Apologies for a marketing-type Real Estate Philosopher, but so this one is – for my law firm and me too.
 
To get right to it, here is where I find myself most useful to players in the real estate world.
 
I have been around for a long time – slightly more than 40 years now, which is a long time to do anything.  For the first roughly 25 years, I was a lawyer working on everything possible throughout the legal side of things. As my law firm and my partners began to happily exceed me in legal skill sets, over the past 15 years, I evolved into more of a business advisor.  
 
My firm's overall mission is six words:
 
            Help Our Clients Grow Their Businesses
 
In this initiative, the places where I find myself the most helpful to clients are these:

  1. A real estate player has been quite successful in creating a real estate business – often a bunch of one-off deals that have done quite well – but is now at an inflection point to move to the next level.  There is a smorgasbord of possible paths.  I am skilled at focusing on and determining the appropriate/optimal path – and figuring out a strategy to get there. 
  2. A real estate player is in trouble.  I am good at digging out of it and, with my favorite phrase:  Turning Lemons into Lemonade.
  3. A real estate player (small or large or even very large) wants to brainstorm about growing its business, making it more profitable, solving problems, or thinking through growth plans. 

To effectuate these goals, I use two skill sets:

  1. I typically work with one of my real estate partners, as there are always legal subtleties to be thought through.
  2. I use my base of industry contacts to locate the correct counterparties that can provide growth capital, rescue capital, or other financial and non-financial resources.  As noted, I have been around for a long time and know many people. 

And here is the best part:  If you are a client of my law firm, I don’t charge anything for what I do.  Yes, Bruce is free!
 
So, if you have a business need in the real estate world, feel free to "Put Bruce to Use" and give me a shout.
 
Finally, if you don’t already know this, I am the Chairman of Adler & Stachenfeld LLP www.adstach.com.  We are a 50-ish lawyer real estate boutique in NYC known as The Pure Play in Real Estate Law.
 
We are 100% real estate-focused, and I will stick my neck out and say that my real estate partners are the absolute best of the best.  They not only know their legal stuff, but they are true business lawyers who understand our client’s business goals and how to achieve them.  If you have a problem, large or small, I encourage you to reach out to me, and I will connect you with a real estate lawyer you will love and trust for the rest of your career.

 
Bruce Stachenfeld aka The Real Estate Philosopher®

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And here is some inspiration:
 
This is my epiphanal realization that the predicate for greatness of achievement is that it has to come from something that is challenging or even terrible or worse. 
 
Consider learning a sport, an instrument, or anything intellectual.  How wonderful you feel thereafter.  And the feeling of success never leaves you either – it stays forever.
 
Or consider surviving something that was terrible and tested you to the core.  How you felt – and now feel – after the event.  How much stronger and resilient you are. 
 
My belief is that the wonderful feelings in both of these situations directly result from how tough – or even awful – it was to get there. 
 
Consider how you felt – after – you survived the GFC or COVID or the current (hopefully finally ending) real estate downdraft.  Probably happy and proud and stronger than ever. 
 
This leads to my new saying, which energizes me – at work – during workouts – and during just about everything else I do: It sucks is what makes it great!
 
Yes, it is deliberately not grammatical but pithily sets forth the entirety of what, in my view, life should be about.
 
This saying seems especially poignant – and inspirational – right now since so many are struggling in the real estate industry at this time.  These tough times are often the basis for making an outsized return, starting a new initiative, forging a stronger team or creating other predicates for long-term success. 
 
By the way, I am making this saying into a big sign so when you come into my office it will be the first thing you will see.
 
            It sucks is what makes it great!
 
I wish everyone in the real estate world the greatest success.  In that vein:
 
            If things suck now maybe that means that they are about to be great!