LA real estate agents strategize SAG strike survival

When the actors union SAG-AFTRA declared a strike on July 14, real estate agents across Los Angeles grit their teeth to prepare for what could be a tough few months. Entertainment is a high marquee business in Los Angeles, and many luxury agents cater to people in the industry.

“Now it’s real,” said Steve Clark, founder of Backbeat Homes, a Pasadena-headquartered firm which focuses on serving people in the entertainment sector. When Writers Guild of America, a relatively small union, went on strike in May, many Los Angeles luxury real estate agents were concerned. But SAG commands a big presence in Los Angeles. It has 160,000 members.

“Once actors are striking, that’s a critical moment. It will shake the city,” Clark said.

Kerry Ann Sullivan, an agent with Pardee Properties headquartered in Venice, said the strike is anticipated to make agents seek more business with people in other fields such as tech.

“When one business strikes, it can make everyone else pause and make people hesitant. You don’t know if it can trickle over to their business,” Sullivan said.  “I’ve seen a few buyers pause a home search because they are in the entertainment business. But I haven’t seen any fire sales.” 

Clark said while some of his entertainment business clients paused searches, economic pressures from the strike will force others to sell homes, which might create opportunities for agents.

Mason Canter, an agent who formerly worked as an actor and still has a SAG card, estimated that 35 percent of his business comes from people in entertainment. He said there’s talk of agents leaving the business because of the strike. 

“There’s more competition for the same deals. I find more agents being more aggressive in the sense of making every deal count the most,” said Canter of the self-named Mason Canter Group. 

He also forecast that it will take time for the real estate market to rally once the strike is over and creatives go back to work. “They didn’t have income for three months. Now they got to show income to prove they are viable for a loan. This could take us to the end of the year,” he said.

Cindy Ambuehl, an agent in the recently opened AKG Christie’s International Real Estate office in Brentwood, also maintains SAG-AFTRA membership. She said the economic pressures are growing. 

“The pandemic, high interest rates, ULA tax, insurance premiums and now a strike of our leading industry — we just keep getting hit. But as always, we will ride it out by embracing these difficult challenges. I think we’ll come back even stronger,” Ambuehl said

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