Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

Reba Miller joined CORE as Senior Managing Director of Sales last year after owning her own company for almost 30 years. She is an industry icon, and I am enjoying getting to know her as someone who works side by side with me. She has a sharp sense of humor, a unique sense of fashion, and a style all of her own.

1) How long have you been selling real estate?
27 years and then some!

2) How did you get involved in the business?
My father had retail stores and was a “jobber,” buying, negotiating, and reselling. So real estate was an easy fit for me.

3) How has the industry changed in that time?
The firm of Whitbread-Nolan was one of the premiere companies at the time, and the entire business was based on books of 3 x 6 index cards inscribed with each type of apartment that the firm had to offer. Your books were your listings and the pay phones were your form of communication!

(more…)

Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

David Beare has been with CORE for six years. He has built a solid reputation as a top young agent who is trustworthy, hard working, and always eager to learn and grow his business in the residential and commercial field. It was time we chatted for Ten.

1) How did you get into the business?
I got into the business in 2006, when I graduated from college. My mother Emily had gone into real estate a few years earlier. I was very intrigued with the business. It was the summer, she suggested that I try it out, so I got my license and the rest is history.

2) Who is your mentor?
My mentors are all members of my family. My grandfather Eric, who turned 83, is still at the helm of his business, and he taught me the 4 C’s that lead to success in business: communication, cooperation, coordination and collaboration. My father Brian also is a great mentor to me. He came to this country as a foreigner and started his own business from nothing. My mother Emily has an incredible work ethic – workaholic is more like it – and she is proof that success doesn’t just come to you, you have to want it and work for it.

3) You’ve become very successful in a short time. What do you attribute this success to?
Success for me really boils down to hard work, determination, developing/maintaining relationships, and following through (cliché I know, but it’s the truth). Having a good personality, being able to converse, and having a sense of humor are also very important – that is another thing I learned from my mentors.

(more…)

Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

Tony Sargent joined CORE this year after a long association with a much larger firm. He is an agent who has built a sound reputation in the industry and is known for his Sargent Report. His attention to detail and thorough knowledge of the market is an asset to us as a company and he is also one of the most approachable people in the business.

1) How long have you been selling real estate?
Twelve years.

2) How did you get involved in real estate?
I grew up moving around internationally and so I saw a lot of different styles of living and design in my youth, and I love architecture and working with people. In 1999 I met someone in real estate and we talked about his clients. One morning I started looking online at luxury townhouses and apartments and never stopped. A month later I was sitting on the beach watching the sun rise and I knew I wanted to do this. I am driven by my passion to help others and to be able to create a positive difference in someone’s life by helping them find or sell their home. It makes me incredibly happy.

3) What was your quickest transaction?
A Park Avenue classic seven. I was sharing it with another broker. The co-op board rejected the first buyer on a Thursday. The other broker called me to say the owner’s daughter had called on Friday out of the blue and was threatening to pull the listing. Given my numbers background and the fact that the owner’s daughter was in finance, I called her and used my business skills to give her confidence we were going about things the right way. I shared that we’d had another buyer interested three months prior who had strong qualifications. I reached out to that buyer’s broker on Super Bowl Sunday with a strategy. I let her know that the deal had dissolved, but we were about to raise the price (true). If her buyer was willing to come up $150,000 higher than their last offer, make no contingencies and simultaneously sign a contract by Tuesday morning with the seller, they had a deal. It happened in two days for over $3 million.

(more…)

Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

Reba Miller has been in the business for almost 30 years! Even after selling over a billion dollars worth of real estate, she has an impeccable reputation and a zest for the business. She recently caused a stir by joining our team in a senior leadership role, and I’m looking forward to working with her to help build our company, our culture, and our brand.

1) What is one the one thing about you that you think defines who you are?
I am very driven.

2) You’ve been in the brokerage business for almost 30 years. What has been your biggest surprise?
How much I still love each day as if it’s my first!

3) You recently joined CORE as our Senior Managing Director of Sales. Why move now?
I felt the business was changing and I bee-lined for the coolest and most reputable company to align myself with. I figured the owner’s name spelled the same way as my son Shaun was a great sign.

4) What was the toughest negotiation of your career?
Selling myself to the developers of 22 West 66th Street when they bought the building from the Resolution Trust Corp. They did not speak a word of English, so every bit of the exclusive from beginning to end was translated into Italian.

(more…)

Welcome to Ten, CORE founder and CEO Shaun Osher’s rapid-fire interview series with prominent CORE figures. Read on to find out how this week’s subject deals with being on the hot seat.

I met Natalie Rakowski in 2002 when we did a deal together in the “Dance Building” in Chelsea. Even back then, she was one of the top New Development experts in the city, and a power broker. When I started Core in 2005, I was honored to have her by my side, and we’ve never looked back. She is not only one of the most trustworthy people I know, but one of the most genuine. Here is my interview with my friend…

1) When you were a kid, what did you dream of becoming?
I always wanted to be a documentary filmmaker. I am a Discovery and Travel Channel addict. About ten years ago, I had the opportunity to make a documentary called “Talking Tacheles” about artists who squatted in a bombed out building in (former) East Berlin. The building itself is a character in the story, so it was ideal subject matter combining all of my interests – art, travel, history and real estate!

2) You have created a name for yourself as one of the top people in the city who works with developers. How did you get involved in new development?
When I was 21, My father and I bought an old building in Berlin and renovated it. That was where I learned everything about being a developer. From that moment on, my love affair with real estate began.

3) What’s the most challenging deal you ever closed?
That was the one with the pot belly pig. DON’T ASK! Only in New York.

(more…)