My son Jedd, who usually focuses his time on creating films, recently rebuilt the website for Goble Properties. Take a look and let me know what you think. It’s not quite done yet — there is still some tweaking to do. But it’s basically complete. I would love your feedback!
It occurred to me that I’ve not said much about Goble Properties on this blog. The company has been my primary vocation all of my adult life, and it is the engine that powers our charitable endeavors. Since Goble Properties has its roots in the junkyard it seems very appropriate to share the story here!
My siblings playing in the back of the Garden City Auto Wreckers pickup, circa 1954.
When my Dad was discharged from service after World War II, he and my Mom moved back to California and started looking for business opportunities. An early venture was to buy a Studebaker pickup truck and pick up old parts from gas stations. Since car parts were rare just after the war, Dad would then resell those parts to other gas stations who found some value in other peoples junk. He started what was basically a mobile junkyard.
With a loan from lifelong friend Rocky Malvini, Mom and Dad eventually bought an interest in a San Jose wrecking yard (Garden City). Before long they paid back the loan from Rocky and bought the remaining interest in Garden City. Later Dad bought and sold several junkyards.
Now, this part of the story is apocryphal. My Dad said that one day in the mid-50’s he had a good customer come to the junkyard, look at the metal shed my Dad built as shop space, and say, “Ernie, if you’ll build another shed next door just like this one, I’ll rent it from you.” So my Dad did just that.
A month after his new tenant moved into the new building, my Dad was standing ankle deep in grease and oil, pulling a part off an engine that he would sell for a buck. The new tenant walked up to my Dad and said, “Here’s your first months rent.” It was a check for $100.
Some of the original metal sheds built in the 1950's (photo taken around 1990).
My Dad looked at all the grease and oil … the hassle of pulling parts for a dollar … and compared that to a rent check worth $100. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the easier way to make money.
Next thing you know, there’s another shed built on the property. Then another. Eventually that 7.5 acre junkyard shrunk to an acre as the property filled up with metal sheds. Then Dad bought the property next door and started the process all over.
I know the basics of that story are true. Whether my Dad was standing in a pit of oil and grease when he got his first rent check … let’s just say Dad told the story with a sly smile on his face. But you gotta admit, it’s a good tale!
Thirty years ago I joined Goble Properties on a full time basis. In fact, it was 30-years ago almost to the day. My first full day was June 1, 1981, just after college graduation and a few months before D’Aun and I were married.
Within a few years I was running the company with my father’s mostly absentee oversight. He had taken on a new project — another junkyard, of course! Two or three years later he moved back to San Jose and we worked side by side until he passed away in 2006.
My Dad was a genius at finding a deal. And he had a Depression Era style for handling expenses, which kept us lean. I had a bit more marketing skill, a better grasp of accounting (though he was by far the better mathematician), and a more nuanced approach to managing our staff. He was always the hungry one, and I was the more methodical one. We were a good team.
Over the years we have owned all kinds of properties, from office buildings to retail centers, from mobile home parks to hotels. But the core of Goble Properties has always been industrial buildings. Specifically the multi-tenant space that attracts small business owners.
It’s not a stretch to say that most of our tenants are much like the guy who walked into the junkyard that day in the mid-50’s and admired the simple metal shed. Of course, today most of them “walk in” via our website or some other online presence! Knowing my Dad, if he were alive today he’d be saying, “Okay, the new website is done…let’s build another one!”