Crexi's Conversation with the Chairman | May 2026

‍1. Crexi: We recently read that you’ve appeared on the cover of twenty magazines over the course of your career. Some people might look at that and assume it’s about personal branding. Is it?

Knakal: Not at all. In fact, I think people who view it that way fundamentally misunderstand what brokerage is.

This business is an information business. Always has been.

From very early in my career, I realized that the brokers who consistently produced the best outcomes for their clients were the ones closest to the flow of information in the market. The more information you have, and the faster you receive it, the more value you can create.

So the objective was never publicity for the sake of publicity. The objective was to become deeply embedded in the information ecosystem surrounding New York City real estate.

The magazine covers, interviews, quotes, podcasts, and speaking engagements are simply byproducts of participating in that ecosystem over a very long period of time.

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2. Crexi: You’ve said before that “it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.” What do you mean by that?

Knakal: People hear that phrase and sometimes think it sounds self-promotional, but it’s actually very practical. There are 176,000 investment properties in New York City, owned by over 250,000 owners. I make a lot of calls each week but I cannot call 250,000 people. I need folks to reach out to me. Being known makes the phone ring.

If more people know who you are and what you do, the probability of opportunity coming to you increases dramatically.

Think about it. If a lender hears about a borrower looking to sell, if an attorney learns a client may need advice, if an investor is searching for a specific type of property, or if a reporter is trying to understand a market trend, you want your name to come to mind.

That awareness creates conversations. Conversations create information flow. And information flow creates opportunity. Over time, those interactions compound. And the more you know, the better you can help clients achieve great results. And that is really the main objective.

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3. Crexi: Was developing relationships with reporters intentional from the beginning?

Knakal: Very intentional.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I literally kept lists of every reporter covering real estate in New York City. Whenever someone new appeared on the beat, I added them to the list. If somebody moved publications, I updated it.

I would call them, meet them for coffee, see them at events, and most importantly, try to be useful to them.

Reporters are under tremendous pressure to produce content quickly. If you can help them understand what’s happening in the market, provide context, or even help them identify trends worth writing about, they remember that.

For many years, I was quoted in the New York media over 2,000 times annually. That didn’t happen because people were doing favors for me. It happened because we became a reliable source of information. In the Massey Knakal days, we even held quarterly press conferences to feed story ideas to the press. It worked very well.

And the irony is, the visibility that came from those relationships ultimately benefited clients far more than it benefited me personally.

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4. Crexi: How does market visibility actually translate into better outcomes for clients?

Knakal: Because exposure matters.

At the end of the day, when you market a property, your objective is to create the largest possible universe of qualified buyers so you can get the highest price, on the best terms as quickly as possible. The broader and deeper your market presence is, the larger that universe becomes.

A broker with limited reach may know dozens of buyers. A broker with expansive market presence may know thousands of investors, developers, lenders, family offices, and advisors.

That difference matters.

Sometimes all it takes is one additional buyer entering a process who sees value differently than everyone else. One buyer willing to pay more. One group with a unique strategy. One investor who just raised fresh capital and needs to deploy it quickly.

That can completely change the outcome for the client. The more informed we can make a client, the better decisions they can make and that leads to extraordinary results.

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5. Crexi: So it’s not just about outbound visibility. It’s also about what flows back toward you?

Knakal:  Exactly. That’s really the key. The more people who know who you are, the more information flows toward you.

People call you with opportunities. They share market intelligence. They tell you about trends they’re seeing. They discuss financing structures, zoning ideas, partnership situations, buyer activity, capital sources. They may want to purchase something we are selling or may make an introduction to someone who knows something they will share with me that will help a client.

Sometimes a five-minute conversation changes the way you think about an asset entirely.

And many of those conversations happen because someone already knows your name or is familiar with your work.

That’s the real power of market presence.

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6. Crexi: Why do you think some people still confuse market presence with ego?

Knakal: They’re looking at the artifact instead of the objective. They see a magazine cover or a social media post and assume the goal is attention. However, attention is not the point. The point is increasing the probability of producing better outcomes for clients by increasing the probability of getting in the way of information that will help your client.

If stronger market presence helps one client identify a buyer willing to pay more, helps another uncover a strategy that increases value, or helps another connect with the right capital partner, then every bit of that effort served its purpose. Brokerage is not about publicity. It’s about results.

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7. Crexi: Platforms like Crexi have dramatically changed how information moves through the commercial real estate business. Do you think platforms like Crexi have changed the importance of market presence?

Knakal: I think they’ve amplified it.

Years ago, market presence was much more localized. Your reach was largely determined by your personal network, your phone calls, your meetings, and the people you physically interacted with in the marketplace.

Today, platforms like Crexi have expanded the speed and scale of exposure dramatically. A property can now be seen by investors across the country within minutes. Information travels faster than ever before. That’s incredibly powerful. And that why everyone at BKREA uses Crexi everyday!!