‘24 Hours With’ takes a look at a day in the life of CORE’s agents. Todd Lewin talks about living in a park, the familiarity of SoHo, and his key to success in business.
The morning is my favorite time of day. I wake up at 7:15, get a coffee to go from Urban Rustic or Swallow and take my dog Alabama–a black lab mix–for a walk around McCarren Park in Williamsburg. I actually live right on the park, so it feels like I have a giant backyard ready and waiting for us at all times. It’s pretty neat.
Once Alabama has taken care of business, we head home and I spend the next 30 minutes or so checking my listing alerts to see what new properties are newly available for each of my buyers. In the mix of somewhat studying StreetEasy’s Hotsheets and reading the daily headlines for The Real Deal and BISNOW, I’ll start responding to emails I didn’t get to the night before. But that’s pretty rare because I’m a bit OCD about responding to emails the same day I receive them.
After a quick shower, I’ll either head into the Chelsea office to start preparing for the day ahead or I’ll go straight to my morning showings. I try to schedule one face-to-face every day so that I’m always out and about seeing both active and inactive clients. I try and get together with people in the neighborhoods I transact in most–SoHo, NoHo, & Nolita. I lived in SoHo for 8 years so a lot of my business comes from being in the neighborhood for so long. It’s a very rewarding relationship both personally and professionally.
I try and spend an hour or two on marketing; something so important to growing our business yet it’s easily overlooked. CORE is a great place to spread your marketing wings; they are very supportive and we have a fantastic team in place to help expand our personal and company brands.
Lunch is usually quick, if it happens at all. West Side Market or West Side Market. Call me a creature of habit, but it’s right by the office and it’s easy.
After lunch it’s more showings and some paperwork, which I oddly enjoy almost as much as showings. Maybe for the sense of accomplishment? I spend an hour or less each day drafting, reviewing and preparing any documents on my desk. It could be a listing agreement or a contract, or a long email catching up with a client who I have not spoken to in a while. I tend to send my clients new properties and opportunities constantly. My philosophy with everything I do in business is “keep going until someone says no,” and fortunately, I rarely hear no’s.
And then it’s time for more coffee–my second and last cup of the day. By this time I’m texting my fiancé Michelle, asking what we are doing for dinner and that I’m really hungry because I’ve been on showings for the last 3 hours and I likely forgot to eat something.
If I’m not attending a networking event or showing during the evening–some clients work during the day too – I’ll head home and run a few miles at the McCarren Park track. A group of us at CORE are currently training for Urban Mudder in July, so I need to be in great shape sooner than I’d like to admit.
Dinner time in Williamsburg is always different; there are so many good options. I’m usually texting with active clients through dinner and into the night. Luckily I have an amazing fiancé, so she doesn’t get too mad. So at around 9 PM, I put my phone down for the night and turn on the TV to tune into a new documentary. The more obscure, the better. I watch a lot of them and now so does my fiancé. It’s become a nightly ritual for us. And after a good night’s sleep, I can start all over again.