30 Years, 6,500 Deals: Joe Killinger’s Start-Now Philosophy

Welcome to this episode of The Tori Nook Talk Show! In this episode, Tori sits down with Joe Killinger, a 30-year CRE veteran based in Santa Monica. Joe has been responsible for over 6,500 assets totaling $950 million in sales. He’s co-founder of Commercial Brokers International, Icon Capital Advisors, and the fastest-growing CRE affiliate network in the U.S.

Joe grew up on a farm in Wolbach, Nebraska (population 281), lost the farm during college, and moved to California with almost nothing. He started in residential, hated it, and pivoted to auctions. He and George Pino—who actually laid Joe off from their previous employer—reunited to launch their own auction business. Within 18 months, they became the #2 auction company in the Western region, selling 600-700 properties a year for Freddie Mac.

They’ve built three companies, sold off ventures, and now run a 20-agent brokerage, mortgage company, and 36-member affiliate network spanning the U.S., Canada, England, and Thailand. Joe also runs joekillinger.co—a free platform with templates, contracts, and his First 90 Days in CRE guide.

Topics covered:

• Why he doesn’t do brokerage deals anymore (and what he does instead)
• Building CRE’s fastest-growing affiliate network (36+ members globally)
• The DAM method: Desire, Ability, Means, Motivation
• Why content creation is the future standard in CRE
• The biggest mistake: using ChatGPT for content without fact-checking
• Body language: the communication skill most brokers miss
• Consistency: the boring principle that made him the most money
• Stop copying other brokers—be the smartest in your market