The riskiest thing you can do is to play it safe.
Especially in a heated market.
But, for some reason many people seem to do this.
Brokers, developers, architects, designers…..

Playing it safe is mediocre
Playing it safe is lazy
Generic
A strong market disguises mediocrity with the illusion of innovation And blurs the core reason for success!

In 2008, I predicted that West Chelsea would be one of the hottest new neighborhoods in the city. With the development of The High Line and all the construction activity – this was a no brainer. I also felt that West 19th Street would eventually become one of the most architecturally significant streets in Manhattan. Lined with residential buildings by Frank Gehry, Jeanne Nouvelle, Suga Ruban and Annabelle Selldorf, this prediction has become a reality. There was very little residential housing in the area and when I first met Annabelle Selldorf, she was not well known to the public. She was introduced to me in 2006 by John Jacobson, who, with his brother Keith and the City Investment Fund, developed 520 West 19th Street. This was the first residential condo project in West Chelsea and it was a huge success. Today, Annabelle is one of the most prolific and successful architects in New York and a household name. She was my first interview, and I thought it appropriate to review her interview for #throwbackthurdsay. I hope you enjoy it the second time around.

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Lockhart Steele and Shaun Osher in September 2008

In honor of the new internet tradition (yes, an oxymoron), I thought I’d replay my interview with Lockhart Steele, creator and founder of Curbed, from more than four years ago. I interviewed Lockhart over lunch when Curbed was just in its infancy, and it was an entertaining meal, to say the least. Curbed has come a long way, now with a global reach of over 2 million global readers, (and so have we).

I hope you enjoy this the second time around.

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I have always been intrigued by the art of branding. I’ve read lots of books and blogs about branding, studied great companies and their brand identities, and have come to the conclusion that a brand is identified by the people (and their actions) who make up the company and not the advertising company who comes up with the next smart idea or ad campaign. The idea of branding to create identity is flawed. It’s the identity of the people, their integrity, their belief in the company’s business, and their actions that create the brand.  If it’s authentically embedded in the culture of the company and all the people who make up the company, then the brand is strong.

The best companies are those that don’t need to be rebranded. Coke, Nike, 3M, Virgin, and Apple all have the same brand ideology and the consistency in their message. A company, product, or building’s marketing campaign needs to be rebranded only when something is wrong.  And there seems to be a lot of this going around right now……

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I’m a firm believer that a real estate company’s success, and the brand it builds, is largely reliant on one thing:

The agent.

Having worked as a successful agent in the City for over a decade (prior to starting CORE), I have a different perspective on this topic than most.

The importance of the agent as an ambassador of our brand is tantamount to our success.

And never underestimated.
Everything that impacts “who we are” is in the agent’s hands. From handing out a business card with our collective names on it to successfully negotiating and closing a deal.

I am pleased to announce that Oliver Brown has joined us. With over 20 years of experience selling in NY, he has built a business and reputation that is exemplary and we are proud to have him as an ambassador of our brand.

Shaun Osher is the Founder and CEO of CORE.

The numbers of the September Real Time Report (click here to download the PDF) are indicative of what I’ve been predicting for the last year. Less apartments are available for sale, prices are continuing to rise, and the overall volume of deals is increasing. Our “for sale” market is shrinking, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to find a home in Manhattan. The limited pipeline of new development inventory may also only satisfy a small part of the really high-end market, because most developers seem to be jumping on that wagon.

I expect that when we finally see the deals that were put into contract over the past few months close, we’ll see that there was less negotiation from the asking price. In fact, we are now starting to see deals accepted at above asking prices.

While there is still no completely accurate data or report that provides contract signed prices for a specific time period of 30 days, I estimate that we are at least ten percent higher (in pricing) than where we were a year ago.

This should be the strongest October in the past 5 years.

Shaun Osher is the Founder and CEO of CORE.

As expected, CORE’s latest Real Time Report (click here to download the PDF), which includes the most current contract data from StreetEasy, showed us that the Manhattan real estate market is strong across the board. Our monthly report found that, compared to last year, overall contract volume rose by over 26%, while inventory has continued to shrink — an overall decrease of 11% since last year. And this week Crain’s reports that this high demand and lack of supply is sending condominium prices soaring, with great success for sellers. In fact, our Walker Tower project is highlighted as one new development that is capitalizing on this “pricing pop.”

So where are we? It’s getting harder to find a good apartment at a reasonable price. (Although doesn’t that always seem to be the case if you’re a buyer?) With inventory levels continuing to shrink, I only see this becoming more difficult, and the housing shortage that I foresaw and predicted three years ago seems to have become a reality.

The effects of this? Higher prices, more bidding wars, less time on the market, and more situations where sellers are remorseful for selling and buyers are regretful over missed opportunities.

Shaun Osher is the founder and CEO of CORE.

This week, Mayor Bloomberg initiated a competition for developers to design a rental building filled with efficient studio “micro-apartments” no bigger than 300 square feet each. The current zoning precludes anyone from doing this, so it would be a change to the law — and even though it’s illegal, everyone knows that there are people who live in the confines of space smaller than this. How many people are there in this city who share an apartment of 600 square feet with 2 roommates?

I love the Mayor’s idea, as you may tell from my enthusiastic response on CNN, seen above. New York is a city filled with single professionals who are being priced out of the housing market. Even the surrounding boroughs are expensive, and I think that this initiative will keep some of these people here where they belong. Hopefully this will be the start of something new, and why stop at rentals? I look forward to the day when developers can build “for-sale” housing in the city of this size. This will make the entry level into home ownership easier to those who cannot afford $600,000 for a starter studio, not to mention encouraging smart design and creative architecture.

Shaun Osher is the founder and CEO of CORE.

Society continues to classify achievements by category. We create hierarchies and measurements like The Biggest, The Richest, The Strongest, The Longest, and the list goes on…

The Real Deal is the only widely read trade publication for real estate in New York, and every year they publish their brokerage rankings with data they collect. This year CORE was named the top boutique firm in the city, and while I don’t pay too much attention to awards or other companies’ business models, I must admit that it is rewarding to be recognized in the industry. Especially in the category that compliments our business model.

When Jack and I started our company in 2006, our business model and objective was clear and simple: Build the best real estate company in the city! Best by our standards meant a company with the highest ethical standards, professional conduct, creative marketing, and productive team of agents. We went about building a company that was designed for the agent (and having been a top agent for many years, I had a deep understanding of what I needed to support and grow my business, and what I felt was missing). We continue to grow CORE as a company with resources designed to build and support our agents’ business under the umbrella of our brand.

I am grateful to my incredible team of agents, and the smartest, hardest working management and support team in the city. I’m really looking forward to continuing our mission.

Shaun Osher is the founder and CEO of CORE.

A few factors drive price: consumer confidence, supply, demand.

According to a Bloomberg News article this week, there’s a lack of inventory of luxury housing, and prices are robust. Well, no kidding! This was predicted by yours truly (OK, and a few others) a few years ago when the development world took a dive in the wake of the credit crunch and no one was building anything new. Most of the “luxury” inventory consists of only a few types of product, and ironically, there is very little of it in Manhattan – one of the most expensive cities on the globe. If you own one of these — new development, prime location large homes on Central Park, Park and Fifth Avenues, penthouses, townhouses, and large downtown lofts — then you have a trophy.

Owners of these types of properties are generally financially sound enough to only sell when they want to. They can weather a bad market and sell when the market is more favorable. Developers who time this market right have a huge advantage to sit on their inventory, and wait for their number. And wait, they have.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to afford a trophy you should buy it because it wasn’t too long ago that talk of $2,000 per square foot on 57th Street was the stuff of a fiction novel. Now a developer is claiming $10,000 per foot for a building with a view.

To be continued…

Shaun Osher is the founder and CEO of CORE.