Taking Over Arizona: A Single Mom's $20M Run In Commercial Real Estate W/ Amber Monaco

In this episode of Brick by Brick, host sits down with Amber Monaco, commercial real estate agent at The Broker Reserve, for a conversation about building a career from a standing start, and what's actually moving in Arizona commercial real estate right now. Amber never planned on real estate. She was a stay-at-home mom with an 18-month-old, pregnant with her daughter, when she suddenly found herself a single mom and had to figure out how to earn a living while staying "annoyingly around" her kids. She did her licensing school with a newborn, jumped straight into a commercial mentorship, and her very first deal was a multi-million dollar detox center with seller financing. Two and a half years later she's closed $20 million in transactions, homeschools both kids at desks next to hers, brings them to BNI meetings, and runs on what she calls the chaos model: type B, a million ideas, and a slow day is the only thing that stresses her out. She also gets into the market itself: why commercial holds up when residential doesn't, where investors are going (office, industrial, and the data center land grab), why the real constraint on Arizona isn't water but the power grid, and what she'd do with all the abandoned malls. Then, since we're in the middle of buying our own $10.5 million building, Amber walks through what to check before you sign: when the first lease expires, how to negotiate an escrow holdback, equity partners vs debt, and how you actually raise a building's value when the tenants are already paying market rent. Plus steak for breakfast, a night-owl routine of devotionals, audiobooks, crochet and archery, her advice to other single moms in business, and the private pilot's license she's working toward for missionary flights and private-island bachelorette parties. Whether you're a single parent building a business, an entrepreneur eyeing your first commercial building, or just curious where Arizona is headed, this one is full of things you can use today. Timestamps 00:00 - $20 million in deals and "we're never going to say no" 00:21 - How Amber got started in real estate 00:24 - A stay-at-home mom, suddenly a single mom 00:49 - Her dad's real estate photography business 01:00 - Licensing school with a newborn 01:10 - Abundance over scarcity in a hard season 01:26 - Resilience and a family that swooped in 02:05 - Upstate New York: sports or trouble 02:44 - Becoming a single mom was the hardest thing 03:33 - Always working: babysitting at 12, virtual assistant for an estate attorney 04:19 - Be prepared before the worst case happens 04:50 - Getting in during the craziest market 05:03 - The commercial mentorship and why commercial beats residential 05:40 - Multi-million dollar first deals and seller financing 06:48 - Her first deal was a detox center 07:19 - Ask questions and admit it's your first deal 07:38 - Fake it till you make it is her life motto 07:49 - The chaos model: type B with a million ideas 08:34 - Homeschooling with the kids' desks next to hers 08:48 - Kids at BNI and a business idea by 16 09:44 - What's happening in Arizona commercial real estate 10:04 - Office, industrial, and the data center boom 10:56 - Water isn't the concern, the power grid is 12:10 - Who's buying: new businesses, gyms, trade schools, VR 12:44 - $20 million in transactions 12:48 - What to do with abandoned malls 13:33 - Steak for breakfast and the gym every day 14:28 - Night owl: devotionals, audiobooks, crochet, archery 15:34 - Best business book: Find Your Why 16:09 - Advice for single moms running a business 17:19 - Why homeschooling is skyrocketing 18:07 - Buying the firm from Dad and the extra years together 18:31 - The Broker Reserve's goal: take over Arizona 19:25 - Buying a $10.5M building: what to check first 19:47 - When does the first lease expire? 20:40 - Negotiating an escrow holdback 21:06 - Reserves, silent partners, equity vs debt 22:31 - How to raise a building's value 23:20 - What sets The Broker Reserve apart 24:36 - "We're never going to say no" 24:55 - The next 10 years: a private pilot's license 25:44 - Missionary flights and private-island bachelorette parties 26:42 - The show's first female entrepreneur 26:50 - How to reach Amber