Dollar Volume – Chhabria Repeats as No. 1 Realtor in Value of Deals

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Raju Chhabria got the surprise of his life when he showed the first house of his career in 1984 and walked in on a couple making love.

“I was so embarrassed,” said Chhabria. “Ever since then, I’m very careful not to open closed doors.”

The incident didn’t discourage Chhabria, who is now the top-selling residential broker in Los Angeles County for the second year in a row. In 1999 he sold $102.1 million worth of residential real estate in 114 transactions, easily beating his $84.3 million in sales the previous year.

“I love making things happen for people,” Chhabria said. “I love giving opportunities for people to find their dream home.”

Chhabria, who works for Shorewood Realtors in Manhattan Beach, juggles an average of 45 listings at any one time. His largest sale last year was a $4.5 million Italian-style mansion one block from the bluffs in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Chhabria said he sells up to 14 homes a month. The key to his success, he says, is that he’s “very patient, very knowledgeable. I won’t rush anyone into making a decision.”

Client Amy Mendez confirms this. When she first met Chhabria, “I thought, he’s never going to sell a home in a million years, he’s so low-key,” she said. “But he has a finely tuned ability to read people and know when a deal can be done.”

Chhabria emigrated to the United States from India in 1984, armed with accounting and law degrees. He previously had worked for his uncle’s wholesale fabric business. But his $10,000 nest egg was gone in two months after he tried to start a leather import business.

He answered an ad to get his real estate license, and the day he got it Nov. 7, 1984 was the day he sold his first home. Yes, he found a home for the family who interrupted the amorous couple, but it wasn’t that house.

Chhabria says his legal and accounting training comes in handy, as he reviews contracts, informs clients of local ordinances regulating remodels, and makes quick work of qualifying them for loans. He also has been developing residential properties for a decade a $4.7 million Palos Verdes home he is constructing for a family moving from Beverly Hills should close escrow in May.

Chhabria employs four assistants and his expenses, which include $10,000 monthly in advertising, take about 30 percent of his average monthly commissions of $175,000.

Chhabria believes that in 2000 he can beat last year’s sales by 20 percent. Having placed $35 million worth of properties in escrow so far this year, “I’m definitely going to outdo myself. I’m on pace to sell $120 million,” he said.

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