S.F.'s Newest Brokerage Startup

It is every broker's dream to start their own outfit. And that's exactly what the three guys behind Finlay Pacific were able to do, after years with the brokerage giants. Kareem Barzegar just left his longtime post at Cassidy Turley to round out the trio, which landed a space at 230 Cal (pictured). Matthew Brasler (middle) and Zachary Minor left NAI NorCal to form the firm in 2013. (Kareem had to wrap up some Cassidy deals in 2014 before joining.) Walls look bare now but the plan is to put signage up front and add at least half a dozen brokers over the next year. The team says it isn't after Google and Facebook business, but rather sees an opportunity in serving the needs of their own local network. Many existing clients have become friends over time as transactions have closed.

Kareem plays poker and goes biking with professional service clients regularly. Zach played pro baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies and loves taking clients to Giants games. (And the team's new third baseman, Casey McGehee, was his teammate in college--so this year's games should be a blast, he says.) The office atmosphere is just as relaxed, with a fridge stocked with beers and casual Fridays around the clock when client meetings aren't happening (Matt changed out of a T-shirt for this pic). Even the way they do business can be unconventional; this painting was the final deal point on the brokerage services in closing a commission.

Matt's dream deal is one he closes while bike riding with the client. Here's Matt (left) finishing the Napa Valley Tour de Cure bike century with a client and Team Schwab.

Kareem and Matt used to work at Grubb & Ellis and dreamt about opening their own firm one day, having now been friends for 15 years. Finlay Pacific isn't limiting services to tenant or landlord representation, but rather offering full brokerage and consulting services to all commercial and multifamily sales, leasing and financing.