Industrial Market Action

There's movement in the market, just maybe not where you're looking. Take NAI Hiffman's Mike Tenteris: in March, he moved from Converse Capital to NAI. From his office this week, he tells us it's the perfect time for building contacts and solving problems.

Mike, right, is now teamed with Chad Firsel and tells us he chose NAI because "they already have a great reputation in the industrial markets." In the slow market, he spends his time helping investors, finance professionals, and sellers get on the same page. With only a handful of industrial investment sales taking place, he says it's important to be able to find out what each party's hang-ups might be. So, he's spent almost every evening talking and networking with different clients. "The gap between seller and buyer expectations is still too wide for deals to trade," he says.

Mike tells us he always knew he wanted to be in real estate. At Bradley, he considered civil engineering and other types of finance but couldn't get excited by the less tangible kinds like bond sales. Out of college, he started in retail investment sales at Grubb & Ellis. Partnering with Pat Sullivan, he moved from Grubb to Cushman & Wakefield, where the pair worked for four and a half years before Sullivan founded Converse three years ago. The avid Sox fan thinks the investment business will turn around late next year, but the rest of the industry might lag a little behind.