In this Expert Success Story, find out how Serene Powers received so many quality leads through the program that she expanded her team to six people to field them all. She also grew her conversions using the Buyer Match and Like Listing tools, which allowed her to leverage her hyperlocal Long Island City expertise and know what her clients are looking for. Experts now makes up 25% of her total business.
Serene Powers knows real estate, and she knows Long Island City.
An agent since 2014, Serene formerly worked in software, but made the switch to real estate after craving more human interaction. She also loves properties. “I used to go to open houses just for fun,” she says. Serene is with Jade Stone Real Estate Consulting, which focuses on Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. She has extensive experience in Long Island City, where she does much of her business.
Serene joined the Experts program in late 2020, and now has a six-person team that speaks four languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Malay, and English. “I’m able to assign connections that I don’t have time to work with to my team. And there’s a sense of teamwork and community among us.”
The Experts program enticed Serene with its lack of upfront or recurring costs for agents, requiring only a Success Fee at the end of each successful closing. During her time in the program, she’s reached a total sales volume of almost $13M. Here’s how.
Growing her leads – and her team – with Like Listings
When Serene first joined the program, she listed herself as an Expert in the Long Island City buildings in which she has a history of deals. Then the Like Listings option was introduced, which matches Experts with buyers interested in properties similar to ones the Expert has bought or sold in. She opted into the Long Island City neighborhood, and suddenly, “I was able to have more connections. And with a lot more connections, I can bring in team members to help me with them. So that’s helped me grow my business a lot.”
Serene needed help tending to the large number of leads she was receiving after enabling Like Listings. She grew her team to six agents simply by asking her colleagues if they were interested, onboarding them to the program, and assigning them leads through her Experts dashboard.
A triumph of quantity and quality
Serene quickly noticed her Experts leads weren’t just numerous – they were high quality as well. “They’re ready to buy within two to three months’ time. A lot of them actually come with pre-approval, or they already have the down payment ready.” Many of her connections are interested in Long Island City – where she specializes – and are highly motivated buyers.
“They’re ready to buy within two to three months’ time. A lot of them actually come with pre-approval, or they already have the down payment ready.”
What does Serene think is driving this level of lead quality? She believes StreetEasy’s reputation as the go-to website for New York City real estate attracts savvy buyers. Additionally, Long Island City’s large concentration of new developments draws high-intent buyers looking for modern digs – and an in-unit washer and dryer. “The neighborhood that I’m in, most properties are brand new. The oldest building is 13 years old, and a lot of properties have a washer and dryer.”
Her recipe for quick success
Another type of Expert connection Serene has had success with is Buyer Match. Buyer Match encourages buyers to reach out to an Expert as they’re browsing the StreetEasy website – for instance, a buyer searching for a home in the East Village would be prompted to contact an Expert before landing on a property. The Expert knows quite exactly what the buyer is looking for.
One of Serene’s fastest and most successful closings came from a Buyer Match connection. The client texted Serene, saying StreetEasy had recommended her as the Expert in the neighborhood of interest. The client was flying in from California to look at properties, and wanted to see as many as possible in seven days before making a decision. Serene scheduled her to see numerous properties in Long Island City and the east side of Manhattan. By the fourth day, the client had narrowed it down to two, and by the fifth day she had an accepted offer. Before flying back to California, the winning property was in contract.
“That was a very, very good experience for me from this connection,” Serene says.
Knowing just what the client was looking for enabled Serene to curate the most qualified properties to show her. It was the perfect recipe for success, especially with a client who was short on time.
“Before I get connected with them, I really know what they’re looking for.”
In fact, Buyer Match is Serene’s favorite feature of the Experts program. “Before I get connected with them, I really know what they’re looking for. For example, their budget is about $1.5 million and they’re looking for a two bedroom in this southern neighborhood. So when I had a Zoom call, I already had everything.”
…and long-term success, too
Not all of Serene’s leads close in seven days. She recalls a buyer she was connected with who didn’t have the financials in place at the time to buy a home. Eight months later, Experts reconnected Serene with this buyer. “The beauty of this program is they connected me back to her when she looked for another listing. So I was able to know her history.”
Serene reached out and discovered the buyer didn’t have a 20% down payment, which the buyer had assumed would be absolutely necessary to purchase anything. Serene swooped in and found a solution, telling the buyer: “I can connect you with a banker who offered 10% down, and as long as the seller or developer accepts it, then you can have a deal. You may have to pay a little bit extra on private mortgage insurance, but it can happen. You don’t need to wait until next year.”
The buyer was ecstatic, and she got the apartment. Her and Serene remain friendly to this day.
“For nurturing, you just need to be very consistent in giving them new information.”
Another connection toured a few apartments but didn’t see anything she liked. She preferred a new development, so Serene continued to send her options as they came along, asking if she wanted to tour any of them. Eventually, the buyer saw one she liked and was quickly in contract.
“For nurturing, you just need to be very consistent in giving them new information,” Serene suggests. She’s a fan of sending market updates, like trends in rental prices, which can be useful for buyers looking for an investment property.
Her hack for responding to leads quickly
Serene says her Business Advisor, Kara McMahon, “has been very, very supportive of me from the beginning.”
Kara showed Serene a useful tool for responding to leads quickly: enabling push notifications in the StreetEasy Agent Tools app. Before, Serene was relying on email notifications for new leads, but sometimes wouldn’t see them until two or three hours after they came in. With push notifications, she’s able to reply to connections within five minutes. “Kara has provided me with a lot of tips and tricks, especially that I need to contact connections within five minutes.” If not, Serene says, “you’re lost, because a lot of them are looking at many listings, not just one.”
“Kara [my StreetEasy Business Advisor] has provided me with a lot of tips and tricks, especially that I need to contact connections within five minutes.”
“When the connection comes in, I call them immediately. I usually call first and then leave a voicemail, then follow up by text and send an email. That’s what Kara told me about the three touches within 24 hours, and then seven touches within the week. You have to keep following up.” StreetEasy calls this the 3-7-10-2 follow-up plan.
Using her hyperlocal expertise to get the best deal
Serene uses her pervasive knowledge of Long Island City to build trust among her clients on the very first phone call. “I tell them that I actually live in the neighborhood and know all the buildings and the agents. So the properties they’re looking at are ones that I’m very familiar with.”
She also leverages her robust network and inside knowledge of Long Island City to get the best possible deal for her clients. “In Long Island City there are a lot of tax abatement buildings,” she points out. For buyers who want to save on property taxes, Serene keys them in on which buildings have tax abatements, and for how long. “For example, this building has maybe 10 years left and that building has only five years left.”
“I tell them that I actually live in the neighborhood and know all the buildings and the agents. So the properties they’re looking at are ones that I’m very familiar with.”
She also knows smart ways to help her clients save on closing costs, like negotiating to have the developer cover the NYC transfer taxes. For one buyer, Serene was able to negotiate a 15% discount on a new development: a savings of $150,000.
“This kind of knowledge is very important, and you can’t find it anywhere else unless you do a lot of research on your own. And that’s why buyer’s agents are so useful.”
Combining local knowledge with negotiation skills
Serene’s local knowledge of Long Island City also makes her a better negotiator. How so? “I know the buildings and the projects, so I know the room for negotiation. To start negotiation, we have to start within the zone of possible agreement.” She isn’t afraid to tell a buyer they’re asking for too steep of a discount, or that their offer is so low that it may offend the seller or developer.
“Insider knowledge about the possible room for negotiation is very important.”
Her proudest negotiation moment came when she secured a 14% discount on the asking price for her client – but in the form of concessions. “You can get free storage that costs $25,000, or have the sponsor [developer] pay transfer taxes in a new development. They can pay the property tax for one or two years, or even common charges for five years, because in new developments, sometimes the amenities are not available for use yet.”
Her advice for new Experts
“Work closely with your Business Advisor,” she starts with. “And the other is you have to update the status of your connections. If it’s Nurture or Unresponsive, use push notifications, which help you connect with the leads immediately. Also use Notes, because that helps you remember what you’ve done with the connection.”
And her advice to those on the fence about joining Experts? “Just try. It doesn’t cost you anything. There are a lot of surprises that you’ll find in this program.”