Team - Common Area Management, Inc.

Our Team: Principals With Over 100 Years of Experience in Real Estate and the Commercial Property Management Industry

Michael E. Meyer

Mike has an impressive background with over forty years of real estate experience, making him a seasoned professional in the industry. His expertise includes various aspects of real estate, such as asset and property management, contract and lease negotiation, entitlement processing, and design team management. With such a diverse skill set, he is well-equipped to handle complex real estate projects and transactions.

His educational background also complements his professional experience. Graduating from San Diego State University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a focus on Finance indicates a strong foundation in business principles and financial knowledge. This academic background enhances his ability to make informed and strategic decisions in the real estate field.

Mike is actively involved in charitable work as a board member with Miracles for Kids. This Orange County-based charity plays a crucial role in supporting families with children undergoing lifesaving treatment at prominent children’s hospitals, such as Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. Being a board member, Mike plays a significant role in shaping the charity’s direction and decision-making process. His expertise in real estate and business administration, coupled with his dedication to philanthropy, can likely contribute to the success and growth of the organization, ensuring that it continues to make a positive impact on the lives of families facing challenging circumstances.

By supporting families during their children’s medical treatments, Miracles for Kids provides much-needed assistance and relief during difficult times. Mike’s involvement in such a noble cause reflects not only his professional capabilities but also his compassion and commitment to making a difference in the community.

Jeffrey E. Morris

Jeff has been in the commercial real estate business for over 40 years. His professional experience has spanned from land syndication, shopping center leasing, development, and asset management to forming strategic partnerships for the acquisition and development of multiple commercial property types. Jeff was formerly a leasing broker with Iliff Thorne Company (purchased by Colliers International in the 1990’s) before becoming VP of Development and Leasing and partner with Landgrant Development, a full-service shopping center development company specializing in developing single tenant, neighborhood and community/mixed use retail projects in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Jeff was involved in all aspects of the development business in house, such as land acquisition, entitlements, leasing, development, construction management, property management, and asset management all the way to disposition of the assets. Jeff joined Trammell Crow Company in the year 2000 as VP of Retail Development where he was responsible for leading the acquisition and retail development/redevelopment program in Southern California.

Jeffrey E. Morris

Jeff then formed a privately owned real estate development, asset management and investment company in 2002, MDI West Properties. As Managing Partner, Jeff leads the strategic vision to identify, acquire, develop and asset manage distressed commercial and residential assets. He has been responsible for raising capital, evaluating all new real estate investment opportunities, and approving all new acquisitions. With his experience, Jeff has been able to maximize the value and performance of these assets. He values creating long-term relationships with partners, clients, and tenants, and continues to deliver high-quality service and results. Jeff also enjoys sharing his knowledge and insights with others and learning from diverse perspectives and experiences.

Jeff graduated from San Diego State University in 1982 with a degree in Business Administration – Finance. He played for the SDSU golf team and was a member of the SAE fraternity. Jeff has sat on and currently sits on multiple real estate boards for private real estate companies and organizations, including SDSU.

In his time away from real estate , Jeff enjoys playing golf, basketball, traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Craig T. Stevens

Craig is an industry veteran, with more than forty years of commercial real estate experience. He has worked for mid-size as well as national & global firms (LPL, IDM, FNF & CBRE) as a senior executive, in a variety of creative & entrepreneurial roles. Since stepping off the corporate ladder in 2003, he and his partner have co-founded multiple commercial real estate firms, one of which was the very successful, multi-state, Mar West Commercial. While building Mar West, Craig & team essentially created a sub-industry within the commercial property management world, addressing the needs of developers/investors on commercial property association formations and management. Mar West Commercial was sold to FirstService Corporation, a $3B publicly traded, diversified, global real estate company in December 2012. The other firms currently provide expert Commercial Property Association and consulting services to commercial real estate developers, institutional owners and private-client building owners.

Collectively, the companies have now brought to life, currently manage and repaired over 350 Commercial Property Associations with 5000+ parcels/buildings totaling over 50M sq. ft. and thousands of acres of common area improvements/land in sixteen states. Craig and his partner also own Sea Pointe Partners, Inc. and Worth Property Management.

Craig is an expert in the area of California owners’ association law (residential & commercial) and he formed/led a group of industry “stakeholders” and trade organizations, in a seven year effort to separate commercial developments from residential developments under California law relative to owners associations. His efforts to simplify California law governing commercial Common Interest Developments resulted in Governor Brown signing a new law into effect (the Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Development Act) January 1, 2014. The legal changes will positively benefit every California commercial building/condominium owner in a commercial common interest development…forever.

Craig graduated from San Diego State University in 1982 with a degree in Business Administration- Finance and holds a California DRE Brokers license.

Craig invests a tremendous amount of time, mentoring college students and young professionals, sits on multiple boards and loves to; surf, golf, sail, hike, play tennis and travel. Craig and his wife perennially support; Make-A-Wish, San Diego State University, Tunnels to Towers Foundation, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Pacific Beach Town Council and various other charities.

Mark Guithues, Esq.

Mark T. Guithues received his Bachelors of History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. Mark began his career in community associations by accepting a position as a portfolio manager at N.N. Jaeschke, where he protected, maintained and enhanced the value of more than a dozen residential and commercial associations. Mark has attended hundreds of board and membership meetings and understands the demands of community politics.

He presently serves as a Director of the Real Property Law Section for the California Bar Association, a Director for the Executive Council of Homeowners (“ECHO”) and as a legislative analyst for both the Community Association Institute and the California Association of Community Managers Legislative Action Committees.

Mark Guithues, Esq.

While at N.N. Jaeschke Mark pursued the study of law at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he served as an Associate Editor for the San Diego Law Review. At USD, he also received training as a mediator and settled numerous legal conflicts at the San Diego Municipal Court. Mark earned his degree and was admitted to the bar in 1989.

Prior to founding Community Legal Advisors, Mark worked for many years as a subdivision attorney at Jackson|DeMarco|Tidus|Peckenpaugh, where he was responsible for the legal aspects of the subdivision process and creating the corporate governance structures for commercial and residential communities. He is recognized as an Update Author to Chapter 4 (instructing on the creation and operation of condominium conversion projects) and Chapter 9 (instructing on the creation and operation of commercial and mixed-use projects) of CEB’s Forming California Common Interest Developments, a practice guide published by the State Bar of California.

Mark and Community Legal Advisors were selected by the California Association of Community Managers to negotiate their interests before the State of California’s Law Revision Commission (“CLRC”) during the rewrite of the Davis-Stirling Act (“Act”) between 2012 and the time it became law in 2015. He is identified as a “stakeholder” by the CLRC for his work on behalf of his many commercial clients to separate business owners’ associations from the residential act into their own Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Development Act.

Mark is a licensed California real estate broker and has served as a court appointed receiver, chief of the local Indian Guides tribe and a member of the Board of Directors for the Saddleback Valley Pop Warner Football League. He has been recognized as a “Who’s-Who” and a “Lawyer of Distinction.”