This woman is a Trailblazer!
Leslie has almost 30 years of dynamic experience in commercial real estate; as a lender, and as both a buyer and a seller in the CRE world. She has worked as a Business Development Officer in specialty areas such as environmentally challenged sites and new construction for several regional and national companies.
Leslie has fashioned her career in the real estate services industry since graduating from The Ohio State University, buying her first commercial investment property in 1993, and continuing to be an active real estate investor today. In October 2010, Leslie successfully completed the Certified Commercial Investment Member education program, through the CCIM Institute in Chicago, in just 13 months. Leslie was the Ohio CCIM Chapter President in 2018 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors today. Ms. Biskner opened the Central Ohio office of CBS in October 2006.
This woman is a Trailblazer!
Leslie has almost 30 years of dynamic experience in commercial real estate; as a lender, and as both a buyer and a seller in the CRE world. She has worked as a Business Development Officer in specialty areas such as environmentally challenged sites and new construction for several regional and national companies.
Leslie has fashioned her career in the real estate services industry since graduating from The Ohio State University, buying her first commercial investment property in 1993, and continuing to be an active real estate investor today. In October 2010, Leslie successfully completed the Certified Commercial Investment Member education program, through the CCIM Institute in Chicago, in just 13 months. Leslie was the Ohio CCIM Chapter President in 2018 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors today. Ms. Biskner opened the Central Ohio office of CBS in October 2006.
Welcome to Heather Ewing the CRE rundown today. I have Leslie Diskner with me. Leslie, welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you. It is such a pleasure to be here and you are so enchanting. Thank you for your time today.
Speaker 1:Bless you, leslie. Well, I met you through CCIM. You just did an amazing job with CCIM as the regional vice president, and why don't you please share with us a little bit about that role, because people that aren't familiar with CCIM really would have no idea of what it entails, but also a little bit about you, so our audience can get to know you more?
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:So let's go back to my college days just quickly, because I started college when I was 17 years old and unfortunately didn't have any support from family, so I had to work my way through and it ended up taking me almost nine years to get my bachelor's degree and I actually got it in environmental science and natural resources.
Speaker 2:So moving into the commercial real estate world started when I was in college and I worked as a rental agent for several different management companies around the Ohio State University campus and I didn't know it at that time, when I was 18 and 19 years old, that it would turn into my full time amazing career.
Speaker 2:So, if you recall, back around 2008, nine, we had kind of a slump in the economy and I thought you know what, I'm going to give the old college thing a try. So I decided to go back to school and I decided to attend the CCIM Institute and within 13 months I had my designation and it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did. I've met the most amazing people and have had the most amazing connections and I've really enjoyed moving up the ladder to Ohio chapter president and then moving forward onto some national subcommittees and then somehow I got elected to be regional vice president, covering seven states here in the Midwest, and by virtue of becoming an RVP, I've gotten to know people, just like you, because you are in my region, being from Wisconsin, and it's really made a change, a positive change in it, influencing my life Definitely.
Speaker 1:And I think it's one of those when people do work through and obtain the pin, it is rigorous. You don't just happen to stumble upon receiving your pin, so there is a lot entailed with it. And I think that also speaks volume of the type of people that are within CCIM and I know meeting you earlier, getting to know you more especially through our last governance meeting in Seattle it's just a high caliber, really nice group of people. So it's something I look forward to.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know, back when I was a younger person, I actually started buying real estate myself, because people often ask me you know you're a lender, how did you get your CCIM designation? I thought that was just for for real estate agents and it ended up that I had done enough transaction transactions as an independent business owner as well as working in the field of commercial real estate as a lender that I was able to qualify my designation appointment. So that was really neat as well. So I definitely want to encourage people that think that it might not be achievable. It could be if you are in some realm of this business. So I think I think it's really brought a lot of things to fruition in my life, both personally and professionally.
Speaker 1:I agree. I see it as another tier of self development, right, because you have to learn new skill sets, take on even better habits, some of the other things behind, and it's just that natural attrition. So, jumping back to as a lender, what got you into buying properties early on, right? You don't hear about that very frequently, especially for women or lenders, right? And so what was your why or what got you intrigued in doing that?
Speaker 2:So I, having a degree in natural resources, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, but I knew I needed to do something independent to make a better life for myself. I grew up in a really small place up in Cleveland, ohio, and lived on the second floor on about 900 square feet. I was the first person in my family to go to college and then eventually graduate. My husband and I met in the early 90s and because of the experience I had as a rental agent I thought if they could do it, so could I.
Speaker 2:I decided to make a giant leap of faith and, by a 1898 duplex that should have been one residential units and we lived on the first floor rented out the second floor and then the third area of living space was a converted garage off the alley in the back. My favorite memory of that was the gentleman that lived there was know what I would like to say maybe a street pro and went around collecting aluminum cans for recycling, and he left them in a shopping cart in our backyard and our dog at the time just loved drinking from the bottom of that shopping cart, oh my goodness. Then I did a little bit of research on my own and decided that you could literally leverage real estate to buy more real estate. You could borrow money against the money you essentially have borrowed to buy more. So it kind of propagated itself.
Speaker 2:We ended up taking out additional funds from that property because campus appreciates really quickly and we bought that first house for $49,000. I think I leveraged it four times into a building worth well over a million dollars eventually and ended up doing our own property management. In the meantime, I was growing my career as an environmental consultant and loved doing what I did. I found myself to be what some might have called me an expert in subsurface remediation techniques, and I had to wear a hard hat and still toeed shoes. And then someone said would you ever consider sales? Because I like to fuck, Right, Right there with you have fun right.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I think that's why we're soul sisters, exactly and so I thought well, heck, I'll give it a try. So my role went to digging in the dirt, literally to finding projects to work on, and it turned out. I really loved it and I stayed with that career for a long time. But in the meantime, in the background, I was still doing real estate. My husband and I went on a vacation down to the Caribbean and we came back and said we need to form a company. So I'm like how about coral properties? Because I was really into the sunshine and the beach. So we formally started a company and amassed about 50 units down at Ohio State and then discovered that the management was super intense.
Speaker 2:My career was blossoming and then I made a career, moved into construction management, which I worked for an amazing company, but it wasn't my forte and I took time. I was 39 years old at the time and I took time to write down not companies I wanted to work for, but people that I wanted to work with. So you're taking a step back. You're about to hit midlife essentially assuming we all make it to 80, which I'm sure I will and at the top of the list was the gentleman that is the president of the company I work for now, cooperative Business Services, and that has been more than 17 years, so he used to be a client of mine in the environmental business he worked for a small business lender and he was always so welcoming to me.
Speaker 2:It was like when I would go visit him. He would welcome me with open arms At the holiday times. He would send me a small token of appreciation.
Speaker 1:It was amazing.
Speaker 2:So he was number one out of 10, and I called him out of the blue one day. This particular company was only two years old. At the time, they had eight credit union owners at the time and 22 credit union partners.
Speaker 2:Very small. I think at the headquarters in Cincinnati there may have been four or five employees at the most. Right In case that's me he goes. I said would you consider opening a job in Columbus? I think I like real estate and I think I like giving away money. He's like are you available? I said I could be. He's thought about it. There was a quick pause in the conversation and he says Leslie, I don't have any money to pay you Welcome aboard.
Speaker 2:I was making a good living at the time but I had my real estate. I felt like I said well, how much? He said maybe $35,000 a year. Now, heather, again, I'm 39 years old. This is the turning point in anybody's career. I thought about it, of course. I had a conversation with my amazing husband and he's like I don't care what you do, you do you. I said I'm going to do me and I'm going to take this job because I knew from the bottom of my heart that I would love it, I would be good at it and I could develop these amazing friendships and relationships and business partnerships along the way. It's a long story, but that's how I got to commercial lending.
Speaker 2:At the time I didn't know how to do commercial lending but I had borrowed money and lots of it. I'm like, if I can borrow it, I can sell it Exactly. I took the position of business development officer, moved up the ladder really quickly.
Speaker 2:I make a little bit more than $35,000 now, but it turned out to be the best career decision of my life. I just took that leap of faith and then, in the meantime, we toned down on our real estate business. We still have a few holdings, and on occasion I take a look into my magic eight ball and try to figure out what's nice for me.
Speaker 2:All it does is tell me. Maybe that doesn't really have information, but I think this is it for me. I love it, and once I became a CCIM, my career took a whole nother path. It's been incredible, definitely.
Speaker 1:And maybe we'll have to shake the magic eight ball at the end of the conversation. But one of the things that strike me in our conversation is really the why of wanting something more, and I can relate to you in that sense too.
Speaker 1:And also I was the first one of my family to go to college and graduate also, so I think there is that trailblazing spirit for both of us and I think also I've joked about being like into a bull in a China cabinet and I think you and I are of the same cloth that when we decide something, you're going to find every way to make it happen, versus looking at all of the problems and things like that, and it's kind of like you weigh it out, have the conversations, and it's kind of that gut feel too, and when you know it deeply in your heart and you've looked at the other factors, sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith, like you did, and I love that. So that's a great story, thank you.
Speaker 2:Don't try, you certainly aren't going to succeed. Right? I love orchestrating a symphony of opportunities on a daily basis, right, like? I took piano lessons as a child because I can do a full octave with one hand and I love being creative and coming up with solutions. That is the why, like, I love solving problems and figuring out how to get things done, whether it's helping just a friend or a family member that might need some advice or some encouragement, or helping a borrower or one of my fantastic clients getting a deal funded and closed and helping them achieve their dreams. In particular, working with business owners that have never owned a piece of real estate before, but their business has grown. They need additional space and they come to me to find money to buy their dream building. I mean, I know an industrial space might not be everybody's dream building but it is for a lot of people in our industry.
Speaker 2:So when that deal closes and they come to me and say, thank you, you've been incredible to work with, it is the most satisfying feeling and that's the why there's many whys, I mean I literally approach every single day as if it's my first day at my career, at my job, because every day is different and there's something to learn every day.
Speaker 1:I love that and that's why you're such a passionate person about how you help people and, I think, life in general. But going back to the industrial versus retail or anything else, the really neat thing about it is that it's like you're opening a portal to a whole new way of living for someone At least, that's how I feel at times, and there was life before real estate and then there's life with and forward, and I think it is an extremely creative endeavor, especially given our marketplace and utilizing that with the lending, with the brokerage and other things of that nature. It's definitely all intertwined in creating the pivotal partners and coming at that through collaboration to bring through these great end results. I really like that.
Speaker 2:I mean, heather, is there anything better when you get a call from a client that says I loved working with you on this previous project? Would you do me the honor of working with me again on the next project?
Speaker 2:It's so satisfying, isn't it? And I know you know that I'm preaching to somebody who knows those feelings, but it's such an important part of our daily lives that makes our work and life Equal, you know, as far as business and pleasure, right, we, if we enjoy what we do, our life is fun and I like to have fun. Definitely I'm right there with you, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And so with you know, with commercial real estate, it's obviously fast, it's furious and other times it's you know, a lot of problem solving things of that nature. How do you find ways, like what are a couple of your goes to, for de-stressing and just keeping your performance at such a high level?
Speaker 2:So, for whatever reason my body says you don't need sleep. So I I've taken on a role at my job to do marketing, and the marketing side of my business is not stressful at all because I love the creativity of it. So when I am thinking that I might be stressed about something, I just come up with something clever to do. The next day, you know, I come up with a new marketing campaign, a way to brag about one of my coworkers or put together something fun and flippant for our company to just take away the general stress of lending. You know, you just kind of move it to another sector of your position at your career.
Speaker 2:But on a personal note, I have a very happy place that I can go and retreat to. For some reason, when I was 35 years old I decided that I needed a second home in Florida. Now I don't know about you, but I don't know too many 35 year olds that just go up and buy a home someplace, you know, 1800 miles away. So I met a woman through the Commercial Real Estate Women's Association crew.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you're familiar with it and I'm sure a lot of women who may be listening to this belong to that association here in the United States. But I met a woman through crew and she suggested a little town called Cape Coral, which at the time was fairly sleepy. Now it's the fastest growing city in the state of Florida, fortunately or unfortunately, but we hopped on a plane, stayed at a fancy hotel in Bonita I I'm positive we had internet at that time, because I'm pretty sure it's hard to remember as it is.
Speaker 2:It's like the first time you could take a picture with your phone, I think was in 2001. So it seems like it was 100 years ago, but it wasn't that long ago. So I found a woman who was a transplant from Ohio and she literally picked me up in a linking continental. You know, remember those days when people would actually pick you up and take you places. It's like when we were in sales, as when I was in sales as a young woman, I would physically get in my Chevy Corsica and drive over to somebody's office and pick them up and take them to lunch. So I remember getting into this giant Lincoln whatever it was, I'm sure it was a legend and she whipped me around that city faster than the wind, blew through my hair and took me to nine properties that we thought we could afford and made an offer on the ninth home, got it. We still own the house, but tragically, back on September 28, 2022, hurricane Ian decided to make a visit to our home and basically turned the house into an indoor pool. So it's it's fine now, right, but it's very hard to get flood insurance in the state of Florida to all my friends.
Speaker 2:But that is when I step off the plane in Fort Myers. This weight just drops off my shoulders and I take a deep breath of that salt air and I literally feel like I'm in heaven. Most of the time I do not even bring my computer with me down there. I have full capabilities on my little magic phone. That's right. But I find that I have such a great support team at Cooperative Business Services that I don't need to bring and have my computer hooked to my hip all day long so I can go down there and just de-stress, relax, have a margarita, put my famous sand and I love that. So that's on a personal side, of course, but it's right, it goes hand in hand.
Speaker 1:Well. And two, you can't always have your foot on the gas pedal. You do need some of the downtime. And I think, two, that fuels your creativity with you know what you're doing with lending other properties and things of that nature. So I think it's a. It's a lovely way to balance the two worlds. And so, speaking of worlds where, where do you think you'll be? What do you think is going to be transitioning the next, say, five to 10 years? You're going to pull out the magic ball or you know where you?
Speaker 1:think it may be going.
Speaker 2:Think about it, Heather. Artificial intelligence is completely taking over everything. I mean, who hasn't?
Speaker 1:used chat GBT right.
Speaker 2:It's so convenient. I can ask it the most ridiculous question, even if it's about real estate. It will spit out the answers in a millisecond. I think green initiatives are super important and adaptability. I think we're going to be seeing more of that in the future, in less than five years, I think.
Speaker 2:I think the real estate developers you know I buy existing properties. You know your standard office flex, multifamily properties. But you take a 24 story building and and in the central business district of any city it's probably at this time got a fairly high vacancy rate. But what we're seeing more and more is that people are taking those properties and converting them into condominiums, multifamily mixed juice, you know, putting some high end restaurants on the first floor, perhaps even a hotel, micro units. I think all of that is the wave of the future.
Speaker 2:You know, when COVID became an issue here in the United States, people thought retail was really going to take a hit, and in the lending business we love lending on retail buildings. They are thriving. I mean, they are not only, you know, the larger story units that might be anchored by a large box like a grocery store, but even some of the medical community have been moving into retail centers because of the traffic, and then a real estate agent like yourself can follow Placer AI and see who is going in and out and where they're going to next. I mean this is incredible technology for us. I can't see any other way for real estate to get done at this point. But by embracing technology for the future, I mean my husband even has an order in for a Tesla Cybertruck. Give me a break. I don't know about that one, but I love him so much. Good luck, exactly.
Speaker 1:How do you do what you need to do? I'll just buy another property while you're doing that. Yes, exactly, definitely. Well, leslie, it has been a true joy connecting with you, sharing you with my audience here on LinkedIn and the other platforms. I agree with your outlook and it's one of those, too, who doesn't want to go shopping, dining and enjoying and having fun right.
Speaker 2:It is then the best life Heather, for sure, Definitely.
Speaker 1:And it'll only continue to improve. So, leslie, thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate you, and happy Thanksgiving Happy.
Speaker 1:Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Okay, take care.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Bye.