Twenty-one years of institutional capital markets experience. $12 billion in career closed commercial real estate transaction volume. Founded JM Henderson CRE in 2026 to deliver institutional-caliber advisory without the institutional conflicts of interest.
Jef Henderson is the founder and principal broker of JM Henderson CRE. Over twenty-one years in institutional commercial real estate capital markets, he has personally closed transactions totaling approximately $12 billion in volume across every commercial property type — multifamily, office, R&D, industrial, retail, hospitality, medical, and data centers — and across every market cycle, capital structure, and institutional mandate type.
From 2002 to 2025 he served in senior positions at CBRE Capital Markets, where he became one of the most active institutional brokers in the Northern California market. Career closed volume includes 18,000+ multifamily units, 20M+ SF of office and R&D, and several of the largest off-market mixed-use assemblages ever executed in Silicon Valley — including 4,000+ unit downtown San Jose assemblages, 1,800-unit mixed-use sites in Santa Clara, and 860-unit mixed-use developments in Mountain View.
The decision to leave the institutional platform and build an independent firm reflects what I believe is a structural shift in how high-end commercial real estate advisory should work in 2026. Three forces drove the decision.
Conflicts of interest. Every large CRE firm now operates its own proprietary funds, lending platform, or tenant rep practice that competes for capital, attention, and information with the firm's seller clients. Independence removes those conflicts.
The institutional bench was the wrapper, not the work. The relationships I built, the underwriting discipline I developed, and the institutional buyer rolodex I assembled over two decades are all portable. The platform overhead is not.
AI inverts the headcount-to-output curve. The institutional bullpen — analysts, marketing, research support, capital markets coordinators — has historically been the source of leverage for senior producers. In 2026, AI infrastructure delivers that leverage at higher quality and faster cycle time, without the overhead. The new institutional model is producer + AI, not producer + team. JM Henderson CRE is built on that thesis.
Every JM Henderson CRE mandate runs through the same operating principles, refined across two decades of institutional execution:
Lead the deal personally. Every meeting, every offer review, every counter-strategy session is with me. No analyst handoff, no junior producer pretending to be senior.
Underwrite to defensible truth. Pricing recommendations are anchored in current submarket data, current buyer behavior, and explicit assumption documentation. Sellers should never be surprised by their own broker's pricing logic.
Run the buyer process with discipline. Targeted buyer outreach, institutional-grade marketing materials, confidential data room with audit logs, and disciplined negotiation. Throughout, the seller has full visibility into the buyer universe and the deal pipeline.
Independence is the alignment. No internal funds competing for buyer attention. No proprietary lending platform pushing financing solutions. No tenant rep practice that creates information conflicts. Every recommendation aligns with seller outcome.
Whether you're considering a disposition, exploring an acquisition, or evaluating capital formation strategy — the first call is a focused 30-minute discussion with me. No retainer. No obligation. No information moves until you decide it should.