by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Confident, self-assured and bold.
Those three words are the embodiment of the commercial real estate woman of today.
Yes, commercial real estate is a competitive field and the men clearly outnumber the woman. But, in the past 10 years or so, more and more women have joined the field because commercial real estate offers what they want – a flexible schedule and a business-like environment.
People like Kate Clifford of Strategic Sites Clifford Commercial, Rhetta Nussbaum of Grubb & Ellis/Phoenix Realty and Fran Pepis of Colliers Dickinson have paved the way for future generations to make women a more prominent fixture in a male-dominated field.
Lynn Johnson opened her own commercial real estate company, Johnson Enterprises, about three years ago. But, she has been in the real estate business for over two decades.
“I think things have really progressed as far as being a woman in commercial real estate,” said Johnson. “I think that now there are more and more women who are getting into the commercial end of the industry, so those of us who came before have kind of paved the way for the next generation.”
Clifford has been in commercial real estate for 13 years, was the first woman president of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and has owned her own company for three and a half years.
“This is a wonderful field for women specifically because, although it is never part-time, it has flexible hours. Last night I was here until 7 p.m., but this morning I didn’t come in until 11:30 a.m. because I was playing tennis,” she said.
Like any career, your performance is what matters, not necessarily your gender.
“It is a job that you can be as successful as you choose to be,” said Clifford. “It’s a matter of how hard you work and how smart you work. To a certain extent, I think one of the hard things is finding a direction to focus on because it is such a huge field. You can be as successful as you can be creative.”
Traci Jenks, a senior associate of CB Richard Ellis, has been in commercial real estate 15 years. She’s been with her current company for five and a half years and specializes in leasing and sales of office properties.
“More women have entered the field over the last 10 years,” said Jenks. “I think this is primarily due to the flexible schedule that commercial real estate offers women.”
Heather Prediletto has been in commercial real estate for four and a half years, specializing in office building sales and leasing.
“The industry is still male-dominated but the cracks in the glass ceiling are getting wider as more and more women work their way up to executive levels throughout corporate America,” said Prediletto. “There are more women decision-makers and more women-owned businesses which means I work with more women who are looking for the ideal building to locate their business.”
Clifford agrees that it is still a male-dominated field, but it is how you handle yourself that will help you in the long run.
“Commercial real estate is still a male-dominated field, but being a smart, attractive woman in that field doesn’t necessarily hurt you,” said Clifford. “I think the problem is that you have to be better than your peers. To a certain extent people think, especially while you are earning your stripes, that you are not going to be good as somebody else.
“Once you are accepted into the fold, I don’t think it is an issue anymore. I think I’m fortunate that I’ve gotten there. I’ve watched Meaghan (Stetson – one of her agents) go through it. She is young, pretty and smart as a whip. It isn’t until people have dealt with you over and over that they see the persistence, brightness and energy you have to offer.”
Though women may still be outnumbered, they are very much coming into their own.
“I don’t really see any problems facing women in commercial real estate,” said Jenks. “Two of the top brokers for 2008 for CB Richard Ellis were women in New York City and they were nationally recognized. There are still more males in the field. However, I find that women are treated as equals. Sometimes it can be an advantage being a woman, due to the fact that you stand out.”
Stetson joined Strategic Sites Clifford Commercial three years ago. She specializes in leasing and sales of office properties.
“I had graduated from University of Florida and did not have a degree in real estate, but I always had an interest in real estate,” said Stetson. “Kate (Clifford) likes to bring agents on that are ‘green’, as she puts it.”
Stetson said her age and gender offered a small personal battle when she started in the business.
“On top of my being a woman, my age also made it hard,” said Stetson, “as well as the fact that I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about commercial real estate.”
It was hard for her to overcome, but with time she did and has been very successful for the past three years.
“Thankfully, she (Clifford) was very involved in the deals I did,” said Stetson. “We worked side by side and I learned a lot. You prove yourself by showing them that you are not any less because you are a woman.”
A tip that Johnson shared was that when she attends an event where there will be a lot of men in suits, she chooses to wear bright colors so she stands out in the crowd.
“I want to stick out,” said Johnson. “I was born a woman, so why not use it? I have a different style. I still have all the expertise, but with a softer approach. It’s not a contest. There is enough business for all of us that work hard.”
Stetson said Clifford’s mentoring was very valuable to her as she was learning the business. She sat in on meetings and went on tours with her boss.
“I would see how she would handle all these different situations,” she said. “From the beginning, I sat in on almost every meeting she had. I had a lot of hands-on training and I felt like that helped me out a lot. I had a great person to learn from and I continue to learn from her.”
Having mentors can really help the younger women getting into the business.
“I feel like some of the senior women brokers took me under their wing when I first started,” said Prediletto. “They really seemed to be rooting for me. Even though we work for competitive firms, we still work together on deals. My father worked with a woman who was also a close friend of the family. She was and is still an extraordinary professional. Growing up she really proved to me that a woman can have it all: the family, the career, work/life balance, etc. I still call her when I need industry advice.”
Johnson said she makes herself available to any of the new commercial agents that need advice.
“Whether they are female or male, if they have a question, they can call me up and I’ll help them,” said Johnson.
Stetson said today’s challenging market is changing the business.
“When we’d send out available property lists when I first started, there used to be three to five options and now there are 15,” said Stetson. “We are not selling anything right now. We are doing a lot of shorter term deals and no one wants to commit long term right now.”
Prediletto said today’s women commercial real estate agents are facing the same problems as men.
“As the market slows, everyone is fighting for the same deals,” said Prediletto. “Vacancies have increased significantly and there is an abundance of sublease space on the market. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female, you are going to work harder in 2009 and probably for less money.
“Our industry is cyclical and most people understand that fact before they choose this career. My father was in this industry in South Florida from the 1970’s up until 2000, so I grew up with the understanding that you are only as good as your last deal.”
Since more company decision makers are women, this has influenced commercial real estate companies to recruit women brokers.
Prediletto said she thinks the case used to be that companies hired women in the industry because they wanted a diverse staff, but not anymore.
“Now they are hiring women because they see them as valuable assets,” said Prediletto. “This is only going to continue to be the norm but on a much larger scale.”
Currently though, Prediletto faces a unique situation at her office — all her co-workers in the office are men.
“At first, I don’t think they really knew how to behave around me because they weren’t used to having a female broker in the office,” she said. “Instead of making the guys feel like they had to adapt to me, I did my best to adapt to them. Eventually they became comfortable acting like they did before I started and it was obvious that there was no reason to shift behavior in the first place. Once we got to know each other and work together, we gained a mutual respect.
“Like the female brokers at competing firms, my male co-workers were rooting for me and wanted me to succeed. Since then we have worked together on many deals.”
Rhetta Nussbaum is another female broker at her office, but she works from home.
Many women that get into the field of commercial real estate do so right out of college.
“I see the gender gap narrowing significantly and more young women entering the field after college,” said Prediletto.
Clifford even visits the local universities to speak to women to try to encourage them to join the field of commercial real estate.
“Many of the organizations I’m involved in have created a program within each of their organization for the next generation,” said Clifford. “NAIOP has ‘NAIOP Future Leaders’, International Council of Shopping Centers has the ‘Next Generation Group’ and X-Team has X-Next. They are geared toward creating programs to develop peer groups for the younger members of the organization. They create a professional and social network for those within the same 10 or 15 years of age. It’s amazing to see them interact.”
Jenks also asks students to consider commercial real estate as a career.
“I am on the board of NAIOP and spoke to a real estate class at University of North Florida,” said Jenks. “I was excited to see that there were more women in the class that were interested in a career in commercial real estate.
“Our NAIOP scholarship recipient this year is a woman, and I see the younger generation of women really embracing commercial real estate.”