By Taylor Hood/ Journal Staff Writer Monday, July 24th, 2017,12:02am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Brad Allen, principal of Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group, is an easy-going kind of a guy. His slight southern drawl and bright smile can immediately put a person as ease. Maybe that is why he has become such a successful commercial broker, investor and developer.
Allen is heavily influenced by his grandfather, who went from pumping gas to being a successful hotel developer and taught him the value of saving money. Allen will tell you he is an open book. He likes gardening and being with his family. But Allen is deeper than he would have people believe. His affection for mentor Roger Cox comes through in nearly every story he tells and though he tries not to let his sadness show at Cox’s 2013 passing, he can’t help but choke up when his mentor is mentioned.
He may be an open book, but his attachments to the people in his life are deep and genuine.
So, you have a pretty big family. Is that a lot to handle?
It’s a bunch, but my wife grew up on a farm in Canada, so she knows how to work. And she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. She is the most optimistic (person). She’s just an amazing person, and if it wasn’t for her, I probably couldn’t be doing this.
How did you meet?
I was attending Brigham Young (University). My wife and I actually lived in the same apartment complex, but we had never met. I have a younger brother and he was serving a mission in Calgary, Canada. And he had met my wife’s family and the mother said she was going down to BYU. She had some daughters and a son that were attending down there. And my brother said, “Well, yeah, look my brother up. He’s attending down there, too.” So I get a call from this lady and she’s like “You don’t know who I am but we know your brother, and we wanted to say hi to you.” They had an aunt that lived close by and, “Would you like to come over for dinner?” And I was, like, sure, I’ll come over for dinner. And I walked in there and it turned out it was her birthday. So anyway I met her there and that was November ’94 and I think we were engaged by March ’95.
So your mission for the LDS was in Arizona and New Mexico? It must’ve made an impression.
Yeah, you know, it was so different from where I grew up in Florida. I loved the open spaces. I just love the ambiance of the West and thought it was a great place. But I probably never would’ve come back here if it wasn’t for Roger Cox. I met Roger Cox when I was here and I was 19 or 20 years old. And the guy was so impressive. And he had done everything I’d hoped to do or wanted to do. So he said, “All right. After you graduate come back.” (So I) called Roger my senior year and he said, “Come on down.” And so I did.
Were you looking to go into real estate at that time?
Absolutely, yeah. And, actually, I had gotten my real estate license when I was in college. Bought my first piece of real estate when I was in college. I bought a little duplex. My wife and I were married my senior year and we moved in there. I figured it was cheaper to live there instead of my own apartment cause my tenant paid most of my payment.
Did you know you wanted to do commercial?
Yeah, I knew I wanted to do commercial. I found huge success on the industrial market. The tenants are like, “Hey, I need 10,000 feet. I need this much clearance.” It was a real kind of unemotional decision. The industrial market was booming then.
How long were you with Roger Cox?
Fifteen years. In fact, we moved down here and I knocked on Roger’s door and was like, “I’m here.” And I think he had forgotten we were coming and he was like, “Oh, just come on in.” He lived up in the Northeast (Heights) and there was this barn that had an apartment above it, and he says, “How about you just live here next to me.” So I lived there. We lived right there next to Roger and his family for basically a year. The guy was just amazing. He had such great ideas. He was smart. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would sit down and teach you. You would just learn as you went along. He was a big part of who I am today. That’s very powerful to have that kind of relationship.
Absolutely. Very much so. And I think that’s kind of one of the things that we need in today’s schools. You know, schools and business leaders (have to) touch all the way through a child’s education. We got kids in the high schools who call up and say “Hey, can we come see what you do for a day? Can I shadow you?” And we are like, “Sure, come on over.” Other kids are, “Hey, can I do an internship with you?” We got a kid who just finished up, another who is starting next week. And it’s like, “Yeah, however we can help you. Come on over.”
What does the Allen family do for fun?
My boys have dirt bikes. My daughter has a horse. My wife loves to sew. I mean, she made all of the draperies in our home. But she loves sewing dresses. She did modeling as a teenager, and she loves fashion. We have some land up in the Jemez and so we go up there. It’s so close and so we will go up there and go riding dirt bikes and shooting guns. My boys got a BB gun and they are shooting everything. I think I found that I just really enjoy being outside, working in the yard. Working in the yard for a day, it just looks beautiful. I grew up in Florida and they got a ton of grass to mow. I was the kid out there sabotaging the lawn mower. “Sorry dad. It won’t start.” But when it’s yours, it feels great.
Can you tell me a little about partnering with Lance Sigmon?
Lance and I are very similar in a lot of ways and there are other ways that we are different, which is good. He is pretty analytical, can break things down, can drill down to the core pretty quick. I tend to be a little more intuitive. We’ve been fortunate to make things work. I think between his skill set and my skill set, it becomes like one good person, maybe.
Story originally reported on the Albuquerque Journal: https://goo.gl/AaCKnN
Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group is a full-service commercial real estate company based in Albuquerque with an expertise in acquisitions, brokerage, development, and property management. As a local company, we pride ourselves in our knowledge of the New Mexico commercial market and the relationships we are able to foster compared to larger national firms. Our office works with every kind of commercial property; including office, industrial, retail, land, and multifamily.
Our understanding of client needs and concerns not only comes from our experience as an office but also as owners and investors of commercial property ourselves. We have an excellent team in place that is eager to work on your behalf; our results speak for themselves.
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