Game-Changing Strategies for Real Estate Developers | Ryan Breckenridge Shares Insights

Ryan Breckenridge (00:00)
I think what we do is less on the legal side, less in the black and white, and much more in the gray space. again, we don’t do this full time from a category standpoint. So we have really deep insights and understanding of people. And some sides of the fence, it’s called consumer behavior, market behavior, market intelligence. And really, that’s what we’re doing.

Erika (02:00)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Ryan Breckenridge of BRK Partners. They’re shaking things up in the real estate space. They have impactful strategies that will help you, so let’s dive on in. Ryan, it’s so awesome to have you on the show.

Ryan Breckenridge (02:22)
Yeah, thanks, Erika. I’m glad to be here. Appreciate you having us.

Erika (02:25)
Yeah, yeah. So tell us more. How did you get started with BRK Partners and how did you get involved in the in real estate?

Ryan Breckenridge (02:34)
Yeah, I’ll get to the real estate component here in a minute. Really, so went to school for what I thought was gonna be a broadcast degree. ⁓ Realized that those people are and sitting behind a news desk every night. They’re not missing out on time with family and kids and didn’t even know my wife at the time. Obviously didn’t have kids, ⁓ but knew that I didn’t want that life. So quickly shifted more over to the marketing.

and communications side of things and went to work for, ⁓ at a college, went to work for the largest privately owned advertising and marketing and branding agency in the world. ⁓ Got really great training, learned how to be a professional really well. This is early 2000s, was handed a lot of responsibility and towards the last probably year or so of my time there, had a chance to work on the new business team.

And really what that meant was in addition to the day-to-day client management that we had and I did, ⁓ working with Home Depot and Chick-fil-A, ⁓ the Atlanta Falcons was a client, so some pretty big name, Hyundai at the time was a client. Had an opportunity to work on that new business team with agency leadership, and a lot of that work was… ⁓

It kind of showed me what a life of a consultant could be and what that would look like. Really getting immersed into a client or potential clients business category, their market, their competitors, how they wanted to communicate, what they wanted to communicate, how they wanted to position themselves to their audience and really fell in love with that process. in back kind of stuck that in the back of my mind that I might want to do that one day.

Fast forward after a couple years of doing client side marketing and communications work, started my own consulting business, did that on the side for a number of years. 2017 took that full time. And so that’s how it got into this kind of a work I’m doing. Again, marketing, communications, strategic planning, positioning, communications work, and fell into the real estate business.

After about 15 years of personally denying myself going to get my real estate license and do the commercial real estate game, like so many of family and friends have done here in the Dallas and the Texas area, wanted to do something a little bit different. Had a chance to meet with a couple of boutique developers. They had a need for what we were doing and the communications and strategy piece ⁓ brought us on, helped them close a couple of really complex deals.

⁓ And that became how we got into our niche and ⁓ haven’t looked back. That’s been about four five years from now. That’s not all that we do. We are not solely in this ⁓ space and in this market. It’s very niche-y for what we do, but we have found it to be extremely ⁓ lucrative, helpful, and ⁓ kind of an open green space for us as we look to develop the next couple of years and what our business looks like.

I that answers your question, gives you a little bit of color as to who we are and how we got into this.

Erika (06:48)
Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s really cool. What you’re doing is really unique. And I can’t say that I’ve heard someone talk about this on the show. So, you know, what would you say because, you know, a lot of people probably aren’t too familiar with what you do. What is kind of like a misconception with that and like how like how do you help them where it isn’t just like a want, but that like you become a need for ⁓ the real estate world?

Ryan Breckenridge (07:18)
Yeah, that’s a good question. mean, I hope from a hum, with humility in my voice and heart, I really hope that, I mean, I think that what they think is that they don’t need what we do. either they’ve got someone within their internal team or they’ve got legal counsel that’s given them instruction and guidance on communication and messaging. I don’t doubt that that’s happening. In fact, I know for certain it is happening. If you’ve got a good partner there.

⁓

I think what we do is less on the legal side, less in the black and white, and much more in the gray space. again, we don’t do this full time from a category standpoint. So we have really deep insights and understanding of people. And some sides of the fence, it’s called consumer behavior, market behavior, market intelligence. And really, that’s what we’re doing.

We’re just seeing what certain audiences ⁓ need to hear, what they want to hear, ⁓ and what they don’t want to hear, and what they don’t need to hear. And so we are crafting the narrative. We’re helping our clients tell the story. We are helping them ⁓ cast vision and tactically explain the benefits to ⁓ their product and their offering that they’re trying to bring to a market. ⁓

And then we’re understanding and seeing what potential threats and pitfalls are out there. We anticipate the opposition really well. And so we build messaging that proactively addresses what we either know or are foreseeing to be threats and stumbling blocks along the way and in a process. I think I don’t know if that answers your question as directly as I hoped it would.

But like you mentioned earlier, we are in a really, really niche seat on the bus. We work so well with financing teams and with legal teams and with the landowner and the developer and all the engineers that are part of that process. most of the time, the first time we get introduced and we’re led on the bus, which typically, by the way, is best done at the outset of the project.

not because it lengthens our term, but because we are way into all the details from the get-go. We spent a large part of the initial outset listening, and we’re just there. We’re absorbing it, we’re getting smart, we’re staying smart, we’re up to speed on all those different pieces that all those subject matter experts and companies have. And then we start, like I said, crafting that message, crafting the strategy, knowing those key points to talk through.

knowing what the opposition is going to come after and we just get ahead of it. And so that largely puts and gives cover. say we’re in a multifamily development situation, you’ve got people who either want it or don’t want it. We’re providing through messaging throughout the process, we’re providing the city staff, the zoning council, the city council cover.

for them to make

best financial decision for their city, county, municipal area, whatever you want to call it. That makes sense. Because we’re proactively getting in front of it. And so ⁓ that’s really the huge piece that we offer. And again, most people don’t know that they need it until they’ve seen it in action. And then they have that light bulb moment where they say, we had no idea we needed this, but we can’t imagine not having this moving forward. And so… ⁓

because it is so nichey and so many people don’t have this, there’s not a lot of people who are doing what we’re So I hope that answers your question.

Erika (11:56)
Yeah, yeah, it’s really exciting and cool, Ryan. With BRK partners and all the different markets and customers that you’re working with, how do you tailor what you are creating for each one, depending on their needs? What is that process like?

Ryan Breckenridge (12:14)
Yeah, well, it kind of goes back to what I said a minute ago. mean, a lot of them, a lot of the people have an audience who need to hear something, want to hear something, and we understand what that is. You know, one of the things that think that helps us break free from the internal component that a lot of our clients have is that we do things, we’re curious by nature. We do have this crossover from, you know, other industries that we work in service in.

that we ask questions so many times we get involved in a situation and we’ll ask the simplest question of why did you do it this way? And nine times out of 10 the answer is either we’ve always done it this way or that’s how I was trained to do it. And while that’s not a wrong answer, it sometimes isn’t enough and it’s not thinking creatively. ⁓ Creative ideation is in our blood.

one of our core values of what we believe in and how we operate. And so we’re really thinking through different approaches, different ways to solve this problem. So if you were to look at all the complexities of a deal and all the different people in different seats on the bus, and it’s a sphere, it’s a perfectly round object, that sphere is made up of a bunch of different puzzle pieces.

we help make all those puzzle pieces fit together.

Erika (13:47)
Yeah, and with what you do, I’m sure that you have a really unique perspective on what’s going on in real estate. With your work, are you kind of noticing any trends, whether it’s the market itself or with what, or maybe it’s like needs that are shifting within the market?

Ryan Breckenridge (14:05)
Yeah, I think, you know, the last couple of years have been a little bit volatile and unknown. You had an election cycle to go through, which slowed things down naturally. The market, capital markets were up and down and were not favorable for a lot of development, especially on the boutique side of the house. And so, you know, we’re seeing a shift out of that, a little bit more confidence, a little bit more stability in the market. Excuse me.

And then we’re also seeing a pretty decent, especially here in Texas, ⁓ you know, the net’s widening, you know, while there’s this whole thought and message and there’s data to support it too. So it’s not just thought of, you know, the state is shrinking into a couple of fewer larger pods. So larger metropolitan areas. So take Dallas-Fort Worth for an example in Austin, San Antonio. Austin and San Antonio historically have been separated.

by 50 miles. Now, of course, there’s bleed in those areas that they’re coming, but it’s largely now thought of as these Austin, San Antonio demographic region and area, much like Dallas, Fort Worth. Dallas and Fort Worth are 30 miles apart, east and west, but there is no delineation really of the difference between the two. They bleed together. So we’re seeing that here. And what that’s happened with

And how that’s now happening is that things to the north, east, south, west of the major metropolitan areas is expanding. So, you know, I’m on the east side of Dallas and you would look 20 miles to the south to Interstate 20 from where I sit and 20 miles to the north of me is the highway 380 and right in the middle is Interstate 30. Interstate 30 is one of the busiest roads in America.

Somehow in the next 10 years, 20 years, 20 miles south and 20 miles north are going to connect. There’s going to be connectivity by a major loop, major roadway. That seems far off. 20, 25 years seems a long way away, but it’s real time situations here now with where we are with landowners and with developers and what that looks like. And then now we’re having a chance to come to the table and talk to ⁓ landowners, developers.

cities about shaping and influencing what they want to be along that loop, that connectivity piece.

Erika (00:00)
Ryan, I know you’re really proud of the work that BRK Partners has done. Can you share an example with a client where the campaign that you helped them with or their messaging made a big difference?

Ryan Breckenridge (00:13)
Yeah, absolutely. For proprietary reasons, I won’t name by name, but we had a landowner and developer who had held a piece of land for 30 years in a very prominent geographic location within a fast growing city. And I’m talking fast growing like in 2010, there were 2000 people who lived in that area.

And now there’s 30. So this was two or three years ago. There’s 30,000. So pretty explosive growth and showing no signs of stopping. However, there’s geographic land constraints. And so along the interstate corridor, there was a large masterplanned development that the developer wanted to do. the city wanted it to, the city needed it for tax.

tax purposes from a revenue, really from a revenue, well, if I call it revenue, how would I say this? They were running out of single family residence spaces. So they needed some tax diversification, had a new eye towards economic development, and part of this master plan development helped them achieve that. And so,

With that came some nice class A office, a little bit of industrial, quite a bit of nice high-end retail that the area did not have. So it’s going to bring some everyday services that were needed and necessary. for it all to make sense, the developer also wanted to throw in a small spattering of some multifamily, which was not wanted by, I would say, probably the majority of folks within the area. And as in a lot of situations, there was a pretty

vocal group who was protesting it. And we’re not going to change people’s mind. That’s not what we’re looking to do. We’re looking to really drive home the positivity and the benefits of accomplishing what the city needed from a financial and economic perspective, what fed the comprehensive plan of the city and what would push the city to the next 15, 20 years of stability from a financial standpoint and also help put

them on the map in a regional case scenario. And so we really, really came in at the beginning of the outset and worked with them. Kind of that scenario I told you a minute ago where we listen a lot and we’re just quiet. And then about halfway through the process, we get handed the microphone and we get to start talking about what needs to be said for the next eight months and every conversation that the development team had with city staff.

City staff needs to hear certain things. They want to hear certain things. They have certain things that they abide by from a legal standpoint, as well as adhering to that comp plan. And so without having them have it asked for it, we just proactively got out in front of it and started talking about it all the time. Every time they talked, they talked about it. So buy-in was created and it was sustained over a long period of time. Then came the Planning and Zoning Commission. They’re appointed individuals that live in the area.

They need to hear certain things that check the box. We started talking about those in work sessions, in public work sessions with counsel and P &Z there together. They had buy-in and then it was created and then it’s sustained over a period of time. Then you have the elected officials who ultimately make the decision and have the authority on if this gets approved or it doesn’t. We knew they had certain things they needed to hear, wanted to hear. We knew there were certain things their constituents.

needed to hear and didn’t want to hear. We talked through all that. We presented that. By-En was created and it was sustained over a shorter term period of time. And kind of what I was talking about earlier, you’ve got a room full of people in the horseshoe who are looking at the presentation, looking at that developer and landowner. They’re the ones that are elected to make the decisions. And then behind the people who are standing at the podium, you’ve got the audience. So you’ve got people with

Opinions they feel like they have a stake in the ground their stakeholders Some of them are for it they stay quiet and they want to just have things move forward and there’s a couple Dozen who have more than that hundreds who had flaming arrows that were ready to fire and I watched from the audience One by one through the messaging that we had talked through and they were delivery

I watched people angry and mad and uninformed get informed. I watched people say, this actually isn’t as bad as what I thought. Okay, I can actually eat my vegetables and I can also have dessert at the end, because while I may not want this type of development piece here in this parcel, I do want the greater piece. I want the whole thing. And so I saw people.

literally stand up from their chairs and leave the room shaking their head saying okay I get it and things that ultimately pass through I’m not saying that it had we not done our job and been there through the process that that wouldn’t have happened that the deal wouldn’t have been approved and passed through but I will stand and guarantee you those people who had flaming arrows ready to throw would not have left the room they would

not have bought in and they would not have understood the overall value to the community and to themselves as individuals and families that they’re going to get from that had that messaging and communication not been there and not clearly been part of the presentation. The strategy wouldn’t have been there. And so to see it all happen was from my perspective, again, I’m anonymous in the room. I’m just watching it happen. It’s great validation.

And with that, that has come from another project and another project and word spreads. so that’s an example. Not every situation is that way. Not every situation is as complex. But then we have some situations where there are pretty significant complexities. You’ve got multiple jurisdictions or cities that are bisected by a boundary line. You’ve got a development that’s trying to go in.

and they’re dealing with two different cities and they’re dealing with two different councils and two different staff. You’ve got all these different restrictions and codes and so things do get complex. And so we come in and try to sift through that, try to find some clarity in the vast and complexity of the situation and hopefully deliver a good outcome that our clients need.

Erika (06:19)
Yeah, wow, I’m sure your clients were really happy with that project. That is a really cool story. And you got that continued business from that, which is awesome.

Ryan Breckenridge (06:31)
Yeah, thank you.

Erika (06:32)
Ryan, relationships are huge in business as I’m sure you know. What kind of advice would you give to our listeners who are looking to build their network and build those relationships?

Ryan Breckenridge (06:44)
Yeah, it’s a small world. You you burn someone 20 years later, it’s going to come to roost. I’ve seen it happen. And I’m not unique in that. so I think, you know, trust is takes time to build and can erode quickly. But trust is critical when you’re dealing, especially when there’s a lot of money involved. You know, you’re working with someone that you can depend on, rely on, is going to do what they say.

you know, relationships are critical. They’re key, especially in the real estate business. So, you know, it’s a, it’s a key tenant that we lean on. You know, I mentioned earlier, you know, family, my family had been in the real estate business. So I inherited some relational equity. I also inherited just name recognition. And so that goes a long way. And I’ve got, you know, my dad and brothers and family to thank for that. And hopefully my kids.

you know, my boys, if they want to get in that space, get that, they’ll be able to, to accept that relational equity as well through a good name and through trust. And so, and I would just say in all dealings, honesty wins the day. The truth is always going to be brought out. And so, yeah, it’s, it’s it should be, I hope that it’s a critical component to everybody’s business practice. And, and I, and I’ll say this too, this is not,

You know, AI and technology is in and part of the real estate business, but I’m really seeing it in all other categories and markets that we’re in. And I think there’s tremendous value in it. And I’m not anti old man yelling at cloud wanting to do away with it and wish that it didn’t exist. And that’s just foolish and it’s here and it’s here to stay. But I would say the human element still really does matter in business, especially in deal making. And so

you know, the senses that the Lord gave us of smell and touch and here in sight, you know, all that really still matters, even though we get to use these cool tools that help us optimize our day and make us better and hopefully give us a little bit of extra room on the back end to do things we enjoy. But the human component and human element is so critical to business. And so if that lessens and goes away,

I’m gonna be the one that’s waving the pom-pom that we’re people. We’re human, come talk to us. Here’s my phone number, call me. I don’t want you to rely on a bot or a text or an email. I want you to pick up the phone and call me and let’s talk. Because I think more times than not, that’s an advantage for us and I’m looking to work with people that way and I don’t think I’m alone there. So human element still matters.

Erika (09:03)
Absolutely. Now, Ryan, what would you say is next on the horizon for BRK Partners? you looking to explore a new market, different area of the industry?

Ryan Breckenridge (09:15)
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for asking. think, you know, we’re, we are dipping our toes in the water, and, and in the water business, I’m hoping much, much like we have in the real estate game where there are complexities and you’re dealing with land and people and land rights and in-stage usage. there are a lot of opportunities there with us for us, I feel like. and I’m really hoping that we can take advantage of that and be advantageous to,

breaking into a really complex volatile market that needs some of the attention that we can give. We’re trying to find a solution for everybody. And I’m not trying to paint a pie in the sky situation that that can be achieved at all times. But I do think if you try hard enough, can find good. Everyone can find some good for them in a deal. And so we’re trying to get into the water business. We’re based in Texas. As I mentioned, we’re not.

landlocked to be here only. We do some work out of state and out of country and we have for the last six, seven years. But the water business in Texas is a big deal as the state continues to grow. It’s becoming more and more of a need and a natural resource that’s being scarce. And so we see that as a good market for us to jump into. So I appreciate you asking that. so if there’s any land

landowners, developers out there who looking to be in the water space. So I’d love to visit with you as well.

Erika (10:28)
Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. Well, Ryan, before you jump in the water, if someone wants to connect with you, learn more about what BRK Partners is doing. Maybe they need help with their messaging. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Ryan Breckenridge (10:32)
Ha!

Yeah, thank you again for asking. You can get in touch with us by going to our website. It’s nothing fancy. We built it and we’re the Cobbler’s kid. Our shoes, they function, but they’re not the slickest in the town because we try to focus mainly on our clients’ business and pushing them forward. But our website’s brkpartners.com B as in boy, R as in Ringo, K as in king, partners with an S.com. There’s a place there where you can reach out.

that’ll come actually funnel straight directly to me. So I field all those inquiries and yeah, I’d love to visit with anybody that’s listening who wants to talk.

Erika (11:16)
It’s clear you’re building something special in the real estate space. It was awesome having you on the show today

Ryan Breckenridge (11:21)
Thanks Erika. I appreciate it. Continued success for you as well.

Erika (11:24)
Thanks for everyone tuning in. If you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more convos coming up with innovators like Ryan who are reshaping the real estate world. We’ll see you on the next episode.