Business Management Executive Q&A
Dec 4, 2007
By: Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
With the appointment of Jerry Anderson as the new president of Irvine, Calif.-based Sperry Van Ness, the brokerage has let it be known that it intends to grow, even in the face of a dicey commercial real estate market. Anderson (pictured) has been president of the company’s National Advisor Organization since 2004. In his time at that position, the number of advisors at the organization grew from 350 to its current strength of 900.
In his new position, Anderson plans to oversee both the company’s domestic and international growth. Earlier today, Anderson spoke with CPN about how he plans to do so.
CPN: What kind of growth strategies do you envision for Sperry Van Ness?
Anderson: For most of the company’s history, we’ve focused more on investment brokerage for high-net-worth individuals--it’s been the sweet spot for Sperry Van Ness. We’re going to continue to service that client base, but we want to expand further in the institutional arena. We already have a solid institutional business, but we want to take it to the next level. About a month ago, we bought JBM Realty Advisors out of Tampa. JBM focuses only on institutional clients, and its platform is going to help us grow that side of the business. It’s a somewhat different game. Institutions need not only to buy properties, they need to sell them, which is good because we’ve always worked on the selling side. On the buy side, the way an institution underwrites a property is often different than they way an individual would.
CPN: The company will also be expanding internationally. Where?
Anderson: Surprisingly, Central America. We’re finding a tremendous amount of activity in that part of the world. We have an office in Costa Rica, for instance--we bought a group there. They wanted to be part of Sperry Van Ness because 55 percent of the investment property sales in that country, mostly land, are to Americans and Canadians. We had meetings in Dubai this week because investors in the Middle East are interested in connecting with us. We also have agents who are Chinese and Korean, working in those markets. Europe’s important to us, too, though we’re further from having a footprint there than the Middle East or the Pacific Rim. All those markets will offer important expansion opportunities for us.
CPN: How will Sperry Van Ness thrive against a backdrop of a sluggish real estate market?
Anderson: This sluggish market is really just one that’s back to normal. There are still buyers out there with a lot of money, and they still want properties. Brokers who have been in the market only five or seven years don’t know normal. In a normal market, you have to look for the real sellers, and understand what their objectives are, and also look for real buyers with real money, and you have to give them all real advice about where the market’s going. Properties aren’t going to be sold based only on cap rates anymore. Now investors are going to have to look deeper, and that’s our job, to help them do so.
By: Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
With the appointment of Jerry Anderson as the new president of Irvine, Calif.-based Sperry Van Ness, the brokerage has let it be known that it intends to grow, even in the face of a dicey commercial real estate market. Anderson (pictured) has been president of the company’s National Advisor Organization since 2004. In his time at that position, the number of advisors at the organization grew from 350 to its current strength of 900. In his new position, Anderson plans to oversee both the company’s domestic and international growth. Earlier today, Anderson spoke with CPN about how he plans to do so.
CPN: What kind of growth strategies do you envision for Sperry Van Ness?
Anderson: For most of the company’s history, we’ve focused more on investment brokerage for high-net-worth individuals--it’s been the sweet spot for Sperry Van Ness. We’re going to continue to service that client base, but we want to expand further in the institutional arena. We already have a solid institutional business, but we want to take it to the next level. About a month ago, we bought JBM Realty Advisors out of Tampa. JBM focuses only on institutional clients, and its platform is going to help us grow that side of the business. It’s a somewhat different game. Institutions need not only to buy properties, they need to sell them, which is good because we’ve always worked on the selling side. On the buy side, the way an institution underwrites a property is often different than they way an individual would.
CPN: The company will also be expanding internationally. Where?
Anderson: Surprisingly, Central America. We’re finding a tremendous amount of activity in that part of the world. We have an office in Costa Rica, for instance--we bought a group there. They wanted to be part of Sperry Van Ness because 55 percent of the investment property sales in that country, mostly land, are to Americans and Canadians. We had meetings in Dubai this week because investors in the Middle East are interested in connecting with us. We also have agents who are Chinese and Korean, working in those markets. Europe’s important to us, too, though we’re further from having a footprint there than the Middle East or the Pacific Rim. All those markets will offer important expansion opportunities for us.
CPN: How will Sperry Van Ness thrive against a backdrop of a sluggish real estate market?
Anderson: This sluggish market is really just one that’s back to normal. There are still buyers out there with a lot of money, and they still want properties. Brokers who have been in the market only five or seven years don’t know normal. In a normal market, you have to look for the real sellers, and understand what their objectives are, and also look for real buyers with real money, and you have to give them all real advice about where the market’s going. Properties aren’t going to be sold based only on cap rates anymore. Now investors are going to have to look deeper, and that’s our job, to help them do so.
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