One of the first things I learned in my professional career, which is arguably one of the most important life lessons of all, is to do what you say you are going to do. If you follow through with the commitments you make to your family, friends and clients then success with all is virtually guaranteed. Today, as the oldest of four brothers, the father of four wonderful children and as one of the founders of Fortis Net Lease, this very simple life lesson guides everything I do.
I was recruited by Marcus & Millichap right out of the University of Michigan nearly 20 years ago and have never looked back. As a young man, and in my first years as an advisor and broker I was lucky enough to identify the net lease and retail sector as one in which lent itself well to the new “style” of real estate brokerage. The internet was changing the way everything worked! I knew that in order to have long term success one would have to blend the old and new ways of doing business.
Having earned numerous, national sales awards in my earliest years at the largest investment brokerage house in the nation I was blessed with an unexpected level of success. The lessons I learned from those early days and a strong commitment to doing what I said I would do has led me to where I am today.
In 2009, during the worst financial crisis in a generation, Doug Passon, my brother, Bryan Bender and I decided to change the way we assisted our clients in meeting their investment goals. How? By taking a risk, leaving a very comfortable nest and starting a new brokerage company that put our client’s needs first, before ours and before the company’s. “Clients first” has been and will always be our mantra.
Five billion dollars in investment sales later, I attribute hard work, commitment, focus and incredible support from the wonderful team here at Fortis not to my success but to our success and the success of our many, many repeat clients.