Hitting the couch amid a crunch
April 23, 2009 12:30PM By Sarah Portlock
From the April issue: Real estate brokers and agents may finally be becoming couch potatoes. The therapist's couch, that is. As more real estate firms downsize -- and more brokers see their bank accounts shrink -- therapists report more anxiety among patients who work in real estate, and at least one brokerage is considering bringing in a psychologist to talk to its agents about their stresses. "There's a need to continually reach out in our business from management: Not just 'How's business?' because we know how it is … but [to ask], 'How are you and how are you coping?'" said Kathy Braddock, co-founder of Charles Rutenberg Realty. Braddock said the firm is considering bringing in a psychologist to help brokers air their concerns. "It can be depressing and it can feel a little overwhelming, and one should not feel that they're completely alone in this," she said. When the economy gets rocky, it's easy for people to lose perspective, mental health pros say. "The rules of the market are just thrown out the window right now, and that stresses out people incredibly," said Dr. Kenneth Mueller, a psychotherapist in Greenwich Village who counts many real estate and financial executives among his patients.
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Comments
Anonymous
i hate to say it, bc i'm a broker myself, but what we do (essentially not much) is a joke. I mean, before this crash of the housing market-you had attorneys and high-paid executives leaving their positions to break into real esate. Why?!? B/c we are very much overpaid for the service that we provide. And the effort we have to put into a deal is laughable. A few phone calls and emails--maybe a lunch or dinner for upwards of as much as a couple hundred grand... it takes as much effort for a broker to lease a 5th floor walk-up on th UES as it does to sell a 20MM condo. In all honesty--someone should develope an internet web-based "dating site" for buyers and sellers. Do ya really need one or two idiots killing deals over 5% to 6% inflation cost to the product...?!?! THIS TOWN NEEDS AN ENEMA!
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 04/23/09