Nicholas Politi
| Every year in this business reinforces some things I already know and changes my thinking on others. The longer I do this, the more I realize real estate is not getting simpler. There is more information, better technology, better marketing and more data than ever before, but the judgment required to put all of that together has become even more important. One thing that continues to prove true is that price matters more than almost anything else. We can produce great photography, video, drone work, digital advertising and strong property presentations, but none of that completely overcomes a price the market does not accept. That is especially true at the higher end, where buyers are selective and often comparing properties across different lakes, communities and even different markets. I have also learned to be careful about talking about “the luxury market” as though it is one market, because it really is not. A waterfront property on a non-restrictive HP lake behaves differently from an off-water estate, and two properties with the same asking price can still have very little in common from a market standpoint. I’m still tracking inventory which still remains limited in many categories, but that does not mean every property sells immediately. Buyers have become more selective, and interest rates, taxes, insurance and overall carrying costs all factor into decisions. A market can have low inventory and still require patience. In the upper end especially, a property can be exceptional and still need time to find the right buyer. That does not necessarily mean the market is weak. It often means the buyer pool is narrow and the pricing has to line up with how that particular group sees the property.I’ve been told by my peers to continue to invest in technology. And I am doing so more than ever. For a long time, technology in real estate mostly meant websites, online listings, better photography and social media. Now it is becoming much more useful on the analytical side of the business. We are able to track listing activity, price changes, website traffic, email engagement, competing inventory and closed sales in ways that were much more difficult before, and AI has helped make sense of that information much faster. At the same time, this summer has reinforced that technology is only as good as the information behind it. I probably spend as much time questioning whether the data is correct as I do looking at the result. Experience is still necessary to recognize when something does not make sense.I have also become much more critical of marketing expenses. Real estate companies tend to accumulate advertising over time simply because it has always been there. I am much more interested now in understanding what actually produces results. Some traditional marketing still has value, but I think the business is moving toward much better accountability for where money is spent and what it produces. Despite all of the above, the most important part of the business has not changed very much. Real estate is still personal. Pricing conversations are personal. Negotiations are personal. Sellers want to know someone is paying attention to their property, and buyers want context they cannot get from a listing page. Information itself is no longer difficult to find. The value is increasingly in interpreting it correctly and understanding what it actually means for a particular property.That may be the biggest thing I am learning as the business continues to evolve. The tools are getting better, the information is getting better and the speed at which we can operate is getting faster. But as a broker, I still have to understand value, know the market, recognize when something does not add up and be willing to have the difficult conversations when necessary. The technology can make us more efficient and more informed, but it does not replace judgment. |
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