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From Top Model to Top Realtor

Jeri Carr Benson: From Top Model to Top Realtor

By David Hunter

The nervous rookie real estate agent knocked on the door of the upscale Woodland Hills home at the end of the cul-de-sac. The year was 1995, and it was the very first home that she was “farming.” As a new realtor, she wanted to make a sharp impression on the homeowner.

“Hi, I’m Jeri Benson with Dilbeck Realtors, and I’m in your area and wanted to introduce myself and give you this free calendar,” said the snappily dressed Benson to the paunchy, 60-ish-looking man at the door. The young agent peered in and stepped inside gingerly. Something didn’t feel right. The house was dark with black velvet curtains and videocassettes strewn everywhere. Down the hall and in the back, a bevy of scantily clad young women and men with film cameras stood lounging about.

“Oh, am I catching you at a bad time?” said Jeri.

“No, we’re just filming, and we’re on a break,” said the man. “Say, have you ever been in films or modeling? You’re beautiful.”

Suddenly it hit her: the place was a porn house, and he was filming a porn movie and wanted to make her his newest star. With a quick spin on her heel, and a cheery wave goodbye, she yelled back over her shoulder, “I have to go, but I’ll send you the free, no-obligation comparables in the mail!”

The anecdote typifies what Jeri Carr Benson is all about—no matter what the challenge in front of her, she marches forward with a indomitable spirit and personal panache that are eternally positive and ultimately successfully.

Indeed, Southern Californian native Benson has seen, and survived, a roller coaster ride of ups and downs in business. With her Sherman Oaks JCPR public relations firm in the 1980s, she rose to the heights representing a number of high-profile clients and celebrities, including the infamous 15-year-old whiz kid entrepreneur Barry Minkow of ZZZZ Best fame, who brought her the kind of scrutiny that no one wants—the FBI visited her to see what she knew about Minkow’s shady business dealings. In her naivete, she hadn’t known, of course, what the nefarious Minkow had been doing behind the positive public image that Jeri had so deftly created for him.

In the 1970s, Jeri had been a highly successful model of national note. After appearing on laundry detergent boxes as the original Ivory Snow baby, she later posing in ads for such luminaries as London Fog, Revlon and Bloomingdales (once making $1,000 an hour there as a jewelry model). And when she finally took the real estate plunge in 1995 with Dilbeck (and later with Re-Max and Mike Glickman), her upbeat personality and “people person” style earned her “rookie of the year” sales honors and eventual status as a billion-dollar producer.

“I’ve always been comfortable with people, and always tried to be helpful and friendly,” says Jeri, understating her strong sales skills. Indeed, even the famed Southern California public relations king Irwin Zucker, an early mentor of hers, once remarked, “She could sell a cash register to a robber.”

With her new real estate firm, Tenth Generation Realty, Jeri continues to conduct business with an unerring spirit and unique personal style. Her company combines a social conscience with concern for the environment: a portion of every escrow that closes goes to help families with disabled children, and the company plants a tree, free, at every new house it sells.

As a real estate professional, her expertise covers a wide range of talents. “Today’s real estate market demands that we, as realtors, be more hands-on and wear many hats. We have to be savvy dealmakers, detail-oriented disclosure experts, master short-sale and foreclosure negotiators, and visionary readers of today’s current market trends, with answers at the tips of our fingers.”

Never one to ignore the needs of her community, Jeri has also started her own parent support group, Parents of Tomorrow, which is geared toward parents of older disabled children. She hopes that the group becomes a nonprofit one day.

“Parents of children with autism, Down Syndrome and other disabling conditions usually feel isolated and unaware of what services available to them,” she says. “I want to make sure that the next generation of these parents doesn’t go through what we went through.”

Indeed, if her past successes are any indication, the growth of her new real estate firm will be worth watching. In the words of real estate icon Mike Glickman, “She’s a remarkable force to be reckoned with. I predict she’ll be at the top of Southern California real estate in the not-too-distant future.”

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