3 Principles that Made Me a Better Real Estate Broker

If you enjoy emotional highs and lows in a matter of minutes where anxiety and frustration are its source, then there is nothing like shopping for a home.

And I happen to think the best real estate brokers are the ones who had a hard time buying their first home.

I didn’t see myself ever becoming a real estate broker.  I enjoyed working on Wall Street and all the perks and fringe benefits that came with it.  The over-the-counter currency derivatives market for trading and sales was good to me and my family.

But like most arm chair Monday morning quarterbacks, I couldn’t help but think I could do a better job than some of the Agents my wife and I met in our 2 year search for our first house.

Let me share with you what guides my business practices in real estate?

Brooklyn Real Estate in 1998

My wife and I had been looking for a house to raise our family since 1996.  We just had our last child and our family of 5 had outgrown the 2 bedroom apartment we were renting from her parents in East New York.

Viewing properties with real estate agents was a less than exciting experience right from the start.

After a myriad of bizarre experiences, from an Agent attempting to extort $100 to show us properties to offering full asking price on a home, only to have an agent attempt to negotiate a higher offer, we bought a house direct from a FSBO, also known as a do-it-yourself-seller.

50 Houses viewed and 5 failed offers later, my thoughts boiled down to 3 areas of concern;

Do homeowners know this is how their being represented?

Should a home buyer have expectations of service from a real estate agent?

Why do I have to rely on one person to contact me about my offer/sale?

These 3 principles are what made me a better real estate broker  in Brooklyn.

1. The sacrifice of homeownership should count

I’ve met lots of homeowners in my career that have interviewed me for the job of selling their home.

In most cases, the prospective clients have only bought the one house their preparing to sell and staying abreast of it’s value wasn’t something that was on their to-do list while repairing, maintaining and remodeling their home.

Agents competing for the property listing have often been given to being less than honest about what the home is worth and have suggested a listing price that is either below or above it’s value.

What homeowners aren’t aware of is that the suggested list price is often an indication of THAT brokers tools and resources for the job.

Homeowners need to hire Capacity, not potential.

A capable real estate broker not only has the tools and resources to effectively market a home but is current on available mortgage financing, sales trends and home buyer demand.

Homeowners deserve to be rewarded for all the sacrifices made for their stewardship.

True Gotham Blog publisher Douglas Heddings has understood this in his career as a Manhattan based real estate broker and has made moves felt necessary to increase and/or improve his team’s capacity.

2. Home buyers should be met where they are

Astute real estate brokers are superior marketers who have mastered the retail process of selling existing homes.

Great real estate brokers are also aware that home buyers in the market are usually shopping without a process to guide their new home search.

Getting a home shopper’s attention through broad, diverse marketing channels can increase the number of appointments.

However, I consider it unfair to a home buyer to view property without being aware of the requirements for purchasing.

Qualifying home buyers takes skill and experience.

With the majority of home buyers applying an elementary process in their home search, nothing compounds more on their inexperience than an aggressive agent.

And the expense of a contracted offer that fails to close depletes the finances of the home buyer.

Urban Digs Blog publisher Noah Rosenblatt is developing his real estate practice to cater exclusively to home buyers and investors, with online tools and resources to aid them in becoming astute real estate buyers.

Empowering his buyer clients will prove a successful strategy in executing purchase offers.

3. Real Estate sales should be done in the open

The real estate business doesn’t have a long history of being transparent for consumers.

Sellers have often been concerned about the agent’s activities on their behalf, but without a point of reference, homeowners are left to depend entirely on their brokers efforts.

Home buyers who make an offer are anxious to learn the outcome of their proposal made either through their agent or directly to the seller’s agent.

Both parties have had to live with what they consider the necessary evil of dealing with a middle man involved in a transaction that impacts their futures.

Agents have often found it hard to reveal the process in terms that both principals for fear that it dilutes the value they bring to the transaction.

What we’re developing at Corley Realty Group is an online web portal with links from each available property listing page that will provide buyers the status of their offer and sellers the steps taken on their behalf in our sales efforts.

Each of the reasons stated…

Have been the guiding principles driving our real estate practice since 2002.

And after eight years, the best is yet to come.

Michael A. Corley is a licensed Real Estate Broker and Exec. Vice President at Corley Realty Group.  Born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, he now resides in Crown Heights with his wife and children