Dolly Lenz—from nerd to superstar broker

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 19, 2005 by Elaine Misonzhnik

If anyone ever wonders why real estate remains such a popular career choice, the story of Dolly Lenz, the high profile broker from Prudential Douglas Elliman, should be enough of an explanation.

Born and raised in the Bronx and lacking any industry connections, Lenz managed to become one of the best paid people in the business and a real estate celebrity in her own right.

Lenz became a broker when she was 25 years old, at her husband's suggestion.

By that time, she already had a lucrative career in accounting and was buying and selling her own apartments to make a little extra cash. "Instead of doing what normal married people do who live in a one-bedroom, me and my husband decided that we'd just live in a studio, buy another apartment and rent it out," Lenz explains.

"And I always liked the thought of owning and selling property, so I started doing it more and more."

At first, she used a broker to help her close these transactions, but Lenz soon realized that she was doing most of the work ... and doing it quite well. Her husband was so impressed he thought she should switch careers.

"At first, I was reluctant--I already had a career as an accountant, but I decided to give it a shot," Lenz says. Unfortunately, she had neither a real estate diploma nor contacts in the industry.

"At first, no one would hire me," she says. "Because I was an accountant they thought I was a nerd, not a social person at all. Plus, I grew up very poor, so I had no social connections."

But as Lenz persisted, she finally found someone who was willing to take a chance on her--a boutique Manhattan realty, which she ended up outlasting. According to Lenz, in her first year there, she made triple what she made as an accountant ... and started to get her name known in real estate circles. She moved over to Sotheby's International Realty and, finally, to Douglas Elliman, where, she says, she intends to stay for good.

"For me, moving to Douglas Elliman turned out to be the best thing ever," she says. "A brokerage is very hard to leave--you become ingrained where you are and especially going from an 80-person firm to a 1,000-person firm is a hard move. But the current owners [Dottie Herman and Howard Lorber, who bought the company after Lenz introduced them to Douglas Elliman's previous management] back you up on everything. They help you do pitches, they want to make Douglas Elliman the best company on the planet."

In that, they get a lot of help from Lenz, who today is considered one of the best brokers in New York City.

She often represents such high-profile clients as Barbara Streisand, Calvin Klein and Bruce Willis, not to mention both domestic and foreign business tycoons.

She has made such a name for herself that she can afford to no longer solicit business.

"Once you've been doing this for 20 years, 100% of your business is, or should be, referrals," Lenz says. "I also get things by reputation--someone will read a story about a building I sold and ask me if I'll sell their property. I don't actively solicit listings, it never happens."

When asked how she managed to become what she is today, Lenz is reticent, but she insists that hard work and dedication are absolute necessities.

"It's about starting your day at 6:00 in the morning and not it until 1:00 at night," she says.

"A lot of people think that being a real estate broker is an easy thing because the entry level is so easy, anyone can do it, but the truth is, it looks easy, but it's not.

"Every deal is very complicated and it takes every skill you've ever had just to get it closed."

And, sometimes, it also takes old-fashioned feminine guile. Lenz mentions the recent sale of a penthouse at Time Warner Center--which got the highest price per s/f in the city--as a deal that took all her ability to bring to fruition.

"The buyers totally did not fit the standard profile of people who would buy at Time Warner Center," she explains.

"They only wanted to move to a pry-war penthouse on Fifth Avenue and they wouldn't even look at anything else. We tried taking them to this apartment and that apartment and they didn't want anything modern. Finally, we said 'The Time Warner Center has a lot of new great restaurants, let's have lunch in the building.' And then, when we finished eating, we said 'Why don't we go upstairs and just look at the apartments?' We got them to look, they fell in love and bought the [place]."

As to her plans for the future, Lenz says she would love to get more involved in development work. She has already served as a consultant to Steven Roth, of Vornado Realty Trust, and would like more development assignments.

"I'd like to get more involved in arranging floor plans, creating model apartments, choosing the right finishes," Lenz says.

"I've been doing this for more than 15 years and I'd love to get involved more in that aspect of the business because it's interesting. So, I hope to do it more officially, instead of on the consulting basis."

Pretty impressive for a woman who had only her intelligence and diligence to start with.