Two decades, two markets, one bankruptcy, and thousands of closings. Here's the journey that shaped how I work for my clients today.
If you're new here, let me tell you a story that's a little longer than most agent bios. I've been in real estate brokerage since 2005. To put that in perspective, 21 years is more time than you spend from kindergarten all the way to a college diploma. In that time, I've bought and sold more than 40 homes for myself and sold well over 2,000 homes for other people. But the way I got into this business is anything but typical.
I started in art school, not real estate. After I graduated, I quickly learned I couldn't make a living as an artist in New York. I once did a piece for Rolex, and they passed on it. I have the Rolex now, but at the time it stung. I was sleeping on the floor of an apartment I shared with a friend who had a real corporate job, and I was working at Dunkin' Donuts, then Whole Foods, then a restaurant in Manhattan.
About a year and a half out of college, my cousin called and asked me to come work for him in Phoenix. I'd never been there, and I was doing fine as a waiter, making around 230 a night at 23. But I was sleeping in a dining alcove with two roommates, so I took the leap.
Phoenix is where I learned to sell. That first year, we sold hundreds of homes. My cousin was our broker, and he ran seminars encouraging people to buy in the Phoenix suburbs, often pre-construction, sometimes with a deposit of just $1,000. By the time those homes were built, many had built up around $100,000 in equity. I was reselling those homes and selling new developments, and for a guy in his mid-twenties, it was an incredible education in how this business really works.
"If it can go wrong in a real estate transaction, I've been there many times."
Then the crash taught me the hard lessons. The market collapse that followed was traumatic, but it may have been the most important stretch of my career. The years from 2009 to 2012 were rough, and I declared bankruptcy at the end of that period. The whole time, as I like to say, I was driving around in a Mercedes with a cracked windshield and bald tires. Even so, I started my own brokerage, Homesaver Real Estate, and sold about 160 homes over those three years. For the hand I was dealt, I think I played it well, and I learned things you can only learn when the market is against you. If you've ever wondered why overpricing a home backfires, it's the kind of lesson that period drilled into me.
New York is where I built my career. I moved back in 2011, which means I've been selling here for about 15 years now. Most people know me as a New York City agent, and I've sold hundreds of homes in the city. When I got here, I didn't know the ins and outs of co-ops versus condos or the finer details of New York, but I already knew how to sell homes, and I'd sold far more of them than most New York agents ever will by the time I started my city career at 31. Learning the local specifics, from a West Village co-op board interview to how staging pays off in a New York sale, came on top of a foundation most agents never get to build.
I've been the client, not just the agent. I've worked with all kinds of people here, celebrities, founders, and CEOs, and negotiated some amazing deals. But I've also lived the journey myself. I know what it's like to start with almost nothing in New York City and slowly get to a place where you can save your money, do your own credit repair, and find the right deal on the terms you want when the time is right. I advise every kind of buyer on this every single day: parents, people buying for their children, people with young kids like me, singles, and couples without children.
If it can go wrong in a real estate transaction, I've probably been there, and I've ridden the same roller coaster of emotions that every buyer and seller goes through. I've bought homes for my own portfolio and helped major investors, so there's no deal too big and no deal too small. If you want to start your own New York City housing journey, I'd love to help you. Call or text me at 718-938-5406, email me at [email protected], or visit newyorklovestherosenteam.com. I am the key.
