SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Rio Grande Valley entrepreneur Joaquin Spamer has doubled down on his criticism of industrial realtors in the region.
Once again the international trade and logistics impresario has claimed that the handful of realtors in the Valley that specialize in leasing and selling industrial property do not earn their five percent commission.
“They just get a listing and the only thing they do is put it on LoopNet and wait for something to happen,” Spamer said, disdainfully.
Spamer first made his views on industrial realtors public at IWS2, the industrial warehouse summit hosted recently by the Pharr Bridge Board and held at the Pharr Development and Research Center.
“We have two things that are hurting the competitiveness that we have in the region. One of them is insurance. Insurance is going berserk. Everybody is getting hurt by this,” Spamer said, in a Q&A session at the summit. “And second, we don’t have enough realtors in the area.”
Spamer said industrial realtors in the Valley charge five percent commission. He said the commission he pays in other markets, such as Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York is only 1.25 to two percent.
“We have to reduce the cost of insurance and the cost of realtors. If we only have two or three realtors in town that is not making us competitive. So, we need to change that.”
Spamer’s remarks at IWS2 were exclusively captured on video by the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. Click here to watch it.
In addition to being president and founder of CIL Group, Spamer is president of the Border Trade Alliance Mexico. He is also the American Chamber of Commerce’s representative in the Valley. And he is a member of COSTEP, the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force, and Index Nuevo León.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in San Antonio last week, Spamer expanded on his criticism.
“The Valley’s industrial realtors don’t go to China to look for new business. They do not go all over the state looking for business. They don’t even travel into Mexico,” Spamer told the Guardian.
“They are just listing agents. They get a listing and then they just wait for something to happen. And they call our local economic development corporations asking for leads.”
Spamer continued: “What we need in this sector are more realtors, realtors that are willing to do the job, realtors that are willing to move, look for business, look for opportunities, not just wait for things to come their way.”
Spamer said he has received many positive comments from local bankers and economic development corporation leaders since the Guardian’s video went viral. He said he sent the Guardian’s story far and wide.
“I've been talking to a lot of residential realtors since the story came out and I've been encouraging them to get into the industrial sector. A lot of them are saying they want to move in,” Spamer said.
“Once we have more industrial realtors, prices should start to come down. You're going to have more realtors that are willing to do that work, that are willing to travel, to spend the time and the money to advertise. They (the current industrial realtors) don’t even advertise.”
The Guardian conducted its interview with Spamer at the 2023 NADBank Summit in San Antonio.
As he did at IWS2, Spamer said giving a five percent commission to the Valley’s industrial realtors is too much. “We should not be paying more than two or three percent. And this should be negotiable.”
Asked how many industrial realtors are currently working in the Valley, Spamer responded; “There are about 15 or 20 but they work for only three or four firms. They sell the idea that they are part of a nationwide outfit. They are not.”
Spamer said people should not take his comments to mean that he does not like paying commission.
“I have paid over $2 million in commercial real estate commissions in the Valley, to both local realtors and realtors from outside the Valley that were doing deals in the Valley. They've made money from me and I have made money myself,” Spamer said.
“I love paying commissions. I love paying commissions to the guy that puts in the effort, that sweats, that really works for it. I hate paying commissions for guys that don't even make an effort, that do not work. We need more commercial and residential realtors to move into the industrial sector. I'm willing to show them how.”
Spamer said he has a great relationship with industrial realtors in Dallas and other large markets around the country. “In Dallas and other areas they only charge me 1.25 or two percent. And they do a lot of work. They are really working for their commission and that's my point.”
Spamer said the Valley needs more commercial or residential realtors to move into the industrial sector.
“We need a lot more. We need commercial realtors to get a CCIM (commercial certified investment manager) certificate. That's the certification that is commonly used in the industrial sector. If these commercial or residential realtors want to call me, I would love to talk to them. I will tell them how. I will show them the path. At the end of the day, I just want to have a wider industrial realtor base so we can pay what he's just, not the five or six percent we are currently paying.”
Spamer said he is not opposed to the six percent commission residential realtors charge in the Valley.
“Six percent in the residential market, I think, is a very fair deal. They have to do a lot of work for it, those guys. They work their butts off. They work on Saturdays and Sundays, they need to meet with clients in the evening. They have to do a lot of things in order to sell a house,” Spamer said.
“Normally a house in the Valley, the price can range from $100,000 to S300,000. So the money that they make is not that much. So it's very different. And I think we need to differentiate between the residential sector and the industrial sector. They are two completely different things. Our problem is we don't have the professionals that you find in other markets.”
Spamer concluded the interview by saying the local economic development corporations do an excellent job.
“The EDCs do such a good job. The Pharr Economic Development Corporation, the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, they go all over the world bringing business to the Valley and these industrial realtors are just harvesting the EDCs. You have Steve Valdez of the Weslaco EDC. He is doing a great job. Everybody’s moving. They bring the deals to the Valley and who benefits? I will tell you who. The industrial realtor that has the listing.”
