firm, you get:

  • Direct Access: You speak directly to the experts making decisions on your behalf.  You don’t have to talk to multiple assistants and junior executives to get an answer.
  • Custom Strategies: Every investor has different goals. RMC Realty Advisors will create a plan that specifically fits your individual goals. It’s not a one-size-fits-all.
  • Speed and Agility: Large companies often have multiple levels of bureaucracy that slow things down. At RMC Realty Advisors, we move quickly when a great opportunity presents itself in the fast-paced LA market.

Experience Matters: We Have over 30 Years

At RMC Realty Advisors, we know that in the world of commercial real estate, there is no substitute for experience. Los Angeles is a unique place to do business. It has strict zoning laws, rigid rent control ordinances, a complex tax system, and a market that changes constantly.

Our founder, Rick Marquis, has over 30 years of experience working in the LA commercial real estate market. Why does that matter? Because in three decades, you see everything. We have managed properties through economic booms where everyone was riding the wave, and through down times where the market was less than stellar and difficult decisions needed to be made.

Because of our vast experience, we have built and work with a reliable network of lawyers, property managers, contractors, and brokers in the area. These relationships help our clients achieve better financial outcomes and avoid expensive mistakes.

Looking Toward the Future

As we move towards the future, the Los Angeles market will surely continue to change and grow again. With major sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics coming to the city, there is a lot of excitement around new developments. High-end office spaces are becoming more environmentally aware. Many are being built or retrofitted with high-tech features. Industrial warehouses are in high demand because of online shopping.

For a savvy high net worth investor, these changes are full of opportunities. RMC Realty Advisors is the real estate advisor that can help guide you towards your best outcome. Our unique approach combined with over 30 years of local knowledge ensures that your portfolio is working for you. So, to answer the question: no, you don’t need a real estate investment manager in Los Angeles, but it sure helps.

Meet Rick Marquis

Richard Marquis has more than 30 years of experience acquiring, managing, leasing, and selling commercial real estate. In the last 15 years, Mr. Marquis has successfully managed, transitioned and sold over $500,000,000 of commercial and residential real estate.