REAL ESTATE : Broker Gives Better Split on Commissions to Keep His People

Lawrence M. Scher smiles when someone describes him as the bad boy of the local brokerage industry.

But mention Scher’s name to some managers of other commercial real estate brokerages and you may get a grimace.

The reason: A competitor accused Scher’s brokerage firm last year of raiding not only some of its best brokers but some of its best property listings as well.

A $1-million lawsuit was recently settled by Scher’s firm, Scher-Voit Commercial Brokerage Co. of Irvine, and its competitor, Los Angeles-based Daum Commercial Industrial Real Estate. Neither side will disclose details of the settlement.

Scher is a soft-spoken 50-year-old whose only resemblance to a pirate is the very un-brokerlike graying beard he sports.

Scher came to Orange County in 1970, when pheasant still flew in the open fields around John Wayne Airport. Now he can look out his office window at what were once those fields and see ranks of glass office towers.

Scher was opening an office for Grubb & Ellis then, at a time when Coldwell Banker pretty much had the county’s market for commercial real estate to itself. Now Grubb and Coldwell are the two giants of the local brokerage industry.

Firms such as Scher-Voit, which Scher started in 1987 with rubber company heir Robert D. Voit, are battling for business on the rungs just below the two big boys.

Scher says he does it just a little differently than most brokerages. To hold on to his own brokers, for instance, Scher gives the senior ones their own offices. (Brokers in most companies sit in cubicles in big open offices much like many newspaper city rooms.) They get a better split with the brokerage on the commissions they bring in. (The usual split at the bigger firms is 50-50.) A good, experienced broker these days can make upwards of $250,000 a year on the average in a busy market such as Orange County. Some make a lot more.

It must be working. Scher-Voit has grown quickly to 150 employees and offices in San Diego, Carlsbad, Irvine and Anaheim and may do $1 billion worth of real estate deals this year.

As for his reputation at other brokerages, that’s OK too, Scher said.

“I think it’s fine,” he said. “I feel comfortable with the way I’ve run my businesses over the years.”