Socci finds rich rewards in other people's property.

When Frank Jr. and Stephen Socci were little boys, they thought their dad, Frank Snr was a millionaire.

"I've always taken a great deal of pride in my work and treated property like it was my own," said Socci, the director of property management at NAI Long Island.

"When the boys were small, we'd drive by buildings and I'd tell them, 'That's one of ours, that's ours, that's ours, too.' They really thought we were millionaires," recalled Socci, the newly appointed president of the New York chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management.

While his career in property management hasn't quite propelled him to the ranks of the super-rich, Socci's values have always been rooted in the pride he takes in his work as one of the leading property managers on Long Island. Today, his portfolio comprises over 1 million square feet of retail, industrial and office buildings as well as over 1,800 residential units, every one of which he still cares for as if it were his own.

It's a philosophy born from the very beginning of his career in property management, which actually began in accounting.

A graduate of St John's University in New York, Socci started out working as an assistant controller in the real estate lending division of syndicate, Integrated Resources. He later moved to Long Island-based Jerry Spiegel Associates as a controller and found himself becoming more involved in the firm's property management. Recalled Socci, "It was an old company and it didn't have any systems set up properly. I started organizing its property management software and financial reporting and began to get more involved with real estate that way."

He left Spiegel in 1993 to start his own company with partner, Al Centrella. Together they formed Schacker Management and began working with local developers managing commercial property throughout Long Island.

The pair's professionalism and commitment to their work soon earned them a plethora of contracts that grew commensurately with their firm as they embarked on a drive to expand their service platform, first through a merger in 1997 with Bagnato Realty, and later with residential firm, John B. Swift Management.

The firm competed for the rights to the NAI territory that came available on Long Island in the late 90s and changed its name to NAI Long Island. It was a big coup for the partners, putting their boutique firm on the same playing field as some of the industry's biggest players.

Said Socci, "The NAI network is the biggest group of commercial Realtors in the world, so being part of that network and being able to tap into those resources allows us to compete with companies such as Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis and bring better service to our clients."

Renowned for its personalized services, NAI Long Island currently manages over 1,800 condo, coop and Home Owners Association homes across Long Island, a fact that instills not a little pride in Socci. "We look after some of the most beautiful homes on Long Island, homes worth in excess of $3 million each. That's a real testament to our work."

On the commercial side of his business, Socci has seen a sea-change from the entrepreneurial ownership of property to the growth of institutional investment, a turn-around that has brought its fair share of challenges for his firm.

"The entrepreneur has gone and been replaced by the REIT and the funds," said Socci. "Every major building is owned by them these days and, for firms like us, it becomes tougher because there's a smaller sector of the market to compete for because the funds take care of things in-house."

Indeed, the whole business has become more challenging as clients themselves become more sophisticated in their demands for and from their properties. That in turn, according to Socci, has helped produce a better kind of property manager who is more adept than ever at managing these highly valuable assets.

He explained, "People are now asking more questions so we have to give them more and better answers. Before, it was an income statement and a bank rack, now the detailed report packing has become much more complex. Every manager has to have a good understanding of software and be able to retrieve and utilize all of the information available on any building under their care."

Socci admits himself that staying abreast of some of the many changes that have taken place in his industry in recent years has often been a test of will. However, membership of the Institute of Real Estate Management, he said, had proven to be "incredibly

He added, "IREM has helped me on many levels over the years, both as a property manager and business owner. I have learned a lot from their education courses and gained tremendous understanding about how other companies operate."

Socci said he's excited to be taking over as the new chapter president and hopes to leave his mark in several ways, not least of which is the development of a new asset management symposium in conjunction with the New Jersey chapter.

"We also have a new website coming out in January that is going to help our membership in a lot of different ways and we have a new designation, the accredited commercial manager, which should spark more membership interest."

While his drive to develop IREM professionally is admirable, it is also predicted that Socci's personal benevolence will have a major impact on the chapter this year.

Socci--who lives in Staten Island with his wife, Donna, and their two sons--sits on the board of the Staten Island soccer league and co-founded a program for children with special needs through the Special Olympics organization. He also coaches the youngsters, occasionally enlisting the help of his own two boys, now aged 15 & 16. He has already run two successful IREM golf outings which raised money for the March of Dimes and, this Christmas, he's organized a Toys for Tots program for the chapter. "I've always has a sense of community in my personal life," said Socci. "I am very proud of what we have so far managed to achieve through the IREM golf outing and, hopefully, it is something that we can really build on in the next year."