The gig: Brooke Knapp has been a real estate agent with Sotheby's International Realty, Beverly Hills, for 14 years. Half of an agent team with Drew Mandile, Knapp, 69, has been involved in noteworthy multimillion-dollar deals including the 2002 sale of Owlwood, a former Sony and Cher residence in Holmby Hills, for $35 million. Before joining Sotheby's, Knapp made a name for herself setting aviation speed records.
Her flight path: Although surrounded by flying enthusiasts, Knapp was afraid of flying when she started playing a game with herself. "At the first of the year, I would make list of my fears and prioritize them so the most terrifying one was on top, and I would set out to conquer it," she said. In 1978, it was the fear of flying. She signed up for lessons but told herself she could cancel. Then she decided to at least drive to the airport. Once there, she figured she could do the ground school. Gradually she got to the courage to get in a plane and look at the instruments. "Never having to make the next step but choosing to make it," she said, was the key.
Once she had the bug, she founded a charter company called Jet Airways with her husband at the time, financier Charles W. Knapp. (He later served prison time for defrauding an Arizona savings and loan.) She ran Jet Airways for eight years. "As a way to advertise our company, I decided to set a speed record," Knapp said. She broke the record for the fastest around-the-world flight by a civilian jet aircraft in a Gulfstream III and set more than 100 other speed records, according to "Round-the-World Flights" by Carroll V. Glines.
Landing on the Westside: Knapp started working in real estate sales in the 1980s because she wanted to be self employed and set her own standards and hours. She pursued other business options too — Knapp was vice president of Golden State Newsprint Inc., a recycled-newsprint manufacturer. But she kept a hand in real estate, buying houses in Simi Valley, fixing them up and leasing them out with options to buy.
Then a friend told her Mandile was looking for someone to team up with. "In the beginning we thought it wouldn't work out because I really wanted an assistant," Mandile said. But after Knapp made it clear she would be nobody's second, the duo discovered they had strengths that complemented each other.
Route to success: "Drew is technical," Knapp said. "I'm much more relationship-oriented. I do listing interviews, meeting clients, a lot of the social aspects — the fun part of the job, not the details." Knapp's social skills and connections help the team attract clients and keep them. They landed an 8.5-acre listing that sold for $30 million after 21/2 years.
Many agents cannot keep a seller for that period of time, Mandile said. "They lose the interest of the owner." He credits Knapp's ability to develop relationships. "She really has a level of sophistication that few people possess," he said.
High-profile clients have included talk-show host Leeza Gibbons and inventor and pitchman Ron Popeil.
Words to live by: "The best advice I've ever received: Better to be the master of your silence than the prisoner of your words," said Knapp, who carries the saying in her wallet. "That's a nice literary way to say 'Never miss a good opportunity to shut up.' It applies to real estate and business."
Civic-minded: Active in local and international charities, Knapp is the incoming president of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills. She finds such work fulfilling, but it also gives her a chance to rub elbows with successful individuals. "It's like the who's who of Beverly Hills," she said of Rotary, "past mayors, council members." Named president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1991, she helped preserve the rights to the Hollywood sign and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Personal life: Knapp golfs regularly and has an 18 handicap. She enjoys aerobatic flying on the weekends but no longer competes. (She once took Mandile up to view a ranch they had listed and did barrel rolls over it.) A Francophile who majored in French at UCLA, she remains interested in French culture, food and language. Knapp lives in Bel-Air with her husband, Grant Tinker, a former NBC chairman.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-himi-knapp-20101107,0,5276075.story
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