Meet Niki Perez

We recently connected with Niki Perez and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Niki, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I’ve had the opportunity to enter some hopeful arenas the past year, each surface built differently. Where one rink is made of ice, another is made from wood.

When the music starts, I almost always step in wobbly, questioning whether my laces are knotted or tied just right— if I’ll glide feet from left to right smoothly. Will I muster the strength to stand should I fall?

I think CRE is all about risk-seeking behaviors. We measure pros and cons through discovery, and try to quiet excitement when the discovery shows potential. When the music stops – and you’re back on the bench – it’s hard not to wonder what was wrong with your form.

Inside these arenas lie a few feet of promise, exciting wheels that never made it past first turn. The toughest, was the disappointment for me. I learned hard and fast that strong pivots are processed best from a place of power.

Discouraged by some, distracted by none: this is the way, because commercial real estate is built on momentum. What was once wobbly is now a fully-built vision, circling round and round. It’s simply a game of kinetics, and there’s no stopping it now. Better to receive the twists and turns because pushes can burn, but are better used to propel.

Music always on. Rinks polished and clean. Circles strong. This is how I remain open, resilient, ready to roll into the next phase. All it takes is forward movement—

and a really good pair of skates.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

After 20 years in corporate commercial real estate, I felt like I had reached an impasse. There was this gnawing gut instinct, that the only way to move up was to go out on my own. And that’s exactly what I did.

I formed Authentic CRE because underwriting commercial real estate is nuanced and important to understand. It all begins and ends with the numbers. And folks tend to find running those numbers overwhelming sometimes, especially while navigating Excel. The other problems that I came to identify are the burdens of overhead and a need for time. So I basically took all the skills I learned at corporate and transferred them into a business – which means – I get to do what I love, honor my strengths, and serve a community of investors, developers and/or brokers that have a desire to grow without sacrificing their time plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. That’s the evolution of our SWIFT model – something I’m really excited about.

Our SWIFT solution brings a Scalable, Well-Informed, Focused, Tactical approach to the commercial real estate underwriting process. From ground-up to stabilized, we focus on modeling your cash flows and investment returns so you can scale your portfolio quickly. The goal is to alleviate payroll and benefit cost burdens, while maintaining the quality control of a salaried commercial analyst. It’s all about freeing up your time and maximizing investment resources. We take on the heavy lifts based on your volume and budget, so you can find and close deals. Quality, capacity and cost-efficiencies that give to the bottom line is how we make CRE underwriting easy. This path is not without risk, and I have no idea sometimes when the next paycheck is coming – but it doesn’t phase me like it used to. We were profitable in 2024 after only a year and change of being in business, and that tells me there is a need, and that this vision has potential.

I think too, it has to be said, that branding your company Authentic CRE Solutions is a bit dicey. I didn’t come up with this entity off a whim, as it took me a long time to embrace myself in the mirror. It’s a blessing and a curse, because I don’t do grey areas, in life or in business. And that doesn’t work for everyone. I like to believe that type of transparent approach, especially when underwriting a CRE deal, will become more accepted and realized vs. being intimidated by a 4’11 Latina from Hialeah who not only knows her shit but also has your best interests at heart. THAT PART, is the brand. Authenticity is a very well-staged marketing tactic today. Love it or don’t – one thing’s for sure – you never have to guess with me.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I think these can all be summed up through my motto and why statement. Let’s start with my motto: “It’s not who we are underneath but what we do that defines us”.

Intentions that meet actions on a parallel line are everything. And they don’t need a bat signal to show up either. Responsiveness, accountability, customer service, relationship service – like honestly – what happened? I feel like after Covid folks became complacent, less motivated– and others acquired a strange sense of entitlement. I’ve literally witnessed de-evolutions: from those who were once humble to those saying out loud I’m way too busy for this. Folks adopting a voice box that sounds nothing like them anymore.

It’s both fascinating and sad to watch. I’m all about empowerment, not so much of entitlements. Arrogance and confidence are two very different things. We are all busy, but it’s not an excuse to neglect a customer, colleague, deliverable, timeline, etc. We’re in the business of building relationships and trust. A sure way to lose that momentum is to make someone or the task at hand, feel unimportant. I think you’ll find my why brings a similar sentiment. Here it goes:

To empower those overlooked and underestimated to embrace their authenticity and confidence while navigating commercial real estate transactions.

My decision to focus on commercial real estate underwriting as a business model is obviously intentional. Underwriting is a powerful discipline that encompasses both professional and behavioral qualities such as analytical skills, market knowledge, risk management, problem-solving, customer relations, creativity, and emotional intelligence. It’s about pursuing ambitions and goals that create opportunities—not just for oneself, but for our communities at large. I whole-heartedly believe the comprehension of CRE underwriting is the key to advancing and creating opportunities – and rising to unmatched potentials.

To conclude this one novela, I do encourage every CRE company become versed in W.E.B. DuBois’ theory of double consciousness. Use as a foundation for the psychology surrounding DEI principles, policies and education.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

In college I learned not to use “hate” when writing poems because it’s too abstract. “It” must be
described in simile, like hate is not known by everyone – or perhaps via metaphor – feeling hate colder than warm blankets that don’t exist when snow falls inside homes and hearts.

But hearts are also too simple, even when homes break in real time. If I must talk toward complexities and meander journeys – wondering where my words will land – I’d have stayed a wife and nothing more.

Thing is, I loathe status quos. I also pay attention to patterns. Early on in forming this company, I was advised to focus on entry level professionals “stepping into the space”. I came to learn that guidance was ill-advised and quite frankly, intentional on other agendas. The result was a basic education marketing strategy that did not materialize at all. We ended up attracting folks wanting to explore financing options and/or the prospect of underwriting deals where the snow hadn’t stuck to the ground. Prospects with that profile were DOA, and my heart of excitement broke every single time. I couldn’t help but notice a pattern emerging, and I did not like it at all.

I’m well-rounded in underwriting and analyzing real-ready deals and sponsors in commercial real estate. That’s my box. And it took a year to get here b/c I focused on my weaknesses, which were grounded in teaching folks the basics. All because someone told me to do it, easy way of penetrating a market of teaching classes that EVERYONE is doing nowadays. Girl, bye.

I’m not selling a class. I’m not selling mentorship (which I think is awful by the way). I’m not selling coaching. I’m not selling workshops. I’m selling transparency in the numbers, 21 years, savings, flexibility, time and the God’s honest truth that if you are paying anyone to be your mentor – there’s no ROI in that for you. Mentorships are about mutually beneficial transparencies. The currencies are built together and materialize far later. If Authentic CRE cannot underwrite a deal, there’s no ROI. And I guess Alex, even though I was taught not to say it, I really f*cking hate entrepreneurs that convince people to buy into a box that is built to serve an agenda. Go in on your strengths, the ones you know. Improve on the weaknesses from there. If you find a mentor that pushes you out of your comfort zone for free, perfect. Do not go hard in the paint on the strengths someone else is telling you that you should focus on because it’s a hot commodity, and there’s money to be made in you wasting time – spending time – targeting an avatar that does not align with your vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://authenticcresolutions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authenticcre.solutions/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authenticcresolutionsnp/