How a commercial real estate professional went from supporting deals to becoming a broker

Christina Bachner spent the early years of her commercial real estate career making deals run smoothly, but always from behind the scenes.

She joined global commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in 2016 in a marketing role, producing presentations and overseeing marketing projects. She was promoted, but after several years — through the disruptions of COVID-19 and the arrival of her first child — she felt she had plateaued.

“I was in the background, just making sure the ship was running,” Bachner says. “I was just doing, doing, doing. And honestly, I had lost some of the joy.”

That realization was enough to push Bachner toward professional change.

In 2023, Bachner sought to expand her knowledge before moving into a brokerage role by joining John Molson Executive Centre’s Commercial Real Estate program, which came highly recommended by her colleagues and industry peers.

Learning by doing

While at JLL, Bachner learned the back end of a real estate deal, from cash flow pro formas and market conditions to buyer profile and business development targets.

The job taught her how transactions come together — but she had never built or defended her own deal or financial analysis. The JMEC program gave her that opportunity. Through courses covering valuation, development, acquisition, and more, Bachner filled knowledge gaps she’d identified while in her marketing role and deepened her understanding of how deals come together. 

Valuation and lending courses taught her to construct a pro forma from scratch and understand how lenders assess risk. Development and acquisition courses challenged her to think end to end — working through construction costs, how they align with revenue, and how changes in costs or timelines affect projected returns. Urban planning introduced zoning bylaws, approval processes, and how public consultations and relationships with stakeholders shape what ultimately gets built.

“The program helped me connect the dots between different segments of this industry,” Bachner reflects. “You don’t have to be an expert in everything. But if you understand enough, you can ask better questions and see how pieces fit together, therefore helping clients achieve their objectives. That’s extremely valuable.”

Piecing it all together

Bachner pushed herself even further in the program’s integrated project, designing a multi-phase, multi-million-dollar residential development — an area she hadn’t explored deeply in her daily role.

She built a financial model from scratch, projecting income over a decade in a waterfall cash flow and mapping construction sequencing. She also presented and defended her analysis and financial projections before a panel of industry experts, an experience that challenged her to clearly justify her decisions.

Every input was hers, and even the mistakes she made along the way taught her invaluable lessons.

“It was very complex, but I explored something beyond an investment property, which was routine at work,” she explains. “The feedback I received helped me see where my thinking was solid and where I still had room to grow. Overall, it was very well received.”

Stepping into brokerage role

Within a year of completing the program, Bachner transitioned into a brokerage role, joining a team in its early stages.

She began in landlord representation, leasing industrial properties, and bringing listings to market. Soon after, she began working in tenant representation, work she felt suited her better because it combined problem-solving with more active client interaction.

“When you work for the tenant, they have specific requirements,” Bachner notes. “You’re working constantly to help them achieve their goal and meet their objectives.”

Looking back, Bachner believes the stops and detours along the way were crucial to her growth and career development.

“It doesn’t matter that it’s never a clean straight line. At the end of the day the whole point was to learn, to shift my mindset, and to do deals,” she says.

The JMEC program helped spark that shift.

“It gave me something to be excited about and to also appreciate how I started in this business,” Bachner notes. “It reminded me that growth happens when we challenge ourselves, and I have to keep remembering to keep that going.”