How I Made It: How I Made It: Jeff Meyers
The gig: Jeff Meyers, 55, is president of Meyers Research, a Beverly Hills housing market research and consulting firm. Meyers has been in the business for nearly 30 years, helping home builders figure out where to build and helping investors and lenders decide where to put their money. In 2012, Meyers sold his company to real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson and has used capital from the deal to expand Meyers Research and launch an iPad app that provides real-time market and location data to builders.
A modest start: After graduating from business school at San Diego State, Meyers went to work for a small development firm with five employees in Del Mar. “We were working out of a small house. I like to say we started in a garage, though the garage had windows looking at the ocean. It was better than most.”
An early infusion: He launched the Meyers Group in 1985, as personal computers and laser printers came into more widespread use. Meyers saw the chance to track housing market data electronically and turn that data into printed books of up-to-date research that was easy to read. “Our competitors were doing it with a daisy-wheel printer,” he said. “The laser printer was a big breakthrough.” At the same time, his boss, Michael Cavanaugh, was retiring; Meyers sold him on the idea of investing in a market research firm. “He was basically my angel investor. He put in $500,000,” he said. “I was 25.”
Growing big: Through the 1980s and early ‘90s, Meyers Group grew into a regional player in Southern California and the Southwest. In 1996, Meyers raised $17 million from an equity investor and bought nine similar firms, each with its own unique data sets. Getting all those databases to talk to one another was a big technical challenge, but once he did, Meyers saw big demand from builders and others gearing up for the housing boom. At its peak, the Meyers Group had about 300 employees.
Striking out on his own again: In 2004, Meyers sold his company to Hanley Wood, a giant media and marketing services firm for the building industries that wanted to add data to its repertoire. After a short stint there, Meyers did some work as a developer, and when his noncompete agreement with Hanley expired, he launched his consulting firm. This was in 2006, just as the housing market was starting to turn.
Riding out a crash: Housing is a notoriously boom-and-bust industry. But being a housing consultant is usually more steady. Usually. “A normal cycle you can navigate. As long as there’s change and questions, advisory work is a very busy business,” Meyers said. “But this one [in 2008] was like a complete shutdown. Everyone just froze.” It was the first time Meyers had to make big cuts, and for a while he was down to six employees. But gradually, business recovered as banks and institutional investors needed help navigating the aftermath.
Going mobile: In an industry not known for technological prowess, Meyers has always tried to stay on the cutting edge. In 1985, that meant a laser printer. Today: a tablet app. His firm spent nearly two years designing Zonda, an iPad app that lets users see market, economic, school and even crime data for any property in its database. “You can aggregate all these disparate data sets and they can all attach to a map. That’s pretty cool,” he said. “And we update it every day.” The idea, he said, is for any client to be able to drive around to potential building sites and see everything there is to know about them, and for that info to be accessible to any subscriber, not just the research department.
Location, location, location: When it comes to picking his own house, Meyers is a big believer in that old real estate mantra about location. “If you’re buying a [new] home, look for the lot first and the house second,” he said. “The piece of dirt is the most important piece of the deal. You can always build a nicer house.”
Personal: Meyers lives with his wife and two children, ages 8 and 10, in San Diego, and has a condo in Marina del Rey, closer to work. He walked on to the tennis team at San Diego State and skied professionally for a few years before college in his native British Columbia. He still skis a few days a year, he said, but notes it’s harder in Southern California. He was inducted this year into the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame.
Twitter: @bytimlogan
