Why I Left Lee Las Vegas - Part 3

So, just as this becoming a partner debacle was unfolding right in front of my eyes, I decided that I was no longer going to be involved with a company that allowed partners to screw the associates so much and so often.

I could go into stories from other real estate agents who worked there before, during and after me --about how the partners screwed these agents, but I think my story is enough.

Anyway, during my meeting with RH, where he was doing his best to describe his discontent for the partners NOT voting me to become one, he did say (maybe off the cuff) that some of the partners, had more say than others in the direction the office was heading.  And, the reason was they were being paid 94% of the gross total commission earned off of their deals.

WHAT?!  How does a brokerage survive if an agent is getting 94%?  (6% was to be paid to the capital investors in the office.)

I was surprised by this.  To me, top producers (maybe) got 75% or even 80% if they did lots and lots of closings in a month.  But, when he mentioned that SP and another founding partner were the ones being paid this high of a commission amount, and they were being compensated without a desk cost, I knew right then and there that the Lee Las Vegas Office partners were idiot businessmen.  (And, apparently, SP and this founder had been paid this amount for quite some time.)

I asked, "Why?"

He said it was because they were the top producers of the firm.

I was surprised.  But, then he let out a bomb shell that hit me like a nuclear blast.

He told me that ALL sign calls were sent to SP first -- so he could "qualify them."

I was shocked, "Even mine?" I asked.

He replied yes.

He explained that in order to make sure that the associates didn't let a qualified client slip through the cracks, the partners trusted SP to make sure the client was qualified to buy, sell, lease before a deal was made.

I had wondered why I wasn't getting as many calls on my signs.  Now, I knew.

AND, (a little while after my RH meeting) I talked to the receptionist and she (reluctantly) confirmed this was true.  I was so mad at this disclosure that I immediately called another Broker, who had in the past asked me to join his firm.  I immediately left Lee Las Vegas for good.

I went to work for the other firm and lasted there for only a year.  Shortly after joining there, I found out that PTB was going to join the firm, too.  He said, he had a disagreement with the partners after I left.  I know for a fact he was "let go" by the partners for commission stealing another agent who was a partner's wife!

(I always wondered why they let PTB go for doing that but NOT SP.  (I guess the wife relationship had something to do with it.)

Anyway, after PTB arrived, he asked me to work with him again.  I said no.

After being there for a year, another agent (let's call him GG) who had been at Lee Las Vegas too who left just before I did, called me and asked me to come work with him at a boutique firm that he went to.  Because of the situation with PTB at the firm, I felt it appropriate to leave and went to work at the boutique company.

There, GG and I worked for almost two years together, until the boutique broker felt I didn't earn him enough money.  That is when I started my own shop by myself.  Recently, GG joined me.

Anyway, since my departure from Lee Las Vegas, many other associates left.  A couple were promoted to partner and then they left for other firms.  Apparently, my honest approach to clients, and other brokers was being too honest for Lee Las Vegas.  I left Lee in March, 2006.

It has been almost 9 years since I left, Lee Las Vegas.  I heard last summer that they defaulted (to my knowledge) on a leased space they had occupied, moved to another small office warehouse space closer to the 'Strip.'

And all the while, (I am still trying to confirm this) SP was still getting his 94% even though the company could NOT pay it's rent.  I learned that the last of the associates left just before they quietly announced they were closing.

Lee & Associates Las Vegas office closed it doors in June, 2015.

Now I know why Lee Las Vegas filed Bankruptcy back in the early 2000's -- it was to get out of a high rent office space they were in.  The space was well located and easy for clients to get to.

Also, I now know why certain other brokers around town, that became Lee Las Vegas competition had left.

As far as I am concerned, good riddance.

Contacting David Howes is easy -- either by: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR call him at: 70 25 01 93 88 AND Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes

Why I left Lee Las Vegas - Part 2

PTB and I started off with a bang.

He had marketable listings that were (in hindsight) very good properties.

One that I marketed for him brought Konami Gaming into the fold.  I had heard through the grapevine, they were NOT happy with their current Las Vegas office they had leased; and, they were looking to not only move, but they wanted to buy an office warehouse.

After sending them brochures of various properties, I received a call from their Human Resource VP.  She said that the president wanted to meet and discuss the properties I had sent over.

The meeting went well with PTB giving a good presentation.  However, they were leaning more to buy than lease.

So, I went to work searching for a buy situation.  Nothing seemed to fit.  Anyway, after several months and some going back and forth with Konami, I ended up with a call that said the CEO for Konami Gaming out of Australia wanted to see some of the properties with me that I had sent over.

So, I met with the Corporate CEO and we drove around looking at what was available.  During this time, I got the impression that he had seen most of what I was showing him.  (The one property he hadn't seen was the listing PTB had.)

Our listing was big enough, but the owner steadfastly didn't want to sell.  So, I purposefully ended our drive on a large 12 acre lot at Bermuda and Sunset.  It is the parcel where their building now sits with a view of the McCarran International Airport.  Here I said that even though the owner of this lot didn't want to sell either, I thought we could structure an offer where in a few years, Konami could buy the building from the owner that the owner would build to suit to lease.

The CEO was impressed.  I also asked if Feng Shui would play apart in his decision. (He looked at me incongruously.  (I think I surprised him.)

He said I was the only broker that he has met that asked him that.  And, he said Yes, it would play an important part of his decision.

With this knowledge, I began to point out the Feng Shui aspects of the lot we were currently sitting on.  The CEO said he would get back to me.

PBT turned out to be very helpful in completing this build to suit for lease -- with the provision that Konami Gaming could buy the building in the future.

Anyway, during this period my mother-n-law had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and had been given "only a few months" to live.  So, PBT took over and handled the lease negotiations, etc. If not for being copied on the emails through the lease negotiation process, I think I would have never known the full extend of the progress.

I did tell PTB that I could make meetings if needed.  But, he never included me in the meetings and I felt betrayed since I had initiated the whole deal.  PTB said he just wanted me to focus on taking care of my wife's mom.  I thought this kind of him -- but it was unnecessary.

Fast forward: With this lease deal closing, I learned that the commission was going to be the largest that Lee Las Vegas had ever earned.  And, this commission qualified me to become a partner.  The entire commission was more than $1 Million.  Everyone was congratulating PTB on a deal well done.

Well, I stopped by the office about the time my Mother-n-law passed away.  It was a difficult time for my wife and I.  She had become an intricate part of our daily lives.  (She was our day care provider for our two children as well.)

As you can sense, something was about to happen to me, again.
I arrived at the office and PTB wanted to meet with me in his office.  You guessed it, PTB wanted a larger share of the commission because he had done so much work to get this to close.

My first thought was what an A--Hole!  Here I thought I could trust him when all the while he was planning on cutting me out of commission, too!

Even though, PTB had privately congratulated me for being able to "find" the client, deep inside, I was pissed.  But, I tried to let it go.  I was looking forward to being qualified to be a partner.

PTB and I agreed to split the commission 55/45 which since then, I have regretted.

Anyway, since I was up for being approved as a partner; and the partners annual meeting was within the month, I just wanted to be on the agenda.  I thought I had proved that I was worthy.

The Office Manager did ensure that I was on the agenda.  So, I waited for word of them approving me as a partner.

After the annual meeting, I sensed something was wrong.  PBT came into the office and completely avoided me.

The then back as President of Lee Las Vegas again was RH.  He came to my desk and asked to see him in his office.

He started by saying (in order to be a partner) I had to apologize to SP for accusing him of lying and stealing when RH claimed that SP said he hadn't.  I told RH that I wasn't going to apologize for telling the truth and I said SP should be apologize to me.

As you can tell, that wasn't going to happen.  He said that I needed a unanimous vote to become a partner.  I asked what the vote was.  He said 6-2.  (Another partner I had a falling out with earlier who was a jerk, right behind my back, tried to steal another client I was working with.  This partner even attempted to make me look as if I was stealing the client from him.)

Back to my story, I told RH that the office manager and I research the bylaws for the corporation for becoming a partner.  I told him there was never any mention of a vote ever having to be unanimous. It just called for a majority.

RH, then, backtracked and said it wasn't an official vote. (RH has since deceased.)

Part 3 will conclude this story.

Contacting David Howes is easy -- either by: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR call him at: 70 25 01 93 88 AND Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes

Why I left Lee Las Vegas - Part 1

From February, 1998 to March, 2006, I worked as an Associate for Lee Las Vegas.  The reason I left is one that most of the people who had left Lee Las Vegas through the years would agree with.  I just thought that giving you my reason, will give you an insider look at how NOT to run a Real Estate Brokerage.

Anyway, here is my story:

I had been working in residential real estate since first obtaining my Real Estate license in California in October of 1991.  I then earned my California Broker's license in 1993.  In 1994, I earned my Nevada Broker's license and then moved to Las Vegas in November of 1995.

From November, 1995 to February of 1998, I worked at a variety of real estate companies -- not fully satisfied with residential sales and loans.

In February, 1998, I was more than ready to move onward and upward.  It was recommended to me by a Public Relations person that I should get into Commercial Real Estate.

Initially interviewed with the managing director at the local CB Commercial (since then it has been bought and re-maned CB Richard Ellis).  I came away from that interview like they didn't want me.  The feeling I got was because I would NOT bring them enough listings for them to market.

Apparently, they only want agents who can bring potential listings to the table.  As for some one who works the telephone well and will spend hours hunting for qualified buyers, that wasn't their cup of tea -- so to speak.

So, I spoke with the PR person again, and she recommended that I talk to RH, who was at the time the President of Lee Las Vegas.  After an initial interview with RH, he introduced me to (for the sake of a potential legal hassle, I will refer to this agent as Selfish Person or SP for short) -- who at the time was the top producer for Lee Las Vegas.  Anyway, he did have many, many family members who helped him get to partner very quickly.  (Which was good for him.)

However, we eventually had a falling out because he felt that my request to split a small lease commission 50% was way too much commission for me to be paid.

Unfortunately, this small lease commission was for a small deal with Bigelow Aerospace, which due to my being okay with cold calling people, I brought to Lee Las Vegas.

You see, I had heard that Robert Bigelow -- who at the time was still a Nevada Licensed Real Estate broker -- wanted a large warehouse to house the initial work he was funding for a hotel in space concept Robert Bigelow wanted to develop.  He needed to lease a large enough warehouse for just 12 months.  My commission check was $575.00.  However, SP said that I had asked too much -- as I mentioned above.

Then, as this was going on, I had found the +/-12,000 SF warehouse which they made an offer on; it was accepted, and we entered escrow.

The purchase price was $540,000.  The procuring commission was $16,200.  And, you guessed it, SP  only wanted me to be paid $1,620 or 10% of the total commission.  It was, 'what I had earned' since I was paid more than I had earned on the leasing deal we had concluded earlier.

In the meantime, Bigelow's secretary called me and asked me if I could find Robert some land so that he could build a campus where he could actual manufacture proto-types for his hotel in space.  I did and sure enough, I had to have SP involved again.

This is where the problem started.  I let SP handle this escrow.  I don't know what I was thinking, but since he hadn't kept me informed on the earlier one, why was I letting him handle another.  This was a big mistake on my part -- which I will explain in a minute.

This time, I found them 20 acres in North Las Vegas where they could build the facilities that they needed so they could develop and test a hotel in space proto-type for orbiting earth in space.

When the time came to close, I asked SP about this and he told me that it had "fallen out of escrow."

Disappointed, I did what every good broker does and what I usually do: I called the client back.  To my surprise, I was told they did indeed close on the land.  I went back to SP and asked why he lied to me?  He said I hadn't earned enough on it to get a split of the commission.  He gave me what he thought I was owed: Nothing.

Because of this, I complained to the powers to be (Some of these people are now deceased or out of the business.)

Well, I went to the powers that be and accused SP of stealing commission, lying to me, and just wanted what he should have paid me.  (Unfortunately, the powers to be sided with SP because he was their top producer.)

Needless to say, since SP had cut me out of the commission completely.  He wanted the entire +/-$26,000 for himself.  So, I stopped working with SP completely.

At this point I almost quit Lee Las Vegas.  But, I was talked out of it by one of the powers that be. Looking back, I should have listened to my wife and mother-n-law. (They said to leave and work on my own.  I didn't need them.)

Anyway, I relented and agreed to work with the other broker because he did have some marketable listings.

(As a side note, I did end up working one other deal with SP.  If I could have, I would have cut him out of the deal except for that fact; His "cousin" owned land where the Buyer I found, Pavestone, wanted to build a batch plant.  It was zoned correctly for their use -- and SP knew that.  Fortunately, I stayed on top of that escrow and did walked away with half of the commission on this.

Anyway, after that, I began to work with PTB, who had talked me into staying and to work with him, (He eventually was voted by the partners as president because RH wanted to step down.)

PTB knew of my ability to work hard to find buyer clients and wanted me to work on some of his listings.

Part 2 will continue this story.

Contacting David Howes is easy -- either by: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR call him at: 70 25 01 93 88 AND Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes