a good reputation in the market,
which we earn. And you've got to
earn that reputation every day,"
said Mr. Silverman. "That repu-
tation has put us in a fortunate
situation where we'll get con-
tacted about opportunities, and
have the potential to be involved
H in certain real estate transac-
' tions that are highly favorable."
Indeed, both Mr. Silverman
and his firm are highly thought
of within the often fiercely-com-
petitive industry.
Irvin H. Yackness, executive
vice president and general coun-
sel of the Building Industry As-
sociation, said Mr. Silverman is
known for innovative single-fam-
H, ily and multifamily develop-
' ments. He also credits Mr.
Silverman for making major con-
tributions to the industry during
his term as BIA president.
Mr. Silverman was not only
the youngest person to be pres-
ident of the BIA, he was the first
second-generation president of
the organization. His father held
the post in 1968.
Buzz Silverman's
Personal Side
/—
Buzz Silverman is an avid ten-
nis player and he loves skiing.
"Our family is pretty sports
minded," he said "We like to go
places where they have sport-
ing things, although our sched-
ules are fairly hectic."
Buzz and Jan Silverman
have been married for 17 years.
The couple have three children:
Jessica, 14; Lesley, 11; and
Michael, 8. Mr. Silverman calls
his wife "the family's in-house
fitness expert."
Mr. Silverman sits on the
board of Jewish Family Service,
which he says he "really enjoys.
I think it is a great grass-roots
resources program for new fam-
ilies emigrating to the Detroit
area. They do a phenomenal
job."
He is also on the board of the
University of Michigan Com-
prehensive Cancer Center
(UMCCC). He calls it "an op-
portunity to help raise funds for
a very, very, terrible disease."
This past fall, Mr. Silverman
chaired a tailgate benefit prior
to a U-M football game that fea-
tured Bo Schembechler, broad-
caster Eli Zaret, the school's
cheerleaders and the glee club.
The event raised more than
$100,000 for UMCCC.
Mr. Silverman also sits on
the board of J & J Youth Ser-
vices, which provides after-
school mentoring, tutoring, and
community assistance in De-
troit. U
"You'd be surprised at how
small the real estate world is at
the high-volume levels," said Mr.
Silverman. "Everybody knows
everybody, and we're concerned
as an industry about quality.
"When we go into a commu-
nity, basically they've heard of
Silverman, and they have the
ability to check with other com-
munities, which we ed like them
to do. That's because we have
very good relationships with all
of the units of government that
we do business with. We think
that's the key to longevity for our
company:
`That was Grandpa Nathan's
system, it was my dad's system,
and it is my system — longterm
relationships," said Mr. Silver-
man.
That philosophy also extends
to consumers. "The customer to-
day is extremely intelligent. He
or she is shopping from a
process-of-elimination system,
extremely different than in the
past. They understand invest-
ment, and they have a very def-
inite list of objectives.
"We talk to our customers be-
fore we design their houses. We
talk to them in focus groups
about the way they'd like to be
sold, and about the way they'd
like to live in these new houses.
That helps us with warranty
programs and production sys-
tems," said Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman traces that
company policy "back to Grand-
pa Nathan putting a tree in front
of every house when none of the
other builders was doing it. He
just threw that in, because he
thought it would make the
neighborhood look nice a dozen
years down the road.
"It probably came right out of
his profit margin, but he want-
ed to be known for doing a little
more, and giving the people a lit-
tle more. And I remember those
kinds of things, from when he
took me around to job sites when
I was a little kid."
An internal procedure begun
by his grandfather and contin-
ued by Mr. Silverman today is
to have dinner every Thursday
night with all of the company's
field personnel. When Grandpa
Nathan began the meetings, he
used to bring everyone corned
beef sandwiches. However, un-
der fitness-conscious Buzz, the
meals are now less calorie and
cholesterol laden.
Most of the business of the Sil-
verman Companies today is in
Michigan, primarily because of
the excellent local economy. But
in the past, Mr. Silverman was
involved in company develop-
ments in Colorado, Minnesota,
Indiana, Ohio, Florida and
SILVERMAN page 66
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