2020 Women in RE: Michelle Lala, RM Friedland

Name: Michelle Lala

Title: Senior Associate

Company Name: RM Friedland

What is one characteristic that you believe every woman in business should possess?
I have found that having a strong sense of confidence is an extremely important characteristic, especially in a male centric business like commercial real estate. Most evident, on a cold call, the one thing that can differentiate you from your competitors is how confident you are in yourself, your market knowledge and in what you are selling. Whether it be on a career changing pitch or a simple property inspection it is always important to show confidence–you’re dealing with people that put a lot of trust in you to not only represent them but to also get the deal done!

What recent project, transaction or accomplishment are you most proud of?
Our team represented a client that owned and managed 14 apartment buildings in NYC. After much thought, they decided to reposition their entire portfolio outside of NY and consulted us for the best disposition strategy. The properties were separated in submarkets and we were able to pull off three separate transactions including a $30.5 million sale of nine buildings in Harlem. 

This was significant in both size of the transaction and complexity of handling multiple properties. Something that also fills me with a great sense of pride when thinking about this deal is how much I learned along the way and how important building lasting client relationships are over one’s career.