We are finishing an incredible year at NAI Black. In 2016, we set a company record for commercial brokerage revenue yet again.

My dad, James S. Black Sr., incorporated the company at the start of 1958 and ran it for 25 years as James S. Black and Co. He had worked for five years with Arthur D. Jones Co., which was the oldest real estate firm in Spokane, starting in 1887. Arthur’s son, Scott, was retiring. Today, we have the largest commercial group in the area. At one point in the 1970s, we had the largest residential brokerage in the city with 13 offices and a couple hundred agents.

In the early ’80s, with high interest rates and average home prices in the $50,000 range, our residential company was on its knees. I was a relatively new commercial agent, fresh with an MBA and specializing in retail. Our commercial company was a good one then, but we were closing offices and losing money in residential.

My dad died of cancer at age 59 in 1984, and I bought the company from my mom on a long-term note. The company owned no real estate at that time, although my dad’s estate had some nice properties on the personal side. That provided a good tool box for me to move forward. Our team ran the residential side of the business for 11 years. In 1995, we merged with the Tomlinson Group, forming Tomlinson Black. 

Our team ran the commercial and property management side, and the then-existing Tomlinson team ran the residential side. That proved to be a great merger for all of us. With our beefed-up commercial team and excellent property management team, we enjoyed a great budget for civic sponsorships and activities. 

In 2007, the Tomlinson group wanted to be a franchisee of Coldwell Banker, and our commercial group wanted to have a separate identity. I sold my interest in the residential company, and we went our separate ways, although we were all friendly in the process. It turned out to be perfect timing just prior to the Great Recession.

We took on the NAI network, which is a managed network of independent local commercial-only firms, and embarked on a process of specialization in commercial brokerage while continuing to build our great property-management company. The entire time we were developing commercial properties. 

We now have a nice three-legged stool of commercial brokerage, property management, and client-centered owned properties, many of which I have personally developed. We are continuing to hit on all cylinders.

In some ways, I feel like if you can make it in Spokane, you can make it anywhere. One property bought in Southern California, for example, at the right time can make a family fortune. In Spokane, we don’t get those highs, but we don’t get the lows either. It’s kind of like the tortoise and the hare. If you just plug away, one can do well. “There is no bad real estate, you just have to live long enough,” my dad used to say. 

In the real estate business in Spokane, there are no active national developers or brokerage houses. There are deals we can do here that we could never do in the big metro areas where the competition seemingly has unlimited dollars. The economy is very stable. While we don’t have the highs and lows, you won’t be disappointed in long-term growth if you buy right in this area. We have developed many nice shopping centers, single tenant buildings, office buildings, residential subdivisions, and multifamily housing.

Where else can one develop all of those product types in one area.

Like the rest of the country, the multifamily market is very strong, with minimal vacancy and rents are rising. Yet housing here is incredibly affordable relative to the rest of the country, both in ownership and in rentals, even though prices have been on a nice run. The average sales prices and the average rents are less than half of what they are in major West Coast cities.

The retail market, depending on location, is very strong, and rents support the construction of new buildings. Conversely, in the office market, rents aren’t rising and remain stagnant, especially downtown.

Spokane needs to solve its homelessness and drug problems, and, like the rest of the country, to work on the disparity in incomes and education. The city has an amazingly bright future due to its location in the Northwest, free of earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorism, and traffic problems.

 My kids who are juniors and seniors in college have a bright future if they choose to move to the Spokane area. It is a small town from a networking standpoint, yet is it’s a big city for real estate, especially if one embraces the world of technology.

Our quality of life is unparalleled. Where else can you pheasant hunt a half-hour from town and fish in one of 75 lakes within an hour. Where else can you go skiing at four great areas and play golf at world-class golf courses for $22.  Our young people used to move to the coast because there was “nothing to do,” but now, the culture in Spokane is amazing. There is an emerging arts community among millennials that no one really knows about. In any given week, there are a multitude of concerts, plays, comedy shows, and other amazing cultural events. The restaurant scene is truly prolific and diverse.

For an area that was based on mining, agriculture, and timber, we have a great diversity in our economy now. Our health care industry is thriving, and we have an emerging aerospace manufacturing base, a good supply of venture capital, a great University District with two medical schools, and a number of startup companies that are worth millions of dollars.

I think the next generation will see the Spokane area change from a large, small town to a metropolitan area.  Spokane will continue to be discovered because of its quality of life, increased technology (the ability to work anywhere), and great people.

This will bode well for every facet of the real estate business moving forward. 

Dave Black is CEO of the Spokane-based NAI Black commercial real estate brokerage.