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Executive in the Spotlight: Realtor to the bars Terri Ann Sokoloff says there's much more to it than it seems Sunday, June 13, 1999 By Teresa F. Lindeman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Terri Ann Sokoloff has lots of good stories about the bar and restaurant business. There were the guys who bought a bar and convinced their mother to quit her job so she could work there. A month later, they fired her.
How about the topless joint where the owner was proud to discuss the special recipe of mud he'd developed that wouldn't stick to the wrong body parts?
Remember that South Side place? When the owner got an offer to buy within 24 hours of listing the business, he decided to ask for more money. And ended up with less.
"What am I going to do? Use this material for a sitcom later in life?" said Sokoloff, laughing as she describes the rough-and-ready world of bars and restaurants, where she works as a real estate broker.
As president of Ross-based Specialty Real Estate Ltd., otherwise known as Specialty Tavern & Restaurant Brokers, Sokoloff has spent the past decade helping clients buy and sell hundreds of properties all over Allegheny County. She's worked with the owners of Primanti Brothers, Cafe Giovanni, Le Mont and Viaggio as well as many places known only to the neighborhood regulars.
She's learned to separate the unrealistic dreamers from the ones who know they'll need hard cash, business acumen and a certain skill with handling tipsy clients to survive.
This wasn't the career she had mapped out. To be honest, she didn't really have a plan. As a student at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s, she studied anything she was interested in, from psychology to scuba.
When it came to supporting herself, she figured she'd end up in sales.
"I had a system of selling my books," Sokoloff recalled. She'd hang out in the college book store and when people looked at new copies of the books she was selling, she'd hand them her card.
"I was really good at looking for the opportunity," she said.
Out of school, Sokoloff took a job selling tennis equipment, even though she didn't actually play the game. She eventually moved on to selling advertisements in the Donnelley Directory, but she didn't really like working for somebody else.
Meanwhile, she married Ned A. Sokoloff, who had ambitions of his own. A month after the wedding, he quit his job and launched a home-based business making loans to taverns and restaurants. The industry's turnover is so great, traditional banks often hesitate to take the risk.
Ned Sokoloff saw an opportunity. His new bride was excited, but nervous.
As the business began to grow, even moving into new office space, the couple decided to bring in Terri and her sales skills.
It quickly became obvious she would need to get a real estate broker's license. Terri Sokoloff remembers taking some clients to see a place on Penn Avenue in Bloomfield. "I just wanted to show the spot." They wanted to buy it immediately.
She managed to muddle through by collecting as much information as possible. And she was hooked. "I said, 'Wow, this is easy.' "
The years since have taught her differently. The normal deal takes long hours of researching the market. The average property sells in about six months.
Bar and restaurant owners often demand secrecy when they list their properties, so Sokoloff and her four salespeople can't just hang out a for-sale sign. Potential buyers have to sign confidentiality agreements.
Often there are complications in figuring out if the owners have the right to sell (Remember that long-lost buddy whose name is still on the liquor license?) and if the buyers have saved up enough money to make the deal work. Then there are the people who just want to kick a few tires and see what's out there, which isn't helpful to brokers who work on commission.
"You have to be able to read someone," Sokoloff said.
Many of her clients may want to remain anonymous, but Sokoloff has made a name for herself since choosing her unusual real estate career. In 1994, she was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors the Realtors Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh.
Her profile rose again last year when she decided to put her college communications courses to use and founded Specialty Media Services, which provides public relations help. That was her role when Banana Joe's opened in the Strip last fall to big crowds and TV crews.
Sokoloff said the best part of her job is being able to take someone's concept and help turn it into reality. Beyond finding the right location, that might mean helping them recruit a manager or find the right equipment.
Her goal now is to get involved in more of those interesting projects. The couple might even try investing in a few.
Sokoloff has no illusions that she'd want to actually run a bar or restaurant on her own. She's well aware of the long hours and the high burnout rate. Besides, "I'm a horrible cook."
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Age: 35