Industrial real estate used to be the “ugly duckling” of commercial investing. Today, it is one of the hottest asset classes in the market. In this episode, David Murphy explains how industrial real estate changed over the last decade and why small-bay warehouse space is attracting so much investor attention. David shares how e-commerce and faster delivery expectations reshaped the market, especially in Florida, where distribution has always been challenging. He also talks about the mistakes new investors make when jumping into industrial deals and why working with an experienced broker matters more than most people realize. Key topics and takeaways: Why industrial lease rates stayed flat for years before exploding higher How Amazon and fast delivery changed warehouse demand What makes a warehouse functional or difficult to lease Why small bay industrial is attracting mom-and-pop investors The importance of truck access, loading doors, ceiling height, and site layout Why owner users are competing with investors for industrial properties Guest Information: David Murphy “The Dock High Guy” LinkedIn: LinkedIn search for “David Murphy The Dock High Guy.&quot; Call To Action: If you are interested in industrial real estate investing or want insight into the Florida industrial market, connect with David Murphy on LinkedIn.

What Investors Need to Know About Industrial Real Estate with David Murphy

Property Profits Real Estate Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Property Profits Real Estate Podcast

## Participants

- **Dave Dubeau** (None)
- **David Murphy** (None)

## Transcript

Well, you know, for a long time, industrial real estate was kind of the ugly duckling asset in real estate investing. Well, that isn't the case anymore. Industrial has become very, very, very popular, especially over the last number of years when, you know, multifamily has taken a bit of a kicking and other asset classes aren't doing so well.

And today, our special guest zooming in from Florida is David Murphy, and he definitely knows a thing or two or three or 12 about industrial real estate. He's been, you know, elbows up in this stuff for close to 30 years. He's helped people transact billions and billions of dollars of industrial real estate transactions, buying, selling, leasing, you name it. He knows a thing or two about industrial. So David, welcome to the show. Great to have you.

Thank you. I enjoy the opportunity to be a part of this. So thanks for having me. Hey, man. So I kind of gave a short intro there, but maybe you can fill in the blanks. Tell us a little bit about what exactly do you do? What is this beautiful thing called industrial real estate? Give us the overview, if you would, David. Absolutely. So I'm the dock high guy on social media. And when I'm involved, I always say if a truck pulls up to it,

that's what I'm doing. And so it can be a warehouse facility manufacturing. And, you know, I got into this business about 28 years ago and it's been an amazing journey. But as you said, it was not the bell of the ball in the first 20 out of those 28 years. So it's taken a little time for us. There's some massive persistence going on there, man.

Massive persistence. Like at some point, this is going to be good. Just stay with it. And we used to joke, I started in 1998, which then was CB Commercial, the precursor to CBRE. And we never had rental comps. So for your listeners, when people are going to buy or invest in industrial real estate, you want to know what the lease comps are, the lease comparables. You want to make sure that property...

Pretty much any kind of real estate, you want an idea of what the comps are. You want the comps. So we never kept lease comps because the rate was 375 a foot. And it just never changed. For 10 years, it was flat. So we didn't have to keep updated lease comps. It was, well, what's the rate? Well, 375. And so clearly things have changed today. And some of that was driven, obviously, by the pandemic and how the supply chain shifted.

A lot of it had to do with e-commerce and just the way people are delivering product today. So the Amazons of the world. Oh, my goodness. You know, really about 2014, 2015, when they started coming into our market in a big way. And you heard this terminology of a two-week delivery time get compressed down to a two-day delivery time. And now it's a two-hour delivery time. And if you think about that, you have to g...

What Investors Need to Know About Industrial Real Estate with David Murphy

Transcript

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What Investors Need to Know About Industrial Real Estate with David Murphy

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.