Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman draws a clear line between private listings and PLNs: “You have to be honest” about days on market, she says.
Eight years into her role as CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, Bess Freedman remains hopeful about the future of residential real estate — even after the disruption of litigation, consolidation and challenging market conditions over the past few years.
“What makes me optimistic is that the market is always here to serve the consumer,” Freedman said during an appearance on the National Association of Realtors’ latest “Change Agents” podcast. “Because we serve our consumers — our buyers, our sellers, our renters — at the highest level, I think there will always be a place for what we do.”
With the industry in its current state of flux, Freedman shared her thoughts on some of the biggest trends and debates that are impacting top-level executives and agents alike.
What ‘professionalism’ really means: Some real estate leaders have raised concerns about the decline of professionalism within the industry, due in part to its low barrier to entry.
So how does Freedman define professionalism? Timeliness, communication, showing up both in the office and for clients — all of these variables are “crucial,” she said.
As for her “fundamental golden rule”?
“Put your client first — they come before everything,” Freedman said. “We’ve lost a little bit of that, and here we really try to instill that with our execs and our agents and admins.”
The pros and cons of teams: Research indicates that teams are on the rise — and they “can be very successful,” Freedman acknowledged. But they’re not for everyone.
“You have to decide what your flow is and what will make you the most successful,” she said, adding that this depends “on your personality” and on local market conditions.
In some cases, a seller may prefer an individual agent because “they want to know who the person is, who they’re communicating with, who’s showing the apartment,” she noted.
“It just depends on what works for you.”
In defense of private listings …: As a luxury residential real estate brand, Brown Harris Stevens has worked with sellers who don’t want wide exposure for their home listing because they have a high public profile or are dealing with a sensitive life change.
“We’ve been doing that for a long time,” she said. “What we do is: We have the listing, we make phone calls to other agents who may have a buyer, we vet them, we make sure they’re not going to talk to the press — sometimes we have them sign NDAs — and then we sell the home quietly.”
Private listings are used for discretionary purposes — “and we respect that.”
… but not PLNs: A private listing network, on the other hand, is “a different sort of animal.”
“It is not really being transparent with the marketplace, because they’re hiding days on market,” Freedman said, adding that she finds “real issue” with this listing approach.
“Access to housing is the underpinning of a free and fair market,” she said. “I think you’re going to have all sorts of issues with fair housing. I just think there’s so many legalities.”
The average consumer doesn’t really understand the strategy, she added, and is “being fed a narrative that I think is very destructive to our industry.”
“Days on market is a thing — you have to be honest about it.”