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 GET A HIGH RATE OF RETURN AND KEEP YOUR FEET ON SOLID GROUND. 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