Tori Nook: Hi, this is Tori Nook and welcome back to the Tori Nook talk show where real conversations meet real success. I'm Tori Nook, the CEO and founder of Anchor Retail. I'm an entrepreneur, wife and mama three. In each episode, I feature founders, entrepreneurs, wellness leaders, personal development voices who've built their successful careers and their lives with intention, intuition, and a strong sense of who they are. And I hope you enjoy the show because today I have my first guest who is a college professor of a very elite real estate school in the United States. Andy Hunt and welcome Andy.

Andy Hunt: Thanks, Tori. It's great to join you today. What a privilege to be on the show.

Tori Nook: Yeah, I'm really honored to have you on and grateful that Mark Sims, our mutual friend, introduced us. I know. He is, ⁓ my God, what a wonderful guy to work with and do deals with. wholesome, very good at what he does, sharp, pays on time. Like you can't beat it, right? ⁓ Ain't better that, right? ⁓

Andy Hunt: Talk about good people in real estate, right? Amen, yes, yes.

Tori Nook: Well, I want to give the audience a little introduction here on you and your bio. So Andy is the executive director of Veith Institute for Real Estate Leadership at Marquette University, which I'm sure many people in the real estate world are familiar with. It is ranked in the top 12 US News and World Report ⁓ he leads interdisciplinary initiatives across business, engineering, law, ⁓ shaping the next generation of real estate leaders. He's also the co-founder of the Real Estate Asset Program, REAP, the first undergraduate focused real estate investment program of its kind. And it also serves as a key education partner for Acre, an organization focused on increasing diversity in commercial real estate. Before returning to Marquette, Andy worked in acquisitions and investment roles with Real Capital Solutions and Prologis, where he was involved in over one. billion dollars worth of real estate transactions across the United States. He also began his career as a broker in the trenches like me with a company that many are familiar with that was Cushman and Wakefield. ⁓ has been recognized as the Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree and a NAEP developing leader. holds both his undergraduate and his MBA degrees from Marquette University and he lives in Wisconsin with his wife and three kids. the bio. ⁓

Andy Hunt: Having three kids seems to be another commonality between us touring.

Tori Nook: I know, right? And our Jesuit kind of like upper, you know, background too. So I'd like to start with ⁓ is, like, when you look back on your early life, because we're going to start beginning to end here, ⁓ what were some of the or influences that shaped

Andy Hunt: So enjoy. Thanks for busy.

Tori Nook: who you are today and what you're doing today.

Andy Hunt: You know, Tori, when we, when a student comes in and we're advising them and we're talking about classes or hopefully getting more into talking about life and what career path they should follow and things like that, I almost always ask them the same question. And that's, who, who do you know in your family or, you know, friends of your parents or things like that who works in commercial real estate? And it feels like nine times out of 10, they have a name or a couple of names that they mentioned.

Tori Nook: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: And especially in this field, I think this is really common, right? So I'm one of those. My dad is a civil engineer and he worked for a big ⁓ design and develop company that's based here in the Midwest for 25 years. And so I grew up watching him build buildings. It was not uncommon that we would be driving around. I grew up in Minneapolis. It was not uncommon driving around and he'd say, ⁓ yeah, I built that building. And you know, as a kid, how cool is

Tori Nook: That's impressive. Okay. out. It is cool.

Andy Hunt: right? Your dad is buildings. Yeah. So that's a little bit about me was I knew that pursuing engineering was not going to be for me. But I really love the idea of business. And I still remember vividly being in an all freshman class. And this is the fall is one of those classic fall days where, know, it's a little bit chilly and the leaves are on the ground and you're walking around and you're hearing the crunch, right? And

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: I remember sitting in on one of these classes where they kind of expose you to these different career paths. And that day, they were talking about this new major, this is back in 2004, called Commercial Real Estate that they were launching at Marquette. And I remember leaving that class and calling my dad and everything had clicked into place. I said, dad, I think I'm gonna major in real estate. And I have never.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: looked back from that moment. And not everybody is lucky enough to have a moment like that, right?

Tori Nook: No, you see, we don't really know what they want to do, even though they pick a major, but yeah.

Andy Hunt: Totally, yeah. So it has been, I cannot imagine a better field to be in. I love everything about our industry. I love the people. I love the relationships that you build. I know you're a really relationship driven person. I know that a lot of the people that watch your show probably are exactly the same way. It just, really drives us. And so it's really my favorite thing. And now getting to bring that into a student context, teaching and using this as a talent development pipeline.

Tori Nook: Yeah.

Andy Hunt: ⁓ It's so meaningful, right? That ability to serve and give back in that way. ⁓ And that's what drives me on a day-to-day basis, Tori, for sure.

Tori Nook: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. So I love that. it's interesting that you knew that pivotal point and then here you are. I you did go through brokerage, institutional investing, academia. Like how many years were you like in each over that span?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So really, so I spent a couple of years in brokerage. ⁓ And just just like you, it was 10 rep stuff. So the the the company was called UGL equis at the time, some people are watching might remember that company eventually acquired by Cushman Wakefield at the end of the day. But that was my first job. And I remember starting my first day was November 3 of 2008. I started off as this junior, you know, tenant rep broker in the Twin Cities.

Tori Nook: V Okay. you. Bye. Okay.

Andy Hunt: And of course, you know, the market was starting to crater at the time. It was the day before the 2008 presidential election, ⁓ which is just a wild time. And so what a time to start your career, right? ⁓ So, of course, we all have stories from things like that, right? making countless cold calls. ⁓ And some of the stories and the things that people said to me during that time were pretty wild. You have your own, right?

Tori Nook: That's a tough time to start with. Yeah. ⁓ Well, Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know you could write, you're only gonna write a book. Your first year of brokerage. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: Totally, yeah. I worked at Marquette for four years during my mid to late 20s during that time period. That's when I got my MBA for free, which was great. I worked for Prologis for about two years after that. My wife and I decided to, we're millennials, so we decided to move to Denver because we're millennials. ⁓ So we were out there for a couple of years. I also had a short stint working for a high net worth family office based in there doing financial analyst work. And then we had our first daughter and decided to move close to home because

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: we're millennials, right? So, right, exactly. And that's when I kind of came back to Marquette, but in this leadership role leading what was then the Center for Real Estate and then as of two years ago, the Vieth Institute for Real Estate Leadership, which was launched with an incredible $10 million gift from Perry and Sheila Vieth, an amazing family who is so dedicated to student success that it would just inspire the heck out of you and give you chills if we had time to get into that story.

Tori Nook: Yeah, yeah, it's so much easier. Mm-hmm. Okay, maybe we could get into it later.

Andy Hunt: But yeah, it's been a really, really fun path. A path filled with stories that I can share from other people that have inspired me as well.

Tori Nook: Yeah, for sure. mean, so it sounds like, you know, you took this leap of, in a way like a leap of faith into education and what's nice is like you have like a real, isn't there's a lot of things people talk about professors, it's kind of like politicians, like they never really ran, most of them never really run a business and I think even a lot of professors have just taught their whole life but you actually were in, you got a really nice diverse resume really, in all the different commercial real estate sectors you were in so you can really understand what your

Andy Hunt: Amen.

Tori Nook: bringing forth to the school, the students, ⁓ with your background, because you've been there. ⁓ I mean, you worked in over a billion dollars of transactions at a younger age in your 20s, your 30s. ⁓ What did that even teach you about even decision making under pressure? What were the biggest things? Because doing deals is an adrenaline rush, too.

Andy Hunt: Totally.

Tori Nook: What did you get out of that experience to bring into this school? Because I don't think kids really understand until maybe they're interning what the real world's really like in real estate.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, I agree. you know, start with that student perspective, by the way, and then kind of bring it back. Students are trying to figure out the world and trying to figure out what they don't know. And that's a big process. And you know, the best real estate programs that I really admire nationally, they kind of all play it the same way, which is we try to get our students out into the real world as much as possible. That's why things like taking

Tori Nook: Yeah. Great. I like that.

Andy Hunt: take 10 students every year to ICSC, know, guys like Mark Sims are running around with some of them and letting them sit in our meetings and giving them career advice. And that's where, when we think back, all of us, when we think back to our time in college, it was some of those experiences that were truly life-changing. It wasn't necessarily one particular class or one moment in a class, but you're never going to forget sitting on the side of a deal between a broker and a developer in Las Vegas.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. way. Right. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: you know, for a transaction in suburban Cleveland and you're like, hey, that sounds like a really fun deal. I didn't even realize these were the two sides, you know, that it would come to a negotiated table and you just never forget those experiences, you know what I mean?

Tori Nook: way. rate. love that their school pushes that because that's what I mean, that's why I'm sitting here doing what I'm doing is because John Carroll's Business School also really pushed internships and getting real world experience and you guys even take it a step further, taking them to conferences, which is huge and having mentors even go with them because ICSC just to give them a plug. I they do give discounts to students and it is is worth the money. I mean, that is just like a mini internship for two days within itself to be mentored by someone there and just be with all these like

Andy Hunt: Yes.

Tori Nook: high rollers deal makers and big time decision makers and just even see the lingo, how they talk. Cause there's a whole psychology behind it too. And, and getting things done, right. And getting deals done. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Andy Hunt: Amen. I think we all remember that time, right? By the way, God bless John Carroll, Marquette, these good old Jesuit schools. I mean, we talk about, I just have to say, Tori, we talk about servant leadership all the time here. It's not just something we say. I mean, it's something you live, right? And I know that's something that you live by as well. I know you're a servant leader. So I just had to throw that out there, you know?

Tori Nook: Right. Yeah. Right. You it day to day. Right. No, but it's hugely important, I think, for a school and a business to be a servant leader. And I praise anyone who even knows that word because I really only, you know, I don't come across to any people who really follow it.

Andy Hunt: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, well, we came, we kind of put that into our value statement years ago as we were building up the Institute and saying that we really believe that servant leadership is the only way to lead. And I remember having someone, a leader in our city here in Milwaukee come to me and say, well, I don't think that's the only way to lead. And I took this person through the thought process behind that, which is...

Tori Nook: ⁓ nice. Okay.

Andy Hunt: Listen, if you are leading in a way where you're serving others, what you're really doing is you're helping to maximize them on an everyday basis. Even if they work for you, in a lot of ways, by serving them, you are helping your entire company. And creating that kind of culture where you're serving them leads to them serving others as well. That turns into what I believe is the closest thing to a really fulfilling life that I can imagine. Certainly when you bring in the opportunity to mentor students involved in things like that.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Right. for you. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: whatever university that is closest to you're at anywhere in the country, the level of meaning there and the level of paying it forward and serving others, I think that's the best kind of life, Tory. I know that's a lot for you as well, because you give quite a bit yourself.

Tori Nook: Totally. Yeah. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. And so to me, know, technically the Vita Institute isn't just, you know, traditional education. Like you're changing it by even putting it in, you know, writing that you're being a servant leader, but what other things are you trying to change? You know, what else have you put into like, what's not really technically traditional education at a university?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, you know, I'm gonna go at this from the angle of higher education is really changing a lot. We all know it, we read about it. And I think the value proposition is being redefined as well. And what you're gonna notice ⁓ on a national basis is there are schools that kind of understand some of this and are adjusting, and there are schools that are really adhering to a little bit more of your kind of classic model. ⁓ We really believe that number one,

Tori Nook: Okay. Yeah. Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: ⁓ Your ability to connect with industry is super important. So universities are going to be winners when they lean in on the relationships with corporations. And by the way, I believe vice versa is true as well. You may or may not have heard of this concept of the demographic cliff in this country. And ⁓ for those that aren't familiar with this, so what happened was in 2008,

Tori Nook: Yeah, huge. Yeah, you can explain it.

Andy Hunt: And right around that, as we got into the great recession, the great financial crisis, people had to make really hard decisions about what they would do ⁓ to impact their own situation financially. If you were kind of of childbearing age at that time, you had to decide, am I going to bring a child into the world right now knowing that it's really challenging?

Tori Nook: Yeah. Right.

Andy Hunt: And so for about five years between 2008 to 2013, as many as 1 million fewer babies were born per year during that stretch. And that may not sound like a lot, but in the college going age nationally in this country, that makes a really big dent. so fast forward 18 years, those babies that were born in 2008 are turning 18 in 2026. And they are starting to make decisions about whether or not they want to go to college.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right.

Andy Hunt: And if they do, where do they want to go? And overall, there are fewer of those that exist nationally that are making those choices. And so what that means is that a lot of schools have to make hard decisions about if we're having fewer students go to college, what does that mean for our tuition base? What does that mean for our ability to pay our bills, to keep our doors open? it's like anything, the schools at the very top almost aren't feeling this at all. And you have another, let's call it,

Tori Nook: Right. Right.

Andy Hunt: 100 schools that are really close to that top, 4000 by the way, there's 4000 colleges and universities, but that X100, they're gonna feel the effects, but they're probably gonna find as well. And then beyond that, it can get a little bit scary. so, Marquette is certainly kind of in that right, kind of below that really, really top tier. So we're feeling it, but we're also adjusting. And so getting closer to corporations so that we can help drive internship and job opportunities for our students.

Tori Nook: Right. Right. way. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: which by the way is really driven by those experiential learning opportunities that I kind of put it this way, if alums are saying to us, man, I wish I had that back when I was in college, right? I think we've all said that in certain ways. We're probably doing our job well, right? Because you have to be constantly adjusting and adapting to that. And so, you know, I think that's the world that we're in is you got to look for those schools that are making those adjustments to really, you know, be able to justify that really high cost.

Tori Nook: Right. Yes. I agree. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: of education these days.

Tori Nook: No, agree. You've got to have a value prop ad. And you're only going to get that by getting really good internships and careers for your students.

Andy Hunt: It feels like table six at this point, right?

Tori Nook: But they also have to have the knowledge too, which that's gonna lead me into the REAP, ⁓ which is like such a unique program. What's the vision behind creating it and why is it so important right now? Let's get into that.

Andy Hunt: Oh my gosh, I love talking about REAP. So, and you did before the real estate asset program is what that stands for. We founded the real estate asset program as a, I'll simplify it. was a $2 million pledge investment fund from seven different investors back in 2021. So it's, about five years into it. And the idea behind it was if we put up this $2 million and we allocate somewhere between what's the word we'll make

Tori Nook: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: LP investments, we're not investing in rates in the stock market. These are limited partnership level investments with sponsors who are raising outside equity. Getting the students involved in that process from, you know, we bring in the deals, the students will analyze them, they will do a deep level of market analysis, and they will actually pitch these to an investment committee, which is made up of all those investors of the $2 million, by the way. Exactly, and those investors are asking

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. The seven, yes, okay.

Andy Hunt: real questions because it's their real money that's going to be invested. The students are learning exactly, but this is, know, in real time, the students are having to adjust and give answers because it matters whether or not they want to invest in this. So, you know, an example would that be, hey, I noticed that the parking ratio on this property is lower than I would expect. It feels like that's actually going to be a ⁓ detriment from an investment standpoint. How do we get beyond that?

Tori Nook: Right. Right. Right. This isn't a stock market club.

Andy Hunt: And if you don't have really good answer to that question as a 20 or 21 year old student, they might not invest in that. Again, wish I would have that when I was in school, right, Tory?

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Well, those are the things that are going to make or break a deal. Right. I mean, especially if you're whether you're working for a developer or you're working as a broker, is your client going to buy that deal? Is the landlord developer you're to work with going to buy that deal? If there's a parking ratio issue, if there's an environmental issue and you're teaching your students to do all that leg up research and not even just that, but present it to experts. in the real estate field who are going to pound them with the questions. And that's the thing is then they'll know for next time when they're analyzing an investment what they should be looking at and even how to do a presentation because this business and brokerage and development that's all you're doing is presentations. Right. ⁓

Andy Hunt: Not that I think we'll go down the AI route, but you know, a lot of us are thinking about this. When you think about this new world that we're in where AI is such a huge tool and you worry about things like, is my analyst just putting this into AI and spitting out an answer and doesn't understand it? This is kind of the antithesis of some of this stuff. If you're going to ICSC and you're sitting at that table with two people negotiating a deal, that's not AI. You are really learning that. If you are

Tori Nook: Who is this talk about that? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: to an investment committee and you know there's about 10 questions behind what they may be able to ask, but you need to know the answers to all of them. You can't just rely on AI. It's this experiential learning that actually drives more of that, what I think is the modern day, what do I need to know, than just sitting back and saying, well, I could kind of maybe put this assignment prompt into ChatGPT and get an answer and move on.

Tori Nook: Right. Mm-hmm. Great.

Andy Hunt: You can't hide from that and experiential learning opportunities that a lot of schools like Marquette are really leaning into nationally. And REAP is like a cornerstone of that. By the way, there's like 20 investment programs that are doing this nationally. I need to give a shout out to a couple of them. University of North Carolina has been doing this for a really long time. I love the work that they're doing. My colleague, Bill Inova, started an undergraduate, more club-based, it's not in the classroom, but they're doing a really great job.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Okay. Great.

Andy Hunt: I've got some colleagues at places like Florida State that are doing this, maybe a little bit more on the REIT side, but man, you get the macro view of what's going on in real estate sectors from that. Really admire a lot of these. And then places like the University of Colorado are starting new investment programs because we realize collectively, as my peer said, that this is the future of higher education. And I say that and you're like, oh yeah, that makes sense, right, Tori?

Tori Nook: Okay. Right. Right. I like the term, you know, the experiential learning because I think that's what parents are even scared about with their kids, like that they are not, you know, they're so into social media, not talking as much, texting. And you do have to learn to socialize and your school is, you know, in this program, it's not forcing, but it's part of the curriculum is you have to talk to real people, whether they're the seven people with the you know, funding your program funding this or at an ICSC. And those are skills you can't learn in a classroom. People skills.

Andy Hunt: No, no. Can I give you one example of this, which is kind of fun? You, and you know what, Tori, you're gonna laugh because you're like, ⁓ we take this for granted. One of the things that we, early on, that the students were learning during, during REAP was how much our investors focused on the quality of the sponsor in the deal. And you go, if you think about it, the quality of the sponsor,

Tori Nook: sure.

Andy Hunt: doesn't find its way into multiple chapters with any sort of real estate textbook. But it is everything in our relationship driven business. these little, this is what I love too. We're kind of turning students into deal junkies. Like they just can't wait for that new deal. And by the way, it's not uncommon for our, Vito Tapphorn is the director of our real estate asset program. Vito, two weeks ago, as an example, about five, 10 minutes before class.

Tori Nook: No. It is. Right. Right.

Andy Hunt: He got a new deal and he said, throwing out what we're doing in class today, brought the deal to class and said, okay, analyze, go. And that's what they spent, how much more real world can you get?

Tori Nook: Yeah. It's so exciting, but it's so exciting. Like it doesn't make school a drag when you're really being interactive in real world decisions with real money. Right? Like how fun is that?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, and the students start to react to that because they go, okay, you know the investment committee They keep asking about the sponsor now their first questions are alright Who's the sponsor and what is their track record and you know, type of experience do they have specifically? How many lessons come out of that right?

Tori Nook: Right. ⁓ if I only had learned that, I mean, my worst investment is, yeah, I mean, as a young, naive person, right? I actually just did a post about that, actually. ⁓ I mean, what you're teaching your students, like to get in the nitty gritty background of

Andy Hunt: No way, what was it about?

Tori Nook: whether you want to say sponsor, the GP who you're investing with was what mine was based off, especially if you're going to be an LP. ⁓ know, how do they how are they, you know, are they honest people, they have high integrity levels, are they communicating, are they sending quarterly reports? Do you because anyone could put in an operating agreement what they want, but are they really ⁓ letting their books be open? You know, I've had that happen to where you just don't get any numbers.

Andy Hunt: Yeah. Yeah.

Tori Nook: I mean, but the thing is, it's like anything. mean, it's like just like buying a, know, say you're a less see at a shopping center and go talk to all the tenants or at that office building, see what the landlord's really like. You know, what's coming, what's going on top down? Who is running the show, right? And what is their integrity level? Because if they have a low integrity level and are dishonest, cheap, lazy, not keeping up with things, like you don't want to be an investor with them, nor do you want to sit and go lease. a property from them either.

Andy Hunt: Totally. these are, that's the funny part, you know, that what we love about the real estate business is, you know, it's, as they say, it's not rocket surgery. So I think these are kind of those lessons that the experiential aspect, when you have an academic program that says, yes, we care about what's inside the classroom, but we want to get you out of the classroom as much as possible. That's where it really starts to shine. Cause we ultimately, these are things that we take for granted, but if the more you can learn these earlier, the better.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Yes. Mm-hmm. It's invaluable. It's invaluable. Right.

Andy Hunt: know, God bless professionals that lead. Right. It's invaluable. Yeah. So it's a lot of fun to do this kind of stuff or as you can imagine.

Tori Nook: ⁓ I love it. I love it. Let's talk more and dive into Acre and ⁓ why is that your personal mission?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, I'm so proud of ACRE. It stands for the Associates in Commercial Real Estate Program. so ACRE was founded back in 2004 here at Marquette University as an outside of the classroom, really adult based, I call it like executive training program. And so it's a 24 to 26 weeks, once a week for three hours at night, where all 100 % historically has been 100 % men and women of color, mainly from Southeast Wisconsin, have come and learned about real estate investment, development and management.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay.

Andy Hunt: And so what I say is, I love the saying, this is not a BLN doll for learning real estate. We all know you came to one class and now I'm gonna go be a real estate developer. So I always joke, I joke, but I'm serious about it with a student. If you want to be kind of a successful developer, you need to know A through Z for the deal, right? This class at most is gonna give you parts A through E. And then, know,

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. but it's a good taste. Right. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: steps like F through S, you're gonna get exposure to, but you're not gonna learn them in a way where you can maybe really truly drive them, but you'll know enough to be dangerous. And steps through Z, you will have no idea until you're out there. And so, yeah.

Tori Nook: Right. Right. Exactly. I like that you're honest about that because that's so true. There's, there's again that segment you can't just learn at school, but you're giving them a backbone.

Andy Hunt: Totally, Totally. And you know, I'm just a really big champion for what I believe is we need to have kind of a little bit more equity in terms of how we look at the world. And when we look at our cities, our cities are made up of a lot of different kinds of people that are a lot of different skin colors and come from a lot of different backgrounds. And I actually think that our city is thriving if no matter what neighborhood you live in, you understand how real estate impacts your world.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: and how driving investment in real estate could actually drive investment in your neighborhood, could drive in thriving community. And that's what's at the heart of Acre is just making sure that we are sharing those opportunities with everybody who lives here in Milwaukee, which historically has been seen as one the most segregated cities in the United States. But what better laboratory to start to deliver on results for trying to change that narrative. It's been incredible to watch the more than 350 men and women graduate from that program in

Tori Nook: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. our people. Mm-hmm. Right.

Andy Hunt: 22 years. So yeah, we're really proud of that.

Tori Nook: Wow. And how many years, how long does it take the program?

Andy Hunt: takes a full nine months to go through it, including, and it's all taught by college professors, college professors slash practitioners, of course, because that balance is so great. Real exams, three exams including a cumulative final exam, they do some case studies and site tours, and they do a final comprehensive project where they're pitching a development deal that kind of pulls all those parts together. Not to prepare them to be developers, but to put them in

Tori Nook: Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. Right. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: situation where they have to pull everything they've learned together and really network with professionals to try to get this, you know, these real experiences. It's awesome. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. So it's a blast. And by the way, that led to a summer program for high school students, mainly of color here in Milwaukee as well. ⁓ And that's a week long program where, and I didn't realize how important this would be, getting students onto a college campus and staying overnight in dorms at the high school level.

Tori Nook: That's awesome. I love it. Okay. ⁓ okay.

Andy Hunt: incredible experience for high school students. So we started that a couple years ago as well and it's been a really fun experience. This year alone by the way we had students from all over the country applying. had over 130 students apply for 20 year spots. Historically it's been more students of color but anybody can apply to this. It's been an incredible experience for the students. It's less classroom time and more

Tori Nook: And can anyone apply? Any high school? Okay. That sounds awesome.

Andy Hunt: let's do it site tours and have fun people and fun stuff at night. Like, go to a brewer's game or bowling or playing some games. But ultimately we just try to make it as fun as possible to expose students to what do career paths in commercial real estate look like and how could that matter in terms of you feeling like you're driving meaning in your life, right?

Tori Nook: Yeah. Right. When you're saying high school age, there an age limit or is it 14 through 18?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, most of the time it's juniors and seniors. ⁓ So, graduated high school or going into your senior year. I know for a fact we're admitting a couple of sophomores that are gonna be juniors next fall, even this year. ⁓ And we even have some go-getter freshmen that apply that we're like, you're awesome, come back again, apply again next year, because you're gonna be one of the first ones we look at, right? ⁓

Tori Nook: Okay. Okay. Okay, nice, okay. Seriously. Right. No, I think that's a fantastic program for a week for high school kids.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, it's a blast. So shout out to the real estate executive council and they up who've kind of started as a partnership supporting these programs back in the day. they would, know, real estate executive council, we no longer pair, you know, pair up with them each year to drive this. But we feel like we're cousin programs with some of the work that they're doing. And we love, know, the legacy that they left kind of driving this. So yeah, we're appreciative.

Tori Nook: Okay. I love that. ⁓ Speaking of legacy, when you think about legacy, is it more about the programs you've built or the people you've impacted? Both.

Andy Hunt: Oh my gosh, the people, 1000%. We kind of see the ability, and this is why we really lean into spending time with our peers at other universities, because this is gonna sound really crazy. A lot of people, I think, believe there's a lot of what I would call competition between different universities. And I think that's easy because, for example, if you think about March Madness, and we're all watching, you

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: these basketball games, got two schools going against each other and that's how we think about it. But the reality is, is that when you're talking about real estate programs like this, I love collaborating with other universities from around the country. There's so much that we can learn and there's so much that we can bring back to help support our students. And if some of the ideas that we have, we can also share out as well. So it's a give and take that makes those programs better. First of all, it's rare, less often than you would think students are looking at

Tori Nook: Right.

Andy Hunt: just real estate programs, especially undergrads, they kind of want a school first. I want a private school, maybe a great basketball program or something like that. Or no, I want a big public state school for the football games, whatever. Students kind of know what they want to get into from that standpoint. So we don't compete as much as we would think, especially when you start to get further down the road of considerations, which is like, ⁓ I think I might want to go into real estate. God bless the students that know that.

Tori Nook: great. Right. Right.

Andy Hunt: But the second part is like, if we do this well and our programs nationally share best practices, what we're really doing is we're driving unbelievable learning opportunities and growth opportunities for students all around the country. And what that means is better talent for our real estate industry. And so that's the legacy is can we all work together to drive these amazing experiences for students, which makes the commercial real estate industry better. That's honestly, we talk about those things.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. and slowly wait. kind of person.

Andy Hunt: And that's what gets us really excited. not doing that in a day to day with other programs. We focus on our students every single day. But you understand the spirit and the excitement around what that would be like and what the opportunity is in our industry.

Tori Nook: Right. ⁓ absolutely. ⁓ You know, with studying and teaching at such a high level, what are the biggest shifts that you're seeing in commercial real estate right now that you're talking about with your students?

Andy Hunt: Yeah, so I love this question. by the way, for context, I teach the real estate financial modeling course here at Marquette. I get to put my analyst hat on and tell them that I'm not, even though I've done this professional, I'm not actually as good at Excel. ⁓ Now that I know enough to know what I don't know. And so by the way, none of you are good at Excel either. ⁓ It's like lesson number one, right? But the things that we're thinking about are, so number one is AI. ⁓

Tori Nook: right. Ha! Yeah, I know. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: kind of mentioned earlier, but all students are thinking about AI and they're really, they're in this weird world where in some ways I think they're almost about if I'm using AI in school, does that mean I'm cheating? And ⁓ we're trying to get them outside of that because the reality is Tori, I see AI more like, it's not a perfect metaphor, but more like when the calculator was invented. Well, this is a tool that you can help to do your work more efficiently and more quickly. And...

Tori Nook: That's a big thing. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: You know, yes, is knowing long division a lost art? Absolutely. But I'm not sure that we really care about knowing how to do long division by hand anymore. We care about higher level work. Exactly. What does, what does using that calculator mean in terms of the output and how do we use that to analyze the situation? AI in many ways is very similar where it is a tool that's very powerful, unlike anything we've ever experienced before. But we as an institution have to find ways.

Tori Nook: some things just become obsolete. Yeah. right. Mm-hmm. Yep. Hell yeah.

Andy Hunt: not to expect that students adjust to us, but that we adjust to the real world and how AI is being used in the real world so that we can bring that back into the classroom. So that's why we actually launched last summer something called the AI in real estate lab. And I encourage anybody to think about this with a local university. the concept was we need to learn about it as a university. Companies are trying to learn about this and students want to learn about this. So what if we took

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right, right. Nice. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: for example, eight companies and eight students, and we paired them up and we had meetings every, let's call it four to six weeks where there was kind of like an accountability check of where are we on that journey and are there some projects we can start to use that are ROI based? How are we really implementing and integrating AI into our workflows to make us more efficient? And we're at a point in this technology where you can disintermediate this world with students, right? The professional world,

Tori Nook: Okay.

Andy Hunt: isn't and students are kind of near the same place. So putting them together can kind of be really fun and we have had a blast doing this and the lessons learned from that have been unbelievable and now we're using those and bringing them into the classroom which is also a lot of fun as well.

Tori Nook: Right. ⁓ I bet. Mm-hmm. Well, I'm glad. So how do you see the industry even with AI? Like, I guess you don't have a crystal ball, but I mean, how do you see it really changing our industry in five to 10 years? I'm sure students are because that's kind of going back to the students being, you know, nervous if they're cheating, where's this going? But I mean, I know my view on it. ⁓ I wonder what your view is. ⁓ My view is I think you hit the nail on the head. Is this about

Andy Hunt: So. Yeah. What's your view, Tori?

Tori Nook: everything in life's about being efficient, saving time because AI has helped all of us here save so much time with research analytics. mean, there's certain things like AI cannot do obviously, but it gives us more time to do what we need to do in business because business is time consuming. mean, you're on the phone, especially with real estate or your...

Andy Hunt: ⁓ huh.

Tori Nook: you're researching, but if you could cut that time in half, like why wouldn't you? Cause then you'll be able to do more deals or maybe you give yourself some a little bit more free time. gives you more driving time to go look at, you know, sites and areas and travel to meet people, to produce even more business. Right? Cause I mean, the whole point is let's keep this economy going here. Right? You're not being dragged down by, ⁓ you know, tedious tasks like long division that we don't need to do anymore.

Andy Hunt: Yeah.

Tori Nook: It's silly. That's not like my dad would always say. I mean, he was in international business. Like focus on what's going to make you money. Is that going to make you money? No, don't focus on it. Right. That's right.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, it's capital society. We need to figure this out. know, I shout out to your audience. Your audience may enjoy this. There's a shout out to Spencer Burton at Adventures in CRE.com and CRE Agents. He spoke to us a little while ago and he's truly an expert in this kind of emerging AI and real estate space. ⁓ And what he, he showed us a slide, ⁓ you when he was talking to my, to me and our board last year that kind of said, okay, so if you think about this as a graph, this is a good way to illustrate this.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Andy Hunt: and you kind of have the value and then like a duration. And when you think about the value of a dollar and the value of a minute, that when you are young, the value of a minute is very low. But when you are young, the value of a dollar is very high. Now, as you get older, the value of a dollar starts to decrease and the value of your time starts to increase. And I think what's funny is that technology tends to be adopted.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. break. rate. Great.

Andy Hunt: by the young much more quickly, right? It has to do with brain development and neuroplasticity and things like that. I sound like an academic, don't I? Anyway, so, and yet, those who are learning this, really to save time, because that's really what it is, you mentioned that several times, they tend to be the youngest that are in it. And so what we're really seeing, and I'm gonna go, so now I'm gonna answer your question about where do we see this going from an AI standpoint?

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. very. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: So number one, think that expectations from a talent standpoint by the industry for the AI ⁓ knowledge by students that are coming out are only going to race. So that's number one. Number two, I also think that students ability to leverage those tools so that they can then do more thinking, you know, in a higher cognitive load about what do I like. So I have all this knowledge. I have this incredible tool, my fingertips. What does that actually mean? And, know, hey, Tori, I'm your analyst.

Tori Nook: Right.

Andy Hunt: you're like, hey, I don't need you to show me the whole analysis. I need you to explain to me what you think this means. That's more valuable to you knowing that I am leveraging these tools. And so one is they need to understand these tools. I really think the industry is gonna start expecting that. And then two, that they have a lot more of an ability to then think when they deliver this. And so three, and I think this is kind of the really big one.

Tori Nook: Great. Yep.

Andy Hunt: I think that people are, you know, we're kind of in this kind of pendulum swing when you have new technologies like this. And I think the pendulum has really swung to, ⁓ it can do everything for us. And what we're starting to see is it's coming back to people saying, ⁓ wait a second, it can't do exactly what I thought. ⁓ And it's just not as intuitive or I have to take more steps than I thought. And yes, all of that is true. And so I believe that what people are starting and are going to start more and more to understand, which is what we're teaching, is

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: that you like to truly maximize AI, you actually have to do what I would call a think then act type formula. You need to spend time doing some thinking so that you can, what do you want to call it? Put it into the input or whatever, but you actually, if you won't really want to maximize it, you putting in that effort early on gives you a 10 X result later. And that's how we're teaching students for it, where we're actually showing them examples of

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. input. rate. ⁓ yes.

Andy Hunt: or doing things like having them do an assignment and then testing them right away on what they put into that assignment and the recall is not there. There's a lot of science behind this. And then showing them, now do the mental load and we're going to teach you kind of how to use some of these tools, but you're going have to learn a lot on your own and then deliver an output, which by the way is much better than you would have done without using AI. But because you kind of use some of that mental load early on,

Tori Nook: great. ⁓ yeah, I agree. Right. Wraith. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: you retain it that much better and the output is way better. And that ultimately is I know where our industry is going. Where we're just gonna start training ourselves to be better prepared to put in better inputs knowing that we're gonna get better outputs. But we're still going through that right now, learning that.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Those are great, great points. Great points. And this is just a day and age where even, I know it's always conflicting with parents even letting their kids have a cell phone. And they're conflicted about using social media. But at the end of the day, look, there's all these parental controls anyways. And it's, I think a parent in the school's responsibility to teach them what's right from wrong, right?

Andy Hunt: Right.

Tori Nook: To me, the faster you get your brain going when all these things, because just think about it, even from a marketing standpoint, marketing yourself, you know how many people are raising hundreds of millions of capital because they have learned social media and have it down to the wire from a marketing standpoint, right? I mean, to me, it's like, you can't diss what's going on ⁓ out there. But obviously using it productively.

Andy Hunt: Yeah. Yeah.

Tori Nook: You know, you've worked, you know, I was thinking about this too. I wanted to switch gears out of technology and go into, I don't know if students have so much thought about it, but do they start any conversations around like, you know, working at the office, not working? Cause right now out of COVID at this stage of the game, like a lot of offices are not filled up with people coming every day, right? What's that conversation around office space and back to work and like what's your perspective on where that's even heading? It is a concern your students for training.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, so we're big. Totally, yeah. I mean, we're big fans of just being in the office. This is actually kind of an expectation that we're setting for students is it felt like the expectation that you're only going to work in the office a few days a week. ⁓ You know, we've kind of swung back, at least within real estate. Now, I'm not saying that doesn't mean that, you know, there isn't more flexibility, but even just last week, so we spent some time. I spent some time with my peers at a conference and we had we had Ryan Neal from BizNow and Select Leaders come and speak to us.

Tori Nook: Thank Okay.

Andy Hunt: They have data on hiring trends nationally. And one of the questions that we asked Ryan was because they kind of can do a meta analysis of all the postings for all the job opportunities across the country that are on their site. Incredible data. And we said, what are you seeing in terms of companies communicating work from home policies or things like that that we should know in terms of being able to prepare and set expectations for our students? And he said,

Tori Nook: of heat. right.

Andy Hunt: It is basically gone from these postings advertising some sort of policy or three days a week or something like that. It's just gone. Now, he was quick to say, that doesn't mean that, you know, we have an incredible real estate company partner, a big national firm here in town, and I was at their offices on Monday for a meeting and they didn't have very many people in it. We said, you know, so what's going on with this? And they said, ⁓ well, Monday is one of those flex days that people can kind of work from home. ⁓ And also it's

Tori Nook: Okay. Okay. Huh.

Andy Hunt: spring break for a lot of students so there weren't a lot of people. And so that may still be kind of, you know, an internal policy, but people aren't promoting it like they used to. I think there's an expectation to be in the office and certainly with our students, we're pushing that as well. Flexibility, great. Yes, I think we're in a new world on that, but working from home a whole bunch of days of the week, you know, we're not setting that expectation at

Tori Nook: I'm get right into this row. Okay, that's very interesting to hear. was curious about that. ⁓ You know, I think the thing is, though, is as long as they have a good mentor, and even if one mentors in one day, the others in another day, I think they're still going to get good training. Because even if everyone's in the office and everyone's training them anyways, they just got to really make sure they have one mentorship.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, that's a great question. Totally. Totally, yeah. And that's why we push that though as well, being the office. It's those water cooler conversations, know, or by the coffee machine or wherever, your fridge full of sodas or whatever. Or that person who is, you you're working a little bit later and it's 5.45 and wow, they are relaxed right now and you can open up in a conversation that you wouldn't have otherwise. We've all had those special moments, haven't we, Tory?

Tori Nook: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. rave. Right, for sure. No, for sure, for sure. ⁓ How do you approach leadership differently today than you did, say, earlier in your career? You're more seasoned now, so.

Andy Hunt: Yeah, you know, my goodness. mean, I think it, you know, I think even though I went to a Jesuit university twice for degrees, I don't know that I started to see the power of servant leadership until I was in the workplace and had made mistakes with managing people, you know, and starting to recognize, wow, when I truly am thinking about what is

Tori Nook: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: what's probably good for them. Now we need to take care of our business. We need to take care of what we're working on. But when I can help create an environment for them where they're excited to come to work, they feel like I'm protecting them. If there's things coming down, they don't fully understand. And that I'm really being open and transparent at all times, much as I possibly can. It creates this environment where they feel like they can be more authentically themselves. And then ideally,

Tori Nook: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Andy Hunt: love coming to work and bring their best self to work every single day. And all of that comes back to this concept of being a servant leader. You have to think about what would be best for my people and then you know your people are gonna take care of the rest. There involves a lot of trust in that, dare I say it involves faith to do some of that stuff. But I mean, that's the thing that mistakes early in my career of saying, hey, you gotta get this done and.

Tori Nook: right. Right. for sure.

Andy Hunt: you know, kind of leaning a little bit more with an iron fist or a little bit more of the stick than the carrot. well, you start to realize like, ⁓ it just doesn't, not only does it not work as well as you want it to, it doesn't feel good when you're doing it. And it's, and it's way more fun to do it this other way. When you create an environment where you go, my favorite day of the week is when our team gets together for one hour and we talk about what we're working on and our priorities and tracking, you know, what we're doing. mean that, you know, you.

Tori Nook: No. now.

Andy Hunt: love the people you work with. How lucky are you, right?

Tori Nook: ⁓ 100%, 100%. And I mean, that's something like, may not always get that environment, getting your first job out of school. Sometimes you just need to get that first job and then you figure out where there are great environments.

Andy Hunt: Can I put on, I need to say something else about that though, Tori. Because we've done a lot of thinking about this. We've talked a lot about what kind of program we want to be. ⁓ And this idea of creating a sense of belonging community within the industry is actually really important to us. I'll give you an example of this. We've been in situations before where maybe we've been at a conference and ⁓ somebody, look, we love our university. We think we're incredible.

Tori Nook: and Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Andy Hunt: We know we're going on the right track, but also we're a smaller private D1 school in Milwaukee, and Milwaukee's not on one of the coasts. And we've had experiences before where were almost laughing, like, where's Marquette? Or what does that even mean? ⁓ Or letting ego be worn on their sleeve in a way that's unnecessary. And so we've started to share some of those stories with our students as a way to say, you can build community and belonging with people in a way where

Tori Nook: Right. Thank for sure.

Andy Hunt: it's gonna build respect and they're gonna wanna work with you. And I think that that other mindset, leadership is like this, right? But like that idea of like, I really need to find some humility and drop my ego more often. ⁓ It's almost like a constant reminder, especially, I'm sure a lot of really successful people are watching your show and that's hard sometimes when you're making the big decisions and...

Tori Nook: Right? Right. huge. . Right.

Andy Hunt: People are coming to you for the biggest challenges and you've kind of worked your way up to where you are. It's almost like reminding yourself to check yourself to say, but I'm just one person. And coming at every situation with a level of humility is actually what will continue to drive my success because people want to work with me. I don't know if you agree with that or not, Tori, but I believe.

Tori Nook: Right. Right. Mm-hmm. ⁓ 100%. I mean, I mean, that's like a twofold my to my answer is that I think I've noticed this and even in hiring people can get really lured by, ⁓ you know, the egotistical leaders. You know, it's, you know, they are persuasive, it seems appealing, and then they get there and they're like, ⁓ my gosh, like, what did I just get myself into when they get into the real reality where that's where Again, doing your due diligence on where you want to work is I would rather be with anyone I've seen that is ultra successful, has such humility. And by the way, sometimes you don't even know about them so much because they're so under the radar, not flashing some, you know, I mean, an ego is, you know, you're really being a fake, dishonest person, really. I mean, you're not really your authentic self. And people, I think more so in even the upcoming generations, they want to work with people who are real and authentic.

Andy Hunt: Yeah. Amen. I think some of the most powerful words in these conversations are like, hey, I'm wondering if you can help me.

Tori Nook: period, right? Right. Well, yeah, not everyone's going to help you. And that's when you get there and you realize when you made a mistake.

Andy Hunt: Well, totally. Yeah. But also from an ego standpoint, you know, especially as a leader to say that you're asking somebody else like for advice or help. I mean, it feels a little bit strange, but people are so open to just being treated with respect and feeling like you're coming at this, not from a place of you're trying to protect something. You're truly trying to be curious and learn. And we talk about that, you know, coming with a mindset of curiosity and wanting to learn too.

Tori Nook: Right. Right. Right. And that's the only way you're going to learn is by asking a lot of questions. And the thing is, I think for younger people, you know, it is ridiculous to be intimidated of people because somebody was in your shoes at some point. Right. Like they didn't get there by knowing everything. It's impossible. You're going to learn until you die. You're learning every day. So ask the questions early in your career, as many as you can. And

Andy Hunt: Yes, thank you.

Tori Nook: hook onto the people who are willing to teach you it as well. mean, some people are big givers, some people aren't. And, you're gonna latch onto the ones that are willing to mentor. Really, you know, happily. I ask questions all the time. I don't, I don't know everything.

Andy Hunt: Amen. Yeah. Amen. But that's what makes you so good because you're trying to work.

Tori Nook: I don't know everything about being a parent. I don't know everything about running my business. I don't know a lot about being a good wife. I mean, it's just like, there's no playbook. There's no playbook for your life. That's why you get asked questions. So yeah, I love that. And you're actually the second person I've interviewed that really talked about humility, which is a word I feel that needs to get out there more. Like not as many people under, I don't think some people even know the definition of it.

Andy Hunt: ⁓ my gosh, totally agree with you. Yep. good for all of us, right?

Tori Nook: Yeah. Well, what, you're your husband, your father of three, you know, kids are not in college. I mean, they're young. I mean, how has your family shaped your priorities as a leader and your definition of a success now? Because you change a lot when you get married, but then you really change when you have kids and you change in your business life, your personal life, etc.

Andy Hunt: Amen. Well, mean, a major shout out to my wife. mean, she's the smartest person I know. She is the most emotionally intelligent person that I know. ⁓ I am unbelievably lucky to be married to her and she makes me better every day. you know, that partnership, the first kind of true, this is forever type of partnership, the humility that comes with that, the ability to admit when you're wrong, the ability to find a common way forward when things are a challenge.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. ⁓ that's great.

Andy Hunt: And then also, by the way, to just really celebrate all the great stuff too. There's just nothing better. I know ⁓ because of incredible people like my wife that I've been able to find environments where I'm surrounded by people who challenge me, but they really care. And because we're all so united in that kind of thing, we kind of have a foundation. I feel like I founded my marriage and now I seek that in a work setting. We have a foundation that drives us forward.

Tori Nook: Right. Rape. Rape.

Andy Hunt: And it's built on trust. It's built, I mean, you could go into like Patrick Lencioni is like the five dysfunctions of a team, but it's built on things like that, trust and foundation and are we in this together and the transparency. And then you start to realize that even when things are tough, if you know you're, you know, if you're kind of connected on all those things, it's going to be okay. And my goodness, sometimes we just need to know it's going to be okay.

Tori Nook: Damn. Mm-hmm. Right. Right. a lot, right? That I'm safe. ⁓ Everything's going to work out. I know. mean, think the structure, I mean, that's a whole other topic of, you know, who you marry, too. Well, generally they teach them in school. I mean, that's a really big foundation for, you know, you moving forward in your in your career, too. I think. Have sound home life. ⁓ Empowering relationships. Yeah, to empower you to the next level.

Andy Hunt: Great. ⁓ Yeah. This is the important stuff, Tori. We need us. Yeah, we're getting into the good stuff. Totally, yeah.

Tori Nook: I have to give kudos to all the spouses out there that support each other in so many ways. I wanted to wrap this up. ⁓ For someone who's listening who wants to break into real estate, level up, what advice would you give them right now beyond learning AI?

Andy Hunt: Hmm. You know, I've been quoted recently as saying showing up is undefeated. And I really believe that. The idea that, you know, I think that the very first step to breaking into real estate ⁓ or to going even deeper in real estate is just, it truly is just showing up. And that means a lot of things in a lot of different venues. It certainly means things like, are you going to your local brokers events? Are you going to NAAP? Are you going to a conference?

Tori Nook: I love that. I love that.

Andy Hunt: But are you getting coffees with people? Are you willing to exude kind of some of those values that you and I have talked about from all this? But at the same time, are you showing up for yourself to learn skills that you need to know, whether that's financial modeling skills or really understanding how AI you can leverage that to be more valuable to kind of drive that value proposition, because you need to be able to know what is my value when I go to talk to somebody. ⁓ You just have to show up. But showing up is undefeated and being passive.

Tori Nook: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. brave.

Andy Hunt: ⁓ really didn't get very many people far. ⁓ and so we just remind our students at the end of the day, you know, go to that event, you know, go meet with, go grab that coffee meeting, go to that conference, you know, sign up for that case competition, go to that class. You never know when that class is going to be the one you just don't forget. ⁓ show up, you know, so I, I'm a big believer in that Tory. I'm sure. Yeah.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. rave. I love that because I mean we've had experiences, I mean not just my firm, I mean not even just in real estate, mean even I was talking to my accountant, I mean there's some people that don't even show up to interviews. I mean it's wild, right? Or they'll sign a contract to come work and don't show up either to come to work. ⁓ And I think the thing is is people don't realize they don't know who they're gonna maybe encounter later in life and people don't forget those things in your name.

Andy Hunt: Right, yeah, yeah, it seems simple, you know, like all really important things, it's not easy, right?

Tori Nook: Yeah, exactly. What's the final, like, if you look back, what's your final really solid piece of advice that you would give anybody out here right now?

Andy Hunt: You know, I look, I come from the education space. And so what I have found is I, my big encouragement is go get involved with the university. mean, what I've found is that some of the volunteers that we have, board members, donors, but even people who didn't go to the school, when they've leaned in the level of, ⁓ I think they almost always get more out of it than they put into it. And there's a lot of reasons why to engage with our universities, whatever university is in your town or nearby. Look, it'd be great to get to know professors and staff because that could help with getting students and interns and maybe the top talent that's coming your way. But also I've also found that when you have to teach something, you have to really know something to be able to teach it well. so spending time mentoring or guest lecturing or, you know, taking a student on a site tour.

Tori Nook: Bye! Right. ⁓ yeah, for sure. Right.

Andy Hunt: you know, it unlocks something I think in people where they understand that even those smaller acts of service make them feel so good that they recognize, I think I'd like to do more of that. And universities are such a great way to really look into that space. So for a lot of people, if you haven't thought about reaching out to local universities, sometimes they're very busy or they're in the middle of semester and they may not respond as quickly. The good ones know they can use all the help they can get because we're, you know, we're raising the generation of real estate talent every year.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Right. Right.

Andy Hunt: And every year we start again with students who we have to teach everything we taught the year before. ⁓ Having people who are willing to help pour into those students to change the face of this industry in the future, it means more than you can possibly imagine. But people get way more out of it than I think that they realize before they start getting involved. And so I'd love to leave your listeners with that.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ That's a great piece of advice, especially for any business owner to get involved with the university because everything you said, even if they went there or didn't. ⁓ Where can everyone find you?

Andy Hunt: You know, it's great about working for a university. If you Google that person's name, Andy Hunt Marquette, you easily find ⁓ my bio and email address. And I love connecting with people too. LinkedIn is great as well. So, Corey, I just can't thank you enough for for getting the chance to spend time today and loved our conversation. You are truly a talent on a national basis. And I think we're so lucky that you are sharing this, that you are serving our industry ⁓ by sharing these insights. So thank you.

Tori Nook: Mm-hmm. Perfect. ⁓ ⁓ thank you. I'm sharing it with your people. Yeah, thank you. And I really appreciate you coming on. So you have so much great insight. And it was very, to me, a powerful conversation because we're going from education to people's careers and how to build them, ⁓ not just from a total academia standpoint, but from a whole person standpoint. ⁓

Andy Hunt: Med. Yeah.

Tori Nook: It definitely should be inspiring for people and inspiring for people to know how much more advanced even the real estate programs are getting at universities such as Marquette. Like that would have been awesome if that was wrong when I went to school, right? And that so many universities are doing it, as you mentioned, there's about 20 solid ones out there that ⁓ people could look into. But I really appreciate you sharing your story, your perspective. ⁓ You your heart's really in what you do, which I love. ⁓

Andy Hunt: See? Here we are, Spain and-

Tori Nook: And I just really want to thank everyone for listening to another episode of the Tori Nook talk show, which you could catch all the episodes across all platforms, which is at full Spotify, YouTube channel at Tori Nook. It's T-O-R-I-N-O-O-K. And that's my name across every social platform. And I'd love to hear from you regarding this interview. ⁓ Make sure to click subscribe and leave a review and email me any questions at hello at torinook.com. Thanks.