“Real estate used to be largely an inside game. If you knew the right people, had the right intel, and hustled harder, you had an edge. Today? Everyone has access to the same data. What does this mean? Investors who focus on the public markets naturally are closer to market beta. Is this what will happen in our business?
A co-worker at Boston Realty Advisors recently mentioned that CoStar Group had introduced yet another feature—tracking the makeup of investor equity in real estate deals. Just one more step toward total market transparency.
So, what happens when everyone can know everything?
The End of Hidden Opportunities?
Not long ago, finding the real story behind a property in Boston meant hours—sometimes days—of work. You’d spend mornings buried in the city’s Inspectional Services Division, pulling property jackets, or standing in endless lines at the tax assessor’s office.
Today? That data is a click away on platforms like CoStar , Reonomy and lately even ChatGPT.
Look at New York broker Bob Knakal incredible map room—a masterclass in NYC CRE intelligence. Every parcel, every assemblage opportunity, laid out in plain sight.
The bulk of what once required deep networks, local relationships, and market intuition is now in many cases fully transparent.
From Opaque to Overexposed
For decades, real estate was one of the last truly illiquid asset classes. Commercial properties changed hands every few years—sometimes only decades.
Deals were handshakes and backroom meetings. Fax machines. Snail mail. The brokerage business was less sophisticated. The “call for offers” sales process really began formally in the mid to late 1990’s. There were no market place websites like Loopnet and Crexi.
With each passing year, the spread between “knowing” and “not knowing” has collapsed.
So, How Do You Make Money in a Transparent Market?
The days of finding a great deal just because you had better data are mostly gone.
Today, winning in CRE isn’t about having scarcely available information—it’s about: Acting faster than the next buyer. Having the lowest cost of capital. It about structuring deals smarter than the competition. Out-executing rather than out-researching. It’s about super hyper market focus.
A great broker or investor doesn’t just price a deal based on today’s value. He or she the spread between today’s market price and tomorrow’s potential. {Munger and Buffet’s core principals is distinguishing the spread between price and value.}
The game has shifted from information arbitrage to execution arbitrage.
So, What’s the New Playbook?
If data alone can’t make you money, what can?
Two things:
Micro-Market Selection – In an era of total transparency, picking the right submarket is the new edge. Who is pricing risk there wrong? Where is the demand shift not reflected in valuations?
The Operating Company Creates the Alpha – True advantage lies in how well you run the asset, not just how well you buy it. The best owners are the ones who:
- Extract value through operations.
- Control costs, increase revenue, and reposition properties better than the next guy.
- Optimize capital structures in a way that turns ordinary deals into exceptional ones.
The Work Has Changed—But You Still Have to Be Smarter to Win.
CRE today is more transparent, more efficient, and easier to access than ever before. But paradoxically, that makes it harder to outperform.
The winners aren’t those who know more—they’re the ones who move faster, execute better, and operate smarter. The great public market investors, like Berkshire Hathaway have generally dealt with transparent, liquid and efficient markets. But it hasn’t stopped them from outperforming the markets. Probably the greatest way to win is still being able to evaluate the difference between PRICE and VALUE.
JASON S. WEISSMAN
Founder & Senior Partner | Boston Realty Advisors
617.850.9608 | jweissman@bradvisors.com
