We Are Selling with Lee Woodward
We Are Selling is a weekly podcast about real estate, business and tackling life's challenges. Hosted by renowned real estate industry coach, Lee Woodward, learn from experts in their field and maximise your life.
We Are Selling with Lee Woodward
153 - Real Estate In New York - Nicole Beauchamp
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In this episode, we dive into the real estate landscape of New York City through the insights of Nikki Beauchamp, who shares her 25-year journey navigating the intricacies of the market. The discussion covers the importance of relationship-building, the role of technology, and strategies for successful lead generation, emphasizing the complexities of working in such a unique marketplace.
• Discusses the challenges of selling in New York City
• Explores the unique property structures like co-ops and condos
• Shares insights on typical transactions and pricing
• Emphasizes the value of building relationships in real estate
• Highlights the impact of technology and AI on the industry
• Discusses effective strategies for lead generation
• Analyzes the effects of broader economic indicators on real estate
• Offers insights into maintaining client engagement post-transaction
Hosted by Lee Woodward
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Hello and welcome back to the podcast we Are Selling. My name's Lee Woodward, the author of the Complete Salesperson Course. Today's podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, nexar. Nexar is a dedicated real estate platform specializing in lead generation and database management of the entire real estate company for BDMs and agents. Working as one platform to generate opportunity. Nexar seamlessly integrates into your business systems, allowing you to have an extended solution. Let's get started with this week's episode, and joining me now, live from New York, in a break from the Inman Conference, is Nikki Beauchamp. Nikki, welcome aboard.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I'm so excited that we're finally connecting.
Speaker 1:For our Australian audience. How long have you been selling real estate?
Speaker 2:I was somewhat rudely reminded a couple of weeks ago that I was just approaching my 25th year. So when I was sort of really reminded like, oh, you've been a member of our local real estate board for 24 years and now we're in 2025.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Well, firstly, congratulations for standing the test of time. Selling property in Manhattan, new York, would not be the simplest thing to do the test of time.
Speaker 2:Selling property in Manhattan, new York, would not be the simplest thing to do. It can be challenging, it can be very process intensive, information intensive, and every building is its own ecosystem and that's very challenging. So to explain that to a buyer, for example, and in other parts of the world generally, you have a budget, you know what you want to buy. That's pretty much as simple as it gets, with the exception of if it's a leasehold, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2:Here in New York we have a property structure called the co-op cooperative and we have condominiums and we have single families and townhouses, et cetera, et cetera. But the co-op is kind of the interesting construct because it doesn't exist in many markets. Let's say, hypothetically, I have someone they call me up like hi, I saw ABC Fifth Avenue and it's listed for $5 million and I have $5 million and I want to buy it. And I have to say, well, let's have a conversation, let's talk about your overall financial picture, your assets, your liabilities, how much you're going to have to put down, how much you're going to have in post-closing liquidity. Oh wait, you actually that's probably not going to work with these numbers.
Speaker 2:And that's a very hard conversation to have with people, but you have to be very granular about each situation in each building and prepare the buyer for what the actual circumstances are going to be.
Speaker 1:How amazing. That is a significant difference straight away that you've got to know their entire life story before you can even show them the property.
Speaker 2:It doesn't make sense for me to take someone to see something, have them fall in love with it that they cannot buy, and I think that's a fundamental thing in any market. Because that would be very heartbreaking. Oh my God, I found something. It's the perfect thing. But I can't make all the pieces work. So if we can figure out what your pieces are, then we can frame the search accordingly so that we can actually get you something that meets your criteria.
Speaker 1:So we can paint a picture and I know a lot of our agents will go online and see you after this. But what's the average type of property you're representing in the marketplace? What's your mainstream?
Speaker 2:So New York City is interesting and I think that we have this perception that everything in New York City is a super luxury property and the truth of the matter is is that is a small portion of the actual market. Majority of transactions, over 70%, are under 1.5. So, like bread and butter can be anywhere between like 500,000 to like 1.5, 2 million. Then you have your sort of two to $4 million trench, then you have four to six and six to eight and then I think of 10 plus and then within the 10 plus you have like 20 plus. But I think that you have to really think about any market in its specific sub markets and have a real understanding of how many transactions and what kinds of properties trade, because the last thing you want to do is be focused on a segment of a market where it's the days on market are astronomical, or you're so invested in one segment of the market that it's hard and you're not diversified, and then you're constantly stressed.
Speaker 2:So like when you saw me this morning, you walked by and I was like I was on the phone, and when you walked by again I was still on the phone. And they joke often people say you're always on the phone, and I think that part of my job when I'm not out showing is building relationships and maintaining connections. So I'm either on the phone with a client or I'm on the phone with a referral partner. Could be a referral partner anywhere in the world. I'm on the phone talking to a lender or talking to an attorney, because information is currency and then I can use that information to frame the right strategy for each client. So every client is different and every client, every client, has its own ecosystem.
Speaker 1:So, nikki, you're with the Sotheby's brand, a beautiful brand over here, and how many people's in your business, your brokerage?
Speaker 2:I think there are almost 400 of us in. I'm in the New York City office and there's an office near Central Park and there's an office down near the Flatiron. I think between both offices there are about almost 400 of us.
Speaker 1:Wow, when we look at that, the number of transactions that a realtor would do in New York on average, not just so much yourself, but what is that performance level? What are they doing per year to survive?
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's an interesting question. A number of years ago, as I recall, our local real estate board actually did a study to find out what the average was.
Speaker 2:And the average was not a large number and it was kind of shocking to see, but it's a it's. You know the real estate industry in any market it is a tough business to be in and you have to put in the work and the strategy and the consistency over time so that you're then seeing the consistent results. And I think that that's one of the biggest challenges that people have is that they think, oh, I'm getting into it and I'm going to make an astronomical amount of money. You know, in my first year I'm like in your first year you're just getting to know how things work asking questions, maybe doing your first transactions, learning the market. There's so much to learn and you never stop learning. I think the best agents in the world never stop learning and they never stop collaborating with their colleagues and their partners in order to serve their clients at the highest and best level.
Speaker 1:Very good. How have you survived so long?
Speaker 2:I am stubborn, but it's also. It's that long range. My whole philosophy in life and real estate is not my first career, so you can also do that kind of math is that your relationships are everything. So I orient everything I do towards nurturing relationships, building new relationships. I tell people, if you're referred to me and we have a discovery call and we're not quite aligned, I'm the first person to say you know what? Maybe because there would be a better fit, because life is too short. And what happens? When you sort of sink into a rabbit hole when you're working with clients or on things that you don't enjoy or that are exceptionally difficult, sometimes you end up attracting more of the same business that you don't want to focus on and sometimes the right decision is to refer it out. Or maybe you have a partner or you partner on certain things with certain agents because it just makes things easier. I'd rather have a part of something than 100% of nothing.
Speaker 1:So, nikki, one of the big differences between our marketplaces is and I'd love you to explain this for the Australian listener, because they don't quite get it that over here there's an MLS the multiple listing system so you have access to all those properties if you've got the buyer and the right fit, whereas in Australia, if we don't list it, we don't sell it.
Speaker 2:And that is very much the case in many markets throughout the world. It's really a shift. But I will say that you know, if you go back and say New York 25, 30, 40 years ago, there were a lot of similarities. If you didn't list it like, there wasn't that cooperation and that sharing of information and that sharing of information.
Speaker 2:I think that at times people can take for granted what that means and what that means to your business. It's like, as an example, you might be an agent who focuses predominantly working with buyers right, but what an amazing, amazing thing that here we have systems where you actually know what's on the market and you can bring your buyer and have that represent your buyer. And I think people sometimes take for granted the abilities that we have because of how the market is set up and how that can enable you to be mostly a buyer's agent and maybe not be a listing agent. I've always been a little bit of diverse. I work with buyers, I work with sellers. I work with some clients who bought investment properties with me a million years ago, so I represent their properties for rent. And staying diverse keeps me attuned to different fluctuations within the market and understanding the psychology of the sellers and also of the buyers, and also of the landlords and also of the tenants.
Speaker 2:And you know frankly. It also allows diversification of income.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you buy, sell, rent.
Speaker 2:I work predominantly with buyers and sellers, but I also do rentals, predominantly most of the time because I've sold. I was the buyer's agent when they bought the condo, so I've been leasing it out, you know, for millions of years. It feels like, and also, just, I think on Friday I actually have someone who's flying in from California who's a referral from an agent in another market, flying in from California who's a referral from an agent in another market. It's like hi, I have this family friend. They really need help finding a rental. Will you help them? Okay, sure, do a discovery call, figure out if it's a match.
Speaker 2:If it isn't a match, because sometimes my bandwidth I only have but so much bandwidth in life, so maybe maybe the person needs something and it's a time where I already have a trip planned or I'm taking time off. But to have the ability to say I have a recommendation for you or I can provide resources or I can provide guidance, but you have to be in that mindset and willing to sort of make those accommodations. But yes, that is a major thing that I've traveled a lot throughout the world and worked with people in different markets and it's also great, as an agent based here in New York that I understand these nuances that happen in different markets globally, because when someone is coming from Australia or from England or from France and I understand enough about their purchase process to then frame how our purchase process or how our sales process works, Amazing, and it's quite clear that a massive part of your success has been method of introduction.
Speaker 1:Like you and I are here today due to the wonderful Peter Brewer.
Speaker 2:And you can always reach out.
Speaker 1:Here I am. I want to get an interview. I want someone live in Manhattan. I don't want to speak to someone I'm completely unknown to. You know, for you and I to hook up and do this interview is amazing. Thank you. Take me into some numbers. How many properties for sale or on the market would you do at any given time?
Speaker 2:I think I have eight or 10 listings right now.
Speaker 1:But eight to 10 would be about the number that you consistently carry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's doable. I think the challenge is that you want to carry what you can serve well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, and then I talk about a lot to people. I am a sole practitioner. I do not have business partners right now, but I'm a big believer in partnering when I need to, when it makes strategic sense. So if I have something and you often work in that market it maybe makes sense. I was just upstairs and I ran into someone. She saw that I had my little puppy with me.
Speaker 2:She, we started talking, she, and so she goes I'm here in New York too and she's like oh, what's your name and we're exchanging information to go. I know your name. I said I've heard your name too, and she's like you know what she goes, I really only focus in this part of town. She's like, and you mainly. I said I've heard your name too, and she's like you know what she goes, I really only focus in this part of town. She's like, and you mainly. I said yeah, no, I live on the upper side. She's like okay, let's talk, let's get the dogs together and I'd be happy to refer things that are up there to you. And so, or find the people in your office where you can strategically partner on things where it makes sense, and that allows you to expand what you can carry and what you can be engaged in.
Speaker 1:Nikki, the New York market and the whole American market's going through a lot of change, transition, and there's been some negative press. That happened. What happened with all that for the Australian listener and what does it mean to you?
Speaker 2:Well, I will tell you what it means to me. I have always had very clear, direct and transparent communication with my clients, even as a buyer's agent. I would always say to my buyer clients we'd have a buyer consult, we would explain what the process is and I would explain the fee for my services is whatever that number is, and how that compensation happens can be a variety of ways. There may be compensation that is offered by the selling party, in which case okay, it's great. There may be compensation that's offered by the selling party. That's less than what I've just told you my fee is, in which case you know you are responsible for the difference. Or we may be approaching something where they're not offering anything or it's an off-market property, something where they're not offering anything or it's an off-market property. My compensation is X. And I think having that conversation clearly and concretely always, I'm not afraid of these changes and I'm in a market where it was not the norm to have a formal written agreement at the end of that, but I've been having that conversation with people for over 20 years, so now I'm like, okay, now this makes sense. Like the conclusion of this is going to be that we're memorializing it in writing in a formal, structured agreement, and everything is always negotiable. We can all. We can talk, we can correspond, we can make adjustments as one can, and I think that if you're really confident in who you are, what you do, how you work for your clients, what value you are delivering, I think you're fine and I think those are the agents that are actually going to do so well in this challenging, with this challenge, and I think the consumer is going to be very specific about who they're hiring. They're not going to say, okay, well, you know my, my cousin jane, just got her license, I'm just gonna. I don't think that's going to happen as much anymore, because there's a real keen awareness that you are agreeing to hire someone, you are agreeing that they are going to be compensated a percentage or an amount whatever.
Speaker 2:When you think about it that way, if I put myself in the consumer's shoes, I would say it that way. If I put myself in the consumer's shoes, I would say I'd want to research, I'd want to interview people and find out what's their track record, what are they like? Am I going to like working with this person? Because, again, this is a labor-intensive and intimate process, and that's speaking mostly from a residential perspective, but honestly, even from a commercial perspective, this is not. People should be more specific and intentional about who they're hiring, and I think that may end up being the end sort of win. I think there are challenges around how the compensation is being paid, or are there people who won't be able to afford things? Are there going to be changes around the way that financing works? I think there's a lot of mechanics that are going to be in flux for some time.
Speaker 1:Nikki, the big question all the Australians want me to ask you is two days ago, we saw Mr Donald Trump come into power here in America. How's that going to affect the real estate world?
Speaker 2:It's only two days ago. I don't have a crystal ball. If I had a crystal ball, I probably wouldn't be selling real estate. I would have bought the Powerball for the winning lotto numbers. I think it's very early to tell still how things are going to transform and transition, but I will tell you that it has been very consistently busy in in the last quarter of a year before the election. So I think that people people need places to live. You need to buy. You're going to figure out how you're going to buy. Yes, the interest rates and everything else. That is a major factor, but, truthfully, the interest rates were too low for an abnormally long time. And again, if you need to buy something, you need a place to live. You're going to make a decision and I think that we get wrapped up in the hyperbolic media cycle but at the end of the day, people are still. They're buying, they're selling, they're renting, people are living their lives and housing is a fundamental part of that.
Speaker 1:Excellent answer, nikki, in being in the conference today and I was really excited to get over here, and I do conferences all over the world and I've never been able to get back to Inman due to schedules and so forth. But there's an enormous focus on AI in the American real estate marketplace. What's your view on that? How is it going to affect it and are you using it yourself?
Speaker 2:I do use various AI tools. My comment around whatever the newer shiny technology seems to be for some people, is that you have to think about what is your process and your workflow and how do you optimize it. And the problem is you can't look for a tool to fix a problem for a system you don't even understand how your business is working like, and so people will often go from thing to thing to thing and they say, oh well, that didn't work. Well, that didn't work. I mean, oh, social media doesn't work. It works. You have to have a plan. It needs to be diverse and integrated. You can't put all of your eggs in one basket. It can't be. I'm going to do everything on TikTok and not have a website. It can't be. I'm never going to send a piece of print mail. Or you have to understand the nuance of the market that you serve and create a plan around that. But that requires looking at your business and structure, altering the structure as is necessary, and a strategy.
Speaker 1:So true, people are looking for a quick fix in the.
Speaker 2:I don't have to do anything.
Speaker 1:It's like the I'll go to the gym for youcomau.
Speaker 2:There are no quick fixes. People say, oh well, oh my God, you have all these followers. I'm like I started using. I was on LinkedIn when LinkedIn launched. I love LinkedIn. It's one of my favorite platforms. I think it's a platform that a lot of real estate agents and suit your real estate brand and do not use as effectively as they could.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's probably the platform that would have the most immediate impact on your revenue if you actually used it. And then I started using I think I joined Facebook in like 2008. I probably joined Twitter around that time. I've been pretty early to a lot of the early platforms, so I tell people that was then and we were in 2025.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's all of those years of consistently engaging. Look, we're sitting here, we're talking, I'm on a podcast. Half the time I'm on things and I am not actively seeking it out, but because I have consistently been engaging in media interviews or relationships at conferences, say hi, I'd like to talk to you, and once you have a great conversation with one outlet and you leverage that through your marketing throughout, it attracts everything else, but that is consistency and planning and strategy, but consistency is really the key to all of it.
Speaker 1:Couldn't agree more. Final question for you In this wonderful time and interview that I've got you in a break here when we look at lead generation, which is a huge topic and I must say I'm shocked at what the American agents are paying for leads from lead providers it seems to me an enormous amount of money. But separate to your method of introduction and your community, what's working best in lead generation for yourself?
Speaker 2:The people that you know are probably going to be your best first course of action. The people that you've already transacted with are also that best first course of action. So think about how are you staying in front of the people that you have transacted with, or even the people that you didn't transact with? Some of my best referral sources are people that actually didn't buy, didn't rent for whatever the reason. Maybe the timing was wrong or maybe they're like you know what. This doesn't make sense or I don't want to just numbers change, but the consistency of the advisory service that they receive means that they want other people to also have that level of advisory service. Redirecting some of that investment into maybe you do things for your clients, maybe that might generate an incredible opportunity.
Speaker 1:We call that love, the one you weave. Yes, it's such a good campaign.
Speaker 2:It is such a good campaign so I invited you. I had a little networking gathering just before Inman at the Baccarat Boutique on Madison Avenue, and how that came about is I'd met one of the managers maybe a year, a year and a half ago, and I had her card and I kept forgetting to reach back out. And I had a client who was moving into the apartment that they closed on before the holidays. The next day and I'm usually much better at organizing my plan of like closing gifts and things like that but I was not this day. So I walked to Tiffany's to buy a pair of champagne flutes it's one of my favorite first touch gifts a pair of champagne flutes that are not terribly expensive there may be about just under a hundred dollars US and a bottle of some sort of bubbly. And, to be frank, because the Tiffany packaging is so amazing, the bottle of whatever doesn't even have to be frank. Because the Tiffany packaging is so amazing, the bottle of whatever doesn't even have to be extraordinary, because people are just wowed by the presentation and receiving. So I walked over to Tiffany. They didn't have it. They said they could order it, but again, my clients were moving the next day and I wanted to have it there because the premise is it's your first night or your first couple of days in the apartment. I want you to be able, if you're a drinker, to toast to your new apartment. You don't know where anything is because you've just moved in. So I have given you a bottle of champagne or a bottle of Prosecco and champagne, so didn't have them at Tiffany's, no time to have it delivered.
Speaker 2:I'm walking back to my office and my office is across the street from the Baccarat Boutique and I walk in and I'm inquiring about their champagne flutes and we're having a conversation and she, the manager, recognizes me and remembers that we'd had a conversation about thinking about doing things together and I said, well, what if? So? There's a conference in a couple of weeks. What if we did something right before the conference? She said, sure, and there was an opportunity. A I gave the gift to my client. So when your client people call them the first couple of days after they've moved in, how's your move going? How's your move going? So your client is now telling everybody they know, oh, yeah, great, oh, and I had like the loveliest little gift of my broker who left me a bottle of champagne and some champagne flutes and we toasted the new home. They're planting seeds with everyone they know about what you've done.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I give stationary moving cards with a new address. If they have a housewarming party, I may provide like a dessert, giving them opportunities just to be nice and be kind, but it gives them really interesting, unobtrusive touch points to mention you over and over and over again through the course of, you know, for a lifetime essentially. Do you know how many times I get a call? Oh, you know I'm a friend of so-and-so and so-and-so. They mentioned that you had you know I was talking to them about their purchase or their lease or whatever, and they mentioned you or they mentioned this great gift or the key chain that you can Easy I mean not easy, but a low, not low effort but high impact thoughtful touches, exercise some observation about what your clients are most interested in and then frame how you engage with them offline and online, around their interests.
Speaker 2:I have a ridiculously large email database, no question, but I do not send one email to 20,000 people. I may send one email and it might be to my fellow NYU alums. That's one small micro list. It might be to the people who I serve on the board of business improvement district the more you hone in and target your message to a much smaller but very specific audience and everybody feels like you are talking directly to them and you are engaging directly to them. And the more that you do that, the easier it all becomes, and we have amazing technology to do this. Now it is somewhat less labor intensive once you set all the things up and like using tools like AI or using your CRM Okay, here's the basic message.
Speaker 2:Can you rewrite this in my voice? To engage buyers? Okay, great, there's one version. Okay, can you rewrite this in my voice? To engage sellers? Okay, or maybe I want it to really engage Ultra High Network. That's where you're using the tools, you're prompting and you're using the tools because you understand your business and you understand your ideal client avatar so well that everything you do is focused around around those ideal client avatars that was the best example of love the one you're with with detailed layering I've ever heard.
Speaker 1:Nikki, fantastic interview.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing your story with our australian audience it's been a delight that we finally connected in person and I so missed Peter and Tara and I. Instantly I saw the note and I'm like yes, yes, whatever it is, the answer is yes.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.