Susan Howard is one of the leading commercial real estate brokers in the state of Connecticut. She has been the designated broker for U.S. Properties, Inc. since joining the company in 1993. Previous to working with U.S. Properties Susan was employed for over twenty years by American Airlines as a flight attendant and later as a sales representative. "The sales training and social skills development parlayed perfectly into my career as a real estate broker," she said. After her two daughters graduated from high school, Susan got her real estate license and worked as an independent agent specializing in the sales and marketing of luxury condominiums and residential homes along the Connecticut shoreline.
A native of Southeastern Connecticut, Susan has lived in the area for most of her life. "I grew up in Salem on a farm where my father raised Aberdeen Angus cattle. We actually supplied the beef to many of the area's finest restaurants. About 15 years ago my father's health was failing and he wanted to sell the property. A real estate agent came and offered my father $300,000 for the 600 acres. A month later that agent sold the property for $1.3 million. We found out later that not only did he know the land was worth a lot more than he purchased it for, but he also had a buyer ready and willing to buy the land. I was so upset that someone would take advantage of an older gentleman this way, let alone my father, that it motivated me to learn as much as I could about the real estate business. That's really how I ended up getting into it."
Susan was hired by David Mills, partner/owner of U.S. Properties, Inc. to be the exclusive leasing agent for Shaw's Cove Business Park, a development with six office buildings totaling 300,000 s/f of class A office space. It is the largest and most prestigious address in Southeastern Connecticut. Mills, an architect and property developer, mentored Susan through the transition from residential to commercial real estate. Faced with the challenge of learning the lingo, along with the more important factors that make commercial real estate a different world to operate in than residential, Susan first concentrated on leasing and then eventually moved into sales.
Since joining U.S. Properties, Inc. the company has become one of the leading full service commercial real estate organizations in Southeastern Connecticut and has been consistently recognized as a leader in the commercial real estate market for sales and leasing in the region. With its headquarters in New London, U.S. Properties offers services for the sales, leasing and management of office, retail, industrial, investment and multifamily properties in Southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. The company leases and/or property manages over 1.5 million s/f of commercial office and residential apartment space annually. It also manages properties in Florida, Texas and Colorado. Its outstanding market presence is primarily due to the dynamic leadership, professionalism and integrity of the team of brokers and agents with whom Susan works.
Along with her partner, Jim White, a retired Coast Guard commander, Susan has negotiated sales and leases totaling millions of dollars to investors and corporate users. She provides her clients with a wide range of services such as brokering sales and leases, developing programs for optimum utilization of available space, and negotiating build-to-suit facilities and tenant improvements. Susan was quoted in The New York Times on her vision for Southeastern Connecticut, and particularly, the New London real estate market. The Commercial Record featured her article "New London's Real Estate Market - A New Beginning" as part of a series on commercial real estate activity in Southeastern Connecticut.
Clearly, commercial real estate is now a world where Susan operates extremely well. She has consistently been recognized as a leading sales producer by the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors and has executed many of the most noteworthy real estate transactions in the New London area in recent years. Her clients and customers include private investors as well as companies critical to local economic development such as Pfizer, Electric Boat, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, GAMBRO Healthcare, Mohegan Sun Casino, Foxwoods, Citizen's Bank, People's Bank, SAIC, and the VA Hospital, just to name a few.
Susan cites staying active in the community as being very important to her business. She is presently a member of The Dime Bank Corporators, the town of Old Lyme Economic Development Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital Benefactors Society and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.
In her spare time, Susan enjoys gardening and traveling extensively. She especially enjoys exploring the countries of Eastern Europe and just returned from a trip to Switzerland and Italy with her husband. As an active member of the Southeastern Connecticut real estate community and also as an involved member of the New London area community as well, Susan is very aware of the difficulties that confront this geographical area, but is optimistic about the opportunities that the commercial real estate field offers in such a surrounding.
"Having lived in Connecticut most of my life, I have a real passion and appreciation for working in this business, from working with Fortune 500 companies that provide so many jobs to this area to helping a start up business find the perfect office space. It's exciting work and I guess as they say, if you love what you do, then it's not really work, is it?"
For more information on Susan Howard and U.S. Properties, Inc. please visit: uspropinc.com.