CARAN PROPERTIES.

Personalized attention, owner/manager perspective is recipe for success

Underneath a pile of documents, a number of picture frames, a wine glass filled with Poland Spring water, and a large calendar filled to the brim with business appointments and lunches, lays a green lacquer desk surrounded by windows with yet more picture frames of friends, family and numerous awards on the sills. Situated behind the desk is Sherry Frankel, president of Caran Properties, one of Manhattan's premier residential real estate firms, specializng in property management, getting an any start on her, phone calls and replying to client e-mails before heading out the door to her first of many meetings on this busy morning.

Frankel learned early on in her career that the key to success in the ever competitive and oftentimes frenetic real estate industry is personalized attention and delivering quality service to every building and every tenant.

"We're in this business to be the best, not the largest," said Frankel. "We do not take on properties just to add them to our portfolio, but make a living out of matching our personalities with those of particular buildings. This has been the formula for our success for over 10 years, proving that bigger is not necessarily better in an industry where personalized attention is of paramount importance."

What gives Caran Properties its edge in the marketplace is the firm's owner-manager perspective. And here is where the secret of Sherry Frankel's success begins:

Joining AFA Asset Services, a real estate investment and asset management firm, in 1979. Frankel quickly climbed the corporate ladder, learning the tricks of the trade and gaining the experience she would later use to start Caran Properties. By 1986, Frankel was leading two major AFA condo and coop conversion and renovation projects, quickly learning the ins and outs of deal-making.

"Those years were extremely formidable in the challenges presented, but they allowed me to grow as a professional," said Frankel. "Working closely with the owners, investors, contractors and attorneys, I gained a higher level of management skills and I also learned that you need a sense of humor and a lot of patience in this industry!"

Shortly after the conversion projects for AFA and less than 10 years into her real estate career, Frankel founded Caran Properties, which became the selling agent for an exclusive selection of AFAs' properties. And, since 1993, Caran Properties has managed all of AFA's New York properties. Today, Frankel remains president of Caran Properties and vice president of AFA Asset Services, together creating the ultimate owner-manager environment.

"I took my hands-on experience from AFA Asset Services and incorporated this kind of service into Caran Properties," said Frankel. "Our interest in the properties we manage is for the long term, and I have gone to great lengths to staff the company with high level real estate professionals. From our accounting department to our property management division, all Caran employees work closely together, forming one cohesive team."

Today, the firm has grown from just two employees to over a dozen, and oversees the management and leasing of 10 residential properties and one office building, with over 1,100 rental units, 18 retail spaces and 62,000 square feet of commercial space under Caran's control. Members of Caran Properties' core management team consist of Martha Goupit, managing director, Rebecca May, special projects manager, Abby Kantrowitz, director of leasing, and Mark Parnett, corporate controller.

From exterior restoration and roof replacement projects to major capital improvements and Local Law 11 requirements, Caran Properties' management team plays a vital role in adding to the quality of life for all their building residents.

"One of the first experiences that comes to mind that fully demonstrates Caran Properties' high level of customer service is a two-year project which Martha Goupit handled personally, involving an oil leak from an underground storage tank in an Upper West Side apartment," recalled Frankel.

"It was November of 1996 when I received a frantic phone call from the building superintendent concerning an oil leak seeping through the basement walls," explained Goupit. "The oil storage tank buried under the City sidewalk had sprung a leak, causing damage to the building and a possible environmental hazard."

In a matter of minutes, Goupit was on the phone to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to report the problem and get the necessary spill number to avoid future penalties. Within hours of the initial phone call, Goupit had a DEP inspector down at the spillage site and ordered a temporary 4,000-gallon replacement tank that would supply fuel to the building. Soon thereafter, the oil from the. leaking tank was siphoned out and emptied to stop any further damage. The temporary tank was then placed outside of the building and piping was run to deliver oil to the boiler.

As a result of Caran Properties' expediency, the new oil supply was on-line that same day of the reported leak. No downtime in the delivery of heat and hot water was experienced by the residents of the building the day of the leak or throughout the entire two year project. Yet Goupit's job was far from over...

What ensued over the next two years required the strict attention of Goupit, who dealt with the replacement of the temporary oil tank, which remained on the street until September 1998. The job required hiring an attorney to obtain a revocable consent form from the City, allowing the building to utilize the area underneath the sidewalk to install the new oil tank. It also inspired a comprehensive analysis of the pros and cons of oil versus gas energy.

This exercise concluded that the original plan to replace the underground oil tank might not have proved to be as efficient as converting to uninterruptible gas, which is what they inevitably did.

Soon thereafter, the above ground tank was taken away and the management firm proceeded to retrofit the existing basement boiler to burn gas while installing a backup, smaller oil tank, thus creating a dual-fuel system for the highest level of energy efficiency. Not only was the system cleaner, but it was also better for the life of the equipment.

This project is a prime example of Caran Properties' perseverance in the most trying of situations. Goupit and her team handled the environmental clean-up, the City's policies and necessary permits, the review and comprehensive analysis of the benefits of oil versus gas, and the ultimate decision to switch from oil to the dual system. This was accomplished all with the building's, the neighborhood's and the City's best interest in mind, going above and beyond a management firm's usual call of duty.

"Going beyond the expected call of duty is what Caran Properties does best," added Frankel. "We're hands-on, we're involved and we're a strong presence in the market."

With a well-developed background in coop and condo conversion, Frankel is steering her company increasingly towards this venue. In addition, she has plans to broaden the company's horizons to include third-party management and leasing, while maintaining its specialization in residential retail and commercial leasing.

Additionally, Frankel points out that large or small, all property management firms are now equipped with the same technology, reporting skills and resources.

"Now it's more about how you use the resources to service your clients, rather than not being able to compete with what the 'big boys' do. The difference lies in how a building is serviced," she said. "While most properties get lost in a super-sized management company, Caran Properties manages each building not just as another asset, but as an entire entity. Every manager forms a close relationship with each building employee, board member and, in effect, resident."

If you ask Sherry Frankel the secret to her success now, she says, "Managing every building as if it were my own -- that's what a successful owner/manager perspective is all about."