Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of a bank.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

I needed to find and sell branch locations, but I’ve also used them to find corporate office space.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The vast majority of our work has been on leasing rather than purchasing real estate. In our process, I reach out to Tami (Managing Partner) when my bank has an interest or a need for office space in a particular area or market. She will interview me to better understand my needs and specify what I’m looking for. Typically, she’ll ask me questions I wouldn’t have thought would be germane to the topic. Then, she goes out and her team brings back options. They walk us through the options both qualitatively and in terms of pricing. After that, Tami helps us filter the choices down to the best option and negotiates on our behalf.

Everything has been done in Texas so far, with locations ranging from Houston and Austin and Dallas to San Antonio. We’ve worked in most of the major metro areas in Texas, as well as several rural areas.

What is the team composition?

I work with Tami (Managing Partner). She has a team behind her but I guess I’m spoiled for having worked with her for over 25 years. I call Tami and she gets her team on it.

How did you come to work with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

I’ve worked with them for a number of different companies. I knew Tami back when she was an architect before she joined with Waterman Steele. We worked together on a large real estate project, so when she moved into that sphere I was lucky enough to get to continue to work with her.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with Waterman Steele since June 2010.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

You don’t maintain a professional relationship for as long as we have if the outcomes haven’t been consistently great. The longevity of our time, with Tami providing these services, speak volumes about what she and Waterman Steele can do for us.

How did Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors perform from a project management standpoint?

As the CEO, there are times I want to be intimately involved in the process and there are times when that’s not the case. Tami knows how to balance those. She knows when to get my attention and when to run with it herself. I value that. We speak on an ad-hoc basis, but that may be more my style than hers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a great asset for a company to have as a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust that you’re in good hands. These projects are a process and not a moment. Trust that they’re going to get you where you need to go. Let them do their work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Managing Director – Operations of YES Prep Public Schools, which is a K-12 charter school.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

We primarily work with Waterman Steele for their brokerage services, looking to acquire real estate to build new school locations.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Waterman Steele helps us find ideal properties for our schools according to our growth plan. They focus on processing datasets associated with an area’s community demographic and socioeconomic situation. 

This year, we’ve decided to open an elementary school, so we expanded Waterman Steele’s role into helping us add on to our two campuses by procuring areas within a short distance of our existing properties.

What is the team composition? 

We mostly work with Tami (Managing Partner) and Lindsay (Senior Associate). On occasion, we’ve worked with Lance (Partner) to procure courthouse auction-type properties as well as options HUD-type (Housing and Urban Development) properties.

How did you come to work with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

We’ve worked with Tami since before she formed Waterman Steele and continue to have a unique relationship with her. We love the way she handles our account. She’s upfront about what she’s able to do and is willing to take on new tasks if they’re realistic.

That passion for investigating towns to find the right properties for schools was a great transition to her new business.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of the years, we’ve spent upward of $1 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them since December 2013.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We value the fact that we can reach out to Tami with any question regarding real estate, acquisition, or even whatever she thinks is happening with the market. She’s just eager to help us. It’s one of those relationships where we truly feel she’s a part of our team and is welcome to bring her thoughts on brokerage deals.

How did Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors perform from a project management standpoint?

Because it’s such a familiar relationship, everyone is open to communication — a no-holds-barred type of thing. Tami also pushes hard for us when dealing with sellers to get a speedy response.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What sets Tami apart is her passion for helping socioeconomically-challenged areas of our town, and our educational contribution is a part of that. Her passion drives her to get the best deals for her clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t say enough good things about Waterman Steele. The only area that impacts us is getting the seller to respond to us in time, but that’s the nature of negotiation. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a true collaboration meeting around what types of things you’d like them to do for you. There’s a chance that you’ll find other services that they offer that could be helpful. The conversation needs to be a dialogue so that you can go through your needs rather than you reading off a list.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a restaurateur. My business partner and I own one restaurant currently in Houston, and we’re working towards opening a second one with a third partner.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

Waterman Steele helped us find the real estate locations for those two restaurants.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I worked with a gentleman who introduced us to Emily (Partner & Director of Hospitality Services) on our first project. We looked at different places around the city, but Emily helped us find the spot that we’re currently in and negotiated the deal with the landlord. They also did the same with our second property.

Both of the properties are leased. We had a specific idea of a small restaurant that was under 3,000 sq ft. Initially, we were looking for places downtown, and Emily guided us to some areas right outside of that. We looked at quite a few different spaces, from bigger warehouses to tiny standalones. We ended up in 100,000 square foot building, and we take up about 2,500 sq ft of that.

It’s a building from the 1950s or 60s that has an open kitchen with about 75 seats inside for dining. It’s a modern bistro with a full restaurant and wine bar.

What is the team composition?

Emily was the lead on both projects, but we did work with that gentleman on the first project.

How did you come to work with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

Emily was introduced to us through a man whose son is a restauranteur in the city.

How much have you invested with them?

$10,000–$50,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We were introduced in March 2016, and we signed the lease on the first property in October 2016. For the second project, we started looking in late 2018 and signed the lease on that space in November 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m satisfied with the work they did for us in helping us find the right space and negotiating the leases with the landlords. Throughout the process, Emily helped us a lot with dialing in on exactly what we needed. Even during the middle of the pandemic, she’s made herself readily available to help if we have to do any renegotiating or have any discussions with our landlords. We will still continue working with her.

How did Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors perform from a project management standpoint?

She was always responsive, making sure all questions were answered from the landlord side and ours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I felt that Waterman Steele looked out for our best interests. When you’re working with someone in real estate, it’s great to have somebody that’s truly on your side as a team member.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really, nothing I can think of off the top of my head.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This isn’t specific to them, but you’re always best being upfront with what you’re looking for and what you want and don’t want in a project. As a first-time restauranteur, we weren’t really sure of things, and Emily guided us on what to look for. That aided us when looking for our second spot because we already had a firm grasp of what we didn’t want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Montessori Kids Universe. We franchise Montessori preschools throughout the country.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

Our work heavily revolves around finding the real estate for our schools. We contracted Waterman Steele as our exclusive broker in the state of Texas.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve helped us do 14 real estate searches to date. Our clients have the choice of leasing or purchasing the facility. Waterman Steele contacts the client to learn about the parameters and demographics of the franchise they’re looking to open.

They will then typically look for any property between 5,000–9,000 sq. ft. They’re based in Houston, but they’ll drive all over Texas to scour different properties. Some searches can be quick, while others can entail an arduous process until final securement. They even handle the negotiations with the landlords.

What is the team composition?

I work with Tami (Managing Partner) and Lindsay (Senior Associate).

How did you come to work with Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors?

We ended up calling a listing of theirs that we’d found through a database. That’s how we connected initially.

How much have you invested with them?

They’ve transacted several million dollars’ worth of negotiations. We don’t pay them, but instead, they receive a brokerage fee from the other side of the property.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started engaging in July 2016, and it’s been an ongoing partnership.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Waterman Steele has been wonderful to work with. They’ve always been very detailed and thorough in their work. They have no qualms about driving all over the state to cover all ground; they’ll even investigate properties that weren’t on our radar. They’ve been instrumental in facilitating our growth in Texas.

They engage directly with our clients, who have all raved about their professionalism. We’re very appreciative of the fact that they represent us well.

How did Waterman Steele Real Estate Advisors perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet with them every Thursday. Whenever we have a new client that comes on board in Texas (which happens fairly frequently, because a lot of our work is in Texas), they begin the search immediately. We meet with them in person 2–3 times a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very professional and always get the deal done. We’re very compatible in our work ethic; this is a huge component because my husband and I are principals of the company. Tami is also a managing principal, and our styles of communication and workflow are very aligned.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We get very positive feedback from our third-party clients since they’re so professional. You can be assured that they’ll represent your business well. I’d also highlight the fact that Tami has a license in architecture. She can not only assess properties from a monetary perspective, but also from an infrastructural perspective, which is extremely valuable.