If you had told me in mid-March that I would be ending 2020 with record closings I would have literally fell over laughing. But here I am, mid-December, with 14 clients happily settling into new homes throughout southern Westchester. I realize that I should be celebrating these successes, but the weight of this year has pushed me to look deeper and more critically at my life, work and goals, and to think about what I learned from these transactions. How can I be a better agent? What could I have done differently during some of the harder negotiations? What will take me from good to great?
The lessons I will take with me into 2021 include:
1. Never cut corners…corners can be sharp and will end up “cutting” you! Often when clients decide to sell, they want to get it done ASAP…now…yesterday. Agreeing on a timeline and sticking to it is key to a successful transaction. Every detail of a listing is important to a smooth closing.
2. Whether the attorneys, inspectors, appraisers etc. like it or not (and believe me, many do NOT like it one bit), your agent should have their hand in all activities and communication. Although I’m not an expert in any of these areas, I am the eyes and ears of my clients and in being such I need to be present for all interactions.
3. My job is to have difficult discussions about money. As agents, our natural inclination is to try to please our clients, but sometimes tough love is good love. As agents we should be experts in our market and as experts we know when a client isn’t going to get the price they hope for on a sale or the price they want to buy a home for. Be honest…don’t “yes” your clients and always be armed with real-time data to explain reasoning and concerns.
4. Lastly, to mitigate conflicts, it is important for your agent to clearly outline potential risks to the transaction. Real estate is a volatile market and it’s essential that buyers and sellers understand what can go wrong. Explain what we as agents have control over and what we don’t…and focus on that which we DO control.
Someone recently asked me if I was worried about the future of real estate agents with the increasing ease of searching for homes online. My answer was emphatically NO! In fact, I believe that the more information our clients can obtain online makes our job even more critical. Data without understanding how to interpret it is useless. Real estate done well requires a hands-on, knowledgeable, personable, tough, superior negotiating human.

Let’s talk…