WS1005: Growing Your Real Estate Business Using LinkedIn With Moses Hall

EPISODE 1005

[INTRODUCTION]

0:00:00.0 ANNOUNCER Welcome to the Real Estate Syndication Show. Whether you are a seasoned investor or building a new real estate business, this is the show for you. Whitney Sewell talks to top experts in the business. Our goal is to help you master real estate syndication. 

And now your host, Whitney Sewell.

[INTERVIEW]

00:00:24.000

Whitney Sewell: This is your daily real estate syndication show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell. Today our guest is Moses Hall. Thanks for being on the show, Moses.

00:00:32.000

Moses Hall: Thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.

00:00:34.000

WS: Yeah, pleasure to have you. Moses specializes in commercial investment property acquisitions and commercial real estate dispositions. In January of 2019 Moses launched a MoHall Commercial and Urban Development where his focus is redevelopment through commercial real estate investment properties. Through collaborative efforts his ultimate goal is to revitalize communities and build wealth through real estate on the south side of Chicago. 

Moses, welcome to the show. Tell us a little about your focus in commercial real estate and hot right now, and I’d love to hear a little more about just your goal, you know, building wealth and on the south side of Chicago and what your plans are there.

00:01:10.000

MH: Yeah. So, as I kind of briefly mentioned to you I’m originally from New York City. I was born in the Bronx, raised in Jamaica, Queens and growing up I seen the transformation of New York City and how communities were transformed through the development and add ons are different commercial real estate projects. Prime example in Manhattan, there’s a neighborhood called Harlem. And back in the 80s Harlem was run down, it was filled with drugs, abandoned brownstones, it was falling apart. At one point they had a program where they were giving away these brownstones for $1, and now, 30 years later those same brownstones that they were giving away are now we’re over a million dollars, you can’t even get into Harlem now, the real estate is on fire in that particular area, and so moving to Chicago, I see the same transformation. 

There is a neighborhood called Brownsville, and it has that historic feel where there’s a lot of musical talent and painters and over the years went to Rowling’s and abandon. And now, gradually, it is building back up, and I want to be a part of that same movement in terms of building up neighborhoods, and that’s kind of my mission in Chicago. I realized that commercial real estate has a direct impact on how community improves and even though Chicago gets a negative rap and PR about certain things, I believe it’s a beautiful city and has a lot of potential, and a lot of investors do look here, because of the returns that you can get in this market. So, you know, one of my passions and goals is revitalizing underserved communities providing necessary services in those communities, and I have seen the ability to do that through commercial real estate, whether it’s affordable housing, whether it’s retail putting the grocery store in particular neighborhood, whether its industrial, able to have shipping opportunities like Amazon is located in our Southside neighborhood. So just different opportunities to develop these communities.

00:03:26.000

WS: No doubt about it commercial real estate plays such a big role in a way that the buying experience to where most live, right. It’s such a big deal in how communities function, and so it’s interesting to have somebody like yourself who’s thinking long term about those things in a community that seriously needs some help, but you see potential there. I think that’s the beauty of being entrepreneur as well, seeing things that others don’t and being able to go in and say “Hey, you know, let’s do something about it,” right, and so love that. 

Well, tell me a little bit about your, I know you have some skills around how you’ve grown your business and how you have scaled, how you’re getting your name out there and I think some of that’s going to be very useful to the listeners around even the way you’re using social media to whether it’s just grow your business or gain leads for deals. Let’s hop into that because I know the listeners are trying to learn and do some of this.

00:04:14.000

MH: Yeah. You know, I absolutely love the platform LinkedIn. It is a free platform, is really good for business to business use for commercial real estate practitioner like myself, typically ideal client is another business owner. And the reason I love LinkedIn is because you can post something and if one person interacts with your post, then your post shows up on everyone else’s timeline in that person’s friends list, so you don’t have to be connected to people and people can still see your posts, and the reason that’s amazing is because you have such a further reach. So if you have a developer in your network that engages with your posts, then everybody in that developer network sees your pulse and how does that generate two leads you know if I just closed on this phenomenal multifamily deal, and everyone’s like, “Oh my god, how did you find that deal? How did you get that Capri? How did you…” then I start getting a flood of increase in my inbox saying “Hey man, I saw that deal that you just closed on, please put me on your e-mail list when you have more deals like that” that’s exactly what I’m looking for. And now I literally build a contact list of people that I wasn’t even connected with, they just saw it, because what will happen is, let’s just say, you know, Whitney you liked my posts right, now everybody in your network likes my posts and it shows up on their feet and then people that I would not even connected with now sees my posts and then I start getting in boxes and frank connections, and then they asked me to put them on their e-mail list. So now I’m building an e-mail contact list, so now if I get any listings, sometimes I don’t have to necessarily go to market, I can literally just hit my e-mail list and make deals just that way.

00:06:07.000

WS: I want to back up there a little bit because like the one of the most important things in the very beginning of that was like getting people to engage, right, like they need to engage, so now all of a sudden your posts are being shown to the people, how do you get people to engage?

00:06:18.000

MH: I think you have to understand your audience, you have to provide value. That’s the most important thing, even if you have services that you sell, but if you offer a freebie even if they don’t immediately reach out to you, they’re watching. If you provide market information or anything with depending on what your field is, you want to brand yourself as that expert. Once you brand yourself as an expert, if someone has a need they’ll come to you for a solution. And so that’s kind of how you get people to engage is when you provide information, when you provide good content, you have to know your audience, you have to know who you’re connected to, what is valuable to them. And once they kind of see the value, then they’ll engage. And then, even if they don’t necessarily always hit the like button, it shows up on their feet, and sometimes you’ll be amazed how many people are watching you and never engaged until you see them out in the event, they’re like “Oh my god! I just saw you. That’s phenomenal, congratulations!” “Oh, I didn’t even know you were watching me.” So I think the most important part is coming up with understanding your audience and creating valuable content, with that valuable content people naturally engage because it’s intriguing to them. If you put market information, if you put tidbits, if you’re offering, if your timeline is a group of investors and you’re putting up amazing properties with great returns, and you’re saying “Oh my god! You know, you invest in this. This better returns than the stock market,” then naturally people are going to kind of engage in that. And like I said it’s different for every platform, you have to understand the platform that you’re on, what we’re speaking of is more LinkedIn which is business to business. If you’re on Instagram, Facebook, that’s a different audience typically that you have to engage with and kind of tell the content to that and the algorithms are a little bit different on those platforms and so you just have to understand each platform. The biggest thing is understanding your audience, once you understand your audience that’s how you get more engagement. 

00:08:15.000

WS: Yeah, there is numerous things there you said that’s so important. I mean, number one, understanding your audience. It’s so important, but you even mentioned earlier, you know about, like, ultimately, they’ll call you and they have the need, right, like not everyone really needs your service right now, but by staying in front of them, by staying consistent, right and staying in front of them eventually they may need your service. That’s when they’re going to call you or that’s when they’re going to think of you because you’ve been in front of them all that time, I think it’s so important. And you also mentioned like, not everyone I’ve seen it for years now, it’s like they do watch your videos, they do listen or maybe even follow you, but they may never hit the like button, they may never comment, and then of a sudden, two years later, they’re like “Oh, I’ve been watching you forever” and I’m like “I’ve never even heard of you,” you know. So it’s just great, you know, you just talking about being consistent.

I think one of the big just mindset issues that most have is just where does the content come from. They’re like “Well Moses, what am I going to talk about? I don’t have enough to talk about on social media? Or what am I going to say?” You know, and how do you come up or create content that’s going to be valuable and, you know, really connect with people?

00:09:16.000

MH: Whoa. So that’s a great phenomenal question and what I tell people, you have to understand the platform, and understand how to use the platform. And so for platforms like Instagram and Facebook sometimes they limit your reach on business posts. Like sometimes if you’re posting about real estate or that business opportunity, I feel like there’s keywords that they see, and they limit your reach, but if you share that you have a birthday coming up, or if you share that you’re on vacation, you took this cool trip out of the country, sometimes that post, that’s what people really engage with, and then that shows up on their feet and as a byproduct of them seeing you on this cool vacation, they may see the other posts about real estate and like “Oh, he’s a real estate expert” or “He’s an investor” or “He’s this.” So you have to understand the platform so when you asked about what content do I post, I think you just  one you kind of diversify the content sometimes you may have to add a little personal touch whether it’s a wedding anniversary, whether it’s a family vacation. And then you also blend in your business posts. Like I say, really depends on the platform. This is more so geared towards like Facebook, Instagram, you know, like you said, if you post a cool picture, for some reason, Instagram or Facebook they will, you know, show your post on everyone’s feed. If you post a lot of business stuff sometimes they limit and so sometimes entrepreneurs like myself can get frustrated like “Oh, I posted about my business, I’m not getting support,” but on the back end certain platforms want you to pay for that exposure. So you just have to learn how to kind of use these platforms for free, and kind of mix the content of personal and business. Like I said LinkedIn is just geared towards more business professionals, so you kind of geared towards that content but you just kind of post your everyday dealings whether it’s with a client, whether it’s a showing, whether it’s investment property you’re looking at. Just kind of…just pretty much be authentic, I think that’s the biggest part of social media, be yourself and people will tune in. I think people want to connect with you, whether it’s in business, whether it’s a personal, people want to have that connection so that’s kind of how you create your content.

00:11:32.000

WS: Do you have any goals for how often you post or is it dailies and weeklies that, how many times a month or anything like that?

00:11:38.000

MH: So I tried not to overload, like I said know everyone has a different strategy and method. What I like to do is I like to post one post and that reaches the masses. And so I may not post more than twice a week and I know some people post daily, you just have to know your audience, you have to know, you know, just kind of how the work things because it’s like, if most of your audience is in bed by, you know, 9pm, it doesn’t make sense to post after them because, you know, they won’t engage with it but if you have a certain audience that’s going to be up at midnight, you know, it’s okay maybe to post at 10 o’clock. So you just have to know your audience. I know for me I rather just make one post that garnishes a large engagement. So one of my recent posts, you know, one of the beautiful things about Chicago we have what we call summertime shy, it is one of the best times of the seasons where we have festivals, we have concerts, there’s all different types of things to do and one of the things I like to do is take my boat out on Lake Michigan and have a great time there and so I made a post that were, you know, coming upon summertime shy and just over that post I received almost 500 likes, you know, on Facebook. You know, and so that’s type of content but as a byproduct because you can see when people kind of hits your profiles and like I can see all the profile views that I got and so people can see that “Oh, he’s in real estate, he’s in this and he’s in that.” And so you just got to learn how to kind of create content, you know, and so I rather make that one post for the week that engages over 500 people, then make a single post every day that may only get 25, 30 likes. So you just have to kind of know what your audiences and how they engage and that’ll determine how many times to post. There’s really no one right way to do it.

00:13:34.000

WS: Sure.

00:13:35.000

MH: It’s just really tailored to your audience. 

00:13:37.000

WS: Trial and error for a long time it seems in. How do you arrange your schedule for monitoring feedback or comments or do you have like this anytime somebody comments you’re trying to get right back to them or is it like these times today I’m trying to monitor make sure I’m not missing anything?

00:13:52.000

MH: So I break it out. So what I do is, so once people start commenting and messaging me, I respond immediately. And then after a few comments, I take a chill back. And the reason I do that is if you ever notice, I’m pretty sure you’ve scrolled on social media before and used to see a random picture come up in your feed from like 2010, you’re like “Wait, why is this picture of him in my feed from 2010?” And what you’ll notice is someone recently commented on that picture from 2010 and just randomly shows up in your feet, and then you think like “Hey, how did this happen?” And so the reason I mentioned that point is sometimes I will break it up I’ll answer comments immediately and then I’ll wait a day or two, and then I’ll go back and respond to everyone and then refresh everyone’s feed again. And so that one post that I made is almost kind of like it’s showing up every day and everyone’s feet. 

00:14:49.000

WS: Okay, now I don’t know if I heard anyone talk about that before. It’s like save some of those comments, right or to reply to, like don’t get to all of them right away, maybe wait till the next day so it boosts back up in their feet again and other people’s feeds as more comments are happening. That’s a great point.

00:15:03.000

MH: Yeah. So like if I made a post on Monday, it can still be going if I read comment on Friday, so now I made one post and now I’ve expanded that post for like five days, and it’s showing up with everyone speak because like you said maybe, maybe I posted a Monday evening and then I reply back to everybody Friday morning so it might be a different audience. The people there may be going to work, you know, in the Friday morning versus those that were already sleep Friday, I mean Monday night. So you can attack two different, you know, audiences just by making one post.

00:15:38.000

WS: Is LinkedIn you’re like go to social media? Or do you try to do numerous or…

00:15:44.000

MH: Yeah, LinkedIn is kind of my go to for business to business interaction. I use Facebook, Instagram for more brand building. And like I say, because I you know I’m connected with a lot of peers and family and friends and so, like I say you have to understand your audience and so I more so use those platforms for brand awareness and brand building, and then I use LinkedIn to execute more actual business transactions and sales.

00:16:13.000

WS: Okay, no that makes complete sense. I know we focused on a few but there’s so many more now. It’s like huh, I don’t know if I can handle. I can try to get on all of it though.

00:16:22.000

MH: The latest craze is TikTok and I’m just kind of getting into that lane as well. And the reason I love TikTok is because you can build a following so quickly by putting up cool tips. You know, I know people go viral just from, you know, if they are doing a home project, and they show kind of the time lapse of them putting up maybe a new, you know, door something and people just love watching those cool type of videos and then, like you said, maybe on Instagram, they may only have 150 followers but then they get on TikTok they have over 10,000 followers. So you know, like all these new platforms are coming left and right and it’s definitely changing our society.

00:17:05.000

WS: Moses what’s really the hardest part for you right now in the commercial real estate business? And maybe even specific to Chicago, or just growing your commercial real estate business there? Or works and challenges that you’re having to deal with maybe because of the current market or anything else?

00:17:19.000

MH: Well, one of the challenges right now is just the cost of lumber, and labor. So if you’re doing what we call it a real estate value add project where you’re acquiring your property, and maybe multifamily, and maybe it’s a little bit under rented, but if you come in there and do some, you know, capital improvements and can raise the value raise rents. And sometimes now you have to kind of budget for the host material increases, like right now I’m looking at a multifamily deal and my investor, you know, he wanted to come in there and kind of do a buy and hold strategy but we’re looking at the construction cost and the numbers are not really heading up at this point because the cost of lumber has just gone extremely high, labor costs – there’s just a shortage of laborers. And so, that right now is a challenge kind of in the field right now just making sure those numbers make sense if you have any construction costs, so I think that’s across the board that everyone is seeing. We’re seeing the rise, you know inflation happen right now in the marketplace, you see gas prices are crazy. I know in certain markets there’s a gas shortage and people are going crazy. So that’s one of the struggles right now is when you’re looking at deals and you have a construction component to it, making sure those numbers are still making sense even with the increasing construction costs.

00:18:45.000

WS: On that same note, do you have any predictions just for the real estate markets here over the next six to 12 months?

00:18:50.000

MH: I do see that there is going to be a lift and the national eviction band. So from a landlord perspective, we are seeing some relief coming. Also, I know here in the state of Illinois they have just released rental assistance programs that you can get up to $25,000 in old rent and future rents, so I think right now, our economy is being stimulated. I do believe even with inflation, I know people are really watching that. I think we’ll be okay. Right now the six to 12 months I know people are waiting for us to do a major dip again, but I doubt that will have like the 2008 crash because of a lot of the checks and balances that were put in place. So I do see a recovery mode. I know right now the residential market is on fire right now. I mean you can even…it’s not enough…

00:19:47.000

WS: Right.

00:19:47.000

MH: I’m sorry. And I think, like I said, back to the construction costs and though a lot of builders are now putting clauses in their contract to if lumber goes over a certain price point the buyer has to pay for that difference. So we definitely do need to replace our housing inventory stock, industrials been holding on pretty strong, retail even though it’s been struggling, but I think those that have pivoted have, you know, been able to hold on pretty well. And now most states and cities are opening back up. I know here in Chicago they plan to fully be open by the Fourth of July, so that will get businesses back to move on, so I think we’re making a U-shaped recovery. I think the next six to 12 months we should be okay. I don’t see a lot of banks doing a lot of foreclosures, right now they’ve been working with homeowners and landlords right now so and then now that evictions are being lifted, I think there’s going to be a mass exodus of those tenants that haven’t been paying.

00:20:48.000

WS: Do you have any daily habits that you are disciplined about that have helped you achieve success?

00:20:52.000

MH: You know what, I had to learn in my career to carve out time for myself. You know, I know in the entrepreneur social media world we glamorize working 24/7 ,we glamorize…I sleep when I’m dead, but I think health is wealth. And you know, what I try to do for myself daily is carve out time for myself and turn off my phone and just make time for myself, so I think that’s very important as entrepreneurs and small business owners and business owners across the board is that we make time for ourselves and that we don’t forget to carve out that personal time and still have fun. We can grow our businesses, but make sure you have some time for yourself.

00:21:32.000

WS: Very well said, I could not agree more. We do glamorize “Oh I only sleep two hours a day, I work so hard,” right, you know, but what I’ve learned and I’m still learning, you know, it’s like that time of…I read a book recently called Thinking Time, right it’s so important, like it’s able to shut everything off and it says thinking time. It’s so crucial and I’ve seen it happen in the past but haven’t really called it that, but so important.

What about the number one thing that’s contributed to your success?

00:21:58.000

MH: Relationships. I think that’s important. It’s one thing to network, but it’s another thing to build that rapport in that relationship. Sometimes you don’t realize your name is in rooms that you haven’t even entered in because of that relationship that you built with someone – someone’s advocating on your behalf that you don’t even know about because of that relationship being built. And so I have to contribute my success to the relationships that are built over the years.

00:22:25.000

WS: I don’t think I’ve ever heard it said like that as far as like you’re, you’re in a room somewhere…your name is in a room somewhere and you’re not even there and you may never be there but because of the relationship. I think that’s a really neat way to think about that and be strategic about those relationships. So important, could not agree more. How do you like to give back Moses?

00:22:41.000

MH: So I definitely like to volunteer my time with certain organizations. And so, doodles organizations, you know, work with the Boys and Girls Club, also talked to high school students about getting into the real estate, not just real estate but commercial real estate. You know, I don’t think it’s really talked about, you know, at the high school level about opportunities to explore commercial real estate as a career, and you know one of the things I wish I learned is I wish people talk to me about how to build business credit. I didn’t know business credit existed. I didn’t know, you know, things like that so I like to give back to communities. I’ve even gone to juvenile detention centers and talk to those that are having a hard time in life and expose them to different things. So that’s how I like to give back. I like to go into the community, I like to talk to the kids, I like to give back, I like to go to the schools. So that’s how I spend my time giving back to the community, is really exposing people to opportunities within real estate and teach them different sectors that they can get into, and the opportunities of success that is unlimited.

00:23:49.000

WS: It’s awesome, Moses. I think it goes right along with your goal to revitalize communities and even some specific places in the south side of Chicago. I love your purpose there and just, you know, being focused on even thinking about this specific market and the place that you want to add that value, and just really the impact, you know, and focusing on that as an entrepreneur, even just giving back today and helping us think through how you use social media and LinkedIn specifically, some great tips there even holding some of the comments until the next. It’s something that simple, right, can help you know grow things especially over time when you’re consistent understanding your audience and, you know, you’re creating that content and thinking about how often you’re posting all those things.

You know, Moses thank you for your time, just your transparency. How can listeners get in touch with you and learn more about you?

00:24:34.000

MH: You can follow me on all social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, at Moses Hall -M-o-s-e-s-H-a-l-l. And I’m across all platforms, is easy to reach out to me and I’ll definitely answer your messages and questions in a timely manner.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[OUTRO]

0:24:51.0 ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to the Real Estate Syndication Show, brought to you by Life Bridge Capital. Life Bridge Capital works with investors nationwide to invest in real estate while also donating 50% of its profits to assist parents who are committing to adoption. Life Bridge Capital, making a difference one investor and one child at a time. Connect online at www.LifeBridgeCapital.com for free material and videos to further your success.

[END]