From his office in Terrace at Frazier, commercial Realtor Lee Harper can look outside his window and see plenty of the very thing he puts so much effort into selling. It’s a good reminder that even in lean times, there is space out there and people who want it.
“Given what the market was like in 2009, which was our lowest point, we’re finding ourselves doing more work for less reward. The market is still testy, but we’ve weathered the storm. Lenders are starting to loosen their regulations,” he says.
This is good news for Harper’s clients, many of whom are investors from around the country.
“A big part of our business is working with investors who are looking for an alternative to the stock market. But we don’t have a specialty. We work with warehouse, office and retail spaces. In markets larger than ours, you can find brokers that specialize in certain areas, but in Chattanooga, we have to be an expert at everything,” Harper says.
Harper is using the royal “we.” As a commercial broker at Hudson Companies, which handles brokerage, development and property management, he lists to sell and lease and represents buyers and investors. Harper works under the auspices of president and owner Jim Hudson III, but is also a partner in the company’s commercial brokerage arm, Hudson Commercial.
Harper says the commercial brokerage business is “a natural fit” for him.
“I enjoy sales. I like doing the deal. And I’m partial to the professional environment. Residential real estate tends to be emotional, whereas commercial real estate has a business-oriented atmosphere,” he says.
Hudson sold residential properties for a short time in the early 2000s after transitioning to real estate from the building supply business. Then he “bumped into Jimmy” one day.
“Jimmy is a lifelong friend. We were childhood neighbors and fraternity brothers. He told me he had an opening. I was doing well at the residential end of the business, and I didn’t know much about the commercial end of the business, but I did know Jimmy and I knew about his success, so I took the step,” he says.
In the 11 years since then, Harper has earned his commercial broker license and his Certified Commercial Investment Member designation, which he likens to an accountant earning his or her CPA. “The CCIM designation is the best educational series for commercial brokers. It takes several years to earn it,” he says.
Born and reared in Chattanooga, Harper studied geology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the ‘80s in the hopes of working in the oil industry. “I had family connections in the business and even interned on three oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico one summer. The opportunities weren’t there, though, so I wound up working in the coal industry. Then the crash came, and I went into the building supply business,” he says.
Harper also married Jane, his wife of 25 years. The couple has two children: a 24-year-old son who’s in the Navy and a 19-year-old daughter who’s at Auburn. He smiles, knowing his daughter’s choice of school raises eyebrows. “We’re Tennessee fans, but she’s doing her own thing. More power to her,” he says.
Although Harper says he feels like he’s at the office more than he’s home, he does make time to serve his community and his profession. He’s a member of the North River YMCA in Hixson and will be the 2013 president of the southeast chapter of the CCIM Institute. He’s also served on the Commercial Realtors Council, which gave him a seat on the board of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors.
When Harper is able to relax, he enjoys working on his home on Signal Mountain. “We have an older home in the Walden area. It’s always requiring something,” he says.
Although Harper will readily admit the commercial brokerage business has not yet fully rebounded, the view outside his window encourages him. He slips back to using the royal “we” as he talks about the future: “It’s been an interesting 12 years. But we still see gain here. We’re in this long-term.”