She Sold $12 Billion Without Cold Calling (Here's How) | Laurie Lustig Bower

## No Vacancy with Taylor Avakian: She Sold $12 Billion Without Cold Calling (Here's How) | Laurie Lustig Bower

**Host:** Taylor Avakian

**Guest:** Laurie Lustig Bower

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**[00:00] Taylor Avakian:** Welcome back to No Vacancy, everyone. Today, I am absolutely thrilled to have a legend in Los Angeles commercial real estate joining us. She recently retired after an incredible 36-year career at CBRE, where she and her team handled over $12 billion in multifamily transactions in just the last decade alone. She built an empire on the Westside of LA, specializing in apartment buildings, condo conversions, and development sites, consistently ranking as a top national producer. I'm talking about the one and only Laurie Lustig-Bower. Laurie, it's an honor to have you on the show.

**[00:45] Laurie Lustig-Bower:** Taylor, thank you so much. It's a real pleasure to be here and share some of my experiences. I’ve been looking forward to this.

**[00:55] Taylor Avakian:** Laurie, you've had such a monumental career. Let's start at the beginning. How did you choose multifamily, and specifically the Westside of LA, as your niche? Was it always clear to you that this was your "blue ocean"?

**[01:15] Laurie Lustig-Bower:** You know, it wasn't immediately clear, but it became very evident early on. When I started at Coldwell Banker Commercial, which later became CBRE, I was given a desk and told, "Go make calls." But I quickly realized that cold calling wasn't for me. I needed a different approach. I looked around and saw a lot of generalists. I thought, if I could become the absolute expert in a very specific area, people would come to me. I chose multifamily because it's a very relationship-driven business, and I loved the idea of helping people with their generational wealth. And the Westside? It just felt right. It was a high-demand, high-value area, and I saw an opportunity to truly dominate that specific geographic and product niche. It was about becoming indispensable in a very defined space.

**[02:10] Taylor Avakian:** That's fascinating. You mentioned you didn't cold call, which is almost unheard of in brokerage. How did you build a $12 billion business purely on referrals? What were the foundational strategies you employed?

**[02:30] Laurie Lustig-Bower:** It really came down to strategic networking and providing immense value. My philosophy was: if I help enough people get what they want, I'll get what I want. I focused on building relationships with people who touched multifamily real estate in some way, but weren't direct competitors. This included residential brokers, appraisers, estate attorneys, bankers, property managers, even CPAs. I'd offer them market insights, help them with valuations for their clients, or just be a resource. The key was to be genuinely helpful without expecting anything in return initially. Over time, those relationships blossomed into referrals.

**[03:20] Taylor Avakian:** Can you give us some specific examples of those networking strategies? How did you approach a residential broker, for instance, to build that referral pipeline?

**[03:35] Laurie Lustig-Bower:** Absolutely. With residential brokers, I understood they often encountered clients who owned apartment buildings but primarily dealt with single-family homes. I would reach out, introduce myself, and offer to be their go-to expert for any multifamily questions. I'd provide them with market updates, rent comps, and even help them understand the nuances of a 1031 exchange when their client was selling a house and wanted to buy an apartment building. I’d make it clear that I wasn't looking to steal their client; I was looking to be a resource that made *them* look good. And crucially, when they did send a referral, I paid very generous referral fees, often 25% or even 30% of my side, especially early on. It showed I valued their trust and their business.

**[04:30] Taylor Avakian:** That's a huge point – paying generous referral fees. It's an investment, really, in future business. What about internal referrals within CBRE? How did you leverage that large platform?

**[04:45] Laurie Lustig-Bower:** Internal referrals were absolutely critical, especially in a large organization like CBRE. I made it a point to get to know brokers in other divisions – office, retail, industrial, even our debt and equity teams. Often, their clients would own multifamily properties as part of a larger portfolio, or they'd have a client looking to diversify. I would regularly meet with them, share my market knowledge, and make sure they knew what I specialized in. Again, it was about being a resource and demonstrating expertise. When a client of an office broker mentioned they had an apartment building they might want to sell, that broker would immediately think of me. It's about building those internal champions.

**[05:35] Taylor Avakian:** So, beyond networking, what were some of your daily habits, your discipline, and how did you consistently generate new ideas to drive that deal flow for decades?