Commercial Real Estate Pro Network

I'd like to ask you, Rich Sarkis, what is the BIGGEST RISK?

Rich Sarkis  40:28  

So from my point of view, the BIGGEST RISK right now that folks within our industry have is the risk of complacency, the risk of getting crippled by what's going on with COVID-19 and obviously, the situation is fluid, it's evolving it's it's, to some extent, getting worse in many areas of the country and that is not good news. And there's you know, no real light at the end of the tunnel because yes, there's there's vaccines in flight and therapeutics etc, but nothing really concrete. that's readily available and where we can say, okay, by this date, you know, business as usual, right. And so in the face of such huge and unprecedented uncertainty, the BIGGEST RISK right now for companies and individuals alike is to almost freeze and to not make decisions that they ought to be making.  In our world. That means specifically embracing data technology, information insights, to be able to when things do pick back up beyond the front foot and not get caught, shortchanged, basically.  And to probe a little bit deeper, one of the things that recessions tend to do, right, and you don't know if we've seen the last of the, you know, big dip that we had in March, April, and whether it's a true V, you know, recovery, but there are going to be headwinds, at the very least, and we're even seeing you know, job numbers come back and we're was picking up now because states are having to shut down again, it's going to create some more negative outlook, they're one of the one of the benefits, perversely enough of a of a shock to the economic or financial system is it shines a light on inefficiencies. And whereas when the sun's out and everyone's making, hey, you can sort of throw more bodies at the problem and say all hire more people, and we'll do this do that. When times are tough and belt tightening happens, it's like, well, what are these people doing? Do I really need this? This? This is how we do that. And so when you are critically looking at those inefficiencies, there's this almost this, this cleansing mechanism where you then say, Okay, well what is the most efficient way to do this function or to prospect to risk to assess risks to underwrite to whatever it is to conduct an appraisal? And that's where invariably all roads lead to data technology, systems and machines doing what a lot of folks were doing.  And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying machines will do everything, but it's really the highest best use and making sure that the appraisers, the brokers, the investors, the lenders, the insurance agents are focusing on their highest best use, which is doing bringing their local knowledge, their insights, their judgment. And that's things that are very difficult to train a system to do, right? And let the computers and the machines and the data crunch through all the data and do the dirty work, frankly, right, the 80% of it, and let the people do the 20% of their highest best use. And so the BIGGEST RISK is to not embrace that not realize that there is this huge opportunity ahead of all of us to really sort of shift the paradigm and go to a much more efficient and I believe sustainable, long term outlook for the industry.