Though the financial networks and local news channels regularly
cover real estate, brokers at Prudential Douglas Elliman can now flip
on their computers to get their boss’s take on the market at any time.
Dottie Herman has begun
sitting down for a series of quarterly in-house video talks with
ubiquitous appraiser Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller
Samuel, to analyze trends in New York City real estate.
The videos, dubbed PDE
TV, launched in April for the first quarter and are available on
Herman’s public Web site and the company’s intranet. In addition, every
day, Elliman posts a video message on its private Web portal for
staffers in the city and on Long Island with reminders about meetings
and deadlines.
“We’re a big company
and we need to communicate in a variety of ways,” said Herman. “A lot
of papers spin the facts and I want my agents to have the data and know
what the numbers mean so that our customers can be educated.”
In the video for the
second quarter, Herman said her bullish view of the long-term market is
sometimes disregarded by those who perceive her as biased. Obviously,
it’s in her interest to put on a happy face to sell properties.
Miller’s role is to
provide objectivity. Since 1994, Miller has supplied quarterly reports
to Douglas Elliman and continued when Herman and partner Howard Lorber
bought the firm in 2003.
“The goal is to bring
the message and pull no punches, but when I go to the public, my whole
focus is about neutrality,” said Miller. “I’m not selling, I’m
providing clarity.”
Herman got the video
bug during the firm’s fifth anniversary celebration in February, when
it produced a video time-capsule and a montage in which brokers
discussed their work over a swelling musical soundtrack.
Some scenes show
brokers getting makeup applied, sometimes at odd camera angles. One
nice touch: the closing song snippet from “Our House” by Crosby,
Stills, Nash and Young, which ends with the line “now everything is
easy ’cause of you.”
Herman’s informal chats
with Miller, filmed on her office couch, crunch the numbers and offer
perspective. The pair’s chemistry has evolved from the first quarter
video, which ran about two minutes.
The second quarter
video has a short version recapping the numbers, and a longer one where
Herman expressed some concern over the credit crunch, but also stressed
that brokers should “kiss the ground they walk on in New York City.”
The pair note that
comparisons with last year are tough, since 2007 recorded the highest
number of transactions in history. And, of course, though the
percentage of foreclosures is up in Manhattan, the overall numbers of
properties involved is miniscule.
Though she could easily
fit in on “the View,” Herman disavows any aspiration to be on broadcast
TV. “Could I do it? I’m capable of it, but that’s not why we do these
segments.”