Are you living by design or by default?

When Tori asked how I protect family time while operating in a business that never sleeps, the answer was simple but not easy: you have to live intentionally.

Too many people drift. They let the current of emails, meetings, and obligations dictate their days. Before they know it, years have passed and they never consciously chose their priorities.

Work life balance is not about counting hours. It is about alignment with what matters most to you.

One exercise I shared is this: imagine five people are speaking at your funeral. Your spouse. Your child. Your best friend. A client. Someone from your faith community or personal life. Now write what you would want each of them to say.

In that exercise lies your roadmap.

Designing your life on purpose:
→ Clarify what you want to be remembered for
→ Decide what balance looks like for you, not for others
→Protect time for faith, family, and health
→ Work hard because you choose to, not because you drift into it
→ Measure success by legacy, not by busyness

For me, faith anchors everything. Health fuels everything. My wife and daughter come first. Business matters deeply to me, but it does not define me.

When you know what story you want to tell about your life, your calendar starts to look very different.

#IntentionalLiving #WorkLifeBalance #LegacyDriven

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As I listened to the market and to respected peers in the industry, it became clear that expanding into real estate finance was the right strategic move.

Diversification isn't just growth for growth's sake. Done thoughtfully, it strengthens your platform, builds resilience, and positions you to better serve the market long term.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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Ezra Rosen asked a great question about New York City zoning.

He noticed a building and thought it might have been specifically designed to comply with "sky laws" or air rights restrictions.

But here's the reality.

In New York City, every building must comply with zoning before it can be built.

You simply cannot get a building permit otherwise.

New York operates under what's called as-of-right zoning.

That means zoning tells you three things about every parcel of land:

How big the building can be.
What type of building can be built.
And the shape that building can take.

Once you know those parameters, the architect designs the building within that envelope.

So the building Ezra Rosen referenced isn't unusual.

It's simply a building maximizing what zoning allows.

And understanding zoning is one of the most important skills in New York real estate.

#WWBKD #BobKnakal #NYCRealEstate

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From "100 Reasons No" to Closing the Deal: Dov Hertz's First Co-Op Unwind

What do you do when a buyer shoots down every opportunity with a hundred reasons why it won't work?

If you're Dov Hertz, you stop chasing — and set boundaries.

In this clip from The Bob Knakal Show, Dov shares how one investor repeatedly dismissed his deals. So he stopped calling him. When the buyer finally agreed to listen without interrupting, Dov presented his first co-op unwind opportunity — and the buyer ultimately purchased the building .

The turning point wasn't the numbers.

It was the willingness to listen.

This is a reminder that conviction, clarity, and discipline often matter more than persuasion. Sometimes the deal closes the moment the arguing stops.

Thank you to Dov for sharing this lesson in focus and execution.

#BobKnakalShow #DovHertz #RealEstateDeals #InvestmentMindset #ThrowbackThursday

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If you're looking to level up in business and in life, start with Good to Great by Jim Collins.

I also highly recommend Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan's work, 10X Is Easier Than 2X and The Gap and The Gain.

Each of these books offers powerful insights into excellence, growth, and how to think bigger about what's possible.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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What if the most valuable part of your building… isn't the building at all? What if it's the air above it?

That's what we call air rights.

In New York City, every parcel of land has a maximum amount of square footage that can be built on it. That number is determined by zoning and is typically expressed as a multiple of the lot size.

If the building on that site is smaller than what zoning allows, the difference represents unused development rights, commonly referred to as air rights.

Think of it like a stack of invisible cubes sitting on top of every building.

If your building only fills part of the stack, the rest of those cubes represent additional buildable square footage that could exist on the site.

And here's where it gets interesting.

Those development rights can often be transferred to neighboring properties, allowing another building to grow larger than it otherwise could. In certain cases, especially when landmarks are involved, those rights can be transferred even more broadly.

What does that mean in practice?

It means that a property owner may be sitting on millions of dollars of hidden value without even realizing it. And when rezonings occur, they can suddenly create large amounts of new air rights overnight, which often sparks a wave of development activity across entire neighborhoods.

If you work in commercial real estate, you have to understand what's happening in every asset class that touches your business.

Maybe you sell apartment buildings.
Maybe you specialize in retail.
Maybe you focus on development sites.

But if air rights are trading in your market and you're not paying attention, you may be missing opportunities that are right in front of you.

In this business, knowledge creates opportunity.

And the people who understand zoning, development rights, and the nuances of the market are the ones who consistently find value where others don't.

Sometimes the most valuable part of a property…
…isn't the building.

It's the air above it.

If you have questions about air rights, send me a DM.

#AWalkDownTheStreet #BobKnakal #NYCRealEstate

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After 40 years of consistently tracking data, what excites me most is the potential to use AI to build predictive models from it.

When you truly understand the relationships between economic variables, you unlock insights that can transform how we see the real estate market. The future isn't just data, it's what we do with it.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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People think real estate is cutthroat, everyone against everyone.

The truth? It's far more collegial than outsiders realize. Relationships matter. Reputation matters. You see the same people deal after deal, year after year.

You don't win by burning bridges. You win by earning trust and playing the long game.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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One of the biggest mistakes Paul Massey and I made early in our careers?

We tried to figure everything out ourselves.

When we started building Massey Knakal, we didn't spend enough time seeking out people who were older and more experienced than we were. Instead, we learned by trial and error.

And believe me… there was a lot of error.

We made hundreds of mistakes along the way. Fortunately, we rarely made the same mistake twice.

Another mistake was waiting too long to hire people who could take administrative work off our plates. When we finally brought in professionals to handle things like HR, finance, and operations, something amazing happened.

Our productivity skyrocketed.

All of a sudden, the time we were spending on non-revenue producing tasks was freed up, and we could focus on what we did best: building relationships and selling buildings.

At the time, hiring those roles felt expensive. You wonder: Should we really spend the money?

But the reality (and math) was simple.

The $250,000 we spent on great people created far more than $250,000 in additional production.

Two things accelerate success more than almost anything else:
→ Learn from people who have already done what you're trying to do.
→ Surround yourself with great people who allow you to focus on your highest and best use.

You will still make mistakes. Everyone does.

Just make sure that you learn them quickly and more importantly, you don't make the same mistake twice.

Thanks to Tori Rendano Nook for having me on your show! Catch the entire episode on her YouTube channel.

#MondayMotivational #BKREA #NYCRealEstate

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Is being competitive something you are born with or something you can build?

When I sat down with Eli Schuckman on The SFB Podcast, we talked about what really drives long-term success in real estate. For me, the competitive fire was always there. It started in sports and never left. But not everything has to be innate.

There are skills you can develop, and the good news is that the ones that matter most in this business are available to anyone willing to work at them.

What separates those who make it from those who do not:
→ A relentless competitive spirit that keeps you pushing
→ A genuine desire to be great at what you do
→ The ability to connect with people and earn trust
→ Awareness that real estate is a people business at every level
→ A mindset that combines effort with emotional intelligence

If you are not competitive, this might not be the business for you. But if you are willing to develop the skills to deal with people effectively, you are already on the right track.

#realestatesuccess #competitiveedge #peoplebusiness

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I believe in the power of free will and discipline.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most." That idea has always stayed with me.

You can fundamentally change your life at any moment. Success comes down to deciding what you want most and having the discipline to pursue it relentlessly.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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In this episode of What Would BK Do?, Bob Knakal explains one of the simplest and most powerful frameworks for understanding the real estate market: The Two Vs — Value and Volume.

When preparing to speak with clients about market conditions, there are countless statistics you could analyze. But over the course of his career selling more than 2,300 buildings in New York City, Bob has found that two metrics provide the clearest insight into what is really happening in the market.

Those two metrics are Value and Volume.

Volume helps you understand how active the market truly is. Many people focus on total dollar volume of sales, but that number can be misleading because a few large transactions can significantly distort the data. Instead, Bob explains why the number of properties sold is often a much better indicator of true market activity.

Value, on the other hand, shows how pricing is changing over time. By analyzing whether values are rising, falling, or stabilizing, and by comparing those trends across different time periods, brokers and investors can better understand where the market stands today and where it may be heading.

When you combine these two metrics and study how they change over time, you gain a powerful framework for interpreting market conditions and advising clients with confidence.

In this video, Bob explains:
• The two most important metrics for understanding the real estate market
• Why transaction count matters more than dollar volume
• How to analyze changes in property values over time
• How brokers and investors can use these insights when speaking with clients
• Why historical context is essential when interpreting market data

Whether you are a commercial real estate broker, investor, developer, or property owner, understanding the Two Vs can dramatically improve how you evaluate market conditions.

Subscribe for more commercial real estate insights.

About Bob Knakal

Bob Knakal is Chairman and CEO of BKREA and one of the most accomplished investment sales brokers in the history of New York City. Over the course of his career, he has brokered the sale of more than 2,300 properties totaling over $22 billion in transactions.

Bob is also the co-founder of Massey Knakal Realty Services, which became one of the most successful building sales firms in New York City before being sold to Cushman & Wakefield.
Through the What Would BK Do? series, Bob answers questions from brokers, investors, and property owners and shares lessons from more than four decades in commercial real estate.

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:15 The Question from Liz and Tom
0:35 What are "The Two Vs"?
1:05 Understanding Volume in the Market
1:30 Why Number of Transactions Matters
1:55 Understanding Value Trends
2:20 Using the Two Vs to Explain Market Conditions

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From Elevator Guesswork to Smart Canvassing: Dov Hertz's Wild West Start in NYC Leasing

What do you do when there's no data, no security, and no roadmap — just a territory and a mandate to "go get information"?

If you're Dov Hertz, you build your own edge.

In this clip from The Bob Knakal Show, Dov shares what office leasing was really like in 1980s Manhattan — no building security, brokers crowding into elevators trying to avoid each other's floors, and zero access to structured tenant data .

Assigned to 3rd Avenue in the 40s, Dov was told to figure out who the tenants were, when their leases expired, and convince them to hire him .

So he created a system.

By digging through old issues of *Real Estate Weekly* and tracking down leases signed nine years prior, he anticipated expirations before anyone else and approached tenants directly — turning scattered information into strategic opportunity .

It was scrappy. It was manual. And it worked.

This is a masterclass in resourcefulness — when information doesn't exist, you create it.

Thank you to Dov for sharing this inside look at how true operators think differently.

#BobKnakalShow #DovHertz #NYCRealEstate #LeasingStrategy #ThrowbackThursday

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I've never played a musical instrument, but if there's one skill I'd love to learn, it's the piano.

Something is fascinating about the connection between music and math, and since numbers have always come naturally to me, I'd love to see how that translates to the keys.

Watch the full video on YouTube.



#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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One of the most powerful concepts in business is something my good friend Edward Winslow calls proof stacking.

The idea is simple.

Instead of telling the market how good you are, you show them…again and again and again until the proof becomes undeniable.

Recently we launched a project that is a perfect example of this.

We created an oversized coffee table book called "The Ultimate Guide to Selling a Development Site for the Highest Possible Price." Thousands of copies are being signed and sent to property owners throughout New York City. The response has been incredible and it is already generating meetings and potential assignments.

In fact, not long after the books started hitting mailboxes, an owner reached out about a development site worth roughly $40–$45 million and asked to meet. That is proof stacking in action.

Think about it from the owner's perspective.

If a broker sends you a one-page flyer saying they are an expert, that is a claim. If that same broker sends you a large-format, professionally produced coffee table book filled with insight, strategy, and experience, that is proof. And when hundreds or thousands of those books hit the market, the message becomes very clear.

This person knows the business.

What many people miss is that initiatives like this almost never happen when you are buried in the day-to-day whirlwind of deals, meetings, and calls. They happen when you step back and work ON your business instead of only working IN your business.

Working in your business is the daily activity:

• calls
• meetings
• proposals
• negotiations
• closing deals

Working on your business is different.

It is thinking strategically about initiatives that will generate opportunities for years to come. It is building systems, creating marketing platforms, developing intellectual capital, and finding ways to demonstrate value to the marketplace at scale.

The irony is that working on your business often produces far greater results than the day-to-day activity. But it requires something many professionals rarely give themselves.

Time to think.

For me, weekends are often the best opportunity to do this. When the phone is quieter and the whirlwind slows down, it becomes possible to focus on the bigger picture.

Ask yourself this question: What could you create that would demonstrate your expertise so clearly that the market cannot ignore it?

A research report.
A newsletter.
A podcast.
A proprietary database.
A book.

Whatever it is, if it truly provides value and reaches enough people, it becomes proof. And when proof stacks on top of proof, opportunities begin to appear.

Remember: The sky is not the limit in this business. There is no limit.

Keep on going. Keep on growing. And keep stacking proof.

#WednesdayWisdom #ProofStacking #BKREA

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My mother shaped who I am, but professionally, one of the greatest influences in my life has been Steve Siegel, Chairman of Global Brokerage at CBRE.

For decades, he's been more than a mentor to me, he's been an inspiration. The lessons he's shared have been invaluable, and his leadership has set a standard I've always strived to live up to.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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Some days in this business are predictable. Most are not.

I normally work from home on Fridays. It's a quiet day. A chance to make calls without interruption. To think. To follow up. To move things forward. But then a client flies in from overseas. There's a meeting with attorneys. A deal to review. Documents to go through carefully. Lunch to have. Issues to resolve. And the next morning, I'm back in the office again handling something else that needs attention.

One of the biggest misconceptions about commercial real estate brokerage is that it's about transactions. It's not. It's about responsiveness.

Every day is different. New challenge. New opportunity. New problem. New solution. Sometimes you're negotiating lease language. Sometimes you're walking a development site. Sometimes you're reviewing zoning. Sometimes you're just on the phone for six straight hours.

If you need structure and predictability, this business will frustrate you.
If you embrace variability, it will reward you.

What I've learned over four decades is that longevity in this business doesn't come from trying to control the day. It comes from being prepared for whatever the day brings.

When a client flies in from overseas, you show up.
When documents need to be signed and shipped, you get it done.
When others are slowing down because it's Friday, you lean in.

There's no set schedule. There's no perfect routine. There's just commitment to the work.

The brokers who build long careers aren't the ones chasing excitement. They're the ones who show up consistently when the day doesn't go as planned.

You don't need drama.
You don't need theatrics.
You just need to be present, prepared, and steady.

There's no perfect schedule in this business.

There's just the work.

And if you stay in it long enough, with discipline, it compounds.

#MondayMotivational #BKREA #NYCRealEstate

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Would you rather do business with someone brilliant or someone you actually like?

On The SFB Podcast with Eli Schuckman, we talked about something that often gets overlooked in our industry. Talent matters, sure. But being a 10 in raw aptitude does not mean much if you lack people skills. In this business, likability is a competitive advantage.

A solid seven or eight with a great personality will win over the 10 every time.

What actually gets you the business:
→ Being someone people enjoy working with
→ Building strong relationships rooted in trust
→ Understanding how to connect with clients on a human level
→ Staying humble enough to always keep learning
→ Studying people as much as you study deals

Real estate is not about perfection. It is about connection.

#relationshipdriven #peoplefirst #cresuccess

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New York doesn't just have pizza, it sets the standard.

The bar here is high. Really high. That's why there are so many great options and so little tolerance for average. When you're surrounded by excellence, you either step up or you don't last.

That mindset isn't just about pizza. It's New York.

Watch the full video on YouTube.


#CommercialRealEstate #CRE #RealEstateCareer

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One of the best decisions we ever made…

On this episode of "What Would BK Do?", I was asked about page 94 of my book, "Selling Buildings" in which I discuss the Massey Knakal days and why we typically did not hire brokers from other firms. Dan Del Real also wanted to know what percentage of our hires were brand new to the business.

Dan, thanks for the question. I love when someone actually reads the book and then challenges me on something specific. That tells me you are serious about your craft.

First, understand this: we did not avoid hiring experienced brokers because we thought we were smarter than everyone else. We avoided it because our system was fundamentally different.

At Massey Knakal, we built the company around geographic territories. You owned a defined box. That was your world. You walked it. You mapped it. You knew every building, every owner, every mortgage, every zoning nuance. You were not allowed to chase deals all over the city just because someone called you.

That level of discipline is easy to teach to someone who has never done it another way. It is extremely difficult to teach to someone who has.

If you come from a firm where you can call anybody, anywhere, anytime, and suddenly I say, "No. You only work inside this box. You prospect these 312 buildings. You track every sale. You know every owner's kids' names." That feels restrictive. It feels limiting but in reality, it's liberating.

Mastery requires focus.

Over the 26 years and 46 days that Paul and I ran Massey Knakal, I believe we hired fewer than 10 brokers who had prior commercial investment sales experience. Fewer than 10.

The overwhelming majority of our hires were either:
1️⃣ Right out of college, entering our Transaction Associate program
2️⃣ Professionals from other industries who were brand new to commercial real estate

Why? Because they had no bad habits. They did not need to be "reprogrammed." They learned our system from day one. Prospecting discipline. Data tracking. Market mapping. Collaboration across territories. Information sharing. Weekly training. Accountability.

We built what I like to call a farm system. Young talent came in, learned the business our way, supported senior brokers, and then graduated into full brokerage roles already fluent in the language of our platform.

And here is the part I am most proud of.

Today, there are 34 companies owned or run by individuals who learned the business at Massey Knakal.

Think about that for a moment.

If you measure success only by commission dollars, that is one thing. If you measure success by legacy, that is something else entirely. We built a culture and a system that produced leaders across the entire New York City investment sales ecosystem. That is something to be proud of.

Dan, I appreciate the thoughtful question. For everyone else, keep them coming. If you want to know what BK would do, ask.

Until next time…go get 'em.

#WhatWouldBKDo #NYCRealEstate #BKREA

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From "Radioactive" to $120M Profit: Andy Davidoff's California Power Play

What do you do when office is untouchable, lenders want out, and the entire mortgage industry is in collapse?

If you're Andy Davidoff, you buy.

In this must-watch clip from The Bob Knakal Show, Andy shares how he acquired a brand-new 500,000 SF office building in Orange County at the start of 2009, backed by a $240 million construction loan that no one wanted .

With office considered "radioactive," he negotiated a five-year, $120 million refinance with a seven-lender group, leased the building to 94% occupancy in just two and a half years, and ultimately generated approximately $120 million in net profit on a single deal .

You'll learn:
– How to identify best-in-market assets during peak fear
– Why negotiating leverage increases when capital retreats
– The power of refinancing distressed debt strategically
– How disciplined leasing execution drives outsized returns

This is a blueprint for investors and operators who understand that when sentiment collapses, opportunity often expands.

Thank you to Andy Davidoff for sharing this remarkable story of conviction, timing, and execution.

🔔 Subscribe for more powerful real estate stories, lessons, and market insights from the best in the business.

#CommercialRealEstate #BobKnakalShow #AndyDavidoff #OfficeMarket #DistressedAssets #RealEstateInvesting #CRE #InvestmentStrategy #OrangeCountyRealEstate #DealMaking

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