Neil Goodhue:
CLASS OF 1972
Campolindo High SchoolClass of 1972
Moraga, CA
Neil's Story
I never enjoyed Campolindo. There were cliques; I was a nerd; and my family clearly did not belong in Moraga. But being on the "outside" looking in; and being shunned gave me a will and determination when I left. I was also basically told that I had no talents. My esteemed "counselor" David Sweetman told me, "I wouldn't consider college, I can't consider you doing anything which would require analytical thought". I wonder if he would have liked to have sat in on the quarterly meetings I had with the FDIC regulators when I certified the financial statements for the bank where I was a minority owner and Chairman of the Audit Committee - although I never obtained a college degree.
Or if he would have liked to have met me at title company when I signed documents for a closing of eight commercial properties in a simultaneous exchange (I was also on the board of the title company).
I left Campolindo six months early and never looked back - I purchased by my first property five days after my 18th birthday; and continued; wrangling my way into becoming the managing of Oakland's most prestigious property, 1200 Lakeshore at the age of 20; and then a partner at 22. I was a millionaire at 24. My wife and I now own 108 properties from San Diego to Portland, Oregon. I am now semi-retired and live in Pebble Beach, CA achieving my dream of living one mile off the 17 Mile Drive and having a stable of motorcycles.
But I am more proud of what I did in the community - when I was 26 I wrote the Rent Arbitration Law to stop rent gouging by greedy and unethical landlords. When I was 28 I wrote the Condominium Conversion Ordinance requiring Developers converting housing stock to condominiums to subsidize new housing so as not to deplete existing units. I served on the Civil Service Commission in the City of Oakland from 1990-2001; and very often, to the dismay of the my friend the City Manager (with whom I played hockey) ruled against the City when I felt they overreached; and I served on the Alameda County Grand Jury from 1993-1995 and served again from 1995-1997 as Foreman, and during that time was responsible for placing a Federal Monitor in the Oakland City Jail, driving the Mayor of Oakland out of office, and exposing the back room politics of the Oakland Raiders-Oakland Coliseum Project. I also caused the termination of the CFO of the City of Oakland and the resignation of many County employees for cause. My wife and I also underwrote a substantial grant assisting the City in the purchase of the Fox Theatre, underwrote $250,000 for the renovation of ...Expand for more
the Oakland Zoo, underwrote $75,000 for Children's Fairyland, and underwrote $75,000 for Lincoln Child Center among other East Bay charities.
During the pandemic, we assisted over 85 small businesses with rent reductions of 20% and rent deferrals allowing these businesses to remain in business. We wrote off almost $450,000 in rental assistance to preserve these businesses. I also served as President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management and was recently granted Emeritus status by the Institute - when I became a CPM (Certified Property Manager) in 1983 at the age of 29; I was the youngest individual to do so in the history of the San Francisco Chapter. I had also received by real estate license from the State of California at the age of 20; without having taken a real estate course, on the first attempt. When I went into semi retirement this month, I had been in the real estate industry approximately 48 years; and had closed $200 million of transactions.
And I manage a family portfolio of $187 million - which my wife and I built -But The best acquisition I ever made was an ever suffering woman who put up with listening to bizarre real estate deals that usually worked out; but were outside the box; because my specialty was seeing deals where other people had walked away. And putting up with the mantra that the number of bicycles and motorcyles you need is always one more than what you own. And my second best "acquisition" is the world's best son - a son who has never been in trouble and can sell ice to not just Eskimoes; but apparently, get them to buy the same ice twice! My son, who is now 34 and has an almost three year old son of his own (Karma is now going to pay him back) would come home with "fix it tickets" for "proof of insurance". I would say, "how fast were you driving?" And he would always look cluless and plead that he was always being picked on. And, being on the Grand Jury, and being versed in probable cause, I would tell him he couldn't be stopped without a reason and he would say, they just stop me. To this day, he has NEVER had a ticket. He did finally come clean and tell me he WAS stopped, in my Porsche on the night of his Senior Prom, doing 130; in his tux with his date, and talked his way of out the ticket with a CHP. Yet I can't get him to do leasing for us!
Anyway, This shows you that with hard work, anything is possible. I still hate Campolindo and I still hate Ms. Danielli and Ms. Curry. I hope Mr. Sweetman is in assisted living somewhere gumming his food and can read this!
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