President Says Firm Is Making Profit : Schneider Brokerage Bought by Its Officers

Six officers and managers of Schneider Commercial Real Estate in Anaheim have bought the brokerage from a Pittsburgh company.

The terms were not disclosed.

Selling was Schneider Inc., a construction and engineering firm. Industry insiders say the firm had put the brokerage on the block cheap.

The brokerage lost money last year, though President Peter J. Laird said it has made a profit this year.

“We had our best start in 1988 in years, and Orange County continues to remain very strong,” said Laird, one of the company’s new owners.

Smaller Company

Schneider is one of 10 or so medium-sized brokers in Orange County as measured by employment, the only measure available since none of the brokerages reveal sales and profits. As a smaller company, Schneider deals mostly in the sale and leasing of small and mid-sized buildings.

But competitors in Orange County say Schneider has not grabbed much of a share of that market.

Industry insiders say the company never became known as an expert in a particular type of property, and thus does not have a niche in the market to exploit.

In addition, Schneider has also been hit recently by defections of brokers, which highlights one of the problems of buying a company in the brokerage business: Much of a brokerage’s assets are its sales people, who aren’t included in a sale and who might leave if they feel the company is not doing well or if they don’t like a new owner.

Sales People Vital

“You can buy a brokerage and wind up getting stuck with a bunch of leased furniture and the rent for an empty office,” said a broker at another company.

“You can never be sure the people are going to stay.”

But defections aren’t a major problem at Schneider, Laird said.

“We’ve lost a couple people out of the Anaheim office, but the company as a whole has had very little turnover in the last two years,” he said.

“We feel our people for the most part are very loyal, and we’re happy with the retention rate we’ve got.”

In addition to Laird, the new owners are James Kruse, Jon Snyder, Bill Schenck, Steve Morse and Allan Steward, all senior vice presidents.

The company also has offices in San Bernardino, Encino, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Sacramento, as well as its headquarters in Anaheim.

Schneider Inc. bought the brokerage--then called Ashwill/Burke Co.--in 1983.

Laird said the Pittsburgh construction firm has been spinning off subsidiaries such as the brokerage in order to concentrate on its core business: engineering and construction of big projects, such as power plants and factories.

Executives of the construction firm could not be reached for comment.