JONATHAN McMANUS

What this episode covers

Jon McManus used what he learned from his entrepreneurial father in his stellar real estate career. Jon’s company has redeveloped or sold over $250 million in properties during his career. Jon was born and raised in Honolulu and later attended the University of California at Davis. He began his career in San Francisco following UCD, before returning home to Honolulu 2000. Jon is heavily involved with the Gift Foundation of Hawaii that fund raises for local non profit organizations and is on the board of directors for Rehab Hospital. Jon has an inspirational story for why he is involved with Rehab Hospital and he shares that with us in this interview. Some questions asked: Jon, can you tell us what Bay West Properties is all about? How did you get your start in real estate? What made you interested in real estate at that time? How did you learn the business of building transactions? You worked with Jerry Lynch, how were you able to get him as a partner? What are some important lessons that Jerry Lynch taught you about doing real estate? What value do you think a good mentor is worth? How did you shadow Jerry Lynch? What was the hardest thing about getting started and how did you overcome it? When you were cold calling for business, did you have experience doing this before with your other sales job? How many nos until you got your first yes? Was your first yes a successful transaction all the way through that was memorable? Any cold calling tips? What are the most important things (top 3) you’ve learned from your entrepreneur parents? What are the most important skills to develop to be successful in real estate? What’s your view on the growth of the Hawaii real estate market? California market? Your bio states that your interest is in the business of taking commercial properties to there maximum potential, how do you do that? How do you market a property to increase it’s value? You’re also involved in the Gift Foundation, how did you become involved with that? We’ve heard from a few people on the board of the Gift Foundation of Hawaii and each have a slightly different perspective. What does the Gift Foundation of Hawaii mean to you? You just had your third annual GFH party. How did you guys do in fund raising? How did you get involved w/ Rehab Hospital? What about the Rehab Hospital is it that gets you excited? What are the biggest and most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs or business owners make when starting a new venture? What do you look for in a partner? What do you watch out for when looking for a partner? How do you manage your time with work and play to balance yourself? How do you determine the number of projects you can take on before it becomes too much? What is the most important thing to teach your children? What was your biggest business challenge and how did you overcome it? Any last advice for business people? What can we look forward to in the future? What message would you like our listeners to receive from this discussion? BIO: Jonathan was born and raised in Honolulu, HI and attended college prep schools on the mainland. He began his real estate career during his last year at the University of California at Davis, investing for his own account. Following graduation, Jonathan moved to San Francisco and began working in the business as a licensed California real estate broker focusing on apartment building transactions and condominium conversion opportunities with Jerry Lynch. In the past fifteen years, Jonathan and company have redeveloped over one throusand “for sale” condominiums, numerous projects and locations, with an aggregate sum approximating $250 million in sales. Jonathan’s rold includes acquisitions, design and opportunity, as well as project management.