At The Close, our mission is to deliver actionable advice to our readers, so we tapped four highly successful leaders in luxury real estate to ask what #BreakTheBias means to them, how they’re helping to lift up other women in real estate and their communities, and how everyone in our industry can to do the same. Their responses were so compelling that we’re sharing them in their entirety.

Tricia Lee, Leader of the Sold By Tricia Lee Team at SERHANT.

Tricia Lee is the leader of the Sold By Tricia Lee Team at SERHANT. and a former entrepreneur and small business owner in Brooklyn. She has sold over $100 million in total sales volume over the course of her career and has a special focus on educating women on the value of homeownership, hosting various workshops on the buying process, financial fitness, and more. Tricia was previously named among the Top Black Real Estate Brokers in Brooklyn. 

What advice would you give to other women to overcome the unique challenges that women face in our industry?

I think a large part of my success is a practice I have of asking myself, “what would (just) the average male do?” I know that it sounds funny or even simple, but there are distinct differences in how men show up in the workplace that I try to learn from. I ask myself if I’m explaining too much. Am I more focused on the task than the outcome? I want to put my efforts into actions that will make a huge impact and not just try to. 

I also ask myself if something actually requires an apology or is this just me feeling the need to. I just know as women, we must remind ourselves that we are a vital part of every conversation and problem solve. 

  Pro Tip

“I remind myself to show up boldly and take up space because my contributions are huge and anyone who gets the benefit of my time and my work is better for it.”

I try to acknowledge behavior that is not reflective of my true worth and edit. First off, if I’m in a room or conversation, I’m making a significant contribution. I have great ideas, knowledge, connections, and access. I remind myself to show up boldly and take up space because my contributions are huge and anyone who gets the benefit of my time and my work is better for it. That’s not about arrogance but it certainly is about confidence, and women need to have that or fake that until they truly feel that way. We are not lucky to be part of something—they are lucky to have us, and that is a mental shift more than anything, at least for me. 

What active steps do you take to lift up other women in our industry and/or in your community?

While I sell real estate day in day out, my passion project is the work I do in real estate around women’s financial education. I have my personal event series, “Money Matters w/ Tricia Lee,” which is a one-day financial wellness workshop held at SERHANT. House NYC that focuses on financial education, home ownership, and building wealth.

We learn about everything from retirement planning, home ownership, and wealth building to creating better money habits and saving. I consider this to be my way of contributing to the inequities and I dedicate a portion of my business proceeds to these causes. It also gives me a unique opportunity to work with the women within my community and even my friends. 

Mentorship is another way I believe women can uplift other women. I have three mentees for the last decade-plus and mentors around me as well.

What suggestions would you make to men in leadership roles in our industry to do the same?

I think my advice to men in leadership roles would be to just bring as many perspectives as you can to your company and to your work; you do that by taking stock of the workforce, the management, and the leadership. Do you see diversity there? Do you believe that the members of your organization are set up to support your goals by having a vast amount of perspectives, backgrounds, and skill sets? To me, that is truly effective in breaking the bias—focus on representation.

  Pro Tip

“Do you believe that the members of your organization are set up to support your goals by having a vast amount of perspectives, backgrounds, and skill sets? To me, that is truly effective in breaking the bias—focus on representation.”

How can women leverage our natural abilities for networking (or other abilities) to succeed in real estate?

I think another key way to network is by finding ways to celebrate the accomplishments of your peers and highlighting women’s causes. This comes across in your messaging, the causes you highlight and financially support.

What unique attributes or skills do women bring to the luxury space that lead us to success?

Tell me about any women mentors or leaders who helped you achieve success. How did they do so?

Carolina Bravo, Leader of the 212 Bravo Team at SERHANT.

Carolina Bravo is the leader of the 212 Bravo Team at SERHANT. and has been in the real estate industry for more than 20 years. She has closed over $500 million in total sales volume in her career. She currently holds the listing for Kerry Washington’s former penthouse at 50 Riverside Blvd. for $25 million. She is also the host of ¡Vamos!, a SERHANT. Studios-produced series featuring property tours in Spanish. (Watch here and here.)

Do you have any advice for up & coming women in our industry to help them succeed & #BreakTheBias? 

The best advice I can give to up-and-coming women in our industry is to have a structured daily routine. I’m a big planner and I find that being structured and organized helps me save time and work smarter. I spend each day physically and mentally mapping out the next day, shifting my schedule if needed, and leaving time to prepare for listing presentations and meetings with other colleagues. And always ensuring I spend time with loved ones.

  Pro Tip

“Once a quarter, evaluate your schedule to see what’s working and what’s not. Make minor adjustments for higher productivity.”

What advice would you give to other women to overcome the unique challenges that women face in our industry?

I find that many women in real estate assume that working 1,000 miles per hour will help them grow quickly. But in reality, it can lead to stress, mental fatigue, or burnout. Establish boundaries and your non-negotiables. Once a quarter, evaluate your schedule to see what’s working and what’s not. Make minor adjustments for higher productivity. Prioritize exercise and sleep and get closer to nature to release some of that stress. Make sure you take time off from work and take some “Me Time” to recharge.

What active steps do you take to lift up other women in our industry and/or in your community? 

I like to pay it forward by committing the time and energy to mentor younger women in my industry, making sure their ideas are heard and giving them direct feedback that can help them learn and grow.

Kayla Lee, Leader of the Kayla Lee Team at SERHANT.

Kayla Lee is the leader of The Kayla Lee Team specializing in the Manhattan, Astoria, and Long Island City markets. Kayla has closed over $350 million in total sales volume since founding her team six years ago, and has led sellouts at multiple new development projects, including the CORTE and The Harrison. Kayla is fluent in Korean and volunteers her time as a translator for Korean immigrants. She is also a local Long Island City entrepreneur and small business owner with a vintage barbershop.

Do you have any advice for up & coming women in our industry to help them succeed & #BreakTheBias?

My advice for up-and-coming women in the real estate industry would be to keep a positive attitude, value and celebrate diversity, and to create and foster an inclusive environment. Every attempt to go above and beyond and to raise each other up is a small victory!

What advice would you give to other women to overcome the unique challenges that women face in our industry?

I would encourage women to overcome unique challenges in our industry by creating a “webbed” support system—SEEK a mentor and pay it forward by BEING a mentor. Who would understand your unique situation more than another woman in business? I have three mentors I keep in touch with who give me solid advice and guidance. I do the same for new women in our industry and provide guidance. This has become an amazing network of strong women I constantly go back to—and we have forged a great friendship as well.

  Pro Tip

“I would encourage women to overcome unique challenges in our industry by creating a ‘webbed’ support system—SEEK a mentor and pay it forward by BEING a mentor.” 

What active steps do you take to lift up other women in our industry and/or in your community?

I usually try to take on the role of mentoring one to two women, whether in the real estate industry or outside of it. Someone who’s just starting out, or who I have something in common with—like a mom who is coming back to work and is struggling to find work/life balance, or someone who has two to three businesses that they need to streamline. I also seek out my mentors and keep in touch—this helps me to form a great network of women in business.

What suggestions would you make to men in leadership roles in our industry to do the same?

We live in a world where men and women alike achieve amazing feats. I would suggest that men in leadership roles keep up with the changing times, to foster an inclusive environment, and not allow biases and stereotypes to limit growth. 

How can women leverage our natural abilities for networking (or other abilities) to succeed in luxury real estate?

Women naturally congregate, chatting with other moms, sisters, friends, a cafe get-together, or via a book club or cooking class. There are many natural networking opportunities that men may not take advantage of on a regular basis. 

My first great opportunities in the luxury real estate market came from neighborhood moms who knew I had previously been in banking and trusted me with the sale of their home. One sale led to another referral, as all the moms in the area were close-knit and I was able to prove my sales skills one sale at a time.

“Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” was the theme for the UN’s commemoration of International Women’s Day this March.

How does equality impact sustainability & what does this theme mean to you?

Tell me about any women mentors or leaders who helped you achieve success. How did they do so?

Abigail Palanca, Leader of The Palanca Team at SERHANT.

Abigail Palanca is the leader of The Abigail Palanca team, an all-women team at SERHANT. that’s focused on the Brooklyn market. Under Abby’s leadership, the team has closed over $245 million in total sales volume since its founding five years ago.

Do you have any advice for up & coming women in our industry to help them succeed & #BreakTheBias? 

You have to believe in yourself and believe not only that you can be successful—and will be—but that you deserve a seat at the table as much as any man. There is no substitute for hard work but there is also no substitute for confidence. In my career, my success has also come with some guilt—am I as much of a present parent or partner as I can be?—because as a woman, when you’re building a business and running a team, it often feels like you are always making a sacrifice. Be confident that you can do ALL THINGS—I think authentic belief in yourself is key. 

I also think it’s incredibly important that we as women champion one another. There is empowering energy created when we support one another. It’s important to remember that if one of us is behind, we are all behind. So, amplify together.

  Pro Tip

“You have to believe in yourself and believe not only that you can be successful—and will be—but that you deserve a seat at the table as much as any man.”

What active steps do you take to lift up other women in our industry and/or in your community? 

I love mentoring women in the industry. I lead an all-women team that I am incredibly proud of, and I make a conscious effort to really show them that they are limitless in all things. 

You should set lofty goals, you shouldn’t be afraid to call yourself an expert—be confident in your role, set your sights on what you want, and anything can be achieved if you are willing to put in the work. 

I also am cognizant of the challenges women—especially mothers—face in various stages of our lives. Very often our identity is tied to the role that we play, and we can lose ourselves. It’s important to always keep in mind that we are not just a mom, partner, wife, daughter—we can wear many hats at once and be great at all of them. 

What suggestions would you make to men in leadership roles in our industry to do the same? 

We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go. I once had a man in a senior leadership position ask me if my husband was the decision-maker when it came to making changes in my career. That question would never be asked of a man. To have closed over $100M in sales last year and have someone ask me if my husband approved of MY decisions in MY career felt like a slap in the face. Men in the industry need to recognize the strengths women possess and they need to truly start seeing and treating us as their equal. 

How can women leverage our natural abilities for networking (or other abilities) to succeed in luxury real estate? 

I find that most of my women colleagues can easily empathize with those around them, and I think it’s one of the reasons so many women are wildly successful in real estate. The power of human connection is so important. Clients want to be seen, heard, and understood. Women are pretty damn good at that!

What unique attributes or skills do women bring to the luxury space that lead us to success?

Tell me about women mentors or leaders who helped you achieve success. How did they do so?

Over to You

What steps can we take to successfully forge women’s equality and break unconscious bias in the real estate industry? Please share in the comments the ways that you’ve been successful and together, let’s help #BreakTheBias.

The post 4 NYC Luxury Agents on How to #BreakTheBias in Real Estate appeared first on The Close.

He recognized that thousands in the industry needed not only inspiration, but also training—and “Sell It Like Serhant” became a bestselling book and one of the most highly accessed courses available to agents. He reminds us that taking risks and doing far more than what is expected or customary is the way to rise to the top of our (or any!) industry.

With New York City experiencing one the worst real estate markets in decades, Ryan has navigated COVID in a way that is inspiring. He’s launched a new brokerage, a really fun-to-watch digital series, and has written a new book, “Big Money Energy,” that will hit the shelves in January.

My conversation with Ryan was candid, easy, and revealing. Check out the video below if you’re interested in learning why and how Ryan is committing to relevancy, leadership, and remaining fearless—you’re certain to take away a few ideas you can implement and be as impressed as I was. And by the way, I don’t impress easily!

Thanks for watching! You can get more real estate video content on The Close YouTube channel.

The post My Conversation With Ryan Serhant—The Man Who Won’t Slow Down appeared first on The Close.

That’s because the economics driving the real estate market is so complicated that it would take a Ph.D. to understand it. Luckily, we happen to know Chad Nash, a Denver agent who has advanced degrees in economics and data analyses.

That’s why we decided to sit down with Chad and pick his brain about what advice he has for new agents, real estate tech, and how recent events might play out in your farm area.

Sean Moudry:
So welcome, Closers, it’s Sean Moudry, and I’m excited to introduce you to the Doctor of Real Estate, Dr. Chad Nash in Denver, Colorado. Welcome, Chad.

Chad Nash:
How are you doing, Sean?

Sean Moudry:
Hey, it’s good to see you. Many of you don’t know this, but Chad and I have known each other for a while. I consider him a friend. So it is an honor to get the opportunity to interview him. I’d love to start out with you telling us a little bit about how long you’ve been in real estate.

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. Well, first I want to say, Sean, thank you for the opportunity to just come and chat with you. I know we’ve had plenty of conversations. This is always a good time to talk on video with you. You look like a movie star over there. So I started in my third year in real estate in March. So I guess you can probably say about two and a half years, per se.

Sean Moudry:
And out of nowhere, man. You are a social media legend already out there.

Chad Nash:
It’s easy to make up greatness on social media, I guess.

Sean Moudry:
That’s right. So share with the viewers a little bit about what intrigued you about real estate. Why did you get into real estate?

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. I guess it’s two-pronged. Prior to real estate, I was a lifelong educator. I worked in the education space. My passion has always been helping people, particularly helping youth and young adults achieve their dreams in the education system. So I’ve always had that servant’s heart, that servant’s mentality. At least I like to think that I have.

And by circumstance, a couple of years ago, the school district that I was working for went through a drastic reorganization. It was in that moment that kind of a lifelong dream was pulled from me—what I really enjoyed doing—and they wanted me to do something totally different. That put the spark in my head of, “Are there any other avenues professionally that I should be looking at that I can always protect my dream, protect my ambition, protect my aspirations, in helping people?” So right around the same time, it was through some conversations with mentors.

The area that I live in in Denver, Colorado, is Far Northeast Denver. As you know, Sean, back when the recession hit, Green Valley Ranch, Montbello, those areas were ravished, per se, and we had like 70% foreclosures at one point in time. My dad was a product of that. So my family went through that. I just remember at the time it didn’t make a lot of sense, right? But I remembered that hopeless feeling of, “This is your shelter. This is your livelihood. This is your home.” And just seeing droves and droves of people being forced out of their home because of foreclosure.

So when I fast forward back to that life change professionally, I always had the passion for education because I believe in social mobility through education. But then I harken back to this idea of ownership, ownership in real estate and having the ability to hold and own something that you call your own. Then even when you look at some of the wealthiest families, even middle class, high-class population, it’s all about ownership.

Sean Moudry:
That’s right.

Chad Nash:
Education can get you so far, but at the end of the day, accumulation of ownership is a prelude to creating an accumulation of wealth, however you define wealth. It doesn’t have to just be monetarily, but it’s “I own this. I’m building this and this is both protecting me and it’s providing a return by owning something.” So that’s what prompted me to get into real estate I think, because I was able to reshift from education to now going to an industry where it was about helping people, it was about creating social mobility, and I took that lens to real estate and said, “OK, I want to help create social mobility through real estate.”

Sean Moudry:
So one of the things that you said is, “Social mobility through education,” and now you’re shifting to social mobility through real estate, and that’s a very unique term, social mobility? Very specific term, right? So share with us a little bit about your background, because I introduced you as Dr. Chad Nash. So share with us about your importance of education and how that path was for you, because that’s a very unique path. Many real estate agents don’t have a Ph.D.

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. My mom still says Ph.D. means piled higher and deeper in bull crap. So I don’t know how much it’s worth to most people. But I’ll be transparent with you, Sean. So again, harken it back to Montbello, the time that we were growing up, that I was growing up, it wasn’t the cookie-cutter, all-American community. There were a lot of things that we had to go through and I was susceptible to a lot of those dynamics. I graduated high school with a 1.97 GPA. What prompted me to go into education was the summer when I graduated high school. I had a couple of mentors who basically sat me down and said, “Look, if you keep on this path that you’re on—like your friends that are not doing anything, and they’re going to go work at Teletech or Sprint for those $10 jobs, and just not really do anything—that’s going to be your life.”

They got me onto the junior college path, because I never took the SAT, I never took the ACT. I was going to go make my $10, $15 an hour a year and I was going to be rich off that, right? So you kind of fast forward. I was lucky to interact with a ton of great mentors through my educational journey. So I did my undergrad at the University of Northern Colorado, met some of my lifelong mentors that to this day I still call on there. There were opportunities that were then afforded to me to go on to grad school. I went to grad school first at Arizona State University. Go Sun Devils. I did my masters in higher education there. Then I did my Ph.D. in research and evaluation methods at the University of Colorado. So go Bucks. What I tell people is it wasn’t because I was a nerd. It wasn’t because I ever liked school that I went so far.

So when we talk about this idea of social mobility, I knew, or at least I bought into that mindset, that pursuing education will increase the probability of living out that American dream, right? You go to school, you go to college, you can be all that you can be. Not to take the saying from the Army, but you can be all that you can be if you go the education route. So I ended up getting my Ph.D. not because I was nerdy and loved it, but it was a tool for social mobility. It was a hustle to me. It was to say, “Hey look, if this is what I need to be able to get into every part of society with this credential and not have somebody tell that I can’t do something —”

Because you have to remember, I’m coming from an environment where we were always told, “Hey, it’s either going to be athletics, or entertainment, or you’ve got to go work a blue collar job.” It was never really big aspirations, and I never wanted somebody to tell me that. So that was my path through education, and that’s where that passion for always wanting to give back to the youth, especially those who look like me, came from similar communities, to say, “Hey look, if I can do it with a 1.97 GPA, then you’re 10 times smarter than me. So you can do it too.” And I just always wanted to provide that hope. That was our belief. We believe that social mobility was to be achieved through education.

Sean Moudry:
That’s awesome. So now you’re taking that same message, social mobility, and you’re applying it to your real estate business, right? Your passion tied to your real estate business. I think that’s where so many people get lost in real estate. I think they lose sight of their compass, their focus, their reason that they got into the business in the first place.

I love that you keep going back to that, and that story is powerful. So on the topic of social mobility, we’ve got this circumstance right now with Black Lives Matter that’s going on, and I hate to use the term “awakening,” but it really is kind of a new awareness, right? So what has that impact been, obviously, in your life? What has the impact been for you, and where do you see it going as far as in the real estate industry? How do you see us making a change in the real estate industry?

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. Let me preface this by saying, Sean, and I know you’ve heard me say this plenty of times before. I am a Black man. I’m a young Black man. Well, maybe not that young anymore, but I’m a Black man. But I don’t ever want my voice to speak for my entire population. But with that said, I think I have my own opinions about it. The Black Lives Matter movement, no matter where you fall at, how left you are, how moderate you are, how right you are, the Black Lives movement, not the organization Black Lives Matter, but the Black Lives Matter, just the philosophical connotation of it is important to me.

I think it’s important to our society because it’s uncovering and highlighting to say, “Hey look, how can we take steps in our own lives to create a more equitable and just society and a way of living, or a population and a demographic, that’s historically been oppressed?”

In my mind, as naive as it may sound, I think that Black Lives Matter, even though people get into this dichotomy of, “All lives matter. Black Lives Matter.” I think it’s a false dichotomy. It doesn’t need to be that way. But I actually believe that Black Lives Matter is just a battle cry for social justice. Whether that’s you’re Hispanic, whether that’s you’re Native American, whether that’s you’re working class, lower class, poor.

I think it’s unfortunate that people just see race when they hear “Black,” because that’s obviously what it’s affiliated, but it’s to say, “Hey look, we have some inequities in this country that we need to systematically address,” and I’m proud to support that. Now, I think what’s hurtful is that philosophical way of saying Black Lives Matter is also, and this is just me, I feel like it’s also conflated with the Black Lives Matter organization. Which I think that’s where, in turn, some of the conflict comes, because they have, whether it’s just like a political party, or a company, they have their own certain principles that I don’t think every Black person is going to agree with. But I think the higher tenet and the philosophy of Black Lives Matter is important.

Sean Moudry:
Specific in real estate, and it’s interesting, because I was having a conversation with another coach of The Close, Chris, and we were having an offline conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement and how it relates to real estate. I had mentioned to him, I said, “I don’t really see the connection between the two.” Then we started getting into conversations about fair housing, rental practices, those kind of things, and it’s interesting because the neighborhood that you’re from, the Montbello neighborhood, I heavily invested in there for many years, and it all of a sudden occurred to me that the reason that I invested in there is because Section 8 paid much higher rates in that neighborhood than any other neighborhood in town. Therefore, just by itself, it’s creating part of the problem, right? It’s funneling low-income people into a ZIP code, right? As an investor, I never made that connection before that that is creating the problem.

Chad Nash:
Yeah, and thank you for acknowledging that, because what people don’t understand is that when you live in a system that is inherently systematically privileged, and you’re not racist, but it’s a racist practice based on race. We are blind to how we facilitate that. So I think you’re exactly right, and when you take the historical context, fair housing practices, as you mentioned, rental, when you think of the overt practice of redlining back in the 60s and now even the covert. I was watching, oh, my gosh, and I wished that I could have chimed you in on this Facebook post, because in my mind I’m just going to tell you the truth. I’m just going to be brutally honest. Real estate in itself, it’s so crazy coming from the education where we talk about race and gender and identity and all that.

We talk about that on the daily. We don’t talk about it in real estate much, which I think is your point. But real estate in itself is inherently one of the most racist discriminatory industries in our nation, and not because we are overtly practicing it, but when we think of ideas of communities we say, “Oh, that’s the Asian part of town. That’s the Hispanic part of town. That’s the Black side of town,” it becomes ingrained in the idea of community. When there are racial undertones of that in a community, it means the word of separation as well. “I have my community. They’re separate from my community.”

Sean Moudry:
Well, and a layer to that too is being a real estate agent and practicing the Fair Housing rules where we obviously, as a real estate professional, we can’t say, “That’s the Asian side of town,” right? We can’t. So when a client asks us a question specially about race, we can’t, because we don’t know how to address it. I’ve never been to a class that was like, “Here’s how to address that.” That would be a great class. We just don’t address it at all.

Chad Nash:
That would be a great class. I don’t mean to cut you off. We should do that class, I think.

Sean Moudry:
You and I, we could collaborate. So because we don’t address it we don’t talk about it. So then since we don’t talk about it, there’s no conversation about best practice, because I think going back to the Section 8 conversation, I think that was a program that was trying to do good that just ended up creating harm. Because if you think about what they were doing, they were like, “Hey, we need to get more investors to invest in Section 8 housing” to create more housing for low-income families. But what they did is they paid higher in lower-incomes areas where the houses were cheaper and the rents were higher. So for an investor that’s looking for cash flow, then what do we do is we buy up the available inventory, so now there are less homes available for people to have the opportunity of homeownership, which I think you and I agree, that’s the number one way to build wealth in America, right?

Chad Nash:
Absolutely.

Sean Moudry:
Then here is an investor inadvertently taking away those opportunities from people who live in those communities.

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. You hit it right on the head, because when we think of what ownership is supposed to be is, “Hey, I invest and the fruits of my investment are paid back in equity and legacy and ownership and things of that sort.” So I’m going to even take it one step further. We look at the Affordable Housing program in Denver now. So let’s move beyond Section 8, or we look at this new Affordable Housing program. What is it, Elevate? Have you heard of this one?

Sean Moudry:
I’m not up-to-speed on it, no.

Chad Nash:
It’s like the land trust, right? Then you look at all these programs, and where we had even thought about social investing in real estate investment to make affordable housing. Well, what does that do? They’re great on the surface. It’s like you mentioned with Section 8, but what do you say when the parameters is, “Hey, if you sell this house within 10 years, half of your equity has to go to Joe Schmoe or with the Denver Affordable Housing,” where you saw this whole thing with Green Valley Ranch a couple years ago with all those affordable housing. These folks moved in, Green Valley Ranch skyrocketed because of the things coming out here, but they couldn’t tap into their equity.

Sean Moudry:
They were having to sell for 75 cents on the dollar compared to everybody else.

Chad Nash:
Exactly. So when you talk about these systematic things that are put into place for good, but are they really resulting in how we think about ownership?

Sean Moudry:
And to clarify for our listeners, the reason that was frustrating for people is they had purchased the houses out of foreclosure. So they didn’t know when they purchased them that they were designated as Affordable Housing until after they had bought them. Then they found out they were designated Affordable Housing—the banks didn’t disclose it. The banks might not even have known, and then now their equity position was—I think they could only earn 5% per year when the rest of the market was going up 14%, 15%, 16%. That would be extremely frustrating. Which is different if you bought knowing that’s that case. I think that there’s some healthy balance in there, but it does put you in a position where you just can’t move, right?

Chad Nash:
You can’t move. So even when you think about some of, and we won’t just talk about Denver, but most Affordable Housing programs across the nation ran by cities, they tell you just the same thing you’re saying, “You can only sell your house at X increment per year. We don’t care what the appreciation is in that area.” So now you’re forced to stay, and to me it’s just like another form of renting in some way, shape, or form, because you’re not enjoying the spoils of true ownership.

Sean Moudry:
Yeah, I think that’s fair. A favorable solution I think is the programs, the down payment assistance programs, the Silent Second programs, where you have the ability to earn the equity over time.

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. I agree 110%, because there’s no cap. There’s no cap on them. It’s a booster up. It’s a helpful boost to get into ownership and you’re not capped off.

Sean Moudry:
That’s great. So let’s talk a minute about the pandemic since we’re on kind of the title topics of what’s going on in current America. It felt like there for a while we were coming out of the pandemic, and it looks like there’s a resurgence. Thanks, Fauci, for calling that one, huh?

Chad Nash:
Whenever I see his face on TV I just cringe, because I know something bad is coming when he’s saying it.

Sean Moudry:
Yeah, it’s scary, at least in the market that we’re in in Denver, Colorado. The inventory’s extremely low values are relatively stable still. Do you foresee that? Do you have any concerns about the future of values?

Chad Nash:
So a two-part answer to that question, because I think one side of it is just pure economics, and when we talk about Denver—you know the stats just as well if not better, two times better than I do, but at one point in time we were six to seven months of shortage in inventory.

What I tell a lot of my clients is that, “Look, from a purely economic supply and demand perspective, when you talk about values, we have a lot of fat that we have to still clog through before we start to even see the economic principles of supply and demand lower home prices, because the inventory was so short already.” So to me, in my mind, even in a normal market, we may have already started to see this stabilization leveling off. We still have so much shortage on demand that it keeps it stable. It’s like padding, right?

But now I think to the second part of that, and I would love to just have more of a thought conversation with you, but I’m not an expert here.

Given the dynamics that we see with the layoffs and furloughs, it’s hard to imagine that we’re going to come out of this just completely unscathed and not see some kind of economic impact on real estate. Now, you have lived through the recession of 2008, you probably have a better idea of what it looks like when we’re going into a recession, but obviously I know we have more government programs propping people up with these forbearance and things of that sort, but that’s not everybody. And we are at record numbers of unemployment, or some form of unemployment. So even if it’s propping up half of those people, it’s still going to be a big majority of people that’s going to be impacted by this.

I don’t know. I feel like the market right now is as hot as I’ve seen it in terms of competitiveness, but I don’t think we have begun to feel the real residual impact of COVID yet. I think that’s, as you mentioned, going into the fall, this resurgence, I think we still got a long way to go. I tell my clients, I think we were kind of in a fallacy market right after COVID hit, because as you know, there was so much demand pent up that it created like this illusional market. Now, when that starts to soften out as it does in any typical fall market, plus a fall market with COVID, plus a fall market with more unemployment, that’s what I’ll be interested to see.

Sean Moudry:
What I haven’t heard is I haven’t heard of any more stimulus coming, right? So if we hit a phase two of COVID without a stimulus program, there’s a lot of questions there.

Chad Nash:
It’s sink or swim then.

Sean Moudry:
And to answer your question about the differences between 2009 and today, there’s so many differences that I don’t think you can relate the two. Prior to 2009 the government didn’t try to stimulate the economy prerecession. I did a lot of research on that and never in history have I found where they prestimulated prerecession.

Chad Nash:
Got you.

Sean Moudry:
So I think from an economic standpoint, I don’t know if you could figure it out. I think it’s going to be an interesting ride.

Chad Nash:
Got you.

Sean Moudry:
So let me ask you this, because you’re having, like you said, you’re not new to real estate, but you’ve got a few less years than me in the business, and you are doing an outstanding job. Your business is growing year over year, you’re growing your team, you’re getting a lot of eyeballs on you through social media and through some local publications. So what advice would you give a real estate agent today? And it doesn’t have to be like a brand-new agent, but if you were to be talking to an agent today who’s like, “Hey, Chad, I admire what you’ve done in such a short period of time,” what maybe two or three pieces of advice would you give them?

Chad Nash:
I think that’s a great question, because I had three things that popped in. First, so I get a lot of younger agents that come to me right now, and I’m sure you have gotten this tons as well as a very successful coach. They come to me and they say, “Chad, is it a good time for us to get into real estate? I’ve been thinking about it. Is it a good time?” Honestly, and counter me if you think I’m wrong on any of this, Sean. When I got into real estate—I almost feel like I’m part of the old guard now, even though I’m young in it, because I got in when we talked about door knocking, open houses, and all the traditional things that they’ve been doing for years. So those were my learning models, even though I didn’t do all of them.

Now I tell younger agents like, “Look, you’ve got Sean Moudry who’s done it for years, he’s been successful, but he’s done it the old way.” So now COVID has kind of manufactured a shift in paradigm in how we do real estate for everybody. So it’s great for younger agents who are getting in, because it’s almost like, “Yeah, we might have a little bit more wisdom. Sean has 10 times more wisdom than me. I have two, three years more wisdom than a new Realtor, but we’re all kind of starting over in how we’re going to do business in this industry.” Does that make sense? So we’re all kind of at this competitive level where it’s like, “Who can learn —” So the first thing would be: learn how to leverage technology. That’s number one. Learn how to leverage technology, because that’s going to put you into this next generation of how business is being done.

Sean Moudry:
Can you be a little more specific on what you mean by that? Because I think that term, “technology,” is overused, and then the term, “leverage,” is overused.

Chad Nash:
Oh, man.

Sean Moudry:
So if you can be more specific on both of those terms and what you mean by leverage technology.

Chad Nash:
Absolutely. So relationships still matter. This is a relationship-driven business. There’s no way around that. But a lot of Realtors were doing pop buys. We have to be in front of our client to do a listing presentation, or we have to be with them. I think pre-COVID, the clients wanted that because it was a signal that you cared. Well, now their expectation is to say, “Hey, people are trying to do things a little bit less impersonable. How can we still get the job done? Maybe we don’t have to go to the two-hour coffee and talk about this.” So learning things like how to leverage Zoom and online listing presentations and how to leverage your CRM.

That’s one of the big things for me—is how to utilize a CRM and stay in touch from a technology standpoint and utilize that to engage. How do you do client appreciation type of deals without having—I know you’re all the way against this, because we talked about this—without having to do those events in person.

Now you get a better ROI if you learn how to do client engagement appreciation and acknowledgment or build community via electronics. One thing that we’re thinking about doing, taking these homebuyer and home selling seminars, do it virtually. You don’t have to go. You don’t have to buy a whole bunch of stuff. People will tune in for their 20, 30 minutes and they can log right off and be off to their other thing. So I think just shifting that is big.

Sean Moudry:
I love that. So that’s one.

Chad Nash:
The second one would be social media. I wouldn’t even say it’s social media. But along the same lines as the technology piece. Agents really need to be aware of what I call their online resume. It’s not what I call it, but it’s what a lot of people call it, online resume. When I look up Sean on Google, what am I seeing? When I look up Sean on his Facebook, what am I seeing? Because now we are so technology-based and we work quick off of, “Does he look good? Does he have good reviews? OK, let’s call him.” So really making sure you’re building that online resume, and part of that is through social media.

Sean Moudry:
What social media platforms do you recommend right now?

Chad Nash:
So tell me if you’ve seen this statistic, OK? Now, I’m a big Facebook user, and honest-to-God, Facebook has driven a lot of my business. I may have even told you—a couple of months ago I got hacked on Facebook and I had to start over a new account. That’s why I had to add you. I literally cried. I cried, because I knew how important Facebook was to my business. Just for my testimonials, my listing videos. I just knew how important it was. I’m a big Facebook person. I think for my generation that’s kind of the go-to. But I read an interesting statistic, and I’ll talk about the other two in a second. I read an interesting statistic. There’s a young lady in my office and she was on a well-known show, right? She showed me a statistic, and she’s a social influencer, right?

She has like 80,000 followers, whatever, but the statistic said that Millennials and younger generations have said that they’re 70% more likely to buy or sell real estate if they consider the person to be a, quote unquote, social influencer. So it’s not about, “Man, Sean knows the market.” I’m like, “Yeah, you’ve got to know that stuff,” but it becomes who’s out there, who’s visible? Who’s making their brand attractive that they want to work with. I have a good friend, you probably know this, Shawn Leland with Compass as well. The running joke now is that a lot of people are like, “Ah, that handsome or cute Realtor that’s always doing the videos.”

He’s just kind of built this image, and I think that took me a long way harnessing that. Now, I also think that depending on how you want to niche it out. So for me, because I do like to try to leverage that Ph.D. to get into professional communities, I use a lot of LinkedIn as well, because I think that LinkedIn, while Facebook is kind of middle-of-the-road, IG is younger population, I think LinkedIn, while it’s not as click-click-clicky, and I don’t want to categorized, but I would say if you’re saying, “OK, I want to get into the doctors and the lawyers and maybe try my hand in the luxury spaces and network with the CEOs and things of that sort,” then I found it to be an effective avenue.

Sean Moudry:
Awesome.

Chad Nash:
They’re not so much on their “Like, like, liking,” but they’re on there more than they are on Facebook, and they’re definitely on there more than they are on IG, right? I think it’s a more cerebral way of looking at like, “OK, what is this Realtor about?” That’s where I really step up my game is on LinkedIn when I’m talking about data and numbers and the nerdy part of real estate, right?

Sean Moudry:
So you’re crafting your message based on the platform.

Chad Nash:
Yeah.

Sean Moudry:
So a different message on Facebook to a different demographic than your LinkedIn message?

Chad Nash:
Yup, I do. I do, and I just try to be a little bit more, not even sophisticated, but again, more how we can have these very high-level conversations, and I try to keep those on LinkedIn, because there’s not a lot of back and forth, not a lot of debate, it’s just cerebral. You put stuff on Facebook, as you see, it becomes, oh, my God. You know what you set yourself up for, and that’s really just a—I don’t know. It’s great for social branding and social proof, but it’s not great for super-high-level conversations, because inevitably Aaron is going to come on and then Aaron and Bob are going at it.

Sean Moudry:
I think I heard it in Gary Vaynerchuk’s book “Crush It,” and he referenced Facebook as kind of like the entertainment channel, Instagram’s the magazine, like you’re flipping through a magazine, and LinkedIn is more about articles, right? Like you want to read or do research.

Chad Nash:
Yes, and I think that’s exactly right. The third thing, and I know I’m probably running short on time here, I tell agents, and we’ve talked about this before I know as well. So my previous career was in fundraising in community development. CRMs were the norm, right? So I came up in a model where CRMs were used in our everyday life, and people ask me what was my biggest competitive advantage when I got into real estate. I think that I came in not knowing any better that we shouldn’t use this, that some Realtors don’t use a CRM.

Sean Moudry:
Most Realtors don’t.

Chad Nash:
They don’t, and to this day it blows my mind, because I say, “It’s not so much that you have to have a big CRM, but it’s as we talked about before, getting your systems and structures and everything plugged in can just make your life so much easier.” When you put things on, “When am I supposed to reach out? What can I reach out? What content can I have? This pipeline over here, I should do this. This pipeline over here, I should do that.” I think CRM training upfront, upfront, upfront, upfront. Not saying, “Oh, just use Excel sheets until you get a big day.” No. If you only got four people, put them in your CRM and start to build it, and everything goes into your CRM and then that becomes your business. That is your gold mine.

Sean Moudry:
Now the obvious question is, what’s your favorite CRM?

Chad Nash:
Right now I’m using Chime. Now, Chime, it’s complex, right? So you kind of step up. I was with Contactually initially, and a funny story is I was with Contactually to start off because it was easy, simple to use—it had the buckets, right? The buckets tell you when you need to reach out, whatever. Then I found out that Compass was buying Contactually and I was like, “Hell, nah, I’m not going to have my database aligned with this company Compass.” I was with RE/MAX at the time. So then I got rid of Contactually and I stumbled upon Chime, which I think is a little bit more intensive, but I think it’s a little bit more high power. Sure enough, I ended up at Compass. But I never went back to Compass’ CRM. I think it’s a little outdated, and I think that a basic CRM can get you going, but a great CRM—it can get you going far.

Sean Moudry:
Nice.

Chad Nash:
I think when you start thinking about the Chimes and the BoomTowns, and when you’re a major player like you and you’ve got a big team over there as you’ve experienced, you need a little bit more high-power CRMs. In my mind.

Sean Moudry:
I agree with you. I always tell agents to start off with something basic. I love Contactually as a place to start. It’s such a simple system. It makes sense. It’s very logical. It’s a great place to start. Then, as you have needs, you get layers of, “Oh, I wish it would do this,” or, “I wish it would do that,” or running multiple funnels or funnels that link to each other. It’s challenging. I haven’t investigated Chime, but I’m definitely going to look into it.

Chad Nash:
I love it. I do. I love Chime to death. I do.

Sean Moudry:
That’s awesome. Well, Chad, we are at the end of our time. Is there anything else you want to share with anybody out there?

Chad Nash:
No, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate you just giving me the platform to kind of speak about my stuff, but also some of things going on in the world that are near and dear to my heart, and, man, I love watching you do what you do. You’re a big mentor to me. So thank you —

Sean Moudry:
Thank you.

Chad Nash:
— for just continuing to set an example and giving back to younger agents such as myself.

Sean Moudry:
You’re not that much younger.

Chad Nash:
Well, you look like you’re 25, man. I’m over here, I probably look older than you do.

Sean Moudry:
I don’t know about that. Awesome. Chad Nash, Ph.D., Doctor of Real Estate. Thank you for being here.

Chad Nash:
Appreciate it. Thank you, Sean.

Sean Moudry:
Awesome.

The post Exclusive Interview: Chad Nash, Ph.D., Team Lead, The RE-Doc Group appeared first on The Close.

What do you get when you combine killer sales instincts, customer service expertise, and a professional background that includes everything from brand management at Saks Fifth Avenue to New York City fitness trainer? You get Compass Real Estate top-producer real estate agent Jaréd Goodloe.

Like most real estate agents in New York City, Jaréd’s path to success didn’t start in real estate. Jaréd cut his teeth in luxury retail, food and beverage, and other industries where he had to learn quickly what his clientele wanted or else he didn’t eat. He’s taken these skills and adapted them into a fast-growing real estate business as a million-dollar agent in one of the toughest markets in the world.

We sat down with Jaréd to learn more about the secrets of his success, navigating the real estate market in the time of a global pandemic, and to get some of his best advice for aspiring agents looking to follow in his footsteps. Here’s what he had to say:

Why did you get into real estate? What were you doing before?

I didn’t get into real estate because I loved apartments. I got into real estate because I loved sales. I worked in luxury sales for over seven years prior to coming into real estate. I was motivated by the mere fact of “What I killed, I ate!” meaning, the more effort I put in, the greater the reward.

I was accustomed to an elevated client experience, but I knew I didn’t want to keep making other companies richer, so I did a deep dive to see what job I could transition to that would allow me to sell, and that’s how I found real estate.

I had friends in the business in other states who did extremely well during their first years, but that isn’t always the case in New York City, especially if you aren’t from here. I didn’t have a huge sphere of influence of people to call, and my email list was even shorter because everyone I knew was either renting a room or content with renting in general. I knew that if I was going to thrive in this business, I’d have to educate, connect with as many people as possible, and promote myself on social media because I was lacking a strong sphere of influence in the beginning.

The funny thing is, those same people who weren’t looking to move referred me to their friends and family to help them move.

Which deal are you most proud of & why?

I’m most proud of my deal on 3311 Newkirk Avenue because I really learned how to stick it out when the going gets tough! My buyers stuck with me after one deal fell completely apart. I honestly thought I’d lost them, but we ended up finding 3311, submitted the offer, went under contract, and then COVID-19 came. They still stuck with me and we eventually closed in escrow.

I’m proud to say, after working together for over a quarter, we’re great friends to this day.

What’s your favorite real estate technology tool?

COMPASS CRM! I’m not sure I should say this, but I never used my CRM at my old firms. The reason I like the Compass CRM so much is that I can actually drive my business without switching to other software. I can set my reminders, talk to my clients in Collections, request Ubers for my clients, and much more!

What’s your favorite charity & how can our readers donate?

NAACP Legal Defense Fund. You can donate online at their website.

The Black Lives Matter movement is bringing to light many racial injustices faced by people of color in this country. What, if any, effects do think this movement will have on the real estate industry?

Since we’re still limited in our showings and interactions with other agents, the true test of the matter will come when we’re back in large settings. Will everyone be considered equal no matter their skin color or how they dress? I think in this field (real estate), when you go against the grain of looking like the “norm,” you aren’t considered equal. Hopefully, we will move past this and start to work together to make deals happen.

On the client side, I think the new Fair Housing Laws in conjunction with what is happening will give everyone a fair shot.

What advice would you give to Black men or women considering a career in real estate?

My biggest piece of advice is to move away from the place of thinking that you have to work twice as hard to prove your worth. Understand that you’re a person of color, but that doesn’t make you less. Surround yourself with players in the industry and those important to you. In this business, your immediate circle can be your next paycheck.

Connect With Jaréd:

Website: https://www.compass.com/agents/jared-goodloe/
Instagram: @jagoodloe
LinkedIn: @jared-goodloe
Facebook: @JaredGoodloe

Over to You

Are you or someone you know doing fantastic things in your business and community? Got a story worthy of sharing here on The Close? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to us in our Facebook Group: The Close Real Estate Agents Mastermind Group.

The post Exclusive Interview: Jaréd Goodloe on Pandemic Success, Tech, & More appeared first on The Close.

Barbara Corcoran talks about resilience as key to success in pretty much every interview she gives. Psychologists have singled out conscientiousness, the clinical term for resilience, as one of the key elements of professional and personal success.

That’s why we were excited to have a chance to sit down with Louisiana Realtor and developer Terrica Smith. When she was younger, Terrica faced the ultimate test of resilience. Homelessness and abuse.

Here’s her amazing story:

Sean Moudry:
Good morning, Closers. It’s Sean Moudry and we have an amazing guest today. She’s inspirational. She’s powerful. And you’re going to love this interview. Terrica Smith, welcome.

Terrica Smith:
Yes, thank you for having me. Yay, I’m so excited.

Sean Moudry:
I’m really excited to interview you today, and what a cool story you have. Can we talk a little bit about that? Because it sounds like that’s where your passion for real estate kind of came in, is that correct?

Terrica Smith:
For me, I think everybody had their own life struggles. If I’m being honest, it just so happened mine was abuse. And I went through a lot of childhood abuse. Five years old, my mother gave me over to her drug dealer and by the time I was 9, 10 years old, I was into the foster care system. By the time I made 16 years old, I was already pregnant with my first child. And at this age, when you went through so much as a child, you’d naturally think “can’t nobody tell you anything,” like you’re an adult now. So now I’m going to try to make the best decisions for myself.

And I started traveling the road. I was selling magazines. I actually got pregnant on the road, selling magazines. And I came off the road, went back to New Orleans after I found out I was pregnant and I just, I didn’t have no family.

Terrica Smith:
And so I ended up homeless, living up under a bridge for a night with my child. And that was like a real defining moment for me, because I just had my baby, I’m 17 years old. And the person who I resent the most, which was my mother at the time, I’m now looking exactly like her. And I knew that I wanted to make a change. I did not want my son to go through what I’ve been through.

I didn’t want him to experience being hungry. I didn’t want him to experience not having power on in the house. I didn’t want him to experience abuse. So I was very overprotective over him. Didn’t want nobody to touch him or tell him anything. And so for me, that night up under the bridge, I had to make a decision: Is this going to be my reality? If this is going to remain real, then I’m going to be exactly like the person who I’ve been running from my whole life and who I resented the most.

Terrica Smith:
And so for me, I needed to change that. And that night is so crazy. I was like, “All right, I’m going to do this. I’m going to figure it out.” The next morning, I reached out to this landlord in New Orleans. I had no money; I just had my food stamps. I offered him my full food stamp card just to get me a place to stay. I would have figured out the rest later. And he was just amazed at how bold I was to call him and offer him something illegal, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be off the streets. And he didn’t want to take my card, he didn’t want to take anything.

Terrica Smith:
He just was, “I’ll work with what you have.” And so I was able to get welfare and then I was able to pull some money together. And then eventually I was able to pay him. But he gave me a few months free—he really helped me out. And that was a changing moment in my life. Because when I was traveling the road, I’ve seen all of these megamansions, people living in these beautiful houses. And I’ve never seen anything like that in Louisiana. It always stayed with me, even whenever I was homeless. And these people had these big mansions, and I’m like, “I’m no different than them, and why they have a better life than me and why they have … Why these kids have loving parents, I didn’t have that.”

Terrica Smith:
So I was always like that victim. And then what happened was once he gave me that first stepping stone, I realized that I had more power within me than what I really thought I had.

Because somebody who don’t have any money and homeless the day before turned their situation around the very next day by simply asking. And so for me, once I realized that, and you know, I got into my apartment, was like, “All right, I’m going to go to school.” Well, I ended up at Delgado Community College. I’m fast-forwarding through the story quite a bit. But I ended up at Delgado Community College, then lasted all of about 30 days. Because I was going up for nursing school and I realized I did not want to help, I’m not compassionate like that. I don’t want to clean people for a living or do that service. That’s just not me.

Terrica Smith:
And so the teacher set out to be able to tell you right away, if you guys are going to be able to stay in nursing. And she was like, “During surgery you have to prep.” And then she told us everything you have to do to prep a female, everything you have to do to prep a male. And some of the things you may have to clean up during surgery. And I was like, “All right, I’m out. This is not for me.” So I got out of the class real fast.

Hurricane Katrina came; by this time, I’ve had two kids and I’m 19 years old. I’m like, “All right guys, something got to change.” So we end up relocating to a city in Louisiana, called Lafayette, Louisiana. And that’s where I started in real estate back in 2006. That was a defining moment, because everybody who I met that lived in these megamansions always said they were in real estate.

Terrica Smith:
So I was like, “All right, I’m going to get into real estate. And I’m going to make all this money and I’m going to be this fabulous person.” And then the first year I sell $5,000 in real estate. Literally. That was like, “Oh my gosh, people at McDonald’s make more than me.” I failed this exam seven times. So you would think, why do people do this? This exam was extremely hard for me.

So I was like, “I’m going to hang in there.” And then the next year I knocked it out of the ballpark. I became Century 21. I was like a rookie of the year for them. I went on to receive their Ruby award, then their Diamond award. Then later I became their office manager. In 2012 I opened up my real estate brokerage. And then from there into 2012 we started Cachet Real Estate, which I built on three principles: I wanted us to be vibrant, I wanted us to be strong, and I wanted us to be courageous.

Because when I started this business, I failed the exam seven times; no broker wanted to have me on their team. Because it was a little different, those years. It was, you wouldn’t think, but it was very different. You needed to look a certain way to go to these big luxury companies. And I didn’t look that way. I just told you, I just come from being poor. So you know, no money, I didn’t look the part that they wanted me to be at their office, right? And so I needed them to remember that you needed to be courageous, even when things like that come up against you. I need you to be vibrant, because your energy is what’s going to attract your business.

Terrica Smith:
And if you’re vibrant, then nobody’s going to want to do business with you. And in this business, you have to be strong. You have to be willing to go with the lows and with the highs. Because if you’re only going with the highs, when the market crashes, you’re going to fold. So you have to be strong in this business and you have to know people are going to talk to you like you’re nothing, and they’re going to treat you like you’re a dirty car salesman. But I just need for you to be strong.

And so from there we birthed Cachet Real Estate. Then I joined forces with Real Broker, LLC, which is who I’m with right now. We actually just went public. So I’m so super-excited.

Sean Moudry:
Awesome, congratulations.

Terrica Smith:
Yes. I’m so super-excited about that. And from there, that’s really how my real estate career was launched, tied into my personal story as well.

Sean Moudry:
What a great story. So, can you go into a little bit more depth on, like, the new agent? So, if I’m a brand-new agent, and I’m listening to your story. I mean, like you’re inspirational. So what advice would you give a new agent?

Terrica Smith:
The advice I would give a new agent is: Build your own book of business. Don’t sit around for a duty call. Don’t sit around waiting for your broker to feed you, because you will starve, right?

Pick up the newspaper, go on the internet, go door knocking. I literally hit the ground. I would knock on doors and it’d be like, “Why would I want to work with you?” And I’m like, “Because I have time. All these other agents you’re reading about in the magazine, they have all of these properties. You would be my only client. So I promise you, I’ll give you 110% of me. I’m going to know you on a first-name basis, I’m not going to have you as a number.”

And that’s how I was able to get my foot in the door. So don’t wait for somebody to hand you something because then you’ll be waiting your whole entire career. And whenever things change or whenever that broker gets a favorite, guess what? You’re hungry.

Sean Moudry:
Yeah. Oh man, you’re great. Do you have a favorite deal? Like a favorite transaction or a favorite story? A real estate story?

Terrica Smith:
Yes, so obviously mine says Madeline Cove, right? That is my heart. And Madeline Cove, so I’ll give you a little back story. Back when I was a new agent, and this is why I say don’t wait on somebody to feed you. They used me as the open house agent. And for people that may not understand what an open house agent is, you’re like the agent, they go to all the open houses and do all of the work and meet all of these people and get none of the deals.

And so I was that person, and I didn’t know, I just was so tenacious, I wanted to win. I wanted to not be poor, I wanted to not be under that bridge again. And so all of that played into how my work ethic was in real estate.

Terrica Smith:
And they were developing this community here in Lafayette. It’s on the north side of town. It’s in the inner cities, right? And this was supposed to be this huge revitalization project. And I’m an African American woman, so I was going to be able to relate to the people. I was going to understand their pain points because I’ve been through so much.

And then the partnership went south and that project never came alive. And so I literally watched this project for a decade. It sat there, it went through bankruptcy. It had to go through court proceedings. It had all types of judgments and liens with the city. Nobody could ever touch this property because it was just too defiled. And so back when President Trump created what is called the Opportunity Zone, this particular project fell within the Opportunity Zone Act.

Terrica Smith:
And I was like, “Oh yeah.” So then the wheels start turning. I went into prayer. I said, “All right, God, if this is going to work, I need your blessing. Because this land, it has been cursed for decades. It has not been successful. Everybody who’s tried to come and buy this property has failed miserably. The city is tired of talking to people about bringing this property back into commerce, so I am asking for grace and I’m asking if this is going to work, then I need for you to be the steering wheel of this. I need for you to steer this for me. And I’m just going to be in the driver’s seat.” Boom, that’s all I said, OK. I called a few business partners and I said, “Hey, there is this property that falls within an Opportunity Zone. I would like us to go and get it.”

Terrica Smith:
They’re like, “Hey, OK, cool. We’re in, how much is that?” I’m saying, “Right now they want $1.5 million.” They’re like, “What? $1.5 million in what part of town?” I’m like, “Yes, but I’m believing we’re going to get this property for almost nothing.” They’re like, “All right, we believe in you, Terrica. So we’ll follow your lead, but we ain’t paying $1.5 million, we’re telling you that now.” Like, “All right, cool. I get it.” So, from there I started reaching out to our mayor. I started reaching out to our leaders in the community, city councilman, blah, blah, blah.”

Terrica Smith:
And then I found out enough information that made me comfortable to say, “OK, I’m going to put a contract on this property.” So they were asking $1.5 million. I offered them $800,000. No, I lie. My first offer was $250,000. They said, “No, get out of here with that.” Everybody was like, “How could you insult them so bad?” I’m like, “The property’s sitting here, they owe a ton of taxes. It don’t make sense for them to keep this.” So I went back, I shot them another offer, went up 350,000, then I … They countered me back. They said, “OK, we’ll counter you back at $900,000.” I’m like, “OK, we’re making progress, $1.5M to $900K, OK.” So then ultimately we ended up agreeing to $700,000. So I got it for 50% less than what it was, right?

Sean Moudry:
Good job.

Terrica Smith:
Yeah. But this is my favorite part about this. This is the community, it has all the roads. It has all of the infrastructure, all of the hard costs, all of the soft costs. The sewage is already installed. Everything is there, except the vision. And while I was able to relate to this property because this property was abandoned, this property was thrown away, this property was looked down at. Nobody wanted to touch this property, and if they did, they just wanted to keep the stigma of where it’s at and don’t bring the people in the community up with it.

Terrica Smith:
It wasn’t going to be anything positive, but it’s going to be more of a subsidized housing type of event. And I was like, “I don’t think that’s something that we need to be doing. This is something that can rebirth an entire community, right? We’re going to be the first to create a work, live, eat, play type environment.” And so when I came in with this huge design, the city couldn’t even believe that. There’s like, “There’s no way you’re going to be able to do as much as you want to do on these 15 acres. That don’t make sense, Terrica.”

Terrica Smith:
And I had an engineer and an architect who saw the vision of being able to put new home owners with millennials, with the seniors, with a grocery store in the front and a few restaurants to be able to cater to the community. And by the time I finished the vision and working with all of the people that’s involved, we came up with almost 200 doors.

Sean Moudry:
Wow.

Terrica Smith:
Two hundred doors in this community. And so that story literally went viral all over the world. It went to Africa, it went to Germany. We were in Italy featured. Washington, of course. I don’t know if you know this, they invited me to the White House because of the work that I was doing in regard to this community. And the White House is very supportive of this project. In fact, Scott Turner has literally come out to the property twice. Well, yes, once and should be coming back twice to be able to shine light on the work that we’re doing here in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Terrica Smith:
And I say all that to say, this is something that was just thrown away. Nobody wanted it. And I connected with that. It pulled on my heartstrings and I was able to tie my heartstrings with this property heartstrings, and be able to birth it with some amazing business partners who believed in this. And so that’s why the article you may be reading would be like, homeless to raising $14 million for a development. And I was told no a million times. Remember, I said, “You got to be strong in his business.”

So every time somebody told me, “No,” literally I just put a check. You ever put a line across a tally when you hit number five, that was me. And I’m like, “F#$&*, I’m running out of people. I’m still going.” And then before you know it, it was none of the people that I knew. None of the people that I knew really I got behind this project. It was all people of other people who believed and kind of supported this. That’s amazing to me.

Sean Moudry:
Amazing. You’re amazing. So, what phase is that project in now?

Terrica Smith:
So right now we are looking to break ground in September.

Sean Moudry:
Amazing. Amazing. And you wrote a book. Can we talk a little bit about your book? The title is “Frightened, Scared, and Alone No More!!!,” right?

Terrica Smith:
Yes, yes, yes. I think the title says everything, right?

Sean Moudry:
Yeah. Your story is amazing. I love how you tie your purpose, that story with that connection under the bridge with your child, to your brokerage, to your project. I mean, I think one of the biggest reasons people fail is that passion and that connection. And when you anchor that, like you said, you said your heartstrings. I love those words, by the way, I’m writing down, taking notes, I love that. When you anchor those things, I mean, there’s no choice but to be successful, right?

Terrica Smith:
Yeah. Yes.

Sean Moudry:
Because it’s part of you.

Terrica Smith:
Yes, there’s no other option. There’s no plan B. There’s no plan C. It’s only, this is the plan—it has to work.

Sean Moudry:
It’s amazing. What an amazing story. So, where do you go from here? You’ve achieved so much already. And I think I did the math. Are you still under 30?

Terrica Smith:
No. I’m 35.

Sean Moudry:
OK, I did my math really wrong. That’s still super-young, though. What does your future look like?

Terrica Smith:
So, my whole purpose in life is to be able to help people who don’t believe that they can help themselves. And I know that I’ve placed myself in a position where now I’m able to give back to people who are less fortunate, and not just by giving them a dollar, right? That don’t help people, but by changing their mindset, by giving them knowledge. And so for me, if I can give what I have within me, if I can share everything that I’ve been through to as many people as I know for them to say, “OK, my life is not this bad. So if she went through that, then I should be able to go through this.” And with that, have people’s lives be changed through that.

Terrica Smith:
It’s so important that people understand that your reality is not real. Even in this moment right now, that may sound crazy to you, but it is not real right now. What is real is what you allow yourself to believe is real. So for instance, I’ll translate that to you. When I was homeless up under the bridge, that wasn’t real, right? Because I’d still be there if I believed that that was real.

My mind wouldn’t allow me to leave if I believed it was real. So I look at every situation like that in life. My reality, if it’s not good for me, if it’s not comforting for me, then it’s not real. It’s temporary, and I’m going to get through this, but I just have to be able to see past what’s supposed to be reality right now. And that’s where a lot of people fell at because they just look at reality and they can’t see past it. And so for me, I’m always looking to the left, I’m always looking to the right. I’m always looking, because my reality is not real, especially if I’m uncomfortable.

Sean Moudry:
I completely agree with you. And that is a very hard concept to teach people.

Terrica Smith:
Yes, it is, it is. But I’m hoping …

Sean Moudry:
How inspiring.

Terrica Smith:
I’m hoping, through this project of Madeline Cove, that we’ll be able to transform the thinking of a lot of individuals in the lower-end communities who don’t really understand the importance of home ownership, who don’t understand the importance of being in an area where it’s more important to pay property taxes. I’m hoping that we can educate them through the courses that we’re creating to be able to give them the knowledge that they need to continue moving forward.

Sean Moudry:
I love it. If somebody wanted to learn more and to maybe be in support of you, or your mission or a cause that you care about, where do you suggest they go?

Terrica Smith:
So I recommend that they go to saltcapitalequitygroup.com, that is a company that me and some friends started to allow normal people such as yourselves to be able to come and invest with us on our projects. But not just invest—get the education of becoming a developer and or an investor or a landlord or whatever it is that this person seeks to be.

Go to saltcapitalequitygroup.com and click the “inquire” button for more information. And then someone from my team would reach out to them within 48 hours and be able to explain to them exactly what it is we’re doing. But we are a real estate platform that brings in unaccredited investors to be able to invest with us.

Sean Moudry:
Oh, amazing. Man, I could learn so much from you. Terrica Smith, it was absolutely a pleasure interviewing you today. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Terrica Smith:
Yeah, I would like to share just for the agents out there, do not do this without a purpose. Do not do this without a strategy. Make sure while you’re doing this, you know what you’re doing it for. Because this business is hard, and it would chew you up and it will spit you out. So if you don’t know what your purpose is, if you don’t have a strategy, then you’re going to be zigzagging in this business and you’re going to become a statistic. And that, my friend, is what you don’t want to become.

The post Exclusive Interview: Terrica Smith—From Homeless to Real Estate CEO appeared first on The Close.

Connect with Erica:

Instagram: @erica.rawls
LinkedIn: @ericarawls
Facebook: @EricaRawls

If there was ever someone whose background, passions, and skill set were perfect for real estate, it would be our Agent Spotlight featured agent, Erica Rawls.

This central Pennsylvania real estate team leader and listing specialist has resume highlights like experience as a collegiate athlete, an accountant at the prestigious PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm, and a real estate investor, and that’s just on page one. Her personal strength, professional experience, and nose for business make her a force to be reckoned with, which is why it’s no wonder she’s a good fit for real estate.

Erica’s passion for our industry and for community building, both online and in the neighborhoods of the communities she serves, drives her success every day. With 12,600+ followers on her personal Instagram alone, a biweekly Facebook Live show, and quarterly homeownership workshops for first-time homebuyers and sellers, Erica is building a tribe of informed, excited, and active real estate clients, and bettering her community at the same time.

We sat down with Erica to ask her about her real estate business, the state of the industry, and to pick her brain about the topics on everyone’s mind right now. Here’s what she had to say.

1. Why did you get into real estate? What were you doing before & what were your first impressions of the industry?

I’ve been a licensed Realtor since 2007. Prior to real estate, I worked in the corporate sector as an accountant working for Fortune 500 companies as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers public accounting firm. I initially entered into real estate as an investor, and as I grew my portfolio, my love for the real estate business grew as well. With encouragement from my Realtor, I sought to obtain my real estate license.

I found real estate to be the best of both worlds for me. Real estate allows me the opportunity to meet and interact with people from all walks of life; it allows me the opportunity to be a business owner; to be my own boss; and to grow people.

2. Which deal are you most proud of & why?

Although my team and I are fortunate enough to work repeat clients—clients who relocate to the area, empty nesters, and people looking to purchase their second home—it’s the first-time homeowners that are most memorable for us because we know purchasing a home is overwhelming, let alone purchasing a home for the first time and not knowing what to expect.

What is most rewarding is handing keys to those individuals who are the first ones to own a home in their family. It gets me every time.

3. What’s your favorite real estate technology tool?

My favorite technology tool may not be real estate-specific in nature, but we are able to cultivate quite a bit of new business using our social media channels, particularly Instagram and Facebook Live right now.

4. What’s your favorite charity & how can our readers donate?

In the climate we’re in today, I’d like to urge everyone to donate to any legitimate nonprofit working to move the needle on effective change concerning the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Donate to NAACP, Color of Change, The Empowerment Program, National Black Women’s Justice Institute, or Black Lives Matter, to name a few.

5. The Black Lives Matter movement is bringing to light many racial injustices faced by people of color in this country. What, if any, effects do you think this movement will have on the real estate industry?

I am hopeful that the BLM movement will bring about positive change for our country as a whole; the real estate industry included.

The real estate industry also suffers from the effects of systematic racism just like corporate America. For example, redlining has been a real estate issue our industry has faced historically and is still occurring today, sometimes without thought.

Casual statements like, ‘You don’t want to live here, it feeds into a certain school district,’ or ‘There’s a lot of (insert any person of color here) living in that neighborhood.’ I’m guilty of brushing it off in the past when I would overhear conversations of this nature taking place; however, ignorance should be addressed or change will never occur.

Although we have quite a few dynamic men and women of color who are successful in our industry, there’s room for more awareness of the opportunity available for all in our industry. We as professionals can do better in making sure that we inform everyone in our community of all the options available, whether it’s for people looking to buy or sell a home or people considering a career in real estate.

The real estate industry has a great opportunity to ensure there is a true representation of not only Black Americans but for all people of color. By doing so, we will be a part of the positive steps forward necessary for eliminating systematic racism found in our country, even in the real estate industry.

It is 2020, diversity and inclusion are important, and it’s time to start prioritizing them.

6. What advice would you give to Black men or women considering a career in real estate?

The best advice I can give to new agents or people considering a career in real estate is to find a great mentor, and remember, that person doesn’t necessarily have to be someone in the business of real estate. Just find a successful business owner and ask lots of questions.

Also, remember to treat your real estate career like a business. Build relationships with people that will be able to assist with setting up your business the right way out of the gate (e.g., accountants, attorneys, and bankers). Set up a limited liability company (LLC) or S corporation (S-corp). Set up a payroll account for yourself. Meet with your accountant on a quarterly basis. Doing this early will set you up for success and eliminate a lot of headaches in the future.

After setting up your business the right way, focus on setting up systems to bring business in the door. Success does not happen overnight—it comes after you have proven commitment, perseverance, diligence, and consistency.

Over to You

Are you or someone you know doing fantastic things in your business and community? Got a story worthy of sharing here on The Close? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to us in our Facebook Group: The Close Real Estate Agents Mastermind Group.

The post Exclusive Interview: Erica Rawls on New Agent Tips, Social Media & More appeared first on The Close.

Sean Moudry:

Hello, The Close listeners, it’s Sean Moudry. We’re here with The Close and we are here with Nicole Beauchamp, with Engel & Völkers in Manhattan, New York. Welcome.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Thank you, thank you. It’s exciting to be here.

Sean Moudry:

Wonderful. So, I was looking into your bio a little bit and you’re relatively—I don’t want to say you’re new to real estate—but 2014 wasn’t that long ago. What got you into real estate?

Nicole Beauchamp:

Well, actually, 2014 is when I made the move to Engel & Völkers. I’ve actually been in real estate for almost 20 years now.

Sean Moudry:

Oh, I read that wrong.

Nicole Beauchamp:

If you can imagine that! It feels like just yesterday that people were asking me why on earth would I want to be able to check my email when I’m not sitting at my desk?

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Now 20 years later, all we do is check our email from our phones when we’re walking around, and as long as we’re awake.

Sean Moudry:

That’s right. Now, you have a background in technology, right? Is that—

Nicole Beauchamp:

Yep.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, tell us—

Nicole Beauchamp:

That’s correct. So, my undergraduate background is in computer science and economics, and I did some sort of—I would call it top-level software design. I wasn’t very good at coding. I didn’t love it, but I was a person that could interface between the tech people and the business side. So, it was kind of like being a—

Sean Moudry:

Genius.

Nicole Beauchamp:

A translator. A translator in a way. Mainly I was one of the few people on most tech teams that was OK with actually going and walking over to someone to talk about something, versus sitting next to each other and sending messages back and forth. That didn’t make any sense to me. I’m like, “You’re sitting next to me. We can talk.” I did that for—oh god, I’m getting older than I think—for almost 20 years.

I was born and raised here in New York, so any environment that I’ve been in people have always asked me, “OK, I’m coming to visit New York. What should I do? Where should I stay?” “I think I’m being transferred to New York. Where should I live? What should I do?” I would give my examples of having grown up here. It’s like, “Hey, it’s not so bad. You can actually be born and raised here and turn out well.” People always think that it’s superexpensive, you have to go to private school. I went to public school in New York City. My sisters went to private school.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I would send them to a friend of mine who was a real estate agent and say, “OK. I gave you my opinion as a lifelong New Yorker. Go talk to Jane and she will help you rent, she’ll help you buy, all that fun stuff.” This happens repeatedly over the years, and she eventually says, “You need to get your license so at least I can pay you a referral fee.” I go, “It’s good. I just want people to be well taken care of and have someone that they can trust who can work on their behalf to get them the home that they want.” She goes, “Think about it. It’s like a finder’s fee. It’s like the same thing when you’re putting companies together.” I resisted for a very long time, and then finally I caved because she said, “You know what? You paid for my car. Your referrals paid for my car this year.” OK, fine.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I get to a point where I’m feeling exhausted and worn down because all I feel like I’m doing is I’m working all the time. I would walk into my office and I could get handed a plane ticket and told, “OK, goodbye. Go to London for three days to work with a client.” That was hard to keep some kind of a work/life balance so I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll try selling real estate and I will have control over my life in some way. It’s just like starting a new business.” I was right about the “It’s just like starting a new business.” The extent to which the work/life balance—that’s gone back and forth, but I still think of it as the best decision I’ve made. It did enable me to make decisions to be present for my family at a time when my parents needed me most. I was able to be there in a very flexible way because I was in this business.

Sean Moudry:

That’s outstanding. That’s outstanding, so 20 years. I apologize for that. I read the bio wrong.

Nicole Beauchamp:

No worries, no worries.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

No worries, that means I’m younger. I’m good with that.

Sean Moudry:

You’re younger. Yeah, I understand. So, I notice also in your bio that you have a lot of education in real estate. I have 26 years in the business and you have at least four or five times the amount of education. It looks like education in real estate is extremely important to you.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Well, I think that education in general is extremely important. That was a core part of the values of my family when we were growing up. I mean, I could just as often be found with my nose in a book when I was a kid. So, I’ve always been very interested in learning and exploring new things.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. That’s great. Your bio, your resume is amazing. So, obviously there’s a lot going on in the economy today, the market today, the real estate market. New York obviously is on the head of every headline. I feel like Cuomo is my mayor or my governor.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I get messages from people who are like, “I just love watching your governor every day.” Up until the beginning of this month, we weren’t really leaving our apartment building unless we absolutely had to, because I’ve got my elderly father who’s with me. So, we wanted to keep him as insulated as possible, and thank god for delivery services and Instacart, and all of those wonderful people who were working every day so that I could stay home and make sure that I could take care of my dad.

Sean Moudry:

That’s right. What a lucky time we’re in that we have the technology to be able to still live in a quarantine, right? That was a really interesting thing to happen at the same time.

Nicole Beauchamp:

It’s really, really amazing, and it’s amazing not only how technology enables us to continue to live, but if we have the ability—if we’re not in an essential role—it enables us to stay connected to other people. My friends are all over the world. My clients are scattered everywhere. My family, much of the family is local but I have nieces who live in other states. My sister lives across the street. The last time I saw my sister in person may have been in—I want to say April when she came over to drop something off. The last time I saw her on a screen was on Friday because we did a family Zoom for my birthday.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. You could meet her at the grocery store.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Now that we are going out for little walks, that’s kind of where we’re walking towards, but we’re all very concerned and mindful that we have an elderly parent that we want to keep as healthy as humanly possible so he can meet his latest great-grandchild, who just joined the family in March, in the middle of all of this. After the state of emergency in New York, but before the shutdown.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, life goes—

Nicole Beauchamp:

Brand-new great-niece.

Sean Moudry:

Life marches on, right? It’s like Jurassic Park. Remember he said that you can’t stop life?

Nicole Beauchamp:

You can’t, you can’t.

Sean Moudry:

You can’t stop it. So, how has the pandemic specifically affected the real estate market, maybe for you or New York City? Has it directly affected you?

Nicole Beauchamp:

Well, in New York, we were not an essential business. The showings essentially shut down as of mid- to early March, and it is now June. It’s June whatever it is, and here in New York City I still can’t show property. We are in phase two of the reopen, and New York City just entered phase one on Monday, on June 8th.

Sean Moudry:

OK. Wow, so you still are not allowed to show leasing properties or homes for sale.

Nicole Beauchamp:

You can do things virtually. So, the closings are happening virtually. I closed something a couple of weeks ago that ironically, when I spoke to the owner at the listing appointment, the owner did not want to have to come back to New York. They always wanted a remote closing.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I listed something for lease a couple of weeks ago. That was done entirely through a phone call with the owner, DocuSign the listing agreement, put it on the market, waiting for an application to come in. I’m putting something on the market soon that again, same thing. We’ve had conversations over the phone, we’ve had virtual listing presentations, send over the DocuSign agreements, get the agreements back. And DocuSign is not new. We’ve been using it for years, so I think that having a comfort level with these tools has been helpful. I’ve been on buyer presentations for new developments with clients the last couple of weeks as well.

Sean Moudry:

So, that was going to be my question: Do you see that what occurred in the pandemic—do you see that changing your business or even real estate in the future? Do you see changes to the industry?

Nicole Beauchamp:

I feel like we have adopted and embraced tools that perhaps we only used on a case-by-case basis in the past, maybe. Maybe you were only using DocuSign when you were not face to face with an owner across the kitchen table to get a listing signed. Maybe you were using that because your client lived out of the state or out of the country, and I think now we should be much more comfortable with these tools. They say it takes, what, 21 days to form a habit? We’ve been at this here in New York, what, 100 days?

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, three months. Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Three months.

Sean Moudry:

Three months.

Nicole Beauchamp:

That’s a long time.

Sean Moudry:

That’s a long time.

Nicole Beauchamp:

That’s a long time.

Sean Moudry:

So, are you going to implement any of these things into your business specifically—

Nicole Beauchamp:

Yes, for me—

Sean Moudry:

As a new process or a new standard for you?

Nicole Beauchamp:

For me, a lot of the tools were a part of the process already. They were always options that I’ve used with my clients. I’ve used FaceTime when I’m attending a home inspection because my clients were still in Europe. So, these things aren’t new for me, but I think the consumer also expects them now. I have a new buyer client, and one of the first conversations after the initial email exchange was not, “Let’s set up a conference call,” it was, “Let’s set up a Zoom so that we can see each other and we can screen share.”

Nicole Beauchamp:

So I think that that will be a key part of the process, a more frequent part, and I also think that it’s going to be more helpful to have lots of the conversations and the qualifying conversations earlier on so that we can narrow and really define the process, narrow the target properties. Then really decide, “OK, yes. These are the three properties that fit my criteria and yes, I’ve seen the Matterport tour, and I’ve seen the video, and the listing agent,” or depending on which side I’m on, “Yes, I saw it when you’ve walked me through it in real-time. Now I’m ready to go and actually see it.”

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Massive time saver. I was thinking when you were talking, I was thinking about the change in a process of a listing. The prequalification completely upfront, kind of like a prelisting upfront, and then break out the—

Nicole Beauchamp:

Almost like a prelisting appointment, yeah. I think here in New York, in Manhattan, New York City, so much of our housing stock is co-ops. So, the financial qualifications of a buyer and understanding that is always very important, but I think that the fact is that we are going to spend so much more time in the conversation around the property and the conversations around setting up the access, because the guidelines for house showings should take place are still being formulated and put out there. So, who’s going to be at the showing? Who’s not going to be at the showing? How is all of that going to work out? Wearing gloves, wearing masks, what the sellers may or may not be comfortable with, what the building requires. I have a listing in a building that before the shutdown, they had stopped allowing nonresidents in, which included me as the broker even though the apartment was vacant. They said, “Well, if you talk to the owner and the owner talks to the super, because that apartment is vacant, we might be willing to let you in if you come in to just do a FaceTime showing.”

Sean Moudry:

Wow.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I said, “Well.” That was back in March. This was before everything really happened. I said to them, “Well, I already have a virtual tour that I had done when I took the listing.” So the potential buyer will look at the photos, they can also look at this 360-tour of the apartment that they can navigate from their phone, and after that then we can discuss if I have to come in and do something similar without them.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

So, that’s another layer—that each building is going to decide what it wants to do. My building hasn’t fully decided what they want to do and how they want to do it yet.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, that’s an interesting layer. For those of us that are in the flyover states—I’m right outside of Boulder, Colorado—so can you explain to us what a co-op is?

Nicole Beauchamp:

So in a co-op, the building forms a corporation and each apartment has a certain number of shares that’s allocated to that apartment. So when you’re buying the apartment, you’re purchasing the number of shares that that apartment represents, and you receive what’s called a proprietary lease that gives you the rights to live in that apartment. There’s a board of directors that approves or turns down a potential purchase, so that board of directors governs what the building decides to do.

Sean Moudry:

Wow, very interesting. I haven’t seen those here.

Nicole Beauchamp:

It’s superinteresting. It’s superinteresting. I mean, we also have condos, which work the same way as they do everywhere else, and then we have your traditional rental apartments, and it’s definitely interesting. These buildings also, these co-op buildings, they decide how much you can finance versus not finance. So many of them will say, “20% down is the minimum for this building,” or “30%,” or “35%.” That’s why we need to have—we’ve always needed to have—these conversations, but I feel as if the increased amount of time that navigating and setting things up is going to take is going to mean more opportunities to have those conversations.

Sean Moudry:

That was great, because that was going to be my next question. If you’re a real estate agent in maybe Manhattan, maybe in Miami, maybe in Tulsa, Oklahoma, what advice would you give them right now regarding the current market?

Nicole Beauchamp:

I think people in real estate always love to say that real estate is local, and that is always 1,000% true. It’s also very situational on what an individual is going through, and I think that’s probably more true now than it has ever been. Listening to what your clients tell you about what their circumstances are, what their motivations are, what do they need, when do they need to accomplish it by, and really coming up with a plan and a strategy around that.

Nicole Beauchamp:

So, I think that taking this time to have those conversations is important, and I also feel that my experience over the last three months has been that when I’ve been on the phone with my clients, I feel like they are much more excited to talk to me because they’re happy to talk to someone they don’t live with.

Sean Moudry:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Right?

Sean Moudry:

I could see that.

Nicole Beauchamp:

So before, I was always trying to get them in the 10 minutes that they had between meetings or between, “OK, I’m in the car going to the airport. I’ve got five minutes before I have to board,” or whatever, and now every conversation is, “Hi. How are you? How are you doing?” Every conversation is longer, it’s deeper, it’s much more personal, and most of my clients I know really well already. Or they’ve been referred by someone that I know well, but the fact that this time has given us to kind of have more conversations has been superinteresting.

Sean Moudry:

Deeper conversations, I love that.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Deeper conversations, and virtual happy hours. I’ll get text messages that say, “Hey. So, homeschooling has been really, really exhausting and I need some adult time. So, when can we do a virtual happy hour?” It’s been an opportunity where I have clients—and I’ve always liked to do this—to have events for my clients in small groups where they can meet other people that they may have things in common with. It could be they both have toddlers. It could be that they’re both in corporate law, or they’re all in finance. So, this time has enabled me to do more of those little group meetings and everybody’s doing it via Zoom, and it’s been really, really interesting. I’m choosing to focus on something positive to come out of this.

Sean Moudry:

Positive, yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

There’s a lot of negativity to focus on in the world.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. Yeah. Let’s talk about the Black Lives Matter movement in Minnesota with George Floyd and the tragedy that happened there, and the massive response and impact around the world that has come from this. I’m curious. For you, obviously, in New York City, we see on TV there’s a lot of riots. As an African American woman yourself, I would love to hear your perspective on this and really, what can real estate agents do to be part of the change?

Nicole Beauchamp:

There have been a lot of really wonderful peaceful protests that have gone on. I think that in all things, because we’re in this news-bite environment, we often see one but we don’t see the other. So, there have been lots of wonderful really moving peaceful protests going on. I don’t know if it came across your radar, but last November there was the Newsday investigation that talked about disparities in the way that people of color were treated when they were looking for housing. The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, and 2018 was the 50th anniversary. To have, a year later, such a horrifying investigation come out that shows that these things are still, in fact, impacting people of color in this country. And just in general, one of the greatest sources of wealth and wealth-building is the acquisition of real estate. So as agents, we are bound by those fair housing rules and regulations and everybody has to be treated in the same way.

Nicole Beauchamp:

This is why when we go back to thinking about process, I am a big proponent of you have to ask everybody the same questions. New York has lots of protected categories and classes, but you have to be mindful that everybody is treated in the same way. Full stop—no matter gender, race, orientation—and that’s first and foremost. I think what’s interesting is that right now, it feels like we’re in a moment where hopefully change can actually happen, and the discussions are happening mostly openly and civil, and people actually want to learn. I mean, I’ve shared with a couple of friends over the last couple of days that I had experiences as a child, and there’s so many things that we haven’t always spoken about openly, and maybe now there’ll be open discussion and the awareness. Frankly, the amount of resources that people can get to educate themselves from their phones—that’s something we’ve never been able to experience. The Rodney King riots were in the early ’90s.

Sean Moudry:

’93 maybe? Somewhere [indistinct].

Nicole Beauchamp:

Right? ’92. ’92. In 1992, we didn’t have a small computer in our hand that could guide us to resources to understand what was going on in the world, or to read great books like the “Color of Law” that really go into redlining and steering. I think as agents especially, to understand the history of the industry and the history of what went on before 2020, can be really edifying.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, I hadn’t heard of that book. I’m a reader, so I will purchase that book and read it.

Sean Moudry:

I’ve got to say for myself, I had to realize, I would say, it was my blindness to it, right? The information is right here, but I chose to look past it because it’s uncomfortable or it’s a difficult conversation, and now I feel OK talking about it, right?

Nicole Beauchamp:

Yeah, and I think it’s OK to be uncomfortable.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I think that this is going to be a really ridiculous analogy, but I think of the times when I’ve been recovering from surgery or I’ve been in physical therapy, and working through to get to the other side. I feel like that’s where we are now, and how are we going to work together to get to the other side?

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I don’t have the luxury of not thinking about it. I don’t. It’s every day.

Sean Moudry:

Right.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I think the fact that there’s a collective moment of discomfort—and people are speaking to each other, they are sharing resources—I have seen a lot of awful things that people post on social media platforms, but I’ve also seen a lot of people saying, “Well, I am buying or I’m reading these books. I’m watching these movies.” Sharing that information with each other, and I think that’s where this moment can be really, really powerful and propel towards change.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. The dialogue helps peel the onion and look at our concepts, or our family traditions, or the rules, or whatever that was permeated into us, and then the conversation allows us to then start looking at our own beliefs and say, “Is this true?” Right? “Is this true?” Yeah, one of the conversations we had on The Close is we were talking on one of the coaching calls, addressing the Black Lives Matter movement in relationship to fair housing. My initial response was, “I don’t see the correlation.” Chris, the other contributor, literally whipped out, “Let me show you a page. Here, here, here, and here.” It really opened my eyes that it is still a problem. It is still an issue nationally, locally, regionally, in our homes, outside of our homes.

Nicole Beauchamp:

It shouldn’t be, but it is.

Sean Moudry:

It is.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Every locality funds services in a different manner, but if services are being funded based on, let’s say, property taxes, and if the value of a property is higher, then obviously its property taxes are going to be higher, which means that that area is going to have more resources to fund necessary services. Then you have a different area with lower property values and lower property taxes, so it’s really, really fascinating when we look back at the history of it. They’re facts, and then the Newsday investigation—I watched a lot of the videos. It was really, really difficult to sit and watch, and that’s here in New York. Here in New York, we have revised fair housing laws and disclosures that go into effect, I think, in the next 10 days. That investigation happened and they did then take a real look. So, my hope is that we will continue to look at that which we need to address and come up with concrete actions to make the changes that we need to make.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. So, what I’m hearing from this is: If I’m a real estate agent and I’m somebody who wants to make a commitment to make a change, what I’m hearing you say is get educated, right? You mentioned the book “Color of Law.” You mentioned the Newsday New York real estate investigation.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Yeah, I think it was November of last year, and I think if you Google Newsday and fair housing New York November, it will probably all come up. I think what’s always interesting, so here in New York, every two years, you renew your license. Part of those requirements is the fair housing, three and a half hours of fair housing. It’s always amazing. Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and you need to address and correct yourself if you’re inadvertently wrong, and I’m going to say very generously inadvertently, and it’s just that Newsday piece was really something else, it’s that right here in New York. You think Long Island is 45 minutes away.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, New York is the epicenter of the mixing pot, right?

Nicole Beauchamp:

It’s the epicenter of the mixing pot. I grew up here. I’ve always considered it to be just an amazing place to live. It’s an amazing place to work, it’s always been an amazing place to come and visit. I have friends who like, “You know what? I can’t live there because there’s just too many people, and there’s too much stuff, but I love to come visit and the energy of this city is like nothing else.” Even on my morning walk this morning, you still feel—you feel that energy. It’s there. We might all be walking around with our masks on and we’re standing six feet apart while waiting. I was walking by the Whole Foods and there were people waiting to go into Whole Foods, standing six feet apart, but that energy—it’s still here.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. It’s still here. I’ve been in New York, Manhattan, twice. I agree, it is the most amazing place culturally. The energy, the vibe, it’s so much fun. I am also the person who is happy to get on a plane and go home and have my mountains.

Nicole Beauchamp:

You know, the brand new terminal at LaGuardia Airport I believe is opening this week, so when I saw that I said to myself, “Well, wow. I can’t wait until I decide that I feel comfortable enough to get on a plane again.” Yeah, New York City is great. We’ve got three major airports with lots of nonstop flights to go everywhere.

Sean Moudry:

You know, you gave me one more question and then we can wrap this up, but I was just listening to a podcast and they were talking about real estate changing due to the pandemic, and because of technology and the ability now that people are comfortable working anywhere. I think you heard that Twitter has announced that anybody can work from home. Do you see people moving out of cities?

Nicole Beauchamp:

I think people are going to look very carefully at how they want to live their lives and where. I think often for the last, let’s say the last 10-plus years, there are people who have wanted to work more from home, but companies have resisted or they only allow you to do it one day a week. Well, we’ve been at home for weeks and months now. All of us. So, clearly we can work remotely. Now the question becomes if I’m only coming into the office once a week or every other week for a day, how close to the city do I want to live? Because typically, in many cases, the closer you live a) sometimes it’s more expensive but b) sometimes you’re getting less space because you’re going for the convenience of the short commute.

Nicole Beauchamp:

So, maybe now I might want to live a little bit further out and have more space. So, I think that’s part of the conversations people will have with themselves, and lots of my clients here in New York, they are mostly thinking, “Well, if I didn’t already have a place that I could escape to on weekends or for a week or two, maybe now is that time to do that.” They’re not thinking, “I want to do that and I’m giving up my apartment in the city.”

Sean Moudry:

Right.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I think people are giving more thought to how do they spend their time. If I can now work three days a week—let’s just say hypothetically I could work three days a week from wherever I choose—where do I want to choose to do that? I mean 20-some-odd years ago when I would try and work from the far East End of Long Island, it was painful to do for an extended period of time because the technology wasn’t there. My cell phone reception was not great, the internet wasn’t great.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Now we’ve got cell phones, we’ve got internet-enabled tablets, so that freedom is going to have people looking at the lens of their life in terms of, “Where do I want to spend that time and what environment do I want to be in? Maybe I do want to be where I am right now, but maybe I just want more space because maybe we need a space for a dedicated home office space. Maybe I need a space for my exercise bike,” as I gesture in the direction of where my exercise bike actually is. “Maybe we need a space for all of those things.” So, you could end up thinking, “I want to stay where I am, but I need more space and can I afford more space?”

Sean Moudry:

So, two homes. Literally instead of having a summer home or a vacation home, you literally just have almost two full-time residences.

Nicole Beauchamp:

You would almost have two full-time residences. I think that as I’ve been talking to lots of my clients over the last three months, many of them have said, “You know what? I would consider buying somewhere where I could be there for weeks at a time, but that I could easily come back into the city whenever I need to, whether it’s for work or a personal or social engagement.” It’s almost like having two full-time residences.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, wow.

Nicole Beauchamp:

So, I think we’re all going to think a lot. I mean, I sit in my apartment and I think, “Well, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea when I decided my home office was now going to go back to being a bedroom. Maybe I do want that home office again. Maybe in that home office I will shove the bike in, but can that be everybody’s home office?” I mean, I’m lucky because I only have an elderly parent who’s not trying to work from home, but imagine a life like you were talking about earlier. You’re trying to work, you’ve got a kid who’s doing their remote schooling, you’ve got a partner who also needs the space, and how does that manage? Especially if we’re doing lots of these Zoom calls, because before working from home usually meant OK, you’re on your computer, you’re dealing with your emails, you’re working in Excel spreadsheets. Now I spend most of my day, as I feel everybody does, on some kind of a Zoom or a conference call.

Sean Moudry:

Yep.

Nicole Beauchamp:

That takes up more space and energy than just sitting at a computer. So, maybe people do need dedicated spaces because no one wants to listen to me talk about the price per square foot in a new development for five hours a day.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, that’s a great point. I love it. I really appreciate meeting you. This has been awesome. Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Nicole Beauchamp:

No, I think that for people in real estate, I think we work and live in communities. We are members of those communities. Be a part of your community, and to me that always seems like the best way to go. You get to meet your neighbors, you connect with your colleagues. Take this time to go deeper. Take this time to decide what you want to do. Maybe you want to focus more on things that are very local because you don’t want to travel great distances. Maybe you want to take more time to spend with your family. Maybe you want to take more time, and give more time, and volunteer with charities. I mean, it could be anything. This almost feels like this really bizarre way and awful, absolutely awful, horrendous—I mean so many people who have lost their lives, lost their livelihood—but is this a moment where you stop and look at your life, you look at your business, and you go, “What is next for me, and how do I want to lay that out, and how do I want to get there?”

Sean Moudry:

Hmm.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Now at least in my case, I have spent weeks of not running around showing apartments. Not going in and out of taxis, and Ubers, and subways, and buses. I’ve had time to take long walks, and I’ve always liked to walk, but now more recently I’m getting back to walking. I’ve had time to sit and think without 10,000 interruptions, and that space to think has given me ideas to create, so I’m trying to focus on that because if I focus on everything else, I would lose my mind.

Sean Moudry:

I agree completely.

Nicole Beauchamp:

I would lose my mind and when you’re in a New York City apartment for several weeks on end, at one point I was like, “Well, I think I might want to try and go for a walk today,” and then I would go, “No. I don’t need to be outside. I have no need to be outside, and I’m just going to stay here.”

Sean Moudry:

Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

When people were delivering stuff, I was being extremely generous with tips, realizing that these individuals, if they had that choice, if they could stay home, they probably would have. I think that our appreciation for the essential workers of all kinds, because I think in some ways we think of, “OK, well doctors and nurses,” but what about the people at the grocery stores? So that we could actually eat. The people here in New York, the bus drivers, the train operators. All of those people are in fact essential and deserve endless appreciation and praise.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, that’s a great, that’s a great point.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Which they weren’t getting before. I think we were all just walking in our own little world, not paying attention, tap tap away on the phone. There are lots of people that contribute to a society, and everything that has to happen.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah, to protect the society. Yeah.

Nicole Beauchamp:

To protect the society, yeah.

Sean Moudry:

Yeah. Well, that was a wonderful, wonderful interview. I know we got off track.

Nicole Beauchamp:

No worries.

Sean Moudry:

I really appreciate your honesty, and your openness, and your heart, and your caring. It’s been really wonderful to meet you.

Nicole Beauchamp:

Yeah, this was great.

Over to You

Know an agent, CEO, or other real estate thought leader that you think deserves to be featured on the site? Let us know in the comments or send an email to: info@theclose.com

The post Exclusive: NYC Top Agent Nicole Beauchamp on Tech, the Market, & More appeared first on The Close.

We sat down with Isaac and asked him about how his previous life experience helped him in real estate, and how, in return, real estate helped him find himself and thrive.

1. After growing up in such an insular community, what surprised you about working as an agent in Manhattan? How was it different than you expected?

“When really looking at it, I don’t believe there was a massive difference. Humans always want the same few things. We want to be appreciated, treated with respect and honesty, and we all want to have a place we call HOME. So when transitioning into the Manhattan real estate world, I continued to always stay true to my principles of how I treat people. As I have grown in this world of Manhattan real estate, I learned to always keep my eyes and ears open and to learn from my different experiences and interactions to better grow as an agent.

Truthfully, after making such a large change in my life, I was surprised to learn that at the base level, we are all humans and expect and appreciate the same basic things when it comes to someone helping us accomplish something.”

2. What opportunities for personal growth does the real estate industry offer that others don’t?

“The real estate industry offers a lot of opportunities for growth both personally and professionally, but you have to be willing to put in the extra effort. Your success and growth in the industry is 100% dependent on the amount of effort one puts in outside of the office and outside of a normal 9-5 schedule.

Being a relationship-based industry, you have to learn to put yourself out there in the real estate world. On the contrary, if you don’t take on the responsibility and put in the extra effort in this industry, it’s extremely hard to grow both personally and professionally when one doesn’t take the initiative to go outside their comfort zone.”

3. How has working as an agent specifically helped you find yourself & grow as a person?

“Meeting and interacting with so many people and understanding what’s important to them helps me understand myself better. I usually end up building great friendships with clients, which gives me a chance to learn about their different cultures, hear people’s stories, and so on—which are all life-changing! Opening my eyes and ears to learn from clients has shown me so much in life and in turn, has left me with great business and personal relationships.

“Because of this connection I have with my clients, I’ve been able to learn and experience new things, like new cuisines from around the world or new workout routines like Pilates. I’ve even had a client invite me to visit them in Japan (which I hope to be able to do soon).”

4. Do you have any advice for other young LGBT people who are considering leaving their own religious communities?

“Everyone has different challenges and no one’s story is the same, but what I chose for myself is to always follow my heart! However, I think it’s important for people to understand and be aware of what they expect will change by leaving and how much they are willing to sacrifice for it.

Also, I suggest that people dealing with this seek out professional guidance; there are many resources available for LGBT youth dealing with their transition in a religious community or not. I’m also always happy to help if I can—you can reach out to me at @TheIsaacRosenberg on Instagram.”

5. With so many brokerages here in Manhattan, why did you choose Compass?

“I actually didn’t want to leave my first firm Nooklyn, as I had a lot of great experiences there working within my first couple years in the industry. Truthfully, I believe one can succeed anywhere they are if they committed to it. However, when I was introduced to Compass, I decided that if I was going to make a change for my future, it was going to be to a company committed to massive growth, solving problems, and looking to change the status quo. As these themes were important to me in my real estate career, I felt there was no better place for me to grow as an agent than at a company like Compass.”

Over to You

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The post From The Enclave to The Closing Table: One LGBT Agent’s Story appeared first on The Close.

Sure, innovation helps. Coldwell Banker has always leveraged technology to stay successful, but it’s clear that Coldwell Banker has also been able to read the economic tea leaves better than most.

That’s why we decided to sit down with current Coldwell Banker CEO Ryan Gorman to get his take on the state of the real estate market post-pandemic, and how agents can learn to not only survive, but thrive during the coming downturn.

Read the full interview transcript below:

Sean Moudry:
Welcome Closers, this is Sean Moudry, and we are excited to have the opportunity today to interview the CEO of Coldwell Banker, Ryan Gorman. Welcome, Ryan.

Ryan Gorman:
Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Pleasure to be here.

Sean Moudry:
So first off, obviously with what’s going on in the current economy with the pandemic, lots of impact and lots of speculation on what’s going to happen. How do you see the real estate market changing in the next six months?

Ryan Gorman:
Sure. I think it is going to vary significantly by different markets, but I think there’s going to be some commonalities. So one is, every market is going to benefit from the affordability … I think, two, affordability trends.

One is on the mortgage interest rate side. So especially in the conventional conforming, the Fed’s been buying mortgage-backed securities, which, whether people understand the mortgage markets or not, means basically there’s a lot of money going toward keeping rates very affordable, and we’re seeing it now, right? So we’re seeing historically low interest rates that those who are buying today are fortunate enough to lock in for 30 years, which is incredible. That’s a good affordability trend.

Another is, a lot of folks who are working from home today, especially in some of these markets like Boulder that had been somewhat inventory-constrained over time, are starting to think to themselves, maybe when we come back out of this, I won’t necessarily need to be in the office five days a week, 9:00 to 5:00 or whatever the schedule may have been. Maybe I can look a little farther out. Maybe I’m only going to come to the office two days a week, three days a week, whatever it might be, if my company is more comfortable with me working remotely. And that’s going to shift, I think, the affordability trend as well.

So a lot of those most-inventory-constrained markets that have had sometimes days or weeks of inventory for years at a time, the folks who are looking there because their job is there may be able to look a little bit further afield. So I don’t think it’s going to be an overnight black-and-white sea change, but I do think it’s going to allow a lot of people to step into the housing that they really wanted—more affordable housing for them personally—by casting a wider search nest. I think that’s just healthy overall.

Sean Moudry:
So kind of moving away from the city centers, moving away from them.

Ryan Gorman:
Yeah, I’m not a believer that it’s going to be an exodus from the cities. I don’t think that humanity is going to change our stripes. We’ve been urbanizing here for over a century and I do believe that people like people and there’s a lot of agglomeration economies, there’s a lot of benefits of people being together.

But I do believe that on the margin, there are a lot of folks who found their search really narrowed by a commute to now maybe thinking a little differently about, and they can sit there and say, “You know what? Maybe I can go a little bit farther out and get a backyard. Maybe I can go a little bit farther out and find something that’s more affordable.” Or for many in a lot of these markets, “Maybe I can go out and buy, whereas I was stuck with just renting before.”

So I do think we could actually be seeing a trend toward an increase in overall home ownership coming out of this because of that sort of technologically driven as well as financially driven affordability trend.

Sean Moudry:
Wow, awesome. I haven’t heard that perspective at all yet. That’s great. I think that’s a lot of insight there, for sure. Do you …

Ryan Gorman:
I can see it. I can see it happen. So we’ll see, we’ll see who’s right, but I love the idea of more people being able to afford the homes they want.

Sean Moudry:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That’s a great positive outlook. Do you foresee a downturn or recession?

Ryan Gorman:
So recession being, classical definition: a couple of quarters of negative growth, I think it’s almost inevitable that we’re going to see what is classically termed a recession. But I don’t think it’s in any way inevitable that we’re going to see the kind of recession that we think of now, the Great Recession or kind of the Depression, you see a lot of these headlines talking about that. I just don’t foresee that.

Right now, what I see is 2019—or 2020 rather—is obviously going to have some periods of negative growth. We’re already in one of those today. The next quarter will likely be some negative year-over-year growth as well. Most of what we’re seeing, whether it’s NAR, or Fannie, or Freddie, or a lot of the more economic forecasters outside of real estate, every prediction I’ve seen for 2021, it was a pretty tremendous bounce back. In some cases, the single greatest year-over-year increase in economic activity ever because of this dip in 2020.

So if the consumer mentality, the business investor mentality, is such that 2021 is going to be a great year relative to this year, that’s extremely helpful for people making decisions this year that don’t tip us into something more severely negative. So I don’t want to make light of those who are out of work today at all, but I do believe we’re going to see a lot faster bounce back than some of those dire predictions.

Sean Moudry:
Oh, great. Great. So if you’re an agent today—because let’s get to the people that make the whole thing work, right? For us. If you’re an agent today, how do you prepare yourself? What do you suggest they do?

Ryan Gorman:
I don’t know if you’re an athlete. I like to consider myself a former athlete. I’m certainly not a current one, but back in the day, coaches used to talk a lot about championships being won in the preseason, and I feel like we’re a little bit in preseason right now. You talk to most agents and they’re not twiddling their thumbs, they are busy. They’re busy trying to pivot their business, they’re busy trying to stay in contact with their spheres, stay in contact with their clients. And this is supposed to be the busy season right now, but they might have a little bit more time on their hands. They’re not bouncing around to houses quite as much right now.

I would treat that time as the preseason before the championship. So invest in yourself, come up to speed. I would especially invest time in making sure you are the most knowledgeable you can possibly be about the market and connecting with that global information too so you can bring that perspective back to your clients, your buyers and sellers here.

I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is. I’m sure you’ve seen this and a lot of agents out there have seen this too—a client who’s uncertain, stressed, scared, and when you bring real information that’s both global in perspective but then local in reality, and giving them what’s useful for them, the stress melts away, they realize, “You know what? I can move forward in my life. It’s not crazy to think I can sell right now, it’s not crazy to think I should buy right now.” It does make sense, and you can give them so much relief from that right now. But that only happens if you prepare in the preseason so you can deliver that value in game time.

Sean Moudry:
Well, I love that. Can I add a follow-up question to that one?

Ryan Gorman:
Sure.

Sean Moudry:
So you talk about gathering the information and I think speaking of somebody like you at the level that you’re in the industry, I think you have access to more information. And let’s be honest, your job is information, right? And decision. Where would you tell an agent to go for quality information and, or I’ll say, accurate information, because there’s so much disinformation out there just like you say. I mean, so many of us spent four or five hours a day on social media—I don’t, but so many people do—and one article is pro, one article is con, right? What do you recommend?

Ryan Gorman:
Yeah. So a lot of that has to do with the forecast. So people thinking, I’m forecasting negative, I’m forecasting positive. I would stay pretty grounded in today. So two ways to do that: one is that sort of national information. So things like the forecast coming out of the Fed, the Fannie Mae. More close to our industry, National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, their chief economist does a really nice job of sort of packaging up information and giving it to Realtors to be able to use with their clients.

That’s the sort of high-level stuff, but I want to pull it back then to the very hyperlocal, which is that MLS information. So if you can give a client information talking about, hey, hundreds of thousands of transactions are taking place right now, and that should give you some comfort that America is still moving. People are still buying and selling, people are still moving on with their lives. When they want to downsize or upsize, or they realize they want to bring their whole family together. If they’re going to be stuck inside for a longer time, they need a different layout. That’s good theoretical and it helps to really give some good grounding to apply.

When you make that local, then you say, in fact, in your market, in your town, in your neighborhood, this is what’s come on the market in the past two weeks. This is what has sold in the last two weeks, and here are the people with whom I’m speaking today in your neighborhood who are moving forward with their plans. I’ve got a prelisting package out to five clients, I’m bringing something on Sunday, I’m going to do an open house next week. That’s the kind of global and local information that when packaged together, allows someone to say, “You know what? It does make sense. It made sense before COVID for me to move forward with this. It makes sense for me to move forward with it now, as it’s very, very helpful.”

Sean Moudry:
I think that’s great advice. I love that. I’m taking notes, by the way, as you’re something, I’m like, that’s great. I’m going to write that down. I promise I won’t steal it.

Ryan Gorman:
Use and abuse. I’m sure I have for half of what I’m saying. So use and abuse, absolutely.

Sean Moudry:
So for agents, you mentioned agents staying in relationship or contacting your past clients, and it is a great opportunity, right? To develop stronger relationships and build meaningful relationships. What other hidden opportunities do you think they have that maybe the average agent’s not aware of?

Ryan Gorman:
Yeah. In terms of awareness, I think it’s one of those things where we’ve all heard a million times what we shouldn’t do, but it’s a matter of taking action on what we actually will do, right? So that information provision, part of really connecting that information, delivering it down, that’s one way. But I would say delivering information across your clients is perhaps the way that, maybe if you don’t think of it as much.

When an agent calls a client and wants to share information that they have with them, hopefully they’re doing their job and being a great listener, understanding where their client is, asking how they’re doing and really listening to that answer, and then having a dialogue. Sometimes we’re excited, sometimes we’ve made this call 10 times already, sometimes we have a bit of a script and we just kind of let it flow.

One thing that I would encourage everyone to do is to really listen, because what that client is telling you is probably so valuable and so germane to the next person you call. When you can tell them, “I’ve spoken with a number of your friends and neighbors, here’s where their heads are. Here’s what their worries are, here’s what their hopes are, here’s what they’re thinking for their futures about whether they’re going to list their home, whether they’re going to buy.” Or even not related to real estate.

Of course, related to whether the stores on Main Street are going to open again. What do we think this means for the local movie theater, or is the library coming on. All that stuff, and as an agent, you can be that sort of physical social network, that human social network to transmit that information from client to client, from prospect to prospect.

And what they associate you with in their minds then is, you really know this community. You really know these people, what makes them tick, you know the inventory, and you know the markets, but you also know the people, right? And I think that’s something that sometimes, we get exuberant. We kind of forget to listen, we speak a little more, but being able to pick up those facts and share them across your client base is pretty important.

Sean Moudry:
I love that. That’s great. I love it. I took more notes.

Ryan Gorman:
Okay, great. Excellent.

Sean Moudry:
Urban social network. I loved it, it was great. So what’s Coldwell Banker doing to ensure the agents are going to thrive during this pandemic and maybe even after the pandemic, when we’re released and freed?

Ryan Gorman:
Absolutely. So we’ve obviously invested a ton in technology and we try to make sure that we’re also delivering a lot of information out to our agents. So that goes without saying, and perhaps shouldn’t because Coldwell Banker does offer, I think, tremendous, tremendous value to our network. But really, right now, what I’m seeing while many are touting the sort of technological side—super-important—but that human side I think is even more important.

So just like we’re trying to destress our clients when we’re calling them and sharing information back and forth, the network within Coldwell Banker, the agents who are speaking with one another across town or across the country and around the globe, that’s what’s really providing that sort of insight and power of fact-based positivity. So when we’re on the phone with our agency in Asia or in Europe, in areas that were hit with COVID earlier, and I’m able to share information back with our agents that, hey, I was just FaceTiming with one of our people in a restaurant in Singapore without a mask on. Here’s what the other side of this thing might look like when we’re connecting with towns in the U.S. that maybe locked down earlier, but have opened up a little bit earlier and people can kind of see the future through their peers, through the eyes of their peers. That’s the power of the network, that’s the 100,000-strong around the world that can really bring the power back to the individual.

Sean Moudry:
I love that. Oh, yeah. That’s great, yeah. And I’ve observed that with Coldwell Banker. I’ve seen that actually at a local level. It’s neat to see, it’s neat to see.

Ryan Gorman:
That’s fantastic, yeah.

Sean Moudry:
Yeah. So I’ve seen online, right? A lot of agents raising money, right? And for local charities, larger charities, what’s your favorite charity that you believe in?

Ryan Gorman:
This might sound self-serving, but it’s truly not, but Coldwell Banker CARES is my favorite charity. But let me tell you how that works and the reason why, so this isn’t just some global charity that’s raising money for one global cause, and not that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s a lot of causes that need all the help they can get. This is all about raising globally and delivering locally. So it’s about local needs that are met by our local agents, but money that can be raised around the country and around the world for exactly those efforts. So that’s where Coldwell Banker CARES was originated and that’s what we do every day today. So I love that. A lot of our agents who are raising money today are raising money for hyperlocal causes, and we’re able to help with that through Coldwell Banker CARES.

Sean Moudry:
Do you have an example of that, of a story or something?

Ryan Gorman:
Oh, sure. You’ve probably seen Homes for Dogs and some of our most recent campaigns, but think of the individual sales office, where we decided to do an adoption event for dogs through the Homes for Dogs program.

So we’re bringing people locally in the community, we bring in maybe a dozen dogs from the shelter. The community comes into our office, back when we were able to do that and we’re able to do it again, we are able to connect dogs with new homes. And from that oftentimes comes the need to maybe raise money for that shelter, right? We were able to help them out to match up more people with more dogs, but they still need bedding, they still need food, they still need volunteers, and we’re able to raise money with Coldwell Banker CARES, be able to deliver that. We’re able to raise awareness on social media to get the volunteers to come out. And then the people who show up and say, “Oh, I was hoping to be here before the last dog was adopted.” And we say, “No problem. Actually, the shelter has more and they’d love to see you help out on a Wednesday afternoon sometime.” And that’s really the sort of full circle of our programs.

Sean Moudry:
That’s amazing. So if somebody wanted to, the readers wanted to donate to that, is there a website that they could go to?

Ryan Gorman: Yeah.
So if you can go on Coldwell Banker CARES, you’ll be able to go on and donate. Unfortunately, I have not looked since last month, so I don’t know what the drop-downs are today. But typically, there’s some drop-downs where you can maybe donate more specifically to individual subcauses. So for instance, after a hurricane or wildfires or a flood, sometimes they’ll be more specific sort of causes as opposed to the overall whole. But if you Google Coldwell Banker CARES, then you’ll be able to find it.

Sean Moudry:
Awesome, man. Awesome. Is there anything else, Ryan, you’d like to share?

Ryan Gorman:
I appreciate the opportunity to do this. I love the positivity and enthusiasm you’re bringing because I think all the questions you had are exactly what’s on people’s minds right now, right? So what can I do? How can I help? I love that our industry—it over-indexes on people who just want to help. Beyond all logic and reason, they just want to help. They want to be there for people. So I love the fact that you’re doing this and raising it up and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of it.

Sean Moudry:
Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you.

The post Exclusive: Coldwell Banker CEO, Ryan Gorman, on the Post-COVID Market appeared first on The Close.

Of course, New York City real estate is a universe away from Hollywood, and it takes far more than a winning smile to rise to the top of the pack. Seemingly overnight, while the rest of us were fighting with Zillow and StreetEasy, Ryan Serhant did just that. He quietly built an actual real estate empire to compete with the old-money Manhattan crowd.

Amazingly, he is now a best-selling author, a reality TV star, and the founder of the number one team in New York City, the Ryan Serhant Team, a deal-closing juggernaut that has closed more than $1.6 billion in the last two years alone.

That’s why we (virtually) sat down with Ryan via his unimaginably charming public relations (PR) team in order to get his take on the post-pandemic market, charity, and his favorite pandemic snacks.

1. If you were an agent today, how would you prepare yourself for the coming downturn?

“I would say that there isn’t necessarily a coming downturn for residential real estate. I remain somewhat optimistic that what we are experiencing now—a brutal and immediate stop in business⁠—will not be a slow burn like previous recessions.

“I think we’ll have a tough 2020. Agents need to remember that fortunately, and unfortunately, you don’t sell your own properties. You need to focus on buyers, deals, and distressed products. The work doesn’t change, but you need to diversify the types of deals you do. The best agents already do this.”

2. How do you see the real estate market changing in the next six months?

“Shelter-in-place orders around the globe have shown us how important residential real estate is. We aren’t being forced to shelter in offices—we are in our homes. You need to have a great primary residence or secondary home if you can afford one.

“Agents need to be recession-proof, disaster-proof, and now, disease-proof.

“There will be a renewed focus on quality: buyers will look at homes and wonder if they can quarantine there. People with money are focusing on what quarantine lifestyles should be⁠—just look at Kanye West and Bloomberg and their real estate purchases out west. People living in multifamily housing for the past eight weeks will think about the type of housing they prefer when this goes back to normal and consider a change. Perhaps it’s as simple as upgrading to an apartment with outdoor space.”

3. For many agents, this pandemic offers an opportunity to develop stronger & more meaningful client relationships. What other hidden opportunities do you think agents have right now that they might not be aware of?

“The Course, an immersive guide I created to help agents get more clients, make more money, close more deals, build a team, and more, published a COVID-19 Guide at the beginning of the crisis for members. There are many resources affiliated with The Course to take advantage of, along with regular Facebook Live videos. I speak with members daily and tell them you have to focus on the silver lining to find opportunities. If you are healthy and your loved ones are healthy, this shouldn’t be a time of sorrow. Touch base with all of your clients. Check in on their well-being. Ask about their parents and grandparents.

“Secondly, there is an opportunity right now to be a community leader, which is always the best way to get clients. Start a Facebook group about a topic you are passionate about. If just two people blast it out, suddenly you have a new community of people who know you. All of them will eventually need homes.

“There is also an opportunity to show value with developers. For example, at 196 Orchard, a condominium on the Lower East Side developed by Magnum Real Estate Group, we partnered with the development team to create virtual tours before the shutdown and we’ve had five remote closings in the past few weeks. What this whole situation is showing people is that most business in our field can be virtual.

“Real estate will become more efficient.

“Can’t make a meeting in-person because you need to be uptown and downtown back to back? Well, Zoom. Can’t make a first showing? Well, this can be digital now too.”

4. What are you doing as a team leader to ensure your agents can thrive during & after the pandemic?

“I am leading by example. I keep team meetings at the same time, over video. I touch base with everyone on the team every day, whether it be via email, call, or direct message (DM). I also decided to come back to the office alone to show my team that I am here for them to keep things running. I am on the ground (safely) to be a resource while I want everyone to stay safe and stay home.”

5. Many agents have been raising money for charity during the pandemic. What’s your favorite charity & how can our readers donate?

“My philanthropic work tends to focus on children because they are the ones without choice. A favorite is Project Sunshine, which helps pediatric patients in hospitals who are often alone, especially right now since visitors aren’t allowed.

“City Harvest is another fantastic organization that is providing nourishing meals for those in poverty, including children who relied on school for their meals and essential workers. You can visit each link to donate.”

6. It feels like everyone in the world is making homemade sourdough or banana bread these days. What’s your go-to quarantine comfort food recipe?

“I don’t cook. At the beginning, I ate everything in sight that I would never normally eat. Bagels, chips, cereal. Those are my comfort foods. They don’t require recipes.”

Over to You

Know an agent or broker who’s crushing it despite the current market? Let us know in the comments or email us: info@theclose.com

The post Exclusive Interview: Ryan Serhant on the 2020 Market & More appeared first on The Close.