Albert Mayer, senior vice president and regional sales manager of Fred Sands Realtors, never planned on a career in real estate.
The Mayer family has been in the real estate business since 1886, but Mayer had intended to go into teaching. He changed his mind after working in the family’s Cincinnati office. He found that he loved the work, and eventually bought Theodore Mayer & Bro. Inc. from his family.
After running the office for 30 years, he was recruited by Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, where he served as vice president from 1992 to 1997 before leaving to go into business for himself as a consultant. He was recently hired by Fred Sands to oversee its sales offices on the Westside.
As the residential real estate market in L.A. booms, Mayer has a number of plans for growing the offices and making them more efficient.
“I want to better integrate technology so that salespeople can be more productive,” Mayer said. “So far, technology has been an addition, not a tool, to increase productivity and effectiveness. I think we can use databases for prospecting and tracking customer satisfaction.”
The latter is a main goal for Mayer. “Studies have shown that people move once every 10 years, but in urban areas, it’s even more often,” he said. “It’s important to stay in touch with our clients. In the past, we’d sell to a client and then, too often, forget about them.”
In addition to his position at Fred Sands, Mayer teaches and serves as a consultant. He was one of the founders of the certified real estate broker management and certified residential specialist designations, which seek to increase professionalism among Realtors. He wrote most of the courses for the CRB program.
Mayer has won several distinctions and awards after working more than 35 years in the real estate industry. He serves on many committees for the National Association of Realtors and is past president and chairman of the Realtors National Marketing Institute. He has also spoken in all 50 states and seven foreign countries.
“I’ve been a keynote speaker at many conventions, and I’ve done consulting work with companies in the United States, Europe, and South Africa,” he said. “That’s given me a broad education in what’s going on in the real estate market as a whole.”
Alexa Apallas
