Steve and Karen Heiferman

Born and bred in New York City, the land of highrise living, Steve Heiferman has never understood the attraction of expansive yards, mowing the grass on a Sunday afternoon, and tending to the flower garden. In Steve’s world, things like doormen who know you by name, elevators that whisk you up to the 28th floor, and 24-hour concierge service are the norm.

When he moved across country to settle in California more than three decades ago and left is career in hospital administration to pursue real estate, Steve was reluctant to follow his colleagues on the single-family home sales bandwagon.

“Having grown up in a 28-story apartment in New York City, the only kind of living I knew was high-rise living,” he says.

Luxury Condominiums, still a new concept in Los Angeles at that time, got Steve’s attention. Though some agents were dabbling in selling them, no one was stepping up to claim that market niche as their specialty. Looking for something that would set himself apart from the competition, Steve became a strong advocate of this niche market and was the first real estate broker in Los Angeles to view luxury condominiums as vertical communities.

A few years later, his wife Karen, who excelled at on-site sales, joined him and together they became known as the luxury condominium specialists selling to date over $450 million in luxury condominiums, including 22 penthouses, along the Wilshire Corridor, in Century City and in Beverly Hills. In fact, the Heifermans are such experts in their niche that developers and architects of new projects or even remodels seek their opinion on what today’s condo buyers want in this marketplace. In essence, they’ve become the go-to people to those who design and market these properties.

"Each building is its own city."

Becoming experts didn’t happen overnight. The Heifermans researched all aspects of every high-rise on the Wilshire Corridor. Years went into discovering what each condo was all about, uncovering each one’s distinct personality, and understanding each one’s floor plans and amenity package.

“Each building is its own city,” says Karen, who moved to New York City from Long Island after college before eventually relocating to California. “We can tell you which building has the best pool, which one is managed best, which one has the best front desk.”

Together, Steve and Karen make a great team. Steve is the numbers guy and Karen is more the people person. The combination works well especially considering that over the years the profile of a luxury condo buyer has evolved.

What used to be primarily empty-nesters in their 60s and 70s has since expanded to include everyone from young professionals in their mid-20s to folks well into their 80s and 90s. Younger people, not families mind you, are buying into the concept of high-rise living mostly for the convenience, service and amenities.

To understand what each client wants in their vertical community, Steve and Karen ask very pointed questions. Actually, they want the client to describe their perfect living situation as if they were designing a unit or even a neighborhood they wanted to live in.

Questions like “what’s important to you in the floor plan, how important is the view, what amenities are an absolute must are just a sampling of what they ask.” Based on a client’s criteria, Steve and Karen narrow down the search to the best available matches from the existing inventory of Luxury Condominiums currently on the market.

“It can be a very confusing exercise in going through each building,” Steve explains. “We try and make this as pleasurable and pain-free as possible. We only show those buildings and units that come close to meeting those criteria.”

The Heifermans have done this long enough now to know every vertical community well enough and anticipate continue doing so for many more years to come. Though their free time is limited to an occasional golf game for Steve and painting classes for Karen, they enjoy helping people of all ages discover the benefits of high-rise living.

"We try and make this as pleasurable and pain-free as possible."

To find out more about Steve and Karen Heiferman, the Luxury Condominium Specialists,
call (310) 858-5403 or email steve@condospecialist.com.

 

© Copyright 2012 Steve Heiferman