Tuning up Deals

Tuning up Deals

Commercial Real Estate by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

Anthony Migliore comes to commercial real estate with songs still spinning in his head from a past career. His best melody has been to aim for small successes.

Beginning in 1996, Anthony Migliore had a job in the music industry requiring him to fly commercially 80,000 miles a year. And he was afraid to fly for just about every one of those miles.

Even more shocking, though, is how Migliore finally conquered his fear in 2003: Instead of using hypnosis, sleeping pills or mail-order videos, Migliore took flying lessons. Now he's a licensed pilot, having flown Cessna 172s and 152s, as well as a Piper Warrior on many small trips. Says Migliore: "I'm cured of my phobia."

Migliore will need to lean on determination and stubbornness like that again, as he's two years into his post-music career: Commercial real estate.

"Your sort of catching scraps the first two years or so," the broker tells Coffee Talk. "It's tough."

Migliore's most recent life prior to becoming a Coldwell Banker broker, the one where he flew all around the country, was as DJ Sharaz. Specifically, Migliore was a techno-style DJ, playing in clubs in places such as New York, Seattle and Los Angeles. He developed a passionate fan-base, playing gigs in front of as many as 3,000 people. And he recorded and produced more than150 songs, including one that became a number one hit in 2002.

The music life began by accident. As a 20-something hanging out in Sarasota clubs, he just enjoyed the beat of the music. He started experimenting with recording equipment on his own, and in a few months his tunes were being played by an Orlando radio station.

But traveling nationwide regularly from 1996 to 2004 took a toll on Migliore. It wasn't just the flying, it was the thought of spending yet another Thanksgiving in a hotel room, away from his family. So he began to scale back his music career in 2005.

Migliore, whose mom was a top residential broker in northern Indiana, where he was born and raised, settled on commercial real estate for a follow-up act to DJ Sharaz.

And just like music, Migliore is off to a good start in real estate: He was the number one broker in Coldwell Banker's Sarasota-Manatee region for the first five months of 2007, good enough to place him in the top 10% of the firm's Florida brokers.

Migliore's strategy is to go for small yet satisfying deals, as opposed to constantly looking for the Big Score. He's closed on a few $1.5 million or so projects over the last year, but hasn't picked up any headline grabbing deals.

"That's what everyone else seems to be chasing," says Migliore. "I know these large property owners can smell a Realtor and his commission a mile away, and I want to avoid coming across as some suit looking for a fee."