1. “If we could answer that question, we would all be rich,”
Hal Maxwell, president of Coldwell Banker Residential
Brokerage in New Jersey and Rockland County, N.Y.,
chides. “But what I can tell you,” he adds, “is that people
are always looking for housing.”
This year, waning consumer confidence, nationwide
job losses and tighter borrowing requirements
peppered the nation’s housing market with
seeds of doubt. But when framed against
historically low interest rates, reduced
home prices and broad selection,
many New Jersey brokers and
sales associates see promise
in the year ahead.
“For people who are in a position to buy or move up,
there are tremendous opportunities,” Andrea Webb, a
sales associate with Keller Williams Realty in Montclair,
N.J. explains.
Those opportunities are not limited to consumers.
Phyllis Pantano and Kim McGovern, sales associates
with Schlosser Realty in Lavallette, N.J. say 2010 has
been one of the busiest years for their resort and
oceanside second-home market area since the team
partners started selling real estate in 2002.
“For 2010, our office is 35 percent higher in dollar sales
(more than $27 million compared with $18 million)
and 42 percent higher in the number of gross sales (47
transactions compared with 27) than in 2009. And we
believe 2011 will follow suit,” Pantano notes.
Despite the April 30th elimination of the federal
home buyer tax credit, Bill Keleher, chairman
and CEO of Prudential New Jersey Properties
in Somerset, N.J., says 2011 looks good for
home buyers and sellers. “To some degree,
the expiration of the federal tax credit hurt
the market. But today’s low interest rates are
a greater opportunity for savings that I believe
many people don’t fully understand,” Keleher
explains.
In 2009, Keleher’s 23 offices and 540 agents
logged about $1.2 billion in gross sales.
Keleher consolidated offices within similar
areas and relocated people to keep the same
number of staff. Even with five fewer
locations, Keleher expects to top
$1.35 billion in gross sales this year.
So what about next year? For 2011, the
40-year real estate veteran expects to see
By Michelle Hoffman
What’s ahead for 2011?
NEW JERSEY REALTOR®
• OCTOBER 2010 • www.njar.com • 11

2. modest gains of 5 to 8 percent in the number of transactions
in his market and price increases of 3 to 5 percent over 2010
(about 15 to 20 percent less than in 2006).
Bottom line, Keleher says: “The 2011 market in my area
will only be about 60 percent to 62 percent in terms of
opportunity for sales volume and commission revenue
of what it was during its peak in 2006.”
Northwestern New Jersey-based Orly Steinberg, a broker
and sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential
Brokerage in Ringwood, N.J., believes success in 2011
will require good customer service, the ability to build
personal and professional relationships, and an increased
understanding of social media tools and sophisticated
communication platforms.
“It is eyeball to eyeball, face to face, belly to belly. But with
today’s technology, everyone can access information. What
buyers and sellers need from us is service, education and
guidance. That is what good real estate professionals can
offer their clients. Take the time to be a consultant, not
a salesperson. This business is all about relationship
building,” Steinberg notes.
To stay in touch, Steinberg focuses on direct mail, social
networking (she’s been on Facebook for three years) and
high-touch tools like her own VIP client program and a
platinum program for clients who have referred someone
or bought or sold a home with her. The platinum program
provides free services (faxing, copying and notary services,
to name a few) and gives clients a reason to come to
Steinberg’s office.
VIP giveaways often are linked to holidays or events
and range from a $100 Staples gift card during the
back-to-school month of September to an annual pie
giveaway the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that requires
all pie lovers (approximately 200 people each year) to RSVP
online for their sweet of choice (pumpkin or apple) and
gives Steinberg another opportunity to interact with her
sphere and keep her database current.
In 2011, pies may be in but the mailers are out. In January,
Steinberg plans to replace the 1,000 monthly mailers with a
simple e-mail. She made a similar savings decision in 2008
when the monthly mailer replaced a tri-fold newsletter that
cost $15,000 annually to mail to about 8,000 contacts.
Mailers are not the only thing agents are finding they can
live without. Keleher says lavish award ceremonies were
replaced by personal calls from top brass to top producers
and online recognition programs on public sites and
corporate intranets in 2009.
To build suspense and interest while transitioning into the
new recognition programs and to encourage people to check
the site, the firm offered opportunities to win business tools
(a laptop or prepaid print and online marketing programs,
for instance) by checking the site each day.
“Then we recognized a specific group of people and posted
photos, bios, rankings and achievements on the intranet –
much more information than we could provide during an
awards banquet and included those top achievements on
our public site also,” he says.
In 2009, about 100 people checked the site daily during
the 10-day recognition period. This year, the recognition
program ran 15 days and attracted about 300 internal
staffers daily.
“All of that together cost about 10 percent of what we used
to spend on some of these awards ceremonies that we later
hear that a lot of people didn’t like to come to anyway,” he
adds.
While not completely nixing award events for his 3,700 agents
and 55 offices, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s
Maxwell says smaller, localized banquets have replaced the
grand event. “The response has been so positive. The agents
appreciate these events more,” he explains.
Maxwell says the agents also appreciate new marketing and
business tools like the online showing report. Launched in
July, the marketing tool lets agents produce reports (weekly,
monthly or for a specific date range) that show clients how
many hits their property is getting. “You have no way of
knowing how many people see an ad in the newspaper, so
this a great tool for our agents,” he says.
In June 2009, Coldwell Banker launched its HomeBase
management system, a secure online management
portal that allows consumers to access transaction
information 24/7. And in May, Maxwell rolled out
a time-saving single-source
sign-in option for the corporate site.
For Steinberg, whether broker
or consumer, real-time
access to information is
paramount to success
in the current market.
“I am on the first
12 • NEW JERSEY REALTOR®
• OCTOBER 2010 • www.njar.com

3. page of Google for this entire area no matter how you
search it,” she adds.
Steinberg is clearly onto something. She has been selling
real estate for 24 years, topped $30 million in gross sales
with her four-woman sales team in 2009 and plans to see
the same numbers for 2010 and beyond.
“I see 2011 as very similar to 2010. I think we may see more
foreclosures. And I fear that sellers will continue to adjust
their ideas about pricing,” she adds.
If you have a client living in the past, Steinberg suggests a
simple approach: “If you stay, be prepared to hang on for 8
to 10 years. If you go, be prepared to deal with today’s prices.”
“There are no two ways about it,” she adds. “It’s like me going
to my stockbroker and asking for $100 a share for the IBM
stock I bought three years ago that is now worth $80. It is
what it is. This market is about tough love and commitment.”
Sales professionals and consumers are not the only ones
coming back down to earth.
During a decade of unprecedented growth, many firms
literally lost touch with their people. And in 2011, building
relationships within the existing firm framework is equally
as important as building consumer relations.
In 2009, Keleher started hosting a biweekly CEO breakfast
with small groups, usually 10 top performers. He liked the
direct input that sometimes doesn’t trickle up management
channels and started using the information to review and
revise corporate strategies and tactics.
“Most importantly from my standpoint, we have a chance
to explain to them what we are doing, why we are doing it
and why we believe it will enhance their business-building
opportunities,” he says.
Similarly, in September 2009, Maxwell started having
quarterly meetings with regional reps and says the agents
appreciate having a voice.
In addition to giving agents a platform to be
heard, many firms are providing platforms for
long-term business strategies with access to
health insurance, retirement plans, discounted
auto insurance and other benefit programs.
“It is a very important platform for an independent
contractor trying to take care of their needs and the
needs of their family,” Keleher explains.
Prudential New Jersey Properties’ Team Builder program,
rolled out in 2008, will continue next year and enables
existing salespeople to identify other people they would like
to add to the
team and provide
compensation
in the form of a
small override of the
business the agent does.
“The real core of the [Team Builder incentive] program
is an ongoing 1 percent override on whatever the gross
commissions of the [recruited] agent are for as long as both
agents are with the company. So
over the course of 10 years, the
[recruiting] agent could bring in
5 or 10 people and be sitting on
a $10,000 or $15,000 annual
residual income,” he says.
When it comes to recruitment
and retention, experts say the
biggest difference between the boon years and 2011 is access
to education.
With live training webinars, recorded courses, fine-tuned
marketing plans and communication strategies, more firms
are moving beyond the short-term benefits of basic sales
boot camps and embracing ongoing training platforms and
WebTV broadcasts.
“If someone said that a single training program on social
media was going to make a huge difference in the results
of a company or an individual four or five years ago, I would
have thought that was ridiculous. But because of the new
challenges we face and the new way that the consumer wants
to be served, these things are critically important, and we
have to teach people how to do it. The average broker is
about 56 and did not grow up with social media. So there is
a real need to bring them into this new time,” Keleher says.
Whether in form of a social media seminar or call from
management for a job well done, all the extra attention
has emotional and financial benefits.
Steinberg hosts a weekly meeting, leadership training
and bonus programs. She even sends the occasional
bouquet of flowers.
“In order to have retention with agents, whether you are a
broker manager or a team leader, you have to evolve. If you
don’t evolve you dissolve. And evolving is about growing
people as human beings and growing production,” she says. n
NEW JERSEY REALTOR®
• OCTOBER 2010 • www.njar.com • 13
Michelle Hofmann is an award-winning real estate writer. She
can be reached at michellehofmann@earthlink.net.