Inman Diaries is a weekly feature tracking the day-to-day activities of America’s leading real estate agents in their own words. This week, Leo Mederios, director of sales at 181 Fremont, the high-end 803-foot mixed-use skyscraper in the South of Market District of San Francisco, wines and dines a host of potential buyers during a frenzied workweek.
Sunday
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7 a.m. Wake up with protein shake, heading to a new gym near the office, which is part of San Francisco’s new Salesforce Park and Transit Center. The park is amazing. Elevated over the street, it is 5.4 acres with 500 trees from redwoods to cacti, a walking path, plazas and lush lawns for yoga classes or taking a lazy break in the sunshine.
9 a.m. I head to my office at 181 Fremont, which connects to the park by a little pedestrian bridge. The view from our office across the city to the Pacific Ocean to the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges is stunning. It’s hard to keep my eyes on my email inboxes which include my current project, for Compass Development, 181 Fremont, and a second project nearing completion in the Seattle area.
Leo Mederios
10 a.m. I open five model homes located on different floors and take a general walk of the building including the amenities floor, to make sure everything is presentable for client appointments today. This floor is a private club for residents of 181 Fremont, fittingly called the Sky Lounge since you are above everything in San Francisco. The 55 homes in the 181 Fremont Residences sit atop 17 floors of the SF headquarters for Facebook and Instagram. These homes are the tallest on the West Coast with exceptional finishes and floor to ceiling views from every room. The pricing is from $3 million to over $15 million, with a $46 million Grand Penthouse on the 70th floor so I have a challenge!
11 a.m. New buyer appointment with a young tech buyer in his 30s looking for a $4 million condo with two or three bedrooms. He recently sold his company and has the ability to purchase. As with many tech buyers, he is unassuming, down-to-earth, confident and smart. He likes what he sees and is requesting all the documents to review, which is a great sign. The tech buyer tends to read everything, and have the smartest questions. They look for the details and I know that I will have a list of questions to answer over the next day or two. Exciting!
1 p.m. Attempted a healthy lunch, but opted for ending up with a burrito from El Farol! So much for being healthy.
2 p.m. Compile the Sunday Night Reports for the developer which includes a Traffic Report accessing where prospects came from during the week, along with Sales and Revenue Report outlining new sales, new clients, and what potential pipeline we have in coming weeks for potential sales.
4 p.m. Tour some clients looking for a pied-a-terre in San Francisco. They own in Atherton, 30 miles away, a town that was recently named the most expensive ZIP code in the U.S., so there is low urgency to buy. They just started looking to get a sense of pricing. We are the top of the market in San Francisco, and they love what they see but are not ready to take the plunge.
6 p.m. Place the finishing touches on the Sunday Night Reports and send them out.
Monday
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9 a.m. Open model units and set-up for the day. Our daily review with the team includes going over where our next sales will come from, who is in the pipeline and what needs to be done to keep prospects coming through our door. We strategize on getting a key broker back in.
10 a.m. Prepare for developer and escrow meeting on Tuesdays, narrative report on previous week’s traffic.
1 p.m. Meet with 181 Fremont’s art advisor. Holly is an art consultant to the developer Jay Paul Company with tremendous connections to prestigious global art galleries such as Lehmann Maupin and Blum & Poe. She curates art presentations in Gallery 181, our 3,200-square-foot half floor penthouse that we have transformed to be the tallest art gallery in the world. The gallery space as a home is priced at $15,000,000 and overlooks the Bay Bridge, city lights, and the San Francisco Bay. The Gallery artwork is for sale and can range anywhere from $20,000 to $2 million. It’s spectacular and we open the gallery to the public by appointment and use it to host our sales events.
2 p.m. Meet with our PR rep plus board members of a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving open space in the Bay Area for a tour. We have created a series of quarterly Philanthropy events at 181 to honor nonprofits in the Bay Area as part of our marketing efforts. We explore how to stage the event with them and agree to a cocktail event in two months in Gallery 181.
5 p.m. Meet potential buyers for a model tour with champagne then move to dinner at Ayesha Curry’s restaurant, International Smoke. The restaurant is a block away and trendy with restaurant goers hoping to catch a glimpse of Aisha’s husband, basketball star, Steph Curry. These buyers are hi-tech recruiters with Silicon Valley’s top tech firms with thoughts about a second home now that their three kids are entering college.
At dinner we order off their secret menu, their Manhattan cocktail which is served in a smoke box. The glass smoke box has a door that opens and when it does, everyone is engulfed in smoke. No siting of Steph this evening, however, I was able to chat with a former San Francisco mayor and a U.S. senator. We leave smelling like a campfire.
Tuesday
Jay’s photo / Getty Images
7 a.m. Gym
9 a.m. I lead our I weekly internal sales meeting reviewing marketing strategies and potential events that would include our target audience. We chat on our collaboration with Louis XIII Cognac along with model events that we can incorporate to bring in more traffic.
10 a.m. Meeting with developer and construction team, review buyer in our pipeline and any offers. I feel fortunate to work for an amazing developer, Jay Paul Company, who understands new construction and open to new ideas. Discuss any building issues and remaining construction. Review the HOA and staff. We discuss how owners can experience “anticipatory service” and what our staff can do for residents.
11:30 a.m. Meeting with First American title reviewing all buyers in escrow, status of their loans, and status of closing, reviewing any work needed in their home and status of completion
12 p.m. Today our team tours a new model in the residences. The newest installation will incorporate furniture from B & B Italia so perhaps we can have events planned around Italian design (and of course good Italian food and wine).
1 p.m. Meet with team to review marketing/sales outreach along with plans for Q1 sales events campaigns.
6 p.m. Meet our fabulous rep with Louis XIII Cognac for dinner to discuss our collaboration for cognac tasting broker events in a model half-floor penthouse. Since the tasting is upscale and exclusive, and the bottle of cognac retails for $15,000 each, we plan limit guests to 12 to 15.
Wednesday
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11 a.m. Taking an interior designer through the $46 million Grand Penthouse. It is 6,941 square feet of absolute beauty with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and more. The interiors are by Mass Beverly, designers to Elon Musk, Beyonce and Jay-Z, and Calvin Klein with killer views to match.
2:30 p.m. Brokers Open House. Team divides to take individual tours.
5 p.m. Second visit tour with a potential buyer. He loves champagne and we have some Veuve on hand. I know I am close on this one.
7 p.m. Dinner with West Coast Director, Compass Development director Sandra Eaton. We head back to the bar at International Smoke. She has great ideas on what we can do to drive up traffic. As usual, we leave smelling like a campfire.
Thursday
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7 a.m. Gym
1 p.m. Meet with several clients on their second visits to show available inventory again and review terms of contracts. Fingers crossed.
6 p.m. Catch up with emails and follow up and watching a spectacular sunset over the Pacific. I love my office!
9 p.m. Heading home after a long day but excited for tomorrow.
Friday
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10 a.m. My day off but I head to the office. I’m excited that I am getting an offer today at 1 p.m. I’ll be working longer than anticipated but I don’t mind when a contract is coming in.
1 p.m. The offer comes and I review it. I reach out to the developer. It looks promising.
SATURDAY
Nora Carol Photography
10 a.m. Meeting with tax accountant for 2019 taxes.
11 a.m. Work on emails and follow up calls. The new offer to purchase is one step closer to coming together. It is over 2,300 square feet and listed at $8,600,000. I feel positive that it will come together. It just needs some massaging.
12 p.m. The e-blast that we sent out earlier in the week is generating some activity. They schedule four appointments for the coming week. Exciting! Heading out to visit my mother and end the week with dinner out with friends and family. Feeling optimistic that the plans we put in place this week will continue to build momentum and result in more sales!
For over 25 years, Leo Medeiros has specialized on luxury real estate sales with an emphasis on new development. He’s worked for top real estate developers including Jay Paul Company, Tishman Speyer, Starwood, and Canadian-based Bosa Development to name a few. He’s covered the West Coast with experience in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Inman Diaries is a weekly feature tracking the day-to-day activities of America’s leading real estate agents and brokers. To submit a diary, please send requests to Diary@Inman.com.
