Talking Business
by Emily Landes
When Sandy Skeie was first starting out as an entrepreneur, he quickly found a spot for himself on the music scene, as the Motown Records wholesale distributor for the West Coast. He made important music industry connections and met soul and rock icons like Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Bruce Springsteen. But Skeie says that, while the job was fun and glamorous, he is much more excited by his current profession: commercial real-estate broker.
The jump from music to real estate might seem like a big one for some people, but for Skeie it’s all about following the numbers. “The same way in those days you would follow the charts and you really cared about the music, now I really care about the different buildings,” he comments. “Who owns them? What’s going on with them? Where’s the upside? How are they improving the area?”
That last question is of particular interest to Skeie, who sites the Mid-Market area (where he recently brokered the sale of the Warfield Theatre) as his favorite up-and-coming locale. “It could be one of the coolest places in the United States,” Skeie exclaims, if redevelopment plans to turn the currently unsavory stretch of Market Street between the financial district and Van Ness Avenue into an arts and cultural district come to fruition. Skeie imagines a time in the not too distant future when the theaters, galleries and public transportation already in place in the area are further enhanced by mixed-use housing, retail stores and digital media studios. “There’s no reason that that should be one of the seediest parts of town,” he says. According to Skeie, there’s also no reason that redevelopment should automatically mean displacement for the lower income people that currently make the area their home. “When I say redevelopment, I don’t mean mowing the whole place down. I mean making it serve all of the citizens,” he clarifies.
Skeie believes that many buildings in the city could use some improvement, not just those in rundown areas. He loves the neighborhoods where he most often does business—North Beach, Cow Hollow, the Marina and especially Telegraph Hill, where he owns a home—but even buildings there could use some upkeep. “I want to see things improve in the city and to me housing is such an integral part. I love to see things updated in their own character,” he says. He particularly feels that upgrading a building’s bottom-floor retail space is an easy way to add value to a building, and to the neighborhood.
Upgrading the rental units themselves is also key to attracting the best tenants, says Skeie, who has noticed that the rental market in the neighborhoods where he tends to work are more amenity driven than price driven. Apartments don’t have to be up to condo-level quality, he says, but tenants still want “a cool apartment with some charm,” citing hardwood floors, well-appointed lobbies and views as being among the most desirable amenities. And, of course, higher rents translate into higher sales prices. “The apartments that haven’t upgraded are suffering, but the ones that have are able to command great prices,” he says.
These days, Skeie is facing a lot of resistance from sellers who may not have kept their buildings in tip-top shape, but are still expecting the sky-high prices and multiple offers that were commonplace last year. It’s especially difficult when sellers are looking at last year’s comps and sometimes seeing higher sales prices than they are seeing today. But at a certain point, comments Skeie, sellers have to trust that their broker is looking out for their best interest, and as long as the broker is worthy of that trust, the transaction should work out in the best way possible. “The idea of a real-estate agent being a fast-talking salesman isn’t necessarily correct,” he contends. “The most successful people are straight shooters and work 12-hour days.”
His firm belief is that real-estate agents wouldn’t exist if they didn’t add value, and that value is most obvious on occasions where there is some kind of miscommunication between the buyer and the seller. “There are a lot of areas for miscommunication,” he posits. “I like to think that people think that I facilitate the transaction.” Skeie recalls one “significant” sale where the buyer and seller had no trust for one another and it looked like the deal would never go through. But after many long months of acting as a go-between, Skeie was not only able to complete the sale, but bring the buyer and the seller to the point where they now “give each other big hugs when they see each other.”
Skeie says he doesn’t mind the long closings and heavy workload. Working late nights and weekends and dealing with frantic clients while on vacation are all parts of the job. “Yeah, I’d rather be playing golf without anyone calling me with World War III,” he admits. “But you have to accept the responsibility. You have to be accessible.”
It’s easy to make real estate a priority when it is also a “minor addiction.” Skeie says he can’t imagine a time when he won’t be somehow involved in the industry. It’s this passion that separates great brokers from the average ones, he contends. “The better brokers are knee-deep in the business. They love it. It’s like following the baseball stats. It’s a blast. But if you don’t have that feeling, I don’t think you are going to be particularly successful,” he says.
In fact, many of Skeie’s future goals involve, no surprise, owning more real estate. He has owned apartment buildings in the past and would like to do so again in the future. He also has designs on getting into industrial real estate, owning huge warehouses in or outside of San Francisco. But for now, Skeie is very content with where he is in his career. He doesn’t miss the music biz a bit, although in his limited spare time he does an online radio show on VH1.com. Just driving around town and seeing a “knock-out, gorgeous” building whose sale he was involved in gives him much more joy than selling records ever did. He is a “miniscule part” of that building’s history now, and while a song can fade away, Skeie believes well-maintained real estate is a lasting contribution to the neighborhood and the fabric of San Francisco.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Emily Landes is the managing editor of San Francisco Apartment Magazine and Rental Housing. Copyright ©2006 by San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved