When I interviewed Charlotte Bonini, a commercial real estate broker with eXp
Realty, she told me about the moment real estate stopped being an idea and
became her job. She had passed her licensing exam and called the broker who
had already told her he would hire her. His response was simple: see you
Monday.
Bonini had arrived at real estate after a period of unemployment. Years earlier, relatives had suggested the field might fit her, but she had dismissed the idea. When she eventually reconsidered, one feature of the work appealed to her: she could not control the market, but she could control how much effort she put into building her business.
That distinction stayed with me because commercial real estate is full of things neither Bonini nor her clients can completely control. Rates move. Inventory changes. Deals fall apart. Yet the decisions businesses make about space can have consequences that last for years.
The reward is seeing another business take root
Bonini told me that one of the things she enjoys most is seeing business owners move into the right space and flourish.
A commercial transaction can look like a question of square footage, price and contract terms. From the business owner's perspective, however, the space may affect customer access, operating costs, visibility, production capacity and what the company can realistically do next.
That helps explain another part of Bonini's approach. She said she would rather sit down for coffee, visit a client's operation and understand the story of the business than rely only on the more polished version of professional networking.
What stood out to me was the connection between understanding the person and understanding the transaction. In professional services, there can be a significant difference between knowing what a client has asked for and understanding the problem the client is actually trying to solve.
Small businesses are often looking for small spaces
One issue Bonini said repeatedly surfaces in her work is the difficulty some small businesses face finding appropriately sized commercial space.
She receives frequent inquiries from owners looking for roughly 2,000 square feet or less, she said, and the available inventory can make those searches difficult. She has even imagined a commercial center intentionally designed around smaller businesses, with units sized for what those companies actually need.
I kept thinking about what happens before a business owner ever begins touring properties. Moving from a home office into commercial space, opening a storefront or buying a first property may look like a real estate decision, but it is also a decision about the business itself.
The question is not simply whether a space is attractive or affordable. It is what the space is supposed to make possible.
For one company, that might mean serving more customers. For another, it could mean increasing production, creating separation between home and work, improving the customer experience or acquiring an asset rather than continuing to rent.
The business also requires living with uncertainty
Commission-based real estate has given Bonini plenty of experience with uncertainty. A substantial amount of work can go into a transaction that never closes.
She described learning not to allow one failed deal to become a prolonged downward spiral. The deal may be over, but the work continues, and there may still be something to learn from what happened.
That part of our conversation seemed relevant beyond real estate. Small-business owners operate with their own versions of uncertainty: a prospective client who chooses someone else, a delayed payment, a supplier problem, a change in demand or a plan that produces a different result than expected.
Bonini's experience does not provide a formula for handling those situations. What it illustrates is the distinction that first attracted her to real estate: some outcomes remain outside your control even when your effort does not.
Relationships seem to matter before the transaction begins
Another thing I took from our conversation was how much Bonini values understanding businesses before discussing properties.
That approach may seem obvious, but it raises an interesting question for anyone selling a professional service: how much do you actually understand about what happens inside the client's business?
A client may request a particular service because that is the solution they know how to ask for. Spending more time understanding the circumstances behind the request can sometimes reveal that the real issue is different.
Bonini approaches that process through conversations, visits and relationships. Other professional-service businesses may handle it differently, but the underlying idea is worth noticing: context can change what the right solution looks like.
Four questions I took away from the conversation
Bonini's comments about small commercial spaces made me think about the questions an owner might explore before beginning a property search. These are not a formula for deciding whether to lease or buy commercial space, but they may help clarify what the business is actually trying to accomplish.
- What problem is the new space supposed to solve?
Is the business constrained by production capacity, customer access, storage, visibility, working from home or something else?
- What changes financially once the business moves?
Beyond rent or a mortgage, what happens to utilities, insurance, maintenance, staffing and the amount of revenue the business needs to support?
- Which characteristics of the property are actually tied to the business model?
It may be useful to distinguish between features that enable the business to operate and features that are simply attractive.
- What would change if the business waited another twelve months?
Renting, purchasing and waiting can each create different options. Thinking about what the business might look like a year from now may change how today's decision appears.
Bonini entered real estate partly because she was attracted to the ability to control her own effort. Today, much of her work involves helping other business owners make decisions in which control is similarly incomplete.
They cannot dictate interest rates, inventory or what properties become available. But they can spend more time understanding what their businesses actually need before committing to a space.
That may be the part of Bonini's experience I found most interesting: the transaction is real estate, but the decision underneath it is fundamentally about the business the owner is trying to build.
Connect with Charlotte Bonini
Charlotte Bonini
Commercial Real Estate Broker, eXp Realty
charlottebonini.exprealty.careers