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Property Profile

 Master & Maverick

Few things make Lew Geffen’s face light up these days, and understandably so. Lew is still noticeably cut up about his son, Barak’s, tragic death in September. ‘I’m still in deep mourning. He was my hero, and losing him has been a shattering experience for our family,’ is all he’s prepared to say on the matter.

But mention his business (he’s chairman of Sotheby’s International Realty SA), his family (wife Sandy, daughters Gabi and Yael, and other son, Saul) and his passion for hiking, and you’ll see a different side to the man.

This legend of the property industry has been making waves in real estate since 1972. ‘My mother was Aïda Geffen of AÏDA Real Estate,’ he explains with a wry grin, ‘so as a kid I was exposed to all the jargon. But it wasn’t that appealing at first, I must admit.’

It took a stint in Israel as a volunteer in the Six-Day War, a year at university with Sandy in Tel Aviv, and two very prosperous years selling objets d’art outside Killarney Mall before he succumbed to the pull of the family business.

‘When Sandy and I returned to SA, we got married and moved into a cottage in my mother’s garden. I remember going to the Lidchi Gallery to buy a round coffee table and landing up buying the shop! I gave the owner a post-dated cheque for R3 000. He took a chance on us and delivered a collection of brass and copperware to our cottage. The following day, we put it out on the grass verge outside Killarney Mall, and we sold everything we had within three weeks!’

After paying his debt, and armed with a R12 000 profit, Lew headed for Tehran to buy more wares. ‘You can’t believe how far R12 000 went in those days,’ he says. ‘We came back with 80 full crates!’ Lew spent the following year selling incense burners, light fittings and other goods on grassy verges around Johannesburg.

Once he’d proved his sales acumen, he finally agreed to join his mother in the real-estate business. ‘I spent seven years selling property around town,’ he says. ‘Then, one day, I got an idea. There was a Kentucky Fried Chicken store right next door to us, and I decided to franchise AÏDA Real Estate the same way that KFC was franchised.’ Lew’s brainwave resulted in the first-real estate franchise in the country. ‘We knew bugger all,’ he admits. ‘We were as home-grown as apple jam!’

Lew managed to sell 12 franchises. ‘Then I decided that a small tree can’t grow under a big tree. So I started my own business.’ Lew Geffen Estates was launched in 1982 on ‘a shoestring budget’. ‘We were a success from the beginning. We’ve never looked back,’ Lew says.

In 2000, Lew decided to uplift the brand. ‘There was one very powerful real-estate brand in the country, and the next four or five of us were far behind. I decided to approach Sotheby’s International Realty. By taking on the Sotheby’s label, our client profile changed dramatically – and instantaneously. We ran Sotheby’s as an affiliate for nearly three years.’ Then, in 2002, Lew, Barak, and Brent Townes negotiated a 25-year license to dispense Sotheby’s franchises throughout SA.

‘Barak was very instrumental in building up this part of the business. He’d just completed his MBA at UCT Business School and was their top student. He created a superb infrastructure for us and did a fantastic job of rolling it out. He was a teacher and mentor who inspired the franchisees with motivational speeches.’ Lew continues: ‘Today, we’re part of the international Sotheby’s family. They’re constantly innovating and developing, and we develop our own material as well as what we receive from New York.’

In May 2009, Lew and Sandy, along with their daughter, Yael, who’d just returned from spending seven years working in New York, set up a new business, Savile Row Auctions. Lew’s brainchild, it has set the standard for upmarket property auctions in SA. ‘Savile Row has exploded,’ Lew smiles. ‘It’s taken off like a rocket ship! We learned so much through our experience with Sotheby’s.’

A marketing fundi, Lew admits to having set up the entire business himself. ‘I found the name, did the logos and worked closely with my team,’ he says. Last month, Savile Row opened its doors in the Cape, and Lew plans to expand the business countrywide.

‘Auctions work particularly well in the commercial space,’ Lew comments. ‘They’ll never overtake the residential market. Residential real estate already has a fantastic infrastructure, whereas commercial real estate doesn’t. In the commercial space, one can get it right about 50% of the time, while the residential market is trickier.’

The Geffen family is passionate about keeping fit, something that Lew and Sandy ingrained in the kids from an early age. He comments: ‘I was a city slicker until I turned 30. Then I was given a backpack for my birthday. I took the boys with me on my first hike, an 8km trail in Suikerbosrand, past Alberton. Lying under the stars that night, I fell in love with the concept.’ Since then, Lew has hiked the length and breadth of SA and Namibia. The only hike he has yet to experience is the eight-night Naukluft trail in Namibia, which he plans to tackle in 2010. Camping and hiking trips have progressed from the early days, when Lew and a friend took powdered food with them and wistfully watched fellow campers cooking wors over the fire. These days, Lew admits to creating ‘extravaganzas’ with prawns, whisky, and ‘real food, not the powdered variety’. At home, Lew spends his days running, swimming, going to gym, and playing golf, which he loves.

What’s next for the Geffens in real estate? Lew smiles. ‘I don’t plan to retire… Ever,’ he says. ‘I heard a speech the other day that summed it up