2021 Ones to Watch: Spencer Norton, Senior Associate, Horvath & Tremblay

What advice can you offer to someone who is interested in a career in your industry? I think it’s important to have a long-term outlook in terms of building your book of business. It takes time to start to see some of your efforts start to mature into real/deliverable opportunities. So, work on building up your pipeline, relationships, and really learning the industry and the market that you’re in. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions, there are things you’ll learn as you start to do more deals and there’s not a handbook that holds all the answers to everything you may encounter.

Who was/is your mentor and how did
s/he influence/help you in your career? I’d say professionally my mentors are the senior people on our team. They’ve helped me to learn the business and do it the right way. They have been a great resource and have helped me to understand more than just the fundamentals. There’s that next level to brokerage that’s understanding why clients are asking certain questions. Being able to look deeper into not just what was said on the surface but what their motivation is and what they are trying to accomplish. This puts me as an agent in a better position to help them achieve their goals. I’m at the point in my career where I’m starting to have a good handle on this and my colleagues have helped to get me to this point.

Which project, deal, or transaction was the “game-changer” in the advancement of your career? The 15-unit portfolio on the corner of Elm and Central St. in Lowell, MA. This was a deal with some moving parts and required some upfront due diligence on our end to be able to provide buyers with a comfort level. We were able to generate eight strong offers for the sellers over the course of a two-week marketing period. There were also some unforeseen obstacles throughout the course of the transaction and because of these it helped me to learn how to bridge gaps between parties and get deals to the finish line while keeping groups level-headed.

What led you to your current profession? From a young age I always had an interest in real estate. Once I had it narrowed down to real estate I chose the commercial side because of the business aspect involved with clients and being able to help them achieve their goals. More specifically, I chose the multifamily side as I don’t see that asset class going anywhere, or ever really losing demand. I think you saw a glimpse of that throughout the pandemic as where some asset classes were hit harder, such as office and smaller retail, the multifamily sector continued to thrive, and we still saw a year over year increase in our business. I also enjoy the competition in the industry and competing on deals.