After the end of his football journey, Jerry Schmidt was looking for a new path. A friend got him a job as an auto salesperson in the Bay Area, and a chance encounter with a customer changed his life.
By happenstance, a customer came to the dealership and requested that a specific car be wrapped in a bow and be ready to drive off as a gift to his wife, Schmidt recalled, telling him “I will pay whatever you’re asking, I just want it there.”
After the sale was completed, Schmidt made sure to catch the buyer before he left so he could ask him what he did for a living; Schmidt said the customer replied, “I’m a commercial real estate developer.”
I had no idea what that was, Schmidt said. I had a real estate license, never used it. I went home that night and got a phone book, and got and an interview.
Schmidt started his career in commercial real estate in the Silicon Valley area before returning to Santa Maria in the late 1980s, and it has been a passion for him ever since. While that passion has driven Pacifica Commercial Realty to become one of the largest real-estate companies on the Central Coast; some helpful advice from a former boss made the transition much easier.
When Schmidt was first hired by Beaver Free Corp. to open the Santa Maria office in 1989, he said Jerry Beaver sat him down to share some helpful advice — integrity and treating clients right was the key to doing business on the Central Coast. That was a bit of a shift, he said, from the hyper-competitive and aggressive style employed in Silicon Valley.
“Treat people right and you’ll do well, and by the grace of God we’ve done okay,” said Schmidt. Starting as a two-person operation, managed from the back of his brown Ford Taurus, Pacifica has grown to one of the largest commercial/industrial real estate agencies on the Central Coast.
Their expansion into property management services in 2000 was built out of personal experience as a property owner, and through conversation with clients.
“There was a need for commercial property management, and there was nobody around doing it. So, we started offering property management services to third-party clients and we’re now easily the largest property management company on the Central Coast,” explained Schmidt.
The recognition of the need was driven by a strong relationship with their clients, with Schmidt explaining that Pacifica is a very family oriented environment. Even before members of his family began to work with him, the business worked much like a small family, including a hefty part of their clients.
Schmidt also shared a bit of news, saying that Pacifica Commercial Realty will be moving into new offices very soon after the board recently approved the purchase of the old Hometown Buffet location near the Edwards Cinema.
The move will allow Pacifica to expand services for existing and potential clients, while also allowing for a little more elbow room for Pacifica’s employees. Schmidt explained he is currently sharing part of his office with his son-in-law, ”we’ve got good motivation to expand,” he said.
Schmidt finished the interview by saying that when he sits back and looks at his life he is grateful for how many cool, amazing and honorable people he has been blessed to be around.
“I am a small cog in a big wheel and I am just happy to be here,” Schmidt said with a smile.
