Desire and Practicality
Today I have been thinking about why I write my blog. Of course I do it to build our corporate brand and, more incidentally, my own brand. Since Warburg Realty isn’t so big, we have to be smart. I certainly write because I am a frustrated writer looking for an outlet: a writer of poetry in college (who wasn’t?) and the son of a brilliant journalist. But as evening sets in here in Sharon, and I think about the question more deeply, I think I write primarily to be a voice of persuasion for the value and professionalism of the residential real estate brokerage industry as a whole.
Ours is not, by and large, a much respected line of work. While commission salespeople have always been vilified for being “just out for the commission,” we as an industry seem particularly susceptible to that accusation. Similarly, in this age of tech disruption, the question of whether we add value commensurate to our compensation, whether we couldn’t, in part or in whole, be replaced by an app, arises constantly. This week, with the upcoming IPO of the online real estate discount brokerage Redfin much in the news, disrupters everywhere are wondering what the formula is to relegate real estate agents to the status of the buggy whip. My blog serves as a challenge, a way of saying “Not so fast!”
Each week I hope to add value to the real estate conversation, and along the way to demonstrate what we agents do which an app cannot do. For one thing, all the fuzzy logic and data analysis in the world doesn’t replace intuition, a soft but critical skill in the making of a successful agent. In countless situations, the buyer’s original criteria don’t end up bearing much resemblance to the description of the property they finally purchase. Often it is the agent’s intuition which brings about the pivot. “Your reaction to these properties which fit your described criteria suggests to me that you might actually like THIS better.” Similarly, data analytics can certainly capture the broad strokes of a marketplace and its evolution from quarter to quarter, but the nuances, the behavior of buyers and sellers on the ground, doesn’t yield to such easy analysis but may be far more important in engineering a successful transaction in a particular moment.
Even putting aside the critical role an experienced agent plays in the sale of a New York co-operative apartment, each with its arcane rules and Board package requirements, a good agent has a breadth of experience in negotiation and deal management which neither principals or attorneys possess. Our deals are unique, because they exist at the juncture of personal desire and investment practicality. This, week after week, is the primary message my blogs attempt to convey. It’s not just a business deal; it’s also your home. But even though it’s your home, it has to satisfy some rigorous investment criteria. Every amenity, every location, every floor higher or room larger, has a price. Does that price make sense, and make sense for the buyer? Does the buyer’s reach exceed his grasp? Does the seller’s?
Day after day, agents put themselves into the center of this vortex of passion and practicality. We weigh the alternatives, we calculate the odds, we try to sway our clients towards the best decisions which balance location, likability, and liquidity. For most of us, although like any professionals we expect to get paid for our work, the commission is the last thing on our minds. We want our knowledge of the marketplace, of the property, of the environment, to make us the best possible advisor for our client. Illustrating the many complex ways in which we undertake that responsibility – THAT is what I am writing about every week.