Hessam Nadji: Well, one thing to point out is that in the fourth quarter, we actually added net headcount in that many initiatives have been ongoing, to address all the factors that have led to the reduction of headcount. We don’t see those market forces changing anytime soon. Therefore, it’s a matter of our actions that are going to overcome this part of the challenges that we face. The headcount reduction on the support side, and expense reductions should not affect our ability to recruit, hire, train, and support new candidates coming into the company. Because those efforts are executed locally by our regional managers, our recruiting department and our division managers, who’ve always been very focused on it. We did not reduce expenses in that area, really strategically, because it’s such an important element for the company’s long term future.
I want to highlight again, that the success we’ve had in the last three years in attracting experienced professionals, teams, and groups, had more than made up for the revenue production gap that we’ve experienced since the pandemic, from new entrants coming into the business, that’s not to say that our plan has changed. We really believe that we need both. And we’re going to have both. But the success on the experienced hiring front has been a tailwind for us, and we continue to see success there. In fact, to your point, Blaine, about the market disruption. A lot more individuals and teams in other firms are curious about what we’re doing. And basically seeing the brand out there, especially with some of the new things we’ve done, like the auction platform, My MMI, those got a lot of attention in the industry.
So we are leveraging and had to continue to hire experienced professionals.
Blaine Heck: Okay, that’s good to hear. Thanks, Hessam. Lastly, I wanted to make — ask a more specific kind of modeling type question. And sorry, if I missed anything in your prepared remarks, but other revenue came in ahead of expectations, especially given the decline in deal activity this quarter. Can you talk about what drove that $2 million increase relative to the third quarter and how we should think about other revenue in 2023?
Steve DeGennaro: Yes, Blaine, again Steve. Other revenue primarily relates to interest income. There are a number of other factors that go into that other income/expense line item, but the primary contributor is interest income on our investments. And certainly as interest rates have ticked up and impacted our businesses, we’ve talked many times, we’re also generating more income from our investments. Again, there are other line items that that flows through there, but that’s the primary factor.
Blaine Heck: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks, guys. That’s it for me in this quarter.
Hessam Nadji: Thanks, Blaine.
Operator: And we have reached the end of the question and answer session. I’ll now turn the call back over to Hessam Nadji, for closing remarks.
Hessam Nadji: Thank you, operator. And thank you everyone for joining our call. We look forward to seeing some of you on the road and getting prepared for our next earnings call. Thank you very much.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
