For this broker, it's all about tee time

By: ANDREW PETERSON - For the North County Times | Monday, July 3, 2006 2:56 PM PDT ∞

Some people talk about dream jobs. Some, like Jeff Woolson, who sells golf courses, says he actually has one.

Woolson's observation reflects the confident outlook and dynamism that's made him one of the most successful commercial real estate brokers in the country. At 43, he's the managing director at the Carlsbad and Temecula offices of real estate industry giant CB Richard Ellis.

A graduate of San Diego State University in 1985 with a telecommunications and film degree, Woolson speaks in the bright, rapid-fire cadence of the radio disc jockey he once was, 20 years ago at 91X.

When he found after graduation that a DJ's career meant a long and impoverished apprenticeship in small stations far from home, he stayed in San Diego and switched first to radio ad sales, and then to real estate brokering at CB Richard Ellis.

In 1990, with the real estate market in a brutal shakeout, Woolson said he had the good fortune to fall in love with and marry a woman whose mother was in the golf business. He found out that some of his co-workers had sold golf courses.

"And that's all I needed to hear," he said in a recent phone interview. "If they sold one, then I could sell one."

Early on, he saw a bulletin board ad another agent had put up for a golf course in Michigan.

"It was stapled in the corner (and said something like) 'Briarwood Golf Course' and it had a price, and it was crossed out in pen: 'PRICE REDUCED,' " he recalled.

"And I'm thinking, jeez, these are multimillion-dollar pieces of property. This should be marketed a little bit more professionally."

In learning how best to do this, Woolson began acquiring a highly specialized know-how that would serve him well.

"Golf courses are purchased on cash-flow and potential cash-flow," he said.

"It is in many respects a restaurant. It's also a retail location, because they sell stuff and they've got a cash register and you have shrinkage with employees stealing from you ... It's kind of like a hotel too, so if you don't use the tee times, they go. You don't use the rooms, you don't have revenue."

Woolson's capacity to master these and other issues ---- and explain them to investors ---- has brought him enormous success. Since he joined CBRE's Golf Properties Group in 1991, he's personally been involved in the sale of more than $400 million worth of properties in 11 states.

With that achievement has come the necessity of tempering the impatience and high expectations of young brokers in his employ.

"I tell these kids all the time, and they come in here and they think they're gonna make $200,000, $300,000 a year just like that," he said. "And that's not the case."

Woolson says that cultivating relationships is crucial to building a career as a broker. And that takes time.

"I have a theory that you can go 10 years up, and 10 years down for your relationships ---- meaningful relationships with guys you have something in common with, whether it's kids, music, hobbies, whatever it is," he said.

"So a 22-year old, I think he can reach up to about a 32-year-old ---- more importantly, a 32-year-old can somewhat relate to a 22-year-old. But a 22-year-old is not going to relate to a 42-year-old ---- and those men and women are the ones that are making decisions in the business world."

Building that bond is hard enough in any profession, but particularly so in golf real-estate, where the prolonged marketing process makes for infrequent sales ---- six or seven in a good year, none at all in a bad one. But the rewards are sweet for those who stick with it.

"As everybody moves up and gets older, the 30-year-old becomes the 40-year-old," said Woolson. "You've known him for five or 10 years, you've provided service to him, you've provided a value, and he trusts you ---- then he becomes a client. And then you start to make very good money."

Contact freelance writer Andrew Peterson at andrew.a.peterson@cox.net.