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Just last week, Peter Benninger accepted the position of co-chairman of the
fund-raising campaign for the city of Waterloo's ambitious Millennium
Recreation Project.
"Yes, I accepted just last week, and I've already had three meetings since
then," he laughs.
But Benninger, of Coldwell Banker Peter Benninger Realty, is a man who hits
the floor running every day.
Consider this: In addition to his full-time focus on selling commercial real estate, he has a staff of 125 in four offices in K-W, and a relatively new
satellite office in Elmira.
He's on the board of directors of both the Centre for Family Business and
the Drayton Festival, has been recognized with a governor-general's award
for his work in fire safety and prevention, is very involved in Habitat for
Humanity, and serves on the economic development advisory committee for the
City of Kitchener.
Benninger has become one of the titans of his industry, locally, so it's
surprising to hear that he "basically stumbled" into the vocation.
"I went from wheel estate to real estate," he smiles of his move from
selling recreational vehicles to selling houses, 22 years ago.
He and his wife, Bonnie, had just had a less-than-perfect experience in
purchasing their own first home, and it occurred to Benninger that he could
"probably do better," particularly with customer service.
Prove that suspicion he did, as he began building a business while selling,
on his own, an impressive 120 to 130 houses a year.
Benninger, 45, became a Coldwell Banker franchisee in 1992, then parlayed
himself into a powerful brokerage, partially through acquiring local
Coldwell Banker Canada Trust offices in 1993, and P.E. Olsen Realty Ltd. in
1995.
Olsen gave Benninger something in which he had long been interested: a
foothold in commercial real estate.
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Though he enjoyed residential sales, Benninger made the transition to
commercial about four years ago, and reports that end of the business is,
like its much larger residential counterpart, "doing well and
growing."
Commercial is a personal challenge, he clearly respects his competitors, and
he also brings to the table a wealth of experience as a developer and
landlord, dealing with zoning, planners, engineers, designers and
contractors, through his own commercial holdings.
"I was at my sites in a hard hat for years," he chuckles. (Currently,
he
owns the two commercial buildings at the corner of University and Bridge
streets in Waterloo.)
But perhaps the greatest thrill for Benninger is that two of his commercial
division's seven employees are his children. Tania, 27, is in charge of
administration and systems, while Joe, 25, is in sales.
"It is wonderful having my kids in the business," exclaims Benninger,
whose
21-year-old son, Nicholas, is an apprentice chef in Burlington.
"To a great degree, Tania and Joe, who both went to university, took me to
the commercial end, as that's where they went when they joined the company.
"The opportunity to work with them and to develop that business was
something I looked forward to doing."
It's hard to believe, given the demands on his time, but Benninger claims to
be down to 55 hours a week from 80.
"But the thing with real estate is -- and I can say this after 22 years --
it is just an absolute lifestyle," he explains.
"Once it's in your blood and you enjoy it, you might feel pretty tired some
days, but it still doesn't seem like work.
"I think it's the constant new people and new things you are
learning,"
muses the proponent of technology and the Internet.
"And things are always changing; you just can't get bored. I have never
been
bored with it, ever." |
