Today we are pleased to have Bo Menkiti join us in the Gen-Y Hot Seat. Bo is a Washington D.C. Real Estate visionary who started developing homes for teachers, firefighters, and other first-time buyers in the neglected middle market. Bo was featured in 2007's 30 Under 30 from Inc. Magazine and is bringing social awareness to the community about real estate and its value. In this hot seat we chat about first time home buyers and a technology shift for the real estate market, plus a moment of Creating Magic in a hometown neighborhood!

Gen-Y Magic: You have been recognized as a great young businessman, most noticeably in Inc’s 30 under 30. What qualities do you think it takes to be a leader at such a young age?

Bo: Leadership for me has been about articulating a vision and supporting others in working towards that vision. When we were starting our company I knew it is crucial to be powered by a strong sense of purpose, a clear mission and a strong set of values. Before we did anything else, we sat down and came up with four core values that we felt captured what we wanted our organization to stand for. We then went one step further and developed a set of eight beliefs and perspectives that guide our day to day interaction both externally with our partners and clients, and internally amongst our staff. After these values and beliefs were developed and put in place, they helped guide us in creating our business model and our strategy and lead us forward throughout the creative whirlwind of our company’s start up and growth.

In addition to establishing and promoting vision in values, it’s also important for a person in a leadership role to be constantly learning and increasing their understanding of the people they serve and the structural context with in which they operate. As our company grows, we constantly have to reevaluate the needs of the community and fine tune our model to fit their needs and meet the demands caused by current market conditions.

GYM: Gen-Y is a technologically savvy generation. How has technology shaped your business and your communication with both your team members and clients?

“You cannot meet the challenges of today with yesterdays tools and expect to be in business tomorrow” -Unknown

Bo: Technology has been a big part of our outreach to an increasingly tech savvy generation of buyers and sellers. It also helps us in our work to continually automate and improve upon our internal processes and operations.

The real estate industry is evolving as buyers and sellers are getting more and more of their market data online. For buyers, we have implemented two property search technologies on our website and have additional resources to educate them and guide them throughout the process.

For sellers we have a Market Snapshot report that keeps them updated on the market activity around their homes through an automated monthly email. We also have an online portal for clients who are listing their homes with us that enables them to go online and track our teams activities in marketing their home 24/7.

We have embraced this shift towards independent online searching because it takes some of the lower value work off of our plates. It enables us as realtors to focus on the increasingly valuable consultative role of guiding our clients to successfully reach their real estate goals and on negotiating the best deals for them.

Internally we have worked to use technology to further streamline the marketing and administrative side of our work and enhance the communication amongst our team members. We utilize automated marketing communications, publish a monthly e-newsletter and maintain online files for data storage. We also use calendar sharing and other mobile devices to speed up communication between members of our team.

GYM: Can you share one tale of Creating Magic in your community and how it affected the lives of others in a positive light.


Bo: Before I got seriously involved in real estate, I bought a house in the Brookland neighborhood of DC. The house was great, but it was directly across from a vacant, burned-out liquor store on the corner and another abandoned building right next to it. Every morning as I was leaving my house to go to work, I would stare across the street at the derelict buildings and briefly ponder their potential. My elderly next door neighbor would often remind me of how she had lived on the corner for over 70 years and how sad it was to see those buildings in such disrepair. At one time she had lived on a more vibrant and bustling street 12th Street, where neighbors would shop and take walks with their families, and over the years had witnessed its sad deterioration.

Within the first year of starting The Menkiti Group, we purchased the liquor store and the building next to it. We renovated both buildings and turned the liquor store into our company headquarters and created two beautiful apartments and ground floor retail space in the other building. This transformation has become the representation of the type of change that our company works to create. It was incredible to see not only my neighbor’s reaction to the change, but also the positive response of the whole community. What was once a forlorn corner at the gateway to our neighborhood has been transformed in to a little hub of activity and now stands as a symbol of reinvestment in the 12th Street commercial corridor.


GYM: Your Sales and Marketing team helps young professionals and first time homebuyers in their real estate decisions. Why is that an important initiative for your team?

Bo: The preamble to the realtor code of ethics puts it best:

“Under all is the land. Upon its wise utilization and widely allocated ownership depend the survival and growth of free institutions and of our civilization. …. the interests of the nation and its citizens require the highest and best use of the land and the widest distribution of land ownership. They require the creation of adequate housing, the building of functioning cities, the development of productive industries and farms, and the preservation of a healthy environment.”
-Preamble to the realtor code of ethics

The focus on first time home buyers is a part of our organization’s mission to:

“Enhance the fabric of life in America’s urban communities through the strategic development, management and sale of middle market real estate.”

We have focused on the middle market, as it has been overlooked segment in our city’s real estate market. In D.C. we either have builders who are building luxury condos and homes that can sell at a premium and with higher profit margins, or we have the developers who tap into tax credits and public funds for the development of low income subsidized housing. This has created an ever widening gap in our urban neighborhoods between the Haves and the Have not’s.

The main workforce of the city (police, firemen, teachers, etc) is forced to commute into the city from far out suburbs where they can afford to live. This trend destabilizes neighborhoods, has negative impacts people’s quality of life and has serious adverse affects on the environment. The focus of helping first time buyers is important because it brings much of the workforce back to the city, creating a diversity of homeownership which is crucial for the health, vitality and stability of urban neighborhoods. When people own their homes they are more invested in their communities and more likely to be actively involved in ensuring the community’s success.

Our work with first time buyers is also important because it is one of the things that truly separates us from the competition. We bring high quality services and consultation to a group that usually gets the worst of what the industry has to offer. Most successful realtors gravitate to the highest priced homes they can find, seeking to earn the highest commissions possible. This has the unintended consequence of often leaving the lower priced and first time buyers and sellers (who are most in need of realtors services) to be represented by the least experienced and least successful realtors. Our team is focused on changing that by taking highly educated and capable real estate professionals with track records of success, and focused them on providing the highest quality service to all clients regardless of their income level or real estate experience.

GYM: Your group utilizes a blog to highlight your events, open houses, press, etc. What impact does having this type of open communication have on your appeal to younger buyers?

Bo: Our team works hard to try to stay in communication with our clients through a number of different mediums. We use the blog to stay in touch with our sphere and past clients as well as to reach out to new potential clients. We have our blog feed onto our company Facebook page, so we can constantly stay in front of our network and past clients. The blog is also a way for community members whom we haven’t met to engage with us. Our team stays up on new developments that are happening around the city and is constantly studying trends in the market and sharing some of this information on the blog, so we attract people who are just curious about their neighborhood or the market condition. The younger buyers want to be educated throughout the process, and want to know that the agent who they decide to work with knows the city, knows the market, and knows how to find them the best deal. By sharing this type of information on the blog, our clients and potential clients can see that our team is knowledgeable and fully informed about our market.

GYM: Thanks Bo, you are officially off of the Gen-Y Hot Seat!

To read more about Bo and the Menkiti Group, please visit their website and company blog.