Dividing the territory: real estate brokers Michael Zugsmith and David Thind focus on two turfs.

Zugsmith-Thind Inc. always places last on alphabetical listings of L.A. County commercial real estate brokerages. But after just completing the most successful year since Chairman Michael Zugsmith founded his brokerage in 1979, he and his partner of the past three years are looking forward to their ascension up the success chart.

With each partner working his respective side of the Santa Monica Mountains, Zugsmith and Vice Chairman David Thind have parlayed their collective expertise into a leading player in both the Westside and San Fernando Valley brokerage arenas since they combined forces in 1991.

For that year, and again in 1992, Zugsmith-Thind's 47-broker team ranked sixth in "transaction value" among L.A. County commercial brokerages, finishing behind only the four nationwide brokerages and L.A.'s 85-year-old Seeley Co. (Transaction value refers to the aggregate value of real estate transactions brokered by a firm.)

When Zugsmith's wife, Rachel Howitt -- the firm's chief financial officer -- finishes crunching the year-end numbers, Zugsmith-Thind's 1993 transaction value will be close to $600 million, Zugsmith boasts. This would exceed the corresponding figure for 1989, the best previous year for the combined Thind and Zugsmith operations before or since the Studio City-based brokerage known as Zugsmith & Associates merged with Westwood's Thind Commercial Brokerage Co.

While the firm's continued success certainly reflects its principals' pragmatic adjustments to deteriorating market conditions, the strengthening numbers also tend to confirm the vision behind their merger.

Zugsmith & Associates, traditionally known for its founder's strong ties to Ventura Boulevard office landlords -- as the multitude of listing signs on that corridor suggests -- sought to conquer new territory with a Westside office that opened its Sawtelle Boulevard doors in the mid-1980s. As the real estate recession mounted during the early 1990s, Zugsmith saw a sound strategy in combining that operation's forces with Thind, a Westside office brokerage fixture whom Zugsmith describes as "a proven company builder who would take the Westside team to the next level."

Last year's numbers offer proof positive that the combination was the right move, Zugsmith comments. "I'm very pleased with what's happening in the Westside office," which now houses 20-some brokers in the merged firm's digs on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood.

"We are both very entrepreneurial by nature," Thind says of himself and his partner, "and the partnership serves both of us well by giving our clients the exposure they need on the entire Westside and the entire valley."

Other observers seem to agree that the combination is a smart match-up that has been for the most part fruitful -- and should remain so as the firm's chosen markets recover.

"I think it's been a good marriage so far, and I suspect they'll remain competitive," says Burbank-based real estate consultant Larry Kosmont. Zugsmith's "perseverance has paid off," as the valley-based broker focused on a niche -- small to mid-sized office transactions that the bigger brokerages often ignore, the Kosmont & Associates Inc. president continues.

And now that Zugsmith has teamed up with "a real pro who's been a major player on the Westside for a long time," Zugsmith-Thind is well positioned for continued prosperity, Kosmont adds. "We will see a lot of transactions in the size range they tend to go after," he says.

As the partners had hoped, the firm has become significantly stronger on the Westside, in particular since the merger, adds Sandy Fishman, who recently left Zugsmith-Thind to become a managing partner with the Woodland Hills brokerage Told Partners. Fishman had managed Zugsmith's Tarzana office, which closed about a year ago when Zugsmith consolidated that operation and the Studio City home office into the firm's new Encino headquarters.

Along with Thind and his long-established reputation as a Westside player came several important office-property listings and "a higher-profile presence" south of the hills, Fishman notes.

And now, as Thind endeavors to further develop the firm's business on the Westside, Zugsmith will likely seek to capitalize on the brokerage's strength in the Studio City/Sherman Oaks/Encino corridor by building its presence farther west, Fishman suggests.

Considering the partners' respective positions within their historic marketplaces -- both built through aggressive entrepreneurial endeavors -- Zugsmith-Thind's market share seems certain to expand in both. While the two L.A.-raised brokers have their differences -- some insiders say the successful salesmen's egos occasionally clash -- several common threads run through Zugsmith's and Thind's personal and professional lives.

Both have been highly successful salesmen since their early 20s; both have built profitable independent brokerages focusing on office-owner representation; both are known for their extensive "networking" and active participation in industry organizations; both rank their children and skiing as two of their favorite pastimes.

Zugsmith, 42, dropped out of law school after realizing he was already making more money selling houses part-time than he could expect as a first-year attorney. He soon progressed into apartment property sales, then embarked on his commercial real estate career in 1977 at Paul Elis & Co., then a "dominant" valley brokerage, Zugsmith recalls.

Two years later, he teamed up with a client -- accountant-turned-developer Bob Schulman -- and began leasing Schulman's offices in partnership with the builder. After Schulman opted to pursue development opportunities in Las Vegas, Zugsmith struck a partnership with three other brokers -- who all left in 1985 to establish Beitler Commercial Realty Services' San Fernando Valley operation in the wake of a strategic dispute with Zugsmith.

"Mike has pursued the niche we thought he'd go after -- primarily representing small office and retail landlords -- and he's been very successful with it," says Craig Stevens, one of the former Zugsmith partners who left to head up Beitler's valley team.

Kosmont, meanwhile, praises Zugsmith's valley operation particularly for "adjusting to the market" during the last two years and focusing on selling foreclosed apartment properties for lending institutions.

Thind, 52, became a top salesman for Xerox Corp. almost immediately after joining the firm fresh out of college in the mid-1960s. A decade later, he sought to switch to "a field with unlimited earnings potential" -- and chose real estate. He's since sold 120 Westside commercial buildings and leased 8 million square feet of space.

Thind spent eight years in Coldwell Banker (now CB) Commercial's Beverly Hills office, ranking among the firm's top five producers nationally four times. He and CB associate Tim Macker then founded Westside Commercial Brokerage Co. in 1982, and had built a 45-broker staff when they sold the operation to expansion-minded Grubb & Ellis Co. three years later.

After three years with Grubb & Ellis, Thind struck out on his own again with Thind Commercial in 1988 before merging his nine-man shop with Zugsmith in March 1991.

"David has been an institution on the Westside," comments Macker, who also founded his own shop -- West L.A.'s Westmac Commercial Brokerage Co. -- in 1988. And the affiliation with Zugsmith helps Thind expand his Westside presence through the intense landlord canvassing "that Mike's been doing in the valley for years," Macker adds.

He also notes that his former partner's new partnership "is working out fine" because it allows Thind to focus on Westside brokerage and business development, while Zugsmith -- in addition to dealmaking -- sees that the firm's administrative and financial functions are tended to.

"David is the consummate salesperson and wants to be purely productive," Macker continues. "Mike's making sure there's enough money in the till, that business is transacted properly."

But as Fishman points out, Zugsmith's "real strength is as a dealmaker." And both partners see property sales -- particularly for institutions that have taken back projects in the wake of loan defaults -- as a key to their current and future success.

Zugsmith says he will push to improve the firm's market share in both leasing -- representing more tenants as well as owners -- and property sales.

"If we can keep the team enthusiastic, I think we can compete with the big guys in both these worlds," the chairman stresses. "It's been working out that way so far."

Michael A. Zugsmith

Native of: Los Angeles Resident of: Studio City Age: 42 Education: B.A., Communications Studies, UCLA 

David B. Thind

Native of: Los Angeles Resident of: Malibu Age: 52 Education: B.S., Business Administration, San Jose State College