Welcome to our virtual roundtable. Seated clockwise around the table: Eric Rosekrans, senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis/Martin, who graduated from Michigan State University in 1979 and has been in the real estate business ever since; Patrick Gillespie, president and CEO of The Gillespie Group, with 15 years in the business; Bill Martin, CEO of the Michigan Association of REALTORS® (MAR); and Jim Vlahakis, principal and managing member, NAI Mid-Michigan Vlahakis Commercial, with 20 years of experience.

The topic: women in real estate.

Rosekrans says that typically women have been predominantly in the residential side of the real estate business. Certainly, almost every ad one sees for a nationwide realty company features a female agent. In the case of CB Richard Ellis/Martin, Rosekrans felt “there was a great opportunity for women in this field [commercial real estate]. We looked around and there just weren’t many women that had migrated to commercial real estate.”

Gillespie says his office is about 80 percent female. “We have an amazing group here, [and they’re involved in] property management, sales, leasing and financial management.” He says that women’s roles in his company have been steadily increasing over the past ten years or so.

Martin said that from an association perspective, “We have had a long history of leadership from our female membership.” The current national president is Pat Vredevoogd Combs from Michigan. He also says that, although women have traditionally been most interested in the residential side of the business, the MAR is seeing increasing numbers in commercial.

Vlahakis, who graduated from MSU and entered the business in ‘89, two years after his brother and partner, says that three out of the company’s 13 agents are women and that all of their support staff are women. Both groups “do a wonderful job, both in property management and in brokerage.”

All four men believe that the good-old-boy network that constituted your father’s real estate business has largely fallen by the wayside, although the commercial side of the industry is still largely populated by men. To be successful in commercial real estate, Rosekrans says that agents “need to be tough, [need to] stand up for what they believe in, hold firm and be smart in their thought process.” Of course, that applies to both women and men. Gillespie adds that women are more likely to seek out social networking opportunities, and women from his company have become engaged in Lansing’s Downtown Development Authority and are quickly becoming “more a part of the community” from a professional standpoint, something they’ve been doing in their private lives for a long time.

Martin says his association’s current board is “a healthy mix of men and women. [We] just had a female president.” And their new president-elect is a woman. “It’s a very competitive race. [They have to] go out and campaign.” 

Vlahakis said that women in his business go as far as their skills and efforts allow, and that nothing holds them back. “They find some resistance,” he says, but merit and effort pay off. He believes in general men in the business are increasingly more receptive of the growing number of women in the field. “The world is changing and I think [that’s] based on the efforts of the women.”

Rosekrans says that nowadays, the hardest part of finding good agents—male or female—is the challenging economy. “Making a living on the commercial side has historically been more challenging. Deals are fewer and further between. When you get into the commercial business, it’s going to take two to three years to build up your customer base.”

That’s during the good and so-so times, neither of which is the case in 2009. Because of this, agents with a spouse earning a steady paycheck are sometimes prime candidates for a position in commercial real estate, but even then, it’s not easy to get started.

Vlahakis said that female or male, his company looks for people who are licensed and qualified, and that they do background checks. They need people with experience. “We’re not going to teach people,” he says, and women who’ve been successful can take advantage of the quick synergy that exists among women in business of all types.

The main thing holding CB Richard Ellis/Martin back from employing more women is simple: passion. “It’s hard to find someone who has the passion to make it [in commercial] their profession,” says Rosekrans, a sentiment echoed by the others. This is especially true in a third tier market such as Lansing. It’s “a whole different commitment level,” he says. In residential, “You’re dealing with personal tastes; corporate business deals, with complicated issues and how they affect the bottom line.”

Martin says that a recent death in the association was that of a 100-year-old female real estate agent who was still active in listing and selling properties and had been in the business since 1953. He also says that the most celebrated real estate agent in their association is a 98-year-old woman who lives in Texas and is very active in the business.