Tom Kelsey talks about his decades in real estate

Tom Kelsey of Cape Girardeau followed his father's footsteps into real estate, and has left his indelible mark on the commercial sales aspect of it. In 1994, he formed Lorimont Place, Ltd., of which he is president, exclusively handling commercial, industrial, and development real estate in Southeast Missouri.

Among his commercial clients are the U.S. Postal Service, Regions Bank, Charter Communications, Federal Express, Union Pacific Railroad, Drury Southwest, Southeast Missouri Hospital, City of Cape Girardeau, Spartech Plastics and more.

Hanging on his office wall is a framed quotation from his grandfather, Harry E. Kelsey, that sums up his grandfather's business philosophy: "Always serve your client first and the compensation will always follow." Kelsey says following his grandfather's words has made his 34 years in real estate the success and the pleasure he has found them to be.

BT: In your experience, how has the real estate market changed over the years?

Tom Kelsey: Actually, in my 34 years in the business there have been traditional ups and downs. In the late 70s and early 80s when there was a 21 percent interest rate, it was hard to get somebody interested in buying anything.

I've been exclusively involved in commercial real estate in the last 15 years. Cape has done really well. Looking around, in past years as far as retail, restaurant or industry, Cape has a lot of things to offer: a good quality of life, affordable work force — a dependable and affordable work force.

BT: How is the real estate market here surviving in the present economic downturn?

Kelsey: Our business has stayed very steady. You read about gloom and doom in the national media. I network with brokers all over the country; I know some areas are crying the blues, but you have to remember we are situated here in "Conservative USA." We never have big booms; neither usually do we have big busts. What is happening in other places in home construction in some places like Florida and the West Coast with whole subdivisions of houses foreclosed on, in "Conservative USA" we don't normally see that, and that's good.

BT: So it's best to take a slow, steady approach to the market?

Kelsey: One example we can give is about four years ago we had over 3 million square feet of industrial space on the market between Perryville and Sikeston divided between warehousing and maufacturing, and today have very little available industrial space. That speaks to the resilience of our market. Most of our space is filled.

BT: Why did you decide to specialize in commercial property?

KELSEY: I saw the area was beginning to grow in the commercial sector. It was a whole different world. Marketing is 90 percent of it because you have fewer prospects in the marketplace than you do in residential. I sell primarily to Poplar Bluff to the west, the state line to the south and basically don't go north further than Perryville. Eighty percent of my activity probably is here in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Sikeston, and Scott City.

BT: What makes this area desirable for commercial real estate?

KELSEY: Transportation. We have two major railroads, an interstate system, airport and of course we have the (Mississippi River) port and the airport.

BT: How have fuel costs impacted your business?

KELSEY: For example, Super Value Distributing has consolidated, a cost-cutting measure for them to run their trucks. Some companies are thinking if fuel costs continue to escalate, some will do the opposite and establish distribution centers in closer proximity and that will benefit us. In downturn times, companies close and that creates merchandise for us to sell on the market. K's (K's Merchandise building) was an opportunity. Sometimes it's sad to go through it — a manufacturing building or a building where you know hundreds of people made their living. But it's exciting when a company takes it on and puts employees back into that vacant building.

BT: If you had a crystal ball, what do you see for the future in this area?

KELSEY: This area will continue to grow because of all the different elements of things we've talked about earlier. I think about the Cape Girardeau area, the region, as being a trade area. I see a lot of franchises I do not see in other areas with a population base like this. Those operators know people are coming in from the whole area. You see people from Dexter, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Southern Illinois. We have two major hospitals and all the support people for those coming in for medical care.

One thing I really see changing is the way we do marketing of our properties. In the old days high tech was a Polaroid and a typewriter. Now we have Web sites, digital cameras, e-mail. The average person looking for an office or trade location can download and print a marketing sheet, can check where the property is and what's around it. In the old days you had to get one-on-one with everybody and tour them around. Now it's totally different.

The biggest thing we do is network with real estate professionals away from here. It's an excellent way for us to exchange information. They may have one company who wants to come here. Typically in a day I will have inquiries from brokers away from here needing to know what office properties are available. They can visit my Web site and get an overview of the property available, price range and location. High tech awareness is something very, very important. We network and have for many years with real estate professionals, bringing projects to the area. We will know who needs to see that property, and hopefully it's not too long before somebody says 'I can use that.' There are buyers and tenants for every piece of property. All we have to do is get our piece of property in front of them.

BT: What do you see in the future for yourself? Retirement?

KELSEY: I love what I do. It's interesting. My dad was a broker, a developer and a home builder. When I was a kid at home I thought it was the most boring profession. I told my friends I'm not going to follow into that. Once I got out of school and tried the real world I had an opportunity to go into the family business, and I have no regrets. It's absolutely been a wonderful way to make a living. I've made a ton of lifetime friends and clients and no two days have ever been alike. This business has been a lot of fun.