The craziest things in 40 years of commercial real estate
2025 marks some milestones in my commercial real estate career, as well as my stint as an Orange County Register contributing columnist.
I’ve now been plying my brokerage trade for 40 years! Some reading this column aren’t even 40 years old, and here I am, doing the same thing for over four decades.
February 2025 will also be my 10th anniversary as your faithful commercial real estate voice at the Orange County Register and then the Southern California News Group. It’s been my honor to share weekly thoughts, market insights and best practices with you. By the time you read this, I will have completed another orbit around the sun — my 68th. So, there’s that.
Today, I thought it would be fun to share some of the craziest things I’ve witnessed during my 40-year commercial real estate career. Here goes:
There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza
This was maybe the most monumental issue I’ve ever overcome.
Late one day, I got a call from the buyer of a business park telling me there was a hole in the parking lot. I thought he was joking since we were scheduled to close escrow in a week. He assured me he wasn’t and added that the hole was growing larger by the moment.
I quickly got in my car, drove to the site, and was horrified by what I saw. There was a hole the size of a VW Beetle — and it was growing. At this rate, it seemed destined to swallow the entire parking lot and maybe the buildings, too.
Fortunately, we discovered the city of Brea was responsible. A leaking waterline, left unchecked for decades, had caused the collapse. The city fixed the problem just in time for escrow to close, but it’s a moment I’ll never forget.
Bridge to nowhere
This one is a classic “new agent” story and one of my favorites.
We were touring office space on the fifth floor of a newly constructed building. Little did we know that when the door closed behind us, there was no exit. We found ourselves trapped on a fourth-story balcony overlooking a major thoroughfare. This was before the days of cell phones, so we had very few options.
Fortunately, a vagrant passed by, and after a bit of bribery, he helped free us. Lesson learned: Always check for an exit before the door closes behind you!
Freeze, Gopher!
The scariest tour I ever conducted happened in a vacant building in Anaheim.
My business partner and I arrived early to preview the premises and turn on the lights for our client. As we fumbled in the dark for the power panel, we suddenly heard, “Freeze!”
Two Anaheim PD officers, guns drawn, confronted us. It turns out we had tripped a silent alarm in our search for the lights. Thankfully, they realized we weren’t burglars, and we were able to laugh about it later… much later.
Rain, rain, go away
We once sold a site in Anaheim that had formerly been a fiberglass manufacturing company. Years of fiberglass residue had permeated the floors and soil around the building.
I was certain the site would fail its environmental test, killing our escrow. But, as luck would have it, torrential rains hit the night before the inspection. The rain washed away all visible traces of the residue, and the site received environmental clearance.
Sometimes, Mother Nature lends a hand.
Houston, we have a problem
Never in my career was I as scared as during the financial meltdown of 2008 and 2009. It felt like the end of our industry.
I had already survived the savings-and-loan implosion and the dot-com bubble breaking, but this was different. I had the largest deal of my career under contract, and it blew up during this time.
After mourning the loss, I put my head down and got to work. It was tough, but the market eventually rebounded, as it always does.
Microscopic foe
Exactly five years ago, I attended an economic presentation by Northwestern Mutual. The forecast predicted a strong economy through 2020, with only a slight chance of softening.
There was a brief mention of a virus causing supply chain issues in China, but the presenter didn’t seem concerned about its impact on the U.S. economy.
Two months later, we were quarantined in our home offices. I was convinced this was the black swan event that would crater our commercial real estate market.
For six weeks, it looked like I was right. But then something unexpected happened. Industrial real estate values skyrocketed. Between June 2020 and June 2022, rents and per-square-foot values tripled in some cases. It turns out all that online shopping required a lot of warehouse space.
Forty years in commercial real estate has given me a front-row seat to some of the wildest, scariest, and most surprising moments. From sinkholes to silent alarms to global pandemics, this industry is anything but predictable. Yet, through it all, I’ve learned to adapt, stay resilient, and find humor even in the craziest situations.
As I celebrate these milestones, I’m reminded of what a privilege it is to do what I love and share my experiences with you. Here’s to the next adventure—and maybe even crazier stories—in the years to come!
Allen Buchanan is a principal and commercial real estate broker at Lee & Associates, Orange. He can be reached at 714.564.7104 or abuchanan@lee-associates.com.