 |
| Jerry Pinkas |
The Herald’s Realtor of the Week is Jerry Pinkas. He is a top producing salesman with EXIT Grand Strand Properties’ Myrtle Beach office, which is located at 4600 Oleander Drive in Myrtle Beach.
Pinkas specializes in oceanfront properties, including single family homes and condominiums, many of which are purchased as personal investments.
In fact, Pinkas, now 43, has been a real estate investor since he was 21.
Pinkas was born in Baltimore, Md., and grew up there. He graduated from Towson Catholic High School and immediately entered the furniture industry as a retail furniture salesman and later became a store manager.
At the age of 21, he opened his own furniture store, Fox Furniture, on Belair Road in Baltimore.
He grew that business from a 5,000-square-foot store to a 30,000-square-foot store in five years, before deciding to get into the wholesale part of the furniture industry.
As an independent representative for several manufacturers, Pinkas then traveled a territory, including Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia.
It was during this time that he developed his marketing and negotiating skills, as well as his skills as a salesman.
Pinkas then bought a North Carolina furniture factory, called Stoneville Furniture, which employed more than 350 people.
Pinkas later began to look up and down the East Coast for real estate for investment and retirement.
He had always loved the beach. He found Myrtle Beach to be what he considered undervalued in the marketplace for what was available and the lifestyle that was afforded.
So he bought his first condominium in Myrtle Beach as a second home.
The next year he bought a couple more condominiums, with a game plan of eventually moving to the Grand Strand.
In 2005, Pinkas moved to Myrtle Beach permanently and entered the real estate profession.
Pinkas says that he loves the real estate business, because, “It’s all about helping people.”
He says that if he can focus his efforts and energy on the best interests of his buyer or seller clients to find what satisfies their wants and needs, it “… all comes back.”
The repeat business and referrals make it worthwhile, as well as the gratification Pinkas says that he receives.
He believes that, “if you are good at what you do, and enjoy what you do, then you can have fun at work and at play.”
Pinkas and his wife, Sheila, have three daughters, Sophia, 14, Abigail, 12, and Isabella, 6.
As a family, they decided one Halloween to host a haunted house for kids. This grew into an annual event before the family moved to Myrtle Beach, and it has continued to the present.
In fact, it grew so large, that they chose to donate the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to benefit children with life threatening illnesses. They have a Web site, MyrtleBeachHauntedHouse.com. Pincas has since become a wish granter for Make-A-Wish.
Sheila Pinkas is property manager in charge of Oceanfront Condo Rentals, which she and Jerry own.
Pinkas says, “you have to love what you do in order to be good at it, and you must love helping others to achieve their dreams.”
This is a key topic of a new book that he is writing, which is being published this spring. It is called “How to Buy and Sell Beach Real Estate for Profit.” It will be available in local book stores.
