By ELIZABETH MARCELLINO Special to the Palisadian-Post Peter Hernandez’ first memories are of small-town Pacific Palisades in the 1950s. His family moved to Toyopa Drive when he was two, and he grew up playing baseball at the park for the undefeated Yankees; watching his teenage brother, Michael, and his friends ride their motorcycles up to the old Hot Dog Show on Sunset; and swimming on Coach Nelson’s team at Palisades High, when the center quad there looked like an offshoot of the Woodstock music festival. The town has changed a lot since then and Hernandez, 55, now lives in Point Dume with his wife, Kerry, and six-year-old daughter, Faith. But he would like to return to the Palisades one day. As founding partner and COO of a new real estate brokerage firm, Teles Properties, his expansion plans include a local office. Teles Properties opened in Beverly Hills on November 1 and now has 30 agents focusing on properties in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Hancock Park and adjacent neighborhoods. Hernandez and CEO Lou Piatt have partnered to create what they believe is a new model for real estate brokerage. Already, two of their deals have gained notoriety: the $22-million listing for acreage adjacent to the iconic Hollywood sign and a $15-million condo sale in Century City. With more than 70 years of real estate experience between them, Piatt and Hernandez looked at other firms and saw that about 20 percent of the agents generated nearly 80 percent of the business. They found that the same was true of housing markets; productivity was concentrated in specific residential areas. The idea of starting a boutique firm with a narrower market focus was appealing to them as a way to exploit those concentrations. ‘It’s very hard to design a company that is responsive to every market in terms of its marketing needs and style–to design a company that works in Wichita and Manhattan and Palm Beach and Beverly Hills,’ Piatt said. ‘The markets we focus on are very special, high-end markets with a lot in common.’ Hernandez’ first real estate job was working for his family’s brokerage firm in Marina del Rey. He began in 1970, just a few years after the marina was completed and development began in earnest. Only 18 years old and an economics major at UCLA, Hernandez was lucky enough to catch a great call on his first weekend in the office, and he quickly sold a two-story Cape Cod on Eastwind for $47,500. Hooked on real estate from that point on, Hernandez left the family business in 1983 to build his own reputation at Jon Douglas in the Marina. He became a top- selling producer for the firm, where he and Piatt met. Over the years, they remained friends–even as Hernandez moved on to Coldwell Banker and Jon Douglas was purchased by Prudential–and talked about creating their own business. In the spring of 2007, Piatt, Hernandez and a third colleague, Steve Shull, began focusing in earnest on a business model. Drawing on their extensive network of relationships, the three partners were able to attract ‘competent agents with character,’ Hernandez said, and Teles Properties opened its first office at Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards with five realtors. When it comes down to defining the division of labor between them as COO and CEO, Hernandez and Piatt insist that they split whatever is on the firm’s to-do list. And ‘no job is too small’ for either of them, said Piatt. By way of illustration, Hernandez told about their first partners meeting in the small conference room. They walked in to find that a heavy rain had penetrated the roof and soaked through the acoustic ceiling tiles until they collapsed like wet cement on the conference room table. So partners or not, they became the clean-up crew. While Teles seeks only experienced agents, even seasoned performers are asked to ratchet up their level of commitment and discipline. Shull, the third partner, serves as a professional in-house coach to the Teles team. His experience as a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins and one of the team’s tri-captains in the 1982 Super Bowl serves him well as a coach. ‘Steve can get even agents in the top 10 percent to double their volume,’ Ernie Carswell, a Teles agent, said. Agents operate independently and rely on business contacts who often become personal friends. The opportunity for distractions–a long lunch, an extra stop to meet someone who may be more friend than business contact today, a break to run errands–is high. Shull challenges agents to commit to tough goals and maintain a more intense level of focus. Piatt has seen Shull push agents to ‘exert the kind of effort’ that they just can’t reach on their own and uses the analogy of a personal trainer at the gym. The Teles partners believe that they can also make a more intense commitment when managing a smaller team of agents; their own leadership, support and firm resources have greater impact. A maximum of 50 agents per office is the company’s goal, and the principals do not actively sell in competition with their agents, which differentiates them from other boutique firms. Even if the Teles model is unique enough to capture attention in a market seemingly saturated with brokerage firms, isn’t it hubris or foolishness to open a new company in the midst of a market downturn? Piatt, who has worked through tough real estate cycles beginning with the 1974 market correction, said that, on the contrary, ‘the timing couldn’t be more perfect. In transition markets, it’s really clear to clients that they need competent service. We have a chance to differentiate ourselves at a time when service makes a difference.’ If the 80-20 rule holds in a good market, ‘in a tough market it goes 90-10,’ with fewer and fewer agents operating at a highly successful level, Hernandez explained. Piatt, Hernandez and Carswell all stress the importance of looking closely at specific submarkets in order to make judgments about trends in valuation or inventory. ‘The macro numbers are troubling,’ Piatt said, ‘and larger markets are in transition. But individually, well-priced properties that are strategically marketed will find a buyer. When you start comparing the macro numbers that you see in the newspaper, you are comparing markets from South Central Los Angeles to Beverly Hills’ and you can’t draw useful conclusions about a specific smaller market. Piatt and Hernandez focus on what they call ‘micro-markets,’ which they define as either submarkets like Pacific Palisades or Brentwood or even smaller areas, such as the Highlands or the Riviera within Pacific Palisades. ‘You need to drill down into the specifics of the immediate area,’ said Hernandez, in order to make useful judgments on behalf of clients. A recent $15-million condominium transaction illustrates Hernandez’ point. Teles agents David Mossler and John Iglar represented the buyer of the 38th floor unit at The Century, a luxury development under construction in Century City and slated for completion in 2009. The sales price of $2,700 per square foot sets a new Los Angeles area record, according to the Los Angeles Times, despite broader market trends. But the company’s highest profile listing to date is Cahuenga Peak. The marketing of this $22-million property, adjacent to the historical Hollywood sign, was announced February 13 and drew press coverage across the U.S. and as far away as Russia. It also drew controversy, as Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge denounced the potential development of the site, saying ‘It should be pristine and left open and not developed.’ LaBonge insisted in a recent interview with National Public Radio that the city must buy the site to protect it; but pricing is a problem. The city has appraised the site at $6 million and is said by the Los Angeles Times to have accumulated $5 million to buy it, a far cry from the current asking price, which Teles agents say has drawn plenty of interest from serious buyers. Agents Sarah Blanchard and Carswell seem unfazed by the debate. They note that most interested parties are considering a single structure on the 138-acre site and are sensitive to the entitlements and environmental issues unique to this location. Perhaps most importantly, they explain that the primary development area does not block the sightline to the much-photographed landmark, but falls behind and to its left. One of the attractions of joining Teles for Blanchard and Carswell is the camaraderie among the agents and management. In an unusual office adventure, the Teles team took a hike up to Cahuenga Peak the Saturday after the Wednesday press announcement. The hike to reach the 1,820-foot elevation was steep enough to make it a challenging ascent. But with a little sweat, everyone made it to the top and celebrated with champagne and mimosas. Great staging for a hike and pure economics aside, the profile of the Cahuenga property must appeal to Hernandez, who peppered his discussion of the market and the firm with reference to high-end brands like Apple, Nike, Goldman Sachs, Tiffany and Harvard Business School. He said he thinks the Teles model draws more on businesses outside real estate than existing brokerage models and he aspires to build a brand as strong as those he admires. But the model itself may limit the scale of management’s aspirations, since it relies on smaller teams and the delivery of an intense level of service. Hernandez and Piatt say their goals are being realized faster than expected and point to the 30 agents already in house as evidence, including Melissa Alt, who focuses on the Palisades. They’ve nearly filled the new office they lease, but before finding new space in Beverly Hills, they plan to replicate their model in Brentwood. The exact timing relies on getting all elements of the model ‘firmly under foot,’ said Piatt, but they expect that this will occur within the next two quarters. Then what? Pacific Palisades follows Brentwood on their list of satellite offices to open in markets where they believe clients value the high level of service Teles can offer, Hernandez said. So will he make a move back to his old stomping grounds? Even without the Hot Dog Show? ‘I would love to work out of Pacific Palisades,’ he said, ‘or Malibu,’ because he likes to surf in the morning before heading into work. So Palisadians may see Hernandez in a local office soon, but he probably won’t be moving back into town. The surf is just too good at Point Dume, even for a kid who learned to catch a wave at State Beach.

As successful and beautiful as actress/realtor Cindy Ambuehl is, her fianc’, actor Don Diamont, is no slouch himself. Born Donald Feinberg in New York on December 31, 1962, Diamont moved with his family to California and attended high school at Brentwood School, where he excelled at basketball and football. He worked for several years as a model before making his acting breakthrough as Carlo Forenza on ‘Days of our Lives’ in 1984. A year later, Diamont became Bradley Carlton on ‘The Young and the Restless.’ He left the cast in 1996, but returned in 1998 and continues to portray the playboy Carlton, who quickly rose from gardener to corporate executive on the show. In the August 15, 2006 edition of Soap Opera Digest, Diamont discussed his Jewish background. His storyline on ‘Young and the Restless’ paralleled his personal life when the top-rated series revealed that Carlton had been concealing his Jewish roots and was actually named George Kaplan. Carlton, as it turned out, was actually the son of a Holocaust survivor and, in a bizarre murder plot (although not so bizarre by soap opera standards), Carlton/Kaplan had survived the murder of his family by crazed Nazi commanders from his mother’s past. Ergo, Kaplan changed his name to Carlton. Elsewhere in TV land, Diamont has also appeared on ‘The Fall Guy,’ ‘Diagnosis Murder’ and ‘Baywatch.’ In feature films, he appeared in the Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson tete-a-tete, ‘Anger Management,’ and in the Keenan Ivory Wayans comedy, ‘A Low Down Dirty Shame.’ Diamont is also known in Dayton, Ohio, as the Morris Home Furnishings spokesperson, and he is an active supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, as he has a niece who suffers from the illness. The success of his earlier career as a model obviously still lingers. Diamont has appeared on the cover of Playgirl twice, and in 1990, People declared Diamont one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world”the first daytime drama actor to receive the magazine’s honor. Obviously, fianc’ Ambuehl agrees. There is little doubt that Diamont is this girl’s best friend.

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER Staff Writer You might say that these days, actress Cindy Ambuehl is ‘keepin’ it real”as in ‘real estate.’ Ambuehl, who starred as Renee Peterson on the long-running CBS primetime series ‘JAG,’ has turned her real estate hobby into a full-time profession by joining Coldwell Banker’s Pacific Palisades office on Sunset. ‘I’ve been dabbling in real estate for 20 years,’ says Ambuehl, and it has now become her true passion. ‘It’s really conducive to family life”a perfect transition for me. If I could survive acting, I can survive real estate.’ By family, Ambuehl means the household she shares in Santa Monica Canyon with her fianc’ and fellow actor, Don Diamont; their twin boys, Anton and Davis, 5; and Diamont’s children from a previous relationship, Lauren, 18, Sasha, 16, Alexander, 13, and Luca, 7. If Diamont’s name sounds familiar, it’s mainly because he’s been a daytime television staple for 22 years, appearing as Brad Carlton on the venerable soap opera ‘The Young and the Restless.’ There was a time for Ambuehl when ‘location, location, location’ meant hopping from set to set to earn her paycheck. A working actress, she spent the 1990s playing in episodes of hit shows such as ‘Cybill,’ ‘Frasier,’ ‘Charmed,’ ‘Silk Stalkings,’ ‘Diagnosis Murder,’ ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ ‘Caroline in the City’ and ‘The Love Boat: The Next Wave.’ Ambuehl played Jerry Seinfeld’s love interest on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ called ‘The Burning’ ‘ the one in which Jerry is stunned to learn that his new girlfriend has a mysterious “tractor story” that she is concealing from him. Ambuehl also worked in movies, playing opposite Rodney Dangerfield in one of the comedian’s last features, 1997’s ‘Meet Wally Sparks.’ But as an actress, she is probably best known for her work on ‘JAG.’ Originally debuting in 1995 on NBC, the military-themed criminal justice drama, starring David James Elliott and Catherine Bell, became a primetime hit when it was rescued from cancellation by CBS. It ran for a solid decade before its 2005 cancellation. Ambuehl’s recurring role”the quirky, outspoken love interest and comic foil who kept Elliott’s character on his toes” appeared on the show from 2000 through 2003. The ‘JAG’ stint came right as she worked on Fox Television’s critically acclaimed (but quickly canned) Hollywood satire, ‘Action,’ starring Jay Mohr. ‘I was only supposed to do ‘JAG’ for three weeks,’ Ambuehl says, ‘but when ‘Action’ got canceled, I did it for four years.’ Another career highlight for the 43-year-old actress: playing on the short-lived ‘Head over Heels’ with one of her best friends, Eva La Rue, who now stars on another CBS juggernaut, ‘CSI: Miami.’ Ambuehl credits all of the comedy work she’s done as indirect training her for her current profession. ‘We try to lighten up the burden for our buyers and sellers,’ says Ambuehl, who adds that an actress’s perseverance also comes in handy. ‘I remember testing three times with Mel Gibson for a role on ‘What Women Want.’ You go through these experiences, you walk into a room and you perform in front of people. You learn to work the room.’ Today, Ambuehl is most proud of her real estate work with partner Lauri McNevin and Coldwell’s Palisades office manager, Robert Sedway. Ambuehl credits Sedway as ‘a phenomenal leader. He really supported me in my transition from actress to real estate agent.’ Of McNevin, a Palisades resident who has worked in real estate for 11 years, Ambuehl says, ‘We make a good team. When we work with people, in this very, very scary market, I love the fact that Lauri has the educational background as well as the common sense. Lauri and I show every property ourselves, we take every phone call ourselves, we show up to the party. We’re very hands on.’ As working moms, the women feel they have an edge in finding homes to accommodate families. Family is important to both Ambuehl and McNevin (a mother of two), and they are empathetic regarding their nesting clients. In fact, Ambuehl points out that they fill in for each other with babysitting chores so that ‘we actually work seven days a week.’ If there is a reason that Ambuehl shifted from acting to real estate, it can be summed up by one word: family. Acting ‘was not conducive to having children. It was really important to me [to be a full-time mom].’ Ambuehl has always put her personal life over career. ‘I left ‘JAG’ when I was eight months pregnant. Now that the writers strike is over, I can still dabble in that which I love, but I am also going to work in real estate, which is my total focus.’ So why does she prefer the buy and sell over acting these days? ‘I’m loving the feeling that I’m helping people,’ Ambuehl says. ‘I feel that Lauri and I come from such a place of honesty and hard work, we’re giving them a peace of mind. And that’s a good feeling. I’m taking care of people.’ Although Ambuehl didn’t receive her real estate license until 2007, her interest in property transactions has always coincided with her original vocation. ‘I’ve been buying and selling homes all of my career as a hobby in Orange County,’ says Ambuehl, who was born and raised in Yorba Linda, where her parents still live. McNevin is a seasoned pro, having left a five-member team in her native Austin, Texas, to come work in California two years ago. She and Ambuehl met through their sons. Ambuehl and her fianc’ Diamont socialize with another Palisadian on ‘Young and the Restless”’Eric Braeden, who enjoys the Palisades life with his wife, Dale. Ambuehl laughs as she tells the Post that Braeden loves to joke with Diamont that the name of their soap should be re-titled ‘The Young and the Rest of Us.’ So what exactly brought Ambuehl and Diamont to town? ‘I always wanted to be near the beach,’ Ambuehl says. ‘So we really looked hard in the Palisades and Santa Monica because combined we have six boys and we needed a big place to accommodate everyone.’ They found their dream house serendipitously, just driving around and looking at open houses. Ambuehl directed renovations of their Spanish Mediterranean estate and did all the interior design. What Ambuehl really loves and appreciates about the Palisades is that it reminds her of her Orange County roots: ‘The Palisades, too, has that small-town feel. It feels very much like home.’ ‘I love that it’s a small town, after coming from Austin,’ McNevin chimes in. ‘It’s such a smaller city than Los Angeles, and such a wonderful relief. It feels so good to come here and have my own space.’ Together, Ambuehl and McNevin have negotiated home sales primarily on the Westside, having closed deals in the Palisades, Brentwood, Santa Monica and Malibu. When she’s not turning around properties, Ambuehl spends her down time lunching at Tivoli Cafe or enjoying brunch at Mayberry’s. McNevin enjoys those local restaurants, but also lists Il Carpaccio on Palisades Drive as a new fave. ‘We just went to Riordan’s new place and we loved it,’ says Ambuehl regarding The Village Pantry on Swathmore. Ambuehl feels closely connected to the Palisades. She adds that whenever she and McNevin make a sale, ‘a portion of our commission goes to a local school in the community in which we sell a house, on a sale-to-sale basis. So we’re giving back to the community.’ Some might question Ambuehl’s enthusiasm to dive into her new profession at a time when her industry is experiencing its darkest days in more than a decade. But Ambuehl shrugs off such pessimism. ‘The real estate market is taking a hit, but I survived two Screen Actors Guild strikes,’ she says sanguinely. ‘We’ll survive this just fine as well. Last year, we had $15 million in sales and over $20 million in listings. I’m not intimidated at all by it.’ In addition to her real estate business, Ambuehl is a fashion designer. Her clothing line first hit QVC in 2005, and she will debut her new line on The Shopping Channel in Canada on March 14. Her line–hip, funky and contemporary–consists of blouses, pants, dresses and skirts and pants. She and Diamont have also completed hosting a DVD titled ‘Tips for New Parents,’ joining with Eileen David and Hunter Tylo from ‘The Bold and the Beautiful.’ Still, Ambuehl is a fulltime realtor these days, though she still gets a kick out of the effect her previous life can have on the locals. Sometimes, people will double-take when they enter Coldwell Banker’s office and find that familiar face working the phones. ‘It’s really funny,’ Ambuehl says, giggling. ‘When I first came aboard, I got a lot of people who felt that they already knew me. ‘Were you on so and so?” Which begs the question: Are these customers happy to have TV’s Renee Peterson handling their real estate dealings? ‘It depends on whether they like the character I played!’ she says with a hearty laugh. Cindy Ambuehl and Lauri McNevin have a Web site: ambuehlmcnevinhomes.com. For more about Ambuehl’s clothing line, go to cindyambuehl.net.