Question for Brokers

You are going to get a lot of answers for this but, in my opinion, specializiation is the way to go as far as brokers are concerned. We don't have an MLS system in Manhattan so a big part of the job as a buyer's broker is staying on top of the listings in a timely fashion. Sure, a there are tools like Street Easy that capture 97% of the listings but, for certain brokers, the goal is to work almost exclusively in that 3% missed by most.

I work on the UWS, for instance, and beyond the 7 major firms, we have about 10 other small sources of listings just for this neighborhood alone. If you don't work with a specialist here, you probably won't know about those listings.

So the short answer to your question is, be honest with your UES broker that you may be interested in working with someone on the UWS. If she tells you that she can work that neighborhood too, then she's either dishonest or ignorant. Hopefully, she'll be able to refer you to a great UWS agent and she and that agent can work together towards a common goal.

Best of luck!

I would stay with this UES broker, who is looking out for your best interests.Every broker has access to the same listings. If you communicate & she listens to your needs, she WILL find you the right property. Give her the opportunity to at least try to help you with the westside.If you feel this doesn't work , which I'm sure it will, ask her for a westside referral from her company.

If you like her I think you should have no problem to continue working with her. In my opinion 99.9% of all properties are listed in one of the major databases available to brokers here in NYC. When I am working with a customer I cross search all the available sources and don't rely on say just OLR. When I worked at a large firm I worked the same way, I can tell you that most agents thought their internal system was not the best source for searching.

Even without an MLS anyone serious about selling a property has it listed in one of the big databases, simply because they want to sell and its hard to sell, especially in this market if its a so called "whisper" listing.If your looking for a $10M home on Park Ave, yeah maybe that type of owner will just let a few "friends" know, but in most cases...this ain't the case:) Most relevant information about any building can be found online through DOB, HPD and property shark, and a good broker will look if there is some reason to question something. I just did a full search on a building in Brooklyn after being sent an old article that the developer was sued by the original owner to have a roof fixed and discovered that all claims were settled and the building has had a clean bill of health since 2005.

Also the listing broker is a very good source for most questions and any surprises will be discovered by your attorney.

Unless your broker is lazy, dumb or just worn out with you-I see know reason to drop her. Why not have a conversation with her about it, maybe she won't want to shlep around the UWS anyway?

Of course others will disagree(at least one already has), but in my 20 years I have effectively worked in Brooklyn, and all Manhattan neighborhoods at different price points with a variety of customers. And today with the amount of information available to all of us; it's easier than ever, especially if you have a competent broker.

Keith (Broker)
http://nycrentrant.blogspot.com/

I agree with Keith. If you like her, and you've found her helpful so far, she should be able to help you anywhere in Manhattan. If you were looking, say, in Hudson Heights, which can be very specific, or in Brooklyn, that would be one thing. But almost every broker who belongs to REBNY (real estate board of NY)has access to virtually the same database. And it's hard to find someone who you trust and who truly understands your needs.

I'm not a broker and I'm going to disagree that you should use her.

The point of having a buy side broker is that they know the neighborhood(s) you are interested in and they know the more intimate details of the buildings you might be interested in. Without either of these, there is no need for a b.s. broker (ha!) at all.

I agree with Keith that anybody actually interested in selling something is going to ensure it is available to widest possible audience.

I would use another broker for the UWS. It's nice to be nice to people, but we are talking about brokers here. Get someone with experience in the area you are looking at. It's an important purchase.

Disclaimer: I am a broker. Specializing in the upper east side does not mean one is unfamiliar with the upper west side. I agree with nshipley--were we talking a completely different area (hudson heights, brooklyn, queens) I would suggest you ask her to "refer" you out to a specialist in one of those areas. It sounds as though this broker has done a good job for you and that you think highly of her. This isn't really about being nice to someone, as gcondo thinks, but being smart for yourself. A broker who can rely on your loyalty is most apt to work hardest for you and to give you her most honest opinion on everything, even if it ends up taking longer for her to make the sale. People on this board frequently worry about the interests of the broker and the buyer being misaligned. Well there is no better way to misalign interests and compromise objectivity and allegiance than to let a broker who has been working hard for you realize that she is basically in a competition with other brokers to get you to sign a contract. I also disagree that the only value of a broker is his/her familiarity with the intimate details of certain buildings, except in very specific circumstances but thats a whole other string, and one that has been debated to death. :)

I would feel better if my brokers knew they had competition, thank you very much. I think you would rather "own" the client outright, which is a bad situation for a client to be in.

But gcondo, it's a kind of competition that I don't see as advantageous to a buyer. How do you see it as a benefit?

Lobster, I do some work with relos from California to New York, and I get that work from referring brokers.

A good referring broker doesn't just send an email with a name and a phone number and a bill for 20%. A good referring broker will say, this is what this client is like, this is what we've done in the past eight months and what we've learned. Then they will continue to oversee the referred broker during the search to keep everything on track.

So if you like the broker you're working with, I suggest that you continue to work with her. You should have a discussion about whether the best route is:

1) to take her out of her comfort zone to the West Side (which means she will have to dig as far as inventory and the reputations of different buildings -- I don't think that's as easy as the few computer keystrokes that Nan and Keith make it out to be, for I find that there's still some wonderful inventory that never quite gets listed) or

2) whether she wants to refer you to an UWS agent and then coordinate from there.

If she's in a big firm and refers you out she is probably bound to refer you within the firm -- Corcoran to Corcoran or Elliman to Elliman -- but you also probably have the option of approaching a small-firm UWS broker like Fred Wohlfarth or Klara Madlin or Keith or Nan (I'd offer but I'm newish to the 'hood, just closing my first two UWS deals, and my plate's a little full right now) and asking them to pay out a referral.

In this climate I think most agents would readily agree to that.

And certainly nyg's point is a strong one; as an agent, when you don't have client loyalty is when everything goes bad. If you have a client who you know is going to pay you something someday, and who is going to say nice things about you to their friends, you in turn are going to do everything in your power to get them the right home.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Most brokers are assholes - if she has been helpful and professional (and not an asshole) for 8 months, why wouldn't you at least give her a chance on the UWS hunt?

Thanks for the many helpful opinions on this topic. Looking2return nicely summed up my main concern that a broker who specializes in a particular neighborhood would more likely know the details about a building that might not appear on a database. For example, I answered a question here a few days ago about 315 East 68th Street which is directly across the street from a public school which Hunter College is trying to buy. The OP wasn't aware that this school might become an extension of a college campus. This is the type of detail that I don't want to miss in my search. On the other hand, my broker has been wonderful to work with and is terrific at assessing all the details of an apartment and a building when we view apartments together. Thanks again to all who responded for your excellent advice and guidance.

Just because they specialize in one area doesn't mean they don't know others very well. I grew up on the UES, lived in Tribeca and now live in the East Village. I've also lived here my entire life. I'm not going to claim I know everything about Manhattan, but I do know a lot. I also read Curbed and several other Real Estate blogs/news sources every day. I know tons of seemingly random information which become less random when questioned about an area of interest.

The first thing you should do is speak with your broker. Explain your situation and see what she says in response. Contrary to what some people are saying, if you only went with 'specialists' there would be one broker for each neighborhood and that would be that. A quick survey of the major firms will show you that this is clearly not the case :) And while @scoots put it a little bluntly he is right, she worked with you for 8 months, you should certainly give her a chance.

A good broker will tell you when they aren't as familiar with an area, but they can still pull up listings and review them with you. I have done this numerous times, with the UWS and especially when venturing to Brooklyn which I am not as familiar with. The areas may be different, but the knowledge that a broker has gained over the years will still prove to be valuable. Plus, I will frequently ask my coworkers about areas/buildings and in 4 minutes they can provide me with a wealth of information beyond what is available in a listing description, everyone does this.

If you were switching your search entirely from Condos/Co-ops to Townhouses that might be a different story as these are two different animals. Since it sounds like this is not the case I think you should stick with who you had, it is hard to build an 8 month relationship in a few days with a new broker.

(Matthew Russell - Brown Harris Stevens)