When Nichole Booker, who has a Ph.D. in public administration, decided to change careers and go into commercial real estate she had an inkling the industry might be more enjoyable than what she has been doing. She says she was right.
Nearly six years later Booker, a senior adviser for SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Akron in northeast Ohio, said she's enjoying being a broker — and developing her professional skills while playing Ten-X's Battle of the Bids. In the season's second bonus drawing, she won $10,000. "I thought they were joking," Booker said in an interview. "I was kind of in shock, honestly."
In Battle of the Bids, players place bets each round on the final sale prices of 10 properties to be auctioned on Ten-X, the online commercial real estate exchange owned by CoStar Group, publisher of CoStar News. Ten-X is giving away prizes totaling up to $3 million, including a $1 million grand prize to the player who accumulates the most points in the six-round competition that Ten-X said is the biggest of its kind in commercial real estate.
The bonus drawing is a random selection of a winner from players in all previous rounds. Booker said she isn't sure what she'll do with her money, but has an idea. "I might just put it into a property," she said.
Betting in the competition's fourth round concluded Monday, and the round ends Wednesday. To date, brokerage Colliers is in the No. 1 position from a company standpoint with its employees having won a total of $132,000, an increase of $15,000 over the previous round. Colliers' total includes the $100,000 cash prize Marcianne Foster of Tampa, Florida, won for placing No. 1 in the first round of Battle of the Bids.
Transwestern, which added $5,000 its players' total winnings in the third round, held onto second place at $105,000. Broker Tony Strauss, who won the top prize of $100,000 in round two, accounted for the lion's share of Transwestern's total.
Last week, Lantian Development jumped into the No. 3 position on the strength of CEO Bob Elliott's $100,000 haul for winning the third round. Lantian leapfrogged Mariner Investment Group, which now is tied for fourth place with NAI Global with company winnings of $25,000.
As for Booker, the bonus drawing winner, she said placing bets while playing Battle of the Bids helps her develop her craft. "It's a great way to get a peek into other markets and other asset types," she said. Booker focuses on properties across Ohio and mainly works with retail, office and medical office properties.
When playing, Booker said her strategy is simple: "I look for markets that are active and assets I think are going to trade," she said.
Looking back to 2018, Booker said she's glad a broker talked her into leaving the world of public policy work for deal-making in commercial real estate.
"I'm having fun," she said. "This is more fun for sure."
More information about Battle of the Bids can be found here.