Abi Reiland has joined the Sara Hopkins Real Estate Team with REMAX Precision Urban Office as president of commercial real estate as Hopkins and her team add the commercial sector to the services they offer.

Reiland, who also is owner and director of CrossFit 8035 businesses in the metro, recently joined Hopkins’ all-female team after spending four years with brokerage firm JLL.

Hopkins said the addition of Reiland also helps her team advance its mission of empowering women in the real estate sector.

While she has worked with clients looking to buy a building, Hopkins said she doesn’t have experience with commercial leases and other aspects of commercial real estate.

“It’s just a whole different world,” said Hopkins, whose team has specialized on the residential market. “I have always referred to Abi because she’s who I trust, and you need to go to the expert on things like this.”

She said bringing Reiland on “just kind of organically happened.”

“We’ve known each other for quite a while and realized that this would be a really good fit,” Hopkins said.

According to Hopkins, there are a lot of small-business owners who haven’t had the guidance to help walk them through the process of helping them find a place to lease.

“They haven’t had anybody guiding them through all the ins and outs of lease signing,” she said. “There’s a lot of legalities behind it. They need an expert guiding them through that.”

Reiland said joining Hopkins’ team was attractive at a time when there aren’t a lot of female leaders in the commercial real estate sector.

“It would have been difficult for me to make my way in some of the larger organizations because a lot of those people involved already have decades worth of experience,” she said. “In this role, it was appealing to me to grow it from the ground up and make it what we want to be. And not only that, but create an environment where when business gets large enough and we want to bring in another female that she has a different experience than what I think most women in this industry have right now.”

Reiland, who will specialize in tenant services, said she plans to serve businesses of all sizes, but can be especially helpful for small businesses where owners may lack the experience or knowledge of the commercial real estate process.

“Getting people to understand that they need representation and that getting advice from a professional that understands the market, the rates, the tenant improvement allowance, all the finite details, will help in their long-term success,” she said. “Your commercial property, whether it’s leased or owned, is one of your biggest investments.”

Reiland said she remembers  “signing some leases that maybe I shouldn’t have” when she started as a small-business owner.

“I was lucky to have someone, my former employer, guide me through that process, so I want to make sure that small-business owners of our community also have that,” she said. “That they have someone who understands, who has been on the business ownership side, who understands real estate, which is where I think I offer a unique perspective.”

Hopkins said when she purchased her office at 3720 Sixth Ave. in Des Moines’ Highland Park neighborhood, “it was a run-down, vacant building. I had no idea what I was doing.”

“Many times I didn’t know if I could finish this,” she said. “But I did. I persevered because I knew my ultimate vision was to have this. But if I had somebody who knew what they were doing to help me along the way, it would have been so much easier. I didn’t know anything about the commercial lending things, all the details that go along on the commercial side of things. It’s just very different from the residential side.”

Hopkins said her team’s mission, including the addition of commercial real estate, is to be hyperlocal.

“When you’re talking about small-business owners and people who are local here in the community, working with someone who is not with a national firm is a different experience,” she said.

Reiland said her goal is to be “impactful in Central Iowa and make a difference for women.”

“I want to focus, and the power and passion of what I do, to be in Central Iowa,” she said. “I want to bring businesses here. I want to help people here find the best buildings here. I think to make the biggest impact it’s important for me to be focused on Central Iowa.”

Hopkins said another element of her team’s mission is to empower other women, and the addition of Reiland can help her team achieve that for women in commercial real estate.

“They can call another woman who is here locally in Des Moines, and they can have that relationship, they can come to an office nearby, sit down and be guided through the whole process,” she said. “That is so in alignment with everything we do on the residential side.”

Hopkins said the goal is to grow Reiland’s team and eventually add more female commercial real estate brokers to her team.

“We’d love to have that some day,” she said. “I do have people walking into our office or just calling looking for commercial space and up to this point, I have not been able to help them with that.”

Reiland said she wants to “create a different opportunity, a different journey and a different way to do business.”

“That’s why this leap, I don’t think it was just a good fit for both of us, I think it can change things,” she said. “I hope other women looking at going into this sector look and see there are opportunities out there and see that “I don’t have to go to a big brokerage.” There are some unique, interesting things out there. Maybe scary. But good.”