The Value of an SIOR Designation

This week, the SIOR Conference returns to Los Angeles for the first time in a dozen years — at the Hollywood Loews Hotel in Hollywood. So, we decided to use this post to discuss how membership in SIOR benefits brokers and their clients. At Voit, nearly two dozen of our brokers have earned the prestigious SIOR designation, a professional symbol of the highest level of knowledge, production, and ethics in the real estate industry. We spoke with three brokers from the SIOR Inland Empire & Orange County chapter for this piece, and they shared their experiences.

What is SIOR?

For those unfamiliar with the organization, SIOR (Society of Industrial and Office Realtors) has been a force in the commercial real estate industry for 85 years. A professional affiliate of the National Associate of Realtors®, SIOR is comprised of CRE professionals who have earned the SIOR designation, which is recognized by corporate real estate executives, commercial real estate brokers, agents, lenders, and other real estate professionals as the most capable and experienced brokerage practitioners in any market. Presently, SIOR has 4,000 members in over 50 countries who benefit from the industry-specific knowledge, networking events, and educational resources that SIOR offers. SIOR recognizes the importance of driving cutting-edge education and best practices to its current and future members and does so through its website, its magazine, the SIOR Report, conferences (which feature breakout sessions on topics impacting the industry, keynote speakers, etc.), and a global network of members.

How Do You Become an SIOR?

Unlike many industry associations, you can’t simply enroll as a member. Brokers wishing to become SIORs must have at least five years of CRE experience as an actively engaged industrial and/or office broker; maintain a minimum Gross Fee Income (GFI) that indicates high achievement for three out of the last four years (this varies by market. For Southern California markets, it’s $200-$600K for industrial and $200-$400K for office — the highest in the nation); obtain endorsements from two SIOR designees within the chapter and outside of the applicant’s firm; follow a strict code of ethics as a commitment to SIOR’s Code of Ethical Principles & Standards; and undergo mandatory recertification.

Voit SIORs

All three Voit SIORs we interviewed – Sean Sullivan, SIOR, SVP/Partner in the Ontario office; Mike Vernick, CCIM, SIOR, SVP/Partner, Anaheim; and Brad Fox, SIOR, SVP, Ontario – were introduced to SIOR by their Voit partners or mentors.

“I was brought into the business by (40-year veteran, Voit EVP) Walt Chenoweth, who was a member of SIOR and still is. He had always talked about SIOR being the gold standard for brokers,” says Sullivan, who earned his designation late last year.

Fox, with eleven years in the CRE business (the last six with Voit), also earned his designation late last year. He says he set a goal early in his career to become an SIOR “because the top brokers controlling the big-box industrial space in my market were all SIORs. Being part of this elite group of brokers committed to ethics and excellence matched how I wanted to build my business.”

Vernick says he was introduced to SIOR early on in his career by his partner, 37-year veteran and EVP/Partner Mike Hefner. “It was really right out of the gate I got involved as a junior SIOR candidate,” he says. “And then after 5 or 6 years of being in the business, I was lucky enough to generate the volume required to become an SIOR member. From there, my relationship with the organization continued to evolve and progress until I ended up in a leadership role,” Vernick has been an SIOR member for 15 years, served as chapter president for SIOR Inland Empire & Orange County from 2018 to 2020, and remains on the chapter’s board. He is active locally and nationally with SIOR, attending most chapter events and going to national conferences at least once a year.

Sullivan and Fox have followed his lead, are actively involved in their chapter, and are excited to attend their first SIOR Conference in LA. “Some SIOR members that were maybe a few years ahead of me told me, ‘You’ll get out of it what you put into it,’ which I already knew, but I have been active, and it’s already [paying off],” said Sullivan, who has spent his entire nine-year CRE career with Voit.

A Wider Network

One of the advantages of being an SIOR is that members have access to a global network of real estate professionals. Voit is a regional brokerage firm with global connections. By having access to brokers around the globe, Voit brokers can help their Southern California clients who are expanding or relocating operations to other markets. Clients are ensured that they will receive the best local market information by working with SIORs in the target market. Voit SIORs can also co-broker deals with SIORs, bringing their clients to the SoCal market.

Sullivan says that he and Chenoweth recently helped a locally based client consolidate their East Coast facilities by accessing the SIOR network. “I don’t think they were originally thinking of using us because they knew us as Southern California brokers,” says Sullivan. “But we successfully lobbied them to use us because of our access to brokers all across the country in our SIOR network.” Sullivan is currently working on an inbound industrial deal in his market with a Houston-based SIOR broker he met during his SIOR training last year. Fox has already collaborated on deals with brokers in the Dallas and Savannah, Georgia markets.

A Code of Ethics

Another hallmark of the SIOR designation is adherence to a code of ethics that the organization takes very seriously. “They really impress upon you the importance of the ethical qualifications that come with being an SIOR broker,” says Sullivan. During the interview process to become an SIOR, candidates are reviewed by chapter members. If members have any ethical concerns about a candidate that can’t be resolved, they are denied membership.

Those standards are not just an entrance requirement; they remain in place throughout the SIOR’s membership. “There have been measures taken against brokers who are SIORs who aren’t ethically accountable,” affirms Vernick. “They have a methodology in place to remove them (if deemed necessary). I’ve seen some issues arise, and yes, this is taken very, very seriously.”

Client Benefits

Fox, Sullivan, and Vernick say that their clients benefit from their access to the top brokers in any market — nationally or globally — because they can be sure their clients are getting the best service in any market. In addition, the designation is so well respected within their local market that engagement with other brokers on behalf of their clients is also well respected, which results in reliable information and smoother transactions.

“At the end of the day, this business is really about integrity and ethics,” says Vernick. “Our clients are making significant financial decisions based on information that we’re providing them. So, we need to be a source of unbiased, reliable information so that they can make the best decisions possible. That’s what SIOR provides. It’s a great organization.”