Multifamily Investment

Winner:

Perky Apperson

CB Commercial Real Estate Services Group Inc.

$56.9 million

Runners Up:

Alex Nicol

Beitler Commercial Realty Services

$49.8 million

John Walsh

Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.

$43.4 million

When Perky Apperson arranged the sale of a 162-unit apartment building in the Mid-Wilshire district for $5.3 million, it was far from her biggest deal. But it told her a lot about how the market has changed.

The building had been on the market for more than two years, drawing 43 offers all below the asking price. Then, all of a sudden, five qualified buyers submitted offers at or near the asking price.

“That was a signal that the market was near recovery,” Apperson said. “While we had been anticipating it and were prepared for it, it was delightful to see it.”

Apartment values are dependent on several factors rental rates, interest rates and vacancy rates, among others. Since those factors are changing constantly in a recovering market, determining fair market can be difficult.

Apperson’s specialty is spotting recovery trends in other rental markets around the country and anticipating the trends in Southern California.

“We need to anticipate where values and rents are going,” said Apperson, first vice president at CB Commercial Real Estate Services Group Inc. “It was a changing year, and my partner Sean Deasy and I were prepared for that change. California is following a pattern of the rest of the country.”

Apperson said she couldn’t analyze the value of a property in 1997 based on sales because the market was rising. Instead, she had to research the rate at which other rental housing markets around the country recovered, as well as trends in the office and industrial markets in Southern California.

“It took a lot of time,” Apperson said. “Anyone who is buying in a rising market has to have a lot of confidence in your research.”

Several investors did place their confidence in Apperson during 1997. She brokered 15 multifamily property transactions in L.A. County during the year, involving 1.5 million square feet of building space and 1,744 apartment units.

Her biggest deal was the sale of a 750-unit Burbank apartment building. The Lakeside Apartments at 401 Pass Road was sold to Bay Apartment Communities for about $50.3 million. Apperson represented both the buyer and the seller, Anchor Pacifica.

She also served as a consultant on a $21 million deal in which a 351-unit apartment building in Hacienda Heights was purchased by Bay Apartment Communities. The seller was Elkor Realty.

Colleagues familiar with Apperson say her strengths are product knowledge and ability to anticipate trends as well as transaction obstacles.

“She keeps transactions moving forward,” said Jim Hopper, president of Asset Management Consultants Inc., who worked with Apperson in his previous capacity as senior vice president of the multifamily and commercial REO department at Western Federal Savings. Apperson was one of the primary brokers Hopper used to handle sales of income properties the lender had taken back through foreclosure. “She gets both sides to the table to reach a resolution that works for everybody,” he said.

Apperson said she has been successful by putting clients’ needs first. “It’s very short sighted to look at deals as a commission,” she said. “The commission will fall into place if you treat the clients well.”

Rachel Reynolds