Bobby Lehmkuhl is a longtime Malibu resident who has been in the real estate business for more than a decade.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
Last month, the 800-member Malibu Association of Realtors installed Bobby Lehmkuhl as its incoming president at a board ceremony held at Duke’s Malibu. The longtime Malibu resident has more than a decade of real estate experience and feels privileged to hold the title.
“I feel fortunate to be president of the Malibu Association of Realtors,” Lehmkuhl said. “It’s an honor.”
Lehmkuhl, who also serves on the Board of Directors of the California Association of Realtors and the Combined L.A. Westside Multiple Listings Service, is no stranger to the organization. He has been on the Board of Directors since 2010 and he became president-elect in 2011.
Lehmkuhl said he plans to be active in both the state capitol and the local community in what is shaping up to be an influential election year. Lehmkuhl has a trip to Sacramento scheduled for the spring to lobby on behalf of Malibu landowners. On March 14, his group will also join forces with the Chamber of Commerce to interview candidates for the City Council election at HRL Laboratories’ G.F. Smith Auditorium.
Involvement in the community and in politics is of a piece with Lehmkuhl’s larger philosophy on real estate.
“People don’t realize that we are the gatekeepers of the American dream,” he said, “which is to own your own home. Realtors are the leading advocates for personal property rights, from sewer systems to city ordinances. There’s a lot of politics involved in it and keeping the American dream alive.”
Lehmkuhl noted that his club is “the largest professional association in Malibu, the state and the entire country. We’re a very tight-knit real estate community.”
Last month’s installation dinner proved extra special for Lehmkuhl because his longtime real estate mentor, Chris Cortazzo, was presented with the association’s Community Service Award.
“I’m very grateful to Chris,” he said.
Born in Cincinnati, Lehmkuhl divided his childhood between Ohio and summers in Portland, Maine. When he was 16, his family moved to Malibu. His parents divorced, but he has lived in town ever since, save for his years attending Northeastern University on a baseball scholarship. In college, Lehmkuhl majored in business and marketing but he dropped out of Northeastern and returned to Malibu. He landed a job working for Bert Boeckmann, a Ford Motor Company dealer in the Valley. He rose quickly to a position as general sales manager at Galpin Motors, handling the Jaguar and Aston Martin brands.
“It was a great job,” Lehmkuhl said. “It was great watching a franchise grow, taking it to a powerhouse level.”
His office became the most successful Ford dealership in the nation.
While working there, Boeckmann insisted that Lehmkuhl complete his college education and subsidized the rest of his schooling in Los Angeles.
“If it wasn’t for Bert, I never would have gotten my degree,” he said.
In 1989, when Lehmkuhl was 20, he began flipping houses and he continued to do so throughout his years at Galpin Ford. While his father was a detective by profession and his mother a registered nurse, both dabbled in real estate.
“My dad built some homes from the ground up and sold them,” he said.
Bobby Lehmkuhl entered the business in earnest in 2000, working for Coldwell Banker. In 2009, he started his own real estate agency, 4 Malibu Real Estate.
“We adapted to the market when we saw it going down…,” Lehmkuhl said. “We started working for banks, doing appraisals of troubled properties. We went into the Valley, Santa Clarita. We do short sales, too …The only foreclosure work we do is in Malibu … We really want to concentrate only in Malibu.”
With an office across from the Malibu Pier and another at the former City Hall’s Miramar building, 4 Malibu Real Estate Partners has been expanding.
“I track Malibu every single day of my life,” he said. “I know exactly what’s happening. What’s going on with a sale. We absolutely dove into a depressed market, but it’s absolutely the best time to buy a home. There’s some great opportunity right now.”
After living in central Malibu, Lehmkuhl now lives near the Malibu Pier, where he indulges in one of his longtime past-times.
“I surfed this morning before work,” he said. “I love the surfing. I’m here because of the wave. I’m here because of First, Second and Third Point here. It offers everything and I love the climate. It’s perfect.”
Lehmkuhl just returned with friends from British Columbia, where he pursued another favorite sport: extreme skiing. In fact, he competed in extreme back-country skiing through 1995, traveling to such places as Colorado and Alaska.
Lehmkuhl, a single parent, also enjoys spending time with his daughter, Keller, a 5-year-old student at Webster Elementary, who was “born and raised on the beach where I surf. I really envy that.”
Keller’s name comes from Kellers Shelter near Carbon Beach. Her father predicts she’ll take up surfing and skiing one day.
“She has no choice!” he said, laughing.
Although most of his relatives no longer reside in Maine, Lehmkuhl still remains connected to the Pine Tree State. He owns a strip mall, a gas station and a marina in Portland, and he still maintains a vacation home there.
However, Malibu is where his heart is.
“Everything’s here and I want to stay right here,” he said.
That goes for his personal and professional life.
“I think Malibu is the most undervalued real estate in California right now,” he said.