Marcus & Millichap’s Adelaide Polsinelli is out working today in the snow

“Snowicane” or not, New York City real estate brokers are hard at work. Unlike teachers or other professionals who can stay home when the weather gets bad, brokers must be prepared to show properties to eager home-seeking clients, rain or shine. “Real estate is like the post office: neither sleet nor rain nor dark of night will keep us indoors,” said Paul Purcell, co-founder of Manhattan’s Charles Rutenberg Realty, who made sure the firm’s office on East 56th Street was open today. (To see a list of today’s real estate office openings and closings, click here.) “We work seven days a week and 24 hours a day,” said Leonard Steinberg, an executive vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, who was on his way to show a $14 million listing and had competed two showings this morning. On snow days, “the only difference is that I wear very different shoes,” said Steinberg, who donned heavy-duty waterproof boots to help navigate piles of slush. On days like this, he sometimes hires a four-wheel drive vehicle from a car service to ferry clients from one listing to another. [more]

From left: Studley’s soiree was in its new offices at 399 Park Avenue; Charles
Rutenberg Realty celebrated the holidays at bowling alley Lucky Strike
Lanes, and Halstead Property held its bash at Guastavino’s at 409 East
59th Street, where Brown Harris Stevens also celebrated the season

In a real estate market that’s been challenging at best, knowing how to celebrate the bounty of the holidays is a tricky thing.

Celebrate too much and you risk looking out of touch with the economic climate. Too little, and your firm could look like it’s struggling.

“Perception is everything,” said Cindy Seidowitz, a senior vice president at Studley. It could seem terribly gauche, for example, “if [people] are canceling parties and scaling back and you’re throwing this lavish bash,” she added.

Most years commercial real estate firm Studley would decamp to a restaurant or club for its annual Christmas party — this year, it stuck to its home base. The firm, which is planning to move into its new 11th-floor office at 399 Park Avenue in the first quarter of 2010, decided to celebrate the holidays and its relocation to the 60,000-square-foot space by holding its annual holiday bash there. [more]