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Honoring The J. Philip Producers, 2016-17
Evaluating the sales of the many team members of the company from the 2nd half of 2016 through the first half of 2017 yields some very happy news. I’d like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the top producing agents in our firm who have not only achieved high levels of production but have done so with tremendous satisfaction from their clients.
In order of dollar volume, the honorees are as follows:
- Peaches Drummond
- Amanda Racek
- Cristina Gameiro
- Doug Servello
- Joe Kuhl & Melissa Terman
- Tom Ricapito & Tony Ruperto
- Peter Persaud
- Brittany Alvarez
- Marcia Gordon
- Lorei Velazco
As you can see, some agents operate in partnerships. The firm is very open to teams and partnerships because, while they may not be as profitable to the company, the client experience benefits from the extra hands on deck for the largest transaction of most people’s lives. But I digress. I’m going to brag a little, just a little, about each of these fine professionals in some subsequent posts.
Suffice to say overall, every one of these professionals is a valued member of the J.Philip Family. Many of them have “capped,” or achieved a volume in sales where they earned a 100% commission split the balance of their fiscal year.
Every single one of these agents has sought out the assistance or insight of myself or management when they saw fit to make sure their advocacy was properly carried out. Each one has stellar ratings on independent platforms such as Zillow.
These agents were the backbone of 2016 being the blockbuster year it was for the firm, with 2017 looking even more promising.
Many of them have overcome tremendous adversity to get where they are. All of them have delighted clientele.
These are the finest real estate professionals you’ll ever find in this marketplace. I couldn’t be more proud of the group that carries the flag for this brand.
State of J. Philip Real Estate, 2016 Edition
I write this with a feeling of deep appreciation. The 2016 numbers are still being tallied, but I am beyond thrilled to say (as I did last year and in the several years preceding it) that this year has been the best in the history of the firm, and in 2016, it’s by a more than considerable margin over last year.
To recap, in 2015 J. Philip Real Estate closed 175 transactions for $54 million. On New Year’s Eve 2015, I closed the year-end wrap up with the following thought:
I have every reason to believe that we can do 250 transactions in 2016, and exceed $100 million in closed sales volume.
By Summer 2016, we’d already surpassed 2015’s sales, and we went on to shatter all previous sales records.
In the past 12 months (and again, the totals are still being tallied over several MLS systems and off-market transactions), J. Philip Real Estate closed 297 transactions worth just over $97 million as of this writing. Sales totals improved a whopping 69% and dollar volume closed a mind-blowing 80% over 2015.
Jenn Maher
What makes this remarkable is that I personally closed a career low number of sales (by design), and, like many other folks in 2016, our associates had to absorb some significant adversity in their personal lives.
We had three top-producing associates bring newborn babies into the world while establishing career-high production and others that had to grieve tragic loss in their families and, even still, produced at stellar levels. It was humbling to witness, and I have to give an enormous amount of credit to Jenn Maher, for leading the Putnam County Market Center through many of those challenges with compassion and courage.
Jenn is also my co-owner in the J. Philip Commercial group and that firm also broke records into which I’ll dive deeper at a later time. Suffice to say that leading both the residential and commercial enterprises is the work of more than two people given our industry and the times we are witnessing. All she did was help her team hit home runs.
It was also gratifying to reach this level of production with essentially the same team of 70 professionals as we had in 2015; many agents had vast improvements in their production through hard work and utilizing the resources the firm has worked hard to provide.
Of the agents at J. Philip Real Estate, eighteen were million-dollar producers — significantly more than in 2015. For the first time in the firm’s twelve-year history, we had several agents reach production levels where they got production “caps” that triggered a 100% commission split. I was deeply proud to see each of them reach achievement of that level.
Among the top producers of the firm are the following awesome people: Tom Ricapito, Peter Persaud, Lorei Velazco, Doug Servello, Peaches Drummond, Christine Rowley, Amanda Racek, Brittany Alvarez, Cristina Gameiro, and Joseph Kuhl (yes, folks: “Joe Cool” works here). I am still crunching the numbers to award our top producers at the company banquet on January 26, 2017.
Angela Johnson
In our primary market of Westchester and Putnam Counties, I am delighted to note that no true unaffiliated Westchester or Putnam-based independent brokerage outsold us. In our four-county Multiple Listing Service (MLS), we ranked 24th out of more than 1000 firms, moving up from 33rd last year.
Gloria Hernandez
I’ve always been one to give credit where credit is due. And this is certainly true in the case of Angela Johnson, our operations manager. She tirelessly attacked the technological side of the job with zeal and aplomb. When she wasn’t adapting a tech solution to fit our business model or evaluating the next “big thing” to which we should hitch our wagon, she was a fierce and committed consigliere (eat your heart out, Robert Duvall). Our newest manager, Pelham market center leader Gloria Hernandez, dove head-first into leading our south Westchester division. Gloria’s clarity, insight and amazing ability to “get” how my twisted mind works gives me great confidence for her team in 2017.
I also have to give a heartfelt thank you to our administrative team, Nancy Green, in our Putnam office, and Ronnie DeMeo in our flagship office in Briarcliff Manor.
It’s here that I need to put the spotlight on Ronnie. She has been with the firm since 2007 and has seen me, our agents, and the company through thick and through thin. She is more than just an employee; she is my secret weapon. There are few people in my life that have the loyalty that Ronnie does. There are few on whom I can absolutely depend. Ronnie is one of the lynchpins of J. Philip Real Estate and she does more than I can tell you about to make my life run more smoothly. 2017 will mark her tenth year with the firm and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her.
As a broker-owner, I had a year of growth from a “making it on my limited charm” style of management to more that of a broker. The fantastic consultants we brought in to help me manage the growth of the company — the brilliant Jack Miller of T3 and, locally, Maureen Jacobson, principal of MCJ Advisors — each made a spectacular impact in helping me run the company like a real business. I wasn’t chasing leads (or my tail). I was implementing systems, strategic plans, and goals based on best practices.
If it wasn’t clear, the theme of the hour is that I was never alone — I was supported and backed up by smart, committed, amazing professionals who believe in the J. Philip brand and what we can accomplish together.
Because of this, I’ll go public on my long term goal: to grow this firm into a company that closes over one billion dollars annually.
Often, people enter a new year saying “XXXX year will be great!” and I am no different. This year is, however, is unlike prior years for me. I genuinely believe 2017 will be our best year, and I’ll add that I am humbled that so many people have trusted me with their careers and that, in turn, so many clients have trusted the largest financial move of their lives to our professionals.
I remain committed to reinvesting in better tools and resources for my team to be truly cutting-edge. I want to be the Tesla of New York real estate. I want to make J. Philip Real Estate a true market leader that becomes a household name. Looking at the people who have chosen to work with me, I believe — with all I have — that can become a reality in the next 5 years.
So, yes, here’s to a great 2017 that builds on the shoulders of what was truly a great year. I’ll also toast to good health, to happiness, to getting up when life knocks you down, and to the friendship that teamwork creates. My company is my love letter to my children’s future, and I am humbled for all who are helping to write it.
State of J. Philip Real Estate 2015 Edition
A year ago at this time I was happy to share how 2014 had been, by far, the best year in the history of the firm. We had opened 3 new branch offices, expanded our team to almost 70 agents, and set records for sales production. It would be a tough act to follow.
Our New Putnam Market Center location, opening January 2016
2015 did not see us open any new offices (although one is in the process of relocating to better digs), and our roster still has not cracked 70 agents.
But what we did do was significant.
I am ecstatic to report that our closed transaction total skyrocketed from 110 in 2014 to 175 in 2015, and our closed dollar volume went from $34 million to $54 million. That is a 59% increase in closed transactions for our clients and a 59% increase in closed dollar volume.
59%.
2015 also saw 14 of our professional team exceed $1 million in personal sales. Prior to this year, we never had more than 7 million dollar producers.
Overall, out of over 1000 firms in our marketplace, J Philip Real Estate ranked 33rd in closed transactions. Moreover, no Westchester or Putnam based independent firm outsold us. We are no longer a mom and pop or boutique. We are a growing, medium sized independent that is gaining market share month by month. For me as the broker, 2015 was about managing the growth, training, implementing better systems and giving my team the best tools possible to serve the clients. This caused some growing pains and technological challenges, but overall I am immensely proud of the commitment, agility and focus that the J. Philip family of producers demonstrated.
Typically, I have a shout out to the award winners among our ranks, but this year’s annual party is January 14th, so I’ll release that list in two weeks. Suffice to say we had some fantastic achievements by our associates in 2015.
Personally, I sold over $11.4 million worth of property, a $2.5 million increase over 2014, and I was selected as Realtor of the Year by the Revamp organization, a local concern committed to agent education. I made my share of media appearances, including a radio interview on WFAS on the “Real Estate RIValution” program. My travel schedule was intense at times, as I was still active on the Hudson Gateway MLS executive board, the Zillow Agent Advisory Board, and I bopped between 4 offices (including a very productive trip to Buffalo in the summer).
Going into 2016, we have close to 80 transactions under contract as I type this. I have hired two specialized consultants to assist me in managing our growth properly, for the best interests of our growing clientèle and to give our agents the best resources possible to do their jobs with excellence. I have every reason to believe that we can do 250 transactions in 2016, and exceed $100 million in closed sales volume. For the first time ever, I will institute an active campaign to attract more and better professionals to join our firm. I have set a few other goals, some of which will be revealed on these very pages going forward, and among them will be to improve our value to the consumer; I want our clients to have the very best professional experience possible. Looking at the team of amazing people in this brokerage, I feel very good about that happening.
State of J Philip Real Estate 2014 Edition
If you’ve noticed the conspicuous absence of updates here let me assure you that the reasons are all good. I am fine, the company is fine, and we have been busy. I have lots of good news to report.
First, after our best year in 2013, I wrote a year ago that I could foresee us growing from one office and just over 40 agents to 4 branch offices and 100 agents. We came close. The firm has indeed expanded to 4 offices, and we are approaching close to 70 fantastic professionals who have chosen to associate with our brand.
In October, we had the grand opening for our Pelham, NY office, followed by the November ribbon cutting for the Mahopac center, which houses both J. Philip Commercial Group and our residential division. Jenn Maher not only manages the residential division there, but is my managing partner (broker in charge) of J. Philip Commercial Group, and she is building something very, very special there. I can’t say enough good things about her- she got plenty of recognition herself, including Hudson Valley Magazine’s Top Women in Business Award. In December we welcomed Buffalo, NY to the family with the amazing Colleen Kulikowski joining as the trailblazer to that new market.
The firm broke all prior production records with almost $34 million in closed sales and well over 100 closings. The most agents we ever had in production was 17 in 2013; in 2014 we had 28, with 7 associates closing $1 million or more and another coming within an eyelash. Out of nearly 1000 firms in our market, our firm was ranked 50th in closed residential transactions according to HGMLS data.
At our December holiday banquet at Finalmente in Sleepy Hollow, I was proud to recognize the following company associates for achievements and distinctions:
Top Innovator: Tom Ricapito
Top Recruiter: Janie Blanks
Top Contributor to Firm Expansion: Donna Materasso
Top Blogger: Barbara Bartell
Annual Awards
Top Producer: Cristina Gameiro not only had the highest number of transactions, she closed the highest dollar volume.
Comeback of the Year: Lorei Velazco. A multi million dollar producer with her prior firm in 2012, Lorei joined us earlier this year after spending the bulk of 2013 recovering from illness.
An agent with the best improvement. This year’s comeback s special, overcoming a year out for medical reasons, never losing a winning, determined attitude, and ferocity, commitment, and a willingness to invest in her business. She could very well be the top producer in 2015.
Rookie of the Year: Peaches Herron Drummond. Peaches came within an eyelash of $1 million in closings since February, and is actually poised to close over 10 transactions in the first quarter of 2015 alone.
As I stated at the banquet: Peaches joined our firm early in 2014, and was exemplary in her learning like a sponge as well as a willingness to invest in her marketing. She was a tiger in her follow up with inquiries, and was smart to ask me for help when needed. It all added up to a December with 10 transactions in contract and another 7 accepted offers pending from her prolific efforts. Another big contender for top producer in 2015
Leadership Award: Gloria Hernandez.
A leader walks the talk, coaches and is coachable. They don’t preach. They lead by example. As the adage says, They often speak softly, but carrying a big stick. This year’s leader was selfless in her willingness to help other agents, would follow up on project from me at the drop of a hat, and had the upbeat, selfless attitude of a leader that I personally admire.
Person of the Year: Mary Kingsley
The person of the year embodies the company ethos of teamwork, collaboration, hard work, ethics, humor, and eagerness to learn. This year’s person of the year was someone I could count on the step in for me when needed, often with little or no notice, was vocal in her opinions to support me personally and professionally, fed me, literally, along with solid sales production in the wake of a tough 2013. She volunteered for more work just to forward the enterprise, and was an absolute evangelist for our brand. She is of my very dear friends as well.
Every one of the awardees is someone I would trust implicitly to take care of me as a client. I couldn’t be more proud.
On a personal note, I completed my term as Hudson Gateway MLS President for 2014, I served as Tech Chair for the NY State Association of Realtors, I served on Zillow.com’s Agent Advisory Board for a 3rd year, and I actually did get some writing done as a contributor to Inman News. The Women’s Council of Realtors gave me the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which was a very flattering surprise. I lost 45 pounds through better eating habits and exercise, and I enter 2015 feeling better than I did 20 years ago.
It is gratifying that all the growth and expansion did not come at the expense of the client experience- our feedback and online ratings remain stellar, referrals are at an all-time high, and the buzz about the company is undeniable. Much of that is owed to super support staff helping me keep my eye on the ball, with head admin Ronnie DeMeo and “Q Branch” technology chief Angela Johnson. With Nancy Green being added to the team in Mahopac, we are positioned well.
Looking forward, I see 2015 as year to solidify all the expansion we have undertaken, to give our agents the best tools possible to serve their clients, to advance training dramatically, and to eclipse 100 associates, 200 sales, and make a hell of a run at $100 million in closed transactions.
But beyond the numbers, one thing will remain constant: the quality of character that our associates display, day in and day out, will remain at the top of the heap.
Preparing a Home to Sell: 2014 Westchester Spring Real Estate Market
“De-cluttering” is so 2008.
As I advise new clients listing their homes on the market to sell this spring, I am surprised to see how their jaws drop when I start the pre-sale preparations not with tidying up, curb appeal or repairs, but with fighting the battle online.
Here’s what I mean: Before the 2014 consumer visits a home, they research it online in ways that weren’t even common when most home sellers were buying 5 or more years ago. Yes, it goes without saying that you patch the water damage from that time the tub overflowed and you remove the wall paper from Grandma’s old room. But that only addresses things after prospective buyers choose to look at your home. What about the information about your home they access online beforehand? The people you want to influence are not just those looking, but those who would check your home off their short list because of something they found on the Internet that they didn’t like.
Here is a list of things to prepare your home for sale in the 2014 information age, which is going to have a dramatic effect on who gets top dollar fast for their home this spring and who has to reduce their price in the summer because they remain unsold.
- Grieve your taxes. Property taxes in Westchester County are the highest in the USA. I’ll repeat that: Our fair county has the highest property taxes of any county in the United States of America. In the feeding frenzy of spiking home values of a decade ago, municipalities made sure they got every dime they could justify. Did they adjust down with equal zeal after the crash? Hardly. If your home is assessed for $990,000 and it is on the market for $899,000, you shouldn’t even have to ask if you should grieve the taxes, you should just do it. Buyers love to hear that the seller is in action on lowering the taxes. It is one less thing for them to do and assures them that the current sticker price of property tax is going to be reduced.
- Google your address. You wouldn’t believe what people find when they do this. There are newspaper articles with incorrect addresses, websites with inaccurate information, and a ton of other websites that, perhaps worse, have no information on your home that should have a minimum of details. Get your Walkscore. Check your Zillow Zestimate. A broker like myself can show you how to fix inaccurate information before you go on the market so you don’t have to play catch up with a savvy buyer looking for a reason to make a lower offer or not see your home at all.
- Run your title report. This is another proactive way of avoiding problems which can kill a deal after months of time dealing with buyers, offers, contracts and inspections.
- Make sure an old mortgage is discharged.
- Make sure an old judgement from a 1997 divorce is satisfied.
- Deal with that easement you forgot about or the encroachment of the neighbor’s fence that slowed down your purchase 15 years ago -forget that one too?
- Check the sex offender registry. I learned this one the hard way. Obviously, you can’t make a sex offender move out of your neighborhood. But forewarned is forearmed, and you can find out if that sex offender is a quadriplegic, a 90 year old defrocked priest, or a married 35 year old with 3 kids who was in a Romeo and Juliet situation when he was 18. Check that registry.
Of course, there are still a ton of things to do physically to the house, and often those are also things influenced heavily by the Internet.
- Go to the Building Department. Is that bathroom in the basement legal? Do you want to scramble at the last minute and spend top dollar to salvage a closing because you forgot it wasn’t? What about other improvements that may not have a certificate of occupancy? That rear deck? The upgraded electrical system you had done 3 years ago? If your paperwork isn’t in order before you go on the market, later on a buyer might walk and the town will make you pay dearly at the 11th hour. I have, at different times in my career, dug out deck footings in the rain, demolished sheds, and filled in holes myself to make a deal work. I’d rather go the the gym.
- Get the home inspected. You want two kinds of inspections: a regular home inspection, and an environmental audit. Regular home inspections address things that a buyer’s inspection would discover and help avoid stress later. It simply makes no sense to dwell in ignorance about the chimney lining and 100 other things you don’t think about that the buyer will scrutinize closely once they choose your house. An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure in these cases.
- The environmental audit should be a comprehensive assessment of air quality, mold, radon, testing submerged oil tanks, asbestos, pest infestation,and other concerns that are at the height of 2014 buyers’ consciousness. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen my buyers frown when the other side says things like “My client thought that might be asbestos, but they’ve lived there for XX years with no problem.” Absence of cancer is not exactly a high bar of assurance to people who want to raise their children in a home. Not addressing environmental concerns now can cost tens of thousands later in lost deals and price reductions, to say nothing of the actual remediation costs.
- Hire a stager. To me, the argument about whether or not a home stager can maximize the sale price and minimize the time on market was settled years ago when Marie Graham helped me get some listings sold in a very rough market. Stagers do not simply help you de-clutter and decorate with better appeal. They understand buyer perceptions. They know how to deal with pet odor, smoker’s homes, and many other things that the homeowner does not really have at the top of their mind after years living in their home. Staged homes sell faster, and they sell have a far higher likelihood of maximizing market value than a home that was not staged.
Of course, perhaps the most important thing to preparing home home is choosing the right agent. A good agent will help you get everything done I have described, and our firm actually offers all the inspections as part of our service. The client pays nothing except to make the corrections once they are discovered. A good agent will also have a killer marketing plan that is tailored to the property, an excellent web presence, mega references, a solid track record, and a Rolodex (Wow…I am dating myself) of resources to handle everything in this article.
A good agent will also “profile” the most likely buyer for your home and make a marketing plan centered on that model. For example, in Westchester County, many of our buyers are in New York City and looking to relocate to the suburbs. Having a reach into tapping the city dweller market can make the difference in both time and money to an eager seller. You should also understand that the typical home buyer for a Westchester County home is typically very, very savvy and has done their research. They are spending a lot of money, and also bitterly resent even the appearance of anything intentionally hidden or glossed over. Handing the matters on this list will make a huge difference in doing business with that mentality.
All of this occurs before the sign goes into the ground, before the professional photos and video are shot, and prior to entry into the MLS. It all makes a huge difference in time, money and reduction of stress. As my old high school wrestling coach Bill Carney often said, “it is not the will to win. It is the will to prepare to win.” I like my clients to win.
State of J. Philip Real Estate 2013 Edition
I am happy to share that 2013 was perhaps the best year in the company’s history. Not only did we crush our 2012 numbers, but J. Philip Real Estate exceeded some lofty goals I had set a year ago.
2013 was the first year that the firm closed over 100 transactions. That was my most ambitious pipe dream back in the first quarter, and we finished so strongly that we actually blew past 100 all the way to 116 deals. This very nearly doubled last year’s production. While the market improved overall, it didn’t double, so we beat the trend soundly. I am very proud of my team for doing so.
Transaction total was not the only piece of good news. Overall dollar volume was also nearly double that of 2012, as the combined volume exceeded $30 million for the year. In 2012 we closed just under $16 million.
Another wonderful breakthrough was the number of agents who sold more than $1 million grew to seven (7) outside of myself. The best we ever did in the past was four (4) Million Dollar plus producers. This was consistent with my stated goal the past 2 years to have my own share of company production shrink while the company grew. That did happen. I did close 30 deals for $10 million, but I was less than 25% of the brokerage’s transactions. My goal last year was to be less than one third. I therefore wish to extend hearty congratulations to the following associates:
- Jenn Maher
- Tom Ricapito
- Cristina Gameiro
- Barbara Bartell
- Melanie Bell-Kirk
- Linda Polay
- Ellise DiRoma
Overall, in an MLS of about 900 companies, our firm ranked 42nd in closed deals, putting the company in the top 5% of our market.
2013 had more to smile about than just closings. In July I was nominated as a finalist by Inman News, the industry news source, for Innovator of the Year. I completed my fourth term as Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service Vice President. I was the New York State Association of Realtors Vice Chair for Technology. The firm benefited from its continued membership in Westchester Real Estate, Inc. I also served in my second year as a member of Zillow.com’s Agent Advisory Board.
There is more good news as we go into 2014. We have a healthy pipeline of pending transactions under contract. Our membership has swollen to over 40 licensees with another dozen primed to join us in the first quarter of 2014. After 4 years as MLS VP, I will be the Hudson Gateway MLS President starting in January. I will also be the Chair of the NY State Association of Realtors Tech Forum. A property management division is in the plans, and our rental division will be official in another week or two when 914rentals.com goes live. NYMetroRentals.com is not far behind. Overall, our web presence, especially our mobile capability, is flourishing. More tech tools for our agents to make them even better equipped to help clients are on the way as well.
The company is continuing to grow and diversify. Jenn Maher and I have formed J. Philip Commercial Group, a separate brokerage company devoted solely to Jenn’s expertise in commercial real estate. The firm will open its doors in Mahopac, New York in the first quarter of 2014 with Jenn as the Managing Partner. The location will also serve as a branch office for our residential division, dedicated to serving the needs of Putnam County home buyers and sellers. We are also in discussions on a southern Westchester branch in 2014.
Jenn has been a rock star. She’s been integral in the expansion of the firm’s YouTube channel collaborating with me on a number of industry related videos, she has done yeoman work on bringing more licensees aboard our company, orchestrated team meetings and training, and was my conciliere of sorts on many occasions. If the firm gave out an MVP award, Jenn would be the recipient.
In short, we are no longer a mom and pop firm. We are a strong, growing concern that worked lean and mean through the housing crash and has come into the recovery primed to make a strong mark. I am incredibly gratified to work with this team of professionals, and as crazy as it sounds, I am confident that at the end of 2014 we could well have 100 agents and 4 branch offices with production more than doubled again. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that I am forever grateful to Ann Faranda for her hard work, her patience, and her support.
On Being an Inman 2013 Innovator Award Finalist
One of the biggest coincidences of my life occurred yesterday when, a few hours after sending a Facebook message to the late, great Joe Ferrara‘s sister, I saw a friend write that I was an Inman Innovator Award finalist. Joe was, among many things, a writer at Inman News and a huge influence and inspiration before his untimely passing in 2010. To be selected with only 6 other agents to be a finalist by the industry trade publication, an organization as respected as Inman, is a great honor. By the way, if we know each other and you don’t vote for me here I will boil this furry little kitten.
At first I was unsure how much of an “innovator” I really am, as I never invented a game changing tool or practice. I did always aspire to make what I did have better and to use what I had access to more effectively than my competition. However, innovation isn’t merely invention. It is adaptation, implementation, and most importantly, execution. In those departments, I will say that Ann and I have given it our all.
Westchester is a competitive, brand conscious market. From the beginning, I believed that the way for a small firm like mine to win in this environment was to do what Sam Houston did to beat Santa Ana: beat them in the place they weren’t waging battle. Houston advanced at night. The place I felt I would do the best to resonate with consumers was to put all my chips on creating a great online presence. Even in 2005, it was obvious to me that more and more people would start their real estate journey via the Internet. That’s where I put time, my focus on niches, my marketing, and my perspiration. Every night when I went to sleep (or woke up drooling on my keyboard) I wanted to ensure that if someone who never heard of me googled me that they’d like what they see.
I could write for hours on the niches I continue to work, the specializations I focused on, and the effort it took to do the uncomfortable. Approaching expired listings, who often weren’t happy with real estate agents, was one of those things. Putting myself out there in other under-served areas was a muscle developed daily. It wasn’t enough to be online, or just great online, I was all about going where other firms seldom or never went. Our goal wasn’t to be paperless or virtual. I simply de-emphasized brick and mortar and made house calls to my niches. I continue to do that, and in spite of being in a brutally competitive suburban New York market, the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression, and dealing since 2007 with our son Gregory’s autism, Ann and I have grown this thing from a one man operation to a vital, growing organization of over 30 agents.
Which brings me back to Joe Ferrara. In 2009, after the market had crashed and small firms like mine were going out of business in droves, I was experiencing severe fatigue. My production was down more than 30% since 2007, I had a new home and mortgage, and my fledgling blog efforts were sputtering. I knew Joe a little from the Lucky Striker Social Media Club but had respected him as a huge industry voice for years. He was a celebrity. We spent some time together at some industry events in 2009, and Joe told me that he thought I was funny, smart, and that I should keep blogging. He told me to be myself and break the rules. Don’t worry about offending people. It was not a lot of conversations, but it was like having the Oracle speak to me. At the time, I was blogging on the Active Rain network (I still do from time to time, and owe the platform a debt of gratitude as well), and I jumped back into blogging with renewed inspiration.
The results were rewarding. I got on ABC World News when a producer found me on Google. Agents began to join our firm. I became Vice president of my Multiple Listing Service in 2010. I am now in my 4th term in that position. I have been in the print media and quoted by news outlets. My firm is now a member of Westchester Real Estate Inc, the most prestigious consortium of independently owned brokerages in my market. I am on Zillow.com’s Agent Advisory Board. But none of that would matter if I didn’t have a good reputation. That was the holy grail, and punctuated my daily work. As I tell consumers, the feathers in my cap mean nothing if I cannot get them to the closing table with terms reflecting their best interests. That is all it has ever been about for me.
It is gratifying that the industry has noticed. Joe Ferrara was kind enough to reach out first, and if I actually win I will share the honor with him and his family.
Father’s Day 2013: The Notebook
Dad and me, around 1969.
While I am known as a guy who is never seen without a gizmo in my hand, I actually think better sketching my thoughts on a yellow legal pad. Typically, when meeting with people they’ll see my iPad, smart phone, and computer closely followed by that very old school pad and pen, and only then can I work as well as I know I can. Not long ago, I was caught almost naked in my very own office without my legal pad in my bag, and as my mouth went dry with worry, I started going through my desk and filing cabinet looking for something to write on. I found it in the bottom of the small filing cabinet behind my desk: an 89 cent notebook purchased at Big Al’s. It looked a few years old, but that didn’t matter. I needed to find some blank pages to use.
As soon as I opened it, I knew this was a rare find. You know that phrase “this isn’t your father’s ____?” Well, this was my father’s notebook.
From 1988.
When he studied for his own real estate license at the age of 67.
His notes (in pencil).
His doodles.
All in that filing cabinet drawer for 25 years, never found before. It had been in my office for 5 years, and at my house for 20 prior to that, and no one had ever cleaned out that bottom drawer.
I do recall that in the winter of 1988, when I was a junior in college and my father had been retired for 5 years, he went for his real estate license. He never did anything with it, but he also hated sitting still. That was something about my dad. He had long since earned his privilege to veg out, but he wanted no part of that. He worked his way through Fordham in the Great Depression. He served in the South Pacific in World War II and then earned a Bronze Star in Korea. He raised 4 sons with my mother, all of whom graduated college although I was still a year away from my BA. He had an MBA from NYU (GI Bill) and was an accountant for over 30 years before being forced to take early retirement at age 62. He still had gas in the tank and wanted to do more.
None of that was on my radar at the time in 1988. I was off at Villanova doing what college kids do, and it never occurred to me what it would mean decades later to find a piece of my father’s efforts. Youth is indeed wasted on the young.
And here I was at age 45, still a year younger than my father was when I was born, finding this notebook and looking at his notes. He was doodler, and I could tell when he was bored based on how he wrote things and what he drew in the margins. I could see what he underlined and emphasized as important for future reference. And in between the lines, I could still smell the aftershave of a 67 year old man who wanted no part of being put out to pasture. He pressed the pencil hard.
Dad never sold a house. It wasn’t for him, but like many he got his license just in case it was. Two short years later, my healthy father who never looked his age was diagnosed with a liver ailment (ironic; he never drank), and after almost three years of fighting like hell, he died a few months short of his 73rd birthday.
There are times in life when I wish I could still talk to my dad. I wish I could ask his advice. I wish I could share his grandchildren with him. And I’d love to show him that all the things he worried about me didn’t stop me from growing up and making something of myself. I can’t do those things, and as I get older and memories fade he slips further away. Things like this bring him back. I’m not too sensible to believe that these things are like a wink from the other side, to let me know he still watches, still cares, and will never stop being my dad.
Of all the things I could have found of his, something real estate related. Yes, I think that was my dad winking at me.
Happy Father’s Day.
My Cell Phone is (914) 450-8883
This is one of those posts that I write for strictly therapeutic purposes, so please indulge me. Unlike some agents who keep their cell phones a state secret, mine is not. As a matter of fact, when I hear a licensee talk about how they “value their privacy” and prefer that their mobile number not be public, I have to wonder why they are in the business. If you want a career with privacy, try calligraphy. In real estate, fortune does not favor those in hiding. We have to be reachable in real time.
I’ll take it a step further: when I tell someone that I am out and about all day and that the best way to reach me by far is my mobile number, it feels almost passive aggressive when they leave a message at my office, especially if it is accompanied by frustration that they can’t reach me. Baloney! Text me. Lower your eye an eighth of a millimeter on my card and there’s my cell number. Use it. You might get voicemail, true (I have been known to use the bathroom or attend the odd meeting), but I do return calls and texts.
Real estate is not a private career pursuit, nor it is one that is conducive to bankers hours. I’ll be the first to admit that many in our life take it too far and sacrifice too much of ourselves at the expense of family time, rest, and perhaps even sanity at times. That is curable. State secrets aren’t. Being reachable, communicative, and accessible are part of our value propositions to our clientele and public (you didn’t think it was access to listing data, did you?), and if it is more important to you to have time to yourself instead of answering my call to let you know that the key is no longer in your lockbox, you are pretty much obstructing me, my client, and your client from getting things done.
I have stood in the rain or snow with a client staring at a combination lock box when we were told to expect an electronic device. I have witnessed burst pipes, exploding toilets, freshly vandalized property, squatters, home inspections on a home we were told had no offers, and dozens of other scenarios where speaking with the listing agent was not just desired, it was urgent. This business requires agility and access. It would be nice if we could unplug more often, but that’s the job. Weekends are prime time, evenings are when clients are free, and we’ll never be Ward Cleaver. Moreover, Westchester and suburban NYC clientele can be demanding, and rightly so. They deserve fast answers in 2013. If I am trying to reach you, I am trying to help you earn money.
I will readily admit to being more hardcore than most, with a man purse containing two cell phones, a portable charger, spare batteries, an iPad mini and enough wires to jump start a Prius.
Unfortunately, as the market gains health and more properties will sell as a matter of course, more agents will start being secret agents because that’s what they are being told by their life coaches or business gurus. “Start running your business like a business” is one of those abused anthems we hear, justifying non real estate paradigms on a business that has some pretty immutable (ironic term huh?) principles of its own.
I run a company. I have 40+ listings of my own, 30 agents with the firm and growing, and more than my own share of pipe dreams about a day with no calls where it doesn’t cost me. I still have my mobile number out there so I can serve my clients and cooperate with my colleagues. If I can do it, you can do it. I just hope this doesn’t fall on too many deaf ears.
The SWOT of the 2016 Real Estate Industry
I shared the stage with some considerable brain power. It would be difficult to summarize all the answers from each of the participants, but I’ll share my own answers to the question.
Strength: The industry’s best asset is the political clout it wields, chiefly through RPAC but also at the state and local level to preserve consumer interests in real property ownership. The real estate industry has successfully supported the preservation of the mortgage interest tax deduction, kept the banking industry out of the brokerage business, and very recently supported the extension of the mortgage forgiveness debt relief act. There are cynics who would state that the industry’s political strength is chiefly for self preservation, but an honest investigation would yield an overwhelming help to consumers. That is, of course, unless you think that the largest transaction of your life is safe to have as a do it yourself project.
Weakness: I answered this question with a question: In what industry can a person be hired for a position, not produce for 6 months or more, and still keep their job? This is where brokers are their own worst enemy. In their zeal to fill their rosters with bodies in the mistaken belief that more people equals more transactions, brokers have developed an unwitting fetish for dead wood. As snappy as the line was, it is true. Brokers have abrogated being leaders for their troupes in technology, training and accountability and instead become cheerleaders. The result is a vast, inconsistent range in professionalism that consumers do not recognize until it is, unfortunately all too often, too late to do anything about it.
Opportunity: This could be restated as our biggest headache, but I see the industry’s biggest opportunity as educating the public as to what we actually do for them. A good real estate agent isn’t a glorified door unlocker who sucks a percentage of profit out of a transaction due to their superior cartel position from an unsuspecting public. A good agent is an advocate for a consumer in what is typically not only the largest transaction of most lives, but also a complicated, multi-layered process that has the competing interests of lenders, lawyers, title companies (and often municipalities) and principals operating in separate ecosystems with both statutory and industrial roadblocks to congruency or streamlining the red tape. We negotiate, we interpret data, we provide local knowledge, and we know what questions to ask, and that is the tip of the iceberg. Of the hundreds of distressed property transactions I have closed, almost all were either under-brokered or un-brokered prior to my client hiring me. Consumers needs brokers in a transaction, and smart consumers hire a good broker early.
Threat: Contrary to popular sentiment in the industry, I don’t view portals like Zillow or Trulia a threat, nor do I consider “disruptive” technologies or alternate business models a huge danger. The biggest threat to the real estate industry, by far in my view, is the big banking lobby. Real estate is too agile and adaptive to be replaced by a website or new technology; our embrace and utilization of the Internet is a good example of this. The example of travel agents being put out of business by travel websites is a common example of what I see as a red herring. The same Internet that killed my travel agent built my company. But we are vulnerable to being legislated into obscurity, to the detriment of the consumer.
Rather than the travel agent example, we should look at what happened to mortgage brokers. Banks couldn’t beat brokers in the marketplace, so when the crash hit, they used the crisis to back legislation that outlawed how mortgage brokers made money: they outlawed the yield spread premium. Banks want to get into brokerage. Badly. They already have their hands in insurance and securities. And they have a powerful lobby. We are vulnerable to backdoor legislation that could affect how we earn our income, and marginalize us the same way that mortgage brokers were sent into obscurity almost overnight. Ironically, mortgage brokers didn’t cause the crash. They simply didn’t have the resources to fend off an opportunistic attack from their competitors in the halls of government.
“If you can’t beat them in the marketplace, disqualify them in court.” It’s the American way, right? The takeaway here is for our industry to stop wringing our hands about the portal and tech bogey men, roll up our sleeves, and do good professional work.